He gave his own husband a hard shove and pushed him to the ground. “If you go out gossiping about others again, I won’t be so polite!”

At first, Wang Da still held a grudge against Wei Qingshan, but it turned out the problem lay with his own wife. Missing out on this opportunity for nothing—how could he not be angry?

Lin Yu spent the whole day embroidering at home. He stood up to stretch a bit and, seeing that the sun was already slanting toward the west, moved his embroidery frame into the main hall.

After having dinner, he shut the doors early and went to rest. He let Baixue sleep in the main hall and Dahei lie at the doorway, so that if anything happened, he could know right away.

Lin Yu had gotten used to sleeping next to Wei Qingshan at night. With Wei Qingshan not back today, he couldn’t quite fall asleep. It was already the end of the second lunar month, and though the weather had warmed, he still felt a bit cold. He had to warm the bed for quite a while before it became cozy. If Wei Qingshan were here, the bed would have been warm long ago.

With two hunting dogs guarding the house, Lin Yu wasn’t afraid. He scooted over to the side where Wei Qingshan usually slept before finally drifting off.

During the day, Lin Yu embroidered, and at night, he let the two hunting dogs guard the door. He talked often with He Dongdong, but still, he missed Wei Qingshan a little when he wasn’t home.

He counted the days waiting for Wei Qingshan’s return—only four days left until he would be back.

That day, Lin Yu had also eaten dinner and gone to rest early. Though he lay down, he wasn’t yet sleepy. Night had fallen a while ago, and the moonlight shone through the cracks of the window, casting light into the room.

Just as Lin Yu was about to fall asleep, he heard the sound of a dog barking. He was startled awake—it was Dahei’s bark. It wasn’t an aggressive bark, and the sound wasn’t very loud.

Lin Yu quickly sat up, afraid that some evildoer had broken into the yard.

“Yu-ger, are you already asleep?”

Hearing Wei Qingshan’s voice, Lin Yu hurriedly put on his shoes and lit the lamp. “Qingshan! You’re back!”

“Mm, it’s me. Open the door.”

Lin Yu quickly lit the oil lamp, then flusteredly opened the door. Seeing his little husband’s somewhat disheveled clothes, Wei Qingshan let out a light chuckle. “What’s the rush? Don’t catch a chill.”

Wei Qingshan was covered in mud and carried two strings of fish in his hands—one string he had caught while digging by the river, and the other was from Shunzi, who had asked him to bring them back.

“Lie down and rest. I’ll just heat some water and wash myself.”

“I’m not sleepy. I’ll go heat the water for you!”

Wei Qingshan was back, and Lin Yu was overjoyed. Seeing how muddy Wei Qingshan was, he could tell the work was tough. Working day after day in the river ditch, he probably couldn’t sleep or eat well. Lin Yu felt deeply distressed and hurried to boil some water.

Lin Yu boiled a big pot of water, and Wei Qingshan came over to carry it. “I’ll just rinse off in the yard. Washing in the basin won’t get me clean.”

“Alright.”

“Just heat up any food. One of the strings of fish is for Shunzi’s house—he asked me to bring it over.”

“Mm, I’ll take it to Lian-ger tomorrow.”

Lin Yu didn’t make anything too troublesome. He didn’t want to make Wei Qingshan wait too long—it was so late already. He just needed a hot meal to rest quickly. So Lin Yu stir-fried a plate of eggs, mixed some wild vegetables, made a pot of noodle soup, and heated four steamed buns for Wei Qingshan.

By the time he finished, Wei Qingshan had already changed into clean clothes. Lin Yu brought the food over. “Why did you suddenly come back?”

“I wasn’t at ease with you home alone, so I came back to check on you. Don’t worry—I didn’t come back alone. The He brothers came back, too. We’ll head to town together tomorrow.”

“Hurry up and eat.”

The food by the river was terrible—coarse grain buns every meal, boiled wild vegetables, and even then, each person only got one or two buns. Wei Qingshan had a big appetite and was never full. He relied entirely on the few flatbreads Lin Yu made for him.

Now, eating stir-fried eggs and sipping warm noodle soup, Wei Qingshan felt that this was what good days were all about.

“Go to sleep. It’s late.”

Seeing how quickly Wei Qingshan ate, Lin Yu knew the food by the river couldn’t be any good. “It’s okay, I’m not sleepy. I’ll go make you a few flatbreads so you can take them with you tomorrow.”

“That’s too much trouble. I’ll just take some steamed buns.”

“No way.”

Lin Yu insisted on going to the kitchen to make scallion oil flatbreads and even secretly boiled four eggs, which he tucked into a cloth bag.

After eating, Wei Qingshan quickly went to rest. He still had to get up early the next morning to head to town.

Holding Lin Yu, Wei Qingshan closed his eyes and fell asleep. Not long after the rooster crowed, he got up again. Wei Qingshan got dressed. “No need to get up. Don’t bother with breakfast—I’ll just eat some flatbread on the way.”

“Then take some hot water with you.”

“Got it.”

Lin Yu put on a robe and walked Wei Qingshan to the door. “Only a few more days—don’t keep coming back, it’s too tiring.”

“Mm, take care of yourself.”

Wei Qingshan held up a torch and went out.

After dawn, Lin Yu got up as well. Wei Qingshan’s clothes were left in the courtyard, covered in mud, so he soaked them in water, planning to scrub them clean later.

After eating, he continued with his embroidery and didn’t realize until it was almost mealtime that he had forgotten to deliver the fish to Lian-ger. He quickly put down his work, picked up the fish, and hurried off to Lian-ger’s house.

“Lian-ger, are you home?”

“Yes, I’m here.” Lian-ger was in the courtyard washing clothes. When he saw Lin Yu coming over, he hurried to welcome him into the courtyard. His family’s Shunzi was only able to go out and work thanks to Wei Qingshan’s help.

Lin Yu handed over the string of fish in his hand. Lian-ger was surprised for a moment and repeatedly waved it off. “Yu-ger, what’s the meaning of this?”

“Lian-ger, you’ve misunderstood. This was from Brother Shunzi. He asked Qingshan yesterday to bring it back. Qingshan also caught a string himself.”

Only then did Lian-ger happily accept it. His family hadn’t had meat in a long time.

Hearing the commotion, Shunzi’s mother came out from inside the house. Her movements were a bit unsteady, but she still seemed in good spirits. “Is this Yu-ger?”

“Yes. Good day, Auntie.”

“Did Qingshan come back yesterday?”

“Yes, he came back in the middle of the night and left again before dawn.”

When Lian-ger walked Lin Yu to the door, he gave him a handful of peanuts. “Thanks.”

“It was just a short errand. Lian-ger, go ahead and finish your chores.”

Lian-ger cleaned and prepared the fish by noon. Unfortunately, his family’s Shunzi wasn’t home to eat it, and the fish wouldn’t keep long, so he made fish soup and shared it with his mother-in-law. At least the household finally got to enjoy some meat.

This time, Shunzi earned over three hundred coins from digging the river—enough to support the family for a while.

Lin Yu also made fish soup after returning home. He soaked some rice and ate a bowl, then sat down again in front of his embroidery frame to get back to work.

Lin Yu counted the days. Today, Wei Qingshan should be coming back. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He thought of making something nice to eat for Wei Qingshan, since working out by the river was hard.

“Yu-ger~” He Dongdong came bouncing over, holding a red date cake his mother had made in his hand. “Here, my mother told me to bring this for you.”

Lin Yu washed his hands and took it. Auntie He’s red date steamed cake was very delicious, and the date flavor was especially rich.

“Oh, right, someone from town just brought a message.”

Lin Yu perked up immediately. “How’s it going over there? Are they coming back later than planned?”

“No, they said they can’t return until tomorrow. They didn’t say exactly why.”

“I see.” Lin Yu was a little disappointed. So they wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.

“Don’t know what held them up, but if they start heading home tomorrow, they should be back by around noon.”

“That makes sense. Do the others already know?”

Since they weren’t back when they should have been, Lin Yu was worried the other families would be anxious too.

“They did. My mother already went around and let them know.”

“That’s good.” Lin Yu took small bites of the date cake. He had originally planned to go to Chun-ger’s in the afternoon to buy a piece of tofu. Well, he’d just wait and go tomorrow instead.

The next day, Lin Yu arranged to go to the back hills with He Dongdong to see if there were any wild vegetables they could pick, so that when the family came home, he could cook something nice.

By now, the wild grass was thriving, and edible wild vegetables had sprouted up. Lin Yu picked a lot of bamboo shoots and also dug up some tender goosefoot plants, which could be chopped and fed to the chickens.

He Dongdong also picked a good amount of wild vegetables. He didn’t pay much attention to the kinds—anything edible went into his basket: shepherd’s purse, plantain, sow thistle, broomweed…

His family was large, and if he picked too carefully, he wouldn’t finish anytime soon. Once home, his mother or sister-in-law could sort them out.

“Yu-ger, come quick! Look—there’s some ground moss here!”

Lin Yu quickly picked up his basket and went over. Beneath the damp tree roots were some patches of ground moss, barely noticeable if one didn’t look carefully. This was a good find. The two of them immediately squatted down to gather it.

There wasn’t much in that spot, so they moved on to search elsewhere. After a long effort, they finally picked half a basket. He Dongdong rubbed his waist and stood up. “No more, no more—my back’s about to break.”

Lin Yu saw that it was about enough, too, so he stopped picking. It was enough to eat. Just in time—Wei Qingshan was coming back today, so they’d have ground moss for dinner.

The two of them carried their baskets down the hill. After returning, they also stopped by Chun-ger’s to buy two pieces of tofu. Chun-ger enthusiastically picked out the best two pieces for them.

Lin Yu wanted to make some meat for Wei Qingshan, but there was none for sale in their village—he’d have to go to the neighboring village to buy some. He figured maybe Wei Qingshan would bring some back when he returned.

As soon as Lin Yu got home, he started washing the ground moss. He stir-fried it with eggs and mixed it to make fillings for buns. They were almost out of eggs at home—the chicks they were raising hadn’t grown yet. Once the eggs were gone, they were gone. He didn’t plan on buying more. He’d wait until their own hens laid again.

Lin Yu was tending the fire, steaming buns, when barking came from the doorway. He peeked out and, as expected, Wei Qingshan had returned. He quickly ran over and took the basket off Wei Qingshan’s back. “You’re back.”

“Mm.” Wei Qingshan, seeing his little husband, wanted to give him a rub or two, but his hands were still covered in mud.

“The buns are almost ready. I’ll heat up some water for your bath right away. I’ve laid out some water in the courtyard—you can rinse your legs first.”

“Alright.”

His little husband was so thoughtful, Wei Qingshan felt a warm glow in his heart. He rolled up his pants—his legs were covered in mud spots. The river-digging they’d done was to clear out an old river channel. Taking advantage of the dry season, they removed the silt to prevent the river from flooding the farmland during the summer rainy season. Because of that, everyone was caked in mud from the job.

After Wei Qingshan rinsed off, he looked much cleaner. Lin Yu lifted the lid off the steamed buns and ladled out some of the hot water to let Wei Qingshan wash with it.

“Yu-ger, there are two eels in the bamboo basket—I already cleaned them, you can cook them for lunch. There’s also a piece of meat in the backpack, don’t forget to take that too.”

“Alright.”

Lin Yu had just been worrying about not having any meat dishes. He had bought tofu, so now he could make eel stew with tofu, and stir-fry some meat too.

Wei Qingshan cleaned himself thoroughly in the house, even washing his hair. His little husband liked cleanliness, so he couldn’t let himself be dirty—what if his little husband started disliking him?

The sun was shining brightly today, so the two of them sat outside in the sunlight to eat. Wei Qingshan could also dry his hair in the sun. On the table, Lin Yu had prepared stir-fried wild garlic shoots with meat, eel tofu soup, cold-dressed goji shoots, and egg and ground moss stuffed buns. This table of food was better than what most people had during the New Year.

Wei Qingshan grabbed a bun the size of a fist and bit into it. Lin Yu, distressed over how hard he had worked, kept putting more meat in his bowl. “Eat more.”

“I can do it myself. This eel soup is nourishing—you should drink a couple more bowls.”

“Mm.” Lin Yu served himself a bowl and drank it. Springtime eel soup was delicious. Taking a bite of the ground moss bun, too, he felt his whole body relax.

“Were the eels bought?”

“No, we dug them up while clearing the river. We were supposed to come back last night, but we dug up some softshell turtles and eels, so we went to the market early this morning to sell them.”

Lin Yu was pleasantly surprised when he heard that. “There were even things like that in there!”

Lin Yu had never dug a river before and hadn’t seen it done either. He thought it was just digging in the ground.

“Yeah, we were clearing out the riverbed, that’s how we found those. We got quite a bit.”

In the first couple of days, they only dug up some small fish and shrimp. But in the later days, they found softshell turtles and eels. They first offered some to the overseer, and the rest they tossed into a big sack.

There were ten of them, and in a single day, they could dig up quite a bit. No one felt tired anymore—they got more and more motivated. The overseer also eased up and didn’t manage them so strictly, as long as the work got done properly.

Everyone who went along had returned home. Shunzi was exhausted. Because he was physically weak, he feared others would think he couldn’t handle the work, so he didn’t dare slack off at all. When he returned, he specifically bought a piece of meat. Each person got two eels, and the rest was sold for silver, which they divided among themselves.

Lian-ger had been waiting for his husband to return since early on. Because Shunzi was coming back today, he had even steamed white flour buns especially.

When Shunzi came back, he handed the meat and the eels to Lian-ger. “Cook them—we’re going to have a good meal today.”

“Why’d you buy meat? It’s so expensive.”

Shunzi was completely worn out. As soon as he sat down, he drank a bowl of water. “Just start cooking. I’ll rest for a bit and then tell you more.”

Even though Lian-ger was happy that they had meat, their family was poor. It had taken real effort to earn this money, so he felt heartache about spending it. Normally, they were so tight on money that they couldn’t even bring themselves to buy a piece of tofu. Life was very frugal.

It was a rare occasion for the smell of meat to waft from Shunzi’s home. Lian-ger stewed an eel and stir-fried some wild vegetables with meat. Even though he was thrifty, Shunzi had definitely worked himself to exhaustion this time—letting him eat more meat would do him good.

At the dinner table, Shunzi told Lian-ger about the river digging. Lian-ger was pleasantly surprised—he hadn’t expected there would be extra income.

Shunzi devoured the white flour buns in big bites. The food at the river site had been awful. Now that they had meat at home, everyone had smiles on their faces.

“Exactly. We really have to thank Qingshan this time.” Shunzi’s cheeks bulged as he ate. “Lian-ger, guess how much money I earned this time?”

“Four hundred wen?”

“Over five hundred wen! And that’s after buying the meat!”

“That much?!”

“Yeah! Qingshan led us and sold the softshell turtles and eels to the restaurant. We got a good bit of silver for them. We split the money among ourselves.”

Shunzi’s mother kept saying that Qingshan was a good man.

“Isn’t he? This time, we really have to thank Qingshan for helping.”

The few people who had gone to dig the river with him hadn’t expected such a surprise. They had already been quite happy just to earn wages by digging the river. Who would’ve thought they’d bring back extra money? Every household that had gone together was full of joy.

After eating, Lin Yu urged Wei Qingshan to quickly go inside and sleep. Wei Qingshan insisted on pulling his little husband along to sleep with him, so Lin Yu had no choice but to close the door and accompany him to sleep for a while.

At night, when he slept with Wei Qingshan lying beside him, Lin Yu felt the bedding was much cozier, and he slept more soundly. It was just that Baixue had gotten used to sleeping in the main room these past few days, and now clawed at the door to come in, but Wei Qingshan grabbed him by the ear and tossed him into the back courtyard.

Once the group that had gone to dig the river returned, the village became lively again. Groups of three to five people gathered at the entrance to gossip, “Did they really earn that much? Wasn’t it fifty wen a day?”

“That’s what they said. In the last few days of digging, they actually dug up soft-shelled turtles and eels! Luckily, Qingshan led them to sell them—who would’ve thought those meatless soft-shelled turtles could actually fetch silver!”

“Isn’t that right? Rich people don’t call those things ‘wangba’, they call them… what was it… jia… jiayu, right, they call them jiayu soft-shelled turtles.”

“Ah, even a ‘wangba’ can sell for silver!”

“Exactly! At first, I didn’t believe it either. We were already tired from the work, and then we dug up those ‘wangba’. I was afraid they’d bite me, and angrily tossed it aside.” Wang Er laughed heartily, “When Qingshan said they could be sold, we still didn’t believe him. But we really ended up selling them.”

“Isn’t that so! If Qingshan hadn’t said so, who would’ve known that anyone eats that kind of thing?”

No one in the village ate those things. No meat, no oil, didn’t fill the belly—who would eat that? Who knew it could still sell for silver!

“Why do you guys get all the good luck? If I had known earlier, I would’ve gone and signed up with Qingshan myself!”

“Well, Qingshan’s just lucky. He happened to be in town when they were recruiting workers, and he managed to grab one of the ten spots.”

Those who hadn’t made it were drooling with envy, slapping their thighs in regret. Why hadn’t this good fortune come their way?

The women and husbands doing laundry by the river naturally heard all this. Everyone knew which households had gone to dig the river, but no one expected they’d come back having earned extra money. With the wages added in, it wasn’t a small amount—over five hundred wen, nearly half a tael of silver. Who wouldn’t be jealous?

Wang Fulang was also by the river washing clothes. Listening to the chatter made him very uncomfortable. That silver should’ve included his family, too. Why hadn’t Wang Da gone? Look how happy Wang Er was—it was driving him crazy!

Qian Laotai, nearby, stirred the pot, “Wang Fulang, I heard your Wang Da went along that day too. How come he didn’t get any?”

“My Wang Da just went to town to buy some things. He didn’t go dig the river.”

Xia Hehua snorted, “What’s there to brag about? They just earned a few extra copper coins. They’re so close to that Wei Qingshan and they’re not even afraid of bad luck.”

A woman nearby overheard and wasn’t pleased—her husband had also gone to town to dig the river. Hearing Xia Hehua’s words, she immediately shot back, “That Wei Qingshan is Wei Er’s biological older brother, Hehua. Why didn’t your Wei Er go?”

“My Wei Er doesn’t care to go. Digging rivers is dirty and tiring—who’d want to go?”

The woman pursed her lips, clearly thinking Hehua was just bitter that others were doing better than her family.

“Qingshan can go into the mountains to hunt, and Yu-ger knows embroidery. With the two of them together, how could life not get better?”

“Exactly. I think the two of them will buy land and build a house sooner or later.”

Wei Qingshan rested at home for two days. During the day, Lin Yu embroidered while Wei Qingshan wove grass in the courtyard, planning to reinforce the thatched roof to prevent leaks during the rainy summer season.

Today, when Lin Yu was embroidering, his mind wandered. Dong-ger’s wedding robe was almost finished, and after that, he’d need to start on the quilt cover. The weather was gloomy—it looked like it might rain.

Lin Yu let out an “ah”—he had accidentally pricked his finger with the embroidery needle. Wei Qingshan looked over, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, just pricked my finger.”

Wei Qingshan stood up and made him a bowl of sugar water. “Take a break. Dong-ger’s wedding is still a while away.”

Lin Yu gave a soft “mm.” “Qing… Qingshan, in a couple of days, it’ll be the Qingming Festival.”

“Mm. I’ll buy incense, candles, and yellow ritual paper tomorrow. We’ve been married this long, and we still haven’t offered incense to Mother.”

Lin Yu’s nose tingled, and he felt like crying. He softly gave another “mm.”

Wei Qingshan pulled him to sit down and rest. “Take a break. You do embroidery every day—it hurts your eyes. Tomorrow, we’ll go together to Dali Village. It’s close by.”

Lin Yu nodded. The closer it got to Qingming, the more unsettled he felt. Ever since he left home, he had rarely offered incense to his mother. Cai Chunhua wouldn’t allow him to go—if he went, there’d be no one to cook at home.

When Lin Yu went, he brought along the embroidered silk handkerchiefs he had made. Last time, he had asked Wei Qingshan to bring four to the town market. He had made quite a few back then—he still had several left, so he brought them to the market to see if anyone wanted them.

Wei Qingshan carried the bamboo basket on his back, while Lin Yu held a basket in his hand. When they left the village, many people greeted them with smiling faces. A woman even stuffed some peanuts into Lin Yu’s hand, saying, “Take these and eat.”

Lin Yu thanked her, and when they had walked a distance, Wei Qingshan said that was the village chief’s daughter-in-law.

Lin Yu was still puzzled. “Why was she so warm to me?”

“Maybe because we went together to dig the river last time.”

Only then did Lin Yu understand. So that was the reason.

The two of them walked for half an hour and arrived at Dali Village. The market there only opened on days ending in two and eight. It was closer than going to town for shopping.

They first bought incense, candles, and ritual paper at the market. Then Lin Yu carried his basket and began selling his embroidered handkerchiefs—fifteen wen per piece.

Having previously sold water celery and fish at the town market, Lin Yu was much bolder this time. When he saw women or husbands looking over at his handkerchiefs, he would actively open them to show. “Fifteen wen each—please take a look.”

“Fifteen wen? That’s too expensive. I could buy two for that price.”

“These are different. Look at the patterns I’ve embroidered—bigger than usual, and the stitching is dense.”

Lin Yu’s embroidered handkerchiefs had very pretty designs. Quite a few people came over to look. They asked about the price, but most said he was charging too much. Normal handkerchiefs could be bought for seven or eight wen, but those were coarsely embroidered and poorly stitched.

By midday, Lin Yu had only sold one—bought by a young woman with a silver hairpin, who seemed well off. She didn’t mind the price, picked one she liked, and took it.

Wei Qingshan comforted him from the side. “The people who come to this market are all from the nearby villages. If you sell these in town, they’ll go much quicker.”

Lin Yu nodded. People in the countryside were poor—few would be willing to spend fifteen copper coins on a handkerchief. There were more wealthy people in town, and it might sell much better there.