The Lady Butcher and the Delicate Bride - Chapter 22.2 

Chapter 22.2

However, she said somewhat cautiously: “There’s no problem supporting you, but I’m afraid I can’t provide big fish and meat for every meal like before. Can you handle that?”

Chu Yu was still immersed in the emotion of being supported by a young girl. Seeing her cautious look, she couldn’t help but laugh: “Though the silver is gone, from now on this home won’t rely solely on you. I still have to keep slaughtering pigs; life won’t be that hard.”

Hearing this, Mu Dingxiang felt the burden on her shoulders lighten slightly. Now that their economic strength wasn’t so different, she suddenly found her value in this home. Feeling she was no longer just a pitiful thing hiding behind Chu Yu for protection, she became more confident, and her face became radiant. She said happily: “Then let’s work hard for this home together.”

Chu Yu smiled and stroked her head. “Alright—”

Before she could finish, she felt her pant leg being tugged. Zhu-er, not even reaching her knees, hopped out from somewhere. Looking up at the two of them, she said indignantly: “And Zhu-er! Zhu-er wants to work hard for this home together too.”

Chu Yu felt her heart being warmed by these waves of kindness all afternoon. Her mouth felt as if it were grinning from ear to ear. She bent down and picked up the tiny Zhu-er, pinching her little face: “Mm, Zhu-er is also part of this family, so you should contribute too. Mother will be relying on Zhu-er to support her in the future.”

Having been recognized and her status in the family elevated, Zhu-er tilted her chin up with her nostrils to the sky, looking quite important.

But the next moment she covered her nose and jumped toward Mu Dingxiang: “Mother is smelly.”

Chu Yu then remembered she had come back from slaughtering pigs this morning; she was covered in the smell of blood and a murderous aura. No wonder the plant spirit would despise her so.

“Fine, fine, Mother was wrong. Mother will go take a bath right now.”

That evening, after the two had finished washing, Mu Dingxiang bent down and pulled a jar from under the bed. She took out two large strings of coins and placed them on the table: “Chu Yu, this is the silver I saved. You usually handle the household expenses; I’ll give the money to you.”

Chu Yu smiled. The girl guarded against the Mu family like thieves and prized these two strings of coins more than her life, yet now she was so generously placing them on the table for her to use.

She stood up and walked to the stone bed, rummaged in the stone wall of the cave, then pulled a large handful of copper coins from her clothes today and poured them onto the table with a clatter.

“I have a bit too. Let’s see how much we have altogether.”

Mu Dingxiang began to count the money on the table by the light of the tung oil lamp. She finished quickly.

“Twelve taels, seven hundred and twenty wen in total.”

Chu Yu was stunned by how quickly she worked: “How can you count so fast? Could you have missed some?”

“I didn’t,” Mu Dingxiang looked at her confidently. “I took the two taels from my jar out to count every day; after a long time, I can tell roughly how many copper coins are in my hand just by touching them.”

“So you’re a little money-grubber,” Chu Yu arched an eyebrow. “You keep the money. From now on, you’ll manage this home.”

Hearing this, Mu Dingxiang was taken aback. She had thought that having two taels would give her a say, but “a starved camel is still bigger than a horse” even after being robbed, Chu Yu still had ten taels on her, much more than herself. Managing the silver and the home made Mu Dingxiang feel a bit unconfident.

“If I tell you to take it, then take it. You keep a tight grip on it; if it stays with me, it might be spent in a few days. Then I won’t even have the capital to buy pigs.” Chu Yu looked at her seriously.

Mu Dingxiang was a bit embarrassed by her gaze. She swallowed and said: “Are you truly giving it to me to hold?”

“Naturally it’s true. But you have to give me two and a half taels of silver, because I’m going to slaughter a pig tomorrow and have to pay the farmer first. A pig is about two taels and a bit more; I saw that pig yesterday, it was a bit over two hundred catties, about two taels two. Take a bit more just in case.”

Mu Dingxiang strung the money together, put ten taels back into the jar, and said: “If you want me to manage it, I will. I’ll save these ten taels first. Here are two taels and seven hundred wen for you. The remaining twenty wen I’ll keep in case I have a temporary use for it.”

Chu Yu smiled, counted out another two hundred wen, and said: “What use is twenty wen? Take these; in case you want to buy something and I’m not home, where would you find money?”

Mu Dingxiang thought those ten taels in the jar must not be touched for anything, but she didn’t have anywhere to spend money. Still, Chu Yu pushed the silver over, and even Zhu-er said: “Mother, put it away quickly! Then you can buy fun things for Zhu-er later.”

Only then did she put away the two hundred and twenty wen into her small money pouch, her face flushed.

Thinking that Mother Mu had rummaged through the cave previously, she suddenly felt that the large money jar wasn’t safe anywhere.

Chu Yu said to Zhu-er: “You know this cave best; find a good place for your Mother to bury the money.”

Zhu-er took the order, tugged Mu Dingxiang’s sleeve, and had her carry the jar behind the wooden cabinet. There was a hidden small hole there that just fit the jar, and it was covered by fine vines growing on the side. Unless one rummaged carefully, the location couldn’t be found.

“Mother, I’ll have the little vines help guard the money jar.”

Mu Dingxiang reached out and stroked its head. “Mm, with the money jar left to Zhu-er, Mother is very much at ease.”

Chu Yu said to her: “You might need to change that money jar for a larger one before long, or it won’t be big enough.”

Mu Dingxiang stared at her in surprise: “Can those eighty taels be recovered?”

Chu Yu lightly tapped her head: “What are you thinking? The money was taken by bandits; how could it be recovered? I mean from now on when I slaughter pigs, there will be at least three to five hundred wen income every day. With your jar being so small, it’ll be full in a few days.”

Hearing Chu Yu say this, Mu Dingxiang’s eyes lit up instantly: “Chu Yu, you’re so incredible, earning over three hundred wen in a day.”

You had to know that her father, Old Man Mu, only earned thirty wen a day carrying goods for others.

Being looked at with such adoration by the girl, Chu Yu couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed: “Ahem, it’s alright. It’s all hard-earned money. Living in the county before, expenses were high, so I didn’t save much. What little was left was stolen, so you must watch over it closely for me from now on.”

Mu Dingxiang nodded: “I will watch it closely. Then at the end of the year, can we build a big house?”

Chu Yu hadn’t expected her to mention the house. She said somewhat uneasily: “You’ve been sleeping in a cave with me for over a month; I’ve made you suffer.”

Mu Dingxiang gave her a reproachful look: “What are you thinking? Am I someone who can’t endure hardship? It’s fine with just the two of us, but if guests come in the future, where will you have them sit? And when autumn comes and the harvest is in, you’ll need a place to stack the rice and corn.”

“Furthermore, there won’t be any other expenses from now on. If we save money and don’t build a house, isn’t it as useless as a stone?”

Chu Yu felt this was indeed reasonable. She rubbed her hands and said: “I thought about building a house before moving back to the village. I had some money then too. I was just busy every day and there was a ready-made cave to live in, so I just kept being lazy.”

“Chu Yu, then let’s save money to build a house first.”

Chu Yu nodded and made a rough calculation: “Building a common courtyard costs twenty to thirty taels. A better one costs fifty. We have ten taels now, so we need forty more. My income is three to five hundred a day; subtracting expenses, let’s count it as three hundred. That’s about nine taels a month. There might be other expenses, but regardless, we can definitely build it before the end of the year.”

With this calculation, the two felt the future was full of hope. For a moment, their hearts were racing with excitement.

Aside from the years guarding the Great Wall, Chu Yu had spent most of her time at the Bai house. Coupled with being a lone person, she had never met someone who caught her eye and had never thought about how to spend her future. Now that there was a young girl by her side helping her plan, she suddenly felt that from now on, she also had a home. This unprecedented sense of belonging made her feel…

…feeling incredibly grounded and at peace.

After the lights were out and the two were lying in bed, Chu Yu couldn’t help but say, “Little Wood, thank you for giving me a home.”

Mu Dingxiang was already bleary-eyed with sleep. Hearing this, she replied muddledly, “Haven’t you got it mixed up? It should be you who gave me a home.”

“I haven’t got it wrong. Alright, go to sleep.” Chu Yu didn’t explain her feelings to Mu Dingxiang; she simply kept this joyful mood silently in her heart.

The next morning, when Mu Dingxiang woke up, Chu Yu was no longer in bed. She hurriedly scrambled up to dress and wash. Ever since Chu Yu returned yesterday and confessed to having no money, she felt the burden on her shoulders grow heavy. She felt she must help Chu Yu share the pressures of life, so she had to be even more diligent today.

The seeds she had planted previously had grown almost above knee-height. Comparing them with the seedlings in other people’s fields, she couldn’t help but find it strange; she had clearly planted them late, so why were they growing taller than everyone else’s?

Zhu-er came hopping and skipping over. Seeing Mu Dingxiang standing in the field making puzzled gestures, she asked curiously, “Mother, what are you doing?”

“I’m comparing our seedlings with the ones in other people’s fields. We planted late and haven’t used much fertilizer, so why are they growing taller than others? And every single one is so sturdy.”

Hearing this, Zhu-er let out a giggle.

Mu Dingxiang roughly knew what was going on as soon as she heard that. She caught Zhu-er, lightly tickled her armpit, and said, “Is it our Zhu-er helping Mother again?”

Zhu-er buried her head into Mu Dingxiang’s embrace with a grin and said, “I saw our seedlings were growing too slowly, so I had a talk with them and told them to grow a bit faster. They can’t be outdone by other people’s fields.”

Mu Dingxiang had never imagined things could work this way. She rubbed Zhu-er’s little head and said, “You really have helped Mother a great deal.”

“Of course! I said yesterday that Zhu-er is going to support both Mothers in the future. If I couldn’t even handle a small matter like this, how could I hold up this home later?”

Looking at the little sprite acting like a “wise-beyond-her-size” brat, Mu Dingxiang couldn’t help but laugh. She planted a loud, wet kiss on the sprite’s forehead. Zhu-er was instantly so happy she squirmed in her arms like a little grub.

“Mother smells so, so good.”

Although Mu Dingxiang didn’t know why she smelled good, ever since she learned Zhu-er was a little bamboo demon, she knew these plant spirits naturally loved those with a Wood attribute. She figured she must have that attribute. In contrast, Chu Yu likely didn’t; moreover, she spent all day slaughtering pigs and sheep and was covered in a murderous aura. The only reason Zhu-er could be so good to her was that Chu Yu had saved the little bamboo demon’s life; otherwise, the sprite would have vanished long ago.

“Mother smells good, so how about Mother hugs Zhu-er often from now on?” Mu Dingxiang teased her.

“Okay—” The little bamboo demon’s eyes narrowed into slits with joy, but then, as if thinking of something, she shook her head and said, “No, Mother can’t always hug Zhu-er. Mother needs to hug Chu Yu. Brother Vine said that husbands and wives need to hug often to improve their relationship.”

“You little brat—” Mu Dingxiang patted her bottom and said, “Are Chu Yu and I on bad terms? We’re doing great.”

“If you’re doing great, then when will you give Zhu-er a little sister? Brother Vine said.”

Hearing her say this, Mu Dingxiang’s head began to throb. She had no idea what kind of principles that old vine by the river was stuffing into her little darling’s head every day. For such a small child to have so many messy things in her brain, she hurriedly interrupted her: “Stop, stop right there. Your Mother and I are both women; we can’t give you a little sister.”

“Why?” Zhu-er’s eyes widened, and she said somewhat unhappily, “You haven’t even tried hard yet.”

“Ha! try hard at what? What are you trying to say?” Mu Dingxiang felt as though she was about to be frightened to death by this little thing.

“Brother Vine said.”

“Good Zhu-er, quickly go ask the crop sisters in our field if they need anything else. Do they need water? Is there any grass that hasn’t been hoed clean? Mother is going to get to work right now—” Mu Dingxiang, fearing Zhu-er would blurt out some other staggering statement in the next moment, hurriedly covered her mouth.

However, one thing was certain now: that old vine tree by the river was truly not a proper tree.