Han Xiuxiu took a bite of the braised pork.
It was so tender it practically melted in her mouth, filling it with rich, savory flavor.
No wonder it was the shop’s signature dish.
During the apocalypse, everyone had been too busy struggling to survive to spend hours making food like this. Besides, spices had been incredibly scarce.
This was the first time Han Xiuxiu had ever tasted braised pork prepared this way.
A satisfied smile spread across her face.
“It’s delicious.”
Seeing both sisters enjoying the meal made Lu Yunfei happy as well, and he lowered his head to eat.
The three of them each had their own way of eating.
Lu Yunfei finished the pork first before eating the noodles, and soon emptied his bowl.
Han Xiuxiu ate daintily, alternating one bite of meat with one bite of noodles.
Han Xiaoxiao, however, finished all her noodles while leaving half of the braised pork untouched.
She had deliberately saved the best for last.
When they were done, even the soup had been drunk clean.
All three left the table completely satisfied.
By then the sun had risen high enough to warm the streets.
Golden sunlight poured down pleasantly.
Lu Yunfei led the sisters straight to Tianxiang Restaurant.
He was well acquainted with the manager there, and whenever he caught game, this was always the first place he came.
Tianxiang Restaurant was the largest restaurant in town.
Since the surrounding area was mountainous, many of its specialty dishes featured wild mountain ingredients.
Traveling merchants from other regions who came to purchase mountain products usually chose to stay and eat here, so business was consistently excellent.
Lu Yunfei entered as though he owned the place.
The waiters all greeted him warmly.
More than one couldn’t help sneaking curious glances at Han Xiuxiu.
“Brother Lu! Haven’t seen you in ages,” one waiter called with a grin. “Manager Qian was just talking about you the other day. What fresh treasures have you brought us this time?”
“A few catties of mountain stream fish,” Lu Yunfei replied. “I remembered Manager Qian likes them, so I brought them over. Is he free?”
“He should be in the kitchen at this hour. Go right in.”
Every morning, Manager Qian made his rounds through the kitchen, inspecting the day’s purchases and discussing supplies with the cooks.
He noticed Lu Yunfei from the corner of his eye and nodded in greeting.
Lu Yunfei and the two sisters waited quietly in the courtyard.
A short while later, Manager Qian came out.
After greeting Lu Yunfei, his eyes landed on the young woman beside him.
With a broad smile, he teased,
“Brother Lu, I was wondering why you disappeared for so long.”
“So you finally got yourself a wife!”
“Looks like someone’s been fitted with a halter now!”
“Congratulations!”
Lu Yunfei laughed awkwardly at the joke.
He pointed toward the bucket of fish and the wild vegetables.
“I had some free time yesterday and caught a few catties.”
“They’re at their freshest this season.”
“There are also some fresh water celery and fiddlehead ferns.”
Manager Qian bent over for a closer look.
There wasn’t a huge amount this time.
The restaurant could easily sell everything in a single day.
After a quick inspection, he said,
“Eighty copper coins per catty for the fish.”
“Five copper coins per catty for the vegetables.”
“If that sounds fair, I’ll take everything.”
The price was reasonable.
Lu Yunfei nodded.
Manager Qian immediately called for someone from the kitchen to weigh everything.
The fish totaled sixteen and a half catties.
The vegetables weighed twenty-one catties.
Lu Yunfei rounded down the odd amounts.
Altogether, they came to one tael and four mace of silver.
Compared with the twelve taels he’d just earned from the snake, it wasn’t much.
Still…
It represented only one afternoon’s work.
That was already quite good.
After thanking Manager Qian, Lu Yunfei went to the accounts room to collect the payment.
Han Xiuxiu noticed how familiar he seemed with everyone here.
He joked casually with them, and they joked back.
Even after noticing her, several people teased him good-naturedly.
Apparently…
Lu Yunfei was rather well liked.
After putting the loose silver into his money pouch, Lu Yunfei finally relaxed.
Everything they had come to sell had been sold.
Now they could enjoy strolling through town.
Turning to Han Xiuxiu, he asked,
“We don’t come to town often.”
“Why don’t we look around before buying rice?”
Neither Han Xiuxiu nor Han Xiaoxiao had ever properly visited the town before.
Naturally, they followed his lead.
The town itself wasn’t particularly large.
Only two or three streets were truly bustling.
Shops lined both sides of the roads, with small vendors scattered between them.
As they passed a pastry shop, a waiter was carrying out a fresh batch of chestnut cakes.
Their rich aroma immediately drifted through the entire street.
As he arranged them, he called loudly,
“Freshly baked chestnut cakes!”
“Sweet and fragrant!”
“Come and buy some!”
Both Han Xiuxiu and Han Xiaoxiao instinctively turned toward the smell.
Seeing this, Lu Yunfei stopped.
He went inside and bought a full jin.
Half were sweet.
Half were savory.
The sweet ones were sprinkled with black sesame.
The savory ones were dusted with pepper salt.
Fresh from the oven, they were still almost too hot to hold.
“Try them while they’re hot.”
Han Xiuxiu had never eaten chestnut cakes before—not even during the apocalypse.
She picked one up.
The flaky pastry was crisp and fragrant.
Inside was soft chestnut filling, dense, smooth, and naturally sweet.
Lu Yunfei wasn’t fond of sweets.
He chose one of the savory cakes instead.
These pastries were best eaten piping hot.
Only then was the crust at its crispiest.
One cake made you want another.
Each of them finished two.
Han Xiaoxiao still looked reluctant to stop.
Licking her lips, she asked,
“Sis… Brother-in-law…”
“Which is better?”
“The sweet one or the savory one?”
Han Xiuxiu considered for a moment.
“The sweet filling is a little rich.”
“I like the savory one better.”
“I think the savory one’s better too,” Lu Yunfei agreed.
Han Xiaoxiao immediately shook her head.
“I think the sweet one’s the best.”
It seemed that even in ancient times…
People argued over sweet versus savory.
Objectively speaking, both were delicious.
It simply came down to personal preference.
Han Xiuxiu gently patted her sister’s head.
“Then you can have all the sweet ones.”
A little farther along, Han Xiuxiu spotted a vendor selling vegetable seedlings.
She tugged gently on Lu Yunfei’s sleeve.
“Let’s buy some seedlings to take home.”
Country people usually saved their own seeds and planted them in early spring.
Since Lu Yunfei had never cared much for vegetables, he’d only grown a few essentials like ginger and garlic when living alone.
But now that his wife wanted a proper garden…
He naturally had no objections.
If they planted them now, they’d be eating their own vegetables by summer.
Han Xiuxiu picked out cucumber, loofah, chili pepper, and eggplant seedlings.
The elderly woman selling them clearly knew how to do business.
Beaming from ear to ear, she even threw in a handful of hyacinth bean seeds for free.
When she saw Lu Yunfei paying, she couldn’t resist praising him.
“Oh my!”
“This must be your husband.”
“What a tall, sturdy young man.”
“You really are a lucky girl.”
Han Xiuxiu blushed at the compliment.
Lu Yunfei was secretly pleased too.
Without bargaining, he paid the woman fifteen copper coins.
Then the three continued on.
Han Xiuxiu carefully arranged the seedlings inside her basket.
There were only two adults at home.
Just a few plants of each variety would be plenty.
She was slightly surprised to find chili seedlings already being sold.
Historically, chili peppers shouldn’t have appeared until the Ming Dynasty.
Could there have been another transmigrator whose “butterfly effect” had changed history?
Farther ahead, a candied hawthorn vendor walked down the street with a straw rack over his shoulder, calling out his wares.
Lu Yunfei reached into his pouch.
He bought one skewer each for Han Xiuxiu and Han Xiaoxiao.
Han Xiaoxiao accepted hers carefully with both hands.
She had never eaten candied hawthorn before.
Bright red hawthorn berries gleamed beneath a transparent coating of hardened sugar.
She nibbled tiny bites, savoring every mouthful.
The sweet-and-sour flavor made her eyes curve into happy crescents.
Han Xiuxiu had never eaten candied hawthorn during the apocalypse either.
The original owner of this body had only tasted it as a child.
She barely remembered what it was like.
She bit into one.
The thin sugar coating was wonderfully sweet.
But the hawthorn underneath…
Was incredibly sour.
Her entire face nearly twisted from the shock.
She hurriedly covered her mouth with one hand.
It took quite a while before she recovered.
When she turned around, she saw Lu Yunfei smiling broadly.
She shot him a sideways glare.
She wasn’t about to suffer alone.
Holding the skewer toward him, she said,
“You have one too.”
Lu Yunfei laughed at her reaction.
Seeing her offering it to him, he leaned over and bit one directly from the skewer she was holding.
After a few chews, he swallowed it.
He didn’t find it sour at all.
It tasted perfectly sweet to him.
Han Xiuxiu stared at him in confusion.
Was she really the only one who thought it was sour?
As they continued wandering the streets, they passed a butcher’s stall.
Lu Yunfei bought several catties of pork.
Although they’d been eating rabbit, fish, and shrimp recently, those meats lacked much fat.
Nothing satisfied a craving quite like pork.
Pigs in this era were usually raised for around a full year before slaughter, making the meat thick and firm.
Lu Yunfei asked for three catties of hind leg meat.
That cut, with its generous layers of fat, was the most popular.
The fat could later be rendered into cooking lard.
The butcher’s cleaver rose and fell.
With practiced precision, he cut exactly three catties.
Not an ounce more.
Not an ounce less.
Wrapping it neatly in lotus leaves, he handed it over.
The three catties cost seventy-five copper coins.
Not expensive at all.
Suddenly Han Xiaoxiao squeezed Han Xiuxiu’s hand excitedly.
“Sis!”
“Over there—they’re selling hair flowers!”
“Let’s go look!”
There were naturally shops selling cosmetics and rouge.
But Han Xiaoxiao didn’t dare step inside such fancy stores.
A roadside stall, however…
That she was comfortable browsing.
After all, she was still a young girl.
Naturally she loved flowers and pretty ornaments.
After telling Lu Yunfei where they were going, Han Xiuxiu accompanied her to the stall.
Several young women and newly married wives were already gathered there, trying different flowers against their hair.
Most of the ornaments were handmade from colored gauze and silk, shaped into blossoms.
The stall also displayed ribbons, hair ties, rouge, wooden combs, and countless other trinkets.
The dazzling variety left Han Xiaoxiao completely overwhelmed.
She picked up one ornament…
Then immediately thought another looked prettier.
Han Xiuxiu also picked up a pale pink peach blossom ornament.
Looking closely, she saw that its frame was made from thin strips of bamboo covered in carefully wrapped gauze.
The craftsmanship was surprisingly delicate.
Even such a simple flower cost five copper coins.
They certainly weren’t cheap.
After buying the pork, Lu Yunfei came over.
Seeing Han Xiuxiu examining one of the flowers, he walked up behind her.
He was so tall that his body almost enclosed hers from behind.
Looking over her shoulder, he examined the flower still resting in her hand.
“You like this one?”
Hearing his voice, Han Xiuxiu immediately set it down.
“I was only looking.”
But Lu Yunfei picked it back up.
Holding it beside her hair, he looked it over seriously.
“It looks nice.”
“Let’s buy it.”
Han Xiuxiu had never cared much about hair ornaments.
She had picked it up purely out of curiosity.
Realizing he actually intended to buy it, she quickly stopped him.
“Don’t.”
“I don’t like it.”
The stall owner was an observant woman.
One glance told her these were newlyweds.
The young wife clearly didn’t want to spend money.
But the husband…
He looked generous.
Smiling brightly, she said,
“Young lady, someone as pretty as you looks beautiful wearing anything.”
“Besides peach blossoms, I also have jade orchid, rain lilies, peonies, and tree peonies.”
“You won’t find another stall in town with the same designs.”
“Take your time choosing.”
Standing among so many young women, the tall Lu Yunfei naturally attracted plenty of sideways glances.
When Han Xiuxiu still refused to choose anything, he assumed she simply didn’t want to spend money.
So he asked the vendor,
“Which styles sell the best?”
The woman immediately picked up two ornaments.
“The gold-edged peony.”
“And the crimson velvet flower.”
The gold-edged peony was clearly the most expensive ornament on the entire stall.
Placed beside the crimson velvet flower, it was also the biggest and most eye-catching.
Sure enough…
Lu Yunfei reached toward the gold-edged peony.
Han Xiuxiu quickly caught his hand before he could point.
Turning toward him, she said with amused exasperation,
“I’ll choose for myself.”
If she didn’t stop him now, he really would have bought the enormous gold-edged peony.
How could she possibly wear something so flashy?
Even the young women and wives nearby, having overheard the conversation, laughed good-naturedly.
After all…
What man knew how to pick hair ornaments?
They always chose the biggest and brightest ones.