Just past the second watch, Madam Yu tapped softly on Jiang Wan's door. "Xiaowan, are you awake?"
"Mother, won't we disturb sister-in-law's sleep? Why don't we just go by ourselves?" Xiao He suggested.
Jiang Wan had taken a nap that afternoon and had only been lightly dozing.
Hearing this, she hurriedly scrambled out of bed.
"Mother, Xiao He. Give me a moment."
Jiang Wan slipped on her shoes, grabbed a thin hemp cloth jacket to wear over her cotton undergarment, picked up her money pouch, and pulled open the door.
"Mother, let's go."
Madam Yu carried a bamboo basket on her back, holding a lantern in one hand and Xiao He's hand in the other.
Jiang Wan walked on the other side, and the three hurried toward the pork shop.
On the streets in the dead of night, only the faint chirping of insects and the occasional cry of a night owl could be heard.
The night breeze carried a hint of coolness, dispelling the sweltering heat of the day.
Perhaps because of the sesame candy from that evening, Xiao He's attitude toward Jiang Wan had undergone a dramatic shift.
She began chattering away, telling Jiang Wan amusing stories from the town.
"Sister-in-law, did you know? Yesterday I wanted to go up the mountain, but you wouldn't believe it—those boys from East Street blocked us and wouldn't let us go, saying it was their territory!"
She pursed her lips, looking thoroughly aggrieved.
Then, as if something suddenly occurred to her, her expression brightened.
She circled around to the other side and linked her arm through Jiang Wan's. "Sister-in-law, a few days ago, Xiaochun's big yellow dog gave birth to a litter of puppies—all fluffy and adorable!
Oh, and the owner of Su Ji Restaurant keeps a black myna bird. Someone taught it dirty words, and it learned to curse people. Yesterday it gave Scholar Jiang an earful as he passed by…"
Jiang Wan was thoroughly amused, but Madam Yu's next words made her smile freeze.
"Your family came to town? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Madam Yu paused mid-step, a note of reproach in her voice.
Xiao He realized belatedly that she had let it slip, and quickly shrank her neck, glancing cautiously at Jiang Wan, afraid her sister-in-law might take offense.
"Mother, I—I forgot…" she murmured softly.
She dared not reveal the little scheme she had in mind.
After all, her sister-in-law was the daughter of a scholar's family—educated and proper.
That she had been willing to marry into their Zhou family, mere merchants, was already a stroke of incredible fortune—their ancestors' graves must have been smoking with good luck.
Now that her brother was gone, if her sister-in-law were to complain to her natal family, she might very well harden her heart and pack her things to go back.
With her father-in-law being a scholar, it wouldn't be difficult for her sister-in-law to remarry if she wanted to.
Selfishly, she wanted Jiang Wan to stay with the Zhou family.
For her brother's sake, and for the family's honor.
In any case, even if her sister-in-law insisted on leaving, it should only be after the Zhou family could no longer support her.
She hung her head, ashamed of her hidden motives.
Jiang Wan felt her stiffen and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Mother, I didn't even return to my natal home for the customary visit. You should know by now that my ties with my family are thin. There's a long road ahead—no need to force visits for the sake of appearances."
Madam Yu looked at the clear distance visible in her daughter-in-law's bright eyes and swallowed the words that had risen to her lips.
Thinking of Jiang Wan's lamentable circumstances, she opened her mouth, but in the end only sighed and said nothing more.
The three crossed the town and arrived at the pork shop.
The shop's door stood wide open, spilling warm lamplight from within.
Butcher Zhu had just finished slaughtering a pig and was humming a tune while sharpening his knife in the courtyard.
Hearing the commotion outside his shop, he turned around.
Seeing that Jiang Wan wasn't alone—Madam Yu and Xiao He had come along too—he forced a smile onto his usually fierce-looking face.
Setting down his knife, Butcher Zhu strode over to greet them. "Oh! Auntie, you've come!"
As he spoke, he casually grabbed two slabs of gleaming white leaf lard hanging nearby and thrust them eagerly toward Madam Yu. "You've got yourself a real catch today—look at how fine these are!"
Madam Yu didn't waste any time.
Stepping over the threshold, she set down her bamboo basket and pulled out a pair of embroidered insoles with red floral patterns. "Is Lamei around? I had nothing to do, so I made her a pair of insoles. See if she likes them."
"She'll love them!" Butcher Zhu took the insoles, thumping his chest in assurance. "Absolutely! She's gone back to her natal home—her sister-in-law just had her third child, so Lamei took Zhuangzi along to visit. She'll be back tomorrow."
Chattering about family matters, Butcher Zhu deftly weighed the leaf lard.
The two pigs he'd butchered today had been ordered from the countryside two months in advance, yielding fifty-four catties of leaf lard in total.
Rich and fatty—the kind of quality goods you rarely came across.
Madam Yu examined the lard, hefted it in her hands, and nodded in satisfaction.
Jiang Wan seized the moment. "Brother Zhu, how much for this lard?"
Perhaps because Madam Yu was present, Butcher Zhu's attitude toward her had softened considerably.
He picked up the abacus on the counter and rattled the beads.
"This kind of lard sells for seventeen wen a catty on market days, but for you, Auntie, I'll take fifteen…"
His fingers worked the abacus as he talked. "That comes to… eight hundred and ten wen. I'll round it down—just eight hundred!"
"Minus the deposit you sent over at noon, that leaves six hundred wen!"
He slid the abacus toward Madam Yu, all openness and generosity.
Madam Yu glanced at the abacus and smiled, nodding. "Let's keep things separate. No rounding down—otherwise this old woman will owe too much and feel uneasy."
Butcher Zhu's face stiffened at that. He abruptly pulled the abacus back. "Auntie, saying that is like slapping me in the face. I promised Qi Shan I'd—"
Madam Yu wouldn't have any of it. She raised a hand, cutting him off.
Turning to Jiang Wan, she said, "Xiao Wan, count out six hundred and ten wen for your Brother Zhu."
"Alright!"
Jiang Wan responded promptly, deftly opening her money pouch. She counted out six qian of broken silver.
The more she talked, the hungrier she got. By the end, a glistening trace even hung at the corner of Xiao He's mouth, and she made a sound of slurping saliva.
Jiang Wan couldn't help but let out a "pfft" laugh. "If you like it, eat as much as you want once it's ready! There's plenty to go around!"
"You child, you always spoil Xiao He." Madam Yu shot Jiang Wan a reproachful look from the side, but her eyes were full of affection. "Those pork cracklings really are a good thing. You should eat more too—look at your frame, you're even thinner than Xiao He."
Jiang Wan nodded, taking that as her answer.
The moment she stepped into the kitchen, Madam Yu didn't even pause to catch her breath. She immediately rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
Xiao He bustled around the stove, scrubbing the pots clean and then lighting the firewood, full of energy.
That left Jiang Wan standing at the doorway, feeling a bit like an outsider.
She rolled up her sleeves and tried several times to join in, but each time Madam Yu pushed her away without mercy.
"You go back and catch up on some sleep. We don't need you here."
Sleep was definitely out of the question.
She was still planning to take advantage of everyone's busy moment to add some pork cracklings and lard from the Mall into the mix.
So she found a small stool and sat down by the doorway.
She watched as Madam Yu's knife rose and fell, deftly cutting the leaf lard into small pieces about three fingers wide, tossing them into the iron wok with some water mixed in.
As the firewood crackled in the stove, the water in the wok slowly came to a boil, and the leaf lard began to sizzle.
As the temperature rose, the excess moisture dried off, and the raw, gamey smell of the lard gradually gave way to the rich, fragrant aroma of rendered fat.
Xiao He stood guard by the stove, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the wok.
Madam Yu brought over a basket of clean, dried clay jars and lined them up in a row.
She dropped a few soybeans and a few Sichuan peppercorns into each jar.
This was to remove any gamey smell and enhance the aroma, and it would also help the lard keep longer.
Seeing that the timing was about right, Jiang Wan stood up and moved closer, saying, "Mother, you keep an eye on the wok. I'll take over here."
Seeing that she truly couldn't sit still, Madam Yu stopped trying to persuade her. After a few words of instruction, she turned and went back to the stove.
The big iron ladle rolled round and round in the wok, and Madam Yu never stopped.
Soon, the temperature in the kitchen began to rise.
All three of them had their clothes soaked with sweat, yet not a trace of complaint showed on their faces.
They stirred for nearly half an hour, until the leaf lard in the wok finally shed its raw whiteness and turned a tempting golden brown.
The dried cracklings floated on the clear oil, and a deep, rich fried aroma hit the nose, making one swallow hard.
Madam Yu used a bamboo slotted spoon to strain out the cracklings, let them drain, then sprinkled a little fine salt over them before telling Xiao He to bank some of the charcoal fire.
"Try it." She handed the steaming pork cracklings in the winnowing basket to Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan picked up a small piece and put it in her mouth.
A crisp "crunch" sounded as the flaky texture shattered between her lips and teeth.
Jiang Wan nodded in appreciation.
The pork cracklings really did taste good—no extra seasoning, just the pure toasted fat aroma mixed with the savory saltiness, growing more fragrant with each chew.
Seeing her eat, Madam Yu then passed the basket to Xiao He.
The girl had been craving them for a long time. Seeing that her turn had finally come, she couldn't wait to grab a small handful of cracklings and stuff them into her mouth, blowing "huff, huff" because they were so hot.
Madam Yu glanced at her sideways and scolded with a smile, "Don't be greedy. Eat too many of these, and you'll get heatiness."
"I know!" Xiao He flashed her a fawning grin and, like a little hamster, carefully ground the thumb-sized pork crackling between her front teeth.
Next came the jarring.
Using a spoon, she ladled the rendered lard into jars; all that was needed was to wait for it to solidify before it could be sold.
Madam Yu filled the jars one spoonful at a time, while Jiang Wan carried them out one after another.
The kitchen couldn't be left unattended, and no one came out from the main hall.
In the vast central room, only Jiang Wan remained, surrounded by a table full of jars waiting for the lard to set…