Chapter 47 Mountain Home Hearth 47

Chapter 47: A Taste of Home

Liu Guyu had just finished setting up his stall, tidying the cart, and lighting the stove when a line of customers already snaked before him.

A familiar face at the front asked, "Hey, Boss Liu, why isn't your little brother with you today? Did you get a new helper, a young girl?"

Liu Guyu was busy with his hands and hadn't had a chance to answer when Qin Banban quickly spoke up.

The young girl's cheeks were flushed pink. Her voice started softly but grew steadily louder.

"My brother has gone to study at Luming Academy," she announced. "From now on, I'll be helping out! What would you like to buy, Auntie? I'll pack it for you!"

After half a year of good food, Qin Banban's face had rounded out, no longer thin and gaunt. Her complexion was much fairer, glowing with a healthy, rosy hue—she had blossomed into a beautiful little girl.

She wore a clean yellow cloth dress, her two braids tied with goose-yellow ribbons resting neatly on her chest. A vibrant, fresh peach blossom, tucked into her hair by Luo Maier when they first arrived at the East Market, adorned her temple.

Maier had even thumped her chest while imparting business wisdom to Banban: always smile, speak loudly, and be enthusiastic with customers!

Banban's attire was simple and unadorned, typical of village girls, yet her pretty face and sweet, endearing manner made her stand out.

The regular customer was a middle-aged woman, accompanied by her daughter, who was even younger than Banban and gazed longingly at the food on the stall.

The woman chuckled, "Oh, that's wonderful! Getting into Luming Academy means he'll have a bright future! I always knew that boy was special, and I wasn't wrong! This little one is lovely too, so clever and well-behaved! Boss Liu, how do you raise such children? They're all so sensible!"

It was all polite conversation. Liu Guyu smiled and returned the compliments, then bent down to the little girl holding the woman's hand and asked gently, "What would you like to eat, sweetie?"

Some stalls in the East Market had already started imitating Liu Guyu by selling sweet tangyuan. It wasn't a difficult dish to make, but each vendor's skill varied.

Regular customers still preferred Liu Guyu's—some found other stalls' tangyuan not chewy enough, others thought their syrup too sweet. In short, the taste wasn't quite right.

Plus, his stall was always introducing new items!

Every few days, there was something fresh to try!

Before the New Year, Liu Guyu had started selling sweet drinks: snow pear, sugarcane, and cogongrass root water; hot apple and orange drinks; pomelo sweet tea… served in bamboo tubes with clean reed straws for sipping.

Many young women loved to buy them, strolling through the market with a drink in hand, finding it utterly delightful.

Today, there was another new offering: the orange soft candy Liu Guyu had perfected during the New Year.

The little girl asked for a bowl of red bean tangyuan. The woman paid, and Qin Banban collected the copper coins before packing the treat into a bamboo cup.

The red bean paste was sweet and fragrant, the snow-white tangyuan soft and chewy, and a sprinkle of golden dried osmanthus made it look incredibly appetizing.

After their purchase, the woman was about to lead her daughter away when Liu Guyu suddenly called out to them.

"Auntie, little miss, wait a moment!"

He called them back, then speared two orange-colored soft candies with a short bamboo stick, handing them over with a smile. "This is our new orange soft candy today. Any customer who spends over five coppers can have a taste! Let your daughter try it. If she likes it, come back another time to buy some!"

The woman turned, chuckled, and accepted the bamboo stick from Liu Guyu. "Thank you, Boss Liu! You really know how to run a business!"

The candy was small, but who would refuse a free sample?

The woman gave the candy to her daughter, who devoured both pieces quickly. They were sweet and tangy—delicious!

"Mom! This is so good! Even better than the red bean tangyuan!" the little girl exclaimed in delight, tugging at her mother's hand, unwilling to leave.

The woman playfully glared at her. "You little madam, you won't eat the tangyuan we make at home, but you insist on buying red bean tangyuan! And now you want candy too! We still have steamed rice cakes and winter melon candy from New Year that haven't been finished!"

The little girl pouted but didn't dare actually ask her mother to buy more. She was reluctantly pulled away, looking back repeatedly.

After the mother and daughter left, the customers still in line had all witnessed the scene. One by one, they asked, "Boss Liu, what flavor is this candy? How much is it?"

Liu Guyu replied, "It's made from oranges, so of course it's orange-flavored. Fifteen coppers per pack!"

He produced packets of orange soft candy wrapped in oiled paper, each slightly larger than the ones he'd given Qin Rongshi earlier, probably containing over thirty pieces.

That was quite expensive!

Immediately, some customers hesitated, exclaiming, "Good heavens, that's so pricey! Enough to buy two bowls of ice jelly!"

Liu Guyu knew the price was high, but the town wasn't short of wealthy families. Having run his stall in the East Market for months, he naturally had well-to-do customers.

He explained, "You might not realize, but even though this packet looks small, it's a real hassle to make! It requires orange pulp, sugar, milk… You know how expensive sugar is, not to mention milk! My price really isn't that high!"

Hearing that it required milk, the man no longer complained about the price. He clicked his tongue and said, "Well, then I'll buy three bowl cakes. Didn't you say spending over five coppers gets a free sample? Three bowl cakes should be exactly five coppers, right?"

Liu Guyu replied, "Sure thing!"

He didn't force customers to buy; expensive items naturally found their suitable buyers.

Qin Banban collected the payment while Liu Guyu prepared three bowl cakes of different flavors and added two orange candies as a bonus.

After receiving his order, the man didn't eat them immediately, muttering, "Such expensive treats—I'll take them home for my mother and wife to try!"

As he left, a scholar squeezed to the front.

A familiar-looking scholar, at that!

He wore a scholar's robe the color of green bamboo, with two books tucked under his arm. He seemed hurried and flustered as he said, "Two bowls of taro paste tangyuan, and two… no, five packets of orange candy! Quickly!"

This scholar was quite tall—almost six feet—but his face looked young, suggesting he was probably still in his teens.

It took Liu Guyu a moment to recognize this customer—wasn't this the young master from the Xie Family Cloth Shop he'd encountered last time?

He recognized Young Master Xie, but Young Master Xie didn't recognize Liu Guyu. Firstly, it had been a while, and secondly, the Xie Family Cloth Shop had many customers daily—he couldn't possibly remember them all, nor did he bother to.

Young Master Xie didn't ask for a sample; he directly ordered five packets of orange soft candy, rubbing his hands together eagerly while waiting for Liu Guyu to pack them.

He was dressed as a scholar and carried books, with a servant carrying his books accompanying him, but his physique didn't match that of a typical scholar.

Perhaps Liu Guyu was stereotyping, but he felt scholars should look like Qin Rongshi—lean, scholarly, and refined.

But this youth before him, who appeared about sixteen or seventeen, was taller than most grown men and quite solidly built. His scholar's robe fit tightly, subtly revealing muscular lines beneath, and his skin was a healthy wheat color.

...He reminded Liu Guyu more of the athletes he'd seen in his previous life.

Handsome men were always a treat for the eyes! Liu Guyu wondered if his Erlang would grow this tall someday.

Chuckling inwardly, Liu Guyu kept working with his hands. He and Banban packed the taro paste tangyuan and orange candies. Since the young master was buying so much, Liu Guyu threw in two extra bowl cakes.

The Xie family were leading cloth merchants in town, rumored to have their main family in the county seat—such an important customer was worth cultivating!

*

By noon, students from Luming Academy had all arrived.

Xu Xing very enthusiastically led Qin Rongshi to the kitchen, talking nonstop along the way about how skilled the academy's cooks were and what delicious dishes they prepared.

Along the way, many people greeted Xu Xing, joking and chatting.

Afterward, he turned to Qin Rongshi and said, "Hey, these classmates often come to me for help with their studies, so we're all on good terms. Little brother, you're young and new here, so don’t worry if you fall behind in your studies. Just ask me anything you don’t understand! As your senior, I’ll tell you whatever you need to know!"

Qin Rongshi had been frowning the whole way because Xu Xing had casually thrown an arm around his shoulders, making him quite uncomfortable. Several times, he felt like dropping the polite act.

Hearing Xu Xing's words, he only gave a perfunctory response without really answering.

Xu Xing wasn’t offended and smiled as he led Qin Rongshi into the kitchen, taking him to the cook to get his meal.

At Luming Academy, meal plans were separate—three hundred wen a month. If a family couldn’t afford the silver, they could also pay with grain instead of cash.

The academy’s meals were quite good. Though not every meal included meat, it was common to have it a few times a week. Three hundred wen for this was really not expensive.

Qin Rongshi was first to find an empty seat and sat down. He had already memorized the way back to his dorm and originally planned to put some distance between himself and Xu Xing, but the latter seemed completely oblivious to his reluctance and stuck by his side.

Xu Xing added, "It’s the first day, so the kitchen made meatballs! Smells great!"

It was winter melon meatball soup, along with stir-fried bok choy and a side of pickled radish.

The food was indeed decent, but having grown accustomed to Liu Guyu’s cooking, Qin Rongshi felt it still didn't measure up in comparison.

Xu Xing, also from the village and not as well-off as the town students, rarely had meat at home. He finished his bowl of winter melon meatball soup clean, even scraping up the scallions into his mouth.

Just as he finished, a noisy commotion came from the entrance—a group of students had arrived together, led by Young Master Xie—Xie Baozhu.

This young master had a knack for gathering friends around him. With a crowd following, he chewed on candy and shared it with his classmates, saying, "Try it! Just got this great stuff!"

Before even tasting it, his classmates began flattering him: "It smells amazing! Only Classmate Xie has such refined taste! Did you bring this from the county?"

Xie Baozhu glanced over and chuckled, "What? No! I just bought it from a stall in the East Market!"

"Wow, that stall’s food is really delicious! The tangyuan are great, and the candy is too! How come I never noticed before?"

He hadn’t noticed before because the young master only ate at proper restaurants, not street stalls. This time, he passed by the East Market and saw a long line in front of Liu Guyu’s stall, which caught his interest.

The noise drew Qin Rongshi’s attention, and when he looked over, he froze.

Wasn’t that Liu Guyu’s orange soft candy?

Noticing Qin Rongshi’s gaze, Xu Xing leaned closer, tugged his sleeve, and whispered, "That’s Xie Baozhu! He’s in our class! Seventeen and still hasn’t passed the Student Scholar examination. Even the preparatory class wouldn't keep him! He only got into our Three Pines Academy as an exception!"

"His family is rich! If they hadn’t made a large donation, how could he have gotten into our Class A?"

"Little brother, let me give you some advice—steer clear of him in the future, and his friends too. They’re all rich young masters who look down on us poor scholars. Pranking people is common for them!"

Qin Rongshi didn’t answer, his gaze still fixed, which eventually caught Xie Baozhu’s attention.

Thinking Qin Rongshi was eyeing his candy, Xie Baozhu didn’t care whether they knew each other and came over with the candy.

"Hey, you want some? Good taste—here, have a few!"

Xie Baozhu grabbed a handful of soft candy and handed it to Qin Rongshi. Then he leaned in to get a better look and finally recognized him, stammering, "You... you... you’re the customer who bought cloth at my family’s shop!"

Xie Baozhu didn’t remember Liu Guyu and Qin Banban, but he had some impression of Qin Rongshi. Back at the shop, he had glanced at him a few more times.

Not for any particular reason—just because Qin Rongshi had an unusual air about him. He didn’t seem like an ordinary farmer's son but more like a scholar, and a talented one at that—the kind of "other people’s children" his parents always talked about.

That "other people’s child" was worth a second look.

At the time, he thought Qin Rongshi was also a student at Luming Academy and found it strange that there was a student he didn’t know. He couldn’t help but steal a few more glances!

Meeting again like this was fate. Xie Baozhu plopped down beside Qin Rongshi and pressed the candy into his hand.

With a playful grin, he asked, "Bro, which class are you in? Since we’ve met, it’s destiny—tell me your name, and I’ll have your back from now on!"

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

Author's note: Recommending a similar upcoming story: "Living in the Spring Mountains"

(I swear, this is the last recommendation before this book is finished)

*

Loyal, tough-yet-tender gong × naturally naive persimmon spirit shou

Ling Shuang is a persimmon tree on Baiyun Mountain, transformed into human form for less than two years—the youngest spirit on the mountain.

One day, he saved someone on the mountain—a person bitten by a venomous snake.

To save him, Ling Shuang sucked out the poison, and they had physical contact.

Ling Shuang had read picture books—he was a well-read little spirit! The books showed that after kissing and hugging, one could have a baby. Having a baby was a huge deal, and someone had to take responsibility!

So, Ling Shuang packed a small bag and went down the mountain to find the person responsible!

*

Taohua Village nestled against Baiyun Mountain, and its people lived off the mountain's resources. Duan Chunshan went hunting on the mountain once and was unfortunately bitten by a venomous snake.

In his daze, he saw a little immortal who saved him, sucking out the poison.

But when Duan Chunshan woke up, he was alone—there was no little immortal.

He stumbled down the mountain in a daze and lived in a daze for a month. Just as he was starting to accept that the little immortal was just a figment of his imagination, someone came to his door.

Ling Shuang cornered him on the road, carrying his small bundle, and said seriously, "Hello, I’m Ling Shuang. Last time on the mountain, I kissed you. You might be pregnant now, but don’t worry—I’ll take responsibility!"

Duan Chunshan: "???"

*

Duan Chunshan: Thanks. Found the little immortal, but he doesn’t seem too bright.