The wind in the twelfth lunar month cut across the face like knives, painfully cold.
But Lin Erniu’s heart was burning with excitement.
After several days and nights of hard work, the entire Lin family had finally finished making the fifty pieces of “Fragrant Jade” and carefully packed each one into an old elmwood box before the New Year.
Lin Erniu carried two heavy wooden crates, his steps so light that he felt as though he could fly.
“Brother-in-law, this is a five-tael silver deal!”
As he walked, Lin Erniu excitedly rubbed his frozen hands together.
“Once we collect the remaining payment, let’s buy another ten jin of fatty pork and let Qingyue and the two little babies have a proper feast for the New Year!”
Lu Yuan walked beside him. Seeing his second brother-in-law so happy, a smile also appeared at the corners of his mouth.
The two men entered Jinxiu Shop, the busiest and most prosperous shop in Yuanhe Town, filled with anticipation.
They had expected Shopkeeper Ye to greet them with the same broad smile as last time.
Instead, the moment Shopkeeper Ye saw them, his face turned pale. His eyes were filled with undisguised seriousness and anxiety.
“Oh, Brother Lu, you’re finally here!”
Shopkeeper Ye hurried forward. He didn’t even bother looking at the wooden crates. Instead, he grabbed Lu Yuan by the sleeve and hurriedly led the two men into the most secluded inner room.
Bang!
The heavy wooden door was firmly shut.
Lin Erniu was startled by the situation, and the smile on his face froze.
“Shopkeeper Ye, what’s going on? We made the goods exactly according to the order!”
“The goods are fine. They’re just too good—and they’ve caused trouble!”
Shopkeeper Ye let out a long sigh and turned toward Lu Yuan.
“Brother Lu, let’s be frank. Name your price for the recipe of this ‘Fragrant Jade.’ Jinxiu Shop will buy the formula outright.”
The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room froze.
Lu Yuan’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. He calmly cupped his hands.
“Shopkeeper Ye, you must be joking.”
“This recipe is the foundation on which my entire family survives. It’s the livelihood of everyone in my household. I only sell the finished product. I will never sell the recipe.”
Shopkeeper Ye gave a bitter smile and anxiously slapped his thigh.
“Brother Lu! Do you think I want to take your recipe for myself? I’m trying to save your life!”
He lowered his voice and leaned closer to Lu Yuan, his tone filled with deep apprehension.
“Your ‘Fragrant Jade’ has become incredibly popular among the wealthy ladies in town. It has even attracted the attention of influential families in the county!”
“Yesterday, someone came to my Jinxiu Shop specifically demanding the secret recipe for this scented soap!”
Shopkeeper Ye pointed upward and lowered his voice even further.
“That person is connected to the government! Someone who stands at the very top in this region!”
“They sent word that if I don’t hand over the recipe, not only will Jinxiu Shop be forced to close, but the person who makes the soap won’t be allowed to stay alive in Yuanhe Town!”
“Brother Lu, you’re an intelligent man. Without any powerful backing, an ordinary commoner like you simply can’t protect such a treasure!”
Those words struck Lu Yuan like a heavy blow to the back of the head.
The mindset of a modern man was crushed at that moment beneath the brutal class system of ancient times.
In the modern world, he could apply for a patent and rely on the law to protect his intellectual property.
But in the Great Jing Dynasty, an era ruled by imperial authority and official power, the law was merely a tool for protecting the privileged.
He suddenly understood.
In this era, without power, no matter how much money one earned, one was nothing more than a fattened lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
“An innocent man suffers because of possessing a treasure.”
He had been too naive.
He had believed that with his modern knowledge, he could simply make enough money to give his wife and children a peaceful life.
But if he refused to hand over the recipe, those people could find any excuse they wanted to make life impossible for the Lin family.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his expression had become calm.
“Shopkeeper Ye, thank you for telling me the truth.”
His voice was steady, but there was a chilling coldness beneath it.
“I’ll sell the recipe.”
“Brother-in-law! You can’t sell it! That’s the foundation of our entire family!”
Lin Erniu’s eyes immediately turned red. He grabbed Lu Yuan’s arm tightly.
“Second Brother, let go.”
Lu Yuan gently patted Lin Erniu’s hand.
“If we’re dead, what’s the use of having the recipe?”
Seeing how sensible Lu Yuan was being, Shopkeeper Ye finally let out a long sigh of relief.
“Brother Lu, from today onward, I’ll consider you a true friend!”
Shopkeeper Ye gritted his teeth and walked to the writing desk in the inner room. He opened the money chest hidden at the very bottom.
“I know this recipe is priceless. I can’t simply take it from you. That official only offered five taels to get rid of you like a beggar. I’ll make up the rest from my own pocket!”
“Thirty taels!”
He placed three heavy ten-tael silver ingots on the table.
“Plus the remaining three-tael payment for the fifty bars of soap. That’s thirty-three taels of silver in total! This is the greatest sincerity I can offer!”
Thirty taels of silver!
In this era, that was an enormous fortune—enough to purchase dozens of mu of fertile farmland.
Lu Yuan didn’t hesitate.
After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, he decisively chose to cut his losses.
Right there, he picked up paper and brush and wrote down the detailed formula for purifying plant ash and saponifying pork fat.
After drying the ink, he pressed his fingerprint onto the agreement and signed a contract promising never to reveal the recipe.
Holding the thirty-three taels of silver, the two men walked out of Jinxiu Shop.
The sky was gloomy, and the bitter wind pierced through their clothes.
Lin Erniu carried the enormous sum of money in his arms. Yet instead of smiling, when they reached an empty alley, he suddenly crouched down.
“Wuuu…”
This seven-foot-tall northern man covered his face and began sobbing uncontrollably in the freezing snow.
“Second Brother, what’s wrong?”
Lu Yuan crouched beside him and asked softly.
“I feel wronged! I’m crying for you! I’m crying for Qingyue!”
Lin Erniu’s tears and snot streamed down his face as he punched the brick wall angrily.
“That was the path to survival our Lin family finally managed to find! A way to make money that could have been passed down to Changsheng and An’an!”
“Why? Why can they just take our livelihood with a single word?”
“Is there really no justice in this world?”
Seeing his second brother crying so bitterly, Lu Yuan’s heart ached as though it had been pierced by needles.
Yes.
In this world, what justice belonged to poor people?
Lu Yuan reached out and firmly slapped Lin Erniu’s broad shoulder before pulling him to his feet.
“Second Brother, don’t cry.”
“The humiliation we suffered today is because we’re ordinary commoners with no power.”
“Without academic honors or official status to protect us, the money in our hands is nothing but a death warrant.”
Lu Yuan raised his head and stared at the gloomy sky.
Each word came out with force and determination.
“Consider these thirty-three taels of silver the stepping stone for our Lin family.”
“I will pick up my books again and obtain academic honors!”
“I will walk the imperial examination path!”
“Once I’m wearing an official’s robes, I want to see who in this Great Jing Dynasty will still dare to take anything from my family!”
Lin Erniu froze.
He even forgot to wipe away his tears as he stared blankly at his brother-in-law.
At that moment, Lu Yuan’s figure seemed taller and more imposing to him than even the gods in the temple.
“Come, Second Brother. Let’s go to the bookshop.”
For the sake of preparing for the examinations, Lu Yuan took Erniu straight to the largest bookstore in town.
The scent of ink filling the shop instantly brought back some of the familiar feelings from the original owner’s years of studying.
With the original owner’s memories from taking the children’s examination, combined with the powerful logical and analytical abilities of a modern person, Lu Yuan moved through the bookshelves.
He didn’t waste money on useless books.
Instead, he precisely selected the essential texts for the imperial examinations: Collected Commentaries on the Four Books, two volumes of Collections of Examination Essay Introductions, and an inexpensive but practical set of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone.
“Shopkeeper, ring me up.”
After calculating the price, the books and writing supplies alone cost nearly two taels of silver!
In ancient times, books were extremely expensive luxuries. This was one of the fundamental reasons why it was so difficult for poor families to produce scholars.
Although Lin Erniu was still heartbroken over losing the recipe, he didn’t hesitate when it came time to pay.
He immediately pulled out two taels of silver and slapped them onto the counter.
“Buy them! Brother-in-law, as long as you’re willing to study, even if our family has to sell everything we own, we’ll support you!”
The two men carried their heavy books and the remaining thirty-one taels of silver and began their journey home.
They said little along the way, but Lu Yuan’s state of mind had already undergone a complete transformation.
Before this, he had only wanted to live quietly with his wife and children, enjoying a warm family life.
But now, he wanted something more.
He wanted to ensure that no one in this world would ever dare bully his wife and children again.
By evening, the setting sun was as red as blood.
After braving the wind and snow, the two men finally reached the wall surrounding the Lin family’s courtyard in Qingshui Village.
Before they even had time to push open the door, Lu Yuan’s keen hearing detected something unusual.
The courtyard was strangely quiet.
There was none of the usual sound of children crying or his mother-in-law cooking.
Creak—
Lin Erniu pushed open the courtyard gate and was about to happily call out to everyone.
But he immediately saw Lin Dashan, Wang Shi, and Second Sister-in-law Li sitting around the table in the main room, all with solemn expressions.
Hearing the door open, the curtain leading to the inner room was lifted.
Lin Qingyue emerged, her head wrapped in a postpartum headscarf. Her face was slightly pale, and her eyes were filled with worry.
“Husband, Second Brother, you’re finally back.”
Lu Yuan’s heart tightened.
He quickly stepped forward and supported his wife.
“What happened? Is something wrong?”
Lin Erniu also put down his basket and hurriedly asked,
“Father, Mother, why isn’t anyone cooking? What happened at home?”
Wang Shi sighed, her eyes slightly red.
“It’s that cursed widow Wang! This afternoon, she went around the village gossiping that our family had suddenly become rich and was hiding some kind of treasure that could make money endlessly.”
“That alone wouldn’t matter. People in the countryside get jealous and gossip sometimes.”
Lin Dashan took a puff from his pipe and knocked the ashes against the sole of his shoe, his brows tightly furrowed.
“The problem is that the rumors may already have reached the Lu family village. Knowing the temperament of your stepmother, I’m afraid she’s going to cause trouble again.”
Hearing that it was only gossip, Lu Yuan actually relaxed.
He pulled Lin Qingyue down to sit and looked around at his worried family.
“Father, Mother, don’t worry. Even if the Lu family comes, they won’t be able to cause much trouble.”
As he spoke, Lu Yuan gave Lin Erniu a meaningful glance.
Erniu understood immediately.
He took a deep breath and pulled out the heavy cloth bundle from inside his clothes, carefully placing it on the battered wooden table.
Clang.
The bundle was opened.
Three gleaming ten-tael silver ingots, along with another tael of loose silver, instantly dazzled everyone’s eyes.
“My heavens…”
Second Sister-in-law Li immediately covered her mouth in shock, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
Wang Shi clasped her hands together and repeatedly murmured prayers.
“How… how many bars of scented soap did you have to sell to earn this much money?”
Lu Yuan didn’t hide anything.
He told the family everything that had happened at Jinxiu Shop that day, including how powerful people had pressured them into selling the recipe and his decision to return to studying for the imperial examinations.
After hearing his story, the room fell silent for a moment.
Although the Lin family had never studied, they weren’t fools.
They understood the harsh truth that ordinary people could never fight against government officials.
Losing the recipe that had provided them with a way to make money naturally left everyone disappointed and heartbroken.
But when they looked at the thirty-one taels of silver sitting right before them, their sense of grievance was quickly overwhelmed by immense joy.
This was more than thirty taels of silver!
With this money, they could buy farmland, build a large tiled house, and give the two children a comfortable life as they grew up.
“We did the right thing by selling it!”
Lin Dashan was the first to recover. He slammed his palm against the table, tears filling his eyes.
“We ordinary people can’t hold on to this kind of wealth. Rather than invite disaster and risk our lives, it’s better to exchange it for real silver!”
Wang Shi also wiped away her tears and nodded repeatedly.
“Exactly! Thirty taels of silver! Our Lin family has never seen this much money in generations. We should be satisfied!”
Seeing how understanding his family was, Lu Yuan felt even more moved.
He turned toward Lin Qingyue sitting beside him.
“Qingyue, we may no longer have the income from the scented soap.”
“I’ll also have to spend my time studying. The burden on the family may become heavier.”
“Will you… blame me for making this decision on my own?”
Lin Qingyue looked at the thick books on the table, then at her husband’s deep and determined eyes.
She suddenly grabbed Lu Yuan’s hand tightly.
Her eyes burned with unprecedented determination.
“Husband, what foolish thing are you saying?”
“You were a scholar to begin with. You have great talent! These coarse clothes and these few iron pots can never confine you!”
“Go take the examinations!”
“Even if we have to sell everything we own, even if we have to beg for food, I’ll support you!”
“I want to see my husband put on an official’s robes and stand proudly before everyone!”
He tightly clasped Qingyue’s hand in return and silently swore in his heart:
I will never fail this family and all the love they have given me.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Just as the entire family was immersed in their hopes for the future, the rickety wooden gate outside was suddenly kicked open with tremendous force.
Immediately afterward, a shrill, vicious voice filled with undisguised greed and arrogance shattered the peaceful atmosphere of the courtyard.
“Lu Yuan! You unfilial, ungrateful wretch! Get your worthless self out here!”