Dawn had broken, and faint footsteps could be heard in the courtyard.
Jin Mingzhu sat up, gently pulled back her quilt, and climbed out of bed. Perhaps her movements disturbed Jin Tianjiao, because her elder sister opened her eyes sleepily, glanced out the window, and sat up while rubbing her eyes.
“Mingzhu, why are you up so early?”
“It’s nothing. I couldn’t sleep. Go back to sleep for a while.”
Jin Tianjiao was simple-minded and didn’t think much of it. She immediately lay back down and closed her eyes. “Mm. It’ll be a while before breakfast is ready. I’ll lie down a little longer.”
Mingzhu dressed, rolled up her sleeves, and left the room. A lamp was already burning in the side room, casting two silhouettes onto the paper-covered window, one tall and one short.
She walked over and pushed open the door. Both people inside turned to look at her.
The room contained several large vats, a stone mill, and a large cooking pot. Apart from those, there were only two rows of shelves holding tofu trays. Xu Yu was grinding soybeans, with a bucket of water suspended above the mill. Xu Yao had lit the fire and was arranging the tofu trays nearby. When they looked up and saw Jin Mingzhu standing in the doorway, both froze.
Xu Yao asked, “What’s gotten into you today? Has the sun risen in the west? Why are you up so early?”
Mingzhu glanced around the room. Looking at such a simple tofu workshop, she couldn’t imagine how Xu Yao had managed to keep it running all these years. Back then, she had been young and ignorant. Now that she thought about it, Xu Yao had never actually been obligated to support them.
Mingzhu stepped inside. “Auntie, I’m here to help.”
Xu Yao almost thought she had misheard. She immediately turned around. “What did you just call me?”
Mingzhu calmly repeated, “Auntie.”
Xu Yao felt her nose sting with emotion. Mingzhu had never addressed her by any familial title before. Hearing her call her Auntie now, her eyes immediately reddened. “Oh… oh…”
Xu Yu continued pushing the stone mill. Raising an eyebrow, he walked past her. “What can you do? Are you going to push the mill?”
The mother and son always spoke in this manner. If Mingzhu hadn’t gained several years of experience and come to recognize the tenderness beneath their harsh words, she would never have appreciated their kindness.
Looking at Xu Yu now, Mingzhu’s expression softened, and she smiled. “I can’t push something that heavy.”
Xu Yu continued walking around the mill, completing another rotation. “Then what can you do?”
Mingzhu teased him. “How about I stand here and watch you grind the beans?”
Xu Yu kept the back of his head turned toward her, but his tone had become considerably more relaxed. “Come over and add some beans.”
Mingzhu answered, “Coming!”
It had been a long time since she had felt so relaxed around her family, and even longer since she had experienced such a warm, ordinary moment. Jin Mingzhu hurried over to help Xu Yao and her son make tofu. For the first time, she discovered just how complicated the process actually was.
Xu Yu no longer needed instructions. He and Xu Yao had a clear division of responsibilities.
Xu Yu operated the stone mill. The soybean milk produced by grinding still contained plenty of soybean pulp, so he poured everything into a vat before ladling it into a large wooden barrel without a bottom for straining, one scoop at a time.
Xu Yao began filtering it. After the soybean milk was poured into the wooden barrel, the filtering cloth removed most of the pulp. Mingzhu watched curiously from the side. “There’s so much soybean pulp!”
Xu Yao nodded and explained, “The more pulp you filter out, the smoother and more delicate the tofu becomes. That’s what customers like. If there’s too much pulp, they might buy it once, but they won’t come back. There’s no point cutting corners to save a little money if it costs you your regular customers.”
These were the finer details of running a business. Mingzhu helped from the side, and afterward, the two women poured the filtered soybean milk into the pot below. By then, Xu Yu had come over to tend the fire.
Perhaps because Mingzhu was there, Xu Yao started nagging again. “Even making tofu is enough to support all of you. I can save enough to find Xu Yu a wife and arrange good marriages for you girls. So those ridiculous arguments of yours don’t hold up. Let’s forget about the marriage with the Xie family, all right?”
She stirred the soybean milk in the wooden barrel to speed up the filtering process, but her eyes remained fixed on Mingzhu.
Mingzhu understood what she meant and didn’t take offense. “There’s no need for anyone to persuade me. Getting married is a good thing. You should all be happy about it.”
Xu Yu hadn’t slept well the previous night either. The moment he heard them discussing the marriage, he angrily shoved the straining sieve aside.
Afterward, they added brine to coagulate the soybean milk, poured it into molds lined with tofu cloth, and waited for it to set before cutting it into blocks. With that, the tofu was finally ready. There was no time for breakfast so early in the morning. Xu Yu loaded the tofu onto his shoulder pole and headed toward the alley entrance. Xu Yao intended to accompany him, but this time, Mingzhu wouldn’t let her. She went along instead.
When they reached the alley entrance, Mingzhu began calling out before Xu Yu could even open his mouth. “Tofu! Freshly made tofu!”
Her voice rang out loud and clear!
Xu Yu couldn’t help turning to look at her. When Mingzhu saw people heading toward the street, she greeted them cheerfully. “Auntie Wang, heading out? Would you like some tofu?”
Xu Yao rarely called out to customers when she sold tofu. She had a sharp tongue and easily offended people, but her tofu was genuinely delicious, so she still had plenty of returning customers. When Auntie Wang saw Mingzhu helping sell tofu, she hurried over.
“Mingzhu! Why have you come out to sell tofu too? Pack two pieces for me.”
After wrapping the tofu and seeing the customer off, Mingzhu turned to glance at Xu Yu. Her stepbrother was nearly an adult now, tall and thin. She knew exactly what the look in his eyes meant, so she let him examine her openly. “There’s no need to stare. There’s nothing so shameful about Jin Mingzhu. We’re selling tofu made by our own family and earning money through honest work. What’s there to be ashamed of?”
Xu Yu looked away, unable to suppress the smile that softened his eyes.
Mingzhu continued selling tofu with him on the street. Whether it was because she had joined him or not, the tofu sold particularly quickly that day. News that Jin Mingzhu had gone out to sell tofu also spread remarkably fast.
She didn’t care in the slightest. She followed Xu Yu calmly and carefully collected all the money they earned from selling tofu.
By the time they had made their rounds through North City, the sun was about to rise. The brother and sister returned toward Old Alley. They had barely reached the alley entrance when they encountered someone familiar. Lu Mingshu, dressed in a student uniform and carrying a paper bag, spotted Mingzhu and hurried over.
“Mingzhu!”
Xu Yu’s expression immediately darkened. “Lu Mingshu, what are you doing here again? What do you want with Mingzhu?”
After several years in business, Mingzhu’s temperament had changed considerably.
She quickly gave Xu Yu a push, urging him to go ahead. “You go home first. I’ll see what he wants.”
Xu Yu gripped his shoulder pole tightly and shot Lu Mingshu a cold glance before moving toward him. Mingzhu reacted quickly and grabbed him. “Xu Yu! Don’t do anything reckless!”
He moved so fast that he nearly swung the shoulder pole at Lu Mingshu, but Mingzhu held him back with all her strength.
Lu Mingshu didn’t move. He simply lowered his eyes, his face filled with guilt.
Mingzhu pushed Xu Yu away. “Go home first. Hitting someone won’t solve anything. He and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. Go back. I’ll handle my own affairs.”
She insisted on sending him away. When Xu Yu looked up and noticed people gathering on the street to watch the commotion, he merely raised a hand and pointed warningly at Lu Mingshu before turning around and leaving with his shoulder pole.
Only after Xu Yu had gone did Mingzhu return to Lu Mingshu. “Mingshu, did you need something?”
She had grown so accustomed to calling him Mingshu that she momentarily forgot to address him differently.
The two of them had always spoken casually with each other. Hearing the familiar warmth in her tone, Lu Mingshu looked conflicted. “I heard you went out to sell tofu on the street. It seems the rumors were true.”
Mingzhu had just returned with Xu Yu. It was obvious that they had been selling tofu, so there was nothing to hide.
Mingzhu nodded. “That’s right. What’s wrong with selling tofu?”
Lu Mingshu raised his head to look at her, his eyes shifting slightly. He held out the paper bag in his arms and spoke gently. “If you’re having financial difficulties, you can tell me. Don’t go out selling tofu anymore.”
Inside the paper bag were fruit cakes from the Wang family’s pastry shop, which he believed were her favorites. He often bought them whenever he came to visit her.
Looking at the paper bag, Jin Mingzhu suddenly laughed. “Lu Mingshu, what are you doing? Do you pity me?”
Lu Mingshu pressed the paper bag into her arms, then placed a small pouch in her hand. “Although we can’t get married anymore, I don’t want to see you living like this.”
The small pouch was heavy. Mingzhu weighed it in her hand and immediately realized it contained money. She looked up. “Why are you giving me money?”
Lu Mingshu closed her fingers around the pouch. “My mother gave me these ten yuan for you. She’s always liked you. She said our family has wronged you. You can consider it compensation if you like. More importantly, don’t let what happened between us interfere with your chances of finding a husband in the future.”
Mingzhu thought for a moment. There was no reason to refuse money, so she accepted it. “All right, I’ll take it. You don’t owe me anything now, and the Lu family has treated me fairly enough. You can leave. I’m perfectly capable of finding a husband, and I’ll marry well too. Don’t worry.”
Her gaze was calm and open, without the slightest hint that she wanted him to stay.
Lu Mingshu, on the other hand, looked into her dark eyes with an extremely complicated expression.
But Jin Mingzhu no longer felt any attachment to him. Holding the fruit cakes, she gave him a slight nod in farewell. “You should go back.”
With that, she turned and walked away.
Her steps were light and brisk, without a trace of the lingering affection she had once shown him. Lu Mingshu stood watching her retreating figure for a long time.
Mingzhu never looked back. She walked straight into her family’s small courtyard.
The moment she entered, Jin Xiaofeng came running out to greet her. “Second Sister, you’re finally back! Big Brother told me to come and find you!”
Xiaofeng was very close to Xu Yu and always listened to him.
Xu Yu had deliberately sent Xiaofeng to fetch her because he wanted to know why Lu Mingshu had come. Mingzhu didn’t expose his intentions. Instead, she handed the fruit cakes to Xiaofeng. “These are for you. Go on!”
In truth, the person who really loved the pastries from the Wang family’s shop was Xiaofeng. Lu Mingshu had never truly understood Mingzhu at all.
Once she thought about it that way, she felt even more at peace. Mingzhu quickened her steps and entered the large front room.
The food had already been placed on the table. Xu Yao was arranging the bowls and chopsticks. “You’re back. Wash your hands and come eat.”
Jin Tianjiao was sitting nearby, twisting around as she tried to stick a stamp onto an envelope. “Mingzhu, are you going out today? Could you mail a letter for me?”
Hearing this, Xu Yao shook her head. “A postage stamp costs five cents now. How many letters have you sent over the past year? I don’t think you’re ever going to find him.”
Jin Tianjiao had been betrothed to someone since childhood. Later, her fiancé’s family moved away. At first, they exchanged letters, but eventually, they lost contact. Even so, Tianjiao had never given up hope. She continued writing letters to their former address and mailing them without fail.
Mingzhu stepped forward and handed Xu Yao both the copper coins earned from selling tofu and the ten yuan Lu Mingshu had given her. “Auntie, here’s the money.”
Xu Yao wiped her hands and accepted it. “Why is there so much money…?”
This was what everyday life in their family looked like. It was utterly ordinary, yet now, as Mingzhu experienced it again, she discovered a sweetness in these simple moments. Smiling, she was just about to sit down for breakfast when another commotion arose in the courtyard.
A woman entered the room with quick steps, smiling as she teased Xiaofeng. “Congratulations, Miss! Wonderful news! Matchmaker Zhao had an urgent matter to attend to back in her hometown and had to leave in a hurry. I’ve come on Madam Xie’s behalf to formally propose marriage. Today, we’ll compare the birth dates and arrange an auspicious wedding date!”
Xu Yao froze, then immediately turned to look at Mingzhu.
Jin Mingzhu welcomed the woman inside without the slightest hesitation. “Thank you for coming, Auntie. Please discuss the arrangements with my aunt.”