Chapter Bonanza (5/10)

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Yan Xiaoyu’s words truly took Yan Yongfang by surprise. Her expression grew distant as she suddenly recalled her life from three years ago. 

Back then, she had just come of age, and Yan Yonghe hadn’t yet passed the examination to become a scholar, but his expenses for food, clothing, and socializing at the county school were quite high. The Yan family appeared prosperous on the surface, but in reality, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence.

Later, Yan Yonghe became acquainted with the son of a local grain merchant and hatched a plan to marry his younger sister off to that merchant as a concubine.

That grain merchant was even older than Yan Xingsheng, nearly as old as Master Yan himself, and already had several concubines in his household. For Yan Yonghe to marry his sister off to him was tantamount to pushing her into a pit of fire. 

Yet neither Yan Xingsheng nor Master Yan saw anything wrong with this. In their eyes, Yan Yongfang marrying into a wealthy family meant she would never have to worry about money in the future and could even support her birth family—a win-win situation.

At the prime of her youth, Yan Yongfang was beautiful and proud; how could she possibly agree to become the concubine of a man old enough to be her grandfather?

Upon learning this, she stormed to confront her eldest brother, only to be berated by Yan Xingsheng. Yan Yonghe simply dismissed her as making a fuss and refused to even acknowledge her.

Filled with both anger and despair, Yan Yongfang later wept bitterly before Tao Cuiqing and made a solemn vow: if the Yan family insisted on marrying her off to that grain merchant, she would throw herself to her death in front of Yan Yonghe on the day of the wedding.

Only then was Tao Cuiqing compelled to intervene, putting an end to the plans of Yan Yonghe and his father, Yan Xingsheng.

Didn’t she know full well that the Yan family was exploiting her? She had no choice.

The Qian family married her into the family precisely because she had a brother who was a scholar; they had placed their bets on Yan Yonghe. Without him, she would be of little value to the Qian family.

As for Yan Xiaoyu, now that he understood her situation so clearly and even spoke up to warn her—compared to his former dazed and confused demeanor—he was like a completely different person.

If it hadn’t been for that one incident in his childhood, she might have thought this boy had been possessed by some spirit.

Although Yan Xiaoyu’s reaction wasn’t what she’d expected, Yan Yongfang still refused to give up.

Now that she was a daughter-in-law of the Qian family, her fortunes were inextricably linked to theirs—they rose and fell together. If she could help the Qians secure this recipe and propel the family to greater heights, then even if Yan Yonghe failed to pass the provincial examination, she would still be able to establish herself firmly within the Qian household.

Yan Yongfang’s mind was racing with conflicting thoughts. Just as she was about to try persuading him again, the corner of her eye caught a familiar figure.

The young man had sharp, arched eyebrows and starry eyes; he was well-built with a cheerful countenance. Even in his simple attire, he did not look down on his luck—just as he had in the past.

As he strode toward her, it seemed as though he were coming straight for her.

Yan Yongfang was lost in thought, her expression dazed; she unconsciously took a step backward. Yan Shaocheng merely gave a slight nod before passing her by and walking over to Yan Xiaoyue and her younger brother.

Yan Yongfang clenched the handkerchief in her hand into a tight ball, watching helplessly as Yan Shaocheng took the item from Yan Xiaoyue’s hands and led the siblings toward the oxcart at the crossroads.

Yan Xiaoyue, perhaps startled by her, walked distractedly and nearly collided with someone. Yan Shaocheng supported the load on his shoulder with his left hand, while his right hand casually rested on her shoulder, guiding her to avoid the passersby.

Yan Yongfang snapped out of her daze, feeling utterly disoriented.

She recalled an incident from the previous year, when Yan Shaocheng had returned from a business trip and was selling leftover sugar cakes in the village. Yan Yongfang and Yan Xiaoyue had gone to the riverbank with wooden basins to wash clothes and happened to run into him on the village path as he was packing malt sugar for the children.

Yan Xiaoyue stared at the malt sugar in the box, swallowing hard, and Yan Yongfang felt a pang of craving as well, so she took advantage of the moment when the children had scattered to go buy a piece of malt sugar herself.

Yan Shaocheng gave her two pieces, saying the malt sugar had softened a bit, so he was giving her one as a gift.

The malt sugar hadn’t softened.

Whenever Yan Yongfang thought back to that day, she could recall the taste of those two pieces of sugar, and her heart would fill with sweetness.

Before she was betrothed to that grain merchant, she had mentioned Yan Shaocheng to Tao Cuiqing on several occasions.

“The eldest son of the Yan family has gone on another business trip.”

“The eldest son of the Yan family returned yesterday.”

“The colored cords the eldest son of the Yan family brought back from the provincial capital are exquisite—they’d make lovely bracelets…”

Tao Cuiqing was a woman of experience; how could she not understand the thoughts of a young girl? Before long, the Yan family sent a matchmaker to the Yan household to discuss a marriage proposal.

The proposal was for Yan Shaoxuan.

When Yan Yongfang thought of this, tears welled up in her eyes.

What had her life been?

She had always been the one cast aside.

From her parents and older brother to Yan Shaocheng, not a single person had ever chosen her.

Yan Yongfang wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, then turned around. With a blank expression and her head held high, she walked in the opposite direction from Yan Xiaoyu and the others.

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Yan Xiaoyu trudged along behind Yan Shaocheng and Yan Xiaoyue, carrying his burden with a grim expression. As he watched Yan Shaocheng’s hand withdraw from Yan Xiaoyue’s shoulder, he suddenly felt out of place.

Lately, Yan Shaocheng had been escorting them back and forth every day, growing increasingly close to Yan Xiaoyue—they had practically become friends.

Yan Shaocheng had originally been a candidate for her future husband, but now that the two were so close, it seemed she had no interest in him.

But Yan Shaocheng was really going too far. On their daily trips back and forth, he spoke only of things Yan Xiaoyue liked to hear, often forgetting that Yan Xiaoyu was even there.

Yan Xiaoyu felt deeply resentful.

There was also Yan Shaoxuan, but unfortunately, Yan Shaoxuan had fewer opportunities to travel with them lately.

Yan Shaoxuan had returned to the county school to study. According to his teacher, working in isolation was not the right path; one must listen to all sides and exchange ideas with others to learn from others’ strengths, make up for one’s weaknesses, and broaden one’s horizons.

Now he only came home once every two or three days.

The Yan brothers had agreed to help Yan Xiaoyu buy a donkey, but their timing was unfortunate—a wealthy family in the county was about to go on a long journey and had bought up all the donkeys at the livestock market.

The clerk at the livestock market said a new batch of donkeys would be available in a few days and told them to come back then to pick one out.

Yan Xiaoyu had been waiting for news; as soon as he climbed onto the ox cart, the topic came up again.

“Brother Yan, have the donkeys arrived at the livestock market?”

Yan Shaocheng nodded: “The clerk sent a message to Shaoxuan, telling us to come pick one out tomorrow. By this time tomorrow, you should be able to see your donkey.”

“Really?” Yan Xiaoyu was so excited he nearly jumped out of the cart. “Will going to the livestock market to buy a donkey tomorrow interfere with your business? With a two livestocks, you probably can’t lead them both back by yourself, can you? Why don’t I go with you tomorrow morning?”

Seeing Yan Shaocheng’s anxious expression, he added, “Shaoxuan has already asked his teacher for time off. Tomorrow afternoon, he’ll go with me to pick out the donkey and help you lead it back—it won’t interfere with my business.”

The Yan family’s ox had been selected by Yan Shaoxuan and Yan Shaocheng together; it was very sturdy. Yan Xiaoyu trusted them, so upon hearing this, he happily thanked Yan Shaocheng.

“Then I’ll leave it to you two!”

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The following afternoon, after the food at the stall had sold out, Yan Xiaoyu and his older sister waited eagerly.

When the Yan brothers arrived, Yan Xiaoyu rushed over before they even had a chance to approach.

At the entrance of the alley, beside the ox cart, Yan Shaoxuan was holding the reins of a light gray donkey. The donkey had a sturdy build and a gentle gaze; its round eyes made it look exceptionally endearing.

Yan Xiaoyu wasn’t used to donkeys, but after circling it a few times, he found himself growing fonder of it with every glance.

On the way back, with the donkey tied to the back of the cart, he kept turning to look at it.

“This donkey is really something!” Yan Xiaoyu said to Yan Shaoxuan, “How much did it cost? Once we get home, I’ll give you the silver.”

“The vendor asked for twelve taels. Big Brother haggled with him for a while, and we ended up buying it for ten taels of silver.”

A donkey like this usually costs over ten taels. Though this one isn’t very old, it’s already fully grown—it’s a fine donkey. Getting it for ten taels of silver is quite a bargain.

Yan Xiaoyu thanked them repeatedly, then pulled a wooden box and a hat from his cloth bag, giving them to Yan Shaoxuan and Yan Shaocheng, respectively.

Yan Shaocheng had been picking them up and dropping them off every day, and Yan Xiaoyu and Yan Xingmao were deeply grateful. Although they had already treated the Yan brothers to two meals, they still wanted to buy them something as a token of their appreciation.

However, the whole family was at a loss as to what to buy.

In the end, Yan Xiaoyue suggested that since the weather was getting cold, Yan Shaocheng might catch a chill driving the cart every morning, so they should buy him a hat.

Yan Xiaoyu went to a clothing shop and picked out a rabbit-fur hat for Yan Shaocheng.

As for Yan Shaoxuan’s gift, it was a set of writing brushes and ink, which Yan Xiaoyu had carefully selected from a bookstore that day, spending two taels of silver.

As soon as Yan Xiaoyu arrived, he had already stopped by the bookstore to look around, hoping to find a gift to thank Yan Shaoxuan for saving his life.

For a scholar like Yan Shaoxuan, there was nothing more appropriate than a set of writing implements. At the time, Yan Xingmao was still ill, and Yan Xiaoyu was penniless. He didn’t want to give his savior a gift that looked too shabby, so he wandered around the bookstore. The items he liked were too expensive, and the ones he could afford weren’t to his taste. In the end, he had no choice but to put his plan to buy a gift on hold.

Over the past half-month, their little stall had earned some silver, and Yan Shaocheng still gave him a share of a hundred or two wen each day. Yan Xingmao and his wife, along with Yan Xiaoyue, insisted they hadn’t contributed any labor, so the silver shared by Yan Shaocheng didn’t go into the communal account—it all went to Yan Xiaoyu alone.

Yan Xiaoyu’s personal savings gradually grew, so he finally went back to the bookstore to pick out a gift, which he delivered along with Yan Shaocheng’s present.

The two Yan brothers had very different reactions upon receiving their gifts.

Yan Shaocheng felt the gift was too valuable and hesitated for a long time before accepting it.

Yan Shaoxuan, however, was overjoyed. He held the set of writing brushes and ink in his hands, examining them repeatedly. Yan Xiaoyu’s gaze left Yan Shaocheng feeling somewhat perplexed.

Could it be that Brother Yu was the one who was fancied by his younger brother, rather than the other way around? Why did he feel that Shaoxuan’s gaze wasn’t entirely innocent?

As for Brother Yu, he wore an expression of utmost integrity, his eyes fixed solely on that donkey.