Without paying the woman any further mind, Shen Zhihe bypassed the cart and stood on tiptoe to hang the wooden sign on the front railing.
Sitting behind the cart with her chin propped in her hand, she mentally reviewed the orders from recent customers. She realized she needed to clear the pending orders before visiting the Zhou family tomorrow. Business was steadily improving—just selling Chaoshi and Dongpo Pork was already keeping her busy. If she added pastries to her offerings, she would be stretched too thin.
It seemed time to hire help. Speaking of which, the Wang family hadn’t delivered their account books for several days. Since she had to prepare their tofu brain for the next five days today, she could take the opportunity to remind the mother and son.
As the midday market approached, food stalls along the street gradually packed up. The woman selling Oily Shortcake, annoyed by Shen Zhihe’s indifference, grumbled inwardly: This young woman hasn’t even made it to the Zhou family yet, and she’s already looking down on people. If she actually succeeds, she’ll be too arrogant for words.
Her eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. Hastily tidying her stall, she hurried toward the west side of town. Her husband had mentioned recently that his sister, by some stroke of luck, had also started a food business—and seemed to be doing quite well. With some free time today, she decided to check it out.
About half an hour later, Shen Zhihe sighed at the eight pastries still sitting unsold on her cart. Resigned, she stood up, extinguished the charcoal stove, and covered it.
“Zhi An, let’s go.” Peeking out, she saw Shen Zhian already waiting with the stools, ready to head home. A warm smile touched her lips.
With the New Year approaching, red lanterns adorned many shopfronts, their cheerful glow standing out against the white snow—a festive sight.
Preoccupied with the next day’s orders, Shen Zhihe reminded Zhi An to stay close as they headed toward Ji Shi. It was now midday break, and the usually bustling market held only a handful of people.
Guided by memory, she stopped at the butcher’s stall. The owner lay reclined on a rattan chair, a fan draped over his face despite the cold.
“Huang Shopkeeper, do you have fresh pork belly today?” Shen Zhihe rapped her knuckles lightly on the counter.
Startled, Huang Butcher lifted the fan shading his face and squinted up at her. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her—his shop saw too many customers daily to remember each one.
“Miss, if you want fresh pork belly, you ought to come first thing in the morning—that’s when the newly slaughtered meat arrives. What I have now is reasonably fresh. Take a look—if it suits you, I’ll give you a good price.” Rising with a stretch, he picked up a sizable slab of pork belly and tossed it before her.
He found it quite peculiar. This border town had many households raising cattle and sheep, making beef and mutton relatively cheaper compared to the central plains. Pork, no matter how prepared, always carried a gamey odor. Even slaughtering one pig daily left meat unsold. Yet this young woman bypassed beef and mutton and directly requested pork—specifically the most expensive cut, pork belly—which was truly unusual.
Shen Zhihe examined the pork before her. It looked fairly fresh, likely from a pig slaughtered that very morning. “Shopkeeper, cut me ten catties. Do you have any pork offal or marrow bones?”
Upon hearing this, Huang Butcher paused his chopping and looked up at Shen Zhihe in surprise. While he could understand the request for marrow bones—their broth was decent and frequently purchased—the pork offal was another matter. After over twenty years as a butcher, no one had ever inquired about those intensely pungent entrails.
After a hesitant moment, he asked, “What would you need pork offal for, miss?”
“For cooking, of course. Shopkeeper, you may not know, but properly prepared pork offal becomes a delicacy.” Shen Zhihe recalled the Suantang Feichang rice noodles from later times—the crisp, tangy Suancai paired with fragrantly braised intestines created a bite worth more than gold. Come to think of it, she’d been so busy lately she hadn’t checked on the Suancai she’d pickled days earlier.
Huang Butcher stood speechless, opening and closing his mouth before breaking into a smile. Since no one wanted the offal anyway—it would just be fed to chickens and ducks—he might as well sell it cheaply to this young woman and earn a few coins. “Miss, to be frank, no one’s ever bought pork offal before. If you really want it, I’ll give you a good price. Though I only have one set available.”
“Then I’ll trouble you, shopkeeper.” Shen Zhihe felt a surge of delight. She’d bought many ingredients today and expected to spend considerably, never anticipating the shopkeeper would be so decent.
After a moment’s thought, she retrieved an oil-paper package and handed it to Huang Butcher with a smile. “Shopkeeper, these are pastries I made myself. Please try them.”
About half an hour later, Shen Zhihe finally finished her shopping. As she led Shen Zhian past a Tangzao vendor, the sweet aroma carried by the wind reached the boy’s nose, rooting him to the spot.
Releasing his grip on Shen Zhihe’s clothes, he drifted toward the stall following the scent. There, pitted red dates coated in amber syrup resembled the sugar-coated haws of later times. Like most children drawn to sweets, the granny’s stall was surrounded by kids around Shen Zhian’s age.
Shen Zhihe, who’d been speaking to him, noticed the lack of response and turned to find him standing transfixed before the nearby stall. His eyes were fixed on the granny skewering pitted dates onto bamboo sticks before dipping them into bubbling syrup. In the cold weather, the syrup quickly formed a thin amber shell around each date.
“Granny, how much for the Tangzao?” Shen Zhihe pulled her cart over to stand behind Shen Zhian, smiling as she inquired.
“Three coins per stick. How many would you like, miss?” The granny continued coating dates without looking up.
“Then give me two sticks.” Shen Zhihe took the tangzao handed over by Granny, casually stuffed one stick into Shen Zhian’s hand, and immediately took out six copper coins to place in the wooden box in front of Granny’s stall.
The siblings walked home through the snow against the sunset.
“Zhi An, from now on you must not let go of Elder Sister’s clothes on the street. If you had encountered human traffickers who snatched you away today, and Elder Sister couldn’t find you, then you would never see Elder Sister again.”Shen Zhihe looked down at Shen Zhian, who was clutching the tangzao and reluctant to eat it, recalling how he had let go of her clothes without her noticing.” A wave of fear washed over her, and she crouched down to speak seriously.
Hearing this, Shen Zhian’s eyes immediately reddened, and the tangzao in his hand no longer seemed appealing. He threw his arms around Shen Zhihe’s leg, sobbing, “Zhi An doesn’t want to leave Elder Sister!”
It seemed he had frightened Shen Zhian quite badly. Usually, when they returned home and he knew Shen Zhihe needed to prepare ingredients for tomorrow’s stall, he would obediently sit aside practicing the characters she had taught him. But today, he followed closely behind Shen Zhihe like a little shadow.
Seeing this, Shen Zhihe smiled helplessly. She had originally intended to have him stay in the bedroom for a while, but seeing his reddened eyes, she swallowed her words and sighed in resignation, allowing him to trail behind her.
Meanwhile, Wang Niangzi stood blocking the doorway, eyeing the unexpected visitor before her. Ever since her husband passed away, her dear sister-in-law, afraid that Wang Niangzi would return to her parents’ home with the children to live off them, had urged her brother to separate from her. They hadn’t interacted for over ten years. Was the sun rising from the west today that she would come visiting with oily shortcakes?
“Little Sister, yesterday I heard from your brother that you’ve started a food business. Why didn’t you tell us? After all, your brother and I have been in this line for many years and could share our experience with you.” The woman, braving the cold wind, stood on tiptoe to peer into Wang Niangzi’s house, feigning reproach with a smile. “I’ve come all this way. Won’t you invite me in to sit?”
Wang Niangzi initially wanted to refuse, but considering that her sister-in-law wouldn’t have come all this way in such cold weather just because of her food stall, she stepped aside and gestured inward. “It was remiss of me as a host. Sister-in-law, please come in quickly.”
Li Mei followed Wang Niangzi into the house. Seeing that it remained as shabby as it had been over a decade ago, a sense of superiority surged within her. “Little Sister, it must be hard raising three children alone. Not like our eldest, who started working at the Zhou Family estate early on…”
“Sister-in-law, there are no outsiders here. After more than ten years without contact, there’s no need for us to pretend to have some deep sisterly bond. What exactly have you come for today?” Wang Niangzi frowned, interrupting Li Mei’s words coldly.
As soon as she finished speaking, the hypocritical expression vanished from Li Mei’s face. With a cold stare, she said, “I heard you’re looking for a marriage match for Er Niang. Hand over the tofu brain recipe today, and I’ll have my nephew marry your Er Niang.”
“Hahaha, Sister-in-law, do you really think your nephew is some prized delicacy that everyone is fighting over? Not to mention that I don’t have the recipe, even if I did, why would I trade it for a husband who spends every day in brothels? Why wouldn’t I just sell it to a restaurant at a high price instead?” Wang Niangzi listened to Li Mei’s fanciful words, her lips curling into a mocking smile as sharp retorts spilled forth.
“Hmph, don’t you regret it. How long do you think your tofu brain business can last? These past few days at Ji Shi, there’s been a young lady named Shen whose Chaoshi even the Zhou Family enjoys. Today I saw the second young master of Zhou Family personally inviting her to prepare the Tea Banquet. Let’s see how much longer you can remain proud.” Li Mei, flushed with anger and humiliation, flung her sleeve and left.
Wang Niangzi remained seated at the table, gazing at the lit oil lamp as she fell into deep thought. The young lady named Shen that Li Mei mentioned must be Shen Family’s young lady. In just a few days, she had already connected with the Zhou Family. Wang Niangzi had a premonition that if she didn’t start making plans for her eldest son soon, this young lady would likely become uncontrollable.
She lowered her gaze, fingertips lightly tapping the table surface, then suddenly her eyes brightened as an idea struck her mind.
Meanwhile, Shen Zhihe who was currently in the kitchen preparing Cherry Meat and Xiao Long Bao suddenly felt a chill down her spine. She quickly stood up to close the half-open window, murmuring to herself how strange it was.