Thanks to redflawedglass for the kofis. Enjoy the bonus chapter!

Seeing that today was the same again, Cai Chunhua, who didn’t dare to do anything to Yao Jinling, vented her anger on Zhao Yueniang, “What kind of cooking is this? You can’t even scoop rice properly. Are you saying your own mother doesn’t deserve even a bite of white rice?”

Cai Chunhua looked at the plate of eggs and reached out her chopsticks. Yao Jinling swatted her hand away, “I bought this with my silver. If you want to eat, buy it yourself. Why would you be eating the things I bought with my own money?”

Yao Jinling had figured out what kind of person Cai Chunhua was just a couple of days after marrying into the family. Right after the marriage, Cai Chunhua had come asking her for the ten taels of silver dowry. Yao Jinling was not someone to be trifled with—she had spit right back at her on the spot. Want her silver? Dream on!

Zhao Jiazhu had never been humiliated like this before. “Jinling, we’re all one family here. How can even the food be divided like this?”

“If you can’t get used to it, then split the family up. You two live somewhere else, do whatever you like.” As Yao Jinling spoke, she picked up some eggs with her chopsticks. “Zhao Dazhi, eat up. It’s okay if you didn’t pass this year. But next year you have to pass, so I can become the wife of a Xiucai.”

Zhao Dazhi didn’t care whether his parents had anything to eat or not. He just continued eating the stir-fried eggs in his bowl.

It was like this every time, constant arguing. Zhao Yueniang lowered her head and silently ate, afraid someone would get upset and take it out on her.

When Lin Yu returned, Wei Qingshan hadn’t come back yet, so he boiled a pot of hot water and waited for him to return and slaughter the pig.

When Wei Qingshan came back and saw that Lin Yu seemed unhappy, he asked, “Was something wrong at Yueniang’s?”

“Mm, things have gotten even worse for her since the new sister-in-law married in.”

“Zhao Jiazhu and Cai Chunhua don’t do anything about it?”

“Cai Chunhua never liked Yueniang in the first place, just because she’s a girl. As for Zhao Jiazhu, don’t even mention him. All he thinks about is that son of his who wants to pass the Xiucai exam.”

Wei Qingshan rubbed his little husband’s head. “Don’t worry. Once we sell the meat in the next couple of days, we’ll go to the Zhao house and see what’s going on.”

“Alright.” Only then did Lin Yu perk up.

Wei Qingshan slaughtered the pig, and Lin Yu cleaned the pig offal, then cooked a whole pot of it.

The delicious smell wafted to the house next door. The bedridden Qian Laotai smelled it and called out twice, “Sang Niang, Sang Niang, what are they cooking outside? I want to eat meat.”

Sang Niang pushed open the door and came in. “I’m the only one doing everything at home. Where would I get the money to buy meat?”

Qian Laotai lay in bed yelling, “I want to eat meat! I want to eat meat!”

Sang Niang was getting annoyed by her yelling. “Alright, alright, I got it. I’ll go buy some for you in a bit.”

Sang Niang didn’t deliberately mistreat Qian Laotai. After all, Qing-ger was still young. She was afraid that if she treated Qian Laotai badly, it would set a bad example and affect Qing-ger’s upbringing. She still treated Qian Laotai as she ought to. One of the reasons she sent Qing-ger to learn embroidery from Lin Yu was that she hoped Qing-ger could learn more from him. Yu-ger had a good temperament and was kind-hearted. He even helped her when she was down and out. She hoped that her Qing-ger could grow up to be like Lin Yu.

She didn’t know what Yu-ger was cooking, but it smelled so good. She also brought out a bowl to buy some. “Yu-ger, you’re busy, huh? What are you cooking? It smells amazing.”

“Just cooking some pig offal. Qingshan will take it to town to sell when he goes.”

“Give me some too.” Sang Niang held the bowl and bought some to take home to try.

Lin Yu warmly explained the cooking method to her. “It’s good to eat while it’s hot. If it gets cold, just stir-fry it with scallions and chili.” Sang Niang thanked him, carried the bowl, and went home. The pig offal wasn’t expensive, and this portion already filled half a bowl. It smelled really good—she just didn’t know how it would taste.

Shi Tou also came over early today, carrying a bowl. Yesterday, Dong-ger didn’t get to eat it and cried in frustration. So today he rushed over early to buy some. He bought extra this time, enough to last two days, so Dong-ger could eat to his heart’s content.

That night, Lin Yu kept thinking about Zhao Yueniang’s current situation and couldn’t fall asleep. Wei Qingshan patted his back to comfort him. “It’s fine. That new wife is busy battling it out with Zhao Dazhi and Cai Chunhua—she won’t have time to bother Yueniang.”

“What should we do then?”

“Do you know Zhao Dazhi goes to brothels? I bet even Yao Jinling doesn’t know. Otherwise, how could she not be making a fuss?”

“What? Zhao Dazhi actually goes to brothels?”

“I ran into him a few times this year when I went to the mountain town to sell game. Zhao Jiazhu and Cai Chunhua probably don’t know either. Don’t worry. We’ll go take a look in a couple of days and see what’s going on.”

Only then did Lin Yu feel slightly more at ease. Yueniang’s days at the Zhao house probably weren’t much better than they used to be.

The next morning, Wei Qingshan ate breakfast and, just as the sky brightened, pushed the cart out again. Lin Yu fed the pigs and chickens. He would also gather a basket full of pig grass every morning. The pigs were being raised very well, and he had already separated them into pens. Even those hens were laying six or seven eggs a day.

The happiest time of Lin Yu’s day was in the afternoon when he went to collect eggs. He had long figured out which straw nests his chickens liked to lay in. Every time, he had to use the corner of his clothes to carry the eggs, and there were often too many for even both his hands to hold.

After cleaning the backyard, Lin Yu went to the vegetable garden to pick chili peppers. He plucked off all the bright red ones. He planned to take advantage of the good weather to start fermenting soybeans.

Yesterday, he had lifted the old cloth under the straw and seen that the beans he had wrapped were already green. Today was just right for fermenting the beans. Chopped chili peppers would be mixed in with the beans, then seasoned and sealed, and placed under the sun to dry. After ten days or half a month, his chili bean paste would be ready.

Wei Qingshan came back around midday. Lin Yu quickly helped unload the goods from the cart. “That sold fast today.”

“Quite a few people came for the pig offal, so the pork sold faster too,” Wei Qingshan said, handing the money pouch to Lin Yu. “That whole pot of pig offal sold out today.”

“It sold that fast?!”

“My little husband’s cooking skills are great. The things you make always taste better than others’.”

Lin Yu was also happy. Pig offal usually didn’t go for much money, but selling it like this could earn them a few hundred more copper coins. It was way faster than selling embroidered handkerchiefs.

“There’ll probably be quite a few people coming to ask about it again tomorrow.”

“You’ve worked all day. Go take a break.”

Lin Yu felt sorry for Wei Qingshan, who pushed that cart back and forth every day. Half a pig wasn’t light, and he still had to bring a cutting board, an iron pot, a fire bucket, and all that. Walking an hour’s road like that was no joke.

“I started fermenting the bean paste today. I was thinking that if we cook it with the pig offal, it might taste even better. This method will probably get copied in a few days. By then, our version will be tastier, and people will come buy ours.”

“My little husband is really smart.”

The next day, Wei Qingshan pushed the other half of the pig meat to town. He hadn’t even set up his stall when someone came over to ask, “Boss Wei, is there any cooked pig offal today?”

“Nope, just that batch. It all sold out yesterday. Once I slaughter another pig, we’ll have more.”

“Alright then, just cut me a strip of meat.”

As he sold meat that day, many people came one after another to ask if there was any pig offal left. When they heard there wasn’t, they could only leave disappointed. Normally, people didn’t care for pig offal, but somehow the ones made by this family had absolutely no stinky or gamey smell, and tasted incredibly good.

The key thing was that it was so delicious and still cheap. Half a bowl costs only six copper coins. For people who liked to drink, it was the perfect dish to pair with wine. That bit of pig offal could get them through a whole drinking session.

Not only did the ones who had already eaten it come asking, but even the elderly couple selling pancakes next door asked, “Boss Wei, no pig offal today?”

“Yeah, it sold out all in one day yesterday.”

The elderly couple looked a bit regretful. “If only you could sell pig offal every day.”

Whenever Wei Qingshan sold pig offal, his business was especially good. Quite a few people would buy pig offal and sandwich it in a pancake. The portion of pig offal was generous too. They could sell three or four pancakes per person.

Wei Qingshan also knew the reason his meat stall business was so good was because of that pot of boiled pig offal. He figured one pig would take him two days to sell. Sometimes, when sales were slow, he had to push the cart around nearby villages. Maybe he could buy more pig offal so Yu-ger could cook extra. That way, he could sell out earlier and go home sooner.

Today, the pork was sold a bit more slowly. He even pushed the cart to a different location. As he walked down the street, he saw a familiar face—Zhao Dazhi came walking right toward him. When he saw Wei Qingshan, Zhao Dazhi shrank his neck. After all, when Lin Yu had returned to visit that time, Zhao Dazhi had been beaten so badly that he had to lie in bed for more than half a month to recover. When he saw Wei Qingshan now pushing a cart around selling pork on the streets, Zhao Dazhi sneered a few times and said, “Yo, isn’t this my little brother-in-law who used to be a hunter? Why did you switch trades again and start selling pork now?”

“You itching for a beating again?”

Zhao Dazhi immediately ran off. He was really afraid that mud-legged Wei Qingshan would hit him. A poor pork seller— they were truly just getting worse and worse.

He had finally managed to get out today and didn’t want Wei Qingshan to ruin his mood. Ever since he married Yao Jinling, he’d been under strict control every single day, worse than how the school teachers managed him. He had to coax Yao Jinling for ages just to get one tael of silver to spend today.

Wei Qingshan gave a sneering laugh as he watched the direction Zhao Dazhi ran in. That direction clearly led to Hulu Street, the place where people went to indulge and seek pleasure. Zhao Dazhi was probably headed to that brothel called Changchun Tower again.

Wei Qingshan just wanted to sell his pork quickly and go home—his little husband was still waiting for him.

Sure enough, when he got home, his little husband had already prepared hot food and was waiting for his return. The moment he saw him, his eyes sparkled.

Now that he had become a butcher, the one thing they didn’t lack at home was meat. They could eat meat at every meal. Though the two of them were reluctant to spend much silver, their life in the village wasn’t bad at all.

Since the two of them had said they’d visit the Zhao family tomorrow to check on Zhao Yueniang, after breakfast, they went over with just a strip of pork and didn’t bring anything else.

They hadn’t even reached the Zhao family’s gate when they heard a commotion in the courtyard—Cai Chunhua and Yao Jinling were fighting.

The two of them were grabbing each other’s hair and pulling hard. Yao Jinling was fierce and didn’t lose out to Cai Chunhua in the slightest—the two of them were rolling around on the ground.

Lin Yu was a bit shocked at the sight. He knew Yao Jinling was fiery in temperament, but didn’t expect her to actually go head-to-head with Cai Chunhua.

When Yao Jinling saw that people had arrived at the gate, she finally let go, clapped the dirt off her body, and stood up. Her face was initially full of irritation, but when she saw the strip of pork in Wei Qingshan’s hand, a smile immediately spread across her face. “And who might you two be?”

Lin Yu swallowed his disgust. “I came to visit my uncle.”

“Oh, turns out it’s little cousin! Hurry in, hurry in.” Yao Jinling warmly welcomed the two of them into the main hall, her eyes still sneaking glances at that strip of pork. How come she didn’t know the Zhao family had such generous relatives?

Cai Chunhua spat, “What are you two doing here? Forgot how you beat up Dazhi before?”

“That was just a misunderstanding,” Wei Qingshan replied calmly and lightly.

When Yao Jinling heard they had beaten Zhao Dazhi, she was about to change her expression, but then heard them call it a misunderstanding. Who cared anyway—since they came bearing meat, she couldn’t just throw them out.

“When I got married, how come I didn’t see you two? Seriously, I didn’t even know our family had such good-looking relatives.” Yao Jinling looked at the pair—both of them were extremely handsome. Just standing there, Wei Qingshan looked far superior to her own Zhao Dazhi.

Lin Yu also exchanged polite words. “I came today to see Yueniang. How come I haven’t seen her?”

“Yueniang? She’s in that room.” Yao Jinling called out toward the outside, “Yueniang, Yueniang, we’ve got guests at home.”

Hearing Yao Jinling call her, Zhao Yueniang finally dared to come into the main hall. Usually, unless her sister-in-law called her, she wasn’t allowed to step into the main hall—otherwise, her sister-in-law would throw a tantrum.

Zhao Dazhi was also reading in the west room at that time. When he heard that Wei Qingshan had come, he didn’t dare come out. He was afraid that this jinx would get upset and throw him into the water vat again.

Lin Yu pulled Zhao Yueniang aside and spoke a few words with her, told her to take care of herself, and that he’d come visit again. In front of Yao Jinling, Zhao Yueniang didn’t dare say anything—she could only nod and hum in response.

The two of them didn’t stay long. After exchanging just a few words, they got up to leave. Yao Jinling saw them to the door with a beaming smile. “Cousin, cousin-in-law, do come by often when you have the time.”

After sending the two of them off, Yao Jinling was in a very good mood. Relatives this generous and tactful weren’t easy to find. On their first visit, they had brought a whole strip of pork.

Seeing that Wei Qingshan had left, Zhao Dazhi finally dared to poke his head out of his room. “Why’d you bother dealing with them? That Wei Qingshan is just a low-class butcher. For us scholars to associate with people like that, it’s simply a disgrace to our family’s reputation.”

Hearing that Wei Qingshan was a butcher made Yao Jinling smile even more broadly. “Then doesn’t that mean they never lack meat at home? Enough already—quit acting all high and mighty with your scholar’s airs. Are you saying your family doesn’t buy meat from butchers or what?”

Yao Jinling didn’t care about all that. She had already figured it out—this Yu-ger didn’t seem to have a good relationship with his in-laws. He said he came to see his uncle, but when the person wasn’t home, he didn’t even ask them to go call him. Clearly, they had only come to see her little sister-in-law.

It doesn’t matter what they do—they were all relatives. In the future, when she went to buy meat, wouldn’t he give her a little discount?

“Yueniang, Yueniang, cook this strip of meat for lunch. Just use half of it.”

“Got it, sister-in-law.”

After this visit, the two of them had finally met the Zhao family’s new wife. Her temperament wasn’t just equal to Cai Chunhua’s—it might be even worse. Yueniang must be getting ordered around constantly, stuck in the middle of them.

Lin Yu let out a light sigh. “How is Yueniang supposed to live like this?”

“No worries. We’ll drop by more often from now on. With us around, Yao Jinling won’t dare treat Yueniang too badly.” He had come to understand that Yao Jinling was greedy for small gains. Knowing that the two of them would frequently visit to see Yueniang, she also would not do anything too outrageous.

Lin Yu nodded. “Let’s hope so.”

The two of them went back home and had their meal. In the afternoon, Wei Qingshan didn’t rest either. He took his chopping knife and went back up the mountain to cut firewood.

At home, Lin Yu brought out Wei Qingshan’s old padded jacket and took it apart, and washed it again. Although winter was still far off, the two of them had already started preparing things for the cold season.

Wei Qingshan butchered pigs, while Lin Yu stayed home to take care of the pigs and chickens. When he had free time, he would bring Qing-ger along to do embroidery.

In between, they secretly went to Dali Village twice to check on Yueniang and brought some food over. According to Yueniang, since the two of them had visited last time, Yao Jinling hadn’t beaten or scolded her much, but she still ordered her around. The house was full of constant bickering—her mother and sister-in-law argued every single day.

Lin Yu had no good solution either and could only bring her food whenever he could.

That day, Wei Qingshan came back a little late. By the time he returned, the sky had already gone dark. Lin Yu quickly went over to help push the cart into the courtyard.

Wei Qingshan untied the money pouch, washed his hands, and went to eat. Lin Yu picked up a pair of chopsticks and served him some food. “Business wasn’t too good today?”

“Mm, another stall selling pig offal came to the street. Their business isn’t as good as ours, but our customer count dropped a little.”

This was bound to happen sooner or later. Even if one deliberately hid the cooking method, someone envious of their good business was sure to imitate. Lin Yu didn’t take it to heart. “It’s fine. It just so happens the bean paste at home is done fermenting. I’ll try some other methods. After so long, I guess everyone is tired of the same boiled pig offal.”

The weather was getting colder, and every household was busy harvesting the second round of rice. Wei Qingshan took a sip of hot soup and felt much more at ease. “Tomorrow I’ll go into the mountains for a full day to cut firewood. That should be enough to last us the winter. This is the time when wild walnuts are ripe—we can pick some.”

“Okay!” Lin Yu’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard about foraging in the mountains.

The two of them went out early the next morning after breakfast. Everyone picked these wild goods, but the areas near the foot of the mountain had already been picked clean. Only by going deeper into the mountains with their baskets on their backs could they find anything.

Wei Qingshan had spent years running around the mountains. He knew exactly where the walnut trees and other things were, so he led Lin Yu straight there. The weather was already cooling, and even the leaves on the mountain trees had begun turning yellow.

“These next few days, come with me to the town. We’ll get some cloth and cotton—you can make yourself a couple of padded jackets.”

Lin Yu nodded. “We still have rabbit pelts at home. It’ll be cold when you go to town in the winter. I’ll make you a couple of rabbit-fur hats to wear.”

A smile appeared at the corner of Wei Qingshan’s mouth. His little husband was always so thoughtful. “That’s not quite enough. I’ll go hunt a few more wild rabbits in the mountains, see if I can make you a rabbit-fur jacket to keep warm in winter.”

Lin Yu’s eyes sparkled. The two of them chatted as they walked, and even the mountain path didn’t seem so long.

From a distance, Lin Yu saw green-brown nuts scattered on the ground. “So many!”

Deep in the mountains stood a tall walnut tree, and beneath it were many walnuts about the size of eggs. Some of the husks had already rotted, exposing the nuts inside.

The two stopped chatting and bent down to pick them up. Even Dahei and Baixue helped, carrying walnuts in their mouths and dropping them into the basket. There were still many left on the tree. Wei Qingshan stepped on a branch and climbed up. “Xiao Yu, stand back. I’m going to shake some down.”

“Okay!” Lin Yu quickly ran off to the side.

Wei Qingshan stood on the tree, stepped on the branch, and shook it. The walnuts came raining down with a pa pa pa. There had only been a few left on the ground before, but now a whole new layer had fallen. Lin Yu’s eyes sparkled as he looked at them. These walnuts could not only be kept to eat during winter, but also brought to the town to sell—plenty of people liked them.

When Wei Qingshan climbed down, Lin Yu ran over. The walnut tree was so large that both their baskets were full, and there were still many left on the ground. Fortunately, Wei Qingshan had also brought a burlap sack, which he filled and placed on top of the basket.

Lin Yu was worried he would tire himself out. “Pack less—we can come up again.”

“This is nothing. It’s not heavy.”

Lin Yu felt heartache seeing how hard Wei Qingshan worked. Day after day, he pushed that heavy cart back and forth between the town and home. Even on his rest days, he would go cut firewood or hunt wild game in the mountains.

The two of them made one trip down the mountain, then came back up again. In the courtyard, they laid out a large quantity of walnuts to dry. In the afternoon, they sat in the courtyard removing the husks from the walnuts to help them dry better.

As they peeled the walnuts, Baixue, who was lively by nature, ran back and forth among the walnut piles. After getting scolded by Wei Qingshan, it lay in Lin Yu’s lap and howled pitifully. Lin Yu couldn’t help but laugh and patted its head to comfort it. “Who told you to be disobedient? Go play over there.”

“Don’t spoil it. It hasn’t gone hunting much lately and has already put on a layer of fat.”

As the two of them were peeling walnuts, Wang Er came over carrying a basket, looking very cheerful. “Chun-ger gave birth—it’s a boy!”

Wang Er grabbed some peanuts from the basket and gave them to the two of them. Lin Yu was delighted. “We didn’t hear anything—when did he give birth?”

“Around noon. Heh, that boy cried really loud.”

The two of them offered congratulations. Wang Er only chatted a few more lines before leaving. He still had to go notify the other families. As for Chun-ger’s family, he had asked his older brother to help relay the news. He himself was just telling a few close families in the village.

Lin Yu was also happy for Chun-ger. After hoping for so long, they finally had a child. Chun-ger often talked about wanting to give birth to a little boy, and now that it was a son, he didn’t know how he was feeling.

Judging by the timing, the He family’s eldest sister-in-law was probably about to give birth too. Lin Yu had long prepared gifts for both families.

The next day, Wei Qingshan pushed the cart out again to collect pigs. That afternoon, after slaughtering the pig, Lin Yu washed the pig offal clean. This time, while boiling it, he stir-fried some bean paste into it, and also cooked soaked soybeans. This pot of pig offal came out with a bright red color and looked even more appetizing, and the taste was even better!

Lin Yu tasted it and nodded in satisfaction. There were two new vendors at the market, also selling pig offal. Although their sales slowed a bit, their business was still better than the others’. Lin Yu was generous with the ingredients, adding white liquor and sugar inside as well. The aroma was particularly enticing.

Lin Yu picked up a chopstick-full and ran outside to let Wei Qingshan try it. “I tried a new method today, taste it and see.”