Chapter 040
Author: Feast of Masks
Raws: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3185016
Translated by Gumihou
Proofread by Pill Bug
“Old Fourth!”
Old Man Xue’s hand jerked forward suddenly, and ash from his pipe rolled out and fell on his lap.
His hand subconsciously reached out to pat away the embers, but his expression remained dazed.
That’s right, ah. Why was he just sitting and watching? Old Fourth had always been the straightforward kind. Old Man Xue was also the one who kept insisting to the family over and over again about how Old Fourth had always worked hard for the family without taking a single coin for himself.
Perhaps, he had been harbouring suspicion in his heart. Perhaps, he was afraid that his other sons would come to blows over a suspicion of harbouring money, which was why he kept repeating this mantra to everyone, and to himself. Therefore, when Eldest came to him in the fields, shouting about how Old Fourth had secreted family money away to buy a mule cart, he believed it.
No, no, no, he was there to listen to Old Fourth’s explanation. That was why he had remained silent until now. Wasn’t it necessary to listen to everyone’s explanation first before making a decision? To clarify matters so as to avoid conflict between family members?
Old Man Xue felt a dull ache in his heart. His mind felt muted and stiff.
Eldest said, “It’s not like the Sun family has no sons. Why would they hand over good silver to a daughter? Do you think I’m a fool?!”
Old Man Xue suddenly stood up. By the time he realised what he was doing, he had already slapped Eldest hard across the face.
“You shut up!!” he shouted.
Old Zhao screamed, “Old Man!”
“All of you shut up!”
The world suddenly went silent. A moment passed, perhaps even two, when suddenly the silence was broken by Sun’shi’s joyful voice in the courtyard, “Hey, they really brought back a mule cart, ah! Aiya, wei, what a strong-looking mule. This fellow can definitely plough the fields as well as pull carts. Tsk, what a good boy you are. Aiya, where is my husband? Brother Huai! Where is everyone~?”
Then, they heard Maodan’s voice saying, “Mule, biiig mule~”
It was only after Sun’shi entered the house that she finally saw the room full of people sitting in tense silence.
“What are you all doing here?” she asked curiously.
Zhao’er moved first. She collected the contracts on the table and walked towards her.
“Fourth Aunt, this one is yours. Take it and put it away quickly.”
“Zhao’er? What is going on? Why do you have the contract? I hid it away. Your Fourth Uncle must have looked for a long time to find it.”
Zhao’er said nothing. She just sighed and returned to her own room.
Realising that something was wrong, Sun’shi studied the people in the room, then at Zhao’er’s retreating back. Realisation dawned on her as she rushed into her own room.
“Aiya! Good heavens! What a mess!”
The people in the main hall dispersed quietly. This was the first time that Xue Qingshan was ever struck like this, and he dared not make a sound. Even Old Zhao realised that Old Man Xue was truly angry this time.
Yang’shi kept her head lowered as she helped Xue Qingshan out of the room. The couple from the third branch did not stay long either. Just as nearly everyone had returned to their rooms, Sun’shi burst out of her room with frenzied energy. She had a crazed look in her eyes.
Maodan, who had been sitting at the door and looking at the mule in the courtyard, burst into tears of fright.
Hearing the boy, Zhao’er could no longer sit still in the house and rushed out to shout ‘Fourth Aunt!’ but Sun’shi was too angry as she continued to make her way towards the east wing.
She did not enter the east wing rooms. Instead, she dropped to the floor in front of the main room’s entrance and started shrieking.
“Shameless! Ungrateful! A whole family of disgraceful bullies forcing people to their deaths! A shameful family of rice worms who did nothing but eat and shit their way through life! Not only that, these smug rice worms even rode on top of people’s heads with their mouths wide open, eating and chewing and spitting false accusations as they liked! Lazy, idle people who depended on others to support them. If the family had not been separated, the younger brothers would have had to support an entire family of rice-eating worms!
I worked hard my whole life to give my child a good life, but the moment they saw a good thing in my hand, they called me a thief!! I told you and told you many times that you are stupid to work yourself to death, and for what? For your good older brother who treats you like shit? Even a dog would know to wag its tail if we feed it. Your older brother eats your meat, drinks your blood, sucks your bones clean, but still has the cheek to say that your flesh stinks!”
Sun’shi’s curses hit Xue Qingshan hard. His face turned liver-coloured in anger while Yang’shi shook with fury. However, the Eldest Couple dared not move a muscle. Seeing how crazy the Fourth couple had acted, if they retaliate now, it would be like striking jade against rocks. Madness!
They must absolutely not move from their room. Just endure it!
The Eldest Couple may be able to endure, but Old Zhao could not take it anymore. She leapt to her feet and rushed to the door-
“Where are you going?! Sit down!”
“Old Man!”
“If you want this family to fall apart, then go!!”
Old Zhao tugged at her clothes in frustration, turning in circles a few times before sitting down on the kang bed, tears streaming down her face.
Outside, Sun’shi continued to curse, but now the target of her tirade had shifted to Xue Qinghuai.
“How blind was I back then to marry into this family!? I saw you as an earnest, hardworking man, completely forgetting that before buying the pig, I should have inspected the pigsty! In the years since I married you, Maodan has already grown this big, going through several sets of clothes. If I searched all over our room, I would count myself lucky to find 10 copper coins! I used my dowry to make clothes for the child and even begged money from my maternal family for materials. Each time I returned home, Mother would ask me ‘How many years had she seen me in the same clothes’?
Indeed, how many years has it been? Even I don’t remember!! Mother pitied me and gave me some silver, but I dared not spend it, for fear of attracting the attention of the evil-hearted people in this house! Finally, finally we separated, and for the sake of raising Maodan well, you scrape together the rest of my money to start a small business, but look what happened? Your entire family came out to accuse you! Accuse us!! Xue Qinghuai, you tell me now! How blind was I to even think of marrying you!? Just what kind of people do you have in this wretched family?!”
As she continued to scream and cry, Zhao’er had already brought Maodan into her room. Seeing him crying so pathetically, she brought out the pastries she had bought for her little man to console him.
As Maodan ate, tears continued to fall from his eyes. Zhao’er stroked his little head, feeling a deep sense of disappointment in her heart.
Sun’shi cried so hard that tears and snot mingled on her face. She looked like a madwoman as she howled and cried on the ground. Fortunately, the Xue family had quite a large courtyard with fairly high walls. Otherwise, who knew how many people would come and watch the commotion? However, if they did not stop her soon, who knew when someone would enter their gates through some pretext?
Xue Qinghuai stepped out of his room and walked over to pull her up.
“Get up, go back inside!”
“I refuse! My heart still aches. Am I not allowed to shed a few tears to relieve my heart?”
“Are you not ashamed!”
“So, you still know shame, ah? You know shame, but there are people in this house who still don’t know shame, ah!”
Sun’shi continued to sob and cry as Xue Qinghuai hauled her up. She slapped him twice, but he continued to drag her back to their room.
The courtyard finally quieted down, but it was a tense, eerie silence.
That afternoon, no one came out to cook lunch. It was as though everyone had forgotten about eating.
That evening, Zhou’shi came out to make dinner, but no one from the fourth branch came to eat. As for Zhao’er, since she still had plenty of leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, she did not join the main house for dinner either. Instead, she warmed up the leftovers, brought most of it to the fourth branch’s room and ate the rest by herself.
Once dinner was over, Xue Qinghuai went to Old Third’s room. It was unclear what was discussed, but once he left, Xue Qingbai went to see the old couple.
“Father, Old Fourth said he only wants [1] 20% of the surplus grain.”
Old Man Xue was stunned, but he nodded slowly in acceptance.
Xue Qingbai sighed, turned around, and left.
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The next morning, before dawn, Xue Qinghuai and Zhao’er set out together.
They drove the mule cart to several nearby villages before entering Huyang Town just as the sun rose. Instead of making their way to the Southern Market Place, they drove their cart to a restaurant.
Although Huyang Town was not large, it was too small either. It was the largest town within 10 miles and was quite prosperous and lively. There were three major restaurants in Huyang Town, ‘Immortal Guest House’, ‘Immortal Residence’ and ‘Drunken Immortal Tower’, with numerous smaller eateries and teahouses.
Zhao’er and Xue Qinghuai stopped by the Immortal Guest House first.
The sun was just rising, but the restaurant was already quite busy. Although they only opened for business in the late evening, food preparation had to be done in advance.
For example, the Immortal Guest House was famous for serving the freshest food cooked on the very same day. Therefore, every morning, someone from the restaurant had to personally buy fresh ingredients at the market.
It was not like no one ever thought of having vegetable vendors deliver their goods directly to the restaurant. Farmers who came to sell their vegetables only brought excess produce that could not be finished at home. Not to mention, most rural households still needed to tend to their fields and other chores, and therefore, it was not cost-effective for them to take half a day to town just to sell a few coins’ worth of vegetables.
The Immortal Guest House’s storefront was still closed, but the back door was already open, with suppliers coming in an endless stream to deliver salt, rice, various seasonings, firewood, and different types of meat. There were two workers stationed there, one to count and inventory the ingredients for the bookkeeping side of things, and another to weigh and verify the quality of the ingredients. Both were incredibly busy.
The mule cart stopped at the back of the Immortal Guest House, and Zhao’er hopped off the cart. She stepped forward with a smile, “Brother, I’m here to look for the manager in charge of purchasing ingredients.”
The worker was currently in the middle of discussing something with someone who looked like a butcher. He looked confused, probably because of the interruption. He had written down the weight as 22 catties and 7 taels, but the butcher told him that he was the one who said the original weight was 21 catties and 7 taels. Exasperated, the butcher told him to reweigh the meat, but he was unwilling to do so because it was too troublesome for him to weigh such a heavy thing by himself as his companion had just led the vinegar delivery person inside.
“There is clearly a mistake in the weighing. Please weigh it again.”
“Didn’t you watch me weigh it just now?”
He was still in the middle of arguing with the butcher when someone came in looking for the manager. Impatiently, he said, “What do you want? Why are you suddenly here looking for our manager?”
Zhao’er continued to smile and said, “I brought some vegetables to sell. It’s all picked this morning, very fresh.”
“No need, we don’t need any vegetables delivered. We buy the freshest ones every day at the market.”
“Brother, why don’t you take a look first? Our selection of vegetables is very complete.”
“Just how complete can it be? I already told you we don’t need them. Why are you still here bothering us?” In fact, there was another reason for the worker’s refusal. He did not want to waste time buying one or two things from this vendor and then have to go to the market anyway. It was better for him to buy all that was needed at the market at once.
That was because restaurants handled their finances differently. The front hall and kitchen had separate ways of dealing with money. Even in the kitchen, different goods were treated differently in terms of finances. For fixed deliveries like salt, rice, and other less perishable goods, the process was quite straightforward. The shops would deliver the items on a credit basis, to be paid up at the end of the month. However, for things like vegetables, which only cost a few dozen coins at most, there was no way they could build up credit for them.
Ordinary, low-rank workers would not be given the money to handle even the smallest of purchases, which was why this would have to be handled by the higher-ups. Even so, they could not bother the manager over some small purchase of one or two bundles of vegetables. In the end, it was best for the one who held the money to go to the market and do the shopping.
Naturally, the worker could not be bothered to explain this complex hierarchy of money to Zhao’er. Luckily, since Zhao’er had plenty of practice selling vegetables at the market, she had some knowledge of how things work when it came to restaurant suppliers.
“I know the manager; he was the one who asked me to bring the vegetables earlier.”
Since she had said this, the worker could only give her a look before saying, “Wait here, vegetable purchase is not under my jurisdiction. Manager Yao will be here soon.”
Zhao’er nodded, a wide smile on her face as she stepped to the side, allowing the person lining up behind her to move forward.
Xue Qinghuai had also gotten off his cart. He walked towards Zhao’er and whispered, “Zhao’er, you…”
Zhao’er quickly signalled to him with her eyes. He kept quiet, and the two of them stood in place, waiting.
After an unknown amount of time, a man suddenly stepped out of the back door. He was dressed differently from the two workers in a sapphire blue shirt and a large opal ring on his finger. He looked to be in his 40s.
The workers greeted him respectfully, “Manager, sir.”
He nodded at them and was about to leave when someone rushed forward to greet him, “Manager Yao, good day.”
“You are…”
“Has Manager Yao forgotten me? You’ve bought vegetables from me before. Didn’t you say that my vegetables are very fresh and to bring you more as soon as I can?”
Manager Yao looked confused. Had he really said that?
“That day, you said that my vegetables were very fresh and tender and made me promise to keep them for you. You also told me that you’re from the Immortal Guest House, have you forgotten?”
The young man looked a little aggrieved, and Manager Yao thought that he must have said something similar off-handedly.
Perhaps this youth misunderstood his polite small talk and really thought that his off-handed remark was something to be taken seriously. After all, buying and selling at the marketplace was like the prostitution business. It was all on a first-come, first-served basis. Who on earth would keep their stock back, waiting to sell to a specific person later?
He had never taken his careless promises seriously. However, now that a naive young man had earnestly appeared in front of him, he hesitated for a moment before saying, “Well, since you have brought your vegetables here, let’s have a look. If they are good, I’ll take them off your hands.”
That’s right, since the person was already at the door, he might as well have a look. He was on his way to the market anyway, so if the youth happened to carry good things, he would not have to spend too much time there.
“The vegetables are here, please come and have a look,” Zhao’er said, pointing to the nearby mule cart.
Selling vegetables from a mule cart? The shock of the thought crossed Manager Yao’s mind as he trotted after her. Then, he was further surprised by the baskets of vegetables that Xue Qinghuai began unloading from the cart.
Then, the youth he thought to be naive beamed at him. “Do take a look. Though I dare not say that the marketplace does not have vegetables as fresh as ours, I can guarantee that there is not a single stall that carries so many kinds at once. I remember that Manager Yao wants the best and freshest vegetables. These are all freshly picked this morning from our garden. Have a look at these green peppers, shepherd’s purse, celery, cabbage and Chinese toon shoots. Look how tender they are, ah. Especially these Chinese toon buds, we have just picked them from the tree this morning.”
Indeed, they looked quite tender.
After enduring an entire season of winter and half a season of cold spring, these baskets of fresh green vegetables were a joy to the eye. One of the most troublesome issues Manager Yao faced was the lack of vegetables. While the restaurant mainly served meat, it was still necessary to pair the meat with at least some refreshing garnish and vegetarian dishes.
Unfortunately, even if he could get his hands on some vegetables, they were quite rare.
There were times when Manager Yao wished he could just run off to the countryside and tell the poor villages there to sell their vegetables instead of eating them for themselves. However, it was rare for the villagers to realise the worth of their vegetables and normal for them to sell only what they could not consume. In fact, Manager Yao also had not realised the villagers’ mentality despite having interacted with them at the markets all these years. Part of the reason was that his occasional suggestion for them to sell directly to him had been ignored, and eventually, he just stopped making them.
Right then, restaurants would buy vegetables by weight. In fact, the reason why Manager Yao had agreed to see what Zhao’er had to offer was that he was unsure whether he could buy the vegetables he needed at the market. Unexpectedly, several baskets of various vegetables suddenly appeared in front of him behind the restaurant.
He stood and stared in a daze until Zhao’er said, “Manager Yao, how much would your restaurant need?”
“All of it!” he said with a grand wave of his hand.
However, he paused mid-wave and hesitated. Catching his hesitation, the youth said, “Surely your restaurant would not need so many vegetables for one day of business, right? After all, Immortal Guest House is famous for not keeping ingredients overnight. How about taking what you need today and buying more tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Will you still have more for tomorrow?”
“Of course! As much as you need!”
[Gumihou: Man, I love it when Sun’shi exploded. She has the most amazing potty mouth.
[1] The original amount was 60%
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