Lu Liu agreed, but he kept muttering to himself all the way out of the mountain village.
Shun Ge imitated him, muttering, “Rice cake, rice cake, pounding rice cake, such a fragrant sesame rice cake.”
Lu Liu wasn’t muttering that at all!
He opened his eyes wide and argued with Shun Ge. Li Feng heard the two of them laughing and joking, and joined in the laughter.
………………………
Before the Lantern Festival, Xie Yan worked nonstop.
Lu Song came to the county seat, bringing many straw mats and bamboo mats. They left four each in their shop, laying them on the beds in two rooms to block the heat, so they could sleep well at night.
He then led Lu Song, carrying the remaining mats, to make a trip to the charity hall.
Now, however, his face was radiant with joy. Even when he didn’t speak, his eyes sparkled, and the corners of his lips turned up slightly, as if he were confident and reliable.
Lu Song had originally wanted Lu Yang to accompany him to the charity hall, as he felt Lu Yang was more capable.
Seeing Xie Yan’s appearance, he couldn’t help but trust the scholar, and the two of them made the trip together.
On the way, he asked about the matter of suing in court. If Xie Yan could handle this matter smoothly, he must be a capable person.
When Xie Yan mentioned this matter, he seemed very calm.
Mainly because he had cried in court, and he felt embarrassed, so he chose to say less.
Lu Song insisted on asking, so he praised his husband. He said how capable Lu Yang was and that he had everything planned out.
Lu Song laughed as he listened and said to him, “Liu Ge’er wasn’t like this before. He stayed cooped up at home all year round. We often saw him go out to the fields to bring water and food, catch vegetable pests, dig up earthworms to feed the chickens, and so on. Back then, I even saw him carrying a chicken to raid an ant nest, letting the chicken eat the ants outside the nest. My father once said he was quite skilled; he was the best at raising chickens in the village.”
Xie Yan responded with a cold “Oh.”
Liu Ge’er wasn’t his husband.
Lu Song was puzzled: “Don’t you want to know about his past?”
Xie Yan did want to know. He kept wanting to visit the Chen family, but Lu Yang never agreed. He only told him that the marriage had been arranged, and unless it was necessary, he shouldn’t go to Chen Lao Ye’s place.
He didn’t understand, but since Lu Yang said not to go, he wouldn’t go.
Xie Yan came here for the first time to arrange his father’s funeral.
His father had passed away, and as the only male in the family, he had to learn how to handle such matters.
At the time, he didn’t think much of it, but now he would say to Lu Song, “There aren’t many people here. How can their business be good?”
Lu Yang said that business depends on attracting people. Without people, there is no business.
This street is deserted and desolate, and combined with psychological factors, entering the street gives one a chilling sensation, as if a cold, eerie aura surrounds them.
Lu Song is afraid of such things and feels uneasy, telling Xie Yan not to speak such disrespectful words.
Xie Yan sincerely asks, “Where am I being disrespectful?”
Lu Song decided to ignore him.
Xie Yan said again, “But it’s normal that there’s no one here. They’re not in the business of dealing with the living.”
Lu Song told him to shut up immediately.
Xie Yan snorted.
He felt he hadn’t said anything offensive today; Big Brother Lu was just a coward. Not a real man.
They walked all the way to the end of the street, which led to a riverbank. Following the river for a while, they arrived at the Yizhuang in Sanshui County.
Xie Yan wasn’t afraid of these things. He got out of the car and went over to knock on the door.
Xie Yan had already gone inside. He looked around but saw only the coffin and no people. He didn’t dare to enter the room where the coffin was kept, so he just looked around aimlessly.
When they arrived, they saw two living people burning paper money, dressed in mourning attire, which nearly scared Lu Song unconscious.
Xie Yan watched quietly.
Everyone must die; no one can escape it.
The deceased were once living people; there’s nothing to fear.
He awkwardly comforted Lu Song: “Have you never attended a funeral? Doesn’t anyone die in your village?”
Hearing this, Lu Song felt a little better.
The Lu family was a prominent clan in Lu Jia Tun, and Lu Song was the eldest son. When some families held funerals, he had to carry the coffin.
Their voices caught the attention of the people at the funeral home. The two turned to look, then continued burning paper money. After finishing, they came over to ask, “Has someone in your family died?”
Xie Yan bowed and said, “No one in our family has died. We came to ask if you need any straw mats or bamboo mats. Our family has made a lot of them, and we brought some with us today.”
As Lu Yang had said, the charity hall had a large demand for straw mats and bamboo mats. They came to ask, looked at the goods, and settled the payment on the spot.
Xie Yan also wanted to make some money off the dead, so he asked, “Do you need funeral rites here? I can write funeral rites; I have literary talent; I am a scholar.”
The charity hall did not need funeral rites.
They were all wandering spirits; just roll up the straw mats and bamboo mats and throw them into the mass grave. There weren’t even any wooden tombstones, so what was the point of funeral rites?
Xie Yan was a little disappointed.
Lu Song dared not breathe loudly.
Bamboo mats were more expensive, costing sixty coins each, while straw mats were half the price.
Each mat took a long time to make. A family would weave them in their spare time, producing only about ten mats a month. The ones they brought to sell this time included some that had been woven earlier but hadn’t been sold yet.
If they really did this, they could earn a few hundred coins a month.
Xie Yan said, “You can collect mats, just like we collect vegetables. Others don’t know the Yizhuang’s connections.”
He learned this from collecting vegetables, but he didn’t know if it would work.
Lu Song heard this and felt there was hope.
The villagers all knew a little about bamboo and grass weaving, but they couldn’t sell much of it. At the market, wouldn’t they just be forced to lower their prices?
He could lower the price of a mat by two coins, bring it along when he went to sell his goods, and earn some travel expenses.
“You scholars are so clever!” he praised.
Xie Yan felt good.
After finishing at the charity hall, he hurried to join Lu Yang and go to the Wu family to pay New Year’s greetings.
Both of them dressed neatly and changed into new clothes. The new clothes were also given by Wu Pingzhi.
He gave them two sets. They wore one set during the New Year and changed into the other new set today.
Having met Wu Pingzhi twice, Lu Yang noticed their close relationship. This time, he didn’t buy any fancy pastries but brought items from his own shop.
He brought two jars of mushroom and pork sauce, one steamer each of buns, mantou, and flower rolls. On the way out, he stopped by Ding Boss’s shop and picked up two pounds of Zhuangyuan Hong wine.
The items from his own shop were priced at cost, which was very affordable for them. The only expense was the wine.
They walked to the Wu family’s house. Lu Yang carried everything in both hands, while Xie Yan had to carry more. He wasn’t very strong, and walking too far made him pant, let alone carrying heavy things. Lu Yang teased him a lot along the way.
When they arrived at the Wu family’s house, the gatekeeper recognized them and led them to the tea room first. Soon, someone came to lead them to the warm room.
Wu Pingzhi arrived a bit later, supporting the old master Wu as they came out together.
Wu Pingzhi was only twenty years old this year, and his father, the old master Wu, was just over forty, but he looked so old that if it weren’t for hearing Wu Pingzhi call him “father,” Lu Yang would have suspected he was over sixty.
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