After transmigrating,The Female Supporting Character Became Darling of The Five

Chapter 10: Won't Get a Stomachache?

Everyone held their own opinions, and there was no consensus. Among the crowd, an old woman with triangular eyes was rolling her eyes, pondering something unknown.

Su Guan returned to her own courtyard, with a layer of fine sweat on her forehead. She couldn't tell the time by looking at the sun and could only estimate it by intuition. The room to the west was where her brothers slept. Su Guan pushed the door open and entered. The quilts on the kang (a traditional Chinese bed) were neatly folded. She gathered their dirty clothes, fetched a wooden tub, and soaked them in water.

To distinguish between clean and dirty clothes, she relied on the smell of sweat. The five brothers had a large tub full of clothes. In that era, there was no soap for washing clothes. Wealthy families used soap nuts, while rural people used wood ash, which only removed the smell of sweat. By beating the clothes with a wooden stick, they were considered clean as long as they no longer smelled of sweat.

"If only I had soap," she thought to herself. Making soap was quite simple, needing only lard and wood ash, which would undergo a saponification reaction.

Taking advantage of her free time, Su Guan carefully walked around the house. She realized how poor her family was. Apart from essential furniture, there was nothing decent to be found. The furnishings were simple, with holes in the walls letting in circular patches of sunlight. The furniture was old and worn out.

She swept the courtyard and the house inside and out with a broom made of bamboo strips. Su Guan pondered what to prepare for her brothers for lunch.

Given the limited resources, they couldn't rely solely on rice. She found some pumpkins in the cellar and decided to steam pumpkin rice for lunch, as pumpkins were sweet and filling.

There were also several bags of sweet potatoes and potatoes in the cellar. She planned to make potato cakes. She remembered seeing plenty of purslane on the field ridges on her way back and decided to pick some for a cold salad.

Putting thoughts into action, Su Guan took a small basket and gathered a basketful of purslane. After cleaning and sorting them, she cut the pumpkin into small pieces and shredded the potatoes, completing the preparations.

The river was not far from home. She took the clothes to wash by the river and then hung them up to dry in the courtyard. Next, she hurried to the well to fetch licorice water.

There were fewer people by the well, as most had probably gone home to cook. A few old men were still sitting there chatting.

After fetching the water, Su Guan hurried off, not knowing where her brothers were working. She had no choice but to ask around. The eastern side of the village was covered with golden rice fields, where people were busy working.

Su Guan asked around before finding the place. Everyone was puzzled to see this unfamiliar and beautiful girl. When asked who she was, she generously identified herself as a daughter of the Su family.

At that moment, her five brothers were working hard in the fields, sweating profusely. Su Yun, feeling tired, sat on the ground and complained:

"I forgot that our Yue Yue is not here, and we didn't bring water to the fields. I'm dying of thirst!"

In their usual work in the fields, it was Gu Yue who brought them water to drink. Now that Gu Yue was gone, they all thought that Su Guan lacked this awareness.

"Remember to remind me this afternoon, I'll bring it!" Su Jing said while harvesting rice. He wasn't just a frail scholar who only knew about reading and writing. Coming from a rural background, he still had quite a bit of strength.

"I'll go back and fetch water!" Su Yi put down his sickle, mainly because he was thirsty too.

"Big Brother!" A young girl's voice called out not far away. Su Jing looked up when he heard the voice, and his other four brothers also looked in that direction.

The sunlight was dazzling, making it hard to see clearly, until Su Guan got closer to them.

"Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, I've come to bring you water!"

Su Guan ran out, sweating profusely, holding a water jar, panting, with strands of hair stuck to her face.

"Guan Guan, how did you know we were here?" Su Jing put down his sickle and came over to take her water jar.

"Big Brother, it's not like I don't have a mouth. I just asked around. It's such a hot day, you brothers must be thirsty. I brought you water!"

Su Chen, Su Mu, and Su Yi glanced at Su Yun, who had just been complaining. Su Yun's face flushed:

"Why are you all looking at me? You didn't expect it either, did you?"

He got up first to take a bowl covered on the jar, poured out some water to drink, and found the water was yellow and even had some tree roots in it!

"Su Guan, where did you get this muddy water?"

Su Yun unhesitatingly splashed the water in the bowl, while everyone eagerly awaited their turn to drink, but...

"Fourth Brother, this isn't muddy water, it's licorice water, it's sweet. I specially cooled it in the well before bringing it to you!"

Su Guan pouted, feeling unfairly judged.

"Nonsense, how did I not know there's sweet grass in this world? Won't it upset the stomach?" Su Yun continued.

"Su Yun, watch your language!" Su Jing sternly rebuked.

Hearing this, Su Mu stepped forward, snatched the bowl from Su Yun's hand, poured himself a bowl of water, sniffed it, and then gulped it down.

"Oh my God, Second Brother, do you need to be this thirsty?" Su Yun admired his courage, not fearing it might cause a stomach upset.

The cool licorice water was incredibly sweet as it went down the throat, instantly dispelling the heat of the scorching September day, along with its dryness. Su Mu was somewhat astounded and glanced lightly at Su Yun:

"Shut up, will you!"

Then, Su Mu poured a second bowl of water and drank it all, wiping his mouth satisfactorily afterwards.

"This water is indeed sweet, it's from licorice root!"

Su Jing finally laughed, took the bowl, and drank like Su Mu. His expression was the same as he drank two bowls in succession, followed by Su Chen and Su Yi, drinking heartily and thoroughly, leaving only Su Yun with a dry throat, as if smoking.

"Fourth brother, aren't you going to drink? It's sweet!" Su Yi said, licking his lips with a smile.

"I don't believe it, can it really taste that good?" Su Yun skeptically commented, but after he took a sip himself, he started drinking directly from the jar.

"Old Four, leave some for me!"

Su Chen reached out to grab it. He had harvested the most rice and was the strongest, naturally being the thirstiest.

"It's all gone, all drunk!" Su Yun finished it in one go, not a drop left.

Su Guan watched him get figuratively slapped in the face, feeling smugly proud. She thought to herself, "Little rascal, can't I still get the better of you?"

"It seems I need to cook more of this tomorrow, otherwise there won't be enough for my brothers!" Su Guan smiled, showing off several white teeth, extremely cute.

Su Jing also smiled, looking at her and gently wiping the sweat off her forehead with his sleeve:

"Guan Guan is so clever, how did you know this method?"