The winter morning was still bitterly cold, but the Lin family courtyard was filled with warmth and an unprecedented sense of vitality.
The large meal of chicken and white-flour cakes they had enjoyed the night before had given everyone a healthier, rosier complexion.
Early in the morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the entire Lin family got out of bed almost simultaneously.
Even Lin Sanniu, who usually loved to sleep in, was full of energy as he chopped firewood in the courtyard, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
After washing up, Lu Yuan gathered everyone in the main room.
“Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother.”
Lu Yuan looked serious, his eyes filled with confidence and certainty.
“We have to make those fifty pieces of ‘Fragrant Jade’ ordered by Jinxiu Shop perfectly.”
“Brother-in-law, don’t worry! We’ll all work together. We definitely won’t delay the order!” Lin Erniu patted his chest confidently.
Lu Yuan smiled and began assigning everyone their tasks in an orderly manner.
“For this order, Shopkeeper Ye has already paid us two taels of silver as a deposit. Once we deliver the goods in a few days, we’ll receive another three taels as the remaining payment.”
“If this batch sells well among the wealthy ladies in town, we’ll definitely receive even bigger orders in the future.”
Lu Yuan paused, a far-reaching plan flashing through his deep eyes.
“Yuanhe Town is still too small. After the New Year, if we can keep up with production, I intend to explore the county town as well.”
“It’s just that, counting everyone in our family, we only have a handful of workers. I’m worried everyone will work themselves to exhaustion.”
Hearing that they might go to the county town to do business, Lin Dashan became so excited that he rubbed his hands together, his old face flushed red.
“Brother-in-law, saying that makes your father-in-law look bad! We’re farmers. The one thing we’re never afraid of is hard labor!”
“As long as we can make money and let Qingyue and our two grandchildren live a good life, your father-in-law could go several days without sleeping!”
Lin Daniu also nodded honestly.
“Exactly! Brother-in-law, just give us the orders!”
Looking at these simple and fiercely protective family members, Lu Yuan felt warmth spreading through his heart.
“Good. Then we’ll divide up the work.”
Lu Yuan took out the wooden board he had drawn yesterday.
“Father, Eldest Brother. Carving the elmwood boxes is the most delicate task, especially the hidden plum-blossom mark for preventing counterfeits. It has to be exactly the same every time. I’ll have to trouble the two of you.”
“Leave it to me!” Lin Dashan answered loudly, taking his axe and carving knife toward the corner.
Lu Yuan then turned toward his other two brothers.
“Second Brother, Third Brother. You two are fast and strong. You’re responsible for going to the back mountain to collect dead branches, filtering the plant ash, and gathering more wild wintersweet blossoms from Broken Cliff.”
“Extracting the flower essence is hard work. You’ll have to keep a close eye on the fire.”
Lin Erniu and Lin Sanniu answered in unison.
“No problem! We’re going now!”
Finally, Lu Yuan rolled up his sleeves.
“As for boiling the soap and controlling the proportions of lye and pork fat, I’ll personally oversee that.”
Once everyone had their assignments, the Lin family courtyard began operating like a well-oiled machine.
By midmorning, the two large iron pots in the backyard were already bubbling away, sending steam into the air.
A strange fragrance began spreading through the cold air.
It was the cool, elegant scent of wild wintersweet blossoms mixed with the clean, distinctive smell produced as the pork fat underwent saponification.
The fragrance drifted over the wall and, carried by the wind, reached a small independent courtyard more than two hundred meters away.
The owner of that courtyard was a widow in her thirties whom the villagers called Aunt Wang.
She had lost her husband at a young age and lived with her fourteen-year-old daughter.
Life was difficult for the mother and daughter. Aunt Wang had rented out the few thin plots of farmland her late husband had left behind and barely survived by collecting rent in grain.
Years of poverty had made her greedy for petty advantages and sharp-tongued.
A few days earlier, when Lu Yuan’s mother-in-law, Wang Shi, had taken five precious eggs to exchange for grain from her, Aunt Wang had deliberately cheated her out of nearly half a jin of coarse rice.
At that moment, Aunt Wang was sitting in her courtyard enjoying the sunshine while sewing the sole of a shoe.
“Sniff—”
She took a hard sniff.
Her triangular eyes immediately lit up.
“What smells so good? Is someone stewing meat or boiling some kind of spice?”
She stood up and followed the fragrance, craning her neck toward the source.
It was coming from the Lin family’s direction!
Aunt Wang had been watching carefully these past few days.
The Lin family’s live-in son-in-law had been taking Lin Erniu into town every day.
When the two returned yesterday evening, their two large baskets had been filled to the brim. Even the legs of large chickens had been sticking out.
And that night, the Lin family’s courtyard had been filled with banging and clattering noises for most of the night.
Aunt Wang’s heart had been itching with curiosity and jealousy.
“What kind of good fortune has that Lin family stumbled upon? Did they suddenly get rich?”
Her eyes rolled around.
She immediately dropped the shoe sole in her hands.
She ran to the cellar and dug out half of a broken bamboo basket. From inside, she picked out several shriveled frozen radishes that even pigs wouldn’t want and placed them inside.
“I want to see what those Lin family people are doing in their courtyard!”
With the basket hanging from her arm, Aunt Wang hurried toward the Lin family’s courtyard, her stout body swaying as she walked.
At that moment, the front gate of the Lin family’s courtyard was half open.
Second Sister-in-law Li was carrying a basin of freshly washed clothes, preparing to hang them on the rope in the courtyard.
“Oh, Second Daughter-in-law! Busy, are you?”
Aunt Wang put on a fake smile.
Before she had even entered, her shrill voice had already carried inside.
Li looked up.
The smile immediately disappeared from her face.
She was a straightforward and fiery woman who couldn’t tolerate being taken advantage of. She had not forgotten how Aunt Wang had cheated her mother-in-law a few days earlier.
“Oh, Aunt Wang. What brings you to our house today?”
Li wiped her hands casually on her apron. She didn’t welcome her in, merely looking at her with a faint, mocking smile.
Aunt Wang didn’t feel embarrassed at all.
She pushed her way into the courtyard.
While putting on a fake smile, her eyes darted around like those of a thief, desperately trying to look past Li toward the backyard, where white smoke was rising.
“Listen to you! We’re all neighbors, aren’t we?”
Aunt Wang pushed the half-basket of frozen radishes forward, putting on an affectionate expression.
“I heard Qingyue gave birth to a pair of twins—a boy and a girl? What wonderful news!”
“Our family doesn’t have much, so I brought a few radishes from our own garden. You can stew them for Qingyue to help with her milk.”
Li lowered her eyes and glanced at the shriveled radishes, some of which even had black spots.
She nearly laughed in anger.
She actually had the nerve to bring this rubbish to a new mother and claim it would help her produce milk!
“Aunt Wang, you’d better keep those radishes and stew them for yourself.”
Li subtly moved sideways, completely blocking the moon gate leading to the backyard.
The fake smile disappeared from her face.
“My sister-in-law is blessed. Her husband dotes on her. Yesterday, he just bought two old hens from town. They’re stewing right now. If these frozen radishes make her sick, we’d feel terrible.”
Aunt Wang’s expression stiffened.
Her outstretched hand froze in midair.
But she had come with a purpose today. How could she leave so easily?
“Oh, Second Daughter-in-law, don’t be so distant.”
Aunt Wang forced down her irritation and put the basket on the ground.
She leaned sideways, desperately trying to see what was happening beyond Li.
“I smelled something delicious outside just now. Whatever you’re cooking in the backyard smells wonderful! Is it some kind of bone broth? It smells like meat mixed with flowers.”
“I’ve noticed that your brother-in-law and Second Brother have been going into town every day lately. Did you find some way to make money? Why don’t you tell your aunt about it? My mother and daughter are struggling too.”
The moment Li heard this, anger surged through her.
What an shameless old woman! She had come here to spy on their secret recipe!
“Aunt Wang, if your family is having a hard time, that’s your family’s problem. When our Lin family was struggling and barely had enough to eat, I never saw you lend us a hand.”
Li simply tore off all pretenses.
She planted her hands on her hips and stood in the doorway like a guardian deity.
“Not only did you never help us, but a few days ago, my mother-in-law kindly brought five precious eggs to your house to exchange for grain.”
“Five large eggs! And you only gave her a tiny handful of coarse rice mixed with sand!”
Aunt Wang’s face turned red with embarrassment when her past actions were exposed.
“You… How can you speak like that? Your mother-in-law agreed to the exchange herself!”
“Agreeing to the exchange is one thing. Having a black heart is another!”
Li refused to give an inch, her sharp eyes fixed firmly on Aunt Wang.
“Aunt Wang, I’d advise you to take your frozen radishes and go home.”
“We’re boiling medicinal waste water in the backyard for Qingyue to bathe with after childbirth. Since you’re a widow, you’d better not accidentally bring bad luck upon yourself. Otherwise, you might really encounter some disaster.”
In ancient times, widows were particularly vulnerable to accusations of being unlucky or bringing bad fortune.
Li’s words were vicious enough to strike directly at Aunt Wang’s sore spot.
“You! You uncultured shrew! I came here with good intentions, and this is how you treat me!”
Aunt Wang trembled with rage and pointed at Li’s nose, cursing her several times.
But seeing Li’s fierce expression, she knew she wouldn’t gain anything here today.
Moreover, the voices of Lin Erniu and Lin Sanniu could be heard coming from the courtyard. If those two strong men came out, she wouldn’t be able to handle them.
“Bah! A bunch of poor peasants acting like rich landlords!”
Aunt Wang grabbed the half-basket of rotten radishes from the ground and stormed away, stomping so loudly that the ground seemed to shake.
“Take care, Aunt Wang! No need to see you out!”
Li delivered one final jab from behind.
With a loud bang, Aunt Wang slammed the Lin family’s gate shut, her chest heaving violently with anger.
She had been thoroughly humiliated and hadn’t even managed to see what was actually boiling in the Lin family’s pots.
“What are they so proud of? Isn’t it just that their live-in son-in-law knows a few strange tricks?”
As she walked back toward her own house, Aunt Wang viciously cursed the Lin family in her heart.