Shen Xiaoyan frowned upon hearing this. These things were partly due to Zheng Wei's help, clearly the fruit of their joint labor.
Without waiting for Shen Xiaoyan to speak, Zheng Wei continued, "I want to earn money for Mimi to use, to fulfill Mimi's dream. I know Mimi wants to buy the hillside behind us, but relying on growing fruit trees, we'd still have to wait two years. I was thinking, I could go out trading with Sima Han and earn money to buy the hillside for Mimi."
Shen Xiaoyan was at a loss for words for a moment. Zheng Wei was only nineteen this year, at a man's prime for ambition. Asking him to stay with her, living a secluded life of farming and weaving, a paradise on earth, was actually quite difficult for him.
Before Sima Han appeared, Zheng Wei certainly hadn't thought of leaving her to go out and forge his own path. But clearly, Sima Han's appearance had changed his mind.
Shen Xiaoyan pondered for a long time and thought a great deal, finally saying, "Alright, you go."
Zheng Wei had originally thought that if Shen Xiaoyan didn't agree, he wouldn't go. Living a simple life with Shen Xiaoyan like this would be quite good. But he hadn't expected Shen Xiaoyan to agree so readily.
"You agree?" Zheng Wei asked in surprise.
"Why wouldn't I agree?" Shen Xiaoyan raised her eyebrows and retorted, "I'm waiting for you to earn money and buy the hillside."
Zheng Wei embraced Shen Xiaoyan, a smile appearing on his face. "Thank you, Mimi."
Zheng Wei understood very well that Shen Xiaoyan didn't care about money at all; buying the hillside or not was inconsequential. She thoroughly enjoyed their current life. Her saying this was merely to ease his departure.
"But you have to wait another month before you leave," Shen Xiaoyan added.
Zheng Wei naturally agreed, releasing Shen Xiaoyan, and then said, "I definitely can't leave immediately. I'll have to earn some travel expenses first."
"Don't we still have money at home?" Shen Xiaoyan was confused. There should be one or two hundred coins at home, right?
"That money is for your household expenses. If I'm going to trade, how can I empty out the family's coffers?" Zheng Wei raised his eyebrows. "Do you look down on your husband like this?"
Shen Xiaoyan burst out laughing. "Then how will you earn travel expenses?"
"Hunting in the mountains."
After the two of them had come to an agreement, they embraced and lay down to sleep.
At the same time, in the west side room, Sima Han was saying the same thing to Yue Qingxin.
Yue Qingxin kept her head down, and in the dim lamplight, her expression couldn't be clearly seen. After Sima Han finished his prepared speech, he looked at Yue Qingxin with concern.
"Can't you not go? Didn't you say that from now on, you'd live a simple life with me? Isn't that good?" Yue Qingxin finally raised her head and looked at Sima Han.
Sima Han felt a little relieved when he saw that Yue Qingxin wasn't crying.
"Xinxin, I want to earn some money to buy the land next to this courtyard and build a house like this for us to live in. Wouldn't that be nice?" Sima Han said softly.
"I think living together with sister is quite good. It's lively with more people," Yue Qingxin said with a light smile. This meant that he didn't need to build a new house; she was very satisfied with the current situation.
Sima Han was suddenly speechless. Why wasn't this working?
"Pfft."
Seeing Sima Han frozen there, Yue Qingxin couldn't help but chuckle.
"Go, then. I don't know what you want to do, but don't treat me as a fool. Going to trade? You dare to say that?" Yue Qingxin said, wanting to laugh again at the end.
Sima Han was extremely embarrassed, his face flushed. However, since Yue Qingxin had agreed, he was at ease.
He reached out and held Yue Qingxin in his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, his gaze turning deep.
Those people, even though they had forced him into this predicament now, he would eventually return.
When he returned, those people would lose their heads.
From the next day, Zheng Wei and Sima Han spent their days hunting in the mountains.
They didn't let any wild game, large or small, escape. They brought back what they hunted on the first day and early the next morning, they took it to town to sell. This also led to them contacting a larger restaurant in town, offering to supply wild game for a month.
Although it was only for a month, the restaurant owner agreed. Because it was all very good wild game, even if it was only for a month, it could bring a lot of business to the restaurant. After all, there were always people who loved to eat wild game.
However, for large animals like deer, they would find separate buyers. Selling them to the restaurant would genuinely result in a lower price.
In this month, Zheng Wei and his companion earned a full 500 taels of silver.
Shen Xiaoyan looked at so much money and was speechless. How many wild animals would they have to hunt to earn so much?
Yue Qingxin, with the same thought as her, had a soft heart and loved living creatures the most.
"Don't worry, the mountain is so big, and we haven't even entered the inner regions," Zheng Wei comforted her.
Shen Xiaoyan smiled and then said, "What am I worried about? There are plenty of animals in the mountains."
However, since the month was up, Zheng Wei and Sima Han also had to leave.
Shen Xiaoyan found someone to calculate an auspicious day for their departure, which was April 26th.
Although Shen Xiaoyan never believed in such things, it was better to be safe than sorry.
In ancient times, communication was inconvenient. Once Zheng Wei left, if she wrote him a letter, she wouldn't know where to send it; she could only wait for Zheng Wei to send a letter back.
Today was April 25th. Zheng Wei and Sima Han said they had some business in town and left early with a large cart.
Shen Xiaoyan and Yue Qingxin didn't accompany them. Instead, they stayed home to pack things for the two of them.
When going on a long journey, carrying too much luggage would be inconvenient, but bringing nothing would be even more so.
First and foremost, clothes, shoes, and socks were essential.
In the past month, Shen Xiaoyan, besides watering the crops she had planted, had spent the rest of her time learning embroidery with Yue Qingxin.
Her talent in this area was truly incomparable to Yue Qingxin's. However, after pricking her fingers countless times, she could finally independently cut, sew, and completely make a piece of clothing.
Whatever one learned, it would become smoother with practice, and making clothes was the same. Within a few days of learning, her speed also increased.
Of course, these were simple clothes, the kind without any embroidery. Embroidery, in particular, couldn't be learned in just a few days.
Fortunately, Zheng Wei was a man, and his clothes didn't need any fancy patterns, so Shen Xiaoyan's work was still quite passable.
Although her embroidery wasn't great, Shen Xiaoyan was a bit better than Yue Qingxin at making shoes.
The reason was simple: making shoes was a very strenuous task. Yue Qingxin naturally didn't have enough strength, but for Shen Xiaoyan, it was a piece of cake. Therefore, all the shoe soles were made by Shen Xiaoyan.
Shen Xiaoyan and Yue Qingxin together packed the necessary clothes, shoes, and socks into bundles, along with some personal belongings.
Shen Xiaoyan also prepared some medicine, such as remedies for colds, coughs, and diarrhea, as well as bandages and wound medicine, all for emergencies.
After the two of them had packed everything, they looked at the two large bundles on the kang bed, their hearts feeling a bit heavy.
After a long silence, Yue Qingxin finally spoke, "Sister, don't worry. Didn't they say they'd be back by the end of the year at the latest?"
Shen Xiaoyan wasn't worried. She knew Zheng Wei's capabilities, so there was definitely no need to worry about safety. It was just that being separated for such a long time was truly difficult to part with.