Qian Duo went to the kitchen to find Granny Ma to boil water but couldn't find her, so she had to boil water herself to make tea.
When she carried the freshly brewed tea to Zhao Liangcai's door and heard Suozi's shouts, she pushed the door open without knocking.
The posture of Zhao Liangcai and Suozi inside made her scream uncontrollably.
Her screams attracted the servants chopping wood and carrying water in the yard, Mr. Zheng who was teaching, and Fuzi.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Make way, let me get through," Fuzi pushed past the people blocking the way, wanting to get to the front to see what had happened to his brother.
Fuzi squeezed to the front and first saw his brother sitting on a stool facing the door with a commanding posture.
Brother Suozi looked at his enraged cousin with a strange expression. Fuzi scratched his head. What was going on?
"Brother, Brother Suozi, Cousin, what are you doing?" Fuzi looked left and right, unable to figure out the reason for his cousin's scream.
"You go back to class. Mr. Zheng, thank you for your trouble," Zhao Liangcai said the first words since Qian Duo entered the room.
Mr. Zheng nodded and told Fuzi to go back to class, and also called the servants who were watching to leave. The door was left ajar.
Seeing that everyone had left, Qian Duo calmed her anger and told herself that she had seen such things many times in her previous life, and there was nothing strange about it.
She couldn't assume Zhao Liangcai was a good person just because he hadn't married before she died. People with power and influence often had eccentricities.
Qian Duo smiled awkwardly, "Cousin, Brother Zhou, the tea is ready. You two carry on."
She placed the teapot on the round table, then closed the door after leaving the room.
Suozi re-tied his belt and kicked Zhao Liangcai's calf, "Your cousin is only fifteen, right? Heh heh, she knows quite a lot."
"She's not my cousin. Stay away from her," Zhao Liangcai walked around the teapot Qian Duo had placed on the table and reached out to pour the water that was already on the table and had cooled down.
"I don't like your cousin like this," Suozi stroked his chin, "If I'm going to find someone, it should be the old woman's granddaughter from down the mountain."
"Hammer, why did you even start fighting? Damn it, are you serious? Take this..."
Qian Duo stood outside the door, listening to the sound of tables and stools rubbing against the floor inside the room, and occasional muffled groans from Suozi. She clenched her fists and returned to her room.
Did she need to rethink the path she was going to take from now on?
While Qian Duo's future path was wavering, Qin Junyao had a clear goal for what she wanted to do.
After a stroll in the Gobi, she returned home and entered her space to look at the guqin. There were still strings in the guqin case waiting for her to attach.
Qin Junyao loved attaching guqin strings and tuning them herself.
In modern times, there are two types of guqin strings: steel strings and silk strings.
Steel strings have a long sustain, a clean tone, and a long lifespan, making them durable and less prone to breakage.
Silk strings, like the ones Qin Junyao was currently working with, made of silkworm silk, are expensive, easily breakable, and prone to going out of tune. The sound is also softer. However, when played, the tone is ancient, serene, and beautiful. Between the two, Qin Junyao preferred silk strings.
She took out the guqin bag from the case and spread it on the grass in her space. Using bamboo picks, cotton cloth, and other tools, she installed the strings onto the guqin.
In the dust-free environment of her space, Qin Junyao washed her hands at the well before playing the guqin.
While tuning earlier, she had already heard the tone of this "Missed" guqin: subtle, mellow, and not ostentatious.
For the guqin to produce a tone that even amazed Qin Junyao, it needed not only a good instrument but also superior strings.
She sat cross-legged, placed the guqin on the case that served as a guqin bed, and began to play.
.
Qin Xiaoyu stood by the kang, looking at Qin Junyao, who was sleeping with a smile on her face. She put her hands on her hips, her demeanor exactly like Grandma Qin. Taking a deep breath, she shouted.
"Qin Junyao, are you still sleeping?"
"What time is it? You've been home all day and done nothing?"
In another room, where Grandma Qin was helping Qin Sen count copper coins, she shuffled over in her slippers and slapped Qin Xiaoyu on the back.
"Are you looking for death? What are you shouting for?"
"Grandma, we've been busy all day outside, and she's just sleeping at home." Qin Xiaoyu, unhappy that her grandmother hit her, pointed at Qin Junyao, who was still lying on the kang, and complained.
"I told you to stay home, but you insisted on going to Yan County. If you don't work, who will?" Grandma Qin, seeing Qin Junyao smiling, remembered her granddaughter sleeping and smiling in her dreams while feverish outside Anshun Prefecture. This time, perhaps it was a Bodhisattva's enlightenment.
"Well, well, she can't just do nothing! She didn't even cook." Qin Xiaoyu was still unconvinced.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Would you dare to eat the food your sister cooks?"
Grandma Qin's words silenced Qin Xiaoyu. Indeed, she wouldn't dare to eat her sister's cooking. The only time her sister cooked in their hometown, she had diarrhea for two days afterward.
The voices of the grandmother and granddaughter successfully woke Qin Junyao, who had been lost in the guqin music. She looked at the sky outside, which had already darkened, and was surprised that she had spent so much time in her space.
"Grandma, Xiaoyu, you're back?"
"Hmph," Qin Xiaoyu snorted and went to the next room to find her uncle.
Qin Junyao was puzzled. Why was Xiaoyu, who had been so nice to her yesterday, acting like this today?
"Yaoyao, did you sleep well? If you slept well, get up and eat. Grandma went to the grain store in Yan County today. Oh my, it's more expensive than in the northwest city."
Grandma Qin winked at Qin Junyao with her beady eyes, implying, "Do you understand?"
"Should I bring out more rice?" Qin Junyao asked tentatively.
Grandma Qin slapped her eldest granddaughter on the back, making Qin Junyao wince, "You're sharp. Not too much, just do your best. Grandma will burn more paper for you tonight."
"There are too many expenses for setting up a new household with copper coins."
Speaking of this, Grandma Qin seemed a little embarrassed, "Well, it's just this once. Grandma accidentally spent your third uncle's medicine money."
Mentioning Qin Sen's illness, Qin Junyao thought of the medicinal herbs she had planted in her space. She asked Grandma Qin, "Grandma, what medicine does third uncle take every year? I originally wanted Doctor Sheng to examine third uncle, but it turned out that Doctor Sheng's family had some trouble."
Grandma Qin waved her hand, "No rush, it's been so many years."
"When I found your third uncle, he was lying in the snow without even a blanket. The illness was caused by the cold."
"He's been taking good medicine, like ginseng whiskers, huangjing, and other things I've forgotten. You keep lying down. Grandma will prepare the yellow paper and burn it for you when it gets dark."
Qin Junyao was simultaneously relieved that Qin Da Niu had dug up the chicken head huangjing from the mountains for her and that she had propagated a lot of it in her space. She also wanted to tell Grandma Qin to stop talking about burning paper for her, as it was truly frightening.
Dinner that night was baked flatbread, which Grandma Qin had recently bought in Yan County. The dish was a large basin of stewed cabbage and tofu.
There was no oil in the dish, and it was not enough to eat.
"Mother, Deputy Officer Zhou came this afternoon and said that our family will have someone to go to the salt lake with him tomorrow morning. Who from our family will go?" Qin Sen scooped the broth from the dish with his spoon to soak his rice and asked Grandma Qin.
"Who is Deputy Officer Zhou?" Grandma Qin couldn't remember anyone like that.
"Grandma, it's Brother Suozi," Qin Er Niu interjected.
"That kid is a deputy officer? Who is so blind to let him be a deputy officer?" Grandma Qin rolled her eyes and then scanned everyone at the table.
"Second son, you go. You and the Hou family are together, and you can't be bullied. Your brother is too soft, he can't do it."
Qin Lin said it was no problem, and Qin Mu tightened his grip on his chopsticks.