Shun-ge finally got a chance to jump in. “So you’re really raising it like a son? You’re actually calling it Weimeng?”
Lu Yang nodded. “Yep. Xie Weimeng.”
Shun-ge immediately started calculating. “But it’s Er Huang and San Liang’s pup. Er Huang is my brother and sister-in-law’s dog son, so Weimeng is their dog grandson. If it comes to live with you as your son, doesn’t that put you in the same generation as Er Huang?”
Li Feng burst out laughing.
Lu Yang: “……”
This kid—ate a meat bun and still couldn’t say anything nice.
“Once it leaves the litter, we all mind our own generations,” Lu Yang said, refusing to acknowledge the family tree.
With the business settled, Lu Yang had them think of a trade name.
“The prefectural city has a dock. We’re living off this mountain, so there’s no need to go too far—doing business there is enough. Deliveries are convenient, and the customs tax isn’t high. I went to look around: there’s a huge market where everything moves in hundreds or thousands of jin. Boats dock, unload, then buy more goods to take away—no one sails empty. I’ve already talked to the God of Wealth; he’ll lend us a stall to test the waters. If business is good, we’ll lease one for ourselves.”
Relying only on those few bosses in the prefectural city wouldn’t be enough. A treasure mountain like this would be wasted.
At the docks, saying “such-and-such shop” sounded small-time. Calling out a trade name was much more impressive.
Lu Liu wanted to call it “Eat Your Fill,” but once he heard the explanation, he looked a little disappointed.
Lu Yang doted on him and said, “How about ‘Living off the Mountain’? It fits—still about food, still about mountain goods. Once the name spreads, we can sell other things too: wild ginger, wild scallions, hawthorn, walnuts, chestnuts—whatever we’ve got. The village is too far from the county, so we’ll still need a big storefront in town, both to do local business and to use as a warehouse. That little shop—you can call it ‘Eat Your Fill.’”
Lu Liu smiled. He liked that.
The brothers looked at Li Feng. He had no objections.
“Living off the Mountain” was suitable and dignified as a trade name.
“Eat Your Fill” worked perfectly for a shop—down-to-earth and friendly.
Both were good.
What remained was everyday business. Lu Yang still hadn’t gone back to Lujiatun. He still owed his two dads two taels of silver—the money he’d borrowed earlier, saying he’d use it to print books and earn them some interest, maybe fix up the rundown house.
The books hadn’t been reprinted, and the money hadn’t been invested. The last time he’d seen his dad had been on his birthday. He’d still been preoccupied with the trip to the prefectural city, and there were so many guests that day. By the time things wrapped up, his dad had hurried back to the village, and he hadn’t had a chance to repay him.
“I’ll go with you tomorrow,” Lu Yang said.
“No need for you to cover that,” Li Feng said. “I’ll pay.”
Lu Yang’s father-in-law hadn’t raised him, but Lu Yang had already helped enough. These were the people who had given birth to and raised Lu Liu—naturally, they should be the ones to pay.
Lu Yang refused.
Fixing his own father’s house wasn’t some random charity case—why split hairs over that?
Besides, he and Xie Yan were doing better now, so they could shoulder a bit more.
And Xie Yan’s relatives weren’t reliable at all. Lu Yang still needed to pick a few dependable relatives in Lujiatun to work with later.
If he couldn’t even take good care of his own father, who would believe that following him would lead to a good life?
The two of them argued for a bit, until Lu Liu offered a compromise. “Half each—okay?”
Lu Yang still didn’t want to agree. The business hadn’t even gone through yet—why have them put money in now?
Li Feng said, “We printed more books. When I’ve got time, I’ll go around selling them.”
With the deal secured and shipments coming up, the volume would be huge. Lu Yang would have to front the money anyway.
Once payment came in, Lu Yang could take back principal and interest.
As for fixing the house—both families could handle it together.
Lu Liu clung to his brother’s arm and wheedled, “Brother, let me be a filial child too. I live in the mountains—it’s not easy for me to come out. And now I’m pregnant; going home later will be even harder. Usually it’s just Da Feng visiting. I haven’t really done anything. Let me have this, okay?”
Lu Yang laughed, teasing him. “Is this how you usually talk?”
Lu Liu grinned. He talked like this to Da Feng all the time—but he wasn’t admitting it.
He’d learned how to coax people now. Some things didn’t need to be said so bluntly anymore.
“I only talk like this to you,” he said.
Shun-ge’s eyes went wide.
Lu Yang gave him a casual glance and immediately understood. He didn’t bother with it.
This silly little brother had learned how to sweet-talk people—progress. Not bad.
That evening, they were hosting a feast, so Lu Yang took them back home first.
Shun-ge didn’t want to stay the night in the county—he wanted to go back. Otherwise, his mom would be home alone.
When he said that, Lu Yang took a closer look at him.
Lu Yang asked Li Feng, “How about leaving your brother with me? I’ll take him on for a year or two—he’ll be a head manager someday.”
Whether Shun-ge stayed wasn’t up to Li Feng alone; his mother had to agree.
He told Shun-ge to think about it. If he wanted to come learn some skills, he should talk to his mom—then it could work.
Shun-ge was thoroughly startled.
He’d only said he wanted to go home—how did that turn into leaving him behind?
It wasn’t urgent, anyway. Lu Yang had only mentioned it casually.
Shun-ge couldn’t go home today regardless. They only had one cart, and the official road was long. The road to Li Village was far; even though there were four villages along the way, there were long stretches between them.
In the middle were vast fields of wilderness. With summer here, the wild grass had grown tall. Even during the slack season, not many people passed through. Letting a young ger go back alone at this time of year—Li Feng wasn’t comfortable with that.
Shun-ge sighed. “Fine, then.”
Lu Yang went up front to tell Lu Lin, asking them to close the shop a bit earlier today and head home with Mom later.
“I’m hosting dinner tonight. You and brother-in-law come eat. I’ll go back now to get things ready.”
The shop had vegetables and meat. Lu Yang loaded a basket with produce.
When Lu Liu spotted the eggplants, he chased after him. “Brother, can you cook eggplant?”
Lu Yang could—he liked eggplant and had been making it often lately.
Seeing how badly his brother was craving it, he counted the people and grabbed a dozen eggplants, planning to make two different dishes to satisfy him.
He added some wild mushrooms and seasonal vegetables, then two jin of fresh pork—that was enough.
There was still a jar of wine at home, so no need to bring more.
Lu Yang rode in their cart, sitting next to his brother.
Lu Liu chatted with him about recent happenings—what wild greens were growing, what they’d dug up lately, what they’d been doing, who they’d met.
Not long ago, he’d even gotten into an argument—and he’d been fierce about it. People in the village were calling him the Iron-Toothed Rabbit!
He grinned, showing a neat row of teeth.
Lu Yang listened with a smile, genuinely interested in these everyday details.
Recently, Lu Liu had gone to play in the reed marsh and found duck eggs—five of them. They’d already been salted; in another ten days or so, they’d be ready to eat.
Lu Liu had already divided them up. Their family of four—one each. His brother got one. Brother-in-law didn’t.
Lu Yang: “……”
He was protective. “You heartless little thing. Your brother-in-law teaches you how to read, you know. On this last trip to the prefectural city, we should’ve come back earlier—he kept thinking about buying you picture books so you could print them and make money. He ran all over to different bookshops. Hurry up—give him a duck egg.”
Lu Liu pressed his lips together, clearly reluctant. He sneaked a glance at Li Feng’s back and whispered, “Let Da Feng split one egg with brother-in-law.”
The driver, Li Feng: “……?”
He turned around in shock. What was going on? Why wasn’t his little husband sweet anymore?
Shun-ge was holding back laughter when he heard his big brother say, “Shun-ge doesn’t like salted duck eggs. Give his egg away.”
Shun-ge: ?!
He didn’t like them—but he still wanted to have one!
Lu Yang laughed and took the chance to teach his brother. “This is called ‘five eggs killing six people.’”
Lu Liu nodded vigorously.
Lu Yang added, “People don’t fear scarcity—they fear unfairness.”
Lu Liu didn’t understand.
As they traveled along, Lu Yang explained it to him carefully. Shun-ge leaned in to listen too.
Their home wasn’t far. By the time Lu Yang finished explaining the saying and told one more little story, they had arrived.
The shop was still busy. Mom didn’t like staying home alone; if Xie Yan didn’t come back at noon, the door was usually locked.
