Chapter 112: Indulgence
Editor: Atlas Studios
Having regained his fighting spirit, Qi Haoran had a good night’s sleep. However, Mu Yangling could not fall asleep.
She propped her chin on her hand and sat at the door of her house, looking at the fields outside in a daze. Of course, repairing water conservancy facilities was only beneficial to future generations, but what about the people at this time?
Now that everyone had to build houses, build camps, train, and farm, how could they have the time to repair the water conservancy facilities?
At this moment, Mu Yangling was no longer very insistent on her idea. She was not an architect, and she didn’t have any practical experience in terms of farming.
When Mu Shi returned tiredly with his bag, he saw his daughter’s conflicted expression.
His daughter was forthright and cheerful, and was never one to take things too hard. What was going on?
Mu Shi frowned slightly and went forward. As he gently patted her back, he asked, “Why are you sitting at the door?”
“Father?” Mu Yangling jumped up. “You’re back. Why are you so dirty? Come in quickly.”
Seeing that Mu Shi was covered in mud, Shu Wanniang quickly went forward to catch his bag and said, “I’ve boiled hot water. Hurry up and wash yourself.”
Seeing that he had lost weight in just ten days, Shu Wanniang’s heart couldn’t help but ache. When she came out, she pulled her daughter over and poured out 23 copper coins from her purse to hand to her. “Hurry up and run to the county to buy some meat for your father to nourish himself.”
This was the family’s last bit of money.
Mu Yangling pushed it back and stood up to take the bow and arrow from the wall. She said, “Mother, I’ll just walk around outside. I definitely won’t go deep and won’t get lost. Don’t tell Father.” With that, she turned around and ran.
Shu Wanniang chased after her daughter for two steps. When she saw that her daughter had disappeared, she stomped her feet and tightened her grip on the copper coins in her hand.
When Mu Yangling returned with a roe deer, she thought that her father would scold her. Unexpectedly, her father smiled at her and waved. “Hurry up and bring the roe deer in. Are you waiting for me to help you bring it in?”
Mu Yangling immediately revealed a big smile as she skipped to her father’s side. “Father, let Mother braise it tonight. With no fats in my stomach, I don’t have the energy to work.”
Mu Shi sighed in his heart and nodded with a smile. He took the roe deer from his daughter’s hand and poured a pot of hot water over it from the kitchen. Then, he took a knife and scraped the skin.
In less than half an hour, he had cut up the roe deer on the chopping board, and handed it to Xiuhong to bring into the kitchen.
With slightly reddened eyes, Shu Wanniang rolled up her sleeves and cooked. Ever since Madam Ma-Liu moved into the Mu family, she rarely cooked. However, today, she used all her skills to cook a table of dishes for everyone.
Not to mention Mu Yangling and Mu Shi, even Little Bowen’s eyes lit up as he swallowed his saliva.
They finished all the meat dishes on the table.
As Mu Shi ate, he picked up some food for Shu Wanniang and said, “Eat more. You’ve lost weight.”
Mu Yangling picked up a piece of food for everyone, taking extra care of Little Bowen and Xiulan.
Mu Yangling ate until her stomach was round. As she sat on the stool, she did not want to move. “Father, aren’t you going to build a house? Why do you look like you came out of a pile of mud?”
“I did come out of a pile of mud.” Mu Shi said drowsily, “Doesn’t building a house require mud? As a section commander, I’m in charge of digging mud. We dug a huge pit at the other end of the camp…”
Mu Yangling was feeling sleepy too, but when she heard this, she shuddered and shook her father excitedly. “Father, what did you say? You guys dug a huge pit in the mud?”
Mu Shi sobered up in response. Frowning, he said, “Yes, what’s wrong? Now that everyone doesn’t have time to build stone houses, we’ve got to use mud to build the houses.”
“Can all types of mud be used? For instance, the mud by the river.”
“Of course not. We have to use yellow mud to build a house. It has to be more sticky. Only by mixing mud and withered grass to make mud bricks can we build a house. If any type of mud will do, do we have to dig up mud in the camp and transport it elsewhere?”
Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up. “I’m sure other than the camp, that type of mud can be found elsewhere. Let’s look for more. Perhaps you can build a reservoir while digging.”
“What reservoir?”
“Water conservancy. To store water. This way, even when a drought occurs in the future, or if the river is cut off, at least the water in the reservoir can last us for some time. It’d be even better if we can dig a few more channels to the field before the ice melts. This way, even if there’s a drought in the future, the field won’t lack water immediately. Previously, I was worried that repairing the water conservancy facilities would consume too much manpower, but now, it seems that some things can be done simultaneously.”
Mu Shi pondered.
Overjoyed, Mu Yangling stretched. “Father, you should rest. I’m going to sleep too. Since I won’t be working in the fields tomorrow, I’m going to look for Qi Haoran.”
Mu Shi watched as his daughter left in a hurry. He opened his mouth and turned to ask his wife, “Does Ah Ling often play with Little General?”
“Not very often, but every few days, Young Master Fan or the little general would come to talk to Ah Ling. That servant called Fei Bai would send a letter over from time to time.” Shu Wanniang paused and said, “I also feel that it’s not good for Ah Ling to interact with them like this, but this child has a mind of her own now. I can’t control her anymore.”
Shu Wanniang had always been in a weak position in the family. When her husband was around, she listened to her husband. And when he wasn’t around, she listened to her daughter. If both her husband and daughter were not around, she would even listen to Little Bowen. Her greatest flaw was that she was gentle, but that was also her greatest strength. Most importantly, she would never hurt her husband and children.
Even though she knew that Mu Yangling’s actions were not good, she would indulge her when she realized that she would hurt her daughter if she tried to stop her.
Now, she only hoped that her husband could persuade her daughter. After all, this world had more restrictions on women.
When Mu Yangling interacted with Qi Haoran and the others, the world would not judge Qi Haoran, but they would think that Mu Yangling did not know the rules. Her husband would definitely mind in the future.
Her daughter was young and insensible, but Shu Wanniang had to consider it on her behalf.
However, Mu Shi was thinking about what his daughter had said to him today. His daughter seemed to have taken a huge step forward, and even he could not catch up to her.
What was he going to do? Restrain her, and let her hunt and farm for the rest of her life to support her family? Then let her marry a capable farmer and continue living like this after having children?
In the past, Mu Shi did not think that there was anything wrong with this. He felt very happy with such a life, but now, he was a little resistant to the idea that his daughter’s future would pan out similarly.
With no money in the family, when they encountered a disaster, their daughter would have to start over with nothing like they did now.
When Ah Ling was born, their family was still rather well-off. It was only after Wanniang took medicine for a few years that the family’s assets slowly emptied. When Bowen was born prematurely and Wanniang almost bled to death, the Mu family suddenly faced difficulties. If the Mu family had more money at that time, Bowen and Wanniang would not have suffered so much. The same logic applied to their present situation. If the Mu family had more assets, even if they encountered a military disaster, the Mu family would not have nothing now. Her daughter even had to take the risk to enter the mountains for her mother to eat an egg.
Mu Shi slowly hugged his wife tightly and said gently, “Let her go. As long as she’s happy.”
Shu Wanniang looked at her husband in surprise. Mu Shi patted her shoulder and said in a low voice, “I don’t want her to live the same life as us. That child has ideas and is smart. Let nature take its course. There were even female officials in the Imperial Court during Shizong’s era.”
“How is that the same?” Although Shu Wanniang still didn’t agree, she didn’t insist.