“Mom, those earrings are too small. They won’t fetch much at a pawn shop—and using them now would just make me lazy. I feel like the moment we think we have money, we start slacking off. We could’ve saved enough, but not if we take shortcuts now. Please keep them for now. I’ll keep trying. When it’s time to pay the tuition, we’ll see how much we’re short—if we have to, then we’ll use the earrings.”
Zhao Peilan turned to Xie Yan and offered him the earrings. “A-Yan, then you take them.”
She figured Lu Yang might just be too embarrassed to accept them.
Xie Yan clenched his fists, heart heavy with guilt.
His mother was ready to pawn her last piece of jewelry. His husband was still out in the freezing snow, working nonstop. All of it… was because of him. He couldn’t earn money, but he sure knew how to spend it.
Lu Yang saw what was happening and quickly helped Zhao Peilan lower her hand, gently wrapping his own hand around hers to stop her.
“Mom, please keep them. A-Yan and I are heading out again. These earrings are our backup plan. We can’t cut off our last path now.”
Zhao Peilan reached out again, but Lu Yang smiled and pushed her hand back.
“Really, it’s okay. I’m definitely going to get Xie Yan back into school—don’t worry. Even if we can’t save enough for tuition, you don’t give them to me, I’ll still be thinking about them.”
Zhao Peilan’s eyes turned red. “You’ve had it so hard.”
She told Xie Yan to help Lu Yang out more.
“School’s important, but a few days won’t make a difference. Once the new term starts next year, Lu Yang’s going to be the one holding this whole house together, inside and out. If you can lend a hand now, then do it. Don’t make him feel alone.”
Xie Yan understood.
The two of them headed out, stopping first at Lu Lin’s house for a visit.
They had no flour and no fresh meat. The hired helpers were sitting idle. And the whole vegetable-buying situation had stirred up trouble—but Lu Yang hadn’t had a chance to explain it to Lu Lin yet.
Lu Lin had married into the Zhang family. Her father-in-law was the younger brother of Village Chief Zhang Dashi. The two had competed for the position of village head years ago and hadn’t spoken since. So the two families had kept their distance for years.
Their house wasn’t as large as the Xie family’s, but still counted as decent in the village. Lu Lin had married Zhang Tie just a year ago, and he was still newlywed-smitten—he listened to everything she said and was a real honest guy.
Lu Yang had come over on short notice—he needed Lu Lin’s help with something.
“Brother Lin,” he said, “when you’re out visiting neighbors or if someone comes to chat, can you help me spread a bit of gossip? Just say Xie Yan and I made a bit of money selling buns, and then someone came to shake us down for it. You don’t need to say who—just that we couldn’t find out. Now the money’s gone, and we can’t buy flour or meat, so the bun business is on hold. We’re just selling vegetables in the snow to scrape by.”
Lu Lin agreed easily. In the winter, everyone was idle. Idleness led to gossip. And with how noisy things had been in the village lately, it’d be easy to sneak in a rumor or two.
“You’re still going out to sell today? It’s snowing hard out there. Just take a day off,” Lu Lin said.
Lu Yang shook his head. “No days off. We’re running out of food at home.”
He continued, “I need to be the one to deal with Auntie Shazhu for the vegetable supply—it’s too sensitive to hand over to anyone else. Once we’ve bought flour and meat today, I’ll need your help again.”
Lu Lin chuckled. “No problem. With all the village drama lately, even collecting vegetables is turning into a mess. And kneading dough isn’t exactly cozy either.”
Seeing Lu Yang was determined, Lu Lin went back inside and returned with gloves and a hat.
The hat was handmade by his father—lined with rabbit fur to block the wind and keep warm. The gloves were thickly padded with cotton. In this weather, if they got wet, they’d be hard to manage.
“Here,” Lu Lin said, handing them over, “I barely go out in winter. You take them—don’t freeze yourself.”
Lu Yang looked down at the hat and gloves and accepted them silently.
He had once been too afraid to leave the Chen household. The world had always seemed dangerous—especially for a young ge’er. But now, having truly left that life behind, he realized: there really were good people in this world.
After leaving Lu Lin’s house, he and Xie Yan headed toward Shazhu’s place.
Lu Yang didn’t mind having a cold head—but his scholar husband’s brain? That couldn’t freeze. So he handed the rabbit-fur hat to Xie Yan.
Xie Yan refused. His reason made Lu Yang burst out laughing.
“I won’t wear a hat that belongs to someone else’s husband.”
Which meant he wouldn’t wear the gloves either.
Lu Yang laughed so hard his sides hurt. Xie Yan looked at him, eyes wide with worry, terrified he might laugh himself into another stomach cramp.
They hadn’t walked far when they reached Shazhu’s house. Lu Yang called out from outside, and Auntie Shazhu responded quickly, emerging from the house. Her voice rang out across the quiet, snowy village.
“You really came? I thought you were joking yesterday—who sells vegetables in the snow? You just came to visit, right?”
But Lu Yang was selling vegetables.
Auntie Shazhu had just been teasing. When she realized Lu Yang was serious, her expression shifted slightly.
This scholar’s husband—the one everyone said was tough and capable—really was something.
On snowy days like this, none of the village men would bother going out to work. But Lu Yang had a kind of relentless grit that both impressed and intimidated Auntie Shazhu.
She chuckled, “Wait a bit, then. I’ll have the others pick the vegetables. We’ve got plenty of people at home—it won’t take long.”
Lu Yang didn’t stand on ceremony and brought Xie Yan inside to wait.
It was still early, too early for anyone to be out visiting, so only the young wives and ge’ers in Shazhu’s house were up. After serving breakfast to the whole family, they were all gathered together doing needlework, patching up clothes and making shoe insoles.
Shazhu was called out by his mother. When he stepped into the main hall and saw Lu Yang, he immediately tensed up.
“Am… am I helping you drive the cart today?”
Lu Yang nodded. “If that’s alright.”
It was freezing out. Driving meant holding the donkey’s reins, and even with gloves, the cold would cut right through. Lu Yang figured it was better to let Shazhu do it.
Shazhu had only asked out of politeness: “…”
Clearly, trouble always comes from running your own mouth.
Lu Yang made himself right at home, pouring some tea and checking the temperature of the cup. Once it was warm enough, he handed it to Xie Yan to warm his hands.
Xie Yan didn’t stand on ceremony either and told Shazhu to bring out some sunflower seeds and peanuts.
Everyone in the room: “…”
Shazhu brought them over, but Xie Yan didn’t eat—he just shelled them for Lu Yang.
Lu Yang’s smile never left his face the entire time.
Once the vegetables were picked and loaded up, the two of them headed off with Shazhu to the county town.
Back at home, Shazhu’s family was all baffled.
“He’s never this hardworking around here! What’s going on?”
Even Auntie Shazhu couldn’t help wondering what this was all about.
“Let it go,” she said. “It’s not like they’re mistreating him. Even that pampered scholar from the Xie family is going out in this weather. Just bear with it.”
Just hold out a bit longer—once this whole business with the lawsuit is over, who’ll even bother with Lu Yang anymore?
Out on the village road, Shazhu drove the cart, carrying the two from the Xie household and four baskets of vegetables on the way to the county town.
Someone shouted from a nearby house, “Shazhu’s gone off to sell vegetables!”
People from several homes came out to take a look. Some even called out, asking him to wait a bit so they could pick some vegetables and add them to the load.
But Shazhu didn’t stop.
The snowy roads were hard enough to navigate. With three people and four baskets of vegetables—several hundred pounds in all—adding more would’ve meant they’d never make it to town today.
Since he wouldn’t wait, a few villagers turned back to his house to ask what was going on.
Lu Yang ignored all the noise. Sitting in the cart with Xie Yan, he focused on planning their next steps once they got to town.
Wearing his gloves, he held both of Xie Yan’s hands in his own to keep them warm, talking nonstop.
“Shangxi Village isn’t far from the county seat—takes about 45 minutes to walk. But with all this snow, I’d say closer to half an hour just one way. So that gives us about an hour total—we’ll need to use every minute wisely.”
Lu Yang wanted Xie Yan to stay at the stall to watch over the veggies, which would all be clearly priced. Shazhu could help carry the heavy stuff. Meanwhile, Lu Yang planned to make a run to the East City Gate before dark to pick up goods from a friend—save money wherever he could.
They needed to buy meat, rice, flour, and also oil and sauces.
With the snow falling, today was a good chance to stock up.
Lu Yang’s mind was always working. He had several ways to get goods cheap—either by calling in favors from friends, picking up stock directly like a traveling vendor, or buying in bulk.
He preferred to buy the meat, rice, and flour from people he knew. Those connections were valuable—he might need to call in a favor someday.
For everything else, Lu Yang wanted to try sourcing goods as a traveling vendor. He couldn’t rely solely on old connections forever—making long trips every time just wasn’t worth it.
They planned to sell a few extra items alongside the usual fare at the shop. The steamed buns were a staple and couldn’t be left out, so the focus would still be on food. But Lu Yang wanted to expand their offerings with other edibles.
For example, selling vegetables. He’d set up a display rack at the shop entrance, keep the rest in the back courtyard, and restock as things sold out.
And then there was sourcing goods. In the winter, popular snacks like sunflower seeds and peanuts were in high demand, and because people often held weddings around this season, items like red dates and dried longan sold well too. He could get his hands on some of those dry goods.
Lu Yang also remembered the layout of the shops around their storefront. No one nearby was selling rice or flour. If he could secure a low price on flour, he could likely get rice at a bargain too. Sell it cheap, move it fast—make a little profit on each sale and let it add up.
