Jiang Fuzheng didn’t beat around the bush. Furrowing his brow, he said, “His surname is Yu. He has a leg disability, yet he still runs a shop right in the center of the county town.” 

“If I’m not mistaken, he must be the County Constable’s youngest son, Yu Cai.”

“…The County Constable’s youngest son?”

Ye Li was taken aback.

That’s quite an impressive background.

Although Beiyang County was in a unique situation—with officials from the grain transport system stationed there in addition to the county government’s regular staff—the county constable ranked just below the county magistrate. For a county, that was indeed a high-ranking official.

“That’s right, but he hasn’t married yet and has been living with his maternal grandparents. He doesn’t have much contact with County Constable Yu.” As Jiang Fuzheng spoke, a look of reluctance crossed his face.

Ye Li’s curiosity was suddenly piqued. He lowered his voice and said, “Uncle Jiang, let’s step aside for a moment. Tell me all about him, will you?”

“After all, he’s our workshop’s biggest client. I might have dealings with him in the future. He’s of high standing, so I’d better avoid inadvertently stepping on any toes and offending him.”

That made sense.

Jiang Fuzheng stepped back a bit, and Ye Li hurried to follow.

Only after the two of them were several zhang away from the villagers did Jiang Fuzheng speak again: “His story… well, it’s a bit complicated.”

“County Constable Yu, you see, has been apprenticed to Master Wu of our county’s Xingping Escort Agency since childhood.”

“Although his family was poor, he was strikingly handsome and heroic, and he learned excellent martial arts from Master Wu.” 

“Master Wu then betrothed his youngest son—Young Master Yu’s father—to County Constable Yu.”

“Later, when the imperial court held the martial examinations, Master Wu encouraged County Constable Yu to give it a try.”

“In that exam, County Constable Yu fought his way all the way to the palace examination and became a third-class martial jinshi; he was later assigned to the Thousand-Household Unit in the Prefectural City as a Baizhang Commander.” Upon hearing this, Ye Li couldn’t help but say, “That County Constable Yu is quite impressive.”

To come from a background as an escort master and end up passing the martial jinshi examination—isn’t that exactly what they mean by “true masters are found among the common people”?

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fuzheng nodded. “County Constable Yu is indeed exceptional.” The martial examination tests not only individual martial arts skills but also military strategy.

The fact that County Constable Yu—an escort master from an unconventional background—could become a jinshi shows that he is not only intelligent but has also put in a great deal of hard work. But still…

He sighed, raising his eyes to the crowd in the distance with a complex expression: “In his first year as a Baizhang Commander, County Constable Yu took a male concubine.” “This concubine was an old acquaintance of County Constable Yu. Both of their hometowns are south of Baixian Town, in neighboring villages.”

Ye Li: “……” An old acquaintance?

So maybe—or rather, surely—these two have been seeing each other for quite some time now? He hurriedly asked, “Uncle Jiang, what’s this concubine’s family background like?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fuzheng looked at him, somewhat surprised. “You’re quick on the draw. Previously, this concubine’s family ran a noodle stall in town.” 

“I see…”

Ye Li understood.

So County Constable Yu is just a “rags-to-riches” guy?

He only married his first wife because the Wu family was well-off.

“Don’t make that face. He’s a County Constable, after all. Even behind closed doors, you must always show him respect.”

Jiang Fuzheng admonished.

“Don’t worry, I know how to conduct myself—I’m right here in front of you, after all.” 

“Please, go on.”

Ye Li quickly adopted a serious expression.

Jiang Fuzheng was satisfied with that, but when he thought about what was to come, he sighed again.

“His fulang didn’t get along with this concubine, and he didn’t get along with County Constable Yu’s parents.”

“At the time, County Constable Yu was merely a Baizhang chief in the Prefectural City, with a modest salary. On top of that, since his parents didn’t get along with his fulang, he purchased some farmland here in his hometown so his parents could spend their retirement there.”

“He also purchased some farmland for that concubine’s parents. Though not much, it was enough to make them small landowners, I suppose.”

“Later on—that is, twenty years ago—bandits came from the south. Not only did they occupy Baixian Town, but they also slaughtered all the local landowners.”

“As a result, County Constable Yu’s parents, as well as the parents of his concubine, were all massacred by the bandits.”

Ye Li: “……”

What a twist—what a twist!

For a moment, he was left speechless, his face betraying nothing but shock.

Jiang Fuzheng continued, “When the news reached the Thousand-Household Command, the concubine, overcome with grief, lost her mind and used a stool to break Young Master Yu’s leg.”

Ye Li:“?”

His brows furrowed instantly, and he forgot all about the massacre that had just been mentioned: “A concubine—how dare she? And wasn’t there anyone there to protect Young Master Yu at the time?” Jiang Fuzheng shook his head: “I don’t know the exact details, but ever since then, Young Master Yu has been unable to walk properly on his right leg.”

“The fulang also severed ties with County Constable Yu and moved back to Beiyang County to live with the two young Yu brothers.”

Ye Li: “……Is that it? Did Constable Yu not take any action? And that concubine—did she really go mad?”

“She didn’t go mad. County Constable Yu confined her to house arrest, and then he was ordered to lead troops to suppress the bandits. He was the one who led the night raid on Baxian Town.” 

“He earned great merit for that and, on the strength of his achievements, was transferred to Beiyang County, where he became our county constable.”

A Baizhang Commander holds the sixth rank. A County Constable holds the eighth rank.

But a Baizhang Commander is only in charge of his own Baizhang unit; compared to a County Constable, the perks are so meager they’re practically nonexistent. Especially since Beiyang County is a large and wealthy county—countless people have their eyes on this position.

If it weren’t for County Constable Yu’s merits in suppressing bandits, this position would have been very difficult to secure.

“Since County Constable Yu arrived in Beiyang County, he hasn’t taken any more concubines, but the fulang and the brothers have continued to live at the Wu residence and haven’t had much contact with County Constable Yu.”

“As for his concubine, she has remained confined to the Yu residence ever since arriving in Beiyang County, though she had previously borne Constable Yu a son and a daughter.” 

“A few years ago, when his son, Yu Shixin, got married, Constable Yu allowed her to leave the residence and go out.”

“However, that was the extent of her freedom; today, the household at the Yu residence is managed by Constable Yu’s younger sister, who returned to her parents’ home after her husband’s death.”

Ye Li:“……”

So, does that mean she’s been serving a prison sentence for over a decade after committing a crime?

But being imprisoned at home—not only does she not have to work, but she’s surely treated to fine food and drink every day.

Seeing that Ye Li was silent, Jiang Fuzheng continued, “The Zuixianju in the county town—the largest restaurant in our county—is actually owned by Yu Shixin.” 

Ye Li: “…What about the manager’s older brother?”

Jiang Fuzheng said, “His older brother, Yu Shiting, is studying at the county academy; he’s not a state-sponsored scholar, just an ordinary Xiucai.” 

“County Constable Yu is truly blessed—all his sons have turned out so well.”

As for Mr. Yu, the shopkeeper, even though the hot pot restaurant hadn’t opened yet, as long as the broth wasn’t bad and he had his signature fried tofu puffs, business wouldn’t be too bad.

“I suppose so,” Jiang Fuzheng nodded.

However, Yu Cai’s sudden decision to open a restaurant—was he planning to go head-to-head with Zuixianju?

After giving it some thought, he instructed, “If you do end up crossing paths with him in the future, be careful—don’t mention Zuixianju.” 

“Don’t worry, sir. He’s our biggest customer now; I certainly won’t rub salt in his wounds.”

Ye Li hurriedly nodded.

“That’s good.”

Thinking of Ye Li’s usual approach to handling matters, Jiang Fuzheng felt reassured.

With the business matters settled, he turned to Ye Li again and said, “You can go back now. I’ll keep an eye on things here. Once the grinding is done, I’ll have someone come call you.” 

Ye Li nodded. “All right.”

Currently, all eight stone mills in the mill shed were operating simultaneously, but to make 540 jin of fried tofu puffs, they needed to produce 1,080 jin of tofu. Therefore, 360 jin of soybeans had been soaked overnight.

Divided among the stone mills, each one had to grind forty-five jin of soybeans. This was double the daily quota Ye Li’s family had previously handled.

Consequently, just grinding the beans would take quite a while. So Ye Li went home first.

Liu Yi and Ye Fulang had already returned earlier with the two little ones. When he arrived home, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya were reciting their lessons in their room, their voices loud.

Jiang Ji was due back the day after tomorrow and would be checking their homework then, so the two of them had been studying quite diligently these past two days. Ye Li went back to his small parlor.

Starting today, the shed behind his house was officially closed; this morning, Jiang Dahu and Jiang Tong hadn’t come to grind tofu. He now had some free time on his hands.

But with this newfound leisure came a sense of boredom.

After sitting at the table for a while, he got up and went into the bedroom to wash up and freshen off.

After all that, when he sat back down, it was still early.

Just as he was wondering what else to do, Liu Yi’s voice came from the courtyard: “Li-ger, why don’t we have lunch a little early?”

“After we eat, let’s go over to the workshop to help out and strain the soy pulp early.”

“…Sure,” Ye Li replied.

He guessed it wasn’t quite the hour of Sì yet—that is, nine o’clock. Man, life sure is leisurely.

Liu Yi worked very efficiently and quickly prepared this meal—neither breakfast nor lunch.

Sweet potato noodle soup and white flour steamed buns—now that their income had gone up, they certainly couldn’t keep eating corn cakes for every meal; Ye Li wanted steamed buns! There was also a bowl of scrambled eggs and a bowl of stir-fried pork with radish.

After finishing his meal, Ye Li tied his hair back, put on his rabbit fur hat, picked up his back basket, and headed over to the workshop with Liu Yi and Ye Fulang. There were far fewer people at the workshop now; only about ten or so remained, watching the commotion.

The beans hadn’t been ground yet, but the slurry from two rounds of grinding had already filled seven or eight wooden barrels. Moreover, Jiang Liu, Jiang Dahu, Jiang Tong, and the others in charge of making tofu had already arrived.

Each of them wore a hat, with their hair completely hidden beneath it—this was Ye Li’s requirement, to prevent any hair from falling into the soy milk or the tofu.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Fuzheng motioned for the onlookers to leave.

Although the step of straining the soy pulp didn’t require secrecy, he still cleared the area in advance. This was because Ye Li’s backpack contained the brine used to set the tofu.

Ye Li had already prepared this brine, so it was ready to use right away.

Soon, only the eight people in charge of grinding the beans and Ye Li’s small group remained in the workshop. Ye Li took the bath beans out of his basket and had the workers responsible for filtering the soy pulp wash their hands.

These bath beans were newly purchased—the unscented kind—but they weren’t cheap, costing two or three wen each. Jiang Dahu thought it was too extravagant and didn’t want to use them, so Ye Li had no choice but to bring up Manager Yu to scare him—

Manager Yu would send someone over at any time for a surprise inspection.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Dahu grumbled as he picked up the bath beans to wash his hands.

There was no well by the shed, so all the water was carried from the village’s public well. The wooden barrels used to store soy milk and the wooden basins for washing hands were all newly purchased.

After washing their hands, Ye Li and the others picked up the burlap sacks and began straining the soy pulp.

The work was simple, monotonous, and made their hands numb with cold; by the time they had finished filtering the soy pulp bit by bit, it was already noon. Next came the task of making tofu.

By then, the people who had been grinding the soybeans had left, leading their livestock with them, but Jiang Fuzheng was still there.

The layout of this workshop was identical to that of Ye Li’s home: the shed was built against the wall, and the shed adjacent to the grinding shed was the kitchen shed. Next to the kitchen shed was a shed for storing miscellaneous items.

Further along were three small rooms. One contained soybeans.

One held soybean oil.

The third was used to store the fried tofu puffs. A curtain hung across the entrance to the cooking shed.

With so many people coming and going in the workshop, Jiang Fuzheng had originally planned to seal off the cooking shed completely, leaving only a small door, to maintain secrecy. However, Ye Li found this troublesome and thought the darkness would obstruct visibility, so he hung a door curtain made from his own hemp cloth across the cooking shed.

The hemp cloth let light through, so on sunny days, workers inside the stove shed could continue their work without any problems and didn’t need to light lamps. There were twelve stoves inside the shed.

Ye Li, Ye Fulang, Liu Yi, Jiang Dahu, Liang Erxiang, Jiang Liu, Jiang Yu, and Jiang Dachuan—nine people in all—were in charge of making tofu. Ye Li was only there to help out temporarily; once the workshop was up and running, the eight men led by Ye Fulang would be the ones truly responsible for making the tofu.

The nine of them had no trouble tending to the twelve stoves.

Once the tofu was pressed into the molds, Ye Li could go home.

Just then, Ye Liang arrived.

Jiang Dahu and Jiang Dachuan stayed at the workshop, waiting for the team in charge of frying the tofu to arrive. Twelve stoves, twelve people.

Add the eight tofu makers and the eight people grinding the tofu, and the total number of people is twenty-eight—two from Jiang Fuzheng’s family, one named Zhao Feng and one named Li Lu, both in charge of frying the tofu.

Frying fried tofu puffs is a tedious process that takes a long time.

Just cutting the tofu into blocks and skewers took quite a bit of time. Therefore, Ye Fulang and the others came over to help.

Otherwise, they would have had to work through the night.

With Uncle Ye and the others pitching in, plus the extra stoves, each stove only needed to fry forty to fifty jin, which was about the same as the task at Ye Li’s house earlier.

It took three hours to finish frying all the fried tofu puffs. The time had reached the Hour of the Pig.

That is, 9:00 p.m.

Jiang Fuzheng, Ye Li, and Ye Liang had soaked another 360 jin of soybeans. Zhang Shi brought over his big dog.

Tonight, Jiang Dahu and Jiang Rong—Aunt Lu’s husband—were in charge of keeping watch. Jiang Rong, who was responsible for grinding the beans that morning, was a neighbor of Jiang Dahu.

Once everything at the workshop was settled and Ye Li and Ye Liang had returned home, another half-hour had passed.

Armed with the experience from the first day, the next morning, as soon as the rooster crowed for the second time, they began grinding soybeans at the workshop. After eating breakfast, Ye Li set off for the city with Jiang Fuzheng and Jiang Tong to deliver the fried tofu puffs.

As for Ye Liang’s thirty jin, he would take it back in the afternoon along with today’s thirty jin. This time, they split into two groups again: Jiang Tong went to the east side of the city.

Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng headed to the west side of the city and Banxianju in the city center.

There were few shops in the western part of the city, and most people bought their supplies from the cold noodle shop, so Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng quickly set off for Banxianju in their mule cart.

Banxianju wasn’t actually on the main street; it was located at the intersection of the three east-west streets and was the first shop on that street. Walking past from the main street, one could spot the plaque hanging above the door at a glance.

The location was quite good. Moreover, the building was quite spacious, with three stories.

Each floor covered over a hundred square meters, and there was a courtyard in the back. Yu Cai wasn’t in the shop.

Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng waited for a little less than half a shichen before Yu Cai finally arrived. Yu Cai didn’t know Jiang Fuzheng.

It was Jiang Fuzheng’s first time meeting him as well.

However, Jiang Fuzheng had gained some fame twenty years ago for his night raid on Baxian Town, and he was on good terms with County Constable Yu.

So, after Ye Li introduced them, Yu Cai smiled: “So you’re Chief Jiang. I’ve long heard of your reputation. Though twenty years have passed, you still look as valiant as ever.”

There was nothing unusual about his expression or tone.

Seeing this, Jiang Fuzheng hurriedly replied, “I dare not accept such praise. I’m getting old now, and back then, it was mostly just luck.”   

“Village Chief Jiang, you’re being too modest. If you don’t believe me, just ask Fulang.”

Yu Cai pointed at Ye Li.

Ye Li immediately nodded: “Uncle Jiang, Manager Yu is quite right. The villagers are all in awe of you.” 

Jiang Fuzheng: “……”

Seeing this, Ye Li added with a smile, “But they also respect and admire you. A village head as good as you is truly a rare find.”

“That’s for sure. Now that Yezaopo has a good village chief and a kind and generous Fulang, life here is bound to get better and better.”

Yu Cai said with a smile.

Hearing this, both Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng felt a sense of comfort.

And they were secretly surprised.

Although Yu Cai had suffered misfortune in his childhood, he had a very gentle disposition. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, they turned to business. One hundred jin of fried tofu puffs filled three back baskets.

The back baskets were all new, each lined with a clean burlap sack.

Yu Cai casually poked at the tofu puffs a few times with his chopsticks, then weighed them again. Satisfied that the weight was correct, he instructed the shopkeeper to settle the payment with Ye Li. With the heavy copper coins in hand, Ye Li couldn’t help but ask, “Manager Yu, when is your shop set to open?”

Upon hearing this, Yu Cai replied, “This afternoon, I’m inviting a few people over for a small gathering so they can try the hot pot with fried tofu puffs.” 

“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we’ll open for business tomorrow.”

“Please deliver another hundred jin of fried tofu puffs tomorrow as usual.” 

“No problem!”

Ye Li immediately broke into a smile. This was indeed a major customer!

So he and Jiang Fuzheng took their leave and headed out of the city to return home. Upon entering the village, they went straight to the workshop.

The workshop was small and had been built in a hurry, so Jiang Fuzheng and Ye Li were temporarily handling the bookkeeping. By the time Jiang Tong returned, the three of them had reconciled the accounts, and the soybeans had been ground.

Ye Fulang, Jiang Dahu, and the others in charge of making tofu had already begun straining the soy pulp.

Meanwhile, other villagers, concerned about whether the first day’s deliveries had gone smoothly, had also gathered at the workshop.

Only after Jiang Fuzheng pointed to the copper coins in his back basket and announced that everything was in order and the profits met expectations did the villagers breathe a sigh of relief and genuinely begin to celebrate.

Since the soybeans were ground early that day, they finished work early as well.

That afternoon, Ye Liang went home early, and Liu Yi took over the task of frying the half-finished fried tofu puffs. So on the third day, Ye Li, Jiang Fuzheng, and Jiang Tong went to the county town to deliver the goods again.

This time, when Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng arrived at Banxianju, the ground in front of the restaurant was already covered with a thick layer of firecracker debris. Moreover, even though it was still early in the morning, there were already several tables of diners inside.

Yu Cai was inside the restaurant, and Ye Li and Jiang Fuzheng handed over the goods to him.

Afterward, Jiang Fuzheng drove the mule cart home, while Ye Li strolled over to the northeast corner of the county town. Today, Jiang Ji only had classes for the morning.

He’d been so busy with the workshop these past few days that he hadn’t seen Jiang Ji in nearly a week. So he planned to pick up Jiang Ji after school and then head to Banxianju for hot pot.

Without Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya—those two little party poopers—it’s the perfect time for a date~