Read it correctly and you keep the character card as a point. Read it wrong, and you have to give two character cards to the other person. If neither of you recognizes it, set it aside for now.
When the game ends, whoever has fewer cards loses.
Lu Liu lost—so he had to grope the big chicken.
If he won, he’d get to gnaw on the big breast.
Lu Liu muttered under his breath, grumbling that this wasn’t proper, really not proper, and then chose to study instead.
Li Feng burst out laughing.
Laughter spilled out of the room. Shun-ge, eavesdropping by the wall, immediately went to whisper to their mother.
“Big嫂 probably hates studying,” he said. “Big brother said he barely knows any characters, and suddenly he wants to read. Mom, this is what they call using provocation to spur someone on!”
Chen Guizhi didn’t understand the little couple’s playful intimacy. Seeing them study so diligently, she instead scolded Shun-ge a bit.
“What ordinary family gets to go to school and study? I let you learn some characters, and all you do is run off into the mountains every day. What kind of behavior is that?”
Shun-ge listened obediently, then coaxed her with a grin. “Mom, if I can’t be a hunter, I can still be a mountain forager. Don’t worry about Second Brother. With Big Brother and me around, wherever you go, you’ll have face.”
Chen Guizhi had been a widow for many years, raising three children on her own. Outwardly she was sharp-tongued and tough, made friends easily—but also attracted plenty of gossip.
Da Feng was good; anyone in the village who mentioned him had only praise. But Er Tian was terrible.
Raising a white-eyed wolf like that left her with no face whenever she moved around the village.
Now that the family had split off, life at home was prosperous and smooth—and that, too, invited envy.
Most families wouldn’t tear into each other unless they’d truly become enemies, but even a casual, face-to-face question like “So how’s Er Tian doing?” was enough to make Chen Guizhi sick to her stomach.
After moving down the mountain, the household had been busy, and she hadn’t gone out much. The young哥儿 was perceptive and had noticed why.
Looking again at Shun-ge, warmth spread through her chest.
Three children—raising two of them well was enough.
She patted Shun-ge on the arm. “How could Mom ever make you run around just for face? Your big brother doesn’t go up the mountain much anymore. You need to learn some real skills too. I’m not bluffing you—the mountain goods business can be scaled up. We just have to endure for a while. You need patience.”
Shun-ge nodded, but said, “Let’s talk about it later. There’s plenty of good stuff in the mountains; learning skills isn’t urgent. When we buy from other families, we have to pay. If I go into the mountains and pick things myself, that’s all our own—saves money and makes money. With you all supporting the family, I don’t need to just hang around the courtyard.”
Earlier, his big brother and Wang Meng had gone crazy catching snakes; now the risks of going up the mountain were much lower.
Big beasts rarely came down, and he could handle small ones. If worst came to worst, he could always run.
Chen Guizhi suddenly realized he had grown up.
In the past few years, she’d had to restrain Shun-ge, telling him what chores he had to finish before he could go out to play.
At the end of last year, he’d still been glued to her side, full of mischief, always wanting to run wild.
This year he was still playful—but now he played while earning money. He and three or five friends teamed up to make cash, and he knew to do proper, serious things.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was his love of looking good. Give him a new outfit now, dress him up a bit, and tomorrow he definitely wouldn’t go up the mountain—he’d stroll all over the village, soaking up the praise.
Thinking of this, Chen Guizhi smiled.
“Go back and sleep. Tomorrow we’ll see if your big brother’s going to the county. You can all go have some fun there.”
Shun-ge thought about it, couldn’t resist the temptation of a county outing. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground, standing there hemming and hawing, as if ashamed of his earlier grand declarations.
Chen Guizhi urged him once more, and only then did he grin and run off.
The child had become sensible. The family had gained another source of strength. This rope twisted tighter and tighter, growing ever stronger, and the pent-up gloom in Chen Guizhi’s chest finally dispersed. She slept well that night.
When Lu Yang returned to the county, it happened to be the Dragon Boat Festival. He’d been busy nonstop for several days and didn’t have time to prepare a feast until the seventh day of the month.
He had told Wu Pingzhi they’d get together again after the festival, but both sides had been swamped with business and social obligations, and they hadn’t managed to meet.
Now Lu Yang finally had time, and Wu Pingzhi had returned to his studies. So he asked Xie Yan to invite him over for a meal at home.
After moving, their little household was very close to the private academy. At noon, it was easy to come over and eat.
On their trip to the prefectural city, Wu Pingzhi had taken great care of them—everything was arranged properly, and he’d even introduced them to business opportunities. This meal was just friends getting together, no business talk.
Once Wu Pingzhi returned to the academy, he entered full-on study mode: waking earlier than Xie Yan, sleeping later than Xie Yan, even bringing a small booklet to memorize texts during meals. He was extremely diligent.
With only one year left until the provincial exam, he couldn’t afford to waste a moment.
Lu Yang had wanted him to come home for lunch with Xie Yan. Lu Yang cooked carefully, balancing meat and vegetables, occasionally stewing soup to take good care of him. But seeing this, Wu Pingzhi clearly didn’t have the time.
The round trip was only about half an hour, but going to a friend’s home meant chatting and exchanging pleasantries. That delay alone might cost him the chance to memorize another essay.
Lu Yang figured that with his wealth, he wouldn’t be mistreating his stomach, so he didn’t insist. When there was soup or something especially good, he’d just have Xie Yan bring a portion to the academy.
Because Wu Pingzhi worked so hard, Xie Yan was inspired as well.
A person couldn’t be arrogant, couldn’t grow complacent over existing achievements and stop moving forward.
Xie Yan still had follow-up content to write for The Civil Service Exam Answering Manual. Over the past few days, he’d been so busy that he hadn’t come home at noon, only returning at night to sleep.
After coming back today at midday, he said he wouldn’t return at noon anymore—he’d leave early and come back late, eating two meals at home and sleeping once. That spared Lu Yang some worry.
Since the two places were close, it was easy for Lu Yang to go find him at the academy, so he agreed.
After this meal, Lu Yang planned to take some time to visit Li Village and, on the way, stop by Lu Family Hamlet to see his two fathers.
Everything at the shop had been arranged. Lu Liu and Li Feng came to the county as well, making it just right to set another table.
The shop stayed open until the afternoon, so the banquet was scheduled for the evening.
Their house was spacious, so Lu Yang had Lu Liu and Li Feng stay the night in the county.
Lu Yang grabbed his younger brother’s hands, lifted both his arms, and checked his belly.
Lu Liu had filled out a bit, but his belly wasn’t very obvious.
Worried he might be over-supplementing, Lu Yang cautioned him, “Don’t be greedy when you eat. Space out the tonics—don’t take them all the time. If you nourish too much and the baby gets too big, it’ll be hard to give birth.”
Lu Liu nodded with a smile. “I know. I’m not even craving meat anymore. There are so many mountain delicacies, and all kinds of seasonal vegetables are out now. I eat lots of things I never tasted before. I don’t even have time to drink tonic soups.”
His morning sickness was severe; anything too gamey made him nauseous, so they hadn’t stewed soup much at home.
Besides, he had a mother-in-law who knew how to take care of people. Chen Guizhi had borne three children and was experienced—Lu Liu was being looked after very well.
Lu Yang only gave that one piece of advice; he had no other experience to share.
This time, they’d also brought Shun-ge along to the county.
It was Shun-ge’s first time at Lu Yang’s shop. He stood honestly beside his big brother, curiosity written all over his eyes, wanting to look around everywhere.
Lu Yang gave him a big meat bun to eat, and gave his own younger brother two as well.
The small buns sold well, but big meat buns were the most satisfying to bite into.
When Li Feng came to the county, his cart wasn’t empty.
There were plenty of mountain goods, and he’d brought quite a bit. These greatly enriched the variety of ingredients at Lu Yang’s shop.
Mountain delicacies were different from seasonal vegetables; many restaurants came to buy them, and sales were brisk.
Lu Yang had silver on hand and settled the payment all at once.
Including the bamboo leaves Li Feng had delivered earlier, Lu Yang paid according to the market rate—one copper coin for two jin.
Right now, Lu Lin and his wife were living at the shop. When they talked, they went into the small room Zhao Peilan used to stay in.
The heated brick bed was still there, and the table and chairs hadn’t been moved. A bamboo mat was spread over the bed, with a small kang table on it—enough for everyone to sit together and talk.
As soon as Lu Liu got onto the kang, he wanted to lean against the cabinet. He was lazy, not very able to sit upright for long.
But he wanted to cling to his brother. Once on the kang, he patted the spot beside him, signaling Lu Yang to come sit there.
Xie Yan was at school. Li Feng hadn’t wanted to come along, but Lu Yang said there was serious business to discuss, so he followed and pulled up a chair to sit.
Shun-ge looked from one side to the other. Lu Yang beckoned to him. “Come sit here.”
So Shun-ge climbed onto the kang too.
Lu Yang started with some good news: “The mountain mushroom business is settled. Two traveling merchants, two dried-goods shop owners, and one big restaurant owner all want goods. I calculated using the minimum quantities—the first batch comes to about fifteen hundred jin.”
