Chapter 33: Unexpected Surprise

  Zuo Gui was also delighted, grinning from ear to ear: "Hehe, I underestimated their generosity. I thought this package of money would be worth at most 200 or so wen, but unexpectedly there's even some loose silver inside! Hehehe... Yesterday, I told you and your mother to go buy a quilt, but your mother said you didn't want one. Seeing how you are today, I know you must not have slept well last night. This won't do, we now have some money, come on, let's go buy that quilt!"

  "No! I won't!" Young Master Zuo stood still, "Unless you two also buy a quilt, it's cold tonight, add one more, otherwise I'd rather freeze to death than not have one."

  "Oh, you kid!" Zuo Guilai laughed and sighed, "Alright! Let's buy two beds then. It's just a matter of twenty cents anyway. We can't afford to be stingy with this kind of money, we have to take care of our bodies. If the two of us fall ill, everything will be over."

  Zuo Shaoyang was delighted, he too had been worried about sleeping at night. If he didn't sleep for another night, he would collapse. Now that his father had finally agreed, he no longer had to worry about sleeping at night. Following Zuo Gui to Wadou Market, this is a commodity distribution market, and there are also vendors selling quilts.

  Although Zuo Gui decided to spend money on two quilts, he still tried his best to save as much as possible. He inquired throughout the entire market and finally chose a store with the lowest price, spending 17 cents to buy two hemp quilts.

  Zuo Shaoyang found that the quilt was sewn with a needle in a well shape, somewhat like a modern down jacket. It felt heavy when hugged, and when touched, it made a rustling sound inside the interlayer. He asked Zuo Gui, "What's inside this?"

  "Rice!"

  "Straw?" Zuo Shaoyang was stunned for a moment, yes, even the double-layered hemp cloth couldn't be used as a quilt, something had to be stuffed inside. The Tang Dynasty's cotton hadn't spread yet, rich families used silk or animal fur, ordinary people couldn't afford it, and could only add things according to their economic ability. The worst was straw, followed by shredded fabric, and then old black silk floss. Given the current situation of the Zuo family, there was no choice.

  Carrying two hemp quilts back home, Left Gui again asked Liang Shi and Left Shao Yang to go pay the rent to Zhao San Niang. On the way, Left Shao Yang fell and got his pants dirty, hastily changed into another pair of pants, and followed his mother Liang Shi to Zhao San Niang's house to pay the rent.

  Zhao the Third's wife weighed it with a silver scale, and those few small pieces of broken silver added up to one or two taels and three mace. Together with that string of one hundred cash, they totaled fifteen hundred cash. Still short twenty-one thousand one hundred cash.

  Li family again begged Zhao Sanniang to delay the time, but Zhao Sanniang was unyielding. She first thanked Zuo Gui for helping her with stomach pain and said she had recovered well. However, regarding the debt repayment deadline, she refused to budge even a bit. With a cold face, she said that if the remaining 2,100 yuan were not paid by New Year's Eve noon, Li family would have to leave, leaving behind the medicinal materials. She would find someone to appraise and discount them to see how much was still owed. The debt would continue to be pursued.

  Liáng shì wúnài, zhǐ néng dài zhe zuǒ shǎo yáng huí dào le yàopù.

  Translation:

  The Liang family had no choice but to take Zuo Shao Yang back to the pharmacy.

  Zuo Gui originally thought that this time should be easier to talk about, after all, it was only two thousand one hundred yuan short. Unexpectedly, not a single penny was allowed. The whole family was very disappointed.

  However, on this day when Dr. Lin made his rounds, he earned over 1,000 wen, the most he had ever earned since opening his pharmacy. Although such a windfall was rare, it boosted Luo Gui's confidence somewhat, and even if he couldn't pay the rent by New Year's Eve, he could still make ends meet with this amount. So he didn't feel as depressed as he had in the past few days, and he chatted and laughed as he ate his meal.

  Before eating, Zuo Shaoyang took out the little squirrel from his arms. The little squirrel was already hungry and chirping. Huixiang saw it and laughed: "Brother, why did you catch a squirrel? It's so small that it can't be eaten. Catching a wild rabbit is better than this!"

  "It's something others gave us, just for fun."

  "Are you crazy? You don't even eat it yourself, yet you feed it to a little squirrel for fun?"

  "How much can it eat? And he doesn't even eat grains, only pine nuts and stuff." Zuo Shaoyang said as he took out the pine cones he picked up on the road, cracked them open with a hammer, and handed the pine seeds inside to the little squirrel.

  The little squirrel's eyes were half open and half closed, holding the fruit kernel with its front paws, but didn't know how to bring it to its mouth. "Eat up, little guy." Zuo Shao Yang brought the fruit kernel to the little squirrel's mouth, but it still didn't react.

  "Look at it, its eyes aren't even open, how can it know to eat? It's time to feed it milk!"

  "Feed it? The mother squirrel has been bitten to death by an owl, where can we find a mother squirrel to feed it?"

  "Find another milk then." Xiang interjected, "For example, dogs, cats and so on. But it must be a newborn."

  Zuo Shaoyang smiled and said, "Right, right, this is a good idea. I heard before that when tiger cubs are born, their mother doesn't produce milk, so the breeders have to find a female dog that has just given birth and let the tiger cubs drink the dog's milk together with her own puppies, hehe."

  "Breeder?" Xiang Qi asked, "What breeder?"

  Zuō Shǎoyáng said that it's a common news on newspapers, magazines and the internet about some zoo staff finding a dog mother to breastfeed a little tiger. Zuō Shǎoyáng was too lazy to explain and changed the subject: "Do you know whose dog gave birth?"

  "I didn't know this, and it seems like nobody's dog just gave birth."

  "What to do?" Zuo Shaoyang looked at the little squirrel, its mouth moving non-stop, its belly flat and seemingly very hungry, and also anxious. "It's too small, can't eat pine nuts, and for a while, it won't be able to find the next puppy. What to do now?"

  "Or you can grind the pine nut kernel into juice and feed it?"

  Zuo Shaoyang's eyes lit up: "Great idea!" He cracked open over a dozen pine nuts, took out the kernels, and fetched a juicer from his medicine preparation room. He added a little water, then put the kernels in to press, and soon extracted a small amount of juice.

  Holding the cup, pinching the little squirrel's mouth to pour in, but only a small amount was poured in, and the rest flowed out from the corner of its mouth. The little squirrel was anxious, blinking its eyes, shaking its head and chirping.

  Angelica said, "This won't do, let me!" She ran into the kitchen, took a small scallion, cut off both ends, inserted one end into the fruit kernel juice in the cup, sucked gently, sucked a small tube of fruit kernel juice, then pinched the top with her fingers, opened her mouth, and held it under the little squirrel's mouth, slowly releasing the pinched fingers on top, and the fruit kernel juice in the scallion tube flowed into the little squirrel's mouth, not spilling a single drop.

  Zuo Shaoyang smiled and said: "Sister, this method of yours is really good! Let me come."

  Angelica smiled with a few points of pride and soon fed all the small fruit kernel juice into the little squirrel's belly.

  Seeing that the method was effective, Zuo Shao Yang quickly smashed open the other pine cones and squeezed out the juice to feed the little squirrel. The little squirrel finally drank its fill of pine nut juice, blinked its eyes, closed them again, and fell asleep with a snore.

  This time, Huixiang found a paper box and used a rag to make a nest for the little squirrel. Zuo Shaoyang put the little squirrel in the nest.

  Li said with a smile: "Alright, we should also have dinner."

  The whole family sat down and started eating hard pancakes wrapped in mulberry bark.

  "Mother, today is the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. 'On the 27th, wash away the dirt and illness; on the 28th, wash away the slovenliness.' Don't forget to take a hot bath later."

  "Remember, the water has already been boiled, we can take a bath after dinner. Why don't you take one too before heading back?"

  "No, I still have a family waiting for me at home. I'll wash up after I've finished collecting."

  After dinner, Mrs. Liang heated a large pot of water, and in the kitchen there was a half-person-high large wooden bucket for bathing. After pouring the hot water, Zuo Shao Yang insisted that his father Zuo Gui and mother Liang take a bath first, and then he took a leisurely soak in the hot water.

  He first let his hair down, and a head of long hair fell down, making him somewhat at a loss. From childhood to adulthood, he had seen many people with long hair, but never thought that one day he would also have such a head of long hair. It was really not habituated. He really wanted to find a pair of scissors to cut it off cleanly and leave a small flat head, but the skin and hair were given by his parents. In ancient times, both men and women could not cut their hair, only monks shaved their heads. If he cut off his hair, he would be considered an unfilial son and ostracized. He had no choice but to keep it.

  This long hair needs to be washed clean first, otherwise it's hard to sleep.

  He touched his hair, which was a bit tangled and dirty. He couldn't wash it in the large wooden tub, or else his dream of taking a good bath would be ruined. So he used a wooden basin to scoop up some hot water, and then added some cool water from the well using a gourd ladle. He searched everywhere for something to use as shampoo, but soap was unlikely to exist during the Tang Dynasty. He had heard that ancient people used soapberry powder to wash things, and indeed he found some on the washing face shelf.

  (PS: Collect and recommend)