Yu Daman didn’t have a single coin to return to the Qi family. He roughly yanked his sleeve free from Yu Chunmiao’s grip and shoved her back toward Chen Ruolan.
“What nonsense is this? The girl’s already been sold to you. Her purity’s gone—there’s no returning her,” Yu Daman said, then fled as if someone were chasing him.
Yu Chunmiao bit back her laughter as she watched her mother-in-law continue the act, shouting after Yu Daman to stop. *What kind of heavenly mother-in-law is this? She’s adorable.*
Once Yu Daman disappeared down the street, Chen Ruolan instantly returned to her usual gentle self. She patted her chest nervously and asked, “How was it? Did I act well?”
Yu Chunmiao laughed so hard her stomach hurt. She gave her mother-in-law a big thumbs-up. “You were amazing, Mother. Just look at how fast he ran—you scared him stiff.”
The two of them agreed that in front of outsiders, Yu Chunmiao shouldn’t appear too clever. If word ever reached that gambler father, it would only invite endless trouble.
Passing by a butcher’s stall, they spent twenty copper coins on some pork fat and another eight coins on two pork leg bones that had been scraped so clean even dogs would turn up their noses.
After agonizing over the twenty-some coins, Chen Ruolan said, “Chunmiao, two streets ahead is the carpenter Xiao’s place—where your second brother is apprenticing. I want to go see him.”
Yu Chunmiao naturally agreed. A mother visiting her son was only right. Noticing the hesitation on her mother-in-law’s face, she asked gently, “Mother, do you want to bring a gift?”
Chen Ruolan felt embarrassed. The money had all been earned by her daughter-in-law—how could she, as a mother-in-law, feel right spending it?
Yu Chunmiao smiled warmly. “What do you want to buy, Mother? We’ll get it and go.” Her tone was light and sincere, and Chen Ruolan visibly relaxed.
Carpenter Xiao was a well-known craftsman across the region. His only hobby was smoking dry tobacco—and good tobacco leaves weren’t cheap. One packet cost eighty copper coins. Chen Ruolan couldn’t bear it and suggested buying only half.
Yu Chunmiao persuaded her, “You can’t give half a gift. It’s like wedding purchases—you always buy things in pairs.”
Just as Yu Chunmiao was about to pay, Chen Ruolan grabbed her and pulled her away. “Let’s go. We’re not going. It’s too expensive—I can feel my hair hurting.”
Yu Chunmiao still wanted to buy the tobacco, but Chen Ruolan shook her head. “No need. He’ll be home in a few days anyway.”
In truth, it wasn’t about whether Qi Yuan would return soon. Carpenter Xiao had five apprentices, and the other families sent gifts from time to time. In over a year, she had only ever given him a single fish. She worried Xiao might look down on her son—or make things difficult for him over insufficient courtesy.
Yu Chunmiao didn’t know all these hidden concerns. Since the apprentice would be home soon, she let it go. Spending too much on gifts would have hurt her heart too. Since her mother-in-law said no more, she didn’t argue.
The two headed home. With one son lame and the other still young, the house couldn’t be left unwatched for long.
Meanwhile, back at home—
After finishing his meal, Qi Rong shouldered a basket and grabbed a winnowing tray to go collect clams.
Working alone with his head down, he gathered half a basket of clams in one morning and added some wild vegetables to fill it up. On his way back, he spotted his cousin Qi Ping from afar, accompanied by two lackeys, Liu Big Dog and Liu Second Dog.
Though they were cousins, they weren’t on good terms. Things could easily turn into a fight—and that wouldn’t matter, except the clams couldn’t be seen. After a quick calculation, Qi Rong slipped into the nearby woods, hid the basket in the grass, and walked forward openly.
As expected, the three of them stopped him.
Qi Ping was only two years older than Qi Rong, chubby and pale, inheriting none of the Qi family’s good looks. His eyebrows were so faint they looked like brushstrokes dipped in ink once, then reused after writing a thousand characters. His triangular eyes were squeezed into narrow slits by the flesh on his face—one couldn’t even tell if his field of vision was wide enough to take in Qi Rong’s whole body at once.
He had a bulbous garlic nose with a string of snot hanging beneath it, thick lips flipped outward—ugly to the extreme.
Qi Ping sniffed loudly and sneered, “Didn’t dig up any wild vegetables today? Then your family’s going hungry again, huh? We’re stewing meat at my place for lunch. Want to come over? I’ll be generous and let you have a sip of the gravy.”
The two lackeys burst out laughing.
Qi Rong wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. He stood right in front of Qi Ping, a full head taller, as if to say: *So what if you eat meat—don’t you still look like a short winter melon?*
“Oh, so it’s Cousin,” Qi Rong said lazily. “Whether I eat meat or not doesn’t matter. But you should really treat Big Dog and Second Dog properly. They follow behind you like loyal lapdogs every day—wouldn’t it be unfair not to feed them?”
He turned to the two lackeys. “Did my cousin invite you two over for meat today?”
The two dogs froze—there’d been no such invitation.
Second Dog licked his lips. “Qi Ping, are you really cooking meat? Can we go eat too?”
There was no meat at all. Qi Ping had been bragging on the spot, just to show off in front of Qi Rong.
“Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you know!” Qi Ping snapped at them. “What did I bring you here for?”
Big Dog, drooling at the thought of meat, forced a flattering smile. “We’ll do the work. Could we just get one piece each? Just one per brother.”
Qi Ping’s fat face flushed crimson. How could he admit his family had no meat at all? That would be humiliating. But if he didn’t agree, would these two even help him cause trouble?
He couldn’t understand it—he’d come looking for a fight, yet after just one sentence, he felt like he’d been tossed into a frying pan.
For now, forget the lackeys. Picking a fight was more important. He turned his anger on Qi Rong. “I heard your lame big brother married a stupid wife. A cripple with a fool—what a perfect match.”
Qi Rong’s expression darkened. His sister-in-law wasn’t stupid at all. His brother really was lame—but Qi Ping knew exactly *why*.
He snorted coldly. “If my brother hadn’t saved your father, would he be crippled? You didn’t even help hire a doctor, and now you come to mock him? Has your whole family’s conscience been eaten by dogs?”
Big Dog and Second Dog thought silently: *We don’t eat consciences—we want meat.*
Qi Ping planted his hands on his hips and sneered, “Your brother’s the idiot. A wild boar charged in and he didn’t even run. If he didn’t get crippled, who would? I think he was just so desperate for meat he lost his mind.”
Big Dog and Second Dog thought again: *We really do want meat.*
Qi Rong was furious. But his father and brother had warned him—never strike first. He swallowed his anger and let his tongue do the fighting.
“Your father’s the coward. When he saw the wild boar, it was like meeting the King of Hell—he was so scared he pissed his pants. If my brother hadn’t stepped in, those tusks would’ve gone straight up your dad’s ass. Yeah, my brother got crippled by the boar—but even with one leg ruined, he still killed it. Unlike your father, who wet his pants and then carried the boar away smelling like piss. Who’s greedy for meat? Your family, that’s who. So—how did piss-flavored meat taste?”
Big Dog and Second Dog thought miserably: *Meat? You didn’t even let us eat any!*
“My dad’s not a coward! He didn’t wet himself! The boar was killed by my dad!” Qi Ping exploded, shoving Qi Rong hard.
In the blink of an eye, the two were tangled together in a fight.