Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Lu Yuan was a woman of action. The arrangements she had discussed with Qi Cheng just last night were brought up with Old Lady He the very next morning, after breakfast.

When Old Lady He heard she was being asked to make tofu pudding, she frowned slightly. "But I’ve never made it before. Am I really up to it?"

Lu Yuan replied, "It’s quite simple. You won't know if you can do it until you try."

Old Lady He said, "Even if you have me make the tofu pudding, who do you plan to have take over your stall? Aren’t you afraid they might just muscle in on your business?"

Lu Yuan answered, "I’m still thinking about who should take over the stall. As for someone taking over the business—as long as the recipe isn’t revealed, it’ll depend on whether they have the skill to pull it off."

She herself had only learned how to make tofu pudding from videos. Without having seen those videos, she wouldn’t even have known what bittern (the coagulant) was, much less people from this era.

Lu Yuan glanced at Qi Cheng, her gaze resting on the cloth covering his eyes. "Besides, I expect to be back in about a month."

If the blood clot didn’t clear up within a month, it would mean the doctor wasn’t skilled enough, and they’d have to find someone else. They couldn’t afford to delay any longer.

Old Lady He followed her gaze to her grandson. "Can his eye really be cured in just a month?"

Lu Yuan didn’t make any promises. "Whether it works or not, we’ll have to come back after a month."

Old Lady He looked away and asked, "What about Chun Hua and Qiu Hua?"

Lu Yuan glanced at the two children feeding the chickens and sighed softly. "They’ll stay at home."

Taking care of someone who couldn’t see, while also trying to earn a living, would leave little energy to look after two children.

"How will you tell them? Should I tell them after you’ve left?" Old Lady He asked.

Lu Yuan replied, "I’ll tell them myself."

The two children had already been abandoned once. If she did things without telling them first, they would feel even less secure in the future.

Lu Yuan disliked dragging things out, so after speaking with Old Lady He, she called the two children over.

She crouched down to speak with them at their eye level.

"Chun Hua, Qiu Hua, I’m going to take your father—your uncle—to the city to treat his eyes. We might be gone for a month, which is three sets of ten days."

Lu Yuan had been teaching the children to count from one to ten over the past few days.

Chun Hua didn’t have a very clear concept of time yet, so saying "three sets of ten days" made it easier for her to understand.

The light in Chun Hua’s eyes dimmed instantly upon hearing this. It seemed she had thought of something, and her gaze became hollow.

Lu Yuan reached out and pulled both her and Qiu Hua into her arms. "I’m not abandoning you. I’m just accompanying the main worker of this family to the city for treatment. Once your father—your uncle—recovers his sight, I won’t have to work so hard. Someone will help fetch water, turn the mill, and, more importantly, with a grown man in the house, no one will dare bully us."

After a long moment, Chun Hua spoke, her voice trembling. "You won’t leave me and my sister behind, right?"

Lu Yuan gently patted both girls on the head. "Never."

Having taken on Su Liniang's role as their mother, she naturally had to shoulder the responsibility.

"Then you have to come back, no matter what…" By the end, Chun Hua was hugging her mother’s neck, unable to hold back her tears.

"Yes, I’ll definitely come back."

After comforting the two children for a while, Lu Yuan soaked the beans. She planned to grind them into pulp later and let Old Lady He practice making tofu pudding.

She had been thinking it over all day and had an idea.

But after some consideration, she felt it would be better to discuss it with Qi Cheng.

She had come to realize that, as a native, Qi Cheng’s perspectives were often very insightful.

Besides, having someone to discuss things with gave her more confidence.

Lu Yuan led Qi Cheng into the room and closed the door behind them.

Hearing the sound of the door closing, Qi Cheng said, "Do we have to be so secretive?"

Lu Yuan replied, "I don’t want the children to hear. It would upset them."

Chun Hua was already feeling down. Discussing this in front of her would only add fuel to the fire.

Qi Cheng felt his way to the stool by the bed and sat down, facing her. "Go ahead."

To make it easier for Qi Cheng to move around, the furnishings in the room were generally left untouched. Even if something was moved, it was quickly returned to its original place.

Lu Yuan said, "Lately, business hasn’t been good at that soy milk stall in town. I’m also worried they might try to cause trouble while I’m away, so I’m thinking of stopping soy milk for now and focusing only on tofu pudding."

If the competitor still couldn’t keep up even after this, it wouldn’t be her fault for taking their business.

"Besides, your grandmother is getting older and shouldn’t be overworked. So, I plan to have Da Wu help with fetching water, chopping firewood, and boiling the soy milk. Your grandmother will be responsible for curdling the tofu pudding, and then Liu Sanlang can help deliver it to town. Ah Qi can do the selling—he’s quick with words and well-suited for stall work."

"With this kind of coordination, we don’t have to worry about being replaced."

She added by way of explanation, "Ah Qi is the young fellow who helps me secure a spot. He’s only a few years older than Da Wu."

Qi Cheng nodded, then frowned slightly. "How will you split the money?"

Lu Yuan replied, "I’ll give Da Wu an additional fifteen coins, making it twenty-three coins including grinding the beans. For Ah Qi, he gets five coins per ten bowls of tofu pudding sold. We won’t pay him for securing the stall spot."

"Even if we sell seventy bowls, we can still make fifty coins. That should cover the household expenses." She had calculated all the costs and worked out the profit.

Even if they set up the stall only seven or eight times a month, they could still make several hundred coins.

"What do you think?" she asked.

Qi Cheng nodded. "That works. Although we’ll earn less, separating the making and selling of tofu pudding means we don’t have to worry about being replaced, and we can still keep our customers."

Lu Yuan said regretfully, "I'd like to sell in the city too, but there's already too much competition there, and we wouldn't have our mountain spring water."

Tofu pudding and soy milk made with mountain spring water taste better than those made with ordinary well water. That alone would make them stand out.

Qi Cheng said, "If we ever do move to the city, I’ll find a way to make it work."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan’s voice grew subdued. "But your grandmother said we should reclaim land for farming."

"You don’t want to farm?" Qi Cheng could tell she had no desire to work the land.

As someone from a farming background, she should value farmland above all. Having experienced famine, she especially should understand the importance of grain.

Yet her reaction was completely unlike that of someone from a farming family. Whether in conversation or in her way of doing things, she didn’t resemble a farm woman at all.

Qi Cheng could tell she seemed to be hiding something.

This secret probably had to do with her background.

Now, they had only been married for just over a month, and trust hadn't deepened yet, so it was normal for her to keep things from him.

Even if she never wanted to speak of it in the future, as long as they lived well together, he wouldn't dig into it.

Qi Cheng’s expression remained unchanged, and Lu Yuan, unaware of his thoughts, answered honestly, “Not really.”

Qi Cheng said, “We don't necessarily have to farm ourselves. In the past, I also paid folks to handle it. That way, we wouldn’t have to buy grain, could save up some each year, and be ready for hard times.”

Hearing that she wouldn’t have to plant rice or harvest crops herself, Lu Yuan was on board with that.

“Then let’s talk about this again when we're better off.”

Qi Cheng smiled and gave a slight nod.

“Then that settles everything else. The day after tomorrow, when I go to grind beans, I’ll discuss it with Da Wu. Then I’ll go to town and ask Ah Qi if he’s willing to help mind the stall for a month. If not, I’ll find someone else.”

After saying this, Lu Yuan clapped her hands: “All set.”

Hearing her cheerful tone, Qi Cheng’s smile grew.

He suddenly remarked, “You really have a great personality.”

Lu Yuan, hearing his praise, smiled, her eyes curving: “You like that?”

Qi Cheng’s smile faltered.

Lu Yuan’s smile widened: “I’m not asking if you like me—I’m asking if you like my personality.”

Qi Cheng suddenly lifted a hand to cover his eyes.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan asked, “What’s wrong?”

Covering his eyes, Qi Cheng asked helplessly, “If you don't tease me for one day, will you go hungry?”

Lu Yuan played innocent: “Do I?”

Qi Cheng went quiet, then shot back, “Don’t you?”

Lu Yuan shrugged: “Whatever you say.”

She turned and left the room to tell Old Lady He the plan.

Only after she had left did Qi Cheng lower his hand, his ears turned red.

Lu Yuan talked to Da Wu, asking him to chop firewood, fetch mountain spring water, and help make tofu pudding, offering an extra fifteen wen as wages.

Da Wu, afraid she might change her mind, jumped at the offer.

Lu Yuan then had him come to the kitchen to observe how she cooked and filtered the soy milk.

When it was time to set the tofu pudding, she sent him out and invited Old Lady He in.

She carefully explained the ratio of bittern to water and even wrote it on cloth to avoid forgetting.

Since there was no pen or paper at home, she used charcoal to write on the cloth.

Lu Yuan instructed, “If the weather turns cold, wrap the bucket with a thick quilt when taking it to town.”

After a moment’s thought, she added, “Buy some hemp cloth to make two covers for the buckets, stuffed with reed catkins—that’ll keep them warm longer.”

As the weather cooled, everyone preferred something warm to drink.

Old Lady He listened attentively to her granddaughter-in-law’s instructions, memorizing everything.

Since they were only selling tofu pudding today and not soy milk, Lu Yuan could handle it alone and didn’t ask Old Lady He to come along.

At the market, Lu Yuan also discussed with Ah Qi the idea of him manning the tofu pudding stall.

Ah Qi thought it over briefly and promptly agreed: “Sure, I’ll go back and let Sister-in-law Huang know. On market days from now on, I’ll come in the morning and mind the stall for half a day.”

Lu Yuan asked, “Would you be free to pitch in at the stall this morning too, so customers can get to know you? Of course, if you help with washing bowls, I’ll pay you—five wen per hour.”

Ah Qi nodded, “Then, Mrs. Su, hold on—I need to go back and let them know first.”

Lu Yuan said, “Alright, you can go after I get water.”

Ah Qi picked up the bucket and said, “Mrs. Su, you rest—I’ll get the water!”

With that, he took off.

The young man was incredibly eager once he heard there was money to be made.

Freed from getting water, Lu Yuan began calling out her wares.

Someone approached and said, “Mrs. Su, a bowl of soy milk, please.”

Ever since the matchmaker publicly said she'd find her a husband at the market, Lu Yuan had become a bit of a local celebrity. Regular market-goers almost all knew Mrs. Su, who sold soy milk and tofu pudding.

Also, recently, rumors had spread that her comatose husband had awakened thanks to her ‘lucky’ arrival. If it weren’t for the old lady always accompanying her, people would have asked around more.

Because she was regarded as a lucky woman, some customers came specifically for her soy milk and tofu pudding.

Lu Yuan replied, “No soy milk today, but we have tofu pudding. Would you like to try it instead?”

The customer hesitated but said, “Then, a bowl of tofu pudding, please.”

Lu Yuan served him the tofu pudding.

After a few customers had tried the tofu pudding, Ah Qi returned, and Lu Yuan announced, “For the next month, I’ll be going to the city with my husband to see a doctor.”

Someone asked, “So you won’t be running the stall for a month?”

Lu Yuan smiled, “How could we not run it? It just won’t be me—it’ll be my nephew here. I brought him today so everyone can recognize him and know it’s still my stall.”

Ah Qi, suddenly cast as the “nephew,” paused briefly but quickly played along: “From now on, please continue to support our business. Don’t stop coming just because it’s not my aunt running the stall.”

A customer replied, “As long as the taste stays the same, we’ll definitely be back.”

Lu Yuan turned to Ah Qi, “Go ahead, and hurry back.”

Ah Qi nodded and ran off.

Within a quarter of an hour, Ah Qi was back.

While selling tofu, Lu Yuan introduced Ah Qi to others as her older nephew.

Today, there were only about ninety bowls of tofu, which sold out in a little over two hours.

After selling all the tofu and tidying up the stall, Lu Yuan glanced at the rival's stall across the way.

Perhaps they no longer dared to water it down, as they had returned to their original price of a penny a bowl.

Today, Lu Yuan didn’t sell soybean milk, so some customers still went to theirs.

However, since the price had been too low before and had now gone back up, customers were bound to complain. Additionally, the decline in quality from the previous two times had also affected their business, so sales were slow.

After closing up the stall and paying Ah Qi, Lu Yuan took him to the edge of town to greet Liu Junsheng.

Lu Yuan said, "From now on, Third Brother Liu will deliver the tofu to the market every day. Once you’ve sold it, just bring back the bucket with the earnings directly to him."

As for the money he earned, Lu Yuan told him to pocket the earnings.

Finally, Lu Yuan reminded him, "Don’t ever try to cut portions just to sell a few extra bowls. Look at the soybean milk stall across the way—they cut corners, and now they've lost most of their customers."

"Don’t tarnish our name."

Ah Qi replied, "Don’t worry, Mrs. Su. With their example as a warning, I wouldn’t dare to do anything so petty."

Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

After giving Ah Qi her instructions, he left.

Liu Junsheng waited until he was gone before asking, "Aren’t you afraid he might skim some money?"

Lu Yuan replied, "The amount of tofu in each bucket is pretty consistent. Whether it sells a few bowls more or less, as long as he doesn’t reduce the serving size, even if he skims a little money, it won’t be much."

"Besides, if he works hard and sells the tofu diligently, I don’t mind if he pockets a few coins for himself."

Liu Junsheng said, "You’re quite open-minded, sis."

Lu Yuan sighed, "Not much choice. I have to accompany my husband to the city, and the business has to keep running. I’ll just have to look the other way."

After chatting for a bit, Liu Junsheng suddenly said, "I almost forgot to mention."

"Manager Liu heard you’re going to the city and won’t be back for a month. He asked me to find out how much dried bamboo shoots you have left at home—he wants to buy all of them."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and agreed, "Alright, I’ll have you bring them to town next time."

She had about twenty pounds of dried bamboo shoots left at home. She decided to keep seven pounds for her own family and sell fifteen pounds to Manager Liu.

After a moment’s thought, she added, "Since my husband and I won’t be home, Grandma probably won’t spend money on meat. I’ll leave some silver with Third Brother Liu to buy a few coins' worth of meat for her every market day."

With that, she counted out fifty coppers and handed them to Liu Junsheng.

Liu Junsheng said, "You’ll have plenty of expenses in the city, and you still need to deliver the dried bamboo shoots to Manager Liu. Why not use the money from that sale to buy the meat?"

Lu Yuan thought it over and nodded, "That works too."

It would also leave her with a little extra silver to find lodging.

After talking with Liu Junsheng for a while, Lu Yuan returned to the market, bought ten pounds of beans and some meat, and then headed home.

The day before leaving, Lu Yuan strung thirty coins together and gave them to Old Lady He.

Old Lady He said, "I haven’t spent a single coin from the fifty you gave me last time. Besides, there will still be stall earnings while you’re away. You should keep this money."

"The city isn’t like the village—everything costs money. You still need eye treatment for your husband, and you plan to start a small business there. You should take it with you."

Lu Yuan thought it over. Since she had already stocked up on oil, salt, and rice at home, she took the money back.

Then she took two strings of coins, each worth five coins, and handed them to Chun Hua and Qiu Hua.

"This is spending money for you. If you go to town with your Great-Grandma, you can buy whatever you like."

Chun Hua, who had been feeling sad about her mother leaving the next day, stared at the coins in surprise for a moment before looking up at her mother in astonishment.

"Is this really for me?"

Chun Hua was five years old and had never had money of her own. Not even during New Year’s celebrations.

Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Of course it’s for you. You can save it or buy whatever you want—whether it’s food or toys."

Old Lady He seemed to have experience giving children pocket money, so she just glanced at them and didn’t say a word.

Qiu Hua took her small string of coins, climbed to the inner side of the bed, pulled out a little cloth bag from the corner, and carefully placed the five coins inside. She even patted it twice.

Her actions made Lu Yuan and Old Lady He smile.

Old Lady He had sewn little shoulder pouches for both children—one embroidered with spring peach blossoms and the other with autumn chrysanthemums.

The two children cherished them, and because of this, they had grown closer to Old Lady He.

After receiving these bags, they would keep their treasures inside—like the grass figurines Qi Cheng had made for them or the silk blossoms Old Lady He had given them.

Seeing her younger sister take the money, Chun Hua also accepted hers and found her own shoulder bag to put it in.

"Mom, don’t worry, I won’t waste it."

Qiu Hua patted her small bag and chimed in softly, "Won't waste it."

Lu Yuan smiled and nodded. "Go to bed early. I’m going back to my room."

Chun Hua tugged at her clothes, her eyes red.

Lu Yuan stroked her cheek and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Wake me and my sister up tomorrow," she said in a small voice.

Lu Yuan nodded. "Alright, I’ll have breakfast with you before I leave."

Only after she promised did Chun Hua reluctantly let go.

When Lu Yuan returned to the next room, she was feeling low.

Qi Cheng heard the door open and close but noticed she hadn’t spoken. He asked, "What’s wrong?"

Lu Yuan packed the clothes she needed to pack into a basket and said, "I’m going to miss the children."

Ever since she arrived here, she had been with the two children. Now, after two months together, the children had grown close to her, and she had fully settled into her role as their guardian. She was really going to miss them.

Qi Cheng said, "If my treatment isn't finished after half a month, we can come back for a while."

Lu Yuan shut down his suggestion right away: "I think I can handle not seeing them for a month."

A round trip would take four hours (about 8 hours total), and she couldn't deal with all that back-and-forth.

Qi Cheng sighed softly, sounding pretty guilty: "I haven't been able to give you a comfortable life. Instead, you've had to put up with rough times alongside me first. I'm sorry."

Lu Yuan waved it off: "It's not like you meant for this to happen."

She packed all the necessary items into the basket, leaving enough space for the bedding.

Since they were going into the city, they couldn't keep paying for inn stays the whole time—that would cost too much money.

Even getting a new quilt made would require spending quite a bit.

As for the dried mushrooms, they were placed in another basket.

Huang Lan had brought back almost a whole basketful of dried mushrooms from her parents' home, roughly seven or eight pounds.

The Huang family really were big-time mushroom foragers—no wonder Huang Lan could identify so many edible varieties.

Lu Yuan had no time to sew clothes for the children, so she asked Huang Lan to help.

Children's clothes were lightweight and didn't take much time, so Huang Lan only charged a token three coins per outfit.

After packing everything, Lu Yuan turned off the lamp and groped her way to the bed, lying down beside him.

She lowered her voice: "To be honest, I'm kinda nervous about going into the city with only 350 copper coins."

Qi Cheng reached out and took her hand, comforting her: "You've got skills. I have no doubt you can earn money."

Though he hadn't worked for a long time, the rough calluses on his fingers were still there.

With their rough palms pressed together, even the warmth of each other's hands felt somewhat dulled.

Lu Yuan still wasn't comfortable with him taking the lead and felt a bit awkward. She tried to pull her hand back, but he caught it again.

He asked in a low voice: "Are you allowed to hold my hand, but I'm not allowed to hold yours?"

Lu Yuan recalled the last time he had pinned her down on the daybed and couldn't help but purse her lips.

She mustn't let her mouth run ahead of her brain and say something that might provoke him again.

After thinking it through, she said: "Fine, hold it. You can hold it as long as you want."

Only then did Qi Cheng seem satisfied. He slowly laced their fingers together and continued: "If someone as capable as you can't make a living in the city, then most people in the city wouldn't be able to survive either."

Lu Yuan's attention was completely captured by their interlocked hands, her heartbeat quickening. Even hearing his praise couldn't make her feel cheerful.

She usually only flirted with words, but she was actually a total newbie at this. Now that she was being flirted with, she found herself out of her depth.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

His voice grew even deeper, and Lu Yuan felt her ears burning. Seizing the moment when he wasn't paying attention, she abruptly pulled her hand back.

"You're being so cheesy—it makes me uncomfortable," she said, her voice a little shaky.

In the darkness, Qi Cheng quirked a brow.

He thought to himself that it was rare to see her so flustered.

"You don't exactly hold back when teasing me," he remarked.

Hearing this, Lu Yuan suddenly sat up and faced him, exclaiming indignantly: "I get it now! You must think I always tease you, and you want to get back at me!"

Qi Cheng was taken aback.

He had only mentioned it in passing.

Wasn't it the truth? Could he not even mention it?

But Qi Cheng knew her temperament well—her guilt and shame never lasted more than a moment before she became assertive again. He also knew she loved bringing up old grievances.

Not wanting to have past mistakes constantly thrown in his face in the future, Qi Cheng fumbled for her hand. After she pushed him away, he firmly reached out again, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back down to lie on the bed.

"I didn’t want to get back at you. I just genuinely wanted to get close to you."

Then he added: "We’re husband and wife. We can’t lie in the same bed and still be so distant. What I said earlier was just a throwaway comment—don’t be upset."

Lu Yuan let out a scoff: "The other day you said I couldn’t even eat if I didn’t tease you for a day. And you claim you weren’t deliberately getting back at me!?"

Qi Cheng: ...

What did I say now?

She really loved bringing up old issues.

"I was wrong, I was wrong. Don’t be upset."

Just as Lu Yuan was about to continue scolding him, a few deliberate, hushed coughs came from next door, as if reminding them to stop their midnight chatting.

Lu Yuan lowered her voice: "I’ll give you a pass for now. We'll continue this later."

She yanked the covers over herself and went to sleep!

Qi Cheng shook his head with a helpless smile, then scooted a little closer to her.