This morning’s business had truly opened Madam Yu’s eyes. After the meal, she retreated to her room to run the numbers.
Selling over six hundred wen in a single morning meant a monthly income of eighteen taels. Even after deducting costs and food expenses, she would clear at least thirteen or fourteen taels. This was far more lucrative than her endless, sleepless nights spent embroidering!
Without needing any urging from Ye Jia, Madam Yu dragged the basket of radishes out as soon as she finished eating. She happily squatted by the well to scrub them, humming a little tune as she worked.
We didn’t even have enough to sell this morning, she thought, and so many people kept coming back to ask for more. Selling two hundred tomorrow wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Her cheerful humming drew frequent glances from Zhou Jingchen.
As he watched her, he recalled the image of his Imperial Consort from his own memories—stately, elegant, and refined. She had rarely been this lively. The sight brought a strange sense of comfort to his heart.
Meanwhile, Ye Jia finished her meal and carried out the bucket of pig offal to wash.
The moment she lifted the lid, a pungent stench wafted through the air. Zhou Jingchen, leaning against the wall, glanced over.
In this day and age, no one would sell such things unless their family was truly starving. The offal reeked of filth, a foul smell that seemed impossible to scrub away. Madam Yu’s expression soured, but she dared not complain. Her daughter-in-law was a woman of strong will and resourceful ideas.
Instead, Rui’er brought over a small stool and sat beside Ye Jia, staring at the offal with wide-eyed curiosity.
They say a child will call anyone “Mother” if they’re the one providing the milk. After a few meals, Ye Jia had completely won over Rui’er. The two-and-a-half-year-old had spent over a year suffering through Madam Yu’s undercooked, bitter cooking, but now she was convinced that anything Ye Jia made was delicious.
Rui’er looked up at her with wide, expectant eyes. “Auntie, are you making something yummy for lunch?”
The child’s progress was remarkable. Just a few days ago, her speech had been halting and broken. Now, driven by the promise of food, she spoke with surprising fluency.
“Yes, something very yummy!” Ye Jia replied. She poured fresh water into a bucket, then scooped out a large handful of flour and a small bowl of salt.
As she rubbed the white flour onto the large intestines, Madam Yu’s eyes widened in horror.
“Jia-niang, what are you doing?” she cried, clutching her chest. “We only have fifty pounds of flour in the whole house! Between our own meals and the cakes we sell, we’re already short. How can you waste such good ingredients on… on this?”
Madam Yu dropped her brush and stood up, her voice trembling. “Such fine flour, and you’re using it to knead that filth…”
“If we run out of flour, we’ll just buy more,” Ye Jia said, her voice firm. She had learned long ago that in a place like this, one couldn’t afford to be picky about food. If you didn’t focus on eating well, you simply wouldn’t survive.
Seeing Madam Yu’s despair, she realized the older woman was still haunted by the fear of poverty. “If we get the flavor right,” Ye Jia added, “we might even be able to sell this alongside the cakes.”
What a strange thing to say. Who would actually buy large intestine?
“Just wait until noon to taste it,” Ye Jia said. There was no point in explaining further; the food would speak for itself.
“But…” Madam Yu started, then trailed off.
She realized this was another one of Ye Jia’s schemes to make money. After a few such incidents, she had learned her lesson. Her daughter-in-law’s methods were always bizarre, yet somehow they worked. It was impossible to tell if the girl was simply acting the fool or if she actually knew what she was doing.
Madam Yu glanced at her young granddaughter, who had already regained her strength and spirit after just a few days. The child had been sickly and thin as a stray cat when she had been caring for her.
I’m not the one who can support this family, she thought, suppressing her doubts. I’d best not interfere.
Ever since Zhou Jingchen could sit up, he had refused to stay confined to his room, insisting on coming outside. Now, his gaze fell upon Ye Jia, who was crouched on the ground, scrubbing the large intestine. The sun was rising, and in the still, warm air, its light bathed the young woman.
She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. Her dark, lively eyes were calm yet full of spirit. Her nose was straight and elegant, her lips a vivid crimson…
His Imperial Consort was right, Zhou Jingchen thought. Her beauty is truly exceptional, a brilliance that even this coarse cotton jacket cannot conceal.
Ye Jia felt a gaze on her and looked up sharply. Seeing no one, she glanced at Madam Yu in confusion. A thought struck her, and she turned toward the wall.
Zhou Jingchen stood there, his coarse linen clothes unable to hide his natural elegance. His eyelids were half-lowered, his expression calm and detached. Sunlight bathed his face, casting soft shadows beneath his long, raven-black lashes.
Was he looking at me just now? she wondered. I haven’t even bullied Madam Yu.
Let him think what he wants.
Ye Jia kneaded the pork intestines again, then rinsed them in clean water. The bucket now held a pile of clean, pale intestines that looked quite appetizing.
They’d be better braised, she thought, it would remove the smell more effectively.
But the Zhou family had no braising spices, so she would have to stir-fry them instead. Another option was to pan-fry them in a little oil and serve them with a dipping sauce—that would be delicious too.
With these thoughts, Ye Jia cut the intestines into several sections and boiled them once to remove the gamey odor. Just then, the goat milk was ready. She scooped a bowl for herself and one for the child, and they finished their drinks outside.
“Madam Yu, Zhou Jingchen,” she called out, “go ahead and serve yourselves.”
The Zhou family took to the goat’s milk quickly, growing accustomed to its taste after just a few days. It was truly nourishing; not only did the child show the most obvious improvement, but Madam Yu even felt her hands and feet grow much warmer.
She watched her son, who had been a mere skeleton just a while ago, and noticed he was finally filling out. She studied him for a long moment. His handsome, refined features, once sharpened by emaciation, now held a certain fierce intensity.
For lunch, Ye Jia stir-fried a portion of pork large intestine. Without any chili, she used a bit of the cornelian myrtle she’d bought at the tile market, making the dish both pungent and fragrant.
At first, Madam Yu hesitated, unable to bring herself to eat the offal. But when she saw her son—always so fastidious and particular—shove a piece into his mouth with his chopsticks, she stopped being so precious. She picked up a piece and chewed.
The pungent spice masked the funkiness of the intestine, and the more she chewed, the more fragrant it became.
Pork intestine was one of those dishes: you either loved it or couldn’t stomach a single bite. But for those who could accept it, one mouthful was never enough. Madam Yu’s eyes lit up.
After that lunch, Madam Yu was so stuffed she could barely walk. Zhou Jingchen, on the other hand, had probably grown sick of bland porridge. He’d polished off three bowls of multigrain rice and cleared the plate of stir-fried pig intestines. The two vegetable dishes were left with just a few bites, which Rui’er finished off as a snack.
As Madam Yu took the dishes away to wash, Ye Jia stole a glance at Zhou Jingchen’s stomach before meeting his eyes.
He smiled, his eyes crinkling like any other cheerful young man.
Is he getting more thick-skinned? Ye Jia wondered.
The afternoon was a whirlwind of activity.
They divided the labor. Ye Jia kneaded the dough while Madam Yu and Zhou Jingchen worked on the radishes. Though Madam Yu’s knife skills were poor, she could still chop them, albeit slowly.
Once Ye Jia finished the dough, they brought over basin after basin of shredded radish to blanch. After squeezing the water out with a cheesecloth, Ye Jia seasoned the filling.
Madam Yu had absolutely no talent for cooking. Even the simple task of wrapping the dumplings was beyond her; she couldn’t manage a single one. Standing by, afraid to ruin the ingredients, she didn’t dare touch anything. No matter how capable Ye Jia was, she couldn’t wrap them all alone.
Zhou Jingchen, despite his broken leg, sat beside them and watched. After seeing Ye Jia do it once, he had already learned.
Ye Jia watched in awe, circling Zhou Jingchen.
“What is it?”
“Keep wrapping,” she said, her tone shamelessly demanding. “I’ll make one hundred twenty today, you make eighty.”
Zhou Jingchen fell silent.
After they finished the two hundred, they set out again the next morning before dawn.
When Madam Yu and Ye Jia arrived at the tile market in town, it was still early. The streets were mostly empty. After about fifteen minutes, a crowd began to gather from all directions.
Having overcome her shyness the day before, Madam Yu helped Ye Jia set up their stove and cookware by the roadside. She worked quickly and efficiently, her movements practiced. Those who had tasted their pancakes the previous day already knew how delicious they were, so the crowd gathered without the need for any shouting.
Customers with a few extra coins bought three or four at a time. Those with less money bought just one to tide them over. They first delivered a few to the two strong men guarding the deer fence; when Madam Yu returned, she was smiling as she collected the payment.
Business was even more brisk this morning than the day before.
Ye Jia kept a friendly smile on her face, chatting with customers as she sold the cakes. Business was booming, and the bustling crowd naturally drew attention. A man carrying a shoulder pole paused nearby, leaning in to peer into the pot.
“Where’d you get a pot like that?” he asked curiously. “It looks a bit strange.”
Ye Jia gave him a vague answer, and the man, unable to get any real information, scratched his head and went on his way.
The gates to the deer fence opened, and people began to stream inside. Thanks to the two cakes they’d given the guards, Madam Yu and Ye Jia were able to secure a spot, even though they’d arrived a bit late.
Copper coins rained into the bowl. Madam Yu’s voice grew louder as she called out to the crowd. They sold all two hundred cakes in just over two hours. Since many customers bought them in small batches, the final count came to over eleven hundred wen—a total of one tael and one mace of silver.
The amount was staggering. It recovered most of the silver they had invested in the venture. Another morning of sales would bring them back into the black.
Madam Yu’s hands trembled with excitement. She leaned in close to Ye Jia and whispered, “How are these so easy to sell? I thought people in Libei Town were too poor for snacks. Who knew food was such a good business?”
“Isn’t it?” Ye Jia extinguished the stove and scooped out the charcoal ash. “People live to eat. After all, what’s a year’s hard work for, if not to put food on the table?”
It was a plain truth: wasn’t that the very essence of survival?
Madam Yu stood stunned for a long moment. She couldn’t believe she, a grown woman, was less clear-headed than a ten-year-old.
Carefully tucking the small bowl into her robes, she helped Ye Jia push the wheelbarrow toward the edge of the tile market. Ye Jia glanced at her mother’s tattered clothes, then down at her own. She quickly suppressed the urge to buy new clothes.
“Mother, we’re running low on flour,” Ye Jia said. “Fifty pounds would last us three months if we were just eating it, but we can’t sustain a business on that. The more pancakes we sell, the faster we’ll run through our stock.”
She led Madam Yu straight to the grain store and bought another hundred pounds of flour in one go.
Madam Yu knew that doing business required an initial investment. How could they make a profit without capital? Now that they had the flour, they also needed radishes, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. With so much to carry, the two of them couldn’t manage with just a wheelbarrow. They would need a cart.
Ye Jia asked her mother to wait by the roadside while she went to hire an ox cart. But as she reached the cart shed, she ran right into someone: Zhang Chunfen, who had been sent back to her maternal home by Madam Ye. She was standing under the shed, glancing around as if waiting for someone.
A moment later, a tall, handsome young man rushed over, cradling a large bundle in his arms. He and Zhang Chunfen exchanged a few hushed words before he handed her the package and hurried away.
Zhang Chunfen bit her lip, her eyes fixed on the young man’s retreating figure. She then turned and pounded the bundle twice in frustration.
Ye Jia watched the scene with curiosity, but remembering the fierce reputation of Libei Town’s residents, she quickly dismissed it as nothing unusual. She hailed a cart and hurried back.
Wangjia Village was only a quarter-hour’s ride from the town. Hiring a cart cost a few coppers, but for a heavier load, ten coppers would guarantee delivery. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had returned with large bundles two days in a row, so the villagers had already taken notice.
As they entered the village, they ran into a group of women chatting on their way to visit a neighbor. The women glanced at the cart and immediately asked about the cargo.
Coincidentally, Aunt Liu—who had worked in the town’s embroidery shop alongside Madam Yu—was among them.
Aunt Liu had been fired by the same employer as Madam Yu for demanding a raise. With her income gone, she was struggling to get by. She and Madam Yu had grown close, walking to and from work together every day.
After asking Madam Yu about her situation, Aunt Liu said, “My daughter-in-law is hardworking. She’s set up a small food stall in town to earn enough to support our family of four.”
Aunt Liu didn’t bother asking what they were selling. With the entire courtyard filled with radishes, wasn’t it obvious? What’s so good about radishes? she thought. They’re the kind of thing you leave to rot in the ground for pigs to eat. Who would actually pay money for them? Still, she kept her thoughts to herself. “Having a business is a good thing,” she said aloud.
She lingered in the Zhou family’s courtyard for a long time before leaving, and Madam Yu politely insisted she stay for a meal.
Aunt Liu ate so heartily she could either put her chopsticks down, finishing two whole bowls. She’d never eaten so freely even at her own home. As long as she wasn’t in a rush, Madam Yu wouldn’t have the heart to ask her to leave. After wiping her mouth, Aunt Liu studied Ye Jia.
The Zhou family’s daughter-in-law might have a bad reputation, she mused, but she’s a wonderful cook. With skills like this, a stall in town might actually turn a profit.
Goodness, she thought, this meal was so delicious I almost swallowed my own tongue.