Stepmom's Farm Life

Chapter 28 Customized Weapons

Qin Yao came back at noon.

She went to Xiahe Village and returned the bow and arrows to the Yang family.

The bow was still in good condition, except that ten arrows were broken. Qin Yao also kept his promise and gave them one-tenth of the proceeds, eight taels and five cents of silver, as the cost of renting the bows and arrows.

The two Yang brothers were stunned. They didn't expect that she would give them more than eight taels in one go.

He immediately asked curiously, "Madam Qin, did you hunt a big one?"

Qin Yao faced them without hesitation and said directly: "Yes, I killed a black bear."

"Are you alone?" the two brothers asked in unison.

Qin Yao nodded, "Yes."

Yang Da and Yang Er had no idea what the scene was like.

When the two brothers hunted a tiger, it was all out of luck. They happened to encounter a tiger and a leopard fighting each other. After the leopard was chased away by the tiger, the two brothers fought hard to kill it while the tiger was still unable to recover.

After that, there was no such luck anymore.

Yang Er was left with a serious psychological trauma because of this. Now if the two brothers go into the mountains alone, they will avoid large wild beasts and cherish their lives much more.

Qin Yao asked them if they could help her make a bow.

Yang Da put away his shock and agreed readily. Knowing that she was strong, he asked her what kind of one she wanted.

Qin Yao didn't ask for much. "It'll be fine if it works as well as your bow. Double the pulling force, right?"

The pulling force of a bow has a lot to do with the material used for the bow body. If it is too soft, it will have no killing power, and if it is too hard, it will break. Qin Yao's requirements may seem not high, but they are actually quite high.

Yang Da thought about the materials that could be found nearby, but he still didn't dare to guarantee it. "I'll give it a try first."

Qin Yao nodded. She didn't force it. After all, given the production level, it was not easy to get a magic arm bow.

She gave Yang Da three hundred copper coins as a deposit and asked him to start working on it first. When it was done, she would ask someone to let Liujia Village know and she would come to pick it up.

After leaving Yang's house, Qin Yao went to the blacksmith's house to have the dagger repaired and also ordered a long sword and a dagger.

Alloy materials are not easy to obtain here, and the craftsman's skills are never passed on to outsiders. The blacksmith in Xiahe Village said that he had figured out how to make steel and could make a steel knife for Qin Yao, but Qin Yao did not dare to hold too much hope in a blacksmith who specialized in making kitchen knives.

Anyway, she must have weapons. She can't sleep without them.

There are indeed no zombies or mutated animals or plants here, and there are no people who want to eat humans.

But there are bandits here, and the officers and soldiers will not go to the countryside. If something happens, the common people can only protect themselves.

Before leaving, Qin Yao suddenly remembered a small thing, a slingshot.

This thing is suitable for carrying around and is not conspicuous. Combined with her strength, its lethality is no less than that of a bullet at certain times.

There is no such thing as a slingshot in Shengguo because there are no rubber bands here.

Qin Yao drew the slingshot frame and asked the blacksmith to make it, and also asked him to help make fifty steel balls the size of glass marbles.

As for the rubber band, she had to find a substitute herself.

Before returning to Liujia Village, Qin Yao went to a tile kiln to take a look and asked about the prices before going home.

After this morning's work, there was only twenty-five taels of silver left in his pocket.

Including the expenses of building houses, walls and furniture, we are almost back to the time before liberation.

As soon as Qin Yao arrived home, the four children immediately dropped the stones and mud in their hands and surrounded her.

"Have the medicine been changed?" Qin Yao asked as she walked into the main house.

Liu Ji was lying on the bed, worrying about his face. When he saw Qin Yao, his whole body unconsciously became stiff.

Dalang said, "The medicine has been changed."

Qin Yao nodded and asked Liu Ji as usual: "How do you feel? Are you feeling better? Did you urinate or defecate today? What did you eat? How much water did you drink?"

Liu Ji frowned slightly. Is this caring? Right?

Seeing his father staring blankly, Dalang answered for him, "I drank a bowl of water, half a bowl of porridge, and peed."

Liu Ji's face flushed, and he stammered, "Much better."

Qin Yao took action and peeled off a piece of herbal ointment. Sure enough, the swelling and bruises had subsided a lot. It seemed that the medicine prescribed by the village doctor was quite effective.

At this rate, we will be able to go out and start working in three or four days.

After seeing Liu Ji, Qin Yao went to the kitchen to make lunch.

She was not a good cook and she thought cooking was too troublesome, so she simply cooked a pot of rice and made six rice balls. The children ate the small ones, the adults ate the big ones, and she ate the extra-large one herself.

Liu Ji looked at the white rice balls brought in by Dalang and was once again shocked by the family's wealth.

And lunch?

"How many meals a day do you eat?" Liu Ji asked tentatively.

Dalang gnawed on a fragrant white rice ball as big as his fist and raised three fingers.

Liu Ji was shocked and happy, thinking that if he could have this kind of food every day, it would not be impossible for him to coax that evil woman a little.

Take a bite of the rice ball in your hand, hmm, the soft rice is so delicious!

After lunch, Qin Yao went out again.

He brought the needles, thread, cotton and three pieces of cloth and came to the Liu family's old house.

Although the wheat has been planted, there are still a few acres of vegetable fields at home. Mid-to-early November is a good time to plant broad beans and peas. Zhang is selecting vegetable seeds in the main room, planning to plant them in a few days.

Inside the house, the sound of looms "clang clang" could be heard. He and Qiu were weaving in the house in a hurry.

The court allocated a lot of land, and the villagers almost planted half of it for grain and the other half for mulberry trees. They produced both mulberry leaves and silk themselves. The two sisters-in-law were fast at weaving, and in their spare time they could weave two pieces of silk a year. One piece of silk could be sold for two taels of silver.

These four taels of silver were even more than what the men could produce from working in the fields all year round.

Therefore, in the traditional family where men farm and women weave, the status of women is not low.

There are five hens raised in the corner of the yard. Zhang has raised them for more than two years and is reluctant to kill them as long as they can still lay eggs.

The weather is good today. The coops are open and the hens are walking around in the yard. There is chicken droppings all over the ground.

The men were not idle either. Four fathers and sons were divided into two groups, scooping manure from the outhouse behind the house and carrying it to the fields in loads to fertilize the wheat.

Everyone has long been accustomed to this kind of environment and is doing their work as usual.

However, when Qin Yao suddenly stepped in and smelled the strong smell of manure and chicken shit, she was not quite used to it.

Jinhua, who was squatting at the door playing with stones, was the first to notice Qin Yao. She looked up and called out, "Third Aunt."

Qin Yao's hands were full, so she touched his head and asked with a smile, "Are your aunt and mother at home?"

Jinhua nodded, picked up something, and pointed to the west room with her black little hand. "Mother and aunt are weaving."

Zhang in the main room heard the noise at the door, put down her work and stood up, and saw Qin Yao walking in with cotton and cloth. She asked in confusion:

"Third elder, what are you doing?"

Zhang was not confident enough to think that this was given as a gift to honor herself, but that was why she felt it was strange.

Qin Yao called out "Mom" first, then looked towards the west room, "I'll ask my two sisters-in-law to help me make some clothes. Where's Dad? I want to take advantage of the slack season these days to rebuild the house."

(End of this chapter)