Mother Song had strongly opposed this marriage from the very beginning. Xu Mingzhu was willful and unconventional, and she had leveraged a favor to force their son into a uxorilocal marriage. But Father Song insisted, and no one could change his mind. At first, she made a great fuss over it, but apart from nearly sending Father Song to death’s door several times, it accomplished nothing.
In the end, she had no choice but to agree to the Xu family’s unreasonable demand. She had thought that, even if her son had married a woman he didn’t like, at least she wouldn’t stand in the way of his future.
Who would have thought that her usually composed and aloof son would lack such restraint when it came to marital intimacy with Xu Mingzhu?
Song Ci was completely baffled. “Mother, what are you talking about?” As he spoke, he picked up a cup of tea.
Mother Song found the subject hard to broach, but for her son’s reputation, she steeled herself and spoke sternly. “The Xu family said there was quite a commotion coming from your room. That Xu woman even discussed your bedroom affairs in front of the villagers. Honestly, it wasn’t easy for you to earn your xiucai degree. This is the time when you should be focusing your efforts on your studies.”
Song Ci had just taken a sip of tea. The moment he heard those words, he spat it out with a pfft and immediately doubled over, coughing.
Song Ci had long known that Xu Mingzhu could be outrageous, but he had never imagined she could be this outrageous. She actually dared to fabricate something like that out of thin air. “Mother, we…”
“All right, all right. I’m not ignorant of such matters. I don’t forbid you, young newlyweds, from being affectionate. But you should exercise some discretion. And you ought to remind Mingzhu what should and shouldn’t be said. Is it something to be proud of, broadcasting such things to everyone?”
Song Ci’s face darkened completely. For the first time, he hardly hesitated at all. He turned, went into his room, drafted a divorce agreement, pressed his thumbprint on it, and resolved to have Xu Mingzhu sign it tomorrow.
Back at the Xu household, Xu Mingzhu and the others finished preparing the meat and pork offal they planned to braise the next day, then returned to their rooms for the night.
In the village, people went to bed soon after dark. With the lights already extinguished everywhere, Xu Mingzhu lay on her bed, recalling how well the male and female leads seemed to be getting along. Things were probably about to fall naturally into place between them. She also wondered whether Song Ci’s father was feeling any better. If he learned they were divorcing, would his health be able to withstand the shock?
Lost in such thoughts, Xu Mingzhu soon drifted off to sleep. At the first crow of the rooster at dawn, she got up and headed to the kitchen, only to find Madam Zhou up even earlier.
“Little Sister, you’re up?”
“Sister-in-law, why are you up so early?”
Madam Zhou wiped the water from her hands. “I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to start the fire. By the time the wok is hot, you can begin braising the meat as soon as you get up. It’ll save some time.”
“Thank you, Sister-in-law.” Xu Mingzhu began adding the meat to the pot. Today’s batch was three times larger than yesterday’s. Before long, Mother Xu and Xu Ming’an emerged from their rooms, yawning repeatedly. One helped portion the meat while the other organized the oil paper and hemp twine.
Once daylight broke, Xu Mingzhu tested the meat. Seeing that it was nearly ready, she packed everything into wooden buckets. They climbed onto the ox cart and headed straight for the city.
When they arrived at the spot where they had set up their stall the day before, they found that someone else had already claimed it. A large sign bearing the single character “Cakes” hung prominently above the stall.
Several other vendors had occupied the surrounding spaces as well.
“That spot is ours,” Xu Ming’an said, jumping off the cart and striding over to argue.
The stall owner, a woman in her forties, laughed immediately upon hearing his complaint. “That’s ridiculous. This street has always been first come, first served. Since when did it become yours?”
Along both sides of this street in Qingzhou City, vendors sold all kinds of goods. Stalls were indeed claimed on a first-come, first-served basis. Usually, once a vendor settled into a spot, they seldom moved elsewhere.
A tree used to stand here, and people felt it made shop signs harder to see. Some even worried it would block their fortune, so no one had wanted the location.
But after Xu Mingzhu’s braised-meat stall did such booming business there yesterday, everyone suddenly decided it was a lucky spot. As a result, many vendors had arrived before dawn today to seize the area.
“You…” Xu Ming’an was at a loss for words.
Yesterday, while selling braised meat here, they had told numerous customers that they would return to the same place today. Who could have expected someone else to have taken their spot?
“Second Brother, let’s go over there instead,” Xu Mingzhu said.
Xu Mingzhu spotted an empty spot by the city moat. “Look, there’s even a bookstore across the street. When business is slow, we can go browse some books. Isn’t that nice?”
The location wasn’t particularly good. The real issue was that Xu Mingzhu had nothing to her name right now. Picking a fight would only leave both sides worse off. Besides, stalls were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so they had no real claim to the spot. If they wasted more time arguing, they might lose that location too.
“That spot isn’t nearly as good as this one,” Xu Ming’an grumbled, still wanting to argue with the pancake vendor.
“As the saying goes, good wine needs no bush. Come on, let’s set up over there. I’d like to see whether our braised meat can still sell when we’re in that spot.” With that, Xu Mingzhu picked up the scales and oiled paper and headed over.
Xu Ming’an and Mother Xu followed behind.
Before long, the three of them had their stall set up. Just then, a group of people walked up to the pancake stand.
Seeing so many customers approaching, the pancake vendor hurried forward. “Customers, would you like to buy some pancakes?”
“Where’s the braised-meat stall that was here yesterday?”
The vendor instantly fell silent.
Among the group, one sharp-eyed man spotted Xu Mingzhu. “Look! The young lady selling braised meat is over there. Quick, let’s go buy some before she sells out again!”
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s go!”
The group marched enthusiastically toward Xu Mingzhu’s stall.
Xu Ming’an noticed them first. Picking up a scale weight, he said, “Mother, Little Sister, they stole our spot, and now they’re coming over to make trouble. Someone must have seen us making money and decided to stir things up.”
Xu Mingzhu’s expression darkened. She grabbed the knife Mother Xu was using to slice meat.
As the novel’s so-called vicious supporting character, she didn’t go looking for trouble, but she wasn’t afraid of it either. If they really came to cause a scene, she’d fight back.
Unexpectedly, the burly man at the front stopped in front of the stall, took several deep breaths, and shouted excitedly, “Ah! That’s the smell! Yesterday I only bought one liang. I bought way too little. Quick, give me five liang!”
The mother and her two children stood frozen in place, each clutching an improvised weapon. These big men were here to buy braised meat?
“Why are you all staring at me? Hurry up and weigh the meat! Thank goodness you came today. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to control my cravings. Honestly, I was thinking about this flavor in the middle of the night.”
Xu Mingzhu was speechless. “I’ll weigh it for you right away.”
Following the division of labor they had agreed on the night before, Mother Xu sliced the meat, Xu Ming’an wrapped the orders, and Xu Mingzhu handled weighing and collecting payment.
The moment the man got his purchase, he popped a slice into his mouth and sighed in satisfaction. “Finally got to eat it again. Now all I need is a jug of wine. Perfect.”
His words sparked an idea in Xu Mingzhu’s mind, though she’d need to think it through carefully later. Soon, she had no time to dwell on it. More and more pedestrians arrived, and long lines once again formed on either side of the braised-meat stall.
“Give me two liang of pork offal.”
“One jin of braised meat for me. Pour on some extra sauce. I’m leaving on a long trip today, and it’ll be a while before I can taste this again.”
Seeing how many people were eager to buy the Xu family’s braised meat, curious onlookers joined the queue as well.
The vendors who had stolen the spot across the street were nearly grinding their teeth to dust.
Even after moving to that out-of-the-way corner, the Xu family’s stall still attracted so many customers. It was unbelievable.
“It’s just meat with a bit of fragrance. Is it really that good? A bunch of starving ghosts reincarnated. Buying food like they’re scrambling to grab money.”
Although they had prepared much more braised meat today, it still sold out before noon. In fact, it sold out even faster than it had the day before.
“Mother, your hands must be tired from all that slicing.”
Mother Xu beamed so broadly that she couldn’t stop smiling. “How could I be tired when we’re making money? Yesterday, I thought you were just playing around. I never imagined business would be this good. My Mingzhu is truly amazing.”