In the early morning, watching He Mingyu nimbly push the sophisticated little cart away as she left with Shitou and Yingzi, Wu Chunlan stood at the door. Her hands were unconsciously twisting her hem, and her heart was fluttering like a trapped rabbit.
The idea of going to the villages outside the city to buy vegetables had been climbing in her heart like a vine for the past few days…
“No, I cannot always rely on Yu Niang alone…” Wu Chunlan turned back into the house and, acting on her own, took out the wooden box hidden under the bed.
Inside the wooden box were the earnings from the past few days and the few small pieces of silver left from before. Yingzi had recently seemed very interested in copper coins, carefully counting out one hundred of them to string into a diao with hemp twine, then arranging them neatly back into the box.
Wu Chunlan took a deep breath, as if to encourage herself. After hesitating for a long while, she carefully took out one diao of coins and tucked it into her bosom. Then, she cautiously shoved the wooden box back under the bed, pressing down on it repeatedly to confirm it was in the right place before standing up.
Afterward, she locked the courtyard gate and pushed the old, broken wooden cart that He Mingyu had discarded. It was loaded with several large bamboo baskets, and with somewhat unsteady steps, she headed toward Naxun Gate. Outside Naxun Gate, it was as bustling as inside the city; carriages, horses, and pedestrians flowed continuously, and there were many vendors coming and going. Such a scene actually gave her a strange sense of security.
Limping, she pushed the empty cart and slowly walked along the official road. The spring breeze blew past, carrying the unique scent of soil. The panic and confusion she had felt at first gradually calmed down in the midst of this familiar scent and scenery.
After walking for about two quarters of an hour, a small village appeared by the official road. Wisps of smoke rose from chimneys, and a few people were busy in the fields. Wu Chunlan’s pace slowed down more and more; looking at those unfamiliar faces, she felt hesitant and uneasy again.
“Sister-in-law, who are you looking for in our village?” A farm woman carrying a basket on her back looked at her curiously. She didn’t recognize who in the village could be a relative of this woman, but she still asked quite enthusiastically, “Or is there something you need?”
Wu Chunlan’s heart tightened. She hurriedly squeezed out a slightly stiff smile and spoke in a thin voice: “Big sister, I… I want to buy some vegetables, maybe some eggs… anything is fine, as long as it’s fresh…”
“Coming to us to buy vegetables?” The farm woman’s surname was Zhou, and she was a forthright person. When she heard it was to buy things, her eyes lit up, though her tone held a hint of suspicion: “Are you paying in cash?”
“Yes, yes, cash on the spot.” Wu Chunlan nodded repeatedly, her hand unconsciously pressing against the money in her bosom again.
The spring breeze was still chilly, yet a thin layer of sweat broke out on her forehead.
Auntie Zhou began to calculate rapidly in her mind. Her family had saved up over twenty eggs and was just worrying about them! Too few to be worth a special trip to the city, but if she saved up too many, she feared they would spoil. Wasn’t a transaction delivered to her doorstep just perfect?
“Deal! Come with me to get them! I have eggs, and I have vegetables. They were all picked from the fields this morning, very fresh!” She said, taking down her basket and gesturing for her to look at the tender pea shoots still covered in morning dew.
Wu Chunlan hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly, and a feeling of indescribable joy surged in her heart. Being the first time she had “done business,” she didn’t catch the implication behind the woman’s actions and foolishly began to push her cart along.
This action, in Auntie Zhou’s eyes, took on a different meaning.
Didn’t she like them?
Auntie Zhou looked at the tender green pea shoots with their curling tendrils in her basket, unwilling to give up, and flipped them over with her hand a few times.
It can’t be…
“Big sister, where is your home?” Wu Chunlan asked, turning back.
“This way, this way.” Auntie Zhou returned to her senses and hurriedly pointed the way. All along the road, her mouth never stopped.
“How many eggs do you want? I don’t have many saved at home, but my sister-in-law’s family definitely has some! If you want a lot, I’ll go call her later!”
“Do you want radishes? This spring’s radishes are very juicy, and I heard from the doctor that radishes are good things! And cabbage, oh, do you want bamboo shoots? My boy dug up quite a few yesterday.”
Wu Chunlan was not a glib talker by nature, and the series of questions blocked her from being able to get a word in.
“By the way, are you collecting these vegetables to sell in the city? Or keeping them for your own consumption?” Auntie Zhou’s eyes flashed with a thoughtful look. This time, she didn’t speak anymore; she stared straight at Wu Chunlan, waiting for her answer.
“I need many eggs, so please, big sister, go call your sister-in-law. I want radishes and cabbage too, and spring bamboo shoots or other spring greens… I want some of everything.” Wu Chunlan hesitated for a moment, replying with little confidence, “I’m not selling them. I have many children at home, and I discussed it with my husband—we figured we’d come a bit further to buy them and save a few copper coins…”
Upon hearing this, Auntie Zhou secretly glanced at her limping leg. A bit of pity arose in her heart, followed by a bit of regret.
She pitied this woman for traveling far despite her disability, but regretted that she wasn’t a big customer; otherwise, she could have sold the vegetables at home for a higher price.
Afraid of delaying her morning spring plowing, Auntie Zhou led her to the outside of her courtyard gate. Wu Chunlan had her guard up and refused to go in, only standing outside the gate and saying: “Big sister, I’ll wait right here. Sorry to trouble you to go get them.”
“Hey, alright, you wait!” Auntie Zhou didn’t mind. She loudly called her children to go to the vegetable plot to pull up radishes and cabbage, while she herself hurried into the kitchen to get the eggs.
Who would have thought her husband was sitting by the stove eating? She busily said: “Go quickly to the second brother’s house, see how many eggs they’ve saved, and bring them all over, quickly! And vegetables, bring all the ones they can’t finish.”
“What are you in such a rush for again?”
Auntie Zhou counted the eggs in her hands, explaining the situation clearly in a few words—that an outsider had come to collect vegetables.
Her husband was a bit crafty and, fearing this strange woman might be making empty promises, said: “Sell ours first. Once we get the cash, we’ll talk about the others. Since she’s here to collect vegetables, she’s definitely not in such a hurry.”
Auntie Zhou thought that made sense, so she brought out what they had: twenty-three eggs, a small basket of young spring bamboo shoots, half a basket of pea shoots, and two large handfuls of leeks. In addition to these, there were seven or eight large cabbages and three big white radishes.
If it were someone who specialized in collecting vegetables, they would definitely have a scale, but Wu Chunlan didn’t. Therefore, both sides just estimated the weight or calculated the price based on size and quantity.
“How much do you think these are worth?” Auntie Zhou asked.
Eggs were one wen each; the spring bamboo shoots and pea shoots were quite fresh; the two outer layers of the cabbages were a bit wilted, but fortunately, they were very large…
If these things were bought in the city, they would cost at least seventy or eighty wen. Wu Chunlan was quite knowledgeable about matters in the vegetable fields. This spring, the weather was good, and the harvests were good too. These surplus vegetables were things the neighbors couldn’t finish either.
“Forty wen, big sister, how does that sound?”
“Forty wen?” Auntie Zhou was startled. “No, no, that’s way too little. Add some more!”
“Forty-five wen at most.” Wu Chunlan insisted, “Any more than that, and I’ll go look at another family’s. The weather is good this spring; every family has vegetables they can’t finish.”
“Sister-in-law, add five more wen. I have over twenty eggs here!”
Finally, she gave a total of forty-eight wen. Wu Chunlan paid, looking at the vibrant, fresh vegetables on the wooden cart, feeling as sweet as if she had eaten mung bean cake.
Auntie Zhou received the money and felt relieved, immediately urging her husband: “Go tell the second brother’s family! Hurry!”
Before long, Auntie Zhou’s sister-in-law—a woman just as capable—returned, carrying a large basket and leading her children, bringing radishes, cabbages, yams, and garland chrysanthemum… followed by another round of bargaining-style price calculations.
After the settlement, the sister-in-law scratched her head with an embarrassed smile and pushed forward the basket she had been carrying on her back, asking with a mix of anticipation and uncertainty: “Sister-in-law, take a look at this… do you want it?”
At the same time, He Mingyu’s stall was at its busiest.
This morning, she calculated the time perfectly. She had Shitou light the mud stove fire at home to steam the prepared flour-dusted pork, and it was perfectly cooked by the time they pushed the cart to the stall. As she lifted the lid of the large steamer, the hot air mixed with the fragrance of rice, meat, and rich soy sauce burst out, dominantly sweeping across half the street and immediately attracting many students who followed the scent.
He Mingyu nimbly moved the large steamer with the pork to the flat surface on the right side of the little cart, and quickly set the small steamers filled with raw buns onto the special wooden lid on the iron wok. Shitou added a few pieces of firewood to the mud stove, and with the high heat, the freshly baked “cicada-wing” buns had the perfect texture: the skin was flexible, and the filling was fresh, tender, and juicy.
Yingzi was young and sweet-spoken, collecting money and calculating accounts quickly and accurately. Under He Mingyu’s direction, Shitou quickly wiped the table with a cloth and rinsed the bowls and chopsticks with clean water. As for He Mingyu, she naturally had the habit of keeping the counter clean. The three of them worked quite tacitly; thus, despite being extremely busy, the “He’s Small Stall” managed to remain remarkably clean.
The steamed pork was priced at thirty wen a bowl. For the first time, He Mingyu didn’t prepare too much, twenty bowls in total, including two that had been ordered in advance yesterday.
But she underestimated the students of the Imperial Academy, who were not short on silver. The eighteen bowls of steamed pork were sold out almost as soon as the lid was lifted, and the “cicada-wing” buns were no exception. Within half an hour of setting up the stall, the thirty steamers of buns were also sold out.
He Mingyu looked at the light sweat on the two little ones’ foreheads, feeling heartache, and took out twenty wen, giving them ten each: “Go, buy some snacks to eat.”
Yingzi cheered and ran straight to the stall of Sun Erniang next door. Because He Mingyu’s buns had boosted the popularity of this area, Sun Erniang’s own business had also improved significantly. Moreover, liking Yingzi’s cleverness, when she used the tongs to give her the shredded chicken qian, she pressed down repeatedly several times.
He Mingyu carefully packed two bowls of steamed pork into a food box, and after giving some instructions, had Shitou deliver them to the Street Administrative Office. Then, she went to buy four crispy meat pies and two servings of spiced cakes. When Shitou returned, the two had already tidied up, and the three of them pushed the empty cart together, carrying the food while laughing and chatting as they turned into Donglizi Lane.
As soon as they entered the courtyard gate, Yingzi immediately gasped in surprise: “Sister! Look! So many vegetables!”
They saw that the old wooden cart in the courtyard was piled high with vegetables of many varieties and a shocking quantity, almost forming a small hill.
He Mingyu was also startled. As she wondered, she saw Wu Chunlan walk out from the room with a smile she hadn’t seen in a long time; the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were all smoothed out: “You’re back? Tired, right? Go drink some water. Mother went for a turn at the village outside Naxun Gate today. These vegetables are nearly half the price of those in the city!”
“Mother…” He Mingyu was stunned for a moment, looking at the full cart of vegetables and then at Wu Chunlan’s rare, sparkling eyes. An indescribable feeling surged in her heart: “You are truly amazing! Why didn’t you tell me in advance? Did your foot feel uncomfortable anywhere after walking the whole way?”
Upon hearing this, Yingzi hurriedly moved a stool from the room: “Mother, sit down and rest quickly.” Although Shitou didn’t like to talk, he squatted down at the right moment and gently pressed on Wu Chunlan’s ankle, trying his best to relieve her discomfort.
Wu Chunlan felt a bit embarrassed. Her gaze swept over the cart, and suddenly remembering something, she hurried to point to a bamboo basket in the corner:
“Oh, by the way, Yu Niang, there is half a basket of elm leaves under the radishes. Take a look and see if we can use them?”