Chapter 32

Chapter 32

When Pei Mu returned to the inn, Zhong Yizhu was eating noodles in the main hall. Seeing him come in from the doorway, Zhong Yizhu's eyes lit up, and he swallowed the noodles and looked up at him.

"You're back."

Pei Mu sat down beside him, carefully studying his complexion. "When did you wake up? Did you sleep well last night?"

"Just woke up a little while ago, slept very well." Zhong Yizhu answered each question, glancing at the bundle in his hand and asking casually, "Did you go shopping in town?"

"Mm, I bought some dried fruit and candied snacks you like. Take a look later and see if there's anything else you want to eat, and we'll go buy some more."

Zhong Yizhu smiled at this and leaned a little closer to Pei Mu.

He was still wearing the same lilac clothes from yesterday, his hair tied up with a ribbon of the same color. The outfit was simple, but with his face and figure, there was no way he could blend in.

The other guests in the hall who had been sneaking glances at the young man saw him smile like a peach blossom in full bloom, his eyes as bright as spring water, and silently thought Pei Mu was a lucky man.

Only the innkeeper's assistant couldn't help shooting a sympathetic look at Zhong Yizhu. Poor foolish young man, so thoroughly fooled by his husband. A new wife might soon be coming through the door, and then who knows how heartbroken he'll be.

After finishing the noodles, Zhong Yizhu and Pei Mu went back to their room together, packed up their belongings, and left the inn to return to the village.

As before, they first went to the market to buy spices.

Although Zhong Yizhu's incense pellets sold well, incense pellets aren't consumable in a single use. With the dry weather now, one pellet could last forty days. Even if he set up a stall every day, he wouldn't sell much more than he currently did.

Besides, they lived far away and didn't have an oxcart, so every round trip was a cost. If he came every day, Pei Mu wouldn't have time to hunt either. All things considered, the most cost-effective approach was to set up a stall every once in a while.

Of course, this was based on Zhong Yizhu only selling incense pellets. If he added other incense products, it would be different. Different products targeted different customer groups, preventing the awkward situation mentioned earlier.

But Zhong Yizhu was just starting out and didn't want to take on too much. If a small stall tried to sell all kinds of incense products, stocking up would be a problem for him. The house wasn't big enough, and they didn't have enough proper incense-making tools. Besides, after what happened with Lai Laoer, he knew the dangers of traveling to the county alone. These were all problems he needed to solve gradually.

Even though he still had three hundred silver taels in his hands, that was only enough to buy a shop in Songyun County. Then stocking up and holding inventory would require money. With their finances tight, it would be hard to get the business off the ground. And if they didn't have money to buy a house, they'd still have to commute from the village every day, and the incense-making business would be impossible to keep secret.

Even if they chose to rent a shop, they'd face the same difficulties. So before that, it was best to start small with the incense pellet business, gain a steady footing, and then plan for other things.

Songyun County also had a big market. The next one was in four days. If he really pushed himself, he could make it, but Zhong Yizhu had just sold a lot at the Qiqiao Festival and wasn't greedy. After discussing with Pei Mu, they decided to wait until the big market after the fourteenth. On the way to buy spices, they stopped by Gong Laosi's stall again and asked him to save them a spot that day.

Having done it once before, Zhong Yizhu bought spices directly from the usual stalls this time and quickly got what he wanted.

Before leaving the city, Pei Mu also went to a grain shop and bought twenty jin of polished rice and white flour.

He had lived rough on his own, eating coarse rice at home. He'd gone hungry since childhood, so he never thought coarse rice was hard to swallow. But Zhong Yizhu was different.

Zhong Yizhu had never said anything, but such things didn't need to be said. He had a small appetite to begin with, so eating finer grains would be more nourishing.

When they got back to the village, it was still early. Pei Mu took Zhong Yizhu along the path on the other side of the river to avoid being seen by the villagers carrying large baskets and bundles, which would only invite gossip.

The water plants that had been lush and thick when they first met were now turning yellow, and that chance encounter had led to everything that followed, shaping who they were now.

Pei Mu took Zhong Yizhu's hand, looked down at it for a while, then brought it to his lips and kissed it.

Such hands shouldn't be doing rough work. But fortunately, he had come, and fortunately, he was here too.

Pei Mu considered himself despicable, but despicable or not, this person was the only one in his entire life that he would never let go, even if it killed him.

Zhong Yizhu had felt the same way.

Back at the courtyard at the foot of the mountain, they put away their things and started counting the money.

Zhong Yizhu had brought 318 incense pellets this time, sold at 25 wen each. The money box contained copper coins and small silver pieces. Adding in the money from the sachets, they counted a total of 8,328 wen.

There were 36 sachets, each sold at 10 to 15 wen depending on the embroidery complexity. Zhong Yizhu hadn't separated the accounts when collecting money, so he didn't know the exact breakdown. He planned to pay his mother at the highest price for each sachet, which would be 540 wen. That left him with 7,788 wen.

Subtracting the 8 wen for the stall rental and 3.3 silver qian for spices, this time his net profit was 4,480 wen.

Zhong Yizhu was very satisfied with this result. If they could have two or three such sessions a month, by this time next year, they might be able to plan for opening a shop.

They could take it slow. First, build the house a bit bigger, add a few more rooms for incense-making, and expand the stall business. But before that, they had to find a way to get Pei Mu's household registration separated from the Pei family.

Once the stall business and customer base were stable, they could smoothly transition to a shop. Then they'd have a foothold in Songyun County, and even if the Zhong family found out he was making and selling incense, they couldn't do anything.

The Zhong family was, after all, just an ordinary wealthy household in the prefectural city, not even considered particularly rich. Zhong's Fragrance Shop had four branches: three selling incense products, and the remaining one dealing in spice trade.

At that level, they didn't even rank in the eyes of the nobles and officials. His father only paid the required tribute without fawning, focusing on the incense business. The Zhong family had money but no power, which was why the third branch had tried to send him off to some minor official's house to curry favor.

If his foundation were still weak, the Zhong family could use all sorts of dirty tricks to hinder him. But once he could open his own shop, no matter how much they hated him or wanted to block him, their reach wouldn't extend that far.

After all, he was now married to Pei Mu, and their household registration was together. It wasn't like before when they could manipulate him with their authority as elders and family heads.

These plans had been slowly forming in Zhong Yizhu's mind over the past few days. Pei Mu had been in the mountains, so only now did he have the chance to tell him. Zhong Yizhu wasn't worried about other things, just unsure how Pei Mu would handle the Pei family.

Only someone who truly knew what Pei Mu had been through could understand his attitude toward the Pei family.

He hated them with every fiber of his being. Maybe even killing them wouldn't ease his hatred. He couldn't kill, and he couldn't stop hating. Even not having to see them and pretending they didn't exist was torture for him. All he wanted was for them to suffer.

But to Zhong Yizhu's surprise, after listening, Pei Mu only said, "You decide. I'll go along with you."

He paused, then added, "I'll figure out how to split from the family. That's something I should handle. You don't need to worry about it."

It wasn't until Zhong Yizhu brought it up that Pei Mu realized he hadn't thought about the Pei family in days.

That sickening urge to tear into their flesh while being too disgusted to even try seemed far away now. His mind and heart were completely occupied with Zhong Yizhu and everything related to him. He had no energy left for that disgusting family.

He had already received the best gift in the world. He knew what mattered more, and his heart had long made that choice.

But Zhong Yizhu wouldn't back down, insisting on arguing with him. "I said I'll handle it. Stay away from them. I think they bring bad luck to you."

Pei Mu looked at Zhong Yizhu for a long moment, then couldn't help leaning in to kiss him. Zhong Yizhu dodged just in time. "I need to go to my mother first to give her the money. I didn't come home last night, so I should also let her know I'm safe."

"Alright." Pei Mu didn't push further. "Want me to go with you?"

"No need." Zhong Yizhu packed the copper coins for his mother into a basket, added the pastries he'd bought, and covered everything tightly with a cloth. "You still have game and furs to deal with, right? Go ahead. I'll go by myself."

Before leaving, Zhong Yizhu leaned over and gently kissed Pei Mu on the cheek. Pei Mu barely reacted, but Zhong Yizhu's face flushed crimson, and he hurriedly grabbed his basket and ran off.

...

By the time they returned from Songyun County, it was already mid-afternoon. After Zhong Yizhu went to the Zhong family old house, it was soon time to make dinner.

They cooked dinner together.

Zhong Yizhu was in charge of tending the fire, while Pei Mu did the cooking.

Zhong Yizhu had come to realize that no matter how good the ingredients were, they would be wasted in his hands. Pei Mu wouldn't let him cook, and he didn't argue. He diligently kept the fire going and helped out, and when Pei Mu told him to rest, he refused.

After dinner and washing the dishes, Pei Mu thought about taking a cold shower like he usually did, but Zhong Yizhu said it was getting cold and told him to use hot water from now on.

Pei Mu never refused Zhong Yizhu on such matters. There was no room in the house for both to bathe at once, so they took turns. After Zhong Yizhu finished, it was Pei Mu's turn.

When Zhong Yizhu walked into the bedroom drying off his hair, he noticed it was brighter than usual. He looked up, freezing at the sight of a pair of red candles, then spotted a silver bracelet next to them.

Zhong Yizhu walked over and picked up the bracelet to examine it. It was heavy in his hand—solid silver, he could tell from the weight. The bracelet was crafted in the shape of bamboo joints, not an especially unique design, but it fit his name perfectly, and the size was just right.

Pei Mu had no time to have it custom-made. He must have bought it this morning while Zhong Yizhu was still asleep. Who knows how many shops he had to visit to find one so suitable.

Zhong Yizhu slipped the bracelet onto his wrist and smiled faintly, though he also felt like crying.

He had been doted on by his parents since childhood, but he had never imagined that there would be another person in this world who would love him so completely and give everything for him.

When Pei Mu considered letting him go, he gave him all the money he had saved over the past year. Later, after they confessed their feelings, Pei Mu still entrusted him with the clay jar of savings.

Inside that jar was over thirty taels of silver Pei Mu had saved over the past year—including the money from selling that deer and the pelts he had accumulated.

To have such an income in just over a year was impressive even by the standards of Chuiliu Town. But every bit of it was earned by Pei Mu, day after day in the mountains, and his skills were earned at the cost of his life.

And Pei Mu gave it all to him.

How many youthful years does a person have?

Later, Zhong Yizhu added his own money to the jar, mixing it with Pei Mu's. When he put his money in today, he knew Pei Mu hadn't taken any out.

The money he had now came from the game he'd hunted in recent days, spent mostly on this silver bracelet, along with the food and rice and flour.

Never before had Zhong Yizhu felt so acutely—

He possessed all of Pei Mu's love.

The candle flames flickered. He heard the door open behind him. Pei Mu strode over and frowned. "Why are you crying? Don't you like the style? Or did someone upset you? Tell me."

Zhong Yizhu buried himself in Pei Mu's arms. His voice was hoarse from crying, soft and tender. "No, I love it very much. And I love you very much, Pei Mu."

Caught off guard, Pei Mu's heart trembled at his words. He bent down to kiss those reddened eyes.

"Since you like it, no more crying."

"Mm." Zhong Yizhu nodded meekly, his peach-blossom eyes glistening with tears as he gazed at Pei Mu with lingering affection. He was unbearably beautiful, unbearably seductive.

When Zhong Yizhu was picked up and pressed into the bedding, he thought it would be like that night.

But soon he realized it was different.

His body felt like it was burning. Pei Mu seemed like a completely different person. Though his movements were still clumsy, they had a clear purpose, and every move left Zhong Yizhu defenseless.

The cool ointment slipped inside him, and it belatedly dawned on Zhong Yizhu what was about to happen. He couldn't help but try to pull away.

But Pei Mu held him fast, refusing to let him retreat.

The moment he was overwhelmed and couldn't help crying out, he heard Pei Mu whisper in his ear.

"I love you most of all, too."

Clinging to Pei Mu's broad shoulders and back, Zhong Yizhu soon couldn't help but leave scratch marks there as tears streamed down his face.

The red candles flickered, their shadows intertwined.

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Author's note: An accelerated course really makes a difference (nudge nudge).