So Much Silver…
So much silver, hehe, Su Tao felt as if she were floating on air, so overjoyed she could hardly find her bearings.
“Fourth Sister, Fourth Sister, you’re supposed to be collecting the silver!” Su Li reminded softly while serving rice.
Su Tao suddenly snapped back to reality and hurriedly took the silver offered by the person in front of her.
“Exactly ten coins,” Su Tao muttered, counting the copper coins in her hand several times.
Hearing this, Su Li handed over the prepared meal and said with a smile, “Here’s your meal, sir.”
The person took the meal and immediately scooped a mouthful. “As expected, Zhu Si didn’t lie to me—it’s delicious!”
While eating, he praised further, “I’ve never tasted such delicious Feichang before! Young lady, your Feichang is even better than meat!”
After saying this, he took another bite of eggplant and beans. His eyes lit up, and without another word, he began shoveling the food into his mouth ravenously.
A bite of Feichang, a bite of vegetables, and a mouthful of rice—what bliss!
All the hardships of the morning were washed away, leaving only overwhelming happiness.
Soon, more people gathered around Su Li’s stall, drawn by the crowd. In less than half an hour, all twenty portions of food brought by Su Li and Chen Shi were sold out.
“Huh? Sold out already?” someone who had come on a recommendation asked disappointedly upon finding nothing left. They had heard how delicious it was, even better than the meals in the county’s restaurants…
“Sorry, we’ve sold everything for today,” Su Li apologized. Worried they might not sell out, they had prepared less this time. She hadn’t expected it to sell so quickly. Just moments ago, she had been discussing with her mother, Chen Shi, about making more tomorrow.
The person peered into the empty rice bucket and said, “Alright, I’ll come back tomorrow,” before leaving.
Among those disappointed were Wang Tie Zhu and his son, Wang Ergou, who had hurried over after selling a river deer in the county. Seeing that all the food at Su Li’s stall was gone, they were extremely let down.
“I told you to hurry, but you had to dawdle,” Wang Tie Zhu couldn’t help complaining to his son.
Wang Ergou rolled his eyes at this. When nature calls, it’s not something one can simply ignore.
Wang Tie Zhu and Wang Ergou had already sold the river deer to a familiar shop, but Wang Ergou’s stomachache on the way had delayed them.
“If we’d known you were coming, we would’ve saved some for you,” Chen Shi said apologetically.
The Wang father and son had helped them earlier on the road, and they hadn’t had a chance to thank them yet.
Unfortunately, only some vegetable broth and a few leftover vegetables remained—there was no rice left.
“It’s fine, we’ll find something else to eat,” Wang Tie Zhu said.
But after looking around, he couldn’t find anything appealing and regretted not eating in the county town.
Just then, Wang Ergou’s voice came from nearby.
“Brother, could you sell your portion to me?”
Song San, who hadn’t started eating yet, was taken aback. He looked up at the man in brown short attire with a tiger skin wrapped around his waist, then at the food in his own bowl, and suddenly realized he hadn’t even taken a bite.
“No, no.” Only then did he pick up a piece of Feichang with his chopsticks. The Feichang was moderately sized, slightly curled, and almost every piece was coated with chili and Sichuan peppercorns. Its color was glossy and bright red, without the expected unpleasant odor. Instead, it emitted a rich, savory aroma. Song San quickly put it in his mouth.
However, after just two chews, he froze. The taste was completely different from what he had imagined—not a hint of foulness, but even more fragrant than meat. The texture was peculiarly delightful, indescribable, yet his mind could only register one sensation: delicious!!
Just moments ago, he had been heartbroken over the ten coins spent on the meal. He only earned about 40 to 50 coins a day, so ten coins for one meal was nearly half his wages—no small sum. But in that instant, all regret vanished. He even felt that ten coins was quite worth it.
Yet Song San didn’t eat much. After two pieces, he forced himself to stop. Something this delicious surely ought to be shared with his family.
With that thought, Song San turned to the stewed eggplant and string beans. But upon tasting it, he realized the eggplant was also incredibly tasty—not at all inferior to the Feichang.
In Song San’s memory, he had only eaten vegetarian food this delicious as a child when his grandmother took him to Baiyun Temple to offer incense. He had never tasted it since. Even when he later brought his wife and children to Baiyun Temple a few times on the second day of the second lunar month, the flavor was never right. Yet today’s dish closely resembled that memory.
Under the midday sun, Song San held his bowl, feeling an inexplicable and indescribable melancholy in his heart.
Just then, a few barefoot children with topknots ran past him, laughing and playing. In a daze, Song San suddenly realized that without noticing, he had grown from a barefoot child into the pillar supporting his entire family. His carefree childhood and the relatives who had watched him grow up had all gradually drifted away from him.
After a long while, Song San finally lowered his head and began shoveling large mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.
…
“Brother, no one’s fighting you for it,” Wang Ergou said, watching Song San devour his food with a look of utter speechlessness.
Not far away, Wang Tie Zhu, observing his son Wang Ergou, wore an equally exasperated expression. “What an embarrassment.”
“Let’s go.”
Wang Tie Zhu strode over to Wang Ergou, grabbed him, and started pulling him away, nearly causing Wang Ergou to stumble and fall.
“Dad, what are you doing? Can’t you be a little nicer to me?”
“Here, have a lamb pancake.”
Wang Tie Zhu shoved a lamb pancake into Wang Ergou’s arms—one he had bought earlier from the stall next to Su Li’s—hoping the food would shut him up.
“That’s more like it.” Wang Ergou steadied himself and, sure enough, said no more.
…
Meanwhile, Su Li, Chen Shi, and the others had packed up and were ready to head home. But before returning, they first went into the county town. The three split into two groups: Chen Shi went to buy Feichang for the next day, while Su Li and Su Tao went to deliver food to their grandparents.
Since sales had been quite good that day, Chen Shi went straight to her elder brother’s pork stall and said, “Brother, sister-in-law, I’ll take four portions of Feichang.”
Chen Da was sharpening his knife, while Zhao Shi was idly cracking melon seeds. When they saw Chen Shi arrive, both were somewhat surprised. Chen Da was puzzled as to why his younger sister had come, given that her family was poor and rarely bought meat—sometimes she wouldn’t even come when he invited her for a meal. Zhao Shi, on the other hand, was surprised that Chen Shi had come to buy pork intestines again, since she had just given her two sets the day before yesterday.
“What do you need the pork intestines for?” Chen Da frowned. The other day, when he heard his wife say that his sister was so poor she had resorted to eating pork intestines, he thought it was a joke—Zhao Shi often teased him about his family. But now it seemed it was all true?
Unaware of Chen Da’s inner thoughts, Chen Shi explained her plan to make food with the pork intestines to sell. She figured that since her older brother was a butcher, it made more sense to buy from him than from others. Besides, her daughter had mentioned they might need a large quantity later on, and it was better to let her brother earn the money rather than someone else.
“If you and sister-in-law have any pork intestines after slaughtering pigs in the future, please save them for me. We’ll calculate the price as usual.”
“Is that true?” Chen Da still had some doubts. Making food with pork intestines? They were so smelly—who would buy them? But seeing how earnest his sister sounded, he believed her about seventy percent.
He smiled and said, “That’s really wonderful. It’ll be another source of income for you. Sure, no problem. The pork intestines aren’t worth much anyway—you don’t even have to pay for them.”
Chen Da, honest and kind-hearted, was genuinely happy for his younger sister. After a moment’s thought, he added, “I never realized Fifth Girl was such a skilled cook.”
Chen Shi agreed wholeheartedly—her youngest daughter’s cooking was indeed delicious. But business was business.
“That won’t do. Last time, sister-in-law already gave them to me for free.” Chen Shi hadn’t come to take advantage of them, and she certainly couldn’t accept not paying. Besides, this wasn’t a short-term arrangement—she intended to rely on them long-term.
“Since little sister insists, let’s make it two coins per set,” Zhao Shi suddenly chimed in with a smile.
Chen Da was taken aback. “No need. It’s just a few sets of pork intestines. Why charge for them?”
Chen Da, being rather thick-skinned, completely missed the change in Zhao Shi’s expression upon hearing this.
But Chen Shi noticed and, afraid the two would argue over the matter, quickly said, “Two coins it is, then. It’s settled. I’ll probably need about four sets tomorrow, and I’ll come by to pick them up.”
With that, Chen Shi took out her purse, counted eight coins, and placed them on the chopping block.
Before Chen Da could say anything, Zhao Shi snatched up the copper coins and shot her husband a glare. “See? Little sister said it’s fine.”Little sister is so thoughtful, specially coming to support our business!””
“Little sister, you have no idea—your two nephews’ school expenses are just too high. The tuition alone cost five taels just the other day. Ah… it gives me a headache just thinking about it. Families like ours don’t have mountains of gold or silver. Every day we wake up, it’s just spending money. No matter how much we earn, it all goes out. And your niece is about to get married, but her dowry isn’t even fully prepared yet…”
After taking the money, Zhao Shi’s attitude improved slightly, and she began to lament their hardships. Chen Shi offered a few words of sympathy until Chen Da handed over the prepared pork intestines.
“Well, big brother, sister-in-law, I’ll be going now?” Chen Shi felt that if the conversation continued, she wouldn’t know what else to say.
After speaking, Chen Shi fled as if escaping, carrying the pig intestines with both hands, but before she had gone far, she saw her elder brother Chen Tiezhu chasing after her, holding a cut of meat weighing about 2.3 jin and two large bones.
“Take this meat and bones back with you. I heard your mother-in-law had a fall. I meant to give them to you earlier but never ran into you. These days I’m always busy, so just take them back.”
“What are you doing, Elder Brother? There’s no need. My mother-in-law said not to accept anything. Please take them back.” After Wu Pozi’s fall, a few relatives had come to visit, but she had turned them all away. No one’s family was well-off, and it wasn’t a serious issue anyway—no point in exchanging gifts.
After some back-and-forth, seeing that Chen Shi truly wouldn’t accept them, Chen Da finally gave up.
“Then at least take the bones. Go back and make soup to nourish your mother-in-law.”
Since the bones weren’t valuable, Chen Shi accepted them.
“Thank you, Elder Brother. I’ll be going now.”
“Be careful on the road. Don’t come tomorrow either. If I get any pig intestines when I collect pigs in the morning, I’ll bring them to you.”
It cost two copper coins to enter the county town, and Chen Da was trying to save his sister the expense.
Chen Shi naturally understood and was deeply touched.