Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 101 - 100: Laozi Shudao Mountain

After spending a full hour, Qin Yao finally cleaned up the four dusty kids.

The shadow of the fight had disappeared, and the four children were giggling and running around the main room, making Qin Yao’s ears ache from the noise.

In the yard, Liu Ji washed up and was ready to return to his room.

Just as he turned around, Qin Yao called him.

"Hand it over."

"What?" Liu Ji feigned ignorance.

Qin Yao: "Money."

Liu Ji looked puzzled, "What money? My dear wife, I don’t have any money, isn’t all the money with you?"

Qin Yao raised her hand, holding up three fingers, "I’ll count to three, one, two..."

"Oh, I almost forgot!"

Liu Ji slapped his forehead, helplessly grinned as he walked in, took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket, and placed them on the table.

"This is the ointment fee Liu Facai paid for our children’s bruises. I planned to give it to you for safekeeping right away, but I got busy as soon as I came home. If you hadn’t reminded me, I would have forgotten all about it."

Qin Yao counted them, only eighteen copper coins, sneered, rapping her knuckles on the table twice.

Then Liu Ji fumbled around in his pocket again, looking surprised, "Oh? Two coins fell here."

A total of twenty copper coins were laid on the table. He shrugged innocently at Qin Yao, saying, "That’s all, six cents were for buying toys for the kids, and fourteen were for the ointment."

Qin Yao looked up at him, a slight smile playing at her lips, "There’s also a ten cents compensation for mental stress."

She heard it clearly at the ancestral hall, and yet he still tried to play tricks with her. Isn’t he tired of life!

Liu Ji’s eyes widened instantly; he had spoken very quietly about money, how did she hear it standing outside the hall?

"Wife, do you have ears that hear a thousand miles away?" Liu Ji joked, covering his chest with his hand, trying to bluff his way through.

Qin Yao stood up suddenly, Liu Ji immediately raised his hands to protect his face, but then he couldn’t safeguard both face and money, and the copper coins hidden in his chest pocket were all taken out by Qin Yao.

Not only did he lose the money, but when he lowered his hands to snatch it back, Qin Yao slapped the back of his head with a big whack!

Stars sparkled before Liu Ji’s eyes as he staggered a few steps on the spot, whimpering "Oh dear," leaning against the door and sliding to the ground, unable to regain his senses for a while.

It hurt, it hurt too much!

Qin Yao strung together thirty coins and stuffed them into her pocket, gesturing to Da Lang and the others with a nod, the children immediately lined up to go back to the room to sleep, none of them dared steal a glance at their father.

"Da Lang, Second Lang, Sanlang, Si Niang!" Liu Ji held his dizzy head calling after them, but nothing remained.

Qin Yao glanced at him, "Why are you shouting? If it weren’t for your decent performance today, I’d throw you in the river to feed the fish! Get up, turn off the lights and go to sleep, if you keep howling I’ll cut off your tongue!"

Liu Ji bit his lip, feeling wronged enough to want to die.

Seeing Qin Yao enter the room, he plucked up the courage to mutter quietly, "Qin Yao! You resort to violence, you’re in the wrong!"

The light in the room went out directly, no one responded at all.

Liu Ji shook his fist at the air, gnashing his teeth as he climbed up, dusting his clothes, and went back to sleep reluctantly.

All night, thinking about the lost thirty coins, he couldn’t sleep no matter how he tried, tossing and turning till dawn, and still had to get up to make breakfast.

"Meat meat meat, thinking of eating meat the whole day, why can’t you just eat yourself to death..." grumbling as he chopped the meat filling.

Sounds of someone getting up came from the main room, the kitchen falling silent except for the crackling of firewood burning in the stove.

Qin Yao opened the door, tying her short hair into a high ponytail with a cloth strip as she walked towards the kitchen.

Washing her face, she saw that the water vat was nearly dry and reminded him, "Remember to fill up the vat later."

After washing her face, she picked up a broom and swept the dust in the yard, fed the chickens, and during this, the aroma of meat patties wafted from the kitchen. Qin Yao took a deep breath, "Smells so good~"

Liu Ji brought out the packed lunch container and two meat patties for breakfast together. Qin Yao quickly finished the patties, took her tools and lunch, and began a busy day.

From gathering stones to grinding them into millstones, it took seven and a half days, now all the millstones had been made. What Qin Yao needed to do today was transport the finished millstones and stone grinders with Liu Bai and his brothers to Lower River Village.

The millstones were heavy, each person could carry only one per trip, there were four pieces for two mills, with Qin Yao and the others each carrying one, they delivered both mills in one go to the destination.

Afterwards, they returned together, rolling the stone grinders wrapped in hemp rope to Lower River Village, completing the transport mission in the morning.

The mill house in Lower River Village had been mostly constructed, the most important elevated floor parts completed, just rightly positioned over the pond and supported by four one-meter-high stone columns, with several wooden stakes on the middle tread-water part, providing adequate support.

After agreeing on the installation time for the waterwheels, Qin Yao led Liu Bai and his two brothers back to Liu Family Village.

She directly settled the payment with them, totaling eight days of work, paying thirty-five coins per person per day, distributing two hundred and eighty coins to each, with a total expenditure of eight hundred and forty coins.

Holding the wages, the three of them felt a bit bashful, not expecting so much altogether.

If it weren’t for their sister-in-law willing to take them along, usually going out to find odd jobs, they might not earn such a sum even after a month.

Liu Bai invited Qin Yao to his house for a meal, Qin Yao waved her hand, saying she had to find Liu the carpenter, and turned around leaving.

Watching Qin Yao walk away, the brothers couldn’t help but laugh, clutching two maces of silver coins plus eighty copper coins.

Mrs. Zhang and Old Liu never managed their outside earnings from doing odd jobs, except Liu Fei who was unmarried and had to hand over his money, Liu Bai and Liu Zhong handed theirs to their wives.

He was so delighted to see the silver that he was practically over the moon.

Mrs. Qiu was the same. With another on the way, she was even more strapped for money. Holding more than two maces of silver gave her more confidence.

Mrs. Zhang received Liu Fei’s handed-over earnings, smiling as she counted eighty remaining coins, telling him to keep them for small purchases.

Liu Fei grinned and accepted, still a bit childish, coaxing Jinbao and Jinhua to buy treats at Liu Huolang’s house.

In the evening, Mrs. Zhang bought five little chicks from Granny Wang’s house, though it wasn’t a festival, she even killed an unproductive hen to give the whole family a good meal.

She reserved an extra bowl of hearty chicken soup for Mrs. Qiu, telling her to drink more for her health.

Mrs. He saw this, feeling a bit envious yet smiling because when she had been pregnant, her mother-in-law had also given her extra good food.

She’s not afraid of lacking food, just worried if the in-laws show favoritism. As long as things are fair, there’s nothing to say.

Mrs. Qiu asked Liu Zhong to fetch two small bowls from the kitchen, dividing half of the chicken soup for their two children.

Jinbao was ecstatic, taking a big gulp and grinning foolishly at her mother, "Mother, if only we could drink chicken soup every day!"

Mrs. He lightly tapped his head, "You’re dreaming, be grateful for what you have."

Jinbao nodded, savored the remaining half-bowl slowly, letting the taste of chicken soup linger a bit longer.