Neither branch of the Lin family had ever seen how to eat something with a shell, so Lin Yuhe demonstrated for them.
Father Lin, sitting beside Lin Yuhe, curiously poked at a snail shell on the table. "Hey, it really is just the shell left."
He also picked one up with his chopsticks, sucking hard at the field snail with his big mouth, but the snail meat remained firmly inside the shell, making him sweat with frustration.
Seeing him eat, the rest of the family followed suit. They managed to suck out the snail meat, but it was quite an effort. Only Mother Lin, Bai Haitang, could eat the snail meat with ease.
"Wife, you’re amazing, just like our daughter. Teach me how."
As soon as Father Lin spoke, several pairs of eyes fixed on Bai Haitang’s mouth, making her blush deeply. She glared at Father Lin.
Seeing how much effort everyone was putting into eating, Lin Yuhe went inside and found a few needles for them to pick out the meat.
Everyone had a competitive spirit, and no one used the needles, preferring to eat slowly instead.
"Grandpa Lin, Third Uncle, what do you think of the snails I made? Give me some feedback. I plan to fry them tomorrow and sell them in town. Do you think they’ll sell?"
Everyone was too busy eating to answer her. After a while, Third Uncle finally spoke up. "Delicious! Whatever you fried these with is really tasty. Who would’ve thought ducks eat better than us every day? Go sell them! They’ll definitely sell well. We don’t have much to do at home tomorrow, so we’ll all help you gather snails."
Lin Shang, who was shoveling steamed vegetables into his mouth, nodded in agreement with his father. "He girl, these steamed wild vegetables are delicious too. You could sell them as well."
Yes, Cousin Uncle was right. Even the supposedly fragrant flatbread Third Uncle brought was ignored—everyone had a bowl of steamed vegetables instead.
Lin Yuhe also knew the steamed vegetables could be sold, but she had to prioritize and take things slowly. She planned to sell snails first tomorrow. The flour at home was nearly gone after these past few days of eating, so it was time to restock.
She knew how to do many things, and each could earn her silver.
"Don’t worry, Cousin Uncle. I’ll fry some snails tomorrow and see how it goes."
She wanted to test the market first. She didn’t know what people’s tastes were like or whether people in this era would enjoy them.
She planned to fry a small bucketful tomorrow. If they sold, great; if not, she’d bring them back and share them between the two families so nothing would go to waste.
Neither family had ever run a business or sold food before, and Lin Yuhe had never sold anything on the street either. "Grandpa Lin, have you ever sold anything in town? What price should we set? And another thing—how do we serve this to customers? No one can carry a bowl or basin around while walking on the street."
Most importantly, she didn’t know how to use a scale. If they sold by weight, she’d have to read the scale, so she immediately ruled that out.
Spotting the bowl she used for her porridge, she had a sudden idea. "Let’s use this bowl to serve it! One bowl for six copper coins, two bowls for ten."
Those who were desperately sucking on snails didn’t know whether to keep eating or stop. Lin Shang, who was eating snails, looked at the small mountain of shells in front of him.
"He girl, Cousin Uncle here must have eaten at least two or three bowls’ worth of snails. At your price, I’d have spent twenty copper coins already."
Cousin Uncle said this jokingly. In fact, aside from Lin Yuhe, everyone had a sizable pile of shells in front of them.
"Cousin Uncle, we already ate like this yesterday," she said, pointing to the corner of the fenced courtyard, where at least a bucket’s worth of snail shells had been dumped.
"Lin Shang, eat up! After we finish, we’ll go gather more. There are plenty in the river ditch, and they don’t cost any copper coins."
Grandma Lin didn't want the children to come for a meal only to go back home hungry.
"Is six copper coins for Lotus Girl too much? A bowl of snails is worth half a pound of pork. Besides, these snails don't have much meat, and we picked them from the river ditch without spending any silver," Third Grandma said, lacking confidence and feeling the price was too high. If it were her, she definitely wouldn't buy them.
"Third Uncle's Wife, we didn't spend silver on the snails, but we put in the effort! The ingredients for stir-frying the snails cost us silver, and they were especially hard to buy," Lin Yuhe explained.
Indeed, they were quite difficult to buy—Younger Uncle even had to sneak over to the neighboring town to purchase them.
Lin Yuhe had many thoughts. Tomorrow, they would also need to hire a cart to transport the snails to town, which was another expense. Setting up a stall in town would require a stall fee. To be honest, she even considered selling them for eight copper coins a bowl. "Adding all these up, it's not a small amount."
The Lin family had never lit an oil lamp at night before. For the first time, they gathered in the evening, burning oil to clean the snails together.
Even before setting up her stall, Lin Yuhe thought that if her snails turned out delicious, others would surely start selling snails on the street in the next day or two, competing with her business. After all, it wasn’t just their village’s ditches where snails could be found. She needed to come up with a plan.
"Lotus Girl, we’ll clean the snails here. You go to sleep first. You have to wake up early tomorrow to stir-fry them," Grandma Lin said, not wanting her granddaughter to overexert herself so soon after recovering.
The whole family urged her to go to bed. Having been busy all day, she was indeed quite tired. She fell into a deep sleep, unaware of when Third Uncle's family left.
At the first crow of the rooster, Grandma Lin was already up, scrubbing the pot and rinsing the snails. "Yuhe, wake up quickly! Summer days dawn early. If we’re late, we might miss our chance."
Still groggy, Lin Yuhe washed her face to shake off the drowsiness. Grandma Lin had already completed all the preparatory work, leaving only the stir-frying to her.
"Grandma, add some firewood and make the fire strong," Lin Yuhe said. After frying the spice blend in oil, she scooped some of it out and added her specially made spice packet. She asked Grandma Lin to keep the fire strong for a while as the rest of the family gradually woke up.
It was the first day of selling snails, so Lin Yuhe only stir-fried two half-buckets, making it easier to carry them balanced on a shoulder pole to town.
"Changan, Changping, today you’ll go with your sister to sell snails. Listen to her in everything," Grandpa Lin said, then turned to Father Lin, who was responsible for carrying the buckets and taking them to town.
"Eldest, you must also listen to Yuhe. Don’t speak out of turn."
Grandpa Lin wasn’t comfortable letting the three children go to town alone, so he asked Father Lin to accompany them.
"Yuhe, here are twenty copper coins. Keep them safe. Town isn’t like home. Don’t hesitate to spend when necessary. If you can sell them, great. If not, bring them back, and we’ll share and eat them ourselves."
Grandma Lin handed Lin Yuhe a pouch, worried that she might get anxious if the snails didn’t sell.
"I know, Grandma. Don’t worry—our snails are so delicious. How could they not sell?"
While the sky was still dark, Father Lin shouldered the two buckets. Changping carried a basket with bowls, and Changan held the change of clothes for their eldest brother, Lin Changfu. Only Lin Yuhe walked empty-handed.
Grandpa Lin accompanied them all the way to the main road at the village entrance. "Grandpa, go back now! We won’t gather snails today. Let’s wait until we return to decide."
Hearing his granddaughter’s words, Grandpa Lin stopped and didn’t go any farther.
Lin Yuhe followed Father Lin, taking big and small strides as they hurried toward town. She was so exhausted she could barely lift her legs. Along the way, they passed two or three ox carts offering rides, but each time, her father refused.
"Dad, aren’t you tired? Should we take an ox cart?"
Today, Father Lin went with them to the town market, thinking he could save a few copper coins. He looked down at the sweat on his daughter's forehead.
"Daughter, I'm not tired. Are you tired? There will be an ox cart later. You can take it to the town entrance and wait for us. We'll walk faster and be there soon."
Father Lin felt sorry for Lin Yuhe, who had never walked such a long distance before. Besides, selling goods at the market required securing a good spot—if they arrived late, the best spots would be taken by others—so they had been walking a bit faster.
"Father, I'm not tired. I'll stay with you," she said. Neither of her two younger brothers had mentioned taking the ox cart, so how could she possibly do so?