The Peach Blossoms White by the Village Edge

Chapter 46: Cold Food Festival

Before their marriage, Zhao Changxia would have thought that Qu Qingjiang's "thriftiness" was taken to the extreme—essentially, being miserly. However, after looking at the Qu family's accounts, she realized that Qu Qingjiang was truly frugal, which helped her understand why people in this area didn't like to bathe in winter.

First of all, there was the issue of water for bathing. Water came from three sources: well water, mountain spring water, and river water.

Digging a well required at least thirteen guan (an old unit of currency), making it expensive, so not every household had a well.

Pucun only had one public well, and every household had to go early in the morning to fetch water. If they went late, not only was the water quality poor, but they might not get any water at all. Other wells were monopolized by wealthy gentry, and fetching a bucket of water required a payment of one wen.

As for mountain spring water, the villagers lived quite far from the mountains. Not only was it difficult to transport the water down from the mountains, but by the time they got home, most of it would likely have leaked out. Therefore, only nearby temples and Taoist temples would fetch mountain spring water.

Well water and mountain spring water were drinkable. For washing clothes, feeding poultry and livestock, and other daily uses, river water from upstream was generally used. As long as the river water was allowed to settle and the sediment settled out, it could also be used for bathing.

Thus, during non-drought seasons, water was not a major issue.

Secondly, among the Qu family's significant expenses—aside from food, Qu Feng's medicine, and livestock feed—fuel also accounted for a large portion. This included not only candles and lamp oil but also firewood used for cooking and heating water.

In the city, a bundle of firewood cost over forty wen, while in the countryside, due to the abundance of trees, it was cheaper, around ten wen per bundle.

The Qu family used two bundles of firewood daily for cooking. Adding the firewood used for bathing and washing hair in winter, it amounted to around sixty wen per day. This was based on the fact that Qu Feng and Jingxi bathed approximately every ten days.

Besides water and firewood, there were also the cleaning items used for bathing—soap pods. This expense was small but not negligible.

Currently, the Qu family needed money for many things, especially Qu Feng's illness. The medical and medication expenses were almost double the usual. Therefore, Zhao Changxia fully understood Qu Qingjiang's "thriftiness" and why she might have misinterpreted Zhao Changxia's notion of frugality.

Zhao Changxia said, "I'll boil water for you. I'll bathe with cold water."

Qu Qingjiang protested, "How can that be? Even though the weather is getting warmer, it's still quite cool at night. Well water is even colder. What if you catch a cold with the spring plowing and Cold Food Festival coming up?"

Zhao Changxia: "......"

It sounded like Qu Qingjiang really wanted to bathe with her.

"I used to take cold baths in winter without any issues. It's just a bit of cold water, it's not a big deal," Zhao Changxia insisted. She wasn't quite ready to bathe naked with Qu Qingjiang.

Qu Qingjiang also didn't want to dwell on it any longer. The more she insisted on bathing with Zhao Changxia, the more it seemed like she was the one hoping for it. She said, "Then I'll just boil the water myself!"

Even so, she had hardly been in the kitchen before. Not only did she not know how to cook, but even lighting a fire was beyond her skill. She struggled with the flint and steel.