Chapter 5 Jiujin(2)_1

As she was saying this, she absently lifted the straw mat covering the basket, which suddenly made her exclaim, "My goodness, Sister Zhou, what have you been doing?"

In the basket were over a dozen frozen bean bags wrapped in corn leaves, a few potatoes, and on top, a thoroughly-prepared wild rabbit.

Aunt Zhou said, "Just a moment ago, Jiujin passed by your door, and I heard you crying loudly. Could it be that you've run out of food at home? Though these things aren't much, they should be enough to fill your stomach, and are surely better than being starved."

With that, she sighed, "Oh! I wanted to bring you more, but recently the wild boars have been creating an uproar. Jiujin and his father haven't been hunting for days and I don't know when it would end!"

The Jiujin that Aunt Zhou referred to was her only son; named so because he was almost a 'jiujin' (over nine Chinese pounds, nearly 5kg) heavy at birth. Now he's already sixteen, and he's grown tall and strong. He's a kind-hearted and honest boy, a rare good youngster.

When he was little, since the Zhou and Du families lived close to each other and were good friends, Jiujin often came to the Mu Family to play with Cai Wei. At that time, his mother, Lady Zhou, would jokingly suggest that Cai Wei could marry Jiujin when they grew up. Cai Wei, who was still young and innocent, did not know what to say, but every time this issue came up, Jiujin would laugh heartily and say, "Fine!"

Later on, as the two children grew older and understood the need for boundaries between boys and girls, they saw each other less frequently. However, every time Jiujin returned from a hunt, he would allocate some of his prey and ask his mother to deliver it to the Mu Family. When he made money from selling his hunting spoils, he would secretly buy little trinkets like handkerchiefs and head ropes, ask his mother to deliver them and attribute these gifts to her.

His mother, Aunt Zhou, naturally knew her son's intentions. She had, in her heart, long considered Cai Wei as her future daughter-in-law. Upon hearing that the Mu family had gotten so poor that they had to sell their hair, Aunt Zhou hurriedly took some of their limited food stores and brought them over.

"Sister Zhou, I don't mean to be distant, but I really can't accept your things anymore. Your family isn't well-off either. If you keep subsidizing us, I will feel guilty," said Lady Du as she pushed the basket towards Aunt Zhou.

Aunt Zhou giggled, "We are sisters, aren't we? Isn't it being a stranger if we talk about these formalities? If you really feel bad about it, how about marrying Cai Wei off to Jiujin?"

Her words were half-serious, half-jesting, as she had her considerations: if Lady Du agreed, their family would joyously prepare for the festivities and welcome the new daughter-in-law home before the end of the year. If not, Aunt Zhou would brush it off as a joke, which she had teased about on and off over the years anyway.

As expected, Lady Du hesitantly replied, "Sister Zhou, about this... I'm afraid we have to wait until Cai Wei's father returns. I can't make this kind of decision on my own..."

Aunt Zhou lightly laughed off Lady Du's hesitation, not showing much disappointment. After all, Cai Wei was still young and not yet of marriageable age. If she had married now, she wouldn't bear children very soon. Therefore, waiting for another year or two wouldn't be a problem.

Not lingering on this subject any further, she pointed at the two children and said to Lady Du, "Sister, since the snow has closed off the mountains, where would you send the children to collect firewood? Besides, they're so thinly dressed, what if they freeze? I'll ask Jiujin to bring some firewood over later. Best to let them stay inside and get warm, it's terribly cold outside..."

Inside the room, Mu Caiwei listened intently to the conversation between Aunt Zhou and Lady Du, her excitement causing her bright eyes to sparkle.

She didn't take Aunt Zhou's jesting seriously; instead, the other news that Aunt Zhou brought gave her a glimmer of hope to alleviate their poverty!