Chapter 21

"Ah!!!" Zhou Jinian had beaten Xie Ning to what he was about to say. Furious, Xie Ning gripped his wrists with both hands and squeezed hard. "That's not what I was asking!"

Zhou Jinian did not pull his hands away. Entirely unbothered, he dragged him out of the room, in excellent spirits.

With the carrying basket on his back, Xie Ning kept tugging his husband's arm and swinging it back and forth, occasionally adding another pull after a swing. Zhou Jinian found it very comfortable, as though his little husband were loosening his shoulder for him.

Xie Ning waited for his husband's expression to change, but after he had played with his arm the whole way and worn out his own hands, his husband still looked perfectly relaxed.

Behind them, Zhou Wenshu hid behind the main room's window and watched them all the way. Xie Ning actually had such a knack for making money? He glanced at his profile from a distance. There did not seem to be anything frightening on his face?

Pine Mountain was famous for Praying for Grace Temple. According to the common people's traditional customs, they would visit Praying for Grace Temple on holidays, the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, and other such dates to burn incense, worship the Buddha, and pray for blessings and peace.

Reaching the temple required climbing a high, long flight of steps, all paved with huge stones. Every few steps, there was one as high as a person's knee. By the time people reached the temple, their legs were weak and trembling.

Thus there were sedan-chair porters. Farm men had strength to spare, so they built sturdy chairs and carried people up and down the mountain, earning money through hard legwork.

Great Well Village had the geographical advantage of being close to Pine Mountain, so Xie Ning and the others found a shady spot, set their baskets in front of them, and placed a long wooden bench they had brought from home behind them.

One basket held steamed dried eggplant. The other was covered with a clean cotton cloth, with shrimp-paste pancakes underneath, freshly fried that morning. Lin Jin and Lin Guihua had stayed up all night and only gone to bed when they left.

Zhou Jinian had carried the baskets on his shoulders and the bench in his hands, working up a sweat. Xie Ning held up a palm-leaf fan and fanned him.

After resting a while, Zhou Jinian tugged Xie Ning over. "Come sit down. Are you hot?"

Xie Ning shook his head and pressed his cool palm against Zhou Jinian's forehead. Seeing his husband close his eyes, the space between his brows relaxing, he endured the heat to cool his husband down.

After setting up the stall, Zhou Sanfeng turned around to find the young couple with their hands pressed together, sweet as honey. Quite a few other people had gradually arrived to set up stalls around them. Some came from other villages with plenty of men, carrying tables and chairs; they had actually come to cook and sell noodles.

As more people arrived, Zhou Jinian pulled the little cool hand from his forehead and took Xie Ning around to ask about and observe the prices other vendors were calling out.

Those heading up the mountain had little interest in buying food. They were all farmers from nearby villages and had naturally eaten at home before coming out. Every coin saved counted.

But when the first group came back down, they began thinking about getting something to eat, and Xie Ning's stall happened to be right beside the steps.

As soon as Xie Ning saw someone looking at his basket, he called, "Blessings for a peaceful Mid-Autumn Festival, honored guest! Buy a shrimp-paste pancake to tide you over."

Seeing his fair, handsome face and clean, tidy clothes, people were quite willing to approach. Once closer, they saw some fine lines on his face and merely assumed this young gentleman was a little older and had taken good care of himself.

"How much?" someone asked, coming over while supporting her mother-in-law.

"Six copper coins each. Shrimp filling, fresh and fragrant." Xie Ning took one out and tore open a corner to show her the filling.

She had wanted to say it was expensive, since even a meat bun in town cost only four copper coins. But the one the young gentleman held out did smell delicious, and it was seafood, so she reached for her money. "One, then."

Xie Ning put the torn pancake aside, wrapped a fresh one in oiled paper, and handed it over. "Here you are. Take care."

Once someone had taken the first plunge, others gradually followed the aroma over and readily paid. After all, things sold at the foot of Praying for Grace Temple cost a coin or two more every year.

Those who tasted the shrimp pancakes and liked them would also buy a packet or two of dried mock meat.

At noon, Lin Jin and Lin Guihua came to replenish their stock, with Rong-ge'er following behind carrying lunch.

Seeing the empty baskets, Lin Jin asked, wide-eyed, "You sold them?"

"If we hadn't sold them, who'd have a cow's stomach big enough to eat them all?" Zhou Sanfeng laughed with a farm man's hearty laugh and went to help his husband unload his carrying basket.

Rong-ge'er handed the lunch he was carrying to Zhou Jinian. "Second Brother, Ning-ge, time for lunch."

Lin Guihua's husband had been busy harvesting the fields and selling vegetables lately, too busy to help her with these little ventures. She was also close to Third Brother's family, so she had kept helping them, and the food Ning-ge'er made

was delicious,

and she could eat as much of it as she wanted.

The third Zhou brother made a tidy little sum on the Mid-Autumn Festival and returned home with a bulging purse. Before Zhou Sanfeng could bring up dividing the household, trouble arose on the sixth brother's side.

The reason was that Zhou Liufeng had not managed to attend the scholars' Mid-Autumn banquet, yet Zhou Wenshu had gone. This made him terribly anxious. After eating his fill of meat and wine at the Mid-Autumn dinner, he went to see the old lady before he had even digested it.

Zhou Liufeng said, "Mother, did you pay for Wenshu to attend the Mid-Autumn banquet?"

"Yes. A xiucai invited him." The old lady did not understand what was going on and admitted it as soon as he asked.

"Eldest Brother's bedridden and needs food and medicine, and we'll have to spend money hiring people for next month's autumn harvest. He's far too thoughtless!" Zhou Liufeng was worried. He had attended scholars' banquets for many years himself and knew perfectly well that they were just a bunch of impoverished scholars spending money on pleasure. What composing poetry and matching couplets?

People who did not work, like Zhou Liufeng, felt deeply insecure. Now his eldest brother's family had no one able to work, and his third brother was lame. They relied solely on his fourth brother's family. His eldest brother spent money treating his illness, and his eldest nephew spent money enjoying himself. Money went out, but none came in!

"Then we won't let him go again." Grandmother Zhou faltered, wary before her youngest son.

Zhou Liufeng moved his lips. If he passed next year, the whole family would surely depend on him. By then, his eldest brother's family would not work, and neither would his third brother with his lame leg or his brother-in-law with his injured back. He could not afford to support relatives like that.

"Mother, Eldest Brother can't even sit up now..." Zhou Liufeng struck his palm with his fist. "Mother, we have to divide the household!"

Author's note: There will be one more update.

Thank you to the little angels who cast Overlord votes or watered me with nutrient solution between 2020-09-25 18:52:15 and 2020-09-26 20:18:42~

Thanks to the little angels who watered me with nutrient solution: Qiqi, 40 bottles; Ten Miles of Spring Breeze, 26 bottles; Yvette, 2 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!

Chapter 21

To sit the xiucai examination, a candidate needed a local stipend student to provide a written guarantee affirming, first, that the candidate was not taking the exam for someone else; second, that he was not the son of a prostitute or actor; and third, that he was not within the three-year mourning period following a parent's death.