Income increased every day, and the iron cans hanging on Ye Tang’s handcart were soon filled to the brim, unable to hold any more of the pennies she collected. Thus, Ye Tang brought out the second, third, and fourth, fifth, and sixth iron cans.
After three weeks of operating the handcart stall, Ye Tang had filled seven iron cans.
At the turn from late spring to early summer came Queen Victoria III’s birthday, so every year, the third Wednesday in May was designated as a statutory holiday to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday. On this day, the entire nation rejoiced and partied all day long. Even the housekeepers and maids who worked year-round without rest did not have to serve their masters.
If any nobles or merchants were found forcing their servants or workers to labor on this day, whether noble or merchant, they would be severely punished. The light penalty was a massive fine; the heavy one was the stripping of noble titles. If a merchant could not pay the fine, there was a high chance they would lose their life. All of this depended on the Queen’s mood—of course, on a day meant to praise herself, if it was ruined by incompetent nobles or greedy merchants, the Queen would hardly be in a good mood.
The current Queen, Victoria III, was not only long-lived but also strong-willed. Merchants went without saying; even the nobles did not dare to cause trouble on the Queen’s birthday celebration day.
Even black-hearted brothers Francis and Francois lacked the guts to knowingly violate the rules. On the Queen’s birthday celebration day, the two reluctantly gave the miners a holiday.
With the miners on holiday, Ye Tang took a holiday too. Taking advantage of the Queen’s birthday celebration day, Ye Tang, who was usually busy with her feet off the ground, finally had time to catch her breath and handle things she had not had time for before.
The first thing was to tally the accounts and divide the earnings.
She called over Lang’s family. In front of Lang’s family, Angeline, and Eva, Ye Tang opened the seven iron cans one by one and poured out all the money inside.
Watching Ye Tang count the pennies, Eva felt dizzy—she had never seen so many pennies in her life! And among these pennies were even shillings mixed in!
She knew how hard her daughter had worked, but she truly had not expected her daughter to earn so much money!
Abe Village was remote, and villagers’ weekly living expenses were only five or six pennies. Half-pennies were the most common in the village; more often, villagers bartered with goods and did not even use pennies. If anyone in Abe Village carried shillings on them, it had to be the village head and prominent figure Kevin. Though no one in the village had ever seen Kevin spend a shilling.
“Thirty-six thousand two hundred and fifty-six pennies… and one hundred seventy-nine shillings.”
Ye Tang finished counting all the pennies and shillings, then began separating out half the money from them.
Her older brothers came and went at dawn and dusk without a trace of wolf, so the twin pups, unable to properly act spoiled for a long time, clung tightly to Lang and Xiu. Mimi hugged Lang’s face, while Kiqi draped over Xiu’s shoulder, clutching her brother’s ear.
Just as Xiu grimaced from Kiqi tugging his ear, and Lang took the tree-climbing Mimi off his face and placed her on his lap, Ye Tang pushed the half she had counted to the two of them.
“This is your wages.”
Ye Tang’s tone was very calm, as if what she pushed over was not a large sum of money, but just a few small coins.
Eva felt like she was about to faint again.
“Your family provided two laborers, but besides labor, I also provided the brains. I think it’s fair for me to take half. Any problem with that?”
“No, no, Mary!”
Lang’s mouth could not close. He glanced at Xiu and saw the same shock, surprise, disbelief, and disagreement in his eyes.
“Half is too much! You also provided ingredients, right!? The smoked meat, meat mince, flour…! Those were all from you!”
Seeing Lang shake his head like a rattle drum, Ye Tang made a “hmm” sound and said, “But without your family’s help, I couldn’t have so smoothly exchanged wooden shoes and woodenware for ingredients. Half the ingredients count as from your family—I think that’s reasonable?”
“Where’s the reasonableness in that?”
The little wolf cub in his puberty growth spurt had shot up another notch recently. Xiu crossed his arms with his brows furrowed, glaring fiercely at Ye Tang: “We helped you gather ingredients, but didn’t you pay us wages with lunch and dinner? …Paying us wages again—what are you trying to do?”
Lang felt embarrassed for his brother’s bluntness. He believed that if his brother kept growing like this, he would never find a girlfriend in the future.
But one matter was one matter; his brother’s rude words did not change that he was right.
“I apologize for my brother’s rude words, but Xiu is right.”
His sharp nails pressed on the shillings. Pushing the shillings back to Ye Tang, Lang gave her a flirtatious wink: “Mary, don’t you think the key to long-term cooperation is fairness? You take your share, and we take only what we deserve.”
With words said to this point, Ye Tang had no need to refuse. She nodded and took back the shillings. Opposite her, Lang and Xiu—one beamed happily, the other wagged his tail slightly behind him.
Eva finally recovered, and just then, the sensible Angeline brought mint tea for everyone.
“Now our family isn’t so poor anymore. Angi, what do you want? A pretty dress? Or ribbons for your hair? I remember you like reading books? How about Mom buys you ones with pictures? Ah, soft leather boots are fine too. Mom will buy them all for you.”
Ye Tang said as she hugged Angeline. She ruffled Angeline’s golden hair and kissed her forehead.
Angeline was just too well-behaved. Sensibly, to avoid troubling Ye Tang, she took care of herself every day, cared for the ailing Eva, cared for Lang’s family’s twins and the Big Gray Wolf who was soft-hearted, timid, and introverted—not like a Big Gray Wolf at all.
Ever since Angeline learned Ye Tang’s morning departure time, no matter how sleepy, she got up in the morning to say “Good morning, Mom!” to Ye Tang. Then she either helped Ye Tang change clothes and shoes or fetched the basket and burlap sack Ye Tang needed to wear when leaving.
When Ye Tang was ready to go out, Angeline followed her to the door. She always clasped Ye Tang’s palm with her small hands and closed her eyes in prayer: “May God bless you!”
No one could refuse such an angelic daughter. Though Ye Tang was not the one who gave birth to Angeline, being seen off with gazes from so very far every day truly made her regard herself as Angeline’s real mom.
‘……’
Her glass-bead-like blue eyes grew misty. Pursing her small mouth, Angeline felt like crying a little.
She did not want pretty dresses, beautiful ribbons, expensive but comfortable leather shoes. She could even do without her favorite storybooks.
What she wanted was Mom, only Mom.
As long as Mom was by her side, hugging her, kissing her, reading her bedtime fairy tales, she did not need anything else.
……But good children could not say such words that would trouble Mom, right?
So she would not say it. She would not trouble Mom.
Her small hand grasped Ye Tang’s clothing, and Angeline bravely lifted her head. Knowing everyone loved her smile and often praised for it, Angeline smiled: “Angi wants to help Mom! Angi knows what plants Mom gathers in the forest every day and how to make Mom’s pickles.”
“Mom, let Angi help you, okay?”
Ye Tang was stunned, but Angeline cupped her face and said each word extremely seriously: “Angi doesn’t want Mom so tired.”
The little girl’s fingers were not fair, not even as soft as they should be at her age. Those fingers with thin calluses gently scraped the faint dark circles under Ye Tang’s eyes, making Eva’s heart ache sourly and Ye Tang’s heart feel sweet and soft.
Pressing Angeline’s hand back, Ye Tang kissed the pair of tender, sincere, overly eager-to-share-the-burden small hands back and forth.
“No can do, Angi.”
“Mom?”
The little girl’s glass-bead-like blue eyes immediately clouded with mist.
Pressing against Angeline’s forehead, Ye Tang smiled: “A child’s job is to play happily, grow healthily, and learn fully about this world.”
Ye Tang did not know or care what others thought. But she absolutely would not turn a child into child labor for her own selfish desires. Even if Angeline volunteered to help, she would not agree.
“But Mom—”
Angeline really wanted to be with Ye Tang. Even one more second would do.
Besides seeing Ye Tang too tired, her offer to help also hid a small selfish wish: hoping Mom would not be so busy and could spend more time with her.
But she could not voice such selfishness. Now rejected by Ye Tang, the little girl’s heart ached as if bleeding.
Eva, silent for half the day, could no longer stay silent.
As Angeline’s grandmother and Mary’s mother, she had watched Mary grow up and witnessed Angeline’s birth. She understood the thoughts in this mother-daughter pair’s hearts better than anyone.
“Mary is right, Angeline. As a child, you have more important things than chores. That’s learning and growing.”
“But Mary, Angeline is right too. You do need help.”
“So Mary, let me help you.”
Eva thought she should have taken this step long ago. The only reason she delayed was her own cowardice, fear of more strange looks.
……If she had her daughter’s strength, perhaps her daughter would not have faced so many hardships. Today, Angeline would not have to shed tears from being rejected by her mom.
She had awakened too late.
Ye Tang was stunned again: “Mother, do you really understand what you’re saying? If you help me, you have to return to Abe Village. There’s no room here for raw materials; all my preparation tools are at home in Abe Village… Are you really ready to go back to Abe Village?”
Eva nodded solemnly.
As a despised widow harassed by others, Eva had hated Abe Village for decades. The original host could not persuade her mother back no matter what, and Angeline could not get her most doting grandmother to visit the village even once.
Knowing how intense PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Abe Village had left on Eva, Ye Tang never thought to persuade her to let go and return.
Ye Tang had not counted on Eva’s help either. After all, Eva was a native-born local; her conservatism was a microcosm of the entire era and environment. Changing that was tantamount to fighting the era and environment.
Who would have thought that one day Eva would take the initiative to offer help to Ye Tang?
Eva’s self-reflection was not greed for money. She had started questioning herself ever since she saw her daughter’s hands and feet full of blood blisters and minor wounds: Was it truly shameful for her daughter to support the family with her own hands and feet? Just because someone said “A widow showing her face is shameful,” should she bow to those people?
Compared to her daughter herself, was her own face more important? Were the hardships, fatigue, and trials her daughter endured lighter than gossip?
Eva had the answer in her heart long ago; she just lacked the courage to admit her mistake to her daughter.
Until today, until she understood from her daughter: So what if pointed at? As long as it let her baby live better, what was there to fear from gossip?
Her Mary could be tough and strong for Angeline; why could she not muster more courage for her Mary and her Angeline?
Having sung a contrary tune to her daughter for half a lifetime, Eva clutched her skirt hem, tears flickering in her eyes.
“Mary, please forgive me for being such a useless mother. Please forgive me for not properly protecting you, cherishing you, loving you…”
“Mother…”
Ye Tang pondered for a moment and reached out toward Eva. “It’s fine. I don’t mind. …Hearing these words from you, I already don’t mind anymore.”
Angeline also paused in slight surprise before imitating her mother and stretching her arms toward her grandmother.
Eva’s nose twitched. Sobbing, she threw herself into the embrace of her daughter and granddaughter.