Chapter 59: Storing Autumn Vegetables
In the evening, the two leaned against the bedhead and read for a while. After a tiring day, they finished reading and soon lay down to sleep.
…
By early November, the autumn harvest had completely ended.
News spread within the county that Wang Heyao’s life was nearing its end.
Before his death, his family could provide him with a last meal. Shen Min carried a food basket and went to the county. When he left, everyone in the village knew what he was going to do.
When they saw him off, they didn’t know what to say and just silently watched him leave.
Shen Min’s current situation only allowed him to ensure his own meals. This trip to the county required him to slip some money to the executioner so he could have a swift end. He also had to hire someone in advance to carry the corpse back for burial. Even if it wasn’t a grand affair, it still involved considerable expenses.
This time, the village chief intervened and helped raise funds.
Shen Min promised to repay it later, but the village chief waved his hand and sighed, “This time only. I won’t be able to help anymore in the future. You don’t need to repay this money.”
No one knew what Shen Min and Wang Heyao said to each other when they met for the last time, or what emotions Shen Min felt when he personally held up that bloody head, put it in a body bag, and placed it beside the headless body.
With the body of Wang Heyao, severed at the neck, carried all the way back, it was silently buried next to his mother.
Shen Min didn’t have the money for a grand funeral, and the villagers understood. The only close relatives of the Wang family were Qiu Henian and Wang San Yao. They didn’t insist on elaborate post-funeral rituals.
Shen Min was from another family. If it were another man who had died, without a mother-in-law and without offspring, it was almost certain that the relatives of the man’s family would come to claim the estate. This was in line with custom, and no one could say anything about it.
Although their land was gone, their house remained, and there were still some valuable furnishings inside.
But Qiu Henian and Wang San Yao were not that kind of people. They wouldn’t force a widow into a desperate situation.
Shen Min was decent-looking and not too old. He didn’t have children to burden him, and there were people in the village and town who were interested in marrying him, but he had turned down all matchmakers.
This house and the land lent by the village chief were his support. As long as he was willing to work hard, he could sustain himself well.
On the day of Wang Heyao’s burial, both Qiu Henian and San Yao helped out, while Qingyan stayed by Shen Min’s side.
As the final clump of dirt covered the grave mound, Shen Min looked up at the sky and let out a soft sigh.
The matter of Wang Heyao’s death was gossiped about in the village for only two or three days before it was forgotten.
His death was better than his life; at least his neighbors no longer had to hear him drinking, slamming doors, and fighting in the middle of the night.
Later, Qingyan heard from Qiuniang that Shen Min’s parents had visited once after Wang Heyao’s death.
It was said to have been an unpleasant visit, as someone passing by Shen Min’s house heard him shouting, “These are the only things left in this house as you can see. If you want to treat him, take away whatever you can carry. There’s also a bag of corn in the barn; take that too. If you want me to sell this house and move back, you might as well wait and see who dies first between me and him. Let’s see if he can live long enough to give you grandchildren!”
The elderly couple left Shen Min’s house dejectedly and were never seen visiting again.
…
With the arrival of late autumn, the leaves had all fallen, and the temperature was dropping steadily, occasionally plummeting. The feeling of winter was starting to set in.
However, the weather had been consistently good, with clear air and abundant sunlight.
The green onions in the courtyard had dried up, their leaves turning yellow. Qingyan divided the dried onion leaves into piles and braided them together like ropes before hanging them on nails in the barn.
When the barn was built, they had deliberately left windows for ventilation. Since it hadn’t frozen yet, the onions could continue to air-dry with the windows open, which helped preserve them.
It didn’t take much effort to prepare the green onions. Li Shen called Qingyan over the fence, and together they first pickled the sauerkraut in Li Shen’s house before moving on to harvest the cabbage in Qingyan’s house.
A couple of days ago, Qiu Henian had specifically bought a large crock from the town, even larger than the water jar at home. Fortunately, their outer kitchen was spacious enough to accommodate this crock without feeling crowded.
Qingyan wanted to make extra sauerkraut this time, not only for their own consumption but also to sell in town.
Making money had become addictive. Seeing their savings grow, Qingyan felt particularly reassured.
He carefully watched how Li Shen did everything, step by step, so that in the future, he could pickle on his own.
After finishing their work for the day, Qingyan invited Li Shen to stay for dinner.
Since the green onions still had sufficient moisture, Qingyan cut a piece of the green onions and stir-fried lamb with them. Li Shen, who couldn’t stay idle, stewed pork with cabbage and soaked the vermicelli. It would be ready to add when the stew was nearly done.
By the time Qiu Henian returned, dinner was almost ready.
At the dinner table, Qiu Henian said, “The person to dig the vegetable cellar has been hired. We should dig it before it freezes over in the next few days.”
Qingyan nodded and said, “Then tomorrow, I’ll go back to town to buy more meat. It can keep for a couple of days in the cold, and we can use it to cook for the workers.”
Qiu Henian then asked Li Shen, “Auntie, do you want us to dig a vegetable cellar behind your house too?”
Li Shen thought for a moment and replied, “I’m usually alone at home and can’t eat that much. Let’s forget about the vegetable cellar.”
Qingyan added, “That’s fine. If there’s anything you don’t need to eat right away, Auntie, you can leave it in our vegetable cellar, and I’ll bring it over when I fetch ours.”
Li Shen happily agreed. At this point, both families had reached a level where they didn’t worry about who was taking advantage of whom. It truly felt like they had become one big family.
In the evening, Qiu Henian boiled water, and the two of them, as they used to, took turns to bathe.
Ever since Qingyan mentioned letting things take their natural course, they hadn’t deliberately avoided intimacy. However, between the recent autumn harvest and the incident involving Wang Heyao, they had been busy every day and hadn’t been close for quite some time.
Today, after bathing and with Qiu Henian having finished tending the fire and entering the house, he smelled the lingering scent of water vapor and soap in the room, along with Qingyan’s unique, indescribable fragrance.
Qingyan’s long hair hung loose behind him, and his clothes were not tightly fastened. Qiu Henian glanced at him a few times and felt his heart skip a beat.
But when Qiu Henian finished his bath and lifted the bed curtain with some anticipation, he saw Qingyan lying sideways on the bed, one hand holding a book and the other resting under his cheek, already asleep.
Qiu Henian let the curtain down quietly to avoid disturbing Qingyan’s peaceful sleep with the slightly cool air outside. He leaned against the bedhead, covered his legs with the half of the blanket Qingyan had left for him, and carefully took the book from Qingyan’s hand.
He flipped through it casually to calm his restless heart, occasionally turning his head to glance at the peacefully sleeping figure.
After a while, Qiu Henian felt his mood settle, and he thought to get out of bed to blow out the oil lamp and lie down to sleep.
Just then, perhaps disturbed by his action of lifting the blanket, Qingyan suddenly turned over, changing from lying on his side to lying flat on his back. Due to this movement, the collar of his undergarment shifted aside, revealing a bit of the red strap of his finely embroidered chestband.
Qiu Henian froze in his motion to get out of bed, staring at that familiar strap in a daze. It was the chestband that Qingyan liked very much. Qingyan usually took great care of it and rarely wore it, typically only putting it on when he wanted to be intimate with him.
Qiu Henian’s previously calm heart started to beat faster again. He regretted not being quicker while bathing earlier. However, both of them had been busy these past few days, and he had intended to return earlier today to help but couldn’t find the time. Qingyan was indeed tired today.
Thinking of this, Qiu Henian’s heart gradually calmed down once again. He bent down to kiss the sleeping person on the lips, then extinguished the lamp and lay down to sleep.
…
The next day, the three workers who were digging the cellar arrived. Qiu Henian watched them at home while Li Shen also came over to help Qingyan prepare meals.
Learning from their previous lesson, Qingyan didn’t come to the table this time for dinner. He and Li Shen ate their food in the outer kitchen.
The cellar was dug quickly, completed in less than two full days. They covered it with a wooden lid, and after it froze, they would place a thick pad on top.
After paying the workers, they left, and the couple stood behind the house looking at the backyard. Since the backyard wasn’t large and hadn’t been utilized, now that they had dug the cellar, there was still plenty of space left. It wouldn’t be suitable for growing many vegetables anymore, but it would be nice to plant a few cherry trees.
Qiu Henian and Qingyan discussed planting saplings next spring. However, to enjoy cherries, they would have to wait for the trees to grow, which was a matter of three years.
Qingyan imagined himself sitting on the windowsill at the back of the house, reaching out to pick cherries from the branches of the trees. He couldn’t wait for spring to arrive.
The next day, the couple moved the potatoes and cabbage from the barn into the cellar. They placed a ladder at the entrance of the cellar: Qingyan handed things in from outside, while Qiu Henian went up and down the ladder, moving things inside.
Li Shen also brought over some cabbage and potatoes from her house. The cellar was quite spacious, and even after everything was stored, there was still plenty of room left.
In the afternoon, Qiu Henian and Qingyan went to town. They bought apples and measured the size for fur-lined cotton shoes, paid a deposit, and also bought some warm items like gloves, scarves, and hot water bottles.
They pushed the cart back home, unpacked their things, and when they returned the cart to Li Shen’s house, they found no one there.
Just as Qingyan was wondering, Li Shen hurried back and, upon seeing them, her expression turned serious.
She said, “Liu Cai’s son has been born!”
Qingyan exclaimed, “Ah! Last time I saw Yinglan, he said it wouldn’t be until after the New Year. How did he give birth so early?”
Li Shen sighed and said, “It’s premature. The midwife and the doctor are both there. I came back to get some brown sugar and jujubes.”
Qingyan glanced at Qiu Henian and said, “You go home first. I’ll take the basket of eggs I saved and go with Aunt Li to the Liu family.”
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qiu Henian looked at him, his throat moving slightly as his voice lowered, “Because… what I’m about to do later, I don’t want it to see.”
