Winter Solstice had arrived, and snow still swirled through the Jade Capital.
Chen Shu made Lamb Soup as usual. It was a Yi Nation tradition, and by now, something he made every year.
Unlike previous years, though, this year's soup used premium lamb Friend Huang had flown in from the Eastern Continent. Chen Shu had scrounged half a jin of Wisdom Tea from his neighbor and mailed it to her in exchange. The tea was worth more, of course, but he couldn't buy lamb that good in Yi Nation, and she couldn't buy Wisdom Tea on the Eastern Continent. Between friends, it counted as a courtesy exchanged for a courtesy; the exact value didn't matter.
Besides, Chen Shu hadn't paid for it.
He had heard Brother Jiang was also in the Jade Capital these days, so he invited him and Brother Meng over too.
The gathering was at his neighbor's place.
Neighbor Zhang had set up a Sunshine Pavilion in her courtyard, the kind with an alloy frame and a glass roof. Neither the style nor the color matched anything, making an ugly thing uglier, but it had cost her several months' wages. In weather like this, at least it kept out the snow.
An eight-person table stood in the middle of the Sunshine Pavilion. On it sat a Spirit Power Stove and an Iron Basin Pot filled with milky-white Lamb Soup, a few thin slices of daikon, and seven or eight jin each of lamb and offal. Chen Shu had also brought his homemade Bathing Pickles to cut the richness, along with two large baskets of Pea Shoots to cook in the broth.
"Sorry to trouble you, Miss Grandma."
"Hey, don't say that. Makes us sound like strangers." Zhang Suannai tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Just call