Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Sesame Salt (1)_1 Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Sesame Salt (1)_1 After breakfast, Lin Yuan took advantage of the good weather to quickly bring out the two baskets of goji berries to dry, and instructed her two younger sisters to pick some tender grass for the rabbits.
Then she went to Lin Ershuan’s house to talk with him about going to the blacksmith shop together the next day.
Since Dad mentioned that there was an oven for baking mooncakes at the blacksmith shop, she had to make sure to reserve one when she went to town to sell the goji berries tomorrow.
She wasn’t sure how many days it would take to finish an oven with the current level of craftsmanship, and with less than half a month left until the Mid-Autumn Festival, she had to make them in advance to sell, so time was pressing.
“Sister-in-law Guizhi, are you busy?” Lin Yuan knew that Brother Ershuan would surely have left early in the morning to work, so when she entered Lin Ershuan’s gate and saw his wife, Feng Guizhi, tidying up a pile of sesame stalks while her mother-in-law was feeding her grandson millet flour porridge, she approached.
Hearing Lin Yuan’s call, Feng Guizhi set aside her work and smiled, “Yuanyuan, you’re here!
Lin Yuan nodded, greeted the third aunt, played with Xiao Shitou for a bit, and then asked, “Sister-in-law Guizhi, has my brother Ershuan gone to work?”
“Yes, your brother Ershuan took on a job in town making chairs for someone,” Feng Guizhi said as she moved a small stool for Lin Yuan to sit on.
As Brother Ershuan used to work with Lin Jiaxin before, he generally earned enough Silver each month to cover the family’s expenses, so he and his wife were particularly kind to Lin Yuan.
Even the older third aunt only believed what she saw with her own eyes and never paid attention to the gossiping women in the village.
Xiao Shitou swallowed the last bite of his millet flour porridge, wiped his little mouth, and grinned at Lin Yuan, “Sister Yuan, is Xiao Yaya at home?
Can I go and play with her?”
Xiao Shitou was a year older than Xiao Linshuang but had been protected by Lin Ershuan and his wife since he was little, and with the grandmother doting on her grandson, he grew to be much sturdier and taller than Lin Shuang.
“She and Er Ya are at the little puddle next to my house pulling grass for the rabbits.” Er Ya was Lin Wei, and Xiao Yaya was naturally Xiao Linshuang.
These were nicknames given by Lin Jiaxin himself, but only those close to their family would call them that.
With permission from Feng Guizhi, Xiao Shitou sprinted off like a chick let out of its cage.
The children in the village were typically raised in a free-range manner, and since the small puddle Lin Yuan mentioned hardly had any water in it and posed no danger, the third aunt allowed him to go.
She finished washing the dishes and then continued organizing the sesame stalks.
Lin Yuan also grabbed a handful and started knocking down the sesame seeds to help, “Sister-in-law, I want to go to the town’s blacksmith shop tomorrow.
I heard from Dad that Brother Ershuan knows Old Iron Head, so I’d like Brother Ershuan to show me the way.”
“Sure, I’ll tell him when he comes back.
It just happens that your Brother Ershuan also needs to go to the town for work tomorrow,” Feng Guizhi replied.
Another reason she liked being with Feng Guizhi’s family was that they never pried into others’ affairs.
Although she had nearly mentioned it, she refrained, and neither Sister-in-law Guizhi nor the third aunt asked her why she wanted to go to the blacksmith shop.
Looking at the pile of sesame stalks on the ground, Lin Yuan was somewhat puzzled.
To her knowledge, people here could not usually afford to eat sesame oil since it was too expensive to produce from sesame seeds.
Only the larger, wealthier families who were particular about their meals would buy sesame oil to eat.
Why then was Aunt Guizhi’s family growing so much sesame?
Could it be that they intended to sell it?
Lin Yuan thought about it and decided to ask.
The third aunt sighed deeply, with a worried look on her face, and Feng Guizhi exhaled and said, “Your Brother Ershuan heard from others in town that some wealthy households like to buy sesame to press oil, but somehow, by the time we harvested ours this year, nobody was buying.
Next year, we certainly can’t plant this again.
It’s costly and requires so much effort.”