Lu Liu still hadn’t applied his lip balm, even though their lips had already been kissed and were flushed red—he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Li Feng said, “Try it on. Let me see if it looks good.”
Lu Liu didn’t trust him. “Last time you turned my face into… whatever that was and still said it looked good.”
This time, Li Feng didn’t lie. “I’ll give you an honest look. That way, whenever you go out, you’ll look perfect.”
Lu Liu’s heart stirred. He dabbed a tiny amount of balm on his lips and, holding the bronze mirror, slowly spread it.
A thin layer, slightly different from the color of the balm in the box.
Li Feng’s sharp eyes noticed immediately. Seeing his approval, Lu Liu felt satisfied.
Li Feng nibbled at it, then urged him to make it a bit thicker.
“Too thin—it doesn’t show,” he said.
Lu Liu obeyed.
Layer by layer, the balm got thicker, only to be eaten away each time.
Playing like this, both his lips and his heart ached. Finally, he stopped, got ready, and went to prepare dinner.
When they left the room, they realized the balm had left tiny residues in the lines of their lips.
Chen Guizhi noticed and told them to wash their faces and wipe their mouths.
Hearing “wipe your mouth,” they immediately understood.
Li Feng, thick-skinned as ever, fetched water and helped Lu Liu clean up inside the room.
After a bit of wiping, Lu Liu stopped him.
Li Feng had never been fond of drinking water, a habit he hadn’t changed.
Lu Liu often tricked him into drinking. More water in than out, some work to break a sweat, and his lips would dry again—wipe a bit more, and the mouth could even bleed.
“Doesn’t matter,” Lu Liu said. “It’s dark now—you can’t see it.”
Indeed, under the oil lamp, the traces were barely visible.
Reluctantly, they had rubbed their lips raw. The balm residue couldn’t be seen, only the red, swollen lips.
Shun-ge’er watched them, noticing their bright red faces and remembered the new lip balm. During dinner, they didn’t lift their heads.
After eating, washing up, and returning to their room, Lu Liu, knowing Li Feng would go out the next day, helped him apply the balm.
That night, he discovered one truth—the more you kiss, the drier your lips become.
Late at night, Li Feng scooped some lard and they rubbed it on their lips before sleep.
Lu Liu laughed, tugging at the tiny cracks on his lips and hissing in the cool air.
“If anyone heard about this, they’d laugh at us.”
Li Feng hadn’t expected this either.
“Who in their right mind kisses every day?”
If not every day, how would they gain this experience?
Lu Liu held his face, making his movements small.
“We can eat the chicken—so what if we kiss?”
Li Feng shot him a sidelong glance. He hadn’t said that during the day.
It was their first experience with lip balm—both ended up a little worse for wear.
The next day, Li Feng went out again, searching for a place to build a roasting pot.
Wild mushrooms in the rainy season took too long to fully dry in the sun. They couldn’t wait.
He had seen a merchant’s roasting setup for longans before—a stone trough with a firebox below. Dozens of jin could be roasted at once.
If longans could roast, so could mushrooms. They’d work hard this year, rotating among the brothers like pounding rice cakes, selling their labor to run batches to the prefecture and returning home to continue drying.
Every year, after the Dragon Boat Festival, they were busy for months. After this season, they’d have stock ready for next year.
Even while looking for a place, light rain fell intermittently.
On rainy days, Lu Liu stayed inside. Yao Fu-lang’s belly was slightly bigger than Lu Liu’s; at this stage, he only went out on sunny days.
Shun-ge’er acted as messenger between them, simple exchanges, no major events.
Hearing the mushroom business picking up, Yao Fu-lang felt a little dejected.
His family’s Da Qiang had missed connections; now he barely got a foothold. Sending firewood or frying sauce earned little—nowhere near the profit from taking the business to the prefecture.
Yao Fu-lang was disheartened. Lu Liu wanted to console him.
He’d returned from the county without visiting Yao Fu-lang. Da Qiang still went up the mountain; Li Feng hadn’t seen anyone. So Shun-ge’er relayed the news about Da Qiang’s potential beekeeping.
Lu Liu didn’t know much; Shun-ge’er’s message was vague, making Yao Fu-lang anxious. Standing in the courtyard, he called over to Lu Liu across the mountain path.
Chen Jiu, helping his aunt with mushrooms, passed by. Even a short distance away, he could hear the two of them and frowned.
“Not even rich yet, and they’re throwing money away.”
Yao An wanted to scold him but reconsidered—Chen Jiu was right.
Da Qiang’s hunting grounds weren’t fixed. With his bad luck, he could miss opportunities even when everything was ready. If they finished building the hives and he drew the wrong lot, it’d be wasted effort, paying someone else instead.
Better to keep quiet and stick to that hunting ground. Publicizing it could turn it into a hot commodity.
Yao Fu-lang said, “You’ve got ideas.”
Chen Jiu snorted and left, heading to Lu Liu. Lu Liu said, “If you do business, you’ll definitely earn big.”
Chen Jiu was impressed by them.
He glanced at Lu Liu, noticing his lips slightly redder than usual. Curious, he looked again.
He’d been using makeup since he was fifteen or sixteen.
“Did you put on lip balm? Why so thin?” he asked.
Lu Liu covered his mouth. “You noticed?”
Chen Jiu said, “It’s obvious. If you put it on, put it on thick. Don’t pretend you didn’t—people will call you stingy and showing off.”
Lu Liu asked, “What do you mean?”
Chen Jiu sighed. “You’ve put it on; everyone can see it. Pretending you haven’t makes you look stingy and pretentious.”
He had experienced this himself, shy at first, and saw Lu Liu the same way.
Lu Liu took note, asking, “How do I wash it off? The other night I almost rubbed my lips raw.”
Chen Jiu advised, “Cover with a cloth for a while, and it’ll be fine.”
Lu Liu nodded repeatedly, aware Chen Jiu knew about makeup. With nothing else to do, he pulled him inside, called Shun-ge’er over, and the three played with rouge and lip balm together.
He had a small bronze mirror; Shun-ge’er rarely used one but couldn’t put it down after getting on the kang.
Lu Liu said, “Now that we’ve earned silver, I’ll buy you a small mirror too.”
He made Shun-ge’er happy.
“Big sister-in-law, you’re so nice!”
Lu Liu grinned, thinking it sounded like flattery.
He applied a thicker layer of balm, checked in the mirror, tilted his head back, and swayed it left and right for them to see.
“Is this okay?”
He wore small willow-leaf earrings that shimmered silver, very cute.
Shun-ge’er approved: “Looks good.”
Lu Liu looked at Chen Jiu, who didn’t comment, so he playfully blinked at him. Chen Jiu nodded in approval.
Lu Liu felt reassured.
This completely charmed Da Feng.
The three spent the afternoon dressing up a bit before doing sewing work.
Wang Meng hadn’t come down the mountain yet, but Chen Jiu knew he’d join the mushroom business. Despite appearing simple and approachable, Wang Meng was sharp-minded.
Like Li Feng, he didn’t mind going deep into the mountains as long as it made money. If mushrooms could earn, he’d handle mushrooms.
With Wang Meng in, he’d also go to the prefecture.
Chen Jiu hadn’t been to the prefecture before. After playing for a while, he asked his aunt if there was work, then returned with an embroidery basket, chatting slowly, eventually getting to the point—asking Lu Liu what to pack.
