Chapter 401
"The other day I went into town and saw a lot of shops being rebuilt," Zhao Ger said.
Hezhou wasn't wealthy—even the town itself was run-down, with few two-story buildings.
Back in the day, in Fu'an Town, Zuixiao Restaurant had three whole floors!
The people in Hezhou Town weren't exactly rich either, so building restaurants and shops taller didn't really help much. But this year, after the autumn harvest, every household had more money. Zhao Ger and Uncle Tang had gone into town a few days ago to buy meat for the kids, and they saw some shops packed with customers.
Especially the pastry and malt-sugar shops. In the past, villagers only went in during the New Year to buy a little something for visiting relatives.
Those treats were expensive and didn’t fill anyone up, so few people bought them. The shops mostly relied on people from town. But now the villagers had money in their pockets and dared to go in and browse. The kids at home had never tasted these things, so they’d bring a little back for them. They didn’t buy much, but it was a good sign.
At the end of the seventh lunar month, cloth shops, pastry shops, and cosmetics shops started tallying their accounts. When the numbers came out, even the shopkeepers were shocked—in just half a month, they'd made more than they usually did in half a year. Then they heard from their shop assistants that they'd actually lost some customers because people saw the crowds, thought about going in, but didn't want to squeeze through the packed shops and left.
When common people could afford decent grain, they suddenly had spending money in their hands. If they were willing to buy malt sugar now, what might they be willing to buy later on?
The shops really were too small. With other shops on both sides, there was no way to expand outward. The only option was to build up instead—two or three stories.
Fang Zichen had heard about this. It was a good thing—once built, the town wouldn't look so shabby compared to the outside anymore.
This was a new look.
And it wasn't just Anping County. All over the southern prefectures, merchants were busy renovating and rebuilding their shops.
When the villagers prospered, everything else followed.
On the very first day they arrived in Hezhou, the villagers they'd met on the road had faces full of sorrow and numbness, their eyes dull and lifeless. Now, no one looked like that anymore. Though life remained modest and their homes looked much the same as before, everyone's faces radiated warmth and brightness. They smiled at everyone they met. Zhao Ger's heart swelled with happiness, and he said with complete sincerity: "Husband, I'm so glad I have you."
His face was full of earnest sincerity, still tinged with shyness—yet he pushed through his embarrassment to bare his heart. The sight made Fang Zichen's heart pound.
This little seductress — always flirting with me, no matter the time or place. What if I lose control and turn into a wild beast right here? What will I do then?
He half-wrapped an arm around Zhao Ger's shoulder, sneakily glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and when he saw no one was, quickly pecked him on the cheek. His voice dropped low:
"I'll deal with you when we get home tonight."
Zhao Ger's eyes went wide. He hurriedly looked around, then leaned in close, cheeks burning red, and whispered, "Why'd you suddenly kiss me? What if someone saw you? Aren't you embarrassed? If you wanted to kiss me, you could've at least pulled me into the woods first!"
Fang Zichen: "......"
He buried his face in Zhao Ger's neck and laughed.
Zhao Ger laughed too, holding Fang Zichen's hand tightly, interlocking their fingers.
The setting sun spilled gold across the river—half the water shimmering green, half ablaze with red. In the distance, weary birds called out as they headed back to their nests. The children's laughter still echoed through the air. Farther off, farmers strolled home in twos and threes, hoes slung over their shoulders. It was dinnertime, and the village was thick with the smoke of cooking fires. Crickets had begun to chirp in the grass. It was a peaceful, idyllic scene.
Fang Zichen used to think village life was inconvenient—if he wanted meat, he had to make the trip all the way to town. But after living there so long, he had come to appreciate its quiet charm.
If he got bored at home, he could go out and chat with the neighbors, or visit the vegetable patch to check on the vegetables and pull some weeds.
Earlier, Uncle Tang had opened a small vegetable plot next to the paper mill. He got so into it that he opened another patch at the foot of the village hill—about a mu of land in total. With only a few mouths to feed at home, they couldn't eat everything they grew, so most of it went to the mill, which saved them a fair bit of money.
Uncle Tang felt this simple life was better than living in the Qin residence. Back there, he didn’t have to do anything except serve his master — and his master didn’t need much, so he was often idle. The Qin residence was huge, and though there were plenty of servants, they were all proper and quiet, never making a sound. The place felt lifeless. Now, despite the hard work and his longing for his master, he genuinely enjoyed this kind of life—growing vegetables, chatting with villagers, coming home to a lively, bustling house.
The village chief's wife got along well with Uncle Tang. When she saw him clearing wasteland to plant vegetables, she kindly reminded him: "Did you go register that with the yamen?"
If someone planted without registering and no one reported it, that was fine—but if anyone with ill intent went and filed a complaint, Uncle Tang could find himself in trouble.
Most villagers remembered Fang Zichen's kindness and wouldn't do such a thing. But with several hundred people in the village, not everyone was good-natured.
Uncle Tang looked a bit puzzled and said, "The whole of Hezhou belongs to my master. Why would I need to register? My master said as long as I don't plant on top of his head, I can plant wherever I want."
The village chief's wife: "......"
She'd forgotten who he worked for.
The house was busy, so she excused herself and left!
Uncle Tang loved the village, and Zhao Ger felt more comfortable there too. So even after the paper mill was settled, Fang Zichen wasn’t in a hurry to move back to Hezhou. Work could be handled from anywhere anyway.
Uncle Tang had finished cooking and came over to call them home for dinner.
Gungun and Dandan wanted to stay in the water, but when the time came and Fang Zichen called them out, no matter how much they wanted to stay, they had to obediently come ashore. They'd learned their lesson the hard way: Fang Zichen had once pricked them with an embroidery needle just to scare them. If they caught a chill, they'd not only have to drink bitter medicine, but they'd also get poked with needles again. That thought terrified them both.
[In traditional Chinese folk medicine, a common remedy for a child's chill or fever is bloodletting—pricking acupoints like fingertips or ears with a sterilized needle to release a tiny drop of blood, believed to reduce fever and expel cold.]
So the moment Fang Zichen called, the three little ones scrambled out of the water, happily went home for dinner, played in the yard for a while, and then were herded back inside to sleep.
It was now early in the eighth lunar month, and all the farm work was finished. That evening, after dinner, the Lu family sat out in the yard to enjoy the cool air. Lu Laoda and Lu Lao'er huddled together and whispered, discussing whether they should throw their father a birthday feast the next day—a really good meal to celebrate.
Tomorrow was Old Man Lu's seventieth birthday.
In years past, they didn't have the means to celebrate. At most, they'd boil him an egg. But this year was different—things had turned around.
The Lu family had many people and plenty of land.
Most of their land was dry fields, with only eight mu of paddies. In the past, the corn and soybeans they planted on the dry land never grew well—they couldn't even grow enough to feed themselves. The Lu family had always just barely gotten by. But now, with chemical fertilizer, everything flourished. This year, after harvesting their grain and corn, they sold more than half and made over a dozen taels of silver. Now they were thinking about treating themselves to something nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment