It would only take a little over a month; by mid-September at the latest, business for mosquito coils and cooling ointment would slow down. Since these were seasonal products, business wouldn’t pick up again until next summer.

Zhou Ning didn’t see this as a problem and nodded immediately. “Alright.”

Manager Xu took out ink and paper to draw up the contract. From now on, the Xu family would have the exclusive right to sell mosquito coils and cooling ointment. Mosquito coils would be three wen per bundle, and cooling ointment twenty-three wen per box. Additionally, a simpler version of the cooling ointment would be sold for eight wen per box, which would attract more customers.

Manager Xu offered Zhou Ning and his group a favorable deal. After both parties reviewed the contract and found it satisfactory, Manager Xu was the first to sign his name and press his thumbprint.

He handed the brush over. “My two esteemed juniors, who will sign this contract?”

“Naturally, my Fulang will sign it.” Shen Linchuan took the brush and handed it to Zhou Ning. “Sign quickly, or it’ll be dark by the time we get home.”

Zhou Ning nodded, picked up the brush, and signed his name. It felt quite surreal—it was the first time he had written his own name, Zhou Ning。

Each family took a share. Since the exact quantity of this shipment hadn’t been finalized yet, Manager Xu put down a hundred taels of silver as a deposit. Zhou Ning held the heavy stack of silver in his hands, feeling a bit dazed—he couldn’t believe he’d managed to earn so much silver all at once!

“I hear Young Master Zhou is selling mosquito coils at the market. From now on, you can supply them to our Xu family’s shop—that way, you won’t have to run back and forth.” 

“Alright.”

Shopkeeper Xu personally saw the two of them out. Even after getting on the mule cart, Zhou Ning still hadn’t quite processed the excitement. “Shen Linchuan, we just made a hundred taels of silver in one go—a hundred taels!”

Shen Linchuan took advantage of the moment when no one was looking to plant a kiss on Fulang’s cheek. “It’s true, it’s true! Come on, let’s head over to the Zhao family’s porcelain kiln. We need to place an order for the next batch of porcelain boxes. And for those simpler versions, coarse porcelain will do—we’ll need to order a batch of those too.”

The two arrived at the Zhao family’s porcelain kiln and placed an order for 10,000 fine porcelain boxes in one go, followed by another order for 5,000 coarse porcelain boxes. After some haggling, they settled on five wen for two fine porcelain boxes and five wen for three coarse porcelain boxes.

Zhao Dazhu was astonished. “You mean you’ll need more after this batch is fired? Doesn’t that mean I’ll be firing your orders all summer long?”

“Please hurry, Mr. Zhao. We need them urgently.”

“Alright, looks like I’ll have to take on a few more apprentices.”

Shi Xiaohe perked up. “Master, does that mean I’ll be the head apprentice?”

Zhao Dazhu ruffled his young apprentice’s hair. “That’s right. Help your master teach the other apprentices, and I’ll give you a raise.”

As Shen Linchuan and his companion stepped out of the courtyard, they could still hear Shi Xiaohe’s cheers. Seeing that it was getting late, the two hurried home in their mule cart. They figured it would be dark before they reached home, and they didn’t want his father to worry.

Shen Linchuan drove the mule along, clop-clop-clop, heading home. Sure enough, it had grown dark by the time they were halfway there. Fortunately, the moon was full tonight, casting a silvery glow across the road. “We’d better hurry. Our father must be worried sick about us.”

Even in a hurry, the mule couldn’t grow wings and fly. When they were still a good distance from the village, they spotted a figure ahead. As the mule drew closer, it turned out to be Zhou Da. Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning both called out, “Father!”

Shen Linchuan reined in the mule. “Father, I knew you’d be worried. We hurried as fast as we could, but night still fell.”

Zhou Da climbed onto the mule. “You two usually get home as soon as the sun sets. Since you weren’t back even after dark, I came out for a stroll to check on you.”

Zhou Da was afraid something might have happened to them on the way. These days, the dry fields are full of corn and sorghum—taller than a person—and even on the main road, and even on the main road, Fulang and young couples didn’t dare venture onto the side paths alone.

“Father, don’t worry. Do you really think I can’t handle three or five thugs?” Zhou Ning wasn’t the least bit afraid; he raised his fist, looking as though he could take on anyone.

Shen Linchuan gently lowered Fulang’s raised fist. “All right, all right. You’re just a young ger out there—you need to take care of yourself.” Zhou Da asked why they were returning so late today and if something had held them up.

Shen Linchuan told him about the order for mosquito-repellent cooling ointment from the Xu family. Zhou Da was so surprised his voice rose a few notches. “That many?”

“After we get home and eat, let’s go over to Doctor Zhang’s place to discuss it.”

By now, many families had already finished their meals. It was too hot, so they were sitting at their doorsteps, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and chatting in small groups. When they saw Zhou Da and his family of three approaching, they asked, “Uncle Zhou, why did you come back from town so late today?”

“The kids had something to take care of, so we got back late.”

Shen Linchuan was already riding his mule away, but he could still hear someone behind him say, “Is Ning-ger’s husband studying in town too? I thought he’d stopped.”

“He is. I heard he’s even at Juren Wang’s school—the same one Zhou Er’s family attends.”

“That’s quite something. Back then, the two families were at odds, saying they didn’t have the money to support the Second Zhou family anymore. Now they’re supporting Shen Linchuan again—has the family come into some silver?”

“No, they say it’s a scholarship—no money is required.”

Shen Linchuan didn’t hear what was said afterward; he was in a hurry to get home for dinner.

When he got home, he first unhitched the mule cart, led the mule into the shed to rest its legs, and fed it some fresh grass and water.

The pot of food Zhou Da had prepared was still warm. Zhou Da wasn’t much of a cook; he’d made a pot of rice porridge, warmed a few steamed buns on top, and scrambled a few eggs. Zhou Ning washed his hands and brought the food out. He served a bowl of porridge to each person. None of the three were picky eaters, and they polished off every last bit of the meal Zhou Da had made.

Although it had been dark for a while, people still passed by the doorway from time to time, chatting as they went. It was hot, and those who couldn’t sleep were out cooling off.

Zhou Da went out first with his hands behind his back, followed by Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning. The two of them first went to Zhou Xiaonan’s house to call him out. Zhou Xiaonan was inside, sewing new clothes by the light of an oil lamp. He had bought two pieces of new cotton fabric in town, intending to make new clothes for himself and his younger brother, Gouwa.

He couldn’t even get enough to eat; how could his father, Old Zhou, possibly give him any silver to buy fabric? He hadn’t had a new outfit made in three or five years, and no other young man in the village was as ragged as he was.

Zhou Xiaonan had just earned a few taels of silver, so he went to town and bought two pieces of cloth. He didn’t dare buy anything nice, for fear his father would find out and take the money from him.

As soon as he heard Zhou Ning’s voice, Zhou Xiaonan came out. “Ning-ger, what brings you over at this hour?” 

“I’m here to take you over to Yi-ger’s place to hang out.”

As soon as Zhou Ning said that, Zhou Xiaonan knew what was up. He walked toward the door, and Zhou Gouwa poked his head out from inside the house. “Bro, where are you going to play? I want to come too.”

“We’re just going to chat at the young master’s place. What would a kid like you be doing tagging along?” Zhou Xiaonan said impatiently, and Zhou Gouwa finally retreated back into the house.

Lately, his older brother had been acting all mysterious, constantly running over to Doctor Zhang’s house. Plus, the family hadn’t just been eating their fill lately—they’d been eating well, too. Where on earth had his brother gotten the money?

Zhou Xiaonan followed his brother to Zhang Xiaoyi’s house and asked in a low voice, “Is it about business?” 

“Yeah, it is. Good news.”

Hearing it was good news, Zhou Xiaonan’s spirits lifted. His father had been away from home a lot this summer—who knew which of his mistresses he was hanging out with now?

His own life, on the other hand, had actually gotten better. He really hoped his father wouldn’t come back. Now that he was earning his own silver, he’d prefer it if Old Zhou never returned for the rest of his life.

By the time the three of them arrived, the table was already set with tea and snacks: red date paste cakes, mung bean pastries, salted peanuts, and a plate of small melons—all arranged by Zhang Xiaoyi. Upon hearing from Zhou Da that they’d be discussing business shortly, he’d laid everything out.

The six of them sat down around the square table in the main hall. Zhang Xiaoyi couldn’t wait to ask, “What’s the matter? Spit it out, spit it out.” Zhou Ning tugged at Shen Linchuan’s sleeve. “Let Shen Linchuan speak. I’m not good with words.”

Shen Linchuan cleared his throat and took out the silver he’d been holding in his arms. Even in the dim light of the oil lamp, the silver still shone brightly.

Zhang Xiaoyi’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “That much?!”

Shen Linchuan briefly explained that the Xu family intended to do business with them long-term. Zhang Xiaoyi and Zhou Xiaonan listened with their mouths agape; only one thought remained in their minds: they were going to strike it rich!

“This is a major undertaking. I’ve roughly divided up the tasks—let’s hear what you all think.”

“My father will handle the freight, Uncle Zhang will manage the cooling ointment, Yi-ger will handle the mosquito coils, Ning-ger will keep the books, Nan-ger will manage the workers, and I’ll take care of miscellaneous tasks. We’ll ask Granny Wang to help find laborers and give her a tael of silver as a referral fee.”

“With so many people around, we’ll each handle a separate section. Make sure to keep the formula safe. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

Everyone said they had no objections. Zhou Xiaonan asked hesitantly, “I’m in charge of managing the workers—they’re all men and fulangs from the village. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep them in line.”

Zhang Xiaoyi let out a sigh. “What’s there to be afraid of? You’ll be in charge. Anyone who dares disobey you can be fired. Who would turn down a chance to make some silver?”

Shen Linchuan also gave a nod. “We should have everyone assembled by tomorrow. We’ll start work the day after. We’ll coordinate the workforce together then. We’ll present this venture to the outside world as a business of Doctor Zhang’s family, and keep the funds here to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

The others nodded in agreement, fully understanding Shen Linchuan’s reasoning. If word got out that the Zhou Ning and Zhou Xiaonan families were both receiving a share of the profits, Zhou Er and Zhou Laogua would surely cause trouble. It was better to simply present it as the Zhang family’s business.

After settling the matter, the group sat together enjoying tea and snacks. Zhang Xiaoyi had even prepared some cooling mint and rock sugar water. It wasn’t until the moon had risen high in the sky that everyone finally began to disperse.

Shen Linchuan returned home, boiled a pot of water, took a shower, and changed into his T-shirt and shorts. Zhou Ning finished his evening routine and came in. “Shen Linchuan, it’s getting late. Are you going to study tonight?”

“No, I won’t. I wouldn’t be able to read for long anyway. Let’s get some sleep.”

At those words, Zhou Ning’s eyes lit up for a moment. Sitting on the bed, he began to undress. When Shen Linchuan closed the door and walked in, his eyes nearly popped out of his head—he’d always said his Fulang was quite uninhibited in bed.

Shen Linchuan’s gaze traced Zhou Ning’s body inch by inch. Zhou Ning shot him a look of both embarrassment and annoyance. “Hurry up and come to bed.” Shen Linchuan couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He wasn’t sure if he meant “go to sleep” or “sleep with him.”

Zhou Ning was getting annoyed by his laughter. “Shen Linchuan!” 

“Coming, coming.”

Shen Linchuan strode over, casually letting the sheer curtain fall. He bit down on Zhou Ning’s ear. “Zhou Xiao Ning, tell me—do you want to have a baby with me, or do you just want to roll around in bed with me?”

“It’s all the same.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s all the same’? Everyone says you’re an honest person—you liar.”

Zhou Ning was suspended in mid-air, unable to move up or down. He kicked Shen Linchuan with his foot, but Shen Linchuan chuckled softly and grabbed the person beneath him by the wrist. “Call me ‘husband.’”

“Husband.”

Zhou Ning called out without a moment’s hesitation. Shen Linchuan raised an eyebrow. He’d really hit the jackpot—he’d thought his Fulang would play hard to get for a while before finally giving in, but he hadn’t expected him to give in so easily.

Shen Linchuan began to playfully wrestle with him. Zhou Ning was sweating profusely from the heat, and he secretly wondered to himself, “When did Shen Linchuan get so strong?”

It took him some effort to break free, though he was still the stronger of the two.

They didn’t stop until the moon was high in the sky. Shen Linchuan got out of bed, satisfied, wrung out a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from both of them. It had been a long time since they’d been intimate, and Shen Linchuan found it hard to control himself for a moment.

Shen Linchuan knew full well that if his Fulang weren’t so concerned with his daily studies, they would have been together every day just like those first few days of their marriage. His simple-minded husband was just longing to have a chubby little one in his belly as soon as possible.

But it was difficult for gers to conceive; some took three or five years to get pregnant, while others never had children at all. Life for gers was even harder than it was for women.

The very next day, word spread through Dayangshu Village that Doctor Zhang’s household was looking for helpers. Granny Wang pitched in to round up people; anyone who wasn’t particularly lazy was recruited. They agreed on twenty copper coins a day, and children were welcome too, as long as they were at least ten years old.

Dayangshu Village was abuzz. “What? Doctor Zhang’s family is looking for workers?” 

“What kind of work requires so many people all at once?”

“How many copper coins a day?”

With questions flying in from all sides, Granny Wang was surrounded and could barely get a word in. “All right, all right, everyone, stop arguing and listen to me!”

Zhou Da and Doctor Zhang had gone out to the countryside to gather medicinal herbs. Mugwort and peppermint certainly wouldn’t be enough; they also needed to buy large quantities of realgar, beeswax, and patchouli oil. Zhou Da first went to town to sell a bundle of meat. After returning, the mule cart was idle, so he took Doctor Zhang along to buy a considerable amount of herbs.

Once Zhou Da got the hang of where to source the herbs, he would come to buy them on his own from then on.

Fortunately, the Xu family had provided ample silver, so they didn’t have to worry about running short of funds for purchasing herbs and other supplies.

When the day of the project arrived, Shen Linchuan specifically took a leave of absence from the academy to help. When he and Zhou Ning arrived, the Zhang family’s courtyard was packed with people, all shouting back and forth—it was as noisy as a vegetable market.

Zhou Xiaonan stood to the side, looking a bit intimidated. If someone told him to manage all these people, could he really handle it?

There were hundreds of people there—almost every household had come, except for those too weak to work and the children. You can imagine how noisy it was; even Zhou Er’s family of three had come.

“Quiet! Quiet!”

Shen Linchuan frowned at the commotion. Seeing that he was in charge, Hu Caiyun shouted, “This is the Zhang family’s business! What right do you have to speak up, Shen Linchuan?”

“If you don’t want to do it, just leave. The Zhang family hired me to oversee things—do you have a problem with that?”

“Fine, I’ll leave! If I’d known your family was here too, I wouldn’t have wanted this job in the first place!”

Hu Caiyun snorted and walked off, followed by Zhou Er, who strolled away with his hands behind his back. Hu Caiyun glanced back and saw that her daughter hadn’t followed, so she called out,

“Fangjie, come on, let’s go home!”

“I’m not going back. I still need to earn some pocket money.”

Seeing her daughter defying her, Hu Caiyun was so furious she grabbed her by the arm. “Come on! He’s just a son-in-law who married into the family. First, he climbed all over Old Zhou, and now he thinks he can climb all over Dayangshu Village!”

By saying this, Hu Caiyun was clearly trying to put Shen Linchuan on the spot. Zhou Ning stepped forward and glared at her. “What are you talking about!”

Shen Linchuan didn’t intervene. “If any of you look down on me, Shen Linchuan, and don’t want to do this work, you can leave right now. But if you’re willing to do it, follow the arrangements. Without rules, there can be no order.”

“That’s right, that’s right. There’s gotta be some order to this work, isn’t there?”

The crowd below chimed in in agreement. Country folk had no trade to make a living besides farming; now that there was a job paying twenty copper coins a day without having to leave home, who wouldn’t want to do it!

Zhou Fang refused to leave under any circumstances. Her father had spent all his money on her older brother Zhou Youcheng’s education; he was so stingy that he wouldn’t even let her spend a single copper coin on herself. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to earn her own copper coins?

Shen Linchuan and Doctor Zhang set about organizing the work together. They divided the tasks by gender—men, women and gers, and children—and since the Zhang family’s courtyard wasn’t very large, they kept a few people there to work, while the rest headed to the open field at the village entrance.

Zhou Xiaonan was in charge. Today, he had made a special effort to wear the new short tunic he’d just sewn, though he didn’t know how to make shoes, so he wore a pair of newly woven straw sandals. Blushing, he quietly organized the crowd: “Everyone, everyone, let’s all go to the clearing at the village entrance.”

“Oh, Nan-ger, you’re in charge too?”

One of the older women, seeing that it was Zhou Xiaonan—just a young ger—who was in charge, felt a bit resentful and spoke up. Zhou Xiaonan blushed and stammered,

“I—I am in charge.”

Zhou Ning walked over and stood behind Zhou Xiaonan. “Nan-ger is in charge of personnel. If you don’t listen to him, you’re free to leave. Whatever he says goes. There are no ‘aunties’ or ‘elders’ here—when it comes to work, everyone must follow the foreman’s orders.”

Zhou Xiaonan let out a quiet sigh of relief. Though his face was still flushed, he straightened his back. “Shen Linchuan has already made all the arrangements. I’ll show you what to do in a moment.”

Zhou Xiaonan then whispered to Zhou Ning behind him, “Ning-ger, you’re really something. When you were speaking just now, you sounded just like Shen Linchuan.”

Shen Linchuan was watching from the side. Seeing his Fulang like this, a smile flickered in his eyes. Impressive.

Zhou Xiaonan led the group away, leaving a few young men behind in the courtyard. Everyone sprang into action—some kneading mugwort fluff, others grinding charcoal…

Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning took out blank ledgers to record everyone’s names one by one. Starting tomorrow, they would take attendance, and anyone who came late or left early would have their pay docked to prevent a culture of laziness from taking hold.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Liu Touwu. You know me, Ning-ger.”

“Everyone, please speak clearly. If we record the wrong name, it’ll affect your copper coin payout later,” Shen Linchuan said.

At those words, the crowd grew serious. As soon as they saw Zhou Ning walking toward them with the register, they hurriedly stated their names—a far more efficient process than the previous chatter.

“Just write ‘Er Ya’s mother’ for me.” 

“I’m Da Heizi’s Fulang.”

Zhou Ning frowned slightly. “That’s too long to write. Just write your own name, Fulang.” The middle-aged Fulang in front of him lowered his head, trying to remember. “What was my name again?”

The people around him burst into laughter. “Da Heizi’s Fulang, you don’t even know your own name anymore?”

“Oh, oh, oh, I remember now. My name is Sun Shuiqing. Oh my, after being called ‘Heizi’s Fulang’ for twenty years, I’d completely forgotten my own name.”

Zhou Ning smiled as she wrote Fulang’s name in the register. “Your name is quite nice.”

Hearing Zhou Ning compliment his name, Fulang laughed. “Oh my, my father said they actually hired a literate scholar to name me back then. But just ask me out of the blue like that, and I almost couldn’t remember.”

Many of the women and gers listed in the register were simply recorded as “so-and-so’s wife” or “so-and-so’s Fulang.” Hearing this, Zhou Ning felt a bit uneasy. It was clearly her own name—why couldn’t she even remember it?

“Everyone, please just write your first names. There aren’t enough characters to fit everything.”

After a busy morning, everyone finally got down to business: those who needed to register their names did so, and the rest got to work. The tasks weren’t difficult—a quick demonstration was all it took to learn. Zhang Xiaoyi and Zhou Xiaonan weaved through the crowd, teaching people as they went. By the end of the morning, both of their voices were hoarse, but they never stopped smiling.

When it was time to go home for lunch, they announced the start time for the next shift—not so early, since the sun would be too strong and it would be too hot.

Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning had also gone home; things should be better in the afternoon. The two of them had been working up a sweat all morning as well.

The weather did indeed improve in the afternoon. Everyone went about their own tasks, while Zhou Xiaonan moved around offering guidance here and there, making sure everything looked as good as possible. He even enlisted four young women and Fulang to weigh the mosquito coil clay, ensuring each tray was roughly the same weight.

Shen Linchuan didn’t think it was a big deal; making mosquito coils wasn’t difficult to begin with, though managing so many people was a bit of a challenge. Zhou Xiaonan should be able to handle them just fine.

Zhang Xiaoyi had also boiled a pot of refreshing mung bean drink. Anyone who was thirsty could help themselves. Taking a short break was fine, but slacking off was out of the question—Zhou Xiaonan was constantly circling around, keeping a close eye on everyone. Gradually, she began to feel more confident.

After a while, Zhao Dazhu arrived with a batch of porcelain boxes on his oxcart. As soon as he reached the village entrance, he saw everyone busy at work. “Wow, you’re really running a big operation here.”

The cooling ointment was being made in the Zhang family’s courtyard, and Shen Linchuan led the men to unload the porcelain boxes there.

“Linchuan, I can’t possibly write all the red paper strips for these porcelain boxes myself; I’ll have to hire a calligrapher,” said Doctor Zhang. “Uncle Zhang, that’s no problem. I’ll just ask my classmates at school to help write them. It’ll give them a chance to earn some silver.”

“That’s a good idea.”

They’d placed an order for over ten thousand porcelain boxes—there was no way the two of them could write them all by themselves.

Doctor Zhang hadn’t expected that something as small as mosquito coils and cooling ointment could suddenly become such a big business. Not only had he not anticipated it, but none of the others had either—except for Shen Linchuan.

Ning-ger and the others were handling the business back home, and everything was already taken care of. Shen Linchuan went back to school, but he brought quite a bit of red paper with him. “Brother He, I’ve taken on a calligraphy job. Do you want to join me? We’ll get five copper coins for every sheet we fill.”

Shen Linchuan pulled out the red paper. Each sheet could hold about forty small notes, so he could easily earn twenty or thirty copper coins a day. Writing a few in his spare time wouldn’t interfere with his studies and would even bring in some extra cash.