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墨書 Inktalez
"That's not quite how it works," Yu Chunmiao said, pulling someone aside and sitting down on a stool with a serious expression. "The key is to make her like you. Look, when you're living in the same courtyard, you have to seize every opportunity."
Women are drawn to strong men. If she can't move something, you step in. If someone bullies her, you stand up for her. If she has troubles, you solve them. When the time is right...
Yu Chunmiao clenched his fist and said earnestly, "You can have some appropriate physical contact. A casual brush of hands, for instance."
She spoke seriously while Shi Song listened intently.
Qi Chong leaned against the courtyard gate, arms crossed, watching as Donkey Cart was already harnessed and ready.
"You need to be like a peacock, displaying your masculinity everywhere," he continued. "Sometimes you have to be a bit bold; if the mood strikes, just wrap your arms around her and kiss her."
Ahem! Qi Chong cleared his throat. When Yu Chunmiao looked up, he saw a complex expression on that handsome face—was it displeasure or embarrassment? Perhaps it was both.
Shi Song felt as if he knew too much and gave Qi Chong a meaningful smile before thanking him and leaving.
Once he was gone, Qi Chong placed his hands on his hips and leaned in closer to Yu Chunmiao, their faces nearly touching. "So you like showing off like a peacock? You enjoy being bold?"
Yu Chunmiao pointed at his chest and said, "You don't need to do anything; just standing still is enough of a display. You with your limp and bow are quite impressive; I can't take my eyes off you."
"Little rascal!" Yu Chunmiao's nose was playfully nipped by the man.
At that moment, Qi Yuan yawned as he came out and said, "Big brother, where's the donkey? I need to go to town today to call the Shixiongdi over to help."
"Oh, Shi Shushu took it away; he probably won't be back until afternoon. If you chase after him now, you might catch up," Yu Chunmiao paused before adding, "But it's best if you don't chase him down; we wouldn't want you to be a third wheel."
Qi Yuan thought that the town wasn't too far away and decided to eat first.
The couple spent their afternoon at the threshing ground. With many hands making light work, they prepared everything needed for boiling sugar; the sweet canes were already piled into a small mountain.
"You know," someone remarked, "these sweet canes do resemble sugarcane. How come we never noticed?"
"It's because we can't read; we're always thinking about food and drink and don't have time to notice these things," another replied.
"We really should learn to read."
Pounding sweet canes is hard work. Qi Chong kept four men behind and assigned one to fetch water.
The women cleaned the sweet canes thoroughly, chopping them into small pieces before placing them into two large stone mortars. Two men took turns wielding wooden mallets to smash the sweet canes into pulp.
They added water into the pot and slowly boiled it down before filtering and pressing it.
During the pressing of the sweet canes, Zheng Chunyan showcased her strength—she was the strongest among the women.
The others couldn't squeeze out any juice, but she managed to extract some and held it in her hands. As the moisture gradually evaporated, a thick, reddish-brown liquid emitted a sweet, syrupy fragrance unique to sugar.
Everyone couldn't resist dipping their fingers in to taste a bit; the sweetness melted in their mouths, and joy spread across their faces. In this era, sugar was a rare commodity, with a pound of Brown Sugar fetching a high price. Even the local merchants would only buy a couple of taels to give to their wives during confinement when they welcomed a new child.
With the pot not producing enough, water was added and brought to a boil for the children at home. At Yu Chunmiao's command, all the children gathered around, eager for a taste.
Zhang Ping also arrived; he looked thinner than before and still wore his old clothes, patched on the shoulders as if mended twice over. He poured half of the sweetened water into Zhang Guihua's hands and said, "Mother, you should drink too."
Zhang Guihua took a small sip and then handed it back to him. Watching him lick the bottom of the bowl, tears of bittersweet emotion welled up in her eyes.
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