Chapter 17 Mountain Home Hearth 17

Chapter 17: Mountain Home Fires 17

Liu Guyu remained oblivious to the subsequent events, unaware that Lin Xingniang had left the Tangyuan Vendor speechless.

He and Qin Rongshi drove the cart back home, only to be immediately enveloped by Cui Lanfang and Qin Banban upon entering.

"How was it? How was it?"

"Did you sell everything?"

Liu Guyu, equally excited, nodded repeatedly, "Completely sold out! We didn't even have enough. Tomorrow, we'll probably need to make more to sell!"

The meal was already warm in the pot, but the family was too thrilled to eat. They gathered around the small table, eager to count their earnings.

Liu Guyu retrieved the money pouch from his bag, untied its drawstring, and poured the copper coins onto the table.

The coins clattered as they spilled, quickly covering the tabletop. Some even rolled off the edge and fell to the floor, startling Qin Banban, who scrambled to pick them up.

Qin Rongshi had collected the money today, so he had a rough idea of the amount. However, Cui Lanfang and Qin Banban were completely in the dark. The mother and daughter had worried all day—while washing clothes, sweeping, cooking, and preparing medicine—fearing that nothing would sell.

Their eyes widened in astonishment, and Qin Banban let out a resounding "Wow!"

Liu Guyu twisted some straw into a string for the coins and brought over a shallow basket from the main room. As he worked, he instructed, "Let's count. String every hundred coins together and see how much we have."

He had made fifteen bowl cakes of each flavor today and thirty bowls of ice jelly. A rough calculation suggested it should be around two to three hundred wen.

Cui Lanfang and Qin Banban nodded eagerly. The mother and daughter counted, passing groups of ten coins to Liu Guyu, who strung them onto the grass rope. It took quite a while to finish.

Qin Rongshi didn't join them. Instead, he opened a book and began to read. He had been busy all day at the temple fair and hadn't had a chance to read a single page.

"Three hundred and twenty wen! Heavens! That's so much!"

It was Cui Lanfang who exclaimed, her face beaming with uncontainable joy as she gazed at the three strings of coins in the shallow basket.

After all, temporary laborers in town earned only twenty to thirty wen a day. Earning a month's wages in a single day—she was beyond excited and thrilled!

It was roughly in line with Liu Guyu's estimate. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "We need to make more tomorrow. Today's stock wasn't enough. There were so many people at the temple fair!"

It seemed as if the entire town had flocked to the temple fair!

Cui Lanfang nodded repeatedly in agreement, saying, "Yes, yes, yes! Banban and I will prepare tomorrow's portion today. We'll add more later! It's no trouble at all!"

Then she pushed the money toward Liu Guyu and said with a smile, "Quick, put it away! You earned this all by yourself! A young fellow like you should have some savings!"

She had actually wanted to suggest that Liu Guyu save up for his dowry, but with both her children present, she refrained from saying it directly.

Liu Guyu didn't grasp her true meaning and pushed the money back, waving his hand. "You keep it! You've always managed the household money! Save it well. It's for your medicine, and if there's any left, we can send Erlang to school!"

He was determined to cling tightly to Qin Rongshi, his golden ticket.

Without waiting for Cui Lanfang's reaction, Liu Guyu stood up and wandered over to the stove, mumbling to change the subject: "Let's eat! I'm starving... Oh, and we need to bring some packed food tomorrow to snack on at noon."

Cui Lanfang said nothing more, simply agreeing repeatedly. She then called for Qin Banban to serve the dishes and scoop the rice while she took the money back to her room to put away.

After the meal, the family began preparing the next day's bowl cakes and ice jelly. They worked for a long time before finishing, then washed up and went to bed.

The first to rise the next day was Cui Lanfang. She woke up before dawn, intending to make breakfast before calling Liu Guyu and Qin Rongshi.

The two young ones had a busy day ahead, so they should sleep a little longer if they could.

She made corn porridge and steamed buckwheat buns, even heating water for washing up before calling them to get up.

Liu Guyu and Qin Rongshi emerged from their rooms, washed up, ate, and then hurriedly set out with the cart.

The sky wasn't fully light yet, only a faint white glow breaking through, with a pale crescent moon still faintly visible against the leaden sky.

Liu Guyu sat leaning against the cart, dry grass cushioning his seat as he nibbled on a buckwheat bun.

He nibbled while watching Upper River Village fade into the distance.

Nestled among half-encircling green mountains were clusters of small, low houses, like wild mushrooms sprouting after rain. A clear stream trickled down from Little Stream Mountain, quietly flowing into the village's small river, which stretched upward toward Fushui Town, merging with the town's Danshui River.

The cart wheels turned, rolling over the dirt road.

By the time they reached Fushui Town, the sky had finally brightened. Liu Guyu paid the entry tax as he had the day before and drove the cart into town.

To the left after entering town was a mule and horse stable where all livestock pulling goods into the city could be boarded. It cost two wen per hour, four wen for two hours, and a maximum of ten wen for the day, with no additional charges beyond that.

Qin Rongshi went to tend to the ox cart, while Liu Guyu pushed the small food cart toward the temple fair to set up the stall.

They arrived a bit earlier than the day before, but when Liu Guyu pushed the cart over, he found that the spot they had occupied yesterday was already taken—by the Tangyuan Vendor.

The vendor saw Liu Guyu too, looking up and smiling at him with a somewhat smug expression.

Liu Guyu: "..."

He went through a lot of trouble, getting up so early just to claim this spot.

Liu Guyu rolled his eyes slightly and pushed the cart to another location, setting up the bowl cakes and ice jelly.

There weren't many people in the morning, so he wasn't very busy. He glanced around at the few scattered stalls.

It was fine until he looked—then he noticed that the Tangyuan Vendor wasn't selling sesame tangyuan today. Instead, he had rolled tiny, fingertip-sized tangyuan and, imitating the ice jelly's recipe, added peanuts, brown sugar, and deep purple dried flower fragments whose name Liu Guyu didn't know.

Liu Guyu suddenly remembered what Lin Xingniang had warned him yesterday—that this guy loved copying others and that he should be careful.

Just as he thought of Lin Xingniang, her young daughter Luo Maier suddenly scurried over.

They had also moved today—not because their spot was taken, but because they didn't want to be near that copycat, so they had chosen a new location.

Lin Xingniang doted on her young daughter Luo Maier, dressing the child beautifully in a pink dress with her hair in twin buns, each adorned with light yellow silk flowers and long, bud green ribbons trailing down. She looked charming, like a butterfly fluttering out of a flower garden.

She squatted down beside Liu Guyu, munching on a soft, sweet cake while venting indignantly.

"Brother Gu Yu! That man is so awful! He's copying you, selling something called ice tangyuan! Except for the ice jelly, he's added almost the same things! No one in town has ever sold tangyuan like this before! He's deliberately copying you! It's too much!"

The little girl was furious, her face flushed with anger. Liu Guyu felt both touched and amused. He couldn't help but pat her head and comforted her, "Alright, don't be angry. Let him copy. The one whose food tastes worse will be embarrassed."

He coaxed her a few more times, saying some funny things until Luo Maier finally cheered up a bit. Then she pattered past the tangyuan stall, letting out a loud "Hmph!" as she went by.

Liu Guyu: "This little girl."

Liu Guyu chuckled for a moment. He had indeed noticed the Tangyuan Vendor copying him, but he wasn't worried or anxious at all. Instead, he craned his neck and looked around the alley several times.

Qin Rongshi hadn't arrived yet.

He was worried that with the change of location, Qin Rongshi wouldn't be able to find him. He even stepped out in front of the stall and lingered in a conspicuous spot for a while, but Qin Rongshi still hadn't shown up.

That shouldn't be right. The mule and horse stable wasn't far from here.

Liu Guyu was getting worried. He wiped his hands and was about to ask Lin Xingniang to watch the stall for him while he went out to look.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly saw Qin Rongshi heading this way.

"Erlang!"

Liu Guyu waved vigorously at him and yelled.

Qin Rongshi immediately picked up his pace and walked over to Liu Guyu.

Liu Guyu asked with concern, "Why are you so late? Did something happen on the way?"

Qin Rongshi paused for a moment, then pressed his lips together and replied, "Nothing happened. There were a few new stalls set up over there, and I stopped to take a look on my way, so I got held up."

So that was it.

Liu Guyu let out a sigh of relief and asked offhandedly, "What kind of stalls?"

Qin Rongshi pulled out the wooden bucket from under the cart, intending to get water from the well. Hearing Liu Guyu's question, he hesitated for a second, then tilted his head and answered, "Tangyuan stalls."

Tangyuan again?

Liu Guyu was about to ask more, but seeing that Qin Rongshi had already left with the bucket, he bit back his question.

Time passed little by little, and the temple fair got busier.

"Tangyuan for sale! Ice tangyuan!"

The Tangyuan Vendor hawked loudly, and he actually drew in a few customers.

A girl who had brought her younger brother out to play stopped in front of the stall and asked, "Ice tangyuan? Wasn’t this stall selling ice jelly yesterday? I didn’t manage to buy any yesterday and came here specifically today. How did it become ice tangyuan?"

The Tangyuan Vendor chuckled, "It's pretty similar! The taste is similar!"

The girl seemed unsure and was about to speak when she suddenly felt her skirt being tugged. Looking down, she saw a little girl in a pink dress.

Luo Maier flashed her a big grin and said loudly, "Sister! Do you want ice jelly? There’s ice jelly for sale over there!"

The girl automatically looked in the direction Luo Maier pointed and saw a small stall not far away. Behind the cart, Liu Guyu was grinning her way.

Yes, it was a young man selling it!

She had heard about it yesterday—a young man was selling ice jelly!

This was the right one!

The girl decisively ditched the idea of ice tangyuan and pulled her younger brother toward Liu Guyu’s stall.

Luo Maier laughed triumphantly, hands on her hips, and even blew a raspberry at the Tangyuan Vendor before quickly running off before he could get angry enough to scold her.

Liu Guyu’s stall also opened for business. After sending off the girl who bought ice jelly, he began hawking his wares, calling out, "Ice jelly for sale! Bowl cake for sale!"

Even though they had changed locations, business was just as good as yesterday, with regulars even bringing friends to try the treats.

Surprisingly, the tangyuan stall’s business was also holding its own, perhaps because it was something new, and since it was two coppers cheaper than Liu Guyu’s, some people were willing to buy it.

They stayed busy until noon when suddenly, a fuss broke out at the tangyuan stall.

A man complained loudly, "Boss! What kind of dried flowers did you use? How come there are bugs in it?!"

Author's Note:

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Update! [Paw print]

(No update tomorrow)