Chapter 29: Drunk Qiu Henian
The sun was setting, and most of the fish had been sold. Whatever remained unsold was distributed among the households. Most of them were already dead, but the cold weather didn’t affect the freshness of the fish meat.
The silver coins earned from sales were evenly distributed per person by Liu Fa. Each family of two could get over ten taels, which was pure profit with almost no costs.
The first batch of fish sold at a high price due to high demand. As more fishermen went out in the following days, prices naturally dropped, and they couldn’t sell as much.
Everyone gathered their things and started walking back, feeling a bit weary therefore talking less.
Liu Fa’s wife hurried a few steps to catch up with Qingyan and said to him, “I didn’t let you talk to Wang Heyao’s family today. Don’t think too much about it. That scoundrel mistreats his wife, beating and scolding her every day. If someone tries to intervene, he becomes even more vicious when he gets home. So, we dare not interfere. Besides, your elder brother has issues with him too. If you went there, it would only make things worse for that guy.”
Qingyan hadn’t expected this and asked, “Our village wives are quite strong. Why is their family different?”
Liu Fa’s wife sighed, “It’s because his wife’s family doesn’t value him. Once she’s married off, they won’t allow him to return. Also, after so many years of marriage, she hasn’t borne any children, which gives Wang Heyao’s family a reason to look down on her!”
Qingyan was taken aback, “No children?”
Liu Fa’s wife pointed at his belly and said, “It means she can’t have children.”
Qingyan understood what “no children” meant, but he was just surprised. He had always overlooked the fact that in this world, even someone like Wang Heyao’s younger brother, who seemed no different from an ordinary man, could have children.
When Liu Fa’s wife pointed at his belly, the impact was like being hit by a large-caliber mortar shell, making his head buzz.
“Does not having children mean she gets beaten? Maybe it’s Wang Heyao’s fault,” Qingyan said.
Liu Fa’s wife sighed, “He’s just not a good person. It’s a pity for that guy, honest and upright.”
That night, Qingyan felt a bit down. Qiu Henian thought he was feeling cold, so he asked him to lie down in the room. He went to the outer room to boil fish soup and brought it to Qingyan’s bedside so he could drink it without getting out of bed.
Qingyan had a bowl of fish soup and ate some fish. The melancholy in his heart was healed a bit by the delicious and warm food.
The matter with Wang Heyao’s family weighed heavily on Qingyan’s mind, but he couldn’t find a way to help.
On the other hand, he realized a serious issue himself. He appeared no different from Wang Heyao’s younger brother, but in reality, he couldn’t possibly have children.
As a modern man, he thought it was fine to watch others have children, but when it came to himself… he couldn’t accept it.
Qiu Henian belonged to this world, where they were taught from an early age that having descendants was important.
He knew Qiu Henian wouldn’t think anything of it, but if he loved children and wanted his own, Qingyan would still feel sorry for him.
But thinking about all this was useless. They had difficulties even sharing a bed, let alone having children.
Qingyan wasn’t one to dwell on heavy thoughts. After a good night’s sleep, his mood improved.
The next day, he cleaned up the fish he brought back yesterday and gave two to Aunt Li and Qiuniang.
As the weather grew warmer and freezing was no longer a concern, Qingyan proceeded to salt the remaining fish and put them in jars to pickle.
For dinner, he stewed a large pot of mixed fish and served it with a circle of cornmeal cakes along the edge of the pot as the main dish.
He cleaned up the river shrimp again. Not much was caught, so Liu An didn’t sell any and distributed them among everyone.
The current river shrimp were only slightly larger than shrimp fry. When cooked, there wasn’t much meat. Qingyan chopped up the remaining Chinese chives and fried them with two eggs. He took a bite and found that the shrimp shells were crispy from frying, and though small, they had an exceptionally fresh taste, even better than fish.
When the fish stew was ready, Qiu Henian returned.
The golden brown sticky corn cakes were lifted out of the pot. Crispy on the outside and soft inside, they were rich with the fragrance of corn and had a hint of sweetness.
They each took a bite of the cake, sipped the soup, ate some fish, and then had a few bites of the Chinese chive stir-fried river shrimp and eggs. This meal was simply delightful.
Two days later, Qingyan’s stall team set off again. This time, Aunt Li only sent Qingyan a batch of newly made snowflake cream, staying behind himself.
This time, Qiuniang made more small knickknacks, even more exquisite than last time. Qingyan didn’t make many small wooden items, but they were all more finely detailed than before, making them attractive for home decoration.
Since woodworking was time-consuming and didn’t fetch high prices at the village market, so Qingyan deliberately selected some groceries from town to sell, pricing them lower than others to sell in bulk.
Sanye wasn’t home, so this time Qiu Henian used a cart to take them to the neighboring village market, then rushed back to his shop before sunset to fetch them.
This market turnout was not as good as the previous Lantern Festival. They sold a total of fifty bottles of snowflake cream, twenty-three bottles in total.
Qiuniang’s knitted small items only sold half, not because others didn’t like them, but because they thought they were expensive and tried to bargain down the price. Qiuniang was reluctant to sell them at such a low price, so she kept them.
Qingyan’s small wooden items didn’t sell much either, but all the groceries he brought sold out.
Despite not earning much, they still made a profit.
On their way back, Qingyan and Qiuniang discussed and decided that in the future, they should sell at the larger town markets as the village market didn’t seem to offer good prices.
Although this stall wasn’t entirely successful, Qingyan found a potential solution to a long-standing problem.
While at the market, he overheard other vendors chatting. Most of them traveled to markets in nearby counties, bringing local specialties to sell in other areas, capitalizing on rarity for better sales.
They also mentioned that larger merchants traveled even further, organizing trips with leaders arranging schedules, bodyguards protecting goods, and livestock transporting goods. They traversed the country, bringing northern sheep and game to the south and southern spices and silk back north, earning substantial profits.
Though unintentional, Qingyan was intrigued. In this era of limited information, if he wanted discreetly to inquire about someone thousands of miles away, these merchants might be the ideal covert method.
Having lived in this world for so long, Qingyan had verified countless names and profiles, never once being wrong. Therefore, he tentatively concluded that Qin Liangchuan, the magistrate of Nanhui County, was likely Aunt Li’s husband who had apparently died in an accident.
However, he couldn’t tell anyone about this, especially not Aunt Li. If he was wrong, it could devastate her again.
Qingyan decided that when he went to the town market next time, he would arrange to ask the merchants for help in finding out more.
Returning from the neighboring village market to Liuxi Village, Qiu Henian wasn’t home for dinner; Liu An had called him out for drinks.
Qingyan was alone, so he made a simple dish of spicy diced pork with braised noodles.
In the backyard, Qiu Henian had nearly finished building the chicken coop he made for the chicks. In a few days, when it got warmer, he could release the chicks into the yard.
The chicks had grown rapidly; their yellow fluff was almost gone, replaced by red and green feathers on their wings.
At this size, Qingyan could already distinguish between males and females. He counted them by the cage—eight hens and one rooster out of nine chicks.
A while ago, Aunt Li had mentioned that if Qingyan had too many roosters, she would exchange some hens with him to lay more eggs. However, this wouldn’t be necessary now.
After finishing his calligraphy practice, it was time for Qingyan to go to bed as usual.
His life had become quite routine since coming here, and now he was yawning. Qiu Henian hadn’t returned yet, so Qingyan sat at the bedside with a book, casually flipping through it with half-closed eyes.
After a while, Qingyan heard someone knocking on the door outside the courtyard. It sounded like Liu Fa. He quickly put on his shoes and hurried out to open the door.
Outside the gate in the darkness, Liu Fa was holding a lantern, supporting the tall figure of Qiu Henian, who staggered as if he might collapse at any moment.
Qingyan rushed to support the tall man from the other side.
Liu Fa, with drunken eyes, apologized to him, saying, “Sorry, Qingyan, I’ve gotten your husband drunk. It’s all my fault!”
Qingyan replied, “Brother Liu, no worries. It’s rare to see him so happy. Just let him have a few more drinks.”
Liu Fa chuckled and waved at him, “I’ll leave first then. Please take good care of my brother, Qingyan!”
With that, he lifted the lantern and staggered away, humming a tune.
Qingyan was left alone, supporting the tall man. They nearly fell together, but the intoxicated man regained some awareness, leaned against the door frame, and pulled Qingyan back from tipping over.
Qingyan collided into the man’s warm embrace, catching a faint scent of alcohol on his breath.
The man buried his face in Qingyan’s neck, sniffing and nuzzling, causing Qingyan to instinctively shrink back.
Then Qingyan heard the man’s muffled voice, having the certainty of solving a difficult problem, saying, “It’s my wife.”
Qingyan couldn’t help but laugh, patting his chest lightly, “Don’t you feel cold? Let’s get inside quickly.”
By now, Qiu Henian was somewhat sober. Qingyan didn’t need to exert much force as he guided him indoors.
He helped him out of his outer robe, and the man lay down on the bed.
Qingyan remembered the courtyard gate was still open, so he quickly went out to close it, securing the latch, and then returned to the room.
Unexpectedly, when he returned, he found the man lying on the bed was up again, leaning against the wall with half-closed eyes, brushing his teeth.
Concerned he might fall, Qingyan hurried over to support him.
Qiu Henian glanced up at him, finished rinsing his mouth and wiping his face, then said, “I want to rest for a bit.”
Qingyan helped him lean against the bedpost, where he half-lay down.
Seeing that he showed no signs of sleep, Qingyan chatted with him, asking, “Why did Liu Fa invite you for drinks today?”
Qiu Henian, with half-closed eyes, replied, “Not him, but his younger brother. He’s getting married next month, so he’s happy.”
Qingyan blinked, asking, “Were you happy when you got married?”
Qiu Henian remained silent this time.
After a while, he lifted his eyelids, glanced at Qingyan, and said, “Good-looking.”
Not quite understanding his meaning, Qingyan asked, “Are you happy to see me?”
Qiu Henian smiled faintly, and after a moment, unable to resist, Qingyan stood up and kissed Qiu Henian on the lips.
When he tried to pull back, he was held tightly around the waist and couldn’t move.
Qiu Henian looked down at him, his expression serious, and asked, “Qingyan, do you keep your promises?”
This was a question Qingyan had asked him before, and he hesitated, “What promise?”
Qiu Henian’s lips twitched slightly. Instead of directly answering, he simply said three words, “In the shop.”
Qingyan suddenly understood, feeling his face heat up like he could fry an egg. Last time, in his eagerness to express his feelings, he had dared to say anything. Later, thinking back, he felt embarrassed.
His eyelashes fluttered, and he swallowed nervously, glancing down and asking, “Now?”
The intoxicated man spoke firmly, “First, let’s take a bath.”
So, late at night, the two of them together stoked the fire and heated water, bustling around for a while before finally taking their baths one after the other.
After the bath, the drunk man seemed to finally sober up a bit. He leaned silently against the bedpost, seeming to regret his earlier suggestion.
Qingyan sat cross-legged beside him, his arms and legs fair and tender.
Tilting his head, he smiled and asked, “Are you someone who doesn’t keep his promises?”
Qiu Henian remained silent for a while, then suddenly got up, letting the bed curtains fall on both sides.
The oil lamp burned on the table, casting a shadow over the tightly covered bed.
Strange sounds came from within, and after some time, the younger man’s voice sobbed, pleading, “Stop, my mouth is so tired and sore.”
A while later, he cried out, complaining, “Why did you take so long? Sob, sob.”
From inside the bed curtains, a sigh was heard, the voice hoarse, asking, “Have you broken your promise?”
The younger man, blunt as ever, replied, “Yes, I have!”
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qingyan’s collar revealed his fair and tender neck, his back slim under the thin clothing, the natural hollows forming ambiguous shadows beneath his robe.
