Chapter 46 Gender Crimes 46
The Qin Clan Ancestral Hall is the most important place for the Qin Clan. There must always be someone to clean the ancestral hall, and the rule for the Qin Clan is that every household with the surname Qin has to provide one person to take turns living in the ancestral hall for ten days, responsible for cleaning and guarding it.
Outside the Qin Clan Ancestral Hall, there is a small independent courtyard with only two rooms, where the people who come to clean and guard the ancestral hall live.
Qin Shuangshuang and Mrs. Bai have been unable to find a suitable place to live, so Mrs. Wang thought of this place. The small courtyard is not big, but it’s more than enough for the Second Lady and Lady Bai to live together.
At that time, they could build a small stove in the courtyard, make a fire to cook, and fence a wall to plant some vegetables, enough for the three of them to eat. As for the rent, it would be offset by cleaning the ancestral hall.
This way, no one in the village would have to live alone to guard and clean the ancestral hall. In the future, as long as the men in the village come regularly to clean the room where the ancestors’ tablets are placed, it will work. Everyone will undoubtedly agree; it’s a win-win situation!
Qin Shuangshuang and her family were quite satisfied with this place. Renting someone else’s room certainly wouldn’t allow them to have their own private courtyard, which would be inconvenient in many ways, so this arrangement was just right.
When they moved, Aunt Hao brought her son Qin Yuan, daughter Qin Qiao’er, the butcher Qin Sheng, the driver Uncle He, the village chief, and Mrs. Wang, along with her two teenage grandsons, Da Hu and Xiao Hu, over to help. It took less than half a day for them to help move the three of them, set up the stove, and organize everything neatly!
Qin Shuangshuang bought ten pounds of fat pork. The butcher kindly gave her seven or eight large bones; although the meat was a bit cleaned off, it was still good for making soup and could be used to cook noodles with bone broth.
She picked some greens from the village chief’s yard. Qin Shuangshuang made a big pot of stew and invited those who helped with the move to a good meal. Qin Shuangshuang originally wanted to divide the leftovers among everyone, but they all refused, mainly because they empathized with the hardships faced by the three women.