Zhou Ning sold his entire basket of mosquito coils in no time. Shen Linchuan raised an eyebrow in surprise. “These mosquito coils sell that well?”

Zhou Ning nodded and hummed in agreement. “They’re selling like hotcakes. A few days ago, Yi-ger and I had to carry our baskets around the nearby alleys to hawk them, but now we don’t even have to leave this market to sell out.”

Zhang Xiaoyi came running over with a basket of his own. “Ning-ger, I’ve sold out too!”

“Yi-ger, you’re here again today. Why don’t you come over to Auntie’s for a cup of tea?” An old woman selling sewing supplies by the roadside beamed as she saw Zhang Xiaoyi approaching.

Zhang Xiaoyi hurried away. “Auntie, I’ve got things to do. I’ll be off now!”

Zhou Ning and Shen Linchuan followed close behind. It wasn’t until they’d run out of the market that Zhang Xiaoyi wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I’m scared just seeing her now.”

Zhou Ning’s lips curled into a smile. “Just ignore her from now on.”

“I don’t want to deal with her either. You know, Ning-ger, today a few more couples wanted to set me up on a blind date. I had to put on a fake smile and wrap mosquito coils for them!”

Zhang Xiaoyi scowled as he complained. As an unmarried young ger, ever since he’d started doing business in town with Zhou Ning, he’d become a familiar face at the market. Every day he came to sell mosquito coils, there were always a few people who wanted to set him up on a blind date.

Whether they were sincere or not, Zhang Xiaoyi wasn’t interested right now. He wanted to earn more copper coins so he could open a small clinic for his father in town someday!

Shen Linchuan rarely saw Zhang Xiaoyi at a loss for words—after all, the boy had always been so prickly toward him. Crossing his arms, he teased, “Why not take a look at a couple? You might just find a good one.”

Zhang Xiaoyi shot Shen Linchuan a glare. “Ning-ger, he started this. Are you going to do anything about it?” Zhou Ning tugged at Shen Linchuan’s sleeve. “Don’t say that. Yi-ger’s too shy.”

Shy? Shen Linchuan’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Him?”

This prompted Zhang Xiaoyi to glare at Shen Linchuan a few more times, while Shen Linchuan hid beside his Fulang. “Look at him—I was just teasing him a little, and he got all upset.”

Zhou Ning, squeezed between the two of them, didn’t know which side to take. He hurriedly said, “Aren’t we supposed to go order those porcelain boxes? Let’s get going—otherwise, it’ll be too hot when we get back.”

As soon as Zhou Ning left, the two hurried after him. There were several pottery kilns around the town; the one where they’d previously gone together to commission some coarse porcelain bowls was run by the Zhao family. They owned several kilns; the father had passed down the kiln-firing craft to his son, and by the son’s generation, he had taken on only one young apprentice.

Before Shen Linchuan and the others even reached the Zhao family’s doorstep, a teenage boy ran up to meet them. “Mr. Shen, Zhou Fulang, are you here to buy bowls?”

The young lad still remembered Shen Linchuan and his companion. The last time he’d delivered bowls to their stall, Shen Linchuan had given him a baked bun stuffed with an egg and drizzled with meat broth. It was the best bun he’d ever tasted!

It had been a few months since they’d seen the boy, and he’d gotten quite a bit darker—probably from working in the summer heat. It was only around nine o’clock; the sun hadn’t even reached its peak yet, but the boy was already bare-chested, wearing only a pair of black pants with the legs rolled up high. It certainly looked like a cool way to dress.

Shen Linchuan smiled at the boy. “What’s your name? Is your master here?” 

“My name is Shi Xiaohe. My master’s in the courtyard firing the kiln!”

Shi Xiaohe ran ahead to lead the group into the courtyard. It was Zhang Xiaoyi’s first time here, and he realized for the first time that there were actually kilns in their town. He craned his neck and looked around with curiosity.

Shi Xiaohe ran into the courtyard and called out, “Master! Boss Shen and Zhou Fulang are here!”

Zhao Dazhu had just opened the kiln. Hearing his young apprentice’s shout, he turned his head. He’d wondered who it could be—it turned out to be the butcher Zhou’s son and son-in-law.

Before Zhao Dazhu could say a word, a shriek rang out. Zhang Xiaoyi, startled, hurriedly hid behind Zhou Ning. “He… why isn’t he wearing any clothes?!”

Zhao Dazhu noticed a young ger following behind him. He was busy mixing clay and tending the kiln—it was sweltering in the middle of summer, and if he were fully dressed, he’d surely overheat. Seeing the young ger approach, he finally threw on his outer garment. “Here to buy a bowl?”

Seeing that Zhao Dazhu had put on his clothes, Shen Linchuan finally stepped away from in front of his Fulang. “I’d like Mr. Zhao to help me make a batch of porcelain boxes—the kind used for powder and perfume, but smaller.”

Shen Linchuan gestured to indicate the size—just a bit larger than a copper coin—and explained that they needed to be stamped with a brand name.

“These porcelain boxes aren’t like coarse earthenware bowls; the clay used is much better. Though they’re small, they aren’t cheap—three wen each, plus one wen for the stamping.”

Shen Linchuan didn’t haggle over the price. They didn’t need many—just five hundred small porcelain boxes. A single kiln firing would produce them all, costing only two taels of silver. Firing a kiln in the middle of summer was no easy task.

“Alright, we’ll order five hundred for now. If we have more business in the future, we’ll come back to place an order with Mr. Zhao.”

Zhao Dazhu was somewhat surprised. He’d expected the Zhou family’s son-in-law to haggle a bit—after all, when they’d bought bowls last time, they’d haggled even over a small order. This time, however, he’d agreed without hesitation.

It was the matter of the mark stamped on the bottom that gave Shen Linchuan pause. Although he had been the first to create the cooling ointment, his method was simple—using only mugwort, mint, and beeswax. It was Doctor Zhang who refined the formula to create the current version of the cooling ointment.

“Ning-ger, Zhang Xiaoyi, what should we engrave on the mark at the bottom of the porcelain box?”

Zhang Xiaoyi was still hiding behind Zhou Ning, too embarrassed to come out. His face was bright red as he nodded haphazardly. “All ‘Cheng’—as in Chengdu.”

“Let’s make it ‘Zhang’s.’”

Zhou Ning felt that Yi-ger’s father deserved the most credit for the Cooling Ointment, so he didn’t want to take the credit for it. Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoyi protested, “You and Shen Linchuan were the first to come up with the idea. We can’t possibly put my family’s name on it. Why don’t we put both our families’ names on it?”

“Too many characters will make it hard to read,” Zhao Dazhu reminded them. “This porcelain box isn’t very big—it can only fit four characters at most.” 

“Then let’s call it Zhou-Zhang’s.”

“No one calls it that—and it doesn’t sound very good,” Zhou Ning said, stumped. Which family’s name should they use?

“Why not engrave ‘Ning Yi’ at the bottom?” Shen Linchuan suggested. That way, both families’ names could be included. Zhang Xiaoyi nodded repeatedly. “Great, great! Ning-ger, let’s go with that. It sounds nice.”

“Alright.”

Shen Linchuan and Zhao Dazhu agreed on a date to deliver the porcelain box. Zhou Ning paid two taels of silver—money taken from the ten taels given by the Xu family. That was two taels gone in one go, and he still had to pay Doctor Zhang for the herbs.

As soon as they mentioned leaving, Zhang Xiaoyi was the first to run out, still complaining to Zhou Ning as she did so, “Why on earth wasn’t that man wearing any clothes? He really scared the life out of me.”

Zhou Ning wasn’t fazed by this; his father wore only an undershirt at home, and when he and Shen Linchuan were alone behind closed doors, they’d even gone so far as to bare their arms and legs. He cleared his throat and reassured him, “It’ll be fine once you’re married.”

Zhang Xiaoyi’s face flushed bright red. “Ning-ger, you’ve gone bad!”

Shen Linchuan stood nearby, struggling to hold back his laughter so hard his shoulders shook. How had he never noticed his Fulang had a natural tendency to blush so easily? Zhou Ning was a bit confused. “What’s the matter?”

Embarrassed, Zhang Xiaoyi slung the basket over his arm and strode off. Even after he’d climbed into the mule cart to go home, his face still felt burning hot.

That afternoon, the two families, along with Zhou Xiaonan—six people in total—got to work. They had to rush to finish making the mosquito coils and cooling ointment. Everyone pitched in to roll the coils; since charcoal powder was added to ignite them, their hands were all covered in soot.

The six of them worked for two days straight, and combined with what they’d made earlier, they managed to produce five thousand bundles of mosquito coils. Once they were dried, they were wrapped in paper, ten coils to a bundle.

Within a couple of days, the porcelain boxes arrived. The group then worked together to fill them with the cooling ointment. Once packed, they secured each box with a red paper sleeve, on which they wrote the characters “Cooling Ointment” in calligraphy. Among them, Shen Linchuan and Doctor Zhang had the best handwriting, and they were tasked with writing the characters in a smaller font. It took the two of them an entire afternoon to finish.

Once the red paper was ready, they wrapped it tightly around the porcelain boxes—if it wasn’t secure, the boxes would come apart. The group had been busy for several days, and the room was now filled with paper-wrapped mosquito coils and porcelain boxes, each adorned with red paper.

Zhang Xiaoyi stood up and stretched. “We’re finally done!”

Not just Zhang Xiaoyi, but even Zhou Ning was feeling a bit tired. Sitting there working nonstop for so long had left their backs and waists aching.

Once they were done, Zhou Ning drove the mule cart to deliver the goods to the Xu family. Zhang Xiaoyi and Zhou Xiaonan went along with him—after all, it was a business venture for all three of them.

It was Zhou Xiaonan’s first time entering such a beautiful courtyard. He felt so self-conscious that he shifted his feet, trying to hide his worn-out, hole-ridden cloth shoes. If he’d known the Xu family was such a wealthy household, he wouldn’t have come and made a fool of himself. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he felt, and his face turned red.

Mr. Xu, the shopkeeper, received the three of them and was somewhat surprised. He had originally assumed the business deal was with Shen Linchuan, but to his surprise, it turned out to be three young country ger.

Mr. Xu inspected the goods and then asked his wife to help entertain them; since it was three young ger who had come, he didn’t feel it was proper for him to host them himself.

Mrs. Xu cheerfully invited the three to the flower parlor for tea. “So it’s your business after all—what a surprise! If I’d known it was the young ger’s business, I wouldn’t have let Old Xu haggle over a few pennies back then.”

Zhou Ning, somewhat tongue-tied, sat there politely nodding in agreement, while Zhang Xiaoyi, who was more articulate, smiled and told Mrs. Xu he hoped this batch of goods would sell well, so they could earn a bit more silver.

Mrs. Xu was so delighted that she immediately agreed, then called a young maid to bring out a few bowls of papaya ice with glutinous rice balls. “Don’t be shy, help yourself. My little girl loves this in the summer—if I didn’t keep her in check, she’d eat several bowls a day.”

Zhang Xiaoyi let out a little gasp. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Xu. I’ve been wanting to try ice-crusted mountain cake, but it’s too expensive for me to afford. Today, I’m truly indebted to you!” Mrs. Xu was even more amused; this young ger certainly had a way with words.

Zhou Xiaonan had a bowl in front of him as well. It was his first time eating ice cream in the summer. The bowl held five-colored little dumplings that looked quite adorable, resting on a bed of crushed ice, surrounded by a ring of papaya, and drizzled with milk and honey.

“Hurry up and eat! It’ll melt in a minute, and then it won’t taste as good.”

Zhang Xiaoyi pushed the bowls toward Zhou Ning and Zhou Xiaonan. “Hurry up and eat, hurry up.”

The three of them dug in, each with a bowl. After finishing his, Zhou Ning smacked his lips. It was even better than what they sold at the Yinzipu. After they finished the icy cold dumplings, Mrs. Xu saw them out. “Take it easy on the way home.”

Zhou Ning nodded. “Don’t worry, Madam Xu. Most men can’t beat me.”

Madam Xu was amused to no end; this young Fulang from the Shen Linchuan family was truly an interesting fellow.

Once they stepped outside the Xu family’s gate, Zhou Xiaonan finally let out a sigh of relief. “This is the first time I’ve ever been to such a wealthy household.”

Zhang Xiaoyi chuckled, “Once I make a fortune, who knows? Maybe we’ll be able to live in a courtyard this big and beautiful someday!” Zhou Ning nodded in agreement. Zhou Xiaonan laughed, “I wouldn’t dare dream of living in such a huge courtyard. If I could just eat meat every day, that’d be enough.”

Zhou Ning had deliberately chosen the afternoon to deliver the goods. After lingering at the Xu residence for a while, it was still early when they left. Zhou Ning drove the mule cart, taking the two of them for a tour of the town. Seeing that it was getting late, they headed to the school to pick up Shen Linchuan after class.

Zhang Xiaoyi looked quite excited. “I heard it’s the only school in Qinghe Town run by a Juren. I’ve never seen one before.”

Zhang Xiaoyi’s face fell as a thought occurred to him. “Zhou Youcheng is always bragging about how he’s studying under that Juren scholar who passed the provincial exam. He’s so full of himself, he doesn’t know which way is up.”

Zhou Xiaonan craned his neck curiously to look inside. The school was paved with blue flagstones and filled with flowers and plants; it was spotless. Zhou Xiaonan was quite envious. “So this is what a school looks like. It’s really much nicer than the one in our village.”

The sound of a bell rang out from inside. Zhou Xiaonan was startled and hurriedly hid behind Zhou Ning. Zhou Ning patted his hand. “It’s okay, school’s out.”

Upon hearing that school was out, Zhou Xiaonan hid even further behind Zhou Ning; he was afraid people would mock him for his shabby clothes.

Zhang Xiaoyi had been standing on the mule cart looking inside, but upon hearing the bell, he sat back down. He was in a good mood today—he certainly didn’t want to run into Zhou Youcheng.

Shen Linchuan had gotten into the habit of glancing at the tree across the street whenever he stepped outside. Sure enough, his Fulang was waiting for him there, and this time he’d brought two friends along.

Shen Linchuan walked over and took the reins. “Did you deliver to the Xu family today?”

Zhou Ning gave a soft “Mm-hmm.” 

“Madam Xu even treated us to some icy cold glutinous rice balls.”

Zhang Xiaoyi was still curiously peering toward the entrance. It was his first time seeing so many scholars—some dressed in silk brocade, others in plain cotton robes—each one looking quite smart and well-groomed.

He’d heard that the students here had all passed the preliminary exams to become “Tongsheng,” and some had even passed the “Xiucai” exams.

“This is the first time I’ve seen so many Tongsheng,” Zhang Xiaoyi muttered. “I didn’t realize there were so many. I used to think Tongsheng was some kind of rare thing.”

“A ‘Tongsheng’ isn’t a thing—it’s a person,” Zhou Xiaonan whispered.

“It’s all because Zhou Youcheng brags about it in the village, and so do his parents. They look down their noses at everyone in our village. Those who know just think his family produced a ‘Tongsheng,’ but those who don’t might as well think they’ve produced a high-ranking official.”

Shen Linchuan smiled as he listened to the two young gers gossiping about Zhou Youcheng, then drove his mule cart away. Outside the school gate, things were quite lively after classes let out. Some parents had come to pick up their children, while others who lived at the school took advantage of the cooler weather to wander around in small groups, stopping at a shop for a meal before returning.

“Hey, Shen Linchuan, you’ve got so many young guys on your mule cart today!” he exclaimed, bursting into loud laughter. Zhou Xiaonan was so startled that he quickly hid behind Zhou Ning.

Even Zhang Xiaoyi frowned. Who was this guy? How could he be so rude—and he called himself a scholar!

Zhou Ning’s face darkened as well. Even though the mule cart was still moving, he jumped down from it. “What did you just say?!”

Zhou Ning was a full head taller than the scholar who had been teasing him, causing the thin scholar in the blue robe to flinch. “I—I didn’t say anything. I was just joking.”

Shen Linchuan snorted coldly and stepped down from the mule cart. “A joke? Making jokes at the expense of a few young gers? Is that what that book of the sages taught you?”

The skinny scholar had originally come out to eat with a few classmates. Seeing some young ger at the school gate—a rare sight—he’d let his tongue slip and blurted out a remark. The scholar’s surname was Wang; his name was Wang Cai. He was a scholar supported by his rural family, and his household wasn’t particularly wealthy; the blue robe he wore had been washed until it was faded and white.

Wang Cai waved his hands repeatedly. “I—I was just joking, Brother Shen. Please don’t take it to heart. I apologize.”

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Shen Linchuan.

Zhou Youcheng was also in the group. Scholars from the countryside usually lived together in groups of three or five and often went out together. Zhou Youcheng stood in the crowd without speaking, merely casting a casual glance at Zhang Xiaoyi. He still remembered how she had scratched his face last time, which had earned him plenty of ridicule from his classmates.

He folded his arms, looking on as if he were waiting for the show to begin.

“Just kidding? I was saying, Brother Wang Cai, you’re as skinny as a stick and short as a dwarf.” Wang Cai’s face turned crimson with rage. “You! How dare you insult me!” 

“I was just joking. Why are you getting so upset, Brother Wang Cai?”

Shen Linchuan’s lips curled into a smile that was as refreshing as a spring breeze, infuriating Wang Cai across from him to the point of making him stamp his feet.

“Besides, why are you apologizing to me? You didn’t offend me at all. Could it be that you look down on a young ger like them, thinking you’re superior just because you’re a scholar?”

A classmate nearby tried to smooth things over. “All right, all right. Brother Linchuan, don’t get so worked up. Wang Cai didn’t mean any harm.” Zhang Xiaoyi stood up from the mule cart. “What do you mean by ‘no harm’? He’s clearly just picking on us because we’re just gers!”

Zhou Ning also spoke up, “Apologize.”

Wang Cai’s face flushed crimson as he clasped his hands and bowed toward the people on the mule cart. “I’m sorry. It was I who offended you.”

“Big deal. You call yourself a scholar? You’ve let your books go to the dogs!”

Zhang Xiaoyi snorted and sat back down. Zhou Ning and Shen Linchuan also climbed onto the mule cart, and they drove off.

Wang Cai had just lost face in front of so many classmates. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. “You country ger—how uncouth!”

Zhou Youcheng chimed in, “Brother Wang Cai, why get angry with them? They’re just a butcher’s ger and a freeloading son-in-law—it’s not like he’s going to lay a hand on you.”

Several classmates standing nearby quietly shifted a step to the side, putting some distance between themselves and the two men. After apologizing, Wang Cai showed no remorse, constantly referring to them as “country gers.” They were all scholars from the countryside—what family didn’t have a ger?

Fine, but in Wang Cai’s mouth, they’d all been reduced to crude “country ger.”

“Come on, let’s go to the shop up ahead and grab a bowl of noodles.” 

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

Wang Cai hurried to follow them, but someone reached out an arm to block him. “Sorry about that. I’ve got a country ger at home, and he ate with us—he’s taken your spot, Wang Cai.”

The group walked off without a word to Wang Cai, who stomped his foot in frustration. “I didn’t even say anything about them!” Zhou Youcheng pulled him back. “Come on, we’re all classmates. He was just venting.”

Shen Linchuan drove the mule cart away. Zhou Ning, sitting beside him, was still a bit upset. “How could that man be so rude? And he’s a scholar, too!” Shen Linchuan stroked his fulang’s hair. “Don’t be angry. Education only screens for talent and learning; it doesn’t screen for character.”

Don’t go putting rose-colored glasses on scholars.

Zhang Xiaoyi added, “Hmph, he’s just as bad as Zhou Youcheng! All right, I’m not mad anymore. When we get back, we’ll split that ten taels of silver for the mosquito coils, and next time we come over, we’ll go together to the tea house to have some iced drinks and pastries!”

Upon hearing that they would be splitting the silver, Zhou Xiaonan perked up. “If I get some silver, I want to buy some fabric to make a new outfit.”

After finishing the shipment for the Xu family, life returned to normal. The three young gers spent every day making mosquito coils in the courtyard. Zhou Da and Doctor Zhang would drop by to help whenever they had free time, asking for no payment—they simply considered it a way to support the boys’ business.

Shen Linchuan studied diligently at the academy. The advantage of learning from an experienced teacher was that he could avoid taking detours; Shen Linchuan clearly felt his studies had improved significantly compared to before.

Students from the academy would occasionally come by to buy some mosquito coils from him, which also helped his Fulang run his small business.

Shen Linchuan wasn’t oblivious to the undercurrents swirling within the academy, but he simply couldn’t be bothered to engage with them. As long as he didn’t fall out with his classmates, that was enough. He was there to study, not to make friends or schmooze—whether you were a wealthy young master or a commoner from the countryside, he treated everyone equally.

Shen Linchuan’s attitude actually drew quite a few classmates to befriend him. They’d chat about their studies on a daily basis, and if they didn’t understand something, they’d come over to ask him a question or two. After spending time with him, they were surprised to find that Shen Linchuan’s grades were actually so good!

Zhou Youcheng and Wang Cai found themselves subtly excluded by the students from the countryside, who felt the two looked down on them. After all, they were all scholars from the countryside—what was there to look down on?

A few days later, the Xu family’s supply caravan returned. Shen Linchuan had already climbed onto a mule-drawn cart when Xu Zhifan hurriedly stopped him. “Shen Linchuan! Wait a moment! My father has invited you to come to our house.”

“Now? But your family’s caravan has just returned.”

“How did you know that! Come with me right now—it won’t keep you from going home.”

Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning rode the mule cart to the Xu residence. This time, Shopkeeper Xu greeted the two even more warmly than before. “My two fine juniors have arrived. Please, sit down, sit down.”

Mr. Xu’s face was beaming with a smile. “Was it hot on the way? Have a cup of tea first.”

Shen Linchuan could roughly guess why Xu Zhifan’s father had summoned them. “Uncle Xu, how did the shipment to the south go?”

“Excellent, excellent, excellent.”

Mr. Xu repeated “excellent” three times in a row. For his family, twenty taels of silver worth of goods was a drop in the bucket; they’d just sent a small shipment over to test the waters.

“I never expected it to sell so well! The moment we put it in the shop, it was snapped up. The foreman who came back said some shops are even asking around—openly and behind the scenes—to find out where this stuff comes from!”

“Get to work immediately. We’ll take whatever you have. Money is no object. You can raise the price of mosquito coils by one wen and the cooling ointment by five wen. I’ll be bold enough to make a request: these two items must be produced exclusively by our Xu family.”

Zhou Ning was utterly astonished; it was the first time he’d ever seen a buyer offer to pay a premium.

Shen Linchuan turned to ask his husband, “What do you think, Ning-ger?”

“How much does Manager Xu want?”

“As much as we can get! We’ll need at least five or six cartloads for this trip—and I’d even say that’s too little. We could easily handle ten or so. It’s already mid-July now; in two months, business will be much harder to sustain.”

Shopkeeper Xu was even more anxious than Zhou Ning and the others right now. With so many mosquitoes in the south, the demand for mosquito coils and cooling ointment was simply overwhelming. The more they produced, the more they’d earn!

“Ten… over ten cartloads?” Zhou Ning was taken aback. That would amount to tens of thousands of coils of mosquito incense and tubes of cooling ointment—there was no way the few of them could produce that much!

Shen Linchuan could see Zhou Ning’s concern. “Don’t worry. It’s the off-season for farming right now, so it’s easy to find workers in the countryside.”