Since Shen Fangchu had said he’d return in three days—which meant today—everyone in the Shen household except Shen Huaizhi was home. Shen Huaizhi had originally wanted to stay, but in the end, he went out anyway.

It was now late July. The provincial exam was scheduled for the eighth day of the eighth month, and since it was held in the Prefectural Capital, they had to leave a day early. All told, they had no more than ten days left to study. Old Xiucai Gao had repeatedly warned them: no absences and no tardiness during these days, and he had even doubled their homework load.

Although Old Xiucai Gao did not wish to burden his students on the eve of the exam, his health simply could not hold out any longer. He could only pray that he might impart as much knowledge as possible to his students during this brief time.

Consequently, Shen Huaizhi rose early this morning and, as soon as he woke up, pulled Shen Lingzhi aside to give him a stern talking-to. “You’re still young; you’re not old enough to be thinking about marriage yet. Even if your cousin, Shen Fangchu, caused such a scene, it wouldn’t really affect anything. Besides, we have our parents and ourselves. We aren’t trying to sweep this under the rug or downplay it—we’re worried that in the future, he might speak without restraint and say something harmful to you. It’s better to just make a public scene of it. As long as we handle this openly and honestly, there won’t be much gossip in the village.”

“When he comes today, you don’t need to say a word—Mom and Dad will handle it. But don’t worry; this is entirely his fault.”

“I’ve talked enough today to last me half a month,” Shen Lingzhi thought to himself for the first time, genuinely amazed that his own older brother could be so chatty.

“Brother, I really do understand. I promise I won’t overthink it or get upset. You should go now; otherwise, you’ll be late.”

The disdain in his words was all too obvious. Shen Huaizhi had no choice but to give Lin Yue another round of instructions. After receiving double the disdain, he pushed open the door and left, looking dejected.

After that, Shen Fangchu showed up, they had an argument, and he was taken away—by then, it was already the hour of the Snake.

Usually at this time, Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi would have finished preparing the cold noodles and cold shrimp and would be making pastries, but today the kitchen was still cold and empty.

After comforting Shen Lingzhi, Lin Yue looked at the stove. After a moment’s hesitation, he suggested, “Let’s make a steamed cake today, along with some pea jelly and buckwheat noodles, and a bucket of cold shrimp. Let’s aim to sell everything by the hour of Shen, then take a stroll around town, stop by the butcher’s to buy a couple of pounds of meat, and head to the bamboo grove to forage for some bamboo shoots. We’ll have a nice meal tonight to ward off the bad luck.”

Treating someone to a good meal had always been Lin Yue’s go-to way of comforting people, ever since he was a child. Back when they lived at home, if Lin Yang came home crying after fighting with his friends, Lin Yue would make all sorts of pastries for him. Later, once they started earning money, he didn’t limit himself to pastries anymore—he began adding extra dishes to the meal.

Shen Lingzhi snapped his head up. “Bamboo shoots? What are bamboo shoots? Do they taste good?”

Lin Yue thought about it for a moment but couldn’t come up with a suitable explanation, so he simply said, “Bamboo shoots are things that grow on bamboo; they look a bit like moss. They’re best stir-fried with eggs—they’re really tender and delicious.”

Shen Lingzhi didn’t press for more details; knowing it was delicious was enough. “Brother, let’s get started quickly so we can head out early.”

Unfortunately, things didn’t end up moving any faster. There were only two stoves in the house; one was just boiling rice, and Lin Yue was cooking pea flour on the other. With only one stove left, Song Xunchun had just set an iron wok on it and was stir-frying Chinese cabbage.

Once the cabbage was done, Song Xunchun began heating up the pickled cabbage and red bean soup—its tangy, spicy flavor was the perfect accompaniment to rice.

“Yue’er, Lingzhi, Mother won’t be going with you today. Your father and I have to go out to the fields. Yesterday, your father went to till the land and stopped by Xiaosong Mountain on the way. The beans planted there have turned yellow, so we have to go harvest them today.”

Lin Yue turned and replied, “Got it, Mom. Make sure you come back early so we can have a nice meal tonight.” 

“We didn’t plant many soybeans this year. I figure we’ll be done in about two hours. Don’t worry—we’ll be back early for sure.”

After lunch, the family locked the door and headed out.

Lately, Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi’s snack stall has branched out into a new service: takeout. Most of their customers were shop owners and stallholders from the two nearby streets, along with a few local residents. They’d place their orders the day before—specifying what they wanted and when to deliver it. The next day, once the stall was set up, the two would take turns making the deliveries, then return about an hour and a half later to collect the dishes and cutlery.

Since they didn’t have many sets of bowls and chopsticks, the number of deliveries they could handle each day was limited. In the first couple of days, they only took five orders a day, but now they can handle ten.

Each delivery costs one wen. If the order totals five wen or more, they charge one wen for two deliveries; if it’s ten wen or more, delivery is free. Ten wen may seem like a lot, but it’s really just two bowls of cold noodles and two cups of cold shrimp—enough for two people. So they can get one such large order about every two days, which works out well for both sides.

Since they started the delivery service, they still sell the same amount of food every day, but they’re making more money.

Today, the first thing the two did after setting up their stall was to deliver the cold noodles. Lin Yue has been making excellent progress in learning to read recently, and Shen Lingzhi has also picked up quite a few characters, so their orders all have serial numbers.

A small bamboo slip, on which the quantity of food and the purchaser were simply written in charcoal, for example: “One bowl of cold noodles, Liu from the Bookshop, end of the Si hour.” This meant that Manager Liu from the Bookshop had ordered a bowl of cold noodles, to be delivered at the end of the Si hour.

The slips were arranged in chronological order. Lin Yue first picked out a few that needed to be delivered within a single hour, packed the items into a bamboo basket, and whispered, “Lingzhi, there are four that need to be delivered at noon. I’ll go deliver them now. You keep an eye on the stall—it’s mealtime right now, so I expect it’ll be crowded.”

Shen Lingzhi had rolled up his sleeves and was busy wiping down the tables. “Go ahead, Brother. I’ve got this covered.” Neither of them was new to this; after dividing up the tasks, they each went straight to work.

Today happened to be market day, and the streets and alleys were bustling with crowds. When Lin Yue first stepped out, he was still carrying the basket, but soon he switched to holding it close to his chest, afraid that a single misstep might cause a passerby to knock it over.

Lin Yue, delivering food, was jostled so badly he couldn’t make it down a single street for ages, while Shen Lingzhi, manning the stall, was so busy he barely had a moment to rest. It wasn’t their first time dealing with market day, but for some reason, there were far more people today, and many came to the stall for cold noodles. In just fifteen minutes, both tables were filled.

Before Shen Lingzhi could even catch his breath, another customer approached from the front. “Ger, give me a bowl of buckwheat noodles—extra spicy.” Shen Lingzhi looked apologetic. “I’m truly sorry, but the tables are all full. Why don’t you come back later, ma’am?”

“That’s fine. Do you have any stools? I’ll just take a stool. It’s so crowded today; I don’t feel like coming back later.”

Shen Lingzhi immediately bent down, grabbed a stool, and handed it over. These two stools were the ones he and Lin Yue usually sat on—unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, since it was so busy today, he hadn’t had a chance to sit on them yet.

“Sure thing, Auntie. Take the stool for now, and I’ll make your cold noodles right away.”

Half an hour had passed by the time Lin Yue returned. He’d been hoping to rest for a bit, but when he looked up, he saw that his stall was packed with people and immediately gasped in surprise.

But business was business, and within moments, a smile returned to Lin Yue’s face as he went back to his stall to serve the customers.

Taking a closer look, he realized he’d already sold nearly half of today’s supply of cold noodles. Lin Yue frowned—if he’d known there’d be so many people today, he would’ve made more. He’d lost out.

About an hour later, the stall had returned to calm. Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi each poured themselves a bowl of cold shrimp noodles and slumped into their stools to eat.

He had originally thought it would be a stroke of luck to sell out by the hour of Shen, but unexpectedly, they finished a full twenty minutes early. A fleeting sense of regret flashed through Lin Yue’s mind, but he quickly pushed it aside.

“Lingzhi, let’s go to the market to buy some meat. It’s still early; maybe we can find a piece of pork belly with plenty of fat. We can make braised pork with it later.”

For rural families, pork was a rare delicacy. One of the reasons children looked forward to the New Year was the chance to eat meat. The fatty parts were rendered into lard, which would last for half a year, while lean meat rarely made it to the table—it simply wasn’t cost-effective.

But pork with a good balance of fat and lean was quite nice, and braised pork was one of the most delicious ways to prepare it. Very few people had ever tasted it—at least Shen Lingzhi hadn’t. When Lin Yue mentioned it this morning, he’d been so excited he couldn’t contain himself; all day long, his mind had been filled with images of braised pork.

“Bro, what about our stuff? Are we going to push it over there?”

Shen Lingzhi was a bit worried. The cart and the shelves took up a lot of space, and with the crowds today, they probably wouldn’t even make it halfway down the street in fifteen minutes. Lin Yue shook his head. “No need. We’ll just ask the owner of the dried fruit stall next door to keep an eye on them for us.”

Actually, there was a designated luggage storage area in town, but it was located at the entrance, while Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi were currently at the far end of town, so they had no choice but to rule out that option.

The market was also very crowded today. Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi had intended to go to the butcher shop further inside, but as soon as they entered the alley, they spotted two meat stalls. The men manning the stalls wielded their cleavers with great vigor, cutting meat with precision and handling payments with efficiency. Lin Yue and Shen Lingzhi compared the prices; most were the same as at the butcher shop, but the price for bones was one wen cheaper per catty, and Lin Yue was immediately tempted.

“Lingzhi, let’s buy from here. Besides the pork belly, let’s get two pounds of spare ribs to make soup.”

Shen Lingzhi’s eyebrows twitched. His older brother really had guts. He never expected that, aside from the New Year, there would actually be a day when the family could enjoy two kinds of meat in a single meal. What a heavenly day this was!

“Okay, big brother, I brought some money too. Here, take it.”

Lin Yue shot him a look. “We’re only buying two pounds of meat—we don’t need your money. Put it away quickly; be careful not to lose it later.”

Shen Lingzhi immediately clenched his fist. What could be more heartbreaking than losing money? He’d be upset for days if he lost even a single wen.

“Brother, why do you always scare me like that!”

“Hahaha, all right, let’s hurry up. If we wait too long, they’ll run out of pork belly.”

In the end, Lin Yue bought two catties of pork belly and two catties of spare ribs, spending a total of fifty-two wen. He also bought a handful of spices for braised pork, which cost three wen. Lin Yue had been generous when making the purchase, but his hands trembled slightly as he paid. He’d earned nearly two hundred wen today, and this single purchase had already cost him a quarter of it. This pork was way too expensive!

At that moment, another thought popped into Lin Yue’s head, and it was exceptionally firm: next spring, he would raise two—no, four pigs.

By evening, the aroma of bone broth wafted from the Shen family’s kitchen. Steam billowed from the edges of the pot lid, each wisp carrying the scent of meat. In the thick, white broth, tempting pale ribs simmered, some still bearing a patch of pure white fat on the bone—just one glance was enough to imagine how tender and smooth they would taste.

Shen Lingzhi’s stomach was growling as she tended the fire. “Big brother, tonight I want a big bowl of rice soaked in bone broth.”

“You can have another bowl of braised pork with rice,” Lin Yue said.