With Xu Cuilian’s help, Sheng An pushed a cart full of goods back home.
Xu Jinnian was at Fuzi’s place, leaving only Xu Chenglin at home.
Hearing his daughter-in-law and sister’s voices suddenly, Xu Chenglin’s heart tightened.
They’re back so early—could something have happened?
Just as he was about to call his sister in to ask, Xu Cuilian eagerly pushed the door open, her round face creased with deep smile lines:
“Second Brother, our An An is truly amazing! The business was booming on the first day of setting up the stall! You should’ve seen the crowded scene—people were practically squeezing into the pot!”
“Really?”
Xu Chenglin was astonished, but thinking of his daughter-in-law’s culinary skills, it seemed perfectly normal.
“An An’s food is delicious, so it’s no surprise it’s popular with customers.”
Xu Chenglin’s tone was filled with pride as he shared his experience of eating Sheng An’s cooking these past few days:
“Just smelling the aroma of this child’s cooking makes me hungry. These past couple of days, I’ve regained some strength in my limbs—it seems I won’t be dying anytime soon.”
Xu Cuilian was overjoyed and excitedly stepped forward to carefully observe her second brother’s complexion:
“You do look much better! I heard you speak a whole string of sentences without gasping heavily like before. It seems you’re truly recovering!”
Xu Chenglin chuckled: “It’s all thanks to An An.”
Hearing this, Xu Cuilian became even more convinced that Sheng An was the right wife for her nephew—since she entered the family, Second Brother’s health had improved.
Sheng An entered the room carrying a heavy money pouch, not missing the two’s praises about her.
She smiled but didn’t join their conversation, instead pouring the money pouch onto the table to count the day’s total earnings.
As the coins clinked, Xu Cuilian also came out to help count.
After counting, they calculated a total of two hundred seventy-six wen.
Deducting costs for pork, flour, firewood, etc., the profit was approximately one hundred seventy wen.
“Wonderful! In a month, we can earn at least four or five taels of silver—more than what your father-in-law makes as a supervisor at the dock.”
Xu Cuilian was ecstatic, never expecting such a small business like selling Wonton could yield such substantial profits.
Sheng An wasn’t surprised.
In her previous life, those selling street food—though seemingly insignificant—could easily afford a house in a small city after two or three years of hard work.
Recalling the morning’s busyness, Xu Cuilian suggested to Sheng An:
“Your Wonton is delicious, and business will only get better. If it becomes too busy, why not ask your grandmother to come help you?”
Farming is exhausting and bitter, with little monetary return.
It would be much better to focus on running the Wonton stall, with her paying Grandma Sheng a monthly wage—far easier than farming.
“Yes, let’s try for two more days. If it remains as busy as this morning, I’ll ask Grandma to come help.”
Sheng An agreed verbally but preferred to find a diligent young helper.
It wasn’t that she looked down on Grandma Sheng, but considering her advanced age, having her rise before dawn daily to work hard could easily wear down her frail body.
Xu Cuilian was very busy and left after chatting with Sheng An for a bit. She refused the money Sheng An offered for the pork, telling her to keep accounts and settle at month’s end.
Grateful for Xu Xiaogu’s family’s help, Sheng An planned to buy good wine and dishes in a couple of days to invite her aunt’s family over for a meal.
After washing the bowls, utensils, and kitchenware clean, and boiling water to steam and sterilize them, Sheng An saw that it was still early and decided to go back to her room to catch some more sleep.
She had woken up too early today and had been busy inside and out, feeling utterly exhausted and drowsy.
When she woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
The sound of chopping vegetables came from the kitchen—it turned out Xu Jinnian had returned and was preparing lunch.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Sheng An yawned, leaning against the doorframe as if boneless, her eyes swollen as she watched Xu Jinnian busy at work.
“You were too tired.”
Xu Jinnian glanced at Sheng An’s complexion and, seeing she still looked weary, felt layers of guilt piling up in his heart, making his hands move even faster.
A slight smile curved Sheng An’s lips as she admired the man’s skilled knife work, and she couldn’t resist joking:
“If one day you give up on the imperial exams, we could open a husband-and-wife shop. I’ll be the head chef, and you can assist. I’m sure the business would thrive.”
Xu Jinnian’s chopping paused briefly, his gentle eyes gleaming: “Alright.”
Seeing his serious expression and realizing he wasn’t joking, Sheng An felt a pang of panic, genuinely afraid he might slack off:
“You’re not cut out to be a shopkeeper. You’d better focus on studying and strive to earn an official rank through the exams.”
Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—the social hierarchy was clear.
If Xu Jinnian could change their family’s status through the imperial exams and step into the scholar-official class, it would benefit Sheng An as well.
At the very least, if they opened a small restaurant in the future, they wouldn’t have to worry about envy-driven troublemakers.
Xu Jinnian’s expression turned earnest: “Niangzi, I will live up to your expectations.”
Sheng An was momentarily taken aback, scratching her cheek as pressure suddenly mounted: “This is your own affair—don’t drag me into it!”
If he succeeded, she might at most bask in some reflected glory.
But if he faltered in his studies and blamed his exam failures on her, her slight frame couldn’t bear that burden.
“Niangzi, husband and wife are one; there’s no distinction between you and me.”
Xu Jinnian felt his wife’s mindset was problematic—she always unconsciously drew clear lines between them—and he wanted to take this opportunity to discuss it properly with her:
“Or is it that Niangzi has never considered standing by her husband through thick and thin, sharing both honor and hardship?”
At this point, Xu Jinnian’s expression was stern, his gaze fixed intently on Sheng An.
Sheng An felt a headache coming on under his stare, and without thinking, she blurted out: “Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Husband and wife are like birds in the same forest—when disaster strikes, each flies away’?”
The cramped space fell into dead silence.
Sheng An wished she could slap herself twice over. With one sentence, she had killed the conversation—what nonsense had she just spoken!
Fine, she admitted it was her true feelings.
When it came to marriage, she truly had no confidence.
As an orphan abandoned by her birth parents from the moment she was born, she was skeptical even of familial bonds. How could she believe that a mere marriage certificate could thoroughly bind two originally unrelated people together?
Sheng An couldn’t even guarantee that, if a real disaster struck, she wouldn’t abandon Xu Jinnian and flee far away.
Since she couldn’t necessarily uphold such a commitment herself, she couldn’t expect Xu Jinnian to do so either.
“Sheng An.”
It was the first time Xu Jinnian had called her by her full name. His expression seemed calm, as if he hadn’t taken Sheng An’s cold words to heart.
Sheng An’s scalp prickled. She looked everywhere—at the sky, at the ground—anywhere but at him.
Somehow, she wasn’t afraid of him shouting or losing his temper; what she feared was his composed demeanor, silently brewing a plan to deal with her decisively.
Just as Sheng An was secretly bracing herself, preparing to be thrown out, she unexpectedly heard the man reciting the menu:
“We still have some meat left from last time. I’ll stir-fry it with eggplants later, make another green vegetable dish, and steam some egg custard. Will that be enough for lunch?”
Sheng An: “…”
Thus, a conflict ended in this bizarre manner.
Sheng An sat by the stove feeding the fire, glaring at the man skillfully wielding the wok. She couldn’t understand how someone so young could maintain such emotional stability.
So stable it was frightening.
Sheng An felt certain things wouldn’t be resolved so easily.
Would he secretly put rat poison in the food when she wasn’t looking?
Sheng An trembled with fear.
Xu Jinnian remained unaware of her rich inner monologue. After serving the meal, he didn’t join Sheng An at the table as usual, but went to the room first to attend to Xu Chenglin.
The moment Xu Chenglin took his first bite, he knew the lunch had been prepared by his son, momentarily finding it hard to swallow.
Nevertheless, he forced it down and whispered to his son: “An An must be exhausted today. You should be more considerate of her.”
Xu Jinnian remained silent for a moment before humbly asking: “Father, how should I be considerate of her?”
Hearing this, Xu Chenglin became so angry his beard seemed to bristle:
“How dare you ask such questions to your old bachelor father? If I knew these things, would I have had to raise you playing both father and mother roles?”
Xu Jinnian: “…”
Xu Chenglin had poor appetite, eating less than half his usual portion from previous days.
Feeling deeply guilty, Xu Jinnian finally sat at the dining table. When he tasted the first bite of food from his own bowl, he felt dissatisfied with his own cooking for the first time.
Sheng An, however, showed no pickiness, eating about the same amount as before.
Noticing Xu Jinnian’s poor appetite, she assumed he was sulking.
After hesitating briefly, Sheng An decided to reconcile, so she reached out and tugged his sleeve: “How about… you say something unpleasant to me too, then we’ll be even.”
Xu Jinnian: “…”
Seeing his silence, Sheng An grew more insistent: “I mean it! And I promise I won’t get mad at you!”
Xu Jinnian took a deep breath and asked a completely unrelated question: “Niangzi, how old are you this year?”
Sheng An looked puzzled: “Sixteen, why?”
A faint smile appeared in Xu Jinnian’s eyes as he assumed an expression of sudden understanding: “So you’re already this old. Your husband thought you’d just turned six.”
Sheng An exploded with anger, her cheeks puffing up like a pufferfish: “You’re the six-year-old! Your whole family are six-year-olds!”
How dare he mock her for being childish! Where was she childish at all?
Xu Jinnian remained silent, simply watching her with an amused smile.
This made Sheng An even angrier, itching to pounce and scratch that infuriatingly smug face.