Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 87 - 86: Wages in Hand

Chapter 87: Chapter 86: Wages in Hand
Qin Yao didn’t wait for Mr. Ding to question her; instead, she calmly said:
"The recent weather has been great. Miss Ding was getting dizzy from studying too much in the house, so I took her to the mountains for a breath of fresh air and to relax."
The father and daughters simultaneously looked at the wind and rain raging outside, thinking, you call this good weather?
Nevertheless, it provided a legitimate reason for Ding Xiang’s ’out of line’ behavior, offering Mr. Ding a way out of his stern stance.
There were eight dishes on the table, a mix of meat and vegetables, accompanied by a plate of pastries. Waves of delicious aroma filled the air, but the group still showed no intention of starting the meal. Qin Yao thought, you all are really torturing me.
So, to expedite the meal, Qin Yao said a few more words.
The general idea was that noble girls from prominent families are now learning horse riding and archery, and Miss Ding is just getting started.
In the future, Mr. Ding aims to pass the advanced scholar examination, turning the family into official nobility. Mastering two high-society skills is beneficial for harmonious family advancement.
The three of them watched Qin Yao seriously finish speaking and started to believe her a bit.
However, how would a village woman know about the social lives of noble girls?
Qin Yao smiled at the three of them, saying that’s not the point; the point is, "If we don’t eat soon, the food will get cold."
Mr. Ding’s stern expression softened considerably, realizing that noble girls also learn these skills. He suddenly thought it wouldn’t be bad for his daughter to learn them as well.
He picked up his chopsticks, nodded to Qin Yao, and began the meal.
Qin Yao watched as Mr. Ding took a bite first before she began eating.
Her pace was much more graceful and restrained than usual, eating only three bowls of rice and a bowl of soup.
Ding Xiang worriedly asked, "Qin Yao, are you full?"
Qin Yao gave a polite smile, "Yes, I’m full. It was very delicious. Thank you, Mr. Ding, for the hospitality."
Actually, she was only about sixty percent full, but she considered it a day for slimming down.
However, the food served by Mr. Ding was really top-notch, with plenty of fish and meat, enough to make anyone envious.
Of course, she also believed that in the future, the meals she would eat wouldn’t be any worse than this one.
After the meal, Ding Xiang and Ding Shi excused themselves, leaving only Qin Yao and Mr. Ding in the dining hall.
As the servants cleared the table, Qin Yao followed Mr. Ding to sit on the side in a Taishi Chair. Housekeeper Yu walked over, handing Qin Yao a small cloth bag.
Qin Yao eagerly received it, weighing it in her hand — her two taels of silver in wages were in hand!
"Thank you, Master," Qin Yao stood up and courteously cupped her fists in thanks.
Mr. Ding nodded, "This month has been hard on you, Miss Qin."
He also mentioned that if Qin Yao wanted to rest, she could stay at the mansion for a few more days, and Zhang Ba would drive her home when the time came.
Qin Yao gratefully declined, knowing she shouldn’t take such politeness seriously.
The two talked for a while longer, mainly Mr. Ding inquiring about Ding Xiang’s progress over the month, finally asking again:
"Do noble girls really practice horse riding and archery? Isn’t it mostly about music, chess, calligraphy, and painting?"
How would Qin Yao know? She just deduced this from a fanfiction novel about the Emperor and Empress she read earlier.
But still, she nodded without changing her expression, "Of course, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are important to practice, but brewing tea, flower arranging, and archery are also essential. Not mastery, but knowing a bit is good. Otherwise, others will know it and you won’t, making it hard to fit in. Don’t you agree, Master?"
"By the way, I heard from Housekeeper Yu that you’re heading to the Capital soon for the Autumn Examination. When you arrive in the Capital, you’ll naturally know if what I said is true."
With this addition, Mr. Ding assumed Qin Yao wouldn’t dare deceive him, nodded, trusting her nearly entirely, and even asked if she might stay another month to continue instructing Ding Xiang in archery.
Qin Yao replied, "Rest assured, I’ve already taught Miss all the archery techniques these past few days. She just needs to practice diligently in the future."
"Miss is smart and catches on quickly. Mastery is just a matter of time as long as she puts in the effort."
Hearing Qin Yao speak like this made Mr. Ding feel a bit embarrassed about his earlier overreaction.
Later that night, he learned from Housekeeper Yu that Qin Yao taught diligently and appeared to be a professional master in her teaching approach, making him think more and more that such a person could never remain just an ordinary farmwoman in the future.
In the middle of the night, he sat up, startled, and decisively instructed Housekeeper Yu to fetch another tael of silver from the storeroom and ordered someone to instruct the cook to prepare more of Qin Yao’s favorite pastries in the morning, to give to her when she left the next day.
With the master’s words, the servants rushed about.
Fetching silver was one thing, but it was tough on the cook, who had to get up in the middle of the night to grind flour since there was none left for the pastries.
Early the next morning, as Qin Yao packed her bundle to leave, she was a bit touched to see Housekeeper Yu bring over two packages of pastries and a tael of reward silver.
Ding Xiang had already wrapped up the books she wanted to borrow, adding an extra layer of oil paper inside the cloth wrap to prevent these precious books from getting wet if it suddenly rained.
These were books that Mr. Ding had made study notes in himself. Which scholar wouldn’t want them?
Knowing the value of these books, Qin Yao carefully checked them before placing the hefty nine books along with the bow and heavy knife over her shoulder.
In her hands, she carried one pack of Taohua pastries and another of mung bean cakes, steaming hot, and with Ding Xiang seeing her off reluctantly, she waved goodbye and left the Ding Family’s gate.
It was still early, so Qin Yao went to the town, first buying five pounds of meat and two ribs at the butcher shop.
Then she headed to the only shop in town that sold pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, buying a thick stack of white paper.
The paper wasn’t cut yet, bundled into a small bale, and wrapped in oilcloth for which she paid five cents.
But she had no choice; these days the rain came on suddenly, and at least this cloth could be reused. She’d remember to bring her own next time she bought paper.
To copy books, and to speed things up a bit, Qin Yao bought herself a set of pen and ink, which altogether cost her half a tael of silver.
This is why education is expensive. Tuition is just a small part; the real major expenditures are on consumables like paper and ink, along with social expenses and gifts.
Since the Ding Family provided pastries, Qin Yao didn’t buy snacks.
She looked at her clothes; the thick cotton fabric was unsuitable for summer, and she was just barely managing. When the sun came out, it was unbearably hot.
The thin silks worn by Ding Xiang were beyond Qin Yao’s reach, but she could afford linen.
Estimating the fabric needs for one set for each family member, she bought a bolt of linen and a spool of cotton thread, spending another half a tael of silver.
Out of the three taels, she had two taels left.
The rice would mature by mid-July, and it was still June, leaving another month and a half of grain needed. So, she bought three hundred pounds of grain, half fine rice, and half mixed grains, costing one tael and five maces of silver.
Qin Yao calculated that she now had eight taels and five maces left in total possessions.
For other families, three hundred pounds of grain might last almost three months, but Qin Yao had an appetite as big as five people; no choice, she couldn’t skimp on this.
But once the rice was harvested this year, the food situation for her family of six would greatly improve, potentially saving this grain expense.