He Zifeng’s family’s vegetarian dishes, on the first day of setting up the stall, sold out a whole large pot. The vegetarian dishes were low-priced and many people could afford them. Plus their family was honest – they always drained the juice first before weighing, then after calculating the bill, they would ladle two more spoonfuls of soup. Don’t underestimate this liquid – it was the essence. You could cook things and put them in it.
Everyone’s favorite vegetarian dishes were wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms. Qiu Yu was somewhat happy. The vegetarian dishes were dried goods that villagers had gathered from the mountains and dried, and they gave them very cheap prices. Calculating it, there was still profit to be made.
He Zifeng and Qiu Yu packed up their stall. Since their stall area had many people, Fang Shi’s woven baskets also sold quickly. With only two or three baskets left, Fang Shi didn’t want to make people wait for her because of these few baskets, so she simply packed up as well.
When the horse cart passed by the meat stalls, it went by without any pause or stop. The owners of several meat shops felt uncomfortable. They thought things would get better in a few days and were waiting for He Zifeng and the others to give in. But their calculations fell through.
For three consecutive days, they heard that He Zifeng’s family’s vegetarian dishes had even more repeat customers, selling at least three large pots a day. At first, when they heard this, they were somewhat disbelieving. In the butchers’ eyes, people who loved eating meat and those who loved eating vegetables were completely different types. How could they sell so fast?
Then they secretly went to look, and on the whole street, their area had the most people. Many passersby were also attracted by the excitement here, first watched the commotion for a while, then also followed along to buy ten wen worth to taste.
He went back and quickly told the other butchers. When these people heard, they were dumbfounded. If they were selling so well, what would they do?
They had held out for three days and were the first to break. Since they didn’t want them, big bones and pork offal had once again become things no one cared about. These things couldn’t keep. If they couldn’t sell them, they could only take them home to stew themselves. Whether it was because the wives at home were reluctant to use seasonings or what, what they made was completely inedible.
Originally, over a hundred jin could sell for more than three hundred wen. Now they couldn’t sell even if they wanted to, and they were reluctant to give them away. Going back and forth like this made their hearts very uncomfortable. Seeing that He Zifeng and the others could still make money without selling meat goods, they felt like they had lifted a rock to smash their own feet.
“What should we do?” None of the butchers had any ideas. Finally, they sent out one who was eloquent to wait nearby. At worst, they wouldn’t raise prices anymore and would sell at the previous price. Three hundred wen was still money. They couldn’t continue like this – throwing silver out every day, who could stand it?
This way, they had no heart to sell meat and just surrounded and intercepted the other party here.
Soon when Qiu Yu was driving the horse cart back, they blocked him. Qiu Yu was very disgusted with them, but they spread their arms and acted shamelessly on the road. Qiu Yu couldn’t let the horse hurt people. His handsome face was cold as ice as he said: “Move aside.”
The butchers didn’t care about his bad attitude and were forced to put on smiles, saying: “That, the big pig bones and pork offal, we’ll give them to you at the previous price. There was a bit of misunderstanding before, hehe, now we won’t sell to anyone else who comes, just to you.”
Three hundred wen a day, four days would be one tael and two hundred wen. Thinking of losing so much made their hearts ache.
The butchers nearby also said nice things, saying that they had a hard time making money from killing pigs and still had to support families. They couldn’t bear such big losses and began to act pitiful.
Qiu Yu said: “We don’t want those things anymore.” Then looking at these petty people who raised prices arbitrarily, he said: “Originally, pork offal was very troublesome to process, requiring at least seven or eight washings, plus adding various spices to remove the smell. You know what spices cost – we were just earning hard-earned money. Since someone doesn’t want us to earn it, we can choose not to earn it.”
Now making vegetarian dishes was much easier. Just soak the dried vegetables, stir-fry or blanch them, then soak them in braising liquid. He was tired of this feeling of being strangled.
When the butchers heard this, they became anxious: “You can’t not want them! If you don’t want them, what will we do?”
They had thought that saying a few words would restore things to normal, little knowing that Qiu Yu had made up his mind. The butchers nearby were chattering more and more loudly. Then they were called out by two government officers who said: “In broad daylight, what are you making noise about?”
Qiu Yu said: “Officers, they want to force a sale. They’re blocking the road here and won’t let me pass.”
When these two officers saw it was Qiu Yu, they immediately said: “Sister-in-law?” Then they scolded these butchers. How dare these butchers talk back to them? If they met someone with a bad temper who overturned their stalls on the street, the meat would be unusable.
These butchers didn’t dare block the road anymore and smoothly let him pass. These two officers even smiled and said nice things to Qiu Yu.
When Qiu Yu drove the horse cart away, one butcher carefully tried to make conversation: “What’s his background?”
The officer angrily scolded: “You don’t even know his background and dare to block the road here. You’re really blind. This is our deputy chief’s spouse.”
Although He Zifeng hadn’t become deputy chief yet, Chief Zhu and the county magistrate’s attitude was very clear – this was set in stone. They were eager to curry favor. If Qiu Yu was bullied in their jurisdiction, they would have no face left.
The butchers were shocked. He Zifeng had also come several times, but he was always low-key. The butchers didn’t know his position at the government office was so high.
A chill ran from the back of his neck straight to his heels, and he was extremely frightened. These butchers had wanted to play some tricks, little knowing the other party had deep backing. If they had known his identity earlier, even lending them eight times the courage, they wouldn’t have dared.
Now it was over. The three-hundred-wen-a-day business was blown. From what Qiu Yu had just said, they wouldn’t buy meat from them in the future either. Thinking of this possibility, his heart went cold. Money truly couldn’t buy foreknowledge. The other butchers were also dumbfounded.
…
Just as Qiu Yu returned to the village, Shuanzi came looking for him, saying: “Qiu Yu, Brother He found me yesterday and asked me to work for him.”
Qiu Yu said: “Mm, he told me about it.”
Then he prepared a small pushcart for him with ten eggs on it, coarse grain, millet, and a bag of about one hundred wen in copper coins. He had him go to nearby villages to collect dried goods. They all relied on the mountains, and every household had these things. They could be exchanged for money or grain.
Ever since being strangled over the pork offal business, they had developed a sense of preparing for danger in times of peace. Besides, as long as these dried goods weren’t soaked, they could be preserved for over a year.
Having Shuanzi go, they gave him thirty wen in wages per day. This made Shuanzi extremely happy. Just wandering around nearby villages could earn thirty wen – even thinking about it made him happy. It was hard to find work in the countryside. Right now it was the farming off-season, and staying home was just staying home anyway, so this was just right.
Shuanzi pushed the cart out happily. After visiting just one village, his goods and copper coins were all used up. He brought back a small half cart of dried goods.
The dried goods that villagers dried were all for their own consumption. Food for their own families had to be dried thoroughly first. They were even better than what the local specialty grocery shops sold. One jin could soak into five jin – all the best quality goods.
Shuanzi’s trip out took about three hours. When he came back, he gulped down cool water from the water tank and happily came to check the goods. This was his first time collecting goods, and everyone was polite to him, even asking if he would come tomorrow.
Shuanzi became addicted after just one day of work! Qiu Yu didn’t wait for He Zifeng to return and gave him the thirty wen first. Shuanzi was somewhat embarrassed: “Thank you, sister-in-law. Please thank Brother He for me.”
Anyone could do this work. He Zifeng had specifically left this good job for him – this kindness was acknowledged.
Before long, Qiu Yu had categorized and stored everything properly. The dried goods needed to be sifted first, then soaked. Soon He Zifeng returned. Seeing that the household work was mostly done, as soon as he arrived home, he could even smell the fragrant aroma coming from the kitchen.
His mother Fang Shi was learning to weave baskets with people outside and could chat together – she wouldn’t return until evening. Only he and Qiu Yu were at home. Then he went directly to the kitchen and indeed could see Qiu Yu busy in there.
When Qiu Yu saw He Zifeng had returned, there was some surprise in his eyes. He Zifeng hadn’t even changed into home clothes and immediately pulled him into his arms, saying: “So much work, why didn’t you wait for me?”
His Qiu Yu was too capable – he was afraid of wearing him out. Qiu Yu said: “There wasn’t much work!” He was someone who couldn’t sit still.
Then Qiu Yu excitedly told him that among the mushrooms Shuanzi had exchanged, there was a type of hazel mushroom that was very valuable. When stewed with meat, it had a special fresh taste. They were a bit happy to have exchanged for this good stuff at the price of ordinary mushrooms.
He Zifeng said: “Then we won’t sell these mushrooms – we’ll keep them for our own family to eat.” There was some indulgence in his tone.
When Qiu Yu saw his handsome face getting closer and closer, his heart beat faster and faster. Then a gentle kiss landed on his face, and this feeling made him unable to resist.
Now He Zifeng was becoming more and more unrestrained. As long as no one was home, he would bully him. But Qiu Yu quite liked it.
…
Everyone at the government office was paying attention to whether He Zifeng could collect the taxes from Lingshan Village. But seeing He Zifeng still patrolling the streets or working as usual every day, as if he didn’t care at all.
Several colleagues speculated whether He Zifeng didn’t know that Lingshan Village was a place with fierce folk customs, or whether He Zifeng had given up on this promotion.
Don’t look at the deputy chief having the word “deputy” in it – he was the fourth-ranking person in the county. How many people with seniority couldn’t even touch this position. The deputy chief position had been vacant for many years.
Now the opportunity had fallen to him. Once the opportunity was gone, who knew how many years they’d have to wait. Even if they had to falsify records and pay the tax money out of their own pockets first, they couldn’t let this great opportunity disappear. They just didn’t know what He Zifeng was thinking!
The advisor also had many informants in the government office. Hearing that He Zifeng was quite steady, he said: “Go tell the accounting office that starting today, Chief Zhu and Old Xing’s teams will all get a one-tael silver raise.”
He deliberately left out He Zifeng’s team. The advisor was someone who dared to arm-wrestle with the county magistrate. Even Chief Zhu had to give him some respect. As for He Zifeng, this rising star, the advisor didn’t take him seriously at all.
R: hmm someone is sour over there..
