On the road into the city, Bai Chao's eyes and mouth never stopped moving. Not only did he carefully memorize every fork in the road, he also diligently asked about the villages they passed, and every time they went through a village, he would ask people how far that place was from his home.
At first, Luo Yang didn't think much of it, assuming the little dolt simply found everything novel. But gradually, he caught on—Bai Chao was afraid of getting lost again and being unable to find his way home, which was why he asked so many careful questions.
"Chaochao, take a good look at what Ah Niang and I are wearing. Once we get into the city, you must keep your eyes on us at all times and stay close to us. Don't wander off on your own, understand?"
"Mm!" Chaochao understood—he mustn't wander off, or he wouldn't be able to find the way home.
Bai Chao nodded very earnestly, leaving mother and son momentarily speechless, not knowing what to say. They both knew this child was a brother who had been kidnapped from another family, and who knew how worried his family must be.
Baihua Village wasn't far from the county town—only ten li—but today they weren't heading to the county town. Instead, they were going to the prefectural city, nearly thirty li away. The journey was long, but it was worth it, because grain in the prefectural city sold for one wen more per jin, while various seasonings were a bit cheaper. By walking an extra twenty or so li, they could earn over a hundred wen—a very worthwhile trade.
After walking about ten li, sweat was already dripping nonstop from Luo Yang and his mother's heads. Bai Chao was tired too, but he didn't complain—he even sighed only in secret.
Whenever he caught sight of someone else's ox cart or horse cart, he would sneak a glance at Luo Yang. Big Guy had said their family would soon have a big horse, and once they had one, Big Guy and Ah Niang wouldn't have to carry things on their backs when they came to the city, and his legs wouldn't hurt anymore.
Since the village was so far from the prefectural city, they had set out quite early. Moreover, they didn't stick solely to the main road, sometimes taking shortcuts along smaller paths. Even so, rushing as fast as they could, it was only a little past mid-morning by the time they reached the city gate. It was still early, so nothing was delayed.
As soon as they entered the city and completed the registration, they hurried to the grain shop they were familiar with. They hadn't brought much money when they left—they needed to sell their grain first before they could buy anything.
Grain prices in the Yan Kingdom were relatively fixed. Except in years of famine when grain was scarce, rice generally sold for eight to ten wen per jin, and unhusked grain for six to seven wen. Whether rice or unhusked grain, prices were lowest at autumn harvest each year, began rising at the start of the year, and reached their peak by the sixth or seventh month.
The Luo family urgently needed money, so even though prices were at their lowest right now, they had no choice but to sell a few hundred jin first—otherwise, they couldn't even afford salt at home.
Luo Yang was tall and strong, carrying two large sacks of unhusked grain on his back frame totaling over 140 jin. Luo's Mother was also quite strong, carrying nearly 90 jin. Between them, mother and son carried nearly 230 jin of grain, selling it for over 1,300 wen—almost one tael and four qian of silver.
Of this money, Luo's Mother exchanged two five-qian pieces of broken silver, and the rest for one-qian pieces and copper coins, which would be convenient to spend when shopping later.
Though the prefectural city was large, villagers rarely came to the city just to stroll. The single area near the North Gate was more than enough for them to explore to their hearts' content and buy everything they needed.
The moment the three of them entered the market, Luo's Mother led the two to a familiar little stall and called out for a few baozi and a couple of flatbreads to fill their stomachs first.
Today they were eating white-flour baozi, which tasted far better than the gray-flour kind—the dough was fluffier and more fragrant. Even at two coins apiece, Luo's Mother didn't scrimp and bought six outright, plus a few egg flatbreads.
Luo Yang had a big appetite; two baozi alone wouldn't fill him up. He'd worked hard today, so eating a bit more was hardly a waste.
They were willing to spend on food, but not on drinks—they carried bamboo tubes with them when they went out and refilled them along the way. If the food made them thirsty, water would do; there was no need to spend extra money.
Once their stomachs were full, it was time to shop. With a clear goal in mind, Luo's Mother went straight into a general goods store and bought five packets of salt and one of sugar, along with a jin of soy sauce and two jin of vinegar. Just those items cost her nearly a hundred and forty coins.
"Ai, this sugar and salt are really expensive." Luo's Mother handed over the money, wincing as she packed the goods into her back basket.
Hearing his mother grumble, Luo Yang picked up the thread of conversation. "It could be worse. We live close to the salt-producing areas. I hear that in the lands to the southwest, salt can sell for thirty-some coins a jin—sky-high prices. Here it's only a dozen or so a jin."
Luo's Mother naturally knew what Luo Yang was talking about, and after nodding, she felt a little comforted. She was just about to head to the fabric shop when she realized the two children weren't following. She turned around to see Bai Chao tugging at her eldest with an aggrieved face, his lips already puckering up.
"You said you'd buy me candy." Bai Chao's voice was full of grievance, on the verge of tears.
Big bad liar, breaking his promise—he said he'd buy him candy after selling the grain, but he didn't buy any at all!
Hearing that aggrieved voice, Luo's Mother burst out laughing and pointed at the basket on Luo Yang's back. "We did buy it, we already bought the sugar."
"Not that sugar. The sweet, sparkly kind." Bai Chao was rather put out. A-Niang really did treat him like a fool.
What they'd just bought was sugar for making sweet cakes and sweet soups, not eating candy.
The moment Luo's Mother heard the words "sparkly" candy, her smile faded. That kind of candy wasn't cheap.
It cost a full thirty coins a packet, and a packet only had a dozen or so pieces. What family could bear to let their children eat that? The children in their village, at most, got to eat malt candy that cost around ten coins a packet, and most families considered it good enough to just buy loose sugar to mix into sugar water at home.
"Ai." No matter how reluctant she was, what could she do? Her son had already made the promise—she couldn't very well cheat a child.
Luo's Mother opened her coin purse, intending to count out ten coins for Luo Yang, but halfway through counting, she simply went to buy it herself.
"Boss, we forgot a packet of malt candy earlier. Look, we bought so much from you just now—can't you give us a little discount? Just nine coins?"
The shopkeeper's mouth twitched at the offer of nine coins. The malt candy had sold at ten coins a packet for years, and few people haggled over it. But seeing the woman's smiling face, and then glancing at the little husband hiding behind her spouse, looking at him so eagerly, he could only nod in agreement.
"Fine." How stingy can you get, really? "Here, one packet of malt candy."
"Thank you, boss!"
Money handed over, goods received—the malt candy in hand, Bai Chao was finally happy. He immediately tore open the packaging, picked out a piece, and popped it into his mouth.
"Delicious." With the sweet treat, Bai Chao's energy came back, and his legs no longer felt tired. They turned back into rabbit legs again—he could hop as he walked.
Seeing him so happy, Luo's Mother found herself unable to walk away.
The malt candy in town cost two wen more per pack. Oh well, might as well buy another pack—saving three wen!
"Shopkeeper, hehe."
After the family, having bought yet another pack of candy for nine wen, walked away, the general store owner stood with hands on hips watching their three retreating figures, utterly puzzled. "How can they be so stingy and so generous at the same time?"
Salt was bought. The next items on the list were just as essential—and very expensive. The family also needed cloth, and quite a lot of it.
No one in the family had had new clothes made in years.
Farming families mostly wore coarse hemp clothing, and the Luo family was no exception.
Luo's Mother bought a bolt of hemp cloth and a bolt of coarse cotton cloth, then cut two zhang of fine cotton cloth, along with some needles and thread. In one go, she spent nearly one tael and one qian of silver. Of the money from selling grain today, less than two qian remained—just over a hundred wen.
And even this money couldn't be taken home, because there was still more to buy.
"We still need to buy half a jin of wine for your Grandfather, and some braised dishes. Our family hasn't had braised food in years. Today we'll celebrate as if it's New Year—let's treat our taste buds first."
When Luo's Mother said this, Luo Yang merely nodded, but Bai Chao spoke right up. "Good, treat our taste buds!"
At his words, mother and son both turned to look at him. He didn't feel embarrassed at all—he just patted his belly and nodded earnestly, clearly showing he had no intention of shortchanging his stomach.
Seeing how thin the boy was, his waist looking like it could be pinched with one hand, Luo's Mother gritted her teeth and decided to buy a few more jin of leaf lard to take home. Lard nourishes the body—with more lard-fried rice, he was sure to put on some flesh.
When the three returned home loaded with goods, there was no sorrow about spending all their money—only pure joy.
Luo's Mother's heart felt light and clear, wonderfully satisfied. It had been a long time since she'd bought so many things so freely. Spending money felt truly wonderful.
Luo Yang watched the person who had stuck close to him the whole way, thinking that in a few days he would have well-fitting clothes to wear, and felt happy too. As for Bai Chao, he had eaten candy the entire way home, so naturally he was even happier.
Since everyone in town had headed straight for their destinations, it hadn't taken much effort. Even with travel time, they got home before the hour of you—not yet dinnertime for farming families.
That day, Grandfather and Grandmother had been busy at home, while Father Luo had gone to move stone blocks for someone, earning thirty wen in just half a day. He arrived home right on the heels of Bai Chao and the others. As the two parties took out their money to tally it up, Grandmother was setting the dishes on the table one by one. She had long since prepared everything at home, waiting only for everyone to return before starting the meal.
"Huh? Only this much left?" Grandfather poked at the small pile of loose coins on the table. Just five wen? He simply couldn't believe it. "All that grain, and this is all the money you brought back?"
"It all went to buying things. We bought everything—some fine cloth too." Luo's Mother felt a little guilty. Those two zhang of fine cotton cloth had cost quite a bit—a full hundred and twenty wen.
"What cloth could be so precious? And another thing—why didn't you buy a single thing for Chao brother? He's married now, going around with nothing on him—how does that look?" Seeing Bai Chao's ears and fingers all bare, Grandfather's face fell at once.
He was truly angry. So much money spent all at once, yet the things that needed doing weren't done—what kind of way is that to run a household!
When Grandfather mentioned Bai Chao's things, mother and son both felt guilty. They had genuinely forgotten, and the reason they forgot was naturally because they both knew that Bai Chao wasn't really their family's husband—he was just staying at the house temporarily.
Mother and son didn't dare say a word. Bai Chao, who had been hiding behind someone for a while, watched Grandfather's expression, then quietly edged closer to the person beside him. Only when he reached Grandfather's side did he suddenly stuff a piece of candy into the man's mouth.
"Grandfather, have some candy."
Bai Chao's movements were so quick it caught everyone off guard. Grandfather's mouth was forced open, and the candy dropped in. His mouth instantly moistened, and he instinctively sucked on the candy, though he still couldn't help scolding, "Eat, eat, eat—all you know is eating!"
"Alright, it's the fifteenth of the eighth month today. We've already bought all this stuff and can't return it, so hurry up and get ready for dinner." Grandmother secretly glared at the temper-throwing Grandfather before quickly smoothing things over. Grandfather slurped on the candy in his mouth and reluctantly waved his hand, calling for the meal to be served.
Today, the family's meal was very lavish. Besides the braised pork offal that Luo Yang and the others had brought back, there was also a soy-braised pork knuckle—that knuckle alone had cost thirty wen, terribly expensive.
Luo's Grandmother had also prepared quite a few dishes at home, though they were all vegetarian. She knew the ones who went out would bring back the meat dishes.
Braised potato chunks with green beans, cold-dressed shredded eggplant with green peppers, stir-fried green soybeans, pan-fried tofu, and even a plate of steamed egg custard with shrimp.
"The shrimp were sent over by Erwa. He said his godfather's birthday this year he won't be able to come—he's going off on a trading trip, and probably won't be back until the end of the year." The Erwa Grandmother mentioned was Father Luo's godson.
Yang Erwa had an unusual birth chart. When he was little and fell ill, a fortune teller told his family he needed a godfather with a craft to protect him, but no one dared take him. The village carpenter, pig butcher, and mason all pretended not to know, avoiding the Yang family whenever they saw them.
Father Luo knew bamboo weaving, which counted as a craft, and he wasn't afraid to take Yang Erwa as his godson. Yang Erwa's illness really did gradually get better, so the two families had always been on good terms.
Back when Luo Yang got married, besides the family relatives, one of the two families from the village who came was the Yang family.
The prefecture city where Baihua Village was located was by the sea, so seafood was relatively cheap. Shrimp that people in many inland places had never even seen could be eaten here for a bit of money—though even that bit of money many families were reluctant to spend.
After all, the green shrimp that the city's wealthy found so cheap seemed like an astronomical price to them—dozens of wen per jin, and a jin only had a dozen or so shrimp. Expensive as could be.
"You've all been busy all day. Eat."
Only when Luo's Grandfather spoke did everyone pick up their chopsticks. Once they started eating, the family members weren't overly polite, but neither were they greedy—at most two spoonfuls each of the shrimp egg custard, and no more.
The rare shrimp egg custard couldn't be eaten in large amounts, but fortunately there were plenty of delicious dishes today, so no one minded.
A green shrimp suddenly appeared in Bai Chao's bowl as well, and Grandmother's face immediately wrinkled up. She turned to Luo Yang and his mother and said, "What are you two doing? He's such a little thing—how much can he eat? Why are you bothering with him?"
Grandmother looked at the shrimp in Bai Chao's bowl with some heartache. His mother giving him some was one thing, but why was her eldest grandson's food going to the little fool too?
Grandmother, unaware of what was going on between mother and son, shot an annoyed glance at the shrimp in Bai Chao's bowl and gave her own portion to Luo Yang. Bai Chao looked back and forth among the three of their bowls, then just as huffily picked up the shrimp from his own bowl and tossed it to Luo Yang.
"I don't want yours."
Grandmother only doted on the big rascal—Grandmother was a big rascal too!
"Ha, the little tyke has quite a temper." Father Luo stuffed a bite of braised pork into his mouth, eating with satisfaction and smiling broadly. He truly adored his little husband's temperament—the more he looked at him, the more pleasing he found him.
When Bai Chao angrily threw his shrimp, Grandfather finally spoke up, declaring that no one was allowed to put food in anyone else's bowl anymore—the food was right there on the table, not hidden away; eat whatever you want. "We're family, let's eat properly and stop fooling around."
"Stop fooling around!" Bai Chao chimed in after Grandfather, his chin tilted practically up to the sky.
Grandmother was laughed out of her anger. "You wretched little brat, copying what people say again."
"Alright, alright, everyone eat properly. A table full of good food and I still can't shut you all up. This Yang and his father have to head out to work tomorrow, so no more fussing."
Grandfather's words got the whole table eating properly, except Bai Chao, who stole several glances at Luo Yang.
The big guy was going off on a long trip tomorrow.