Chapter 26: The Second Day of the Second Month
This Lantern Festival stall can be said to be very successful.
Qingyan summarized to himself that the reason for the good sales was, first, novelty; second, the prices were cheaper compared to similar products; third, the goods were of good quality, winning on quality; and finally, the flagship products drove customer flow, selling out other less competitive items as well.
What’s a bit regrettable was that they didn’t bring enough stock. Just as the lanterns were lit and the foot traffic was at its peak, everything was sold out.
Later, when they were packing up the stall, people still came asking for items.
However, they rushed this time and didn’t have time to prepare properly. Aunt Li only had the snowflake ointment she had made previously, the perfume hadn’t been made yet, and Qiuniang had even brought out the little things she had woven for her child to sell. She would have to weave more again.
Qingyan was the same. Items like spinning tops and bead strings were quick to make, but delicate items that required more effort, he simply didn’t have time to make.
They returned home late that day, and everyone went back to sleep.
The next morning, Qingyan went to sweep the courtyard next door. Aunt Li handed him a small cloth bag and tried to put it in his hand. Qingyan immediately felt that it was silver inside. He hurriedly handed it back and asked, “Auntie, what are you doing?”
Aunt Li clenched her hand and refused to take it back.
“Yesterday we sold a total of fifty-seven bottles of snowflake ointment. The materials for this stuff were all collected by myself, and even the bones used to make the ointment were leftovers from our meals at home. It didn’t cost much at all. Each bottle netted me eighty wen. “
She gestured with her hand and continued, “These small porcelain bottles and gilded paper were bought by you, and you wrote the characters on them one by one. It was also you who helped to sell them at the stall. If you hadn’t said they could be sold, I wouldn’t have thought of it. As a person, I can’t be without conscience. I should give you half of the eighty wen from each bottle.”
Qingyan refused to take it, saying, “The porcelain bottles and gilded paper didn’t cost much money. Besides, I didn’t just sell snowflake ointment at the stall. I also sold the small wooden items I made myself. Your snowflake ointment sold well, and I benefited from the foot traffic. You’re like my real aunt. I can’t accept this money.”
However, Aunt Li insisted that he take it.
“That’s not the way to say it, Qingyan. I’m really not cut out for running a stall. In the future, I’ll just make things at home. I’ll rely on you to come up with ideas and sell them outside. If you don’t take this money, I won’t be able to bring myself to ask again in the future!”
The two argued for a long time. In the end, Qingyan took out half of the silver coins from the bag before reluctantly accepting it.
Later, Qiuniang also came and wanted to give Qingyan some of the profits. Qingyan insisted on not taking anything this time, just agreeing with Qiuniang to plan together for the next stall. Qiuniang was naturally willing. This time she tasted the sweetness of setting up a stall and was thinking about what else to make and sell next.
Looking at Qingyan, she was genuinely happy. Before, when Second Brother talked about getting married, she and Sanyao were still a bit worried. They didn’t have much kinship with him, and they often only interacted with Second Brother*.
*T/N: Qiu Henian
They were worried that Second Brother would marry someone with a difficult personality or who was hard to get along with, and then they might not be able to get along with this relative in the future.
Now she found that this Second Sister-in-law not only looked pretty and had a good temper, but was also intelligent and capable at his young age.
Second Brother was truly fortunate.
After dinner and finishing their work, Qingyan opened the drawer under the bed and put all the money earned from this stall inside. This time he earned a total of over four taels of silver. After deducting the cost of buying wood and paint, he netted three and a half taels. In addition to the extra silver given by Aunt Li, it was almost five taels.
New Year was a peak season. If Qiu Henian could bring home five or six taels of silver every day, and if he could deliver the batch of farm tools to the big households in town, he could still receive a large sum of silver. Of course, some of this money would have to be spent on materials in the future, but there would still be a lot left.
They had spent over twenty taels from the one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver from before the New Year. He still had ninety taels left.
Adding the income from after New Year, it totaled one hundred and fifty-five taels.
Qingyan sat on the bed with a bag containing over a hundred taels of silver, smiling beside Qiu Henian. At this moment, this amount of money didn’t excite him as much as when he won five hundred thousand, but it made him feel more stable and satisfied than that time.
As usual, he read a book for a while in the evening. Qingyan was no longer as ignorant as he was at the beginning; now he could understand most of it himself. It’s just that there were some characters he recognized, but he wasn’t sure how to write them correctly.
After reading the book, Qingyan lay down in bed and Qiu Henian went to turn off the light. The two of them went to sleep.
Qingyan didn’t have much on his mind and soon fell asleep.
He didn’t know how long he had slept, but he saw a pair of eyes in the darkness. Those eyes were very beautiful and somewhat familiar. Qingyan was trying hard to remember where he had seen them when suddenly the pupils in those eyes turned dark red, like the fires of demons from hell, bursting out from both pupils towards him, scorching to a terrifying extent, making him feel unbearable pain.
Qingyan exclaimed, “Ah!”
The man sleeping beside him was awakened by the shock and also sat up, holding him and asking, “Qingyan, what’s wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare?”
The sense of reality made Qingyan’s heart race, his voice trembling as he said, “I just had a nightmare, I dreamt of a pair of eyes…”
He recounted the dream from beginning to end, including the almost suffocating pain he felt when the flames attacked. Still trembling from the aftermath of the nightmare, Qingyan didn’t notice the man’s expression or his unusually silent response to hearing about the dream.
After a while, Qingyan finally calmed down a bit. In the dim light, he looked up at the man. Qiu Henian’s expression had returned to normal.
He gently stroked Qingyan’s thin back and comforted him, “It’s just a dream. It’s still early. Sleep a little more. I’ll watch over you.”
Qingyan nodded, lay down again, and pulled the blanket up to his chin, exposing only his clean face. He held Qiu Henian’s hand under the blanket, closed his eyes, and slowly fell asleep again.
At dawn, Qingyan found the man who usually woke up earlier than him still in bed, not sleeping but deep in thought. Qingyan pushed his arm in confusion, and Qiu Henian came back to his senses, his gaze shifting to him.
Qingyan asked, “Why aren’t you rushing to the shop today?”
These days, the tools for the wealthy households in town needed to be delivered, and the shop had been busy lately.
At this, Qiu Henian got up and said, “It’s almost done. No need to rush.”
Then, Qingyan widened his eyes and watched as the man opened the bed curtain and hung it up, then in the morning light, gracefully removed his undergarments and threw them on the bed…
Qingyan’s mind buzzed, feeling like his face was about to catch fire. Despite being intimate, he had never truly seen his husband’s body.
Qingyan only now understood what the embodiment of strength and beauty meant. He covered his nose, feeling like he was too flustered today.
Feeling his gaze, Qiu Henian turned to look at him. Qingyan guiltily looked away, but when he glanced back, the man had already put on his robe, hiding everything from view.
Qingyan clicked his tongue inwardly, deeply regretting his lack of courage.
The weather gradually warmed up, but occasionally, a sudden heavy snowfall would bring temperatures back down.
The ironware requested by the wealthy households in town had all been delivered, and the master of that household settled the account promptly. Qiu Henian received a full hundred taels of silver, from which Qingyan took fifty taels for materials, hiding the rest in a deep drawer. Finally, their savings at home started to look somewhat substantial.
On the morning of the second day of the second lunar month, another heavy snowfall occurred. According to the village elders, this might be the last snow of the first half of the year.
The night before, Qingyan had already dug out the pig’s head from the snowdrift. After breakfast, Qiu Henian burned off the fine hairs on the pig’s head, then split it in half with an axe.
At that moment, Qingyan had heated the oil in the pot, sautéed the onions and ginger, added the two halves of the pig’s face, fried them until fragrant, added water, spices, salt, and green sauce, covered the pot and simmered slowly.
After stewing until the afternoon, he took it out to cool.
He sliced the pig’s ears and snout into a plate, sliced the remaining half and added potatoes for braising.
In addition, Qiu Henian stewed fish soup, stir-fried vinegar-slicked cabbage to relieve greasiness, and Qingyan sliced two sausages, fried a large plate of golden and oily scrambled eggs, making a total of six dishes and one soup.
That day, Qingyan and Qiu Henian invited Sanyao’s family and Aunt Li to their home for a festival.
The table of dishes made everyone thoroughly enjoy the meal.
Sanyao brought back a jar of wine from the county, made from glutinous rice and apples, with a fruity aroma.
Upon hearing this, Qiu Niang wanted to taste it, so besides the child, everyone else was poured wine.
Aunt Li took a sip and said she wouldn’t drink anymore, covering her mouth, saying that she was dizzy.
Qingyan thought the wine was good. It didn’t burn going down his throat, had a smooth taste, and upon closer inspection, had a faint sweetness of fruit. Qiu Niang had a hearty personality and could drink more than him. The two of them and the two men chatted while eating, unconsciously drinking the entire jar of wine.
Qiu Niang was in high spirits and wanted more wine, but feeling tired, she fell asleep straight away. Sanyao said the child had to go to Mr. Zhang’s class tomorrow, so she remembered she had a child and couldn’t help laughing and hastily greeted the man, child, and man.
Qiu Niang was on the rise, and she wanted to find wine to drink again. Niansheng was so sleepy that she dozed off. It was only when Sanmo said that the child would go to class with Mr. Zhang tomorrow did she remember that she still had a child. She couldn’t help laughing, hurriedly said goodbye, and went back with the man and the child leisurely.
They left, and Aunt Li helped Qiu Henian clean up the dishes and chopsticks together before finally leaving. Qiu Henian saw Aunt Li off, locked the door securely, and watched her enter her house from behind the fence in the courtyard. He stood there for a while, as if letting the breeze sober him up.
After a moment, he returned to the house, secured the door latch, and entered the inner room. Inside, on the coarse wooden bed, Qingyan lay curled on his side, facing away, covered with a corner of a quilt. His hair was messy, and his bare feet peeked out from under the blanket.
Those feet, like the rest of his body, were delicate and fair, clearly not accustomed to much walking. No wonder every time they went out, he either had to be pushed in a cart or carried.
Qiu Henian placed the oil lamp he was holding on the table and then sat down on the edge of the bed. He lowered his head and gazed at that beautiful face for a while. Then, his gaze followed the delicate chin down to the buttons of the robe.
Qiu Henian’s gaze gradually changed, becoming deep and intense. He reached out, unfastened the button, and then leaned down, kissing those slightly parted, soft, and plump lips.
Qingyan made a few soft noises, and with closed eyes, not fully awake, he extended his arms around Qiu Henian’s neck.
Qiu Henian kissed him even deeper, and his other hand ventured down, grasping the bare foot that was exposed from under the blanket. His rough thumb, used to coarse work, patiently rubbed the tender sole of the foot. Sure enough, before long, Qingyan arched his body, all ten toes curling involuntarily, his body trembling as he tilted his head back, allowing himself to kiss Qiu Henian even more deeply.
After a while, veins bulged on Qiu Henian’s forehead as he restrained himself and leaned back. Qingyan, with closed eyes, whimpered discontentedly and then lifted his head to follow suit.
Qiu Henian’s gaze was deep and heavy.
His Adam’s apple moved as his face tensed, and his voice, low and hoarse as if resonating from deep within his chest, said, “Qingyan, does it hurt, my love?”
After these words, the person still arching into his arms suddenly stiffened all over, and then those misty eyes opened.
Qingyan looked at him with frightened eyes and said, “Please, don’t… It hurts so much.”
At these words, Qiu Henian’s face immediately darkened.
Indeed, he didn’t remember what had happened, but in his consciousness, he hadn’t forgotten to respect his wishes.
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qingyan concluded, “Men shouldn’t carry money in their pockets. If they have money, they’re bound to cause trouble!”
