Chapter 18 Mountain Home Hearth 18

Chapter 18: Mountain Home Fires 18

The tangyuan stall had been quiet, but the commotion quickly drew a crowd from nearby, arms crossed, eager to watch the unfolding drama.

A tall, burly man slammed a bowl of tangyuan onto the counter. With a bamboo ladle, he fished out a small black flying insect from the sweet soup, shouting angrily, "Look at this! Everyone, come see! There's a bug in my tangyuan! What kind of flowers did you even use? How could there be insects in it?"

The tangyuan vendor was taken aback, stammering defensively, "J-just ordinary flowers... H-how could there be bugs? Maybe it fell in while you were eating!"

Such small flying insects could easily drop into the soup unnoticed.

Truth be told, the man couldn't be certain if the insect had fallen in while he was eating, nor could the vendor guarantee that his dried flowers were thoroughly cleaned or hadn't contained bugs from the start.

But the incident had occurred. The man, of course, refused to take the blame and demanded compensation. The vendor was even less willing to admit fault—paying money was a small matter, but if word got out that his flowers had bugs, his reputation would be ruined!

He argued, "T-that ice jelly vendor over there has great business, and he uses flowers too! I've never heard of anyone finding bugs in his! My flowers are just a different color, but I picked and washed them carefully—how could there possibly be bugs?"

Although Liu Guyu’s ice jelly stall had only been open for two days, it had already garnered a loyal following. Hearing the vendor shift the blame onto Liu Guyu, customers immediately spoke up in his defense.

"Don’t drag his stall into this! His osmanthus flowers are displayed openly for all to see. Who knows what kind of flowers you’re using? You keep them hidden!"

"Exactly! Not every flower is edible—some plants and blossoms are even poisonous!"

This accusation carried far greater weight, and the vendor couldn't let it stand. He quickly retorted, "Don’t talk nonsense! If osmanthus can be used, why can’t mine? They’re all just flowers!"

Liu Guyu could no longer stay silent. As long as the blame didn't fall on him, he might have ignored it. But the vendor clearly intended to drag him into the argument, implying, "If he can sell it, why can’t I? If my flowers aren’t edible, then neither are his."

After serving his last customer, Liu Guyu stepped around to the front of his stall.

He said, "Not all flowers are the same! Osmanthus is commonly used in honey and cakes—of course it’s edible! But not every flower is safe to eat. Has anyone ever heard of making cakes with photinia (shinan) flowers? If you’ve nothing to hide, show everyone the dried flowers you used. If people agree they’re fine, the matter ends here. But if you refuse to show them, doesn’t that make you look guilty?"

His words sparked murmurs throughout the crowd.

"Photinia flowers? Ugh… they smell terrible—how could anyone eat those?"

"Exactly!"

"He’s right. Not all flowers are edible—photinia definitely isn’t!"

...

The vendor grew furious.

His neighbor loved flowers and cultivated many varieties—mountain roses, wild camellias, hibiscus—the yard bursting with color. Unable to pick them himself, the vendor had taken advantage of the night to gather flowers that had fallen outside the neighbor’s wall. It cost him nothing and required no effort—why not take free goods?

But the collected flowers were inevitably less fresh than those still on the branches. A few crushed petals mixed into a bowl might go unnoticed, but if a pile of wilted, damaged blossoms were revealed, anyone could see they were inferior. He dared not show them—wouldn’t that just invite more trouble?

By now, regret was setting in. If he’d known, he never would have bothered adding those wretched petals!

He blamed Liu Guyu entirely. If Liu Guyu hadn’t used dried osmanthus, he wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of doing the same.

A bully who targeted the weak but feared the strong, the vendor didn’t dare stand firm before the tall, sturdy man. But facing Liu Guyu, he immediately straightened up and opened his mouth to snap back.

Unfortunately, before he could utter a word, the man who had found the bug slammed the bowl down on the counter and shoved the vendor hard, yelling, "Pay up! What kind of garbage is this? How dare you sell it! Either show everyone your flowers or pay me back!"

Following his lead, two others who had eaten the tangyuan grumbled, "And the taste isn’t good anyway… The tangyuan turns hard when cold. Terrible—don’t be fooled by this stall!"

The vendor could no longer spare attention for Liu Guyu. Caught in the mess, he alternated between apologizing and pleading, and ultimately paid compensation to settle the dispute.

But after this incident, business at the tangyuan stall plummeted.

Meanwhile, more and more customers were gathering at Liu Guyu's stall, with many lining up to buy.

With the rush, Liu Guyu couldn't be bothered with the Tangyuan Vendor's petty tricks anymore; his own business came first.

Just like yesterday, Liu Guyu and Qin Rongshi worked seamlessly together—one preparing the ice jelly and serving bowl cakes, the other handling payments.

The temple fair grew livelier, bustling with chatter and excitement. Besides the stalls, there were acrobatic performances—some balancing bowls or juggling vats, others leading monkeys for monkey shows. Up front, lion dancers, clad in vibrant red fur costumes, leaped and danced on poles, drawing cheers and applause.

In front of the stall stood two young girls whom Liu Guyu recognized—they were the first customers from the ice jelly stall yesterday.

The two weren't dressed in lavish or exquisite clothing, but their outfits were made of good quality cotton in bright, youthful colors favored by girls their age. Their hair accessories were also different from the day before.

Liu Guyu guessed they weren't daughters of wealthy families but likely came from well-off households.

Liu Guyu smiled and asked, "The usual ice jelly?"

The round-faced girl nodded eagerly and added, "And two bowl cakes! One peach flavor, one osmanthus flavor."

As she spoke, she impatiently rose on her toes, looking toward the lion dance performance as if eager to watch the show.

Liu Guyu quickened his movements and asked kindly, "Heading to see the lion dance?"

The round-faced girl nodded even more vigorously, excitedly saying, "That's right! I heard Guanyin Temple hired the best lion dance troupe in the county this year. My cousin and I are going together!"

It turned out the two weren't just bosom friends but actually close cousins who had grown up together and shared a deep bond.

The girls took the ice jelly and bowl cakes from Liu Guyu. The round-faced girl added, "Boss, your food tastes amazing! Yesterday at the temple fair, I ran into quite a few friends and recommended your stall to all of them! If I see them again today, I’ll definitely help you drum up business!"

The round-faced girl was quite young, around sixteen or seventeen, with bright, round eyes and dimples when she smiled—really cute.

Liu Guyu was amused and thanked her repeatedly before seeing the pair of cousins off.

When things quieted down for a bit, Liu Guyu couldn't help but lower his voice and ask Qin Rongshi, "It's noon now, and things aren’t too busy. Want to check out the temple fair?"

To his surprise, Qin Rongshi shook his head immediately and refused, "No."

Without giving a reason, he simply crouched by the bucket, washing the empty bamboo tubes one by one and setting them out to dry.

Liu Guyu didn’t press him, assuming Qin Rongshi wasn't into temple fairs, though he himself was quite curious about ancient ones.

After a moment’s thought, he couldn’t resist adding, "I heard the temple fair lasts five days. On the last day, let’s only set up the stall for half a day and spend the other half exploring the fair. We can get Mom and Banban to join us too."

This time, Qin Rongshi didn’t refuse, though he didn’t say anything either—just gave a silent nod.

Just as they were talking, two people—a mother and daughter—had appeared at the stall unnoticed.

"Well... isn’t this Liu Geer from the Qin family?"

Liu Guyu turned toward the voice, and even Qin Rongshi, sitting on his small stool, frowned abruptly and looked up sharply at the speaker. His brows furrowed even tighter once he saw who it was.

He stood up quickly and moved to stand beside Liu Guyu.

The speaker was Zhou Qiaozhi, also from Shanghe Village.

While she seemed somewhat unfamiliar, the girl standing beside her was a familiar face.

It was Tian Hexiang—the same girl who had deliberately picked a fight when Liu Guyu and Qin Banban went to Xiaoliu Mountain to pick Ficus pumila fruits.

Liu Guyu still remembered what Qin Banban had told him: because Tian Hexiang’s mother and Cui Lanfang didn’t get along, Tian Hexiang had followed her example and often caused trouble for her.

So, the one who has it out for Cui Lanfang must be Zhou Qiaozhi right here.

The history between Cui Lanfang and Zhou Qiaozhi is a long story.

When they were still young girls, they had a good relationship and often went to the mountains together to forage for wild greens and mushrooms. Later, when they both reached marriageable age, their parents started looking for marriage prospects for them.

Zhou Qiaozhi’s family arranged for her to marry a young man from the Tian family, named Tian Dacheng, who is now a traveling vendor. Because of this, Zhou Qiaozhi has lived comfortably since getting married.

However, this Tian Dacheng had a thing for Cui Lanfang. When he was young, he asked for Cui Lanfang’s hand, but was rejected by her parents.

Unable to marry the one he loved, he never got over her and kept pining even after marriage. He often said things to Zhou Qiaozhi like, "Look how gentle and virtuous she is, unlike you—such a nag, always so harsh," or "When will you learn to be more like her?"

Over time, Zhou Qiaozhi couldn’t take it anymore and gradually grew to resent Cui Lanfang, and their relationship turned sour.

From then on, she butted heads with Cui Lanfang over everything and constantly compared herself to her.

As soon as Cui Lanfang discussed with her husband about sending their second son to study at the Liu family’s private school, Zhou Qiaozhi immediately sent her own son there as well.

Unfortunately, Zhou Qiaozhi’s son was not cut out for studying and naturally couldn’t compare to Qin Rongshi. This humiliation made her even more resentful.

But soon, the Qin family fell on hard times, and their financial situation worsened significantly. Qin Rongshi had to drop out of school.

From then on, Zhou Qiaozhi became smug, strutting around the village like a victorious rooster, boasting to everyone she met that her son was a scholar who would surely pass the imperial exams and become an official.

Every time she brought this up, she would deliberately sigh and say pityingly, "The Qin family, though—what a shame. Their son’s future has been ruined. How pitiful."

She said this to everyone she met, over and over, never stopping even when her lips were chapped. During that time, the women and men in the village avoided her whenever they saw her, utterly tired of hearing the same thing repeatedly.

She had no idea how popular Liu Guyu’s business was. Tian Hexiang, afraid her mother would find out about her playing in the mountain streams, hadn’t told Zhou Qiaozhi about Liu Guyu and Qin Banban picking Ficus pumila fruits in the mountains.

Now, with her hands on her hips, Zhou Qiaozhi stood blocking the stall, sneering as she said, "Oh dear... how pathetic... Must be rough for a young guy like you to have to show your face in public to make a living. A house just can’t get by without a man!"

"Business isn’t going well, is it? You’ve been set up here for ages—have you sold anything? Well, since we’re from the same village, Auntie’ll do you a favor and buy two. You know, your Uncle Tian is a traveling vendor—we’ve got a little extra to spare."

Zhou Qiaozhi said all this but didn’t reach for her money, clearly intending to mock them.

When she arrived, there was no one in front of the stall, so she assumed business was slow. In her excitement, she didn’t notice that a line had already formed behind her.

Someone poked her and snapped, "Then why don’t you buy something? Buy it and leave quickly—quit blocking the stall and holding everyone up!"

Author's Note:

----------------------

Round-faced girl: I won’t allow anyone to have not tried osmanthus ice jelly! Long live sweetness!