In the blink of an eye, three months had passed since Liu An began attending the village school. Under the teacher’s guidance, he had already completed the Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand Character Essay. Seeing how neatly Liu An wrote and how much he had improved—nearly catching up to Zhang Heng, who had enrolled earlier—Scholar Li felt deeply gratified.
But when Scholar Li looked at the other long-time students, his brows furrowed tightly—especially at Wang Fugui’s handwriting, which showed absolutely no improvement and was still a complete mess. It gave him a headache just looking at it.
Wang Fugui, oblivious to his teacher’s dissatisfaction, was winking and making faces at Zhang Heng just before dismissal. Zhang Heng responded with a silly face of his own. That was the last straw—Scholar Li saw his once-promising student joining in the nonsense and angrily pointed at them.
“You two—stand up!”
Zhang Heng and Wang Fugui jumped to their feet at once, heads lowered as though ready to admit their mistake. But Scholar Li wasn’t letting them off easily.
“After school, copy today’s lesson ten times. Hand it in tomorrow.”
The two boys groaned inwardly but had no choice but to accept the punishment.
Later, Wang Fugui complained indignantly to Zhang Heng, “It’s your fault! Now I have to copy the text too!”
Zhang Heng rolled his eyes. “You started it. Don’t twist the facts.”
Zhou Shen watched with a grin while the other classmates crowded around Liu An, praising his beautiful handwriting. Liu An scratched his head shyly, though he felt delighted inside. From a distance, Zhang Heng and Wang Fugui shot him resentful looks, which Liu An found secretly amusing—though he was kind enough not to laugh.
“Go home quickly and start copying,” he reminded them. “If you don’t finish by tomorrow, the teacher might punish you again.”
The two boys felt as if their wounded hearts had been stabbed once more. Dropping their complaints, they hurried home.
“Father, I asked the teacher for a few days off just before class ended. Elder Sister is getting married the day after tomorrow. As her brother, I want to see her off properly,” Liu An said to Liu Sanzhuang, who had come to pick him up.
“You did right, son,” Liu Sanzhuang replied warmly. “I was planning to ask you to request leave myself. Your sister dotes on you so much—she would be disappointed if you weren’t there on her big day. You’ve really become thoughtful.”
“I know how good my sisters are to me. I’ll attend all their weddings. When I earn an official degree in the future, I’ll make sure they won’t be bullied in their husbands’ homes.”
Hearing this, Liu Sanzhuang was overjoyed. He scooped Liu An up and headed to meet his brothers. Autumn had arrived, and fresh wild vegetables were no longer available, so the family temporarily didn’t need to deliver produce to the restaurant.
“Father, now that the weather has cooled, how is our spicy mixed dish selling?” Liu An asked.
“It’s still alright for now,” Liu Sanzhuang sighed, “but in a few more days, it may not work. Once it gets too cold, by the time we carry it to town, it’ll already be cold—no one will want to buy it. Unless we set up a pot at the market and cook it fresh.”
“Does the market rent out cooking pots?” Liu An asked.
“We’ve considered that,” his father replied. “But renting an iron pot and stove for a day costs ten copper coins, and we’d still need to bring our own firewood. Besides, people are already jealous of our business. If anything goes wrong, we wouldn’t be able to explain ourselves clearly.”
Liu An nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. We can’t be careless with food. Then why don’t we buy our own large pot and stove?”
“I’m afraid your uncles and I couldn’t carry that much,” Liu Sanzhuang said with a laugh.
After a moment, Liu An looked at him earnestly. “Father… what if we bought a mule? That way, you and Uncle wouldn’t have to work so hard transporting everything.”
“A mule?” Liu Sanzhuang was stunned. A mule cost eight taels of silver—a considerable sum. Though the family had earned forty to fifty taels these past months, books cost over ten taels each. Scholar Li had praised Liu An’s academic potential, and the grandparents insisted the money be saved for his education. They had only given one tael for his eldest sister’s dowry.
“Let’s keep selling for now and see,” Liu Sanzhuang said gently, trying to put off the idea.
Liu An understood his father’s concerns and dropped the subject. Seeing this, Liu Sanzhuang quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
What he didn’t realize was that Liu An hadn’t truly given up. For the past three months, on holidays, he had gone to the bookstore with Zhang Heng and Zhou Shen. For two copper coins, they could read there for half a day. Liu An used the opportunity to study biographies and agricultural texts about this dynasty.
His efforts paid off. He learned that the dynasty he lived in—Da Li—did not exist in his previous life’s history, though some literary knowledge overlapped. He didn’t dare copy knowledge recklessly from memory. It was safer to keep a low profile, use what he knew wisely, pass the imperial exam, become a minor official, and let his family live comfortably.
He read many agricultural books as well. Zhou Shen often teased him for reading farming texts instead of exam materials. Liu An would smile and reply, “My family farms for a living. I’m just seeing if there’s a way to increase crop yields.” Seeing his sincerity, Zhou Shen eventually stopped teasing—and even helped him find relevant books.
So far, Liu An hadn’t found any record of tofu production in this dynasty. He felt it might be time to introduce it. As for an excuse—well, hadn’t he been reading all these books? But improving agriculture could wait until next spring. Autumn had already arrived.
“An’er, why do you seem down today? Did someone bully you at school?” his uncle Erzhuang asked, noticing he was unusually quiet, resting on his father’s back.
“No, Uncle. I’m just a little tired. Where’s uncle Dazhuang?” Liu An asked with concern.
“Your eldest cousin is getting married soon. Your grandfather sent your uncle to buy some things. We’re waiting here—he should be back shortly,” his uncle explained.
“Father, put me down so we can wait together,” Liu An said, climbing down when his father crouched.
After about fifteen minutes, uncle Dazhuang came striding over, beaming broadly. Seeing his wide grin, Liu Sanzhuang teased, “Big Brother, what’s this? Did you pick up money off the ground?”
Startled, Liu Dazhuang looked around nervously to make sure no one had heard, then shot his brother a glare. “You’re already a father—still so careless with your words!”
Liu Sanzhuang felt embarrassed after being scolded by his elder brother and scratched his head awkwardly. “Big Brother, I was just joking.”
Liu Dazhuang realized his tone had been too harsh and added more gently, “Our family business is doing well, and plenty of people are jealous. When you’re outside, watch your words and behavior. Don’t invite trouble.”
Liu Erzhuang and Liu Sanzhuang immediately grew serious. “Don’t worry, Big Brother. We’ll be careful.”
Liu An also nodded quietly, inwardly giving his uncle a thumbs-up. That’s right—make money quietly without drawing attention.
Seeing that they understood, Liu Dazhuang leaned in mysteriously and lowered his voice. “Brother Erzhuang, brother Sanzhuang—guess how much profit the restaurant gave us for these three months?”
“Three taels?” Liu Sanzhuang guessed, remembering the young owner had promised them ten percent of the profits.
Liu Dazhuang shook his head and smiled. “A full twenty taels.”
“So… so much silver?” Liu Erzhuang exclaimed in shock.
Grinning, Liu Dazhuang continued, “Steward Qiu said our braised meat recipe is selling extremely well. They also have restaurants in the county. In the future, our share will only increase.”
Everyone was overjoyed at the news. Liu Sanzhuang excitedly urged, “Let’s hurry home and tell Father and Mother!”
Liu An, however, looked up at his uncle and asked, “Did you finish buying the things for Sister Dayao?”
Liu Dazhuang felt deeply pleased that his nephew cared so much about his daughter. He took out a silver bracelet he had purchased and said with a smile, “An’er is so thoughtful. I’ve bought everything. Let’s head home before we’re late and affect your schooling tomorrow.”
“No need to worry,” Liu Sanzhuang said cheerfully. “An’er already asked Scholar Li for two days off to see Dayao off at her wedding.”
“What? That won’t delay his studies?” Liu Dazhuang said anxiously.
Liu An quickly reassured him. “Uncle, don’t worry. I’ll still study at home. It won’t delay anything. Big Sister has always treated me so well—if I don’t see her off, I wouldn’t feel at ease.”
“Good child,” Liu Dazhuang said warmly, even more satisfied with his nephew. All the affection he had poured into the boy hadn’t been wasted. With Liu An’s character, even if he rose to success one day, he would never forget the family.
Liu Erzhuang also smiled kindly. Although Liu An was the only grandson of the fourth branch and had been doted on by the entire family since birth, he had not grown spoiled. Instead, he had always been thoughtful toward his family. How could anyone not cherish him?
Liu An felt bashful under their praise. But suddenly, he remembered the silver his uncle had just brought home—it could buy a mule.
Smiling, he said, “Uncle, what if we buy a mule—and also an iron pot and stove? The mule could pull everything to the market and construction sites each day. Otherwise, once it gets colder, without a stove and big pot, no one will buy our spicy mix.”
Recently, Liu Dazhuang had been worrying about the same issue. As the weather turned colder, their business would suffer. They couldn’t carry the heavy pot themselves—but buying a mule was indeed a good idea.
Although Liu Sanzhuang had originally opposed the idea, now that Liu Dazhuang had received such a large payment from Heyun Restaurant, using part of it to buy a mule made sense. Liu Erzhuang, quick-minded as ever, agreed immediately. As long as the business kept running, income would continue.
The three brothers decided to persuade their father together once they got home.
Liu An clapped happily at the plan, and Liu Sanzhuang laughed as well.
After dinner, Liu Dazhuang stopped his parents.
“Father, Mother, there’s something I’d like to discuss.”
The two elders thought it concerned Dayao’s marriage and grew worried.
“Dazhuang, what’s wrong? Is there a problem with Dayao’s wedding?” the old matriarch asked anxiously.
“Don’t worry,” Liu Dazhuang said quickly. “Her wedding is fine. I wanted to talk about the braised meat. Heyun Restaurant gave us ten percent of the profits—thirty taels in total. Mother, please keep this safe.”
He handed the silver to his mother.
The two elders stared at the money in astonishment. The old lady gasped, “My goodness—ten percent in three months and we’ve earned thirty taels just like that?”
Liu Dazhuang nodded. “Steward Qiu told me the young master plans to promote the braised meat to their county branches. Our share will only grow.”
The elderly couple were overjoyed. The old master tapped his eldest son on the shoulder. “Well done! With this income secured, we won’t have to worry about An’er’s education.”
Liu Dazhuang continued, “Now that the weather is getting colder, our spicy mix isn’t selling as well as before. Once it turns even colder and the dish cools down on the way, it’ll be even harder to sell.”
The old master knew there was more to say. “Do you have a solution? Speak.”
“We’ve discussed it,” Liu Dazhuang replied. “We want to buy a mule—along with an iron pot and stove. The mule can haul everything to the market and worksites. We can cook the spicy mix fresh on the spot using prepared broth.”
“A mule costs quite a bit of silver…” the old lady murmured.
“Buy it,” the old master declared firmly. “Dazhuang is right. If we want this business to continue, we need a mule. No more discussion—tomorrow we go buy one.”