Chapter 17: Making Money
The next day, Qingyan went to Aunt Li’s house to sweep the yard.
Before he even picked up the broom, Aunt Li happily opened the door and waved him in.
Perplexed, Qingyan followed her inside. He entered the inner room where he rarely went before and saw a large bamboo basket on the kang. Around it were thick cushions, and there were chirping sounds coming from inside.
The kang was very hot, making him sweat immediately. He quickly took off his fur hat and cotton gloves and set them aside.
Aunt Li cheerfully said, “I mentioned giving you some little chicks before. They’ve been hatching these past couple of days. Come pick your own!”
Excitedly, Qingyan leaned in to look. He saw fluffy yellow chicks moving around inside the cushion, occasionally pecking at some millet. There were over twenty of them, all irresistibly cute.
Qingyan stood by the edge of the kang, rubbing his hands in delight. He picked three and put them into the basket Aunt Li gave him. Aunt Li gave him a resigned look and then grabbed six more to add to the basket.
Qingyan hurriedly stopped her, “Auntie, raising chicks is quite a hassle. You have to keep the kang warm day and night. You must have been busy for half a month already. Besides, chickens are expensive. I can’t take so many!”
Aunt Li patted his arm, “You child, treating me like a real aunt, yet you’re so polite with me. If I said take them, then take them!”
She grumbled as she spoke, but her face still held a smile. Raising these chicks was indeed not easy, requiring her to tend to the hot kang tirelessly day and night.
When she gave things to the couple next door, she never expected anything in return. Moreover, these two kids always thought of her, bringing her things and helping her with chores.
Even without her saying it, Qingyan could sense the difficulty involved. Aunt Li gave them willingly because she genuinely felt that Qingyan was a considerate and affectionate child.
With Aunt Li insisting, Qingyan had no choice but to accept.
Aunt Li was satisfied with this and suddenly remembered something else, “By the way, Lanjie will be back in a few days. You and Henian should come over for a meal together.”
Qingyan didn’t immediately agree. He pondered for a while before saying, “Auntie, let’s not disturb them. Lanjie rarely comes back, and it’s a rare family reunion for you all.”
Aunt Li said, “It’s alright. You’re not outsiders. Lan treats Henian like a younger brother, and she wants to see you too.”
Qingyan insisted, “Sister Lan’s husband will also come this time, right? Although our families are close, Henian is still an outsider…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but Aunt Li understood what he meant. Her son-in-law rarely came back each year and wasn’t familiar with Henian.
It wouldn’t be good if unnecessary misunderstandings arose.
Aunt Li frowned slightly, “I’m being silly. You’re thinking ahead.”
Qingyan smiled, “Let’s skip the meal then. I’ll come by another time to chat with Lanjie.”
Aunt Li was pleased, “Alright, it’s settled then.”
After sweeping the yard and carefully wrapping the basket of chicks in a cotton coat, Qingyan brought them home.
Qiu Henian had already gotten up early. At this moment, he was sharpening the kitchen knives, axes, scissors, and other tools that had dulled over the past year.
Qingyan brought back the little chicks and called him over excitedly to take a look.
Since their home didn’t have a kang, Qingyan laid down cushions in the basket. He placed it on a low stool against the fire wall.
Qingyan squatted on the ground to look inside, while Qiu Henian wiped his hands, stood behind him, and watched.
“These were given by Aunt Li,” Qingyan gently touched the heads of the chirping chicks, joyfully saying, “When it gets warmer next year, we can eat their eggs.”
Qingyan’s hands were small and fair, with slender fingers that delicately stroked the fluffy yellow feathers of the chicks, making them appear even more tender and pale.
He crouched on the ground, with his back to Qiu Henian. He had already taken off his outer robe when he came in, exposing his neck, which was fair and tender.
His padded vest was thin cotton, tightly stretched over his waist and back. Below his belt, his small waist was just one hand’s grip, clearly thin, yet his hip line was full and round.
After not hearing the man’s response for a long time, Qingyan turned his head in confusion to look up, only to meet the deep and dim gaze of the other person.
He wasn’t looking at the chicks, but at himself.
Qingyan’s face suddenly flushed red.
The man quickly looked away, letting out a delayed “Mm”.
Qingyan bit his lip and slowly turned his head back.
After this, the room fell silent, with only the soft and tender chirping of the chicks.
After a while, until he heard the footsteps behind him leave the room, Qingyan stood up, his heart pounding wildly.
He jumped onto the bed, clutching the blanket and humming as he rolled back and forth.
The look in the man’s eyes just now seemed like he wanted to devour him.
After lunch, Qiu Henian borrowed a cart from Aunt Li’s House and went to town with Qingyan.
The road to town was not close, but much easier than going up the mountain.
Qingyan walked for a while, sat in the cart for a bit, and arrived without feeling tired.
The original owner’s home was in town, but it was Qingyan’s first time visiting it.
It wasn’t as nice as he had imagined. After all, the war had only ended a few years ago, and the northern border areas had just started to recover.
However, nearing the New Year, the market was still lively.
Qingyan found everything fascinating and couldn’t take his eyes off everything.
Moreover, people on the street had characters floating next to their heads, crowded together. He got used to it and found it quite amusing.
Seeing Qingyan so happy and not shy anymore, Qiu Henian didn’t bother him and let him look around on the street.
The two first went to a butcher’s shop. Ordinary stalls only sold pork, with some selling mutton and donkey meat. Beef was almost invisible due to government bans aimed at protecting draft cattle.
This shop sold almost every edible meat, along with various smoked sauces, jerky, and sausages, making it the largest and most abundant meat shop nearby.
Qiu Henian parked the cart at the shop entrance while Qingyan looked at the things on the cart and waited outside. He went inside to find a clerk.
It was the warmest time of the day, comfortable in the sun outside. Qingyan squinted, watching Qiu Henian talk to the clerk for a while.
Then, the clerk called a middle-aged fat man who seemed like the boss. The three of them chatted for a while before the fat man followed Qiu Henian out here.
Qingyan jumped off the cart and timely opened the tarpaulin, letting the boss and clerk see the deer.
The boss checked it over, “Hmm,” and said, “Not bad!,” then turned to ask the clerk to fetch a scale pole.
Qiu Henian lifted the deer and hung it on the large iron hook under the scale pole. Although the boss was fat, he was quite strong. With a red face, he strained to lift the entire deer, weighing over 140 catties, off the cart.
“148 catties, let’s round it to 145 catties. How about that?”
The boss looked at Qiu Henian.
Qiu Henian shook his head, “It weighs what it weighs, 148 catties.”
The boss wasn’t upset either, smiled and said, “Alright, 148 catties it is, not a gram less.”
At this moment, he spotted the colorful pheasant covered by the tarpaulin. The pheasant, feeling confined, stuck its head out from under the tarp.
The boss’s eyes lit up and he said, “It’s alive! What a fine one, strong and vibrant. I’ll give you an extra twenty copper coins and buy this pheasant from you as well.”
Qiu Henian looked at Qingyan. Qingyan hadn’t planned to sell the pheasant, intending to raise it for a while.
However, with baby chicks at home, he feared the pheasant might harm them or fly away easily, so he reluctantly decided to sell it.
Qiu Henian said, “Twenty coins won’t do. My wife caught it with great effort. Even in a big shop like yours, you rarely see such a live creature.”
The fat boss then carefully looked at Qingyan. After examining his appearance, he was slightly stunned, but quickly turned to look at Qiu Henian, who had half of his face scarred.
When he looked back at Qingyan, there was a clear look of regret on his face.
However, he was a businessman and had seen all kinds of people coming and going.
Seeing Qingyan’s disappointed face, he immediately adjusted his expression and said with a smile, “Alright, I’ll give you a hundred coins for the pheasant. Bring any good stuff you have in the future to sell to me, okay?”
Qingyan calculated in his mind and felt it was quite a sum, so he nodded to Qiu Henian.
The deal was settled.
The pheasant sold for a good price. Although expensive, the fat boss was likely to make a profit.
Nowadays, cockfighting was popular among the common folk, and this fat man probably liked this kind of thing.
The fat boss gave them a total of twenty-five taels of silver and two hundred copper coins. The extra hundred was for selling the fish to him.
He had wanted to ask Qiu Henian for the deer blood, but Qiu Henian said he shot the deer in the woods, and it was hard to find. By the time he found it, the blood had all drained away.
The fat boss sighed with regret.
After leaving the butcher’s shop, Qingyan secretly asked Qiu Henian why he didn’t sell the deer blood to the fat boss.
Qiu Henian explained, “Selling deer blood to him wouldn’t fetch as good a price as selling it to a medicine shop.”
When Qiu Henian came out of the medicine shop and handed Qingyan the money bag, Qingyan weighed it. He hadn’t sold much of the deer blood.
The past few days on the mountain were indeed hard, but the income was substantial. If it weren’t for the upcoming New Year, Qingyan would have wanted to stay on the mountain for a few more days.
However, thinking of Qiu Henian’s frostbite and the improvement in his feet, he felt that they were still young and didn’t need to rush to make money.
Clutching the heavy money bag, Qingyan felt lighter in spirits.
He quickly calculated that there were originally fifteen taels of silver under the bed at home.
A few days ago, Qiu Henian had brought back the money he earned from making ironware before the New Year, totaling eighty taels. Excluding the scattered copper coins, today’s earnings of thirty taels made a total of one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver.
This amount wouldn’t make them be considered as wealthy, but it would assure them a decent living in the village. It wasn’t surprising that Wang Heyao had been eyeing that shop.
Qiu Henian should have saved quite a bit of money these years. Otherwise, when Qingyan entered the door, there would only be a dozen or so taels of savings.
However, he inherited Wang’s family property and felt indebted to his brothers, often sending money and goods to them.
Another big expense was getting married.
Qingyan still didn’t know how much Qiu Henian had given to the original stepmother over the years. He didn’t dare ask for fear of hurting himself.
After selling the game, the two were preparing to go to the grocery store to buy rice, flour, oil, and seasoning.
It was almost New Year’s, and they also needed to buy some eggs, sugar blocks, melon seeds, and peanuts. They also planned to buy ink, gold powder, red paper, and bring them back to write Spring Festival couplets.
They also planned to visit a bookstore to see if there were any old books at a good price to buy.
As Qingyan and Qiu Henian were discussing what to buy, he felt like someone was watching him from afar.
The names of people on the main streets were more dazzling than the people themselves.
Among those names, one name lingered in front of a wine shop, swaying slightly as its owner looked around.
The moment Qingyan recognized that name, his heart skipped a beat. Then he turned around and jumped onto the cart and hid under the blanket.
Qiu Henian, who was pushing the cart, was slightly startled and looked towards the wine shop. There were too many passers-by, and he didn’t notice anything unusual.
“What’s wrong?”
Qiu Henian stopped the cart and asked softly.
Inside the blanket, Qingyan’s voice trembled, “I… I’m shy.”
“…”
Sometimes his shyness came and went, and Qiu Henian was speechless.
At the wine shop entrance in the distance, the person who had been standing there without hesitation was already walking towards here.
He was dressed like a scholar, slim in stature, and bore a resemblance to Qingyan’s appearance.
This person was none other than Yu Qingxi, the original owner’s half-brother!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
The vivid green color complemented Qingyan’s clear and delicate cheeks, making it hard to distinguish which was finer and more translucent, his flesh or the jade.
