General, Madam Called You To Farm

Chapter 130 – Being Arrogant (2)
Translator : Moon Lee
Editor : Tea

After Su Xiaoxiao came out of Young Master Xiang’s side room, she went to the study room in the front yard to see if Shen Chuan was there. 

She walked all the way and didn’t see any study room with its door open. She thought that Shen Chuan might have red papers available, so she wanted to buy some from Shen Chuan.

However, she came at an unfortunate time. Dean Shen took Shen Chuan back to his father-in-law’s house to spend the little new year. 

Su Xiaoxiao left the academy regretfully.

The old man stopped her.

“No cakes today!” Su Xiaoxiao said seriously. 

The old man raised his finger and said, “One cake for one red paper.” 

Su Xiaoxiao: “……” 

Several minutes later, Su Xiaoxiao came out from the back door valiantly with ten sheets of red paper in her arms. 

The servant who was sweeping asked in a low voice, “Didn’t the young master let you…… to give the paper directly to Miss Su?” 

The old man took a bite of the egg yolk pastry and said, “Hmm.” 

-Egg yolk pastry 

So what?

The cakes were so delicious! 

——

It snowed again in the morning. But fortunately only for a while and then stopped, which did not affect Su Xiaoxiao’s footsteps much. 

When Su Xiaoxiao arrived at the village, it was already noon. At this time, most of the villagers supposedly were at their own homes. But apparently, they gathered at the Old Su family’s house, which made the Old Su family’s house become so crowded with people. 

“Jie1! You’re back!” 

1Jie (姐) : older sister. 

Su Ergou, who was fetching water at the village’s entrance, saw his older sister coming with the three little cuties. 

In fact, three little cuties insisted on following him to fetch water so they could wait for Su Xiaoxiao at the village’s entrance. After seeing her, they immediately came over and pounced themselves on Su Xiaoxiao.

Su Xiaoxiao bent down and let the three little ones bump into her arms. 

She touched the heads of the three little ones and said, “Dahu, Erhu, Xiaohu.” 

After getting along for a while, now she could tell who was who without counting the hair whorls. 

-One hair whorl

-Two hair whorls / double crown

-Three hair whorls 

Upon hearing their names called correctly by Su Xiaoxiao, the three little ones were so happy that they rushed to rub their heads against her palm, and said, “Mom.” 

Su Xiaoxiao had gradually become accustomed to this and would no longer try to correct them.

After rubbing their little heads, she touched their little hands and said, “Is it cold?” 

The three little ones shook their heads and said, “Not cold.” 

Waiting for mother, it was not cold at all!

Su Ergou had fetched the water, and the family began to walk back.

“Did something happen to the Old Su family?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.

Su Ergou snorted, “Da biaoge2 is writing fortune couplets and Duilians for the Old Su family. Lizheng3 and the relatives of the Old Su family also had it.

2Da biaoge (大表哥) : Eldest cousin.

Biaoge (表哥) : older male cousin via female line.

3Lizheng (里正) : A official position in ancient china, mainly in charge of household registrations and tax payment. 

Moreover, they said that if they had extra papers left, they would give it to the villagers for free. Everyone wanted to see if they could get a pair of Duilians. If they couldn’t get it, it would also be good to be able to grab a fortune couplet. 

-Duilian (对联) : is a pair of lines of poetry which adhere to certain rules. They are usually seen on the sides of the door leading to people’s homes as hanging scrolls in the interior. 

The couplets sold in the town were very expensive. In addition to the cost of the red papers, it was also necessary to pay a little labor fee to the person who wrote the couplets, commonly known as the brush and ink money. 

Mrs. Huang and Chen Haoyuan’s action could be described as a big move, which gave enough good reputation to the Old Su family. 

Mrs. Fang and Mrs. Yang came out to stick the couplets, their faces beaming with joy. The villagers surrounded them and kept praising them.

At this moment, Aunt Wu hugged her crying little grandson and squeezed out of the Old Su family. 

The adults wanted the Spring Festival couplets, but children didn’t want them. There was no way, so Aunt Wu had to leave first. 

-Spring Festival couplets are usually composed of three parts. The first line of the couplet, the second line of the couplet and the horizontal scroll. The first and second line are usually pasted on the right side and the left side of a door respectively, and the scroll is usually above the door. 

She saw the two siblings and quickly said, “Pangya! Ergou! Chen Xiucai4 is writing couplets. Go and ask for a pair! He is your eldest cousin! He will definitely give it to you!” 

4Xiucai (秀才) : is a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations in China and obtained the qualification for admission to academic institution in ancient China. 

Su Ergou rolled his eyes, ‘who wanted the couplets that were written by that guy!’ 

Aunt Wu shouted to the Old Su family, “Chen Xiucai! Pangya and Ergou are here to ask you for the couplets!” 

As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers immediately looked at the siblings.

“Didn’t they say that after finishing writing for Old Zhang’s family, it would be our turn?” 

“That’s right ah, why is there still another person who wants couplets! Is there an end to this?” 

“We can’t fight against them! After all, they’re Chen Xiucai’s cousins!” 

Su Xiaoxiao said, “Everyone misunderstood. We didn’t come here to ask for the couplets. We just passed by.”