All one hundred buns had sold out; there wasn’t even enough filling left in the bowl to make a single bun, though there was still a bit of dough remaining.

Yan Qi used the remaining dough to make two smaller buns. They came out of the pan just as fragrant as the others, and he gave them to the two children of the woman selling shoes next door—a girl and a ger.

Earlier, while he was selling the buns, he’d noticed the two children staring longingly in his direction. The woman was quite kind; since their stalls were next to each other, they’d even exchanged a few words of small talk.

“Oh no, you can’t take these! Quick, give them back!”

The moment the woman turned away, she saw the two children being handed the buns. She hurriedly spoke up, but Yan Qi smiled and said, “Just take them and eat them. I don’t have enough left to sell.”

The woman tried to give him money, but he declined. So she picked out two pears for him—they were the very ones she’d just bought from a passing fruit vendor.

“You said you just moved here from beyond the Great Wall this year, so you haven’t tried our local white pears yet, have you?”

She pressed them into Yan Qi’s arms and laughed, “Eat them fresh now. Once winter sets in, you’ll get to try the frozen pears made from these.”

The two large pears were quite heavy in his arms, so he took them out and placed them in his back basket, which already contained some items he’d bought that day and some dry grass to pad the local produce.

Since they were going to visit the Hou residence, the group decided to buy some gifts to bring along.

Although Hou Li lacked for nothing, it would be impolite to arrive empty-handed, so they bought two jars of fine wine and a box of pastries—a safe bet.

In truth, Huo Feng and Lin Changshui really didn’t want to go to this meal. Just the thought of stepping through the gates of a city dweller’s mansion made their calves cramp. After discussing it, they went to talk to Huo Ling: “Why don’t we just find a place to grab a bowl of noodles and take the gifts back home first?”

Huo Ling said to Huo Feng, “Brother Hou is a man of his word. If he says he’s inviting a few people, he’s surely had his household cook prepare a meal for that number. If we agree first and then don’t show up, wouldn’t that be a slap in the face?”

Huo Feng thought it over and realized he had a point, so he and Lin Changshui steeled themselves and followed along.

Passing by an inn, they met up with Liao Dehai and Ge Yi. The two suggested they leave the baskets and other items they were carrying at the inn for safekeeping. After setting their belongings down, they set off with lighter loads.

Aside from Huo Feng and Lin Changshui, Yan Qi was also on edge the entire time, especially since he had to socialize with Hou Li’s wife—a task even Huo Ling couldn’t help him with.

The meal was delicious, but aside from Liao and Ge, and Huo Ling—who was closest to Hou Li—everyone else fidgeted restlessly on the carved benches.

After the meal, Hou Li insisted they stay for tea, but Huo Ling made an excuse to head home early and took his leave ahead of time.

“My sister-in-law is pregnant, and we’re not comfortable leaving her alone at home with my niece.”

Unable to persuade them to stay, Hou Li turned to Liao Dehai and Ge Yi. Since neither had any urgent business and the inn was nearby, they continued chatting.

The servant escorted them to the main gate. After walking a short distance and making sure they couldn’t hear them, Huo Feng sighed, “That meal was truly unbearable. We country folk are just different from city folk after all. I’d rather go home and squat in the courtyard eating cornbread.”

Lin Changshui nodded vigorously.

Yan Qi was the only one who left with a gift. Lady Hou had given him a welcome present: a box of bath beans and a silk handkerchief. There had originally been a silver ring as well, but he refused it outright, so she took it back—and even that felt like a hot potato to him.

“When we chatted at the stall, I thought Brother Hou was down-to-earth. But once I got to the mansion and saw all the servants and the grand display, I realized we really aren’t cut from the same cloth.”

Huo Feng chuckled, “Well, we’re just not cut out for the finer things in life.”

Huo Ling stretched lazily right there on the street, glanced at the sky, and said, “Brother Hou loves to socialize. After seeing all the excitement today and getting to know Boss Liao and Boss Ge, he’s gone and arranged this feast. I doubt there’ll be a next time. If there really is, we’ll just decline—it’s not good to owe someone a favor like that.”

Once you’ve accepted a gift, you have to find a way to repay it, but our circumstances are different—it’s hard to find a way to return the favor.

“Next time I go into the mountains and catch some game, I’ll send him a couple.”

On the way back, the heaviest items in their back baskets were the copper coins, and their footsteps were as light as flight. For the moment, they put aside all worldly concerns, their minds focused solely on the division of the spoils once they returned to the village.

“The ginseng sold for fifteen taels. We’ll split it evenly—three taels each.”

The heavy copper coins—a thousand making one string—came to exactly three strings per person.

Huo Ling pulled the strings of coins from the pile, and Yan Qi handed them out to Ye Suping and Xiao Mingming.

Lin Changshui and Xiao Mingming had never seen so much money before; they didn’t even know where to put their hands. And that wasn’t all—next, they had to divide the twenty taels earned from the mountain goods.

First, they divided it by headcount, which came to four taels per person.

Of the eight taels belonging to Lin Changshui and Xiao Mingming, Huo Ling, as the “foreman,” took thirty percent—two taels and four hundred wen—and gave them the remaining five taels and six hundred wen.

Previously, when Huo Feng and his wife went into the mountains with Huo Ling, though there were fewer people, they could gather fewer mountain goods, so the silver they received was roughly the same. For Huo Ling, this time, he did indeed receive a small extra sum because he led others into the mountains.

Once the money was divided, everyone was delighted.

Ye Suping smiled as she took the money back to her room and locked it in the money chest. Lin Changshui and Xiao Mingming didn’t linger long either; they took the money back to share the good news with their mother, and before leaving, they thanked Huo Ling profusely once more.

Huo Ling and Yan Qi were the last to leave the main hall and head to the west wing, their arms heavy with copper coins.

“Six taels for the ginseng, eight taels for the mountain goods, plus a little over two taels from the ‘foreman’s’ share—that makes a total of…”

The ger calculated earnestly, and Huo Ling didn’t interrupt him, though he already knew the answer in his heart.

“Sixteen taels and four hundred wen!”

As soon as Yan Qi said this, he gasped in surprise himself.

“That’s way too much.”

A full sixteen taels, earned in just half a month—no wonder everyone says that after the start of autumn, Bailong Mountain is a treasure trove, a gold mine!

Still, he knew this was due to sheer luck—they’d unearthed the ginseng. But even without it, a single trip would still net eight taels of silver.

After all, farming and selling grain is hard work—every grain is earned with sweat. A shi of new wheat would fetch no more than one liang of silver, and with as little land as the Huo family had, there was barely any surplus grain to sell.

Earlier, when they tallied their accounts, they had earned nearly five taels from selling mountain produce since the start of spring. Adding this to their savings, they now had just over twenty taels.

Most importantly, there were still the thirty-six taels Huo Ling had originally saved up—meaning their little family’s savings now totaled over fifty taels of silver.

“The season for mushrooms and gastrodia is almost over, but we can still gather pine nuts before the snow falls. After that, it’ll be snow clams.” Seeing the ger holding the copper coins with a smile, he reminded him, “Don’t forget to count the money from selling the buns today.”

“Oh, right!”

Yan Qi fumbled to find the money pouch, emptied the copper coins into a small basket, and counted them together with Huo Ling.

“We sold about a hundred, but some people bought three or four at a time, so I gave them a discount of one or two coins.”

After counting it all, the total from the buns came to four hundred and seventy wen.

“If we sold them all day long, from morning till night, wouldn’t we sell at least two hundred? That would be one tael a day…”

Yan Qi’s eyes widened as he spoke, muttering to himself, “Earning a tael of silver a day just from selling buns? Is that even possible?” He looked at Huo Ling. “Did I miscalculate?”

Huo Ling found him utterly adorable and couldn’t help but laugh.

“You didn’t miscalculate. It’s just that if you went every day, business might not be this good, and besides, you’re counting revenue, not net profit. Then let’s scale it back a bit—say, 150 buns. Two wen per vegetarian bun, one wen per meat bun…hmm…”

Clearly, his mind was spinning again. Huo Ling poured two drops of water onto the bedside table and dipped his finger in to help him calculate.

“One hundred and fifty buns, half vegetarian and half meat…”

A moment later, he said, “That’s over two hundred wen a day. If we work twenty days a month, we could make four taels if things go well.” 

“That’s not bad at all.”

Yan Qi shook his dizzy head. He’d never even dreamed of making that much money before.

“So, are you willing to buy livestock now?”

As soon as Huo Ling asked, Yan Qi—who had been about to recline—sat up straight at the sound of the question.

“Yes, we need to buy an ox.”

A sturdy ox costs over twenty taels; that would wipe out half of our family’s savings in one go.

“I’m not quite ready to part with that much.”

He spoke honestly.

He wouldn’t have said this before, because he felt that the family’s money was earned by Huo Ling, and he had no right to interfere.

But now that they’d been together for so long, they were a genuine family. When Huo Ling consulted him, he voiced his own reservations, though he understood the logic behind it all.

“Even if it’s hard to part with, we have to buy it. We can’t be without an ox.”

He shifted his position and sat next to Huo Ling on the other side. Huo Ling nodded and pulled his little husband closer into his embrace.

“A sturdy ox, if well-cared-for, can live for over twenty years. It can plow the fields and pull carts—it’s worth the price.”    

“Back in my hometown, we didn’t even have oxen. During the busy farming season, we’d have to rent oxen from the government.”

No matter where you went, families who could afford to buy a plowing ox were rare.

“I’ll let my older brother and sister-in-law know that we can’t take the ox up the mountain, and we’ll have to ask them to look after it while we’re away.”

When Huo Feng and Ye Suping heard the news, however, they insisted on chipping in their share to buy the ox together.

“We’ll certainly need the ox for our own work from time to time. You’re only down in the valley for a few days each month—we can’t let you foot the entire bill.”

“We don’t have much farmland these days, and to be honest, we don’t really need a draft ox. Xiaoqi and I want to buy one mainly to pull a cart into town for the market—even if we only use it once or twice a month, it’s a must-have. Having a large animal at home means cleaning the barn, cutting grass, and feeding it—none of which are easy tasks. We two simply can’t help with these chores. It’s only right that you, Big Brother and Sister-in-law, take care of it and drive it out when needed.”

He urged Huo Feng and his wife to take back the silver they’d just received—it hadn’t even had time to warm up in their hands.

“Big Brother and Sister-in-law, let’s not be so strict about this. Just think of it as us providing the money and you providing the labor—otherwise, one of us will always feel guilty.”

Huo Feng and Ye Suping exchanged a glance. The latter pursed her lips and said, “Alright. While you’re away, your older brother and I promise to raise those ox until they’re strong and healthy.”

Huo Feng added, “Winter’s coming soon; we’ll need to cut and stockpile plenty of fodder.”

“That’s exactly it. Cutting grass to feed the livestock is the most exhausting work, and on top of that, you’ll have to raise an extra pig. So you can’t be the ones to pay for this.”

Thinking of his sister-in-law’s pregnancy, Huo Ling even worried they might not be able to handle the workload.

Fortunately, he’d be running the bun business this winter, so he wouldn’t be living in the mountains all the time, and Yan Qi would still be able to lend a hand.

With that in mind, he asked when they’d be bringing the piglet home. Huo Feng replied, “In about another half a month. Once it’s weaned at a month old, we can bring it back.”

Huo Ying gestured, “We went to Old Zhuang’s place to see the piglets. They’re plump and about this big.” Huo Feng and the others had picked out a male piglet, which Old Liu Zhuang’s family had castrated and sent over.

“We’re starting with two this time. I’m not sure if we can handle them, but once we get the hang of it, we’ll get a sow for breeding.” 

“That sounds good.”

But that means the livestock pen in the backyard won’t be big enough.

Before heading back up the mountain, the two brothers chopped down trees and split wood to expand the pig pen in the backyard and build a new cow shed.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

T/N: Hiii guyss, with all new stories uploaded, we are gonna be consistent with the schedule now. Bonus chapters on Sunday, regular updates on Monday and Tuesday, Patreon uploads on Saturday. Side note, with the way the site is built, uploading chapters is a bit of a hassle for the way the site was built, so the Milou’s Archive admin handles the uploading, not us, so we may see comments late. You can chat us up on Discord for issues. I heard that the channel is coming up this week. Also, since we (TKA and the Site Admin) are not from the US, which makes ad views payment low and inconvenient, we are looking for a way to resolve it, but MLA activated their Patreon using a similar way to ours, so check it out if you want, their seven-day free trial is open until the end of June.

That is all. As usual, Tokki’s Archives is thankful for every reader and supporter with us.