Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Shen Song drove the ox cart back home, with a big chest in the back.

Inside were the new fall clothes Xie Zhiyu had made for him.

After getting home, Shen Song handed Li Maizi the letter cutting ties with the Li family, telling him everything was taken care of, then asked if Li Maizi wanted to hear the final judgment for the Li family.

This was a serious crime. The kid might get off easy, and others could get lighter sentences, but Li Laojiu and his wife were probably screwed.

The Shens knew how harsh the punishment for this crime could get, which was why Li Maizi had been so bitter back then, and why the Shens both hated and couldn't wrap their heads around what Li Laojiu and his wife had done.

Li Maizi could read a few characters, but not all of them.

He asked Shen Song to read it out loud for him.

After Shen Song read it three times, Li Maizi smiled and said thanks. "I don't wanna know what happens to them. From now on, they're nothing to me."

Shen Song said, "Alright, I'll tell Xie Zhiyu not to keep me posted."

The Shens also heard from Shen Song that the severance letter was in hand, and let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over, and they didn't have to worry about Maizi getting hurt anymore.

Shen Song had told Xie Zhiyu not to fill him in on the Li family's verdict, and Li Maizi also said he didn't want to know. Still, Shen Chong went and asked around once the verdict came down.

Old Man Li and his wife, along with their sons and daughters-in-law, were all sentenced to exile. The kids all stayed in Yunxi County, to be raised by the Li clan back in Shanwago.

Liu Xiaoping said to Shen Chong, "I heard the Deputy Magistrate wanted to hand down hanging and beheading, but in the end, the County Magistrate made the final call and went with exile. It'll be rough, but at least they get to keep their lives."

Shen Chong thanked Liu Xiaoping for the info.

Liu Xiaoping waved his hand and said, "Every time you come by, you bring me a ton of veggies. I know how hard your family's veggies are to come by and how good they taste. I'm just telling you a few things—no need to thank me so much."

Shen Chong smiled, nodded, and said goodbye to Liu Xiaoping.

Shen Chong was genuinely relieved the Li family hadn't actually died.

If they'd died, Maizi would probably end up thinking about them every now and then.

That night, when Shen Chong got home, he casually brought up at dinner that he'd heard a classmate talking about the new unfilial conduct ruling from the yamen.

The rest of the Shens were curious, so they all listened to Shen Chong.

Li Maizi and Shen Song didn't leave either. They sat at the table, eating and listening, neither one caring much.

Shen Song really didn't care—it was just background noise to him.

When Liu Chunxia heard the verdict on the Li family, she said it was time they reaped what they'd sown.

Let them suffer on the road to exile.

With Li Maizi's problem fully settled, his mood kept getting better and better, and he quickly got back to his old self—actually, he smiled even more than before.

Shen Chong decided to take the imperial exam the following year. He'd been studying for almost two years, and his teacher at the private school also suggested he give it a shot.

He'd started school late, but he picked things up faster than the little kids, so there was no need to study for seven or eight years before sitting for the exam.

The whole Shen family knew about Shen Chong's plan and were really happy for him.

The old Shens, worried their son might feel too much pressure, specifically told him to treat this as just a scouting run and not to stress about passing the child scholar exam.

Shen Chong laughed and said, "The exam isn't until spring after the new year. Dad, Mom, you're getting ahead of yourselves."

The old Shens chuckled along—they just didn't want their son to get too hung up on it, so they wanted to lay it all out ahead of time.

-

The Shens' poultry—the chickens and ducks—were ready to sell.

The geese still needed another three or four months to grow, so they'd be ready next spring.

Before the poultry was ready to sell, the Shens had already been selling eggs from their chickens, ducks, and geese to restaurants and taverns.

The Shens kept enough eggs for themselves and for gifts, and sold the rest.

There was only so much, so it was first come, first served.

So some restaurants and taverns got eggs from the Shens' poultry, and others didn't.

The Shens' eggs were top-notch in both size and taste.

Lin Yue's restaurant managed to snag some chicken eggs. The eggs from chickens raised on the Shens' mountain land were something else—the yolks were a rich golden yellow, and when cooked, they turned a brilliant gold.

His restaurant even launched a signature Golden Fried Rice. The golden egg mixture coated the white rice grown by the Shen family, creating a beautiful color, and the flavor went without saying.

It had already become the signature dish of Lin Yue's restaurant, selling out every single day. In the end, they had no choice but to take reservations only.

As of now, reservations were already booked three months out.

Lin Yue's small restaurant had now grown to three times its original size. He had saved a considerable sum of money by cooking banquet feasts for families who weren't wealthy enough to keep their own chefs.

The shops on either side happened to have their leases expire with no intention of renewal, so Lin Yue gritted his teeth and rented them both.

With the restaurant expanded, he could now host banquets directly on the premises. Lin Yue also hired another female cook and a male cook.

He also took on three more waiters and employed a part-time dishwasher.

During holidays and festivals, his restaurant never had an empty slot for banquet bookings.

It was cheaper than the big taverns, the food was delicious, and for those who couldn't afford a banquet at a large establishment and had no time to cook at home, everyone was happy to come to Lin Yue's place.

His little restaurant was thriving more and more. He had even repaid the fifty taels of silver he had borrowed from Shen Song.

Now, every day he just hoped his son would stay safe, and that the Shen family would raise more chickens and produce more eggs!

Shopkeeper Xu's large tavern managed to get goose eggs. Ordinary goose eggs were already large, and the Shen family's were even bigger.

Goose eggs have thick shells and are harder to cook through when boiled, and their gamey smell is even stronger than duck eggs. But the Shen family's goose eggs were different—they had no noticeable gamey odor, were large in size, and tasted wonderful when stir-fried.

Although the goose eggs Shopkeeper Xu secured didn't become one of the tavern's signature dishes, quite a few people loved eating them. Some were so fond of them that they would come specifically to order a single boiled goose egg.

As for duck eggs, there was no need to even mention them—everyone who got them used them to make salted duck eggs.

Those salted duck eggs had yolks that oozed oil and melted on the tongue, golden and tempting.

They became one of the signature dishes of the small restaurants and taverns that managed to get duck eggs.

The moment the news spread that the Shen family's chickens and ducks were available for sale, quite a few people showed up at the Shen family's plot of mountain land on Hutou Mountain.

Even the purchasing managers from the several restaurants in Mingqing County that ordered vegetables from the Shen family all came.

Though they had arrived the night before and stayed overnight with local families in town.

Since it was a neighboring county, the fastest way there was by boat. When they'd come to pick up vegetables yesterday and heard the news, even if they set out this morning, they wouldn't reach the Shen family's mountain land until noon at the earliest.

Earlier, when the Shen family had sold chicken, duck, and goose eggs, they'd been a step too slow and missed out.

This time, with chickens and ducks on sale, they were dead set on getting some. So they showed up early to wait, then rushed over to the Shen family's mountain land at dawn the next day.

These chickens and ducks came from the first batch raised from chicks and ducklings. Along the way, the Shen family kept replenishing the stock—otherwise, once that batch sold out, they wouldn't have enough to keep up.

Early on, the family farm still bought chicks, ducklings, and goslings from other village households. Once the farm was stable, the fertilized eggs from their own chickens, ducks, and geese would hatch enough young, so they wouldn't need to buy more from outside.

The poultry raised on the Shen family's mountain land were all plump, glossy, and sleek.

They looked so tempting it made your heart race—imagine how good they'd taste.

And chickens, ducks, and geese were staples in all kinds of famous dishes. The Shen family's vegetable plots were also getting more diverse by the day.

Now with meat in the mix, the combination would be so delicious it was almost unimaginable.

The first batch of chickens and ducks came to quite a lot—over five hundred.

After setting aside what the Shen family kept for themselves, if split evenly, each restaurant or tavern would get about fifteen or sixteen.

Based on past experience with vegetables, restaurants sold slower than taverns and ordered less, while taverns usually ordered more.

The Shen family figured the first batch was already a big number, but unexpectedly, the buyers from these restaurants and taverns started arguing right there on the mountain.

Turns out the restaurant owners each demanded fifteen or sixteen too, which meant the taverns couldn't order more. The total was fixed—there was no way to pull more out of thin air.

For the taverns, splitting the chickens and ducks evenly with all the restaurants was a big loss.

The restaurant owners weren't about to back down either. Meat could fetch higher prices than vegetables and sell in bigger quantities.

Most folks who ate at their restaurants came for hearty dishes they didn't usually make at home—either because of the price or because they couldn't cook it as well.

This was the Shen family's first time selling meat. They'd been selling dishes made from Shen family vegetables all along, so they had a good idea of how the chickens and ducks would sell in the restaurants.

Ordering too little would definitely mean running out.

The taverns were even less willing to order too little.

Different taverns and restaurants each had their own signature dishes. Take duck alone—each place had its own specialty. Roast duck, crispy duck, camphor tea duck, eight-treasure duck, sauce-braised duck, braised duck, blood duck, cold duck...

Chicken was just as varied: roast chicken, beggar's chicken, white-cut chicken, old hen soup, soy-sauce chicken, spicy chicken...

Every place had its own signature dish, and they were all different. They all knew these signature dishes sold well, so they'd rather over-order than under-order.

Besides, fifteen or sixteen chickens and ducks—even if they sold just one a day, that's only half a month's supply. The thing was, there was no way they'd sell only one a day.

With regular chickens and ducks paired with Shen family vegetables, a restaurant would go through three to five a day, and taverns would do double that.

Zhao Lu, Shen Bing, Shen Sanqiu, and Li Geng were handling today's business. They had to keep pulling people apart to stop them from actually coming to blows.

Arguing like this wasn't getting anywhere, so Zhao Lu told them to hash it out properly and come back to talk business with the Shen family once they'd reached an agreement. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on them to make sure no one threw a punch.

Shen Bing and Li Geng worked both sides, stressing that the farm wasn't just producing this one batch, and that if they didn't negotiate properly now, they were just wasting everyone's time.

Shen Sanqiu, being young, kept his mouth shut in this setting. Instead, he quietly watched and learned, observing how Fourth Aunt and Third Uncle-in-law handled the conversation.

Eager to get their hands on the chickens and ducks, everyone genuinely wanted to resolve the issue. Thanks to the Shen family's mediation, even though the discussion stayed loud and heated, they eventually compromised and gave ground.

The restaurants cut their orders from around fifteen to about ten, and the taverns lowered theirs a bit too.

Shen Sanqiu quickly brought them tea to quench their thirst.

By the afternoon, the first batch of chickens and ducks was completely sold out, contracts signed, and deposits paid. The restaurants and taverns would come pick up their orders the next day.

That autumn, a chicken-and-duck craze swept through Yunxi County.

It started because most of the county's restaurants and taverns were pushing chicken and duck dishes hard, each with its own local twist and distinct flavors.

The one thing they had in common? They were all delicious!

The meat was tender, juicy, and never dry—whether steamed, stewed, braised, stir-fried, or marinated, it was absolutely delightful.

Diners would try one place's old duck soup, then another's spicy chicken, one spot's fruitwood roast duck, then another's beggar's chicken...

Because it tasted so good, crowds flocked everywhere, and every place had lines out the door.

In the end, people lined up at one place after another. Waiting in line wasn't the problem—the fear was the staff coming out to say they were sold out.

Over five hundred chickens and ducks—the Shen family thought that was a lot, but spread across all the restaurants and taverns, they sold out in as little as two days or at most seven.

To keep selling, they'd have to wait for the second batch to grow.

Luckily, it was only a month away.

Some restaurants and taverns wanted to buy early, figuring that since Shen family chickens and ducks were bigger than usual, selling them a month early wouldn't hurt.

The Shen family didn't mind, but then the next batch would come another month later, leaving a longer gap between this sale and the next.

With that in mind, the restaurants and taverns dropped the idea of buying early, only begging the Shen family to raise more.

There was still so much empty mountain land.

They could even raise poultry under the fruit trees!

The Shen family had originally expanded gradually—first, because they lacked experience and wanted to play it safe with smaller numbers; second, because they didn't have that much silver to spare.

Even the hundred taels they'd originally planned to return to Lord Xie had been spent by then.

They'd had ten taels left, but that got spent too.

Once the vegetable plots started bringing in money again, aside from taxes, everything else was poured back into the farm.

During that time, the vegetable plots never yielded any surplus.

It wasn't until this month, with the chickens and ducks sold, that the farm finally saw some money coming back.

Expanding was a must, given the huge demand from all sides.

So, after deducting costs from the over four hundred chickens and ducks, the profit of several hundred taels all went back in.

They tripled the scale.

At the same time, the farm needed more hands.

This time, the Shen family hired five people to look after the poultry.

They gave priority to five of the thirty people previously selected who hadn't made the final cut.

The Shen family was too busy, so they told Shen Gaoshan about this matter. They asked him to visit the five families and ask if they were still willing to come. If not, he should ask among the remaining five whether any were willing.

Shen Gaoshan thought the Shen family was overthinking things.

He visited the five families' homes and explained the situation. Everyone was very excited—they never expected that after so long, they would still get this opportunity, and without even needing another interview or screening.

How good it was to work for the Shen family was known by everyone in Shen Family Hollow.

Those who worked for the Shen family—the twenty who joined later—had only worked for a few months, yet they already looked healthier and better off than before.

Hard to describe, but they were better off than before.

Not a single one of the five disagreed; all of them agreed without hesitation.

Their families were overjoyed too.

How wonderful—having another family member bringing in a steady monthly wage. The whole family working hard together, saving up some money, whether to buy land, repair, or expand their houses, was all very good.

The joy wasn't limited to those five families—the other five families were equally happy. If they waited a bit longer, wouldn't it be their turn the next time the Shen family recruited?

Good heavens, may the Shen family's business keep thriving. They would genuinely profit alongside them.

The Shen family quickly hired the workers. Fearing the geese would become just as sought-after once they were raised, they also raised more chickens, ducks, and geese.

After all, there were plenty of delicious dishes that could be made with geese.

Liu Wuwei was the manager of a ready-made clothing shop in Yunxi County, and also a tailor.

The family craft was a long-established brand in Yunxi County, passed down through generations.

He had an older brother and sister above him. His oldest sister loved studying. The prefectural city had official schools, divided into those for men and those for women and young men.

The men's official school was very hard to get into, while the women's and young men's schools were relatively easy. His oldest sister attended the official school open to women and young men. Later, due to her outstanding performance, she stayed on to teach there. His second brother loved martial arts, so he went to a martial arts school and later opened his own school.

The family's inherited craft passed down to Liu Wuwei.

Liu Wuwei didn't particularly enjoy making clothes, but he was extremely talented at it.

He wanted to be a cook, making all kinds of delicious food, yet he had never even cooked a meal successfully—every time the pot burned, giving off an unpleasant burnt smell.

Liu Wuwei confirmed that he had no talent for cooking whatsoever, and on top of that, he owed a mountain of debts, so he stopped wasting food.

Thus, he settled on being a tailor.

He could give up on being a cook, but Liu Wuwei couldn't give up eating.

His main reason for wanting to be a cook was that cooks could make delicious dishes.

He was a foodie.

From the county seat to every other town in Yunxi County, he knew exactly which restaurant or tavern had the best dishes.

After these restaurants and taverns started using the Shen family's vegetables, Liu Wuwei's definition of deliciousness went up several notches. He deeply loved the Shen family's produce and the cooking skills of excellent chefs.

When he learned that the restaurants and taverns had ordered chickens and ducks from the Shen family's farm, Liu Wuwei was thrilled.

Like everyone else, he felt that the land in Shen Family Hollow was blessed—everything grown there tasted wonderful, and the poultry raised there could only be better than what was on the market.

And indeed, the chickens and ducks from the Shen family's farm didn't disappoint anyone—they exceeded expectations.

Liu Wuwei was a regular at the restaurants and taverns, always booking ahead.

That day, Liu Wuwei secured a reservation for the roast duck at the Qin Family Restaurant.

He closed his shop in the evening and rushed over, having thought about the taste of roast duck all day long.

Two places in Yunxi County made excellent roast duck, and one of them was the Qin Family Restaurant, whose roast duck was out of this world.

Before roasting, the duck was marinated in a secret savory marinade, and during the roasting process, it was taken out repeatedly and brushed with more sauce to let the flavors fully penetrate the meat.

The steaming hot roast duck arrived—a large platter with noticeably more food than before and a richer aroma.

Because of the sauce applied to the skin, the duck had a beautiful light brown color after roasting, sizzling with oil and steaming hot.

The waiter knew that Liu Wuwei preferred his roast duck not chopped up, so it was brought whole, along with some oil paper so he could use it to tear the duck apart.

Liu Wuwei couldn't wait any longer. Ignoring the heat, he wrapped the duck leg bone in oil paper and pulled with practiced skill.

Soon, the leg came off. Liu Wuwei blew on it for a while, the savory aroma of the roast duck temptingly wafting into his nose. Finally, when it had cooled enough, he took a huge bite of the leg meat.

Savory! Tender! Juicy!

The Qin family's secret roast duck sauce had soaked through the skin and penetrated the tender, juicy meat. Fresh from the oven, the skin had a slight crispness and toasty aroma—saltier than the meat itself. Biting into both skin and meat together created a perfect complement in both texture and flavor, each enhancing the other to sheer deliciousness.

After finishing the whole duck, every part was delicious in its own way. Liu Wuwei ate carefully, gnawing the bones clean.

So savory! How could there be roast duck with such good meat and such aroma?

The price was double that of the previous roast duck, but the quantity was larger and the taste was better by a long shot. Liu Wuwei felt it was well worth the money—both diners and shop owners felt it was an extremely fair deal, that they'd gotten the better end of the deal.

The next day, Liu Wuwei reserved roast duck at another restaurant.

The two places in Yunxi County that made excellent roast duck were these two.

Although both made roast duck, the two versions were quite different.

This place's roast duck was roasted over fruit-tree wood charcoal, with an even crispier skin, glossy and golden. Because honey water was brushed on, it had a sweeter flavor. And the way it was eaten here was different too—the duck was sliced thinly, dipped in sauce, and wrapped with cucumber strips or shredded radish and scallion in thin, soft, chewy lotus leaf pancakes.

For those with a sweet tooth, they could also dip the crispy roasted duck skin in osmanthus-flavored sugar, though adding osmanthus sugar made the price considerably higher. Unless one was well-off or particularly craved that flavor, most wouldn't order an extra serving of osmanthus sugar.

The Shen family's ducks had impeccable texture—juicy and tender.

By this time, cucumbers were no longer available, so the sides were shredded radish and scallion.

The shredded radish smelled like it came from the Shen family's vegetable garden—crisp, fresh, and fragrant. Wrapped in the thin pancake with the meat, it was refreshing and cut through the richness perfectly.

Liu Wuwei was again totally satisfied.

His only complaint was: why did he have to wait another month after just one meal?

He wasn't the only one dissatisfied—anyone who had booked chicken or duck signature dishes at various restaurants and taverns, whether they'd eaten or not, was pretty annoyed upon hearing they'd have to wait another month.

Can the Shen family please raise more than just a tiny bit? Wouldn't it be better to raise more?

The managers of the various restaurants and taverns felt the same way.

Finally, after waiting a month, the restaurants and taverns got a new batch of chickens and ducks.

As a result, every single place sold out completely within one day—selling out by afternoon was considered really bad business.

The Shen family managed to hold out for those two days only because word hadn't gotten around yet.

The Shen family was getting hounded from all sides—people pestering them about chickens, pestering them about ducks. Luckily, they'd managed to pipe in water from the lake on the other side of the mountain, and the lotus root pond they'd dug was finally finished. Come spring, they'd plant the lotus roots, harvest the tender young ones in July, and get another crop in the fall.

As for production, most of what they made from the second batch of chicken and duck sales went right back into the business, scaling up their poultry operation once again.

For this year's autumn harvest, the Shen family hired workers, paid them fair wages, and threw in two meals a day with meat and vegetables.

All the threshing and the rest of it was done by hired help, meals included.

Shen Sanqiu kept an eye on things. Even though he was just a teenager, he only hired folks from Shen Family Gully, and nobody in the village dared slack off or pull rank just because he was young.

Everybody worked hard—that was the only way to get hired again by the Shen family.

After the autumn harvest, the families who worked for the Shen family made a good chunk of money and ate well too.

Sure, they had their own harvests to bring in, but working for the Shen family meant real pay. Sure, they were tired, but so what? The money was real, and the food and meat went straight into their stomachs.

They ate their fill at the Shen place and still had energy to work when they got home.

Once the harvest was done and things slowed down, people went around visiting relatives.

Since folks married within the nearby villages, nobody had to travel far.

Now, when the women and young men who'd married into Shen Family Gully went visiting, even if they didn't say a word, their relatives would grab them and grill them about the Shen family.

The moment they heard the Shen family was hiring—which households got the work, what the pay and perks were like—everyone was green with envy.

Sure, there was jealousy, but with the Shen family doing this well, nobody was dumb enough to actually try anything.

The Shen family's poultry operation had grown a lot, and even after hiring the last five people, they still needed more hands.

What they really needed were people with know-how—folks who could tend to the chicks, ducklings, and goslings while they were hatching.

The Shen family mulled it over and decided to go talk to the poultry farmers who used to supply the restaurants and taverns.

It wasn't just the poultry operation—the Shen family also expanded their vegetable fields, buying up the last eighty mu of idle land around their property. If they hadn't snapped it up, somebody else would have.

With over a hundred mu of vegetable fields now, the Shen family couldn't handle it alone even working double shifts, so they went out and hired experienced vegetable farmers.

These were all folks who'd previously supplied the restaurants and taverns.

The Shen family's produce had hit them hard, but since they still sold for half the price, there was still demand for what they grew.

It was a big blow, but they could still scrape by—just with thinner margins.

Before hiring anyone, the Shen family did their homework on these folks' reputations and only took on the ones who checked out. Most agreed to come work for the Shen family, handing their own land over to the younger folks to manage.

As for the new land, the Shen family didn't plant all of it.

Shen Song had once eaten a watermelon at Xie Zhiyu's place and thought it was delicious. Nobody in Yunxi County grew watermelons—the seeds were just too hard to get.

The Chen family in Yunan Prefecture used to grow watermelons, but the yield was so small they never hit the open market—they were all snapped up by the rich and powerful.

After the Chen family fell, the estate that grew watermelons kept at it, but the output stayed the same.

Shen Song ate the watermelon and was hooked.

He wanted to grow his own.

Xie Zhiyu, knowing how much Shen Song liked it, tracked down even better watermelon seeds and sent over a skilled grower to help.

Out of the eighty mu they'd just bought, the Shen family set aside forty mu for watermelons.

The Shen family could afford to take a chance now—even if it didn't make money, they wouldn't lose much.

If they couldn't get them to grow, they could always plant something else next year.

The other forty mu went to vegetables, with a wider variety this time. They planted scallions, ginger, and garlic, plus more potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn.

Counting the hillside fields, the vegetable plots, and the land they already had, the Shen family now had over three hundred seventy mu in total.

It was a big operation now, and since everything was run as a business, they started calling it Shen Family Farm.

Nobody much cared what it was called. They only cared whether the Shen family's vegetable fields and poultry operation had grown, and whether they'd hired more people.

This round of expansion kept the Shen family busy for a solid two or three months, and then winter rolled around—almost New Year again.

It was time for the pre-New Year gift-giving again. Xie Zhiyu sent new winter clothes, bedding sets, and charcoal to the Shen family. When he found out Shen Song was going to sit for the spring imperial exam, he'd sent books before, and this time he sent more, plus a nice set of brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

He also had someone put together a little booklet covering all the dos and don'ts for the exam and what to prepare ahead of time.

Originally, Xie Zhiyu had planned to prepare everything himself, but Qi Yuanjing talked him out of it.

He said, "For their first exam, let them handle the prep themselves. Just write down all the things to avoid and what's required—if the Shen family follows that, they can't go wrong."

Xie Zhiyu didn't push it. Qi Yuanjing's reminder made him think of his so-called stepmother back in the Xie household, and how she'd fussed and bustled over the kids' exams. She looked like she was running around like crazy, but underneath it all, she was happy.

He didn't really get that feeling, but he figured that when elders cared about the younger generation, they'd go out of their way to take care of things.

The Shen family got the eight chests of New Year gifts from Xie Zhiyu and, used to this by now, accepted them all.

In return, they sent homemade salted duck eggs. Xu Hongmei had a real knack for salting them—better than anything you'd get at a restaurant or tavern.

The golden yolks oozed oil and had that rich, creamy, slightly grainy texture—absolutely delicious. They usually ate up everything they salted, but this batch was made especially for Xie Zhiyu.

They also rounded up ten chickens, ten ducks, and ten geese, and slaughtered a whole pig, with the meat all cut up and portioned.

Four baskets of chicken eggs, two of duck eggs, and two of goose eggs. Since winter vegetables were scarce, they could only offer mallow, cabbage, radish, and yellow chives.

The yellow chives were grown in a dark cellar, so there wasn't much of them, but they were incredibly tender and tasty—for now, they only kept them for themselves.

They'd learned this cellar-growing trick from the vegetable workers they'd hired earlier; most of them knew how to do it, and it wasn't all that hard. The Shen family just hadn't known about it before.

This was their first year doing it, so they didn't sell any. Next year, they'd put it on the market.

Besides fresh vegetables, they also sent dried veggies and pickles, plus the dried sweet potato strips from earlier—those were really good. Shen Song loved those things; for a while, his waist pouch was always stuffed with them, and he'd pull a few out to chew on now and then.

They also sent Xie Zhiyu ground cornmeal—a full dan of it—plus two dan each of rice and flour.

It wasn't as fancy as what Xie Zhiyu had sent, but it came from the heart.

Once it got cold, they'd deliver several days' worth of vegetables at once. On days when Shen Song wasn't making deliveries, Xie Zhiyu would send a carriage to pick him up.

Today there was a lot of stuff, so Zhao Lu and Shen Zhun each drove a cart to haul it all over to the Xie residence.

Xie Zhiyu knew they were coming, so he went to the back gate himself.

Shen Zhun and the others saw Xie Zhiyu wearing a white brocade cloak embroidered with patterns, a hair crown inlaid with gold and pearls, a red forehead band patterned with clouds and trimmed in gold, and an ear ornament on his left ear.

It was a gold-inlaid jade lotus.

Xie Zhiyu first looked at Shen Song, seeing his little face flushed from the cold as he just got off the carriage, clearly not chilled. Then he looked at Shen Zhun and Zhao Lu, giving both of them a nod.

Shen Zhun was never much of a talker, so he simply nodded back. Zhao Lu, on the other hand, didn't know how to deal with someone like Xie Zhiyu, so he just gave a nod too, at first.

Then he remembered the bow Xie Zhiyu had sent as part of the New Year's gifts—the wood and the string were both top-notch.

He steeled himself and added a polite thank-you, "The bow is great, really impressive. Thanks a lot."

Xie Zhiyu said he was glad Zhao Lu liked it.

After hearing Zhao Lu speak, Shen Zhun managed to squeeze out a sentence, "The dagger's great, thanks."

Xie Zhiyu again said he was glad Shen Zhun liked it.

Three grown men couldn't manage more than a few words, and after a bit of awkward small talk, Zhao Lu and Shen Zhun quickly helped unload the New Year's gifts they'd brought for Xie Zhiyu.

The Xie household had plenty of people, so the unloading didn't take long. Shen Zhun and Zhao Lu drove the donkey cart back home, and Shen Song waved them goodbye.

Shen Zhun said, "It's cold out, Xiao Ba, hurry inside."

Shen Song followed Xie Zhiyu in through the back gate and into the study.

The charcoal braziers were all lit, and the room was nice and warm.

Xie Zhiyu helped Shen Song out of his thick padded jacket, handing it off to a servant, and told Shen Song to go eat something first.

Shen Song trotted over to the low couch, where a small table already held steaming sweet soup and pastries.

Xie Zhiyu took off his cloak and strolled over to the small couch.

Seeing Shen Song eating happily, he took a sip of warm water, hiding the smile at the corner of his mouth.

"You said yesterday that *The Travels of Lancheng* was very good. Do you want to go back to reading now, or sit here with me a while longer?" Xie Zhiyu asked.

Shen Song chewed on a pastry and said, "I'll read it later. Right now I just want to stay here with you a little longer."

Xie Zhiyu took another sip of warm water.

Half an hour later, Shen Song went over to the bookshelf, sat in the reclining chair to read, with a charcoal brazier at his feet, covered by a warming cage. Shen Song kicked off his shoes and propped his feet on the cage.

Xie Zhiyu sat beside him, also holding a book. Shen Song couldn't see the title and had no idea what he was reading.

As they read, Xie Zhiyu asked Shen Song, "I just came across a story in my book. It's said that in a former dynasty, there was a loving couple—a young gentleman and a young lad. To be together, the gentleman gave up everything from his family, and the two eloped. They lived in a place no one knew about, free and happy. But their happiness didn't last. The gentleman's family had once saved a fox, and that fox turned into a human to repay the favor. The family told the fox spirit to bring the gentleman back, or make him come back on his own."

Shen Song listened intently. With ghost stories, the more scared he got, the more he wanted to hear, and the more he heard, the more scared he got.

As he listened, he unconsciously inched closer to Xie Zhiyu, his hand already on Xie Zhiyu's forearm, and asked nervously, "What happened next?"

Xie Zhiyu glanced at the hand on his forearm, smiled without realizing it, and went on, "Later, the fox spirit found the couple. After watching them for several days, it could tell they were deeply in love. So sometimes it would turn into a more beautiful young lad to meet the gentleman, and other times into a more handsome man to meet the young lad. Gradually, friction grew between the gentleman and the young lad. Their love wore thin as the fox spirit's transformed forms took up more and more room in their hearts."

"In the end, the gentleman never made it home, because the young lad caught him with the fox spirit's male form, and they had a huge fight. Only then did the young lad realize the gentleman had also long seen him getting close with the fox spirit's male form. In the middle of their fight, the gentleman hit his head on the table corner and died. The young lad, horrified and scared out of his wits, threw himself into the lake. The loving couple ultimately met a miserable end because of lust."

Shen Song shuddered—two people dead just like that, pretty scary.

Xie Zhiyu asked Shen Song in a calm voice, "If a handsome man as beautiful as the fox spirit's transformation showed up between you and me, would your heart be swayed?"

Before Shen Song could answer, Xie Zhiyu said threateningly, "If you dare to be swayed, I'll skin that fox and drape its pelt over you."

A bloody image flashed through Shen Song's mind, making him shudder in fear. He pinched the flesh on Xie Zhiyu's forearm in annoyance and said, "Why are you trying to scare me like that!"

"This isn't to scare you—it's to tell you that you must never betray your beloved out of lust." Xie Zhiyu knew full well that Shen Song liked his face, but what if someone even better-looking showed up one day? What if Shen Song went to look at that person instead? What if he didn't pick him?

This kind of thing was best nipped in the bud early on.