RL (AT) Chapter 8: Going to Town

Chapter 8: Going to Town

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

After finishing their meal and cleaning up the dishes, the Lin family sat down, except for Lin Cheng, who slept after drinking the medicine. The two children were still eating fruit, their eyes watching the adults in turn.

“There are bamboo baskets for fruit, but there are no large ceramic pots at home. Carts can be borrowed from others.”

Lin Mo thought about it and asked, “Is there a carpenter in the village? We can customize the barrel if we have one.” 

In fact, if he wanted to make good wine, it was better to use oak barrels as containers. Tannins and other ingredients in oak barrels could improve the quality of wine and help with aging. If he wanted to make the wine mature, the oak barrels were indispensable.

But if he wanted to make a wine tasting only of grapes, he would use containers such as ceramics and glass, but Lin Mo wanted to make a mature wine quickly.

Through the conversation just now, Lin Mo found that the people here hadn’t tried to make wine with fruit. Even if they had, it hadn’t appeared in the market. It should only be made by those rich people who were idle and bored.

Fruit wine was very easy to make. Once Lin Mo sold the first batch to make money, someone would definitely follow the trend to make money. Almost every family in Daling Village had fruit trees, and when they saw that the Lin family was making money with the fruit, they would certainly follow suit.

So as long as the flavor of the Lin family’s fruit wine was different from that of the others, then the others would remember it, and they could promote it to make a brand.

Besides, Lin Mo wanted to make wine, not only because he was good at it, but also because the grapes were only grown on the cliff wall of their fruit orchard. It was estimated that Lin Mo was the only one in Daling Village who could do so.

Lin Xing, who sat listening to them, said, “Uncle Zhang is a carpenter in our village. We can go to him.” 

Lin Mo nodded and then began to talk with them about the arrangements after that. When everything was in order, they began to act.

Mama Lin and Lin Xing went to borrow two carts from people in the village. Actually, Lin Mo wanted to borrow a cow to pull the cart, so it would not be so hard, but, in ancient times, farmers seemed to think that cattle were more important than life. It was almost impossible to borrow cattle to pull a cart.

Father Lin went to carpenter Zhang to request two big barrels. Lin Mo also roughly told Father Lin about the specific structure of the barrels. Lin Mo planned to go to pick all the grapes tomorrow morning, and then, while he started to brew them, the others would continue to pick other fruits in the fruit orchard.

Although Lin Mo didn’t want to rush like this, most of the fruits in the orchard were fully ripe. If he didn’t pick them quickly, they would surely fall off in a few days.

In addition to making grape wine, Lin Mo intended to make other fruit wines or other fruit products, such as dried fruit, canned fruit, or other fruit sweets. After all, some fruits in the fruit orchard were not suitable for making wine, but Lin Mo felt that it was a pity for them to rot in the fruit orchard if he didn’t pick them.

They ordered two big barrels, two medium ones, and twenty small ones for the time being. There were more than ten kinds of fruit in the orchard owned by the Lin family. If they were all turned into wine, it might not be enough. The good thing was that they would only use a part of it. Lin Mo wanted the big barrel by noon tomorrow since the others could be delayed a little later. After all, tomorrow, he needed to deal with the grapes he picked.

Fortunately, carpenter Zhang’s family had an eldest son, who was also a carpenter. When the father and son started work together, there was enough time.

When Mama Lin and Lin Xing came back with the carts, Lin Mo followed them into the town to buy other materials needed to make fruit wine, and along the way, looked for other ways to make money. It would take a while to make money off of the wine. Winemaking was a long-term plan to make money. Lin Mo still needed a quick way to make money.

Lin Mo was good at cooking, but he couldn’t be a cook in a restaurant. Besides, even if he was willing to go to someone else’s restaurant, they may not be willing to accept him. After all, he was a country boy now.

Lin Mo followed Mama Lin, and they went to the village entrance. There was a donkey cart carrying people to the town. It was a sunny afternoon, and most people wanted to go to the town in the morning, so there were fewer people taking the donkey cart now.

Lin Mo straightened the straw hat on his head and followed Mama Lin. They got on the donkey cart with some older aunts. Lin Mo sat beside Mama Lin in silence, and Lin Xing was on his other side.

As soon as they got on, the ladies began to chat with Mama Lin. There were many things that peasant women could talk about together. They were just chatting about their family routine, the harvest of their land, and the marriage of their children.

“Mn, Auntie Lin, your ger is about fifteen years old. I haven’t seen you find him a marriage partner yet. If he hasn’t married by the time he turns sixteen, he will be assigned one by the government.”

They chatted and talked about Lin Mo’s marriage with him sitting beside them. When he heard them say that ‘your boy needs to marry someone,’ his brain suddenly went blank. ¹

Get married? What strange place is this that he should marry a man?

Aunt Wu, who had a better relationship with Mama Lin, explained, “Auntie Lin, I’ll tell you that most of the government’s picks will be divorced or widowed. Most of the families have children. This is what one of my relatives in the government told me. Many people don’t know about it.” 

“That’s what happens?!” Mama Lin was unbelieving. After all, many people in Daling Village married early or had married within the time limit set by the government, so people in the village didn’t know about this.

“While there is still more than a year to go, you should find a good family for your little ger. Your little ger is beautiful and delicate. He won’t be spoiled by bad people.” Said the aunt with the bamboo basket on her arm.

It was not wrong to say that Mo’ger was beautiful and delicate. The Lin family were all very good looking. Although they were not the kind of people who would find something amazing at a glance, they were patient.

Take Lin Xiu, the second son of the Lin family. If the scholars who took the imperial examination were not influenced by the unified distribution of the government in their marriage, Lin Xiu should have married as early as eighteen years old. Many girls in the village had been thinking about marrying into the Lin family before.

And when they saw Lin Mo, a little ger of the Lin family, who was not often seen in the village, with his white skin, slim body, and good-looking face, they thought it would be a pity for such a little ger to marry a widower.

They also heard that little ger Lin’s body was weak from childhood. Wasn’t it just that he had a delicate body? If he had to marry those divorced men and work for them, he wouldn’t be able to last. 

“We should have thought of it earlier…” Mama Lin nodded in response. But she was very worried. Mo’ger’s body was not good. No one would like to marry a ger who couldn’t work.

Before, Mama Lin didn’t know the internal information about the unified distribution of the government. Before, she thought that if she couldn’t find her son a husband, she would have to obey the unified distribution from the government. At least, the ‘unified distribution of the government’ was mandatory, and her son would have to marry whether he wanted to or not.

But now Mama Lin was not willing to let Mo’ger marry into those families and suffer. It seemed that she had to discuss this with her husband after getting back, or let her daughter in town pay attention to whether there was a suitable family for her brother.

Lin Mo’s brain was a little confused now. What little ‘ger’ ² needed to marry? What kind of man did he need to marry? What was this ‘government unified distribution’? Were the ancient times so powerful? Why did he have to marry when he was a certain age? Did the government still want to find him a husband or wife?

Lin Mo thought to himself that he had to ask his mother when he went back. What he had no doubt about, was life itself.

When they got to the town, Mama Lin and others got off the cart and separated. Lin Mo didn’t think about what happened just now. He followed Mama Lin and observed his surroundings. It was afternoon now, but there were still many people in the town. There were many vendors on both sides of the road, some of them were food stalls, some of them sold women’s jewelry. The shops on both sides sold food, oil, salt, or some rouge powder.

In a word, all the things that needed to be bought could be found in the town. Lin Mo also noticed a strange place. Some men’s faces were even powdered, and some of them looked very strange.

Lin Mo slumped and looked at those people, and he found that most of the people who wore the powder were thin and short. What’s more, Lin Mo’s three views broke when he saw several men with big bellies. No, Lin Mo was sure that they were not ‘men.’ They should be a kind of man that were called ‘ger.’

“Mo’ger, do you want to buy…rouge powder? You are the only ger in the village who hasn’t painted your face. Do you want to buy some?” Mama Lin, who paid attention to her ger, saw that he was staring at them, so she thought that he envied the other little gers. 

“No… I should not use those…rouge powders with my body.” Lin Mo refused, his face a little stiff.

Mama Lin thought about it and said, “Then we can buy some jewelry for you. Our little ger is so beautiful. You’ll look better if you wear jewelry on your body.” 

Lin Xing, who was walking beside them, said, “Fourth Brother looks better than the others!” 

In Lin Xing’s eyes, his Fourth Brother was the best looking in the village. Other gers were not as white as his Fourth Brother. Even if they were as white, they were not as good-looking as his Fourth Brother.

What was the use of a good-looking man?! Ah, maybe he was not a man anymore… Lin Mo suddenly felt really tired. “Sigh, we’re here to buy winemaking materials, not jewelry, and so on.”

“Mn, next time I’ll buy some for Mo’ger,” said Mama Lin with a smile. She showed sadness in her eyes. If it wasn’t for her eldest son’s accident, she would have money to buy things for her ger.

Lin Mo, “…” What was going on in her brain?