He didn’t have anything else to do anyway, so keeping his hands busy with some sewing was convenient.
Li Feng pulled him into his arms, touched his stomach, and even bent down to listen for movement.
There was nothing to hear yet, of course—listening was pointless at this stage.
Li Feng had to make a trip to Lu Family Village the next day to share the good news with his two fathers.
Lu Liu chuckled. “They’ll be thrilled. Just don’t let them come visit me. It’s busy season—there’re fields, pigs, and a new batch of chicks. If they come all the way out here, the house would fall behind.”
Once the pregnancy stabilized, he could go back home for a bit. He also wanted to visit his brother in the county.
Li Feng already knew.
Since the baby was still early, the couple had been avoiding chicken.
Li Feng, craving something, simply turned his attention to his little spouse instead.
His hands were big—one careless touch and he had Lu Liu stripped bare.
He was impatient—one sweep of his tongue and Lu Liu was covered in his kisses.
Lu Liu was mortified. He’d thought they would be living on bland, restrained days for a while, and out of nowhere this happened. He wasn’t prepared at all.
When Li Feng asked if he liked it, he answered yes—shyly—and even wanted to try a bit more.
He was eager but inexperienced, fumbling around like a chick pecking grain, spending half the time hovering around the upper half of Li Feng’s body.
Li Feng had remarkable patience, eyes following his every hesitant move, letting him explore at his own pace.
Progress was poor today; he didn’t make it “down there.” They’d try again another time.
Early the next morning, Li Feng called Wang Meng to go with him on the cart to deliver vegetables to the county.
Wang Meng was hardworking; whenever he had spare time, he went into the mountains. By gathering whatever he could find over time, he managed to bring a whole basket of wild game to the county this trip—this batch was all snakes. He covered the basket with a burlap sack so he wouldn’t scare people along the road.
Wang Meng told Li Feng, “You should come with me. If you collect these snakes, sell the gallbladders to the medicine shop, and let your brother set up a stall selling snake soup—money comes easy. If I lived in the county, I’d catch snakes and let Jiu-ge’er sell them. Life would’ve been prosperous already!”
Li Feng was tempted. Since you could go up the mountain and come back the same day, he nodded. “Alright, we’ll go together next time.”
Wang Meng burst into laughter. “So you’re admitting he’s your brother now?”
Li Feng: “…”
He’d let that big oaf twist him around again.
Snake soup was a good idea—but Lu Yang simply didn’t have the time.
With the warmer days, the fillings couldn’t be made in large batches anymore; he had to be in the kitchen every day.
Buns and steamed rolls also didn’t keep as long as they did in winter, and the shop’s stock of meat and eggs had to be used up quickly.
Any meat they couldn’t finish that day was sent to the front shop to be sold.
When live snakes arrived, the first step was to take them to the medicine shop to remove the gallbladders, then bring them back to sell as snake meat.
Snake meat was nourishing, so Xie Yan kept two snakes and asked Li Feng to help skin them, planning to make dragon-and-phoenix soup—snake with chicken.
Since it was a tonic dish, Lu Yang decided to take two more for Old Master Wu.
And because he wanted to curry favor with Lord Zhang, he set aside another two.
After all that, they only had three snakes left to sell.
Wang Meng could only rub his nose at the sight.
This didn’t feel like doing business at all.
Live snakes sold anywhere from sixty to a hundred copper coins depending on the species.
Wang Meng hadn’t gone deep into the mountains, so most of what he caught were harmless grass snakes, cheap but plentiful. This time he’d brought nine; after Lu Yang’s cut, he’d still earn five qian of silver.
When paying, Lu Yang sighed again, “A diligent hunter never goes hungry.”
Wang Meng grinned honestly. “Living by the mountains, you gotta run the forests more.”
Since they all knew each other well, Lu Yang didn’t stand on ceremony and had Wang Meng and Li Feng help him stock chives, toon shoots, and bamboo shoots.
Vegetables sold fast; they never put them in the back. They were displayed in baskets by the door. Customers would take what they wanted from the shop. Once a basket was emptied, they brought out another.
This time they brought quite a bit of the pricey wild mushrooms—both fresh and dried—so Lu Yang could show them to merchants and negotiate. The varieties were many, though each was only a small amount, more like samples.
Li Feng was planning to come again in a few days, so he told Lu Yang in advance, “Da Qiang and San Miao went to dig out a wild beehive. If you have customers who want some, you can put their names down.”
Lu Yang was curious. “How do they dig those out? I’ve seen them several times but they never have a single sting on them.”
Li Feng demonstrated with gestures. “They cover every bit of exposed skin with hides. Heads and faces get a fur-lined hood that tucks into the collar so nothing gets in. Then a bamboo frame goes over the head with a fine mesh tied over it—small insects might slip in, but it still blocks most bees. Outside that, another bamboo cover, like a lampshade, to protect the mesh so the bees don’t break it and sting their eyes.”
Troublesome, but effective.
As long as they didn’t run into large predators, the gear protected against most bugs and snakes, letting them focus on the hive.
Wild bees were vengeful; after the hive was disturbed, they’d chase you down. When Da Qiang went alone, he didn’t dare take too much—sometimes he had to run halfway through for fear of leading the bees downhill.
But with San Miao this time, they were bound to bring home at least one hive.
Lu Yang laughed. “Sounds like a hassle.”
He planned to slice the hive to sell.
Selling a whole one was harder—fewer buyers.
Slicing it into small portions meant regular customers could slowly buy it all up.
One or two hives weren’t much. If a big buyer appeared, he’d handle it then. Otherwise, he’d sell it bit by bit.
He invited Li Feng and Wang Meng to stay for lunch and asked about his younger brother. Hearing that Wang Meng’s spouse, Chen Jiu, was now helping with the mushroom collection at their home, he looked over in surprise.
If he remembered correctly, that Chen Jiu wasn’t the easiest person to deal with.
Lu Yang immediately turned to chat with Wang Meng, casually digging for details.
While they talked, Xie Yan called Li Feng aside.
He didn’t look pleased. “I only had time to come home for lunch, and then you two show up. Now my spouse has to play host again. You two really don’t look at the clock.”
Li Feng said, “Guests are guests. You’re too harsh.”
Xie Yan knew it was harsh—this was family talk, after all.
He had something important to tell Li Feng.
“You know the Chen family, right? Old Chen and his eldest came knocking. They didn’t recognize Yang-ge’er—maybe they didn’t dare. They want to latch on as relatives. I shut it down right away. The county school posted the exam date; I’ll be heading to the provincial city in mid-April. Yang-ge’er doesn’t want me distracted. So after I’m back, we’ll deal with them. You should think of a way too. My spouse needs to take care of his health—don’t let him worry about this mess.”
Li Feng had nearly forgotten Old Chen entirely.
During the New Year, Old Chen had moved to the county. Li Feng had given him more than a tael of silver and helped for a few days. After that, he avoided that street, and the Chen family hadn’t come to the village either.
He asked, “What happened? What did they do?”
Xie Yan stared at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be socially sharp? They want to stick to us—what else? If they can’t latch on, they’ll start hinting for money. I keep a hard face, so they didn’t dare ask me. So who will they turn to? Liu-ge’er, of course. He’s pregnant.”
If the Chen family bothered Lu Liu, Lu Yang would explode. They needed Li Feng to handle it.
Li Feng nodded. “Alright.”
If the Chen family didn’t come, he wouldn’t bother them.
If they did, he’d take them up the mountain for a little “walk”—guaranteed they wouldn’t come a second time.
Since the families lived far apart, they just needed to get through this year until the baby came.
Xie Yan sounded envious. “Why don’t I have a mountain to scare people with?”
Li Feng handed him the things Lin Tian had taught. “Old Chen wants to cling to you, right? Go freeload off him.”
Xie Yan lifted his tea. “Explain.”
Li Feng sipped his tea, completely at ease, and laid it out. “Go to his house and eat his food. Take a few things when you leave. Since he wants to claim you as kin, he’ll treat you well. Just don’t bring Yang-ge’er. If you have any impressive classmates, bring them too—eat and drink together. If he comes to your shop wanting free goods, charge him. If he says you’re relatives and you should give him things—well, you don’t acknowledge that relationship. So why should he get anything for free?”
