Business was brisk at Denggao Tower. When Li Feng stepped inside and explained his purpose at the counter, just in that short while several tables had already ordered mushroom dishes. At this rate of sales, three hundred jin was nowhere near enough.
He didn’t see Boss Yu, but the head clerk had authority to decide. The clerk led him to the back courtyard. After looking over several kinds of mushrooms and combining them, they put together a total of three hundred jin.
The bamboo fungus delivered earlier had sold well, so they wanted another batch.
Li Feng went over some handling and preparation tips with him, stressing that the mushrooms absolutely had to be cooked thoroughly.
They generally didn’t harvest poisonous mushrooms, but some mildly toxic varieties were simply too delicious to pass up. Anything they sold had been carefully selected. If someone were poisoned, it wouldn’t just ruin the business—they’d end up in prison.
This order came to a bit over twenty-seven taels. For the rest of their goods, they still needed to make a round at the docks.
Knowing they were from out of town and still planned to sell at the docks, the clerk asked which inn they were staying at.
“The cooks will test the dishes tonight. If the flavor works, we’ll buy more so we don’t run out.”
Following the prefectural city’s way of giving full directions, Li Feng even included the neighborhood name: “Ping’an Inn, at the east entrance of Fumin Ward.”
With this deal settled, it was already late. There were hardly any pedestrians outside. The clerk didn’t keep him, only said that if there was news, they’d send word to the inn early the next morning. How much they’d want would be finalized then, with a minimum of three hundred jin.
Li Feng took his leave. Patrol officers were already making their rounds in the streets. He walked quickly, not daring to run, and even so he was questioned several times.
There were many people in the prefectural city. Once the officers checked his travel papers and confirmed his background, they let him go.
When Li Feng returned to the inn, the brothers had all finished bathing and eating.
The big communal sleeping room smelled bad, so they were all waiting in the private room. Hearing that Denggao Tower wanted their goods, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The business had just started, and they’d all been worried that old customers wouldn’t come back.
Getting off to such a strong start meant they could sleep well tonight.
Since their mushrooms had become well known in the prefectural city, someone had to stay up at night to guard the goods. Whoever kept watch at night could sleep all day in the room.
They drew lots. Li Feng didn’t participate.
The first night’s watch fell to San Miao.
San Miao cursed, “I wanted to go out and see the city!”
Wang Meng said, “You stay up at night and go out during the day. From now on, you’ll be called San Meng.”
Everyone in the room burst out laughing.
While things were thriving for them in the prefectural city, the Lu brothers were living peacefully back in the county town.
Summer was scorching, and no one could stand sitting in the courtyard. The two brothers liked to sit on the steps by the door, gnawing on watermelon and watching the flashy little dog, Weimeng, ferociously chew on a bone bigger than its own body, growling and barking.
Lu Yang said to Lu Liu, “Stop thinking about that lousy man. Living our lives well is more important than anything.”
Lu Liu said he wasn’t thinking about any man.
Lu Yang had seen it with his own eyes. “You still want to fool me? That little mind of yours might fool the dog, but not me.”
Lu Liu gave a dry laugh. “I’m carrying two kids. It’s normal to think about their father.”
At that, Lu Yang praised him again. “You’re amazing—pregnant with two at once. When are you going to give me one too?”
Lu Liu laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. “How am I supposed to give birth for you? Let brother-in-law do it for you, heh heh heh.”
Lu Yang laughed too. “If only he could. Look at it—what use are men anyway? They can’t even give birth.”
Lu Liu had been listening to this for days now and was starting to think it made a lot of sense. He nodded repeatedly.
“You’re right. Useless men.”
After finishing the watermelon, the brothers sat a bit longer at the door, enjoying the breeze, before getting up to go back inside.
Lu Liu’s belly was big now. The steps were too low, and sitting like that for too long was uncomfortable. He often talked about bringing a stool out to sit on, but seeing that other households in the alley didn’t bring stools out to cool off, he didn’t want to either.
Lu Yang couldn’t help himself. “You really should learn from that guy surnamed Li. Who cares what other people do? As long as you’re comfortable.”
Lu Liu followed after him, sweet-talking. “I’m not worrying about others, I’m worrying about you. I see all the wives and husbands around here working. I’m afraid if they see us sitting around doing nothing, they’ll feel resentful. We’re neighbors—what if they treat you badly later?”
Lu Yang cried out, “Oh my, oh my.”
Unbelievable—listen to that mouth. Sweet enough to rot teeth.
They cooked lunch at home. Lu Yang had just bought sweet potato starch and made mapo tofu for Lu Liu twice, then made him a bowl of sour soup dough-drop noodles. The aroma left Lu Liu completely enchanted.
Their two fathers had sent over a big sack of wheat. They toasted barley to make barley tea, and also kept a bag of wheat kernels in their pockets, chewing on a few whenever they felt snacky. New grain was especially fragrant, full of flavor when chewed. They also cooked barley porridge, ground fresh flour, and steamed buns.
After the wheat harvest season, Lu Lin and Zhang Tie went back to the shop. Lu Yang didn’t stay there much anymore, instead staying busy taking his brother out to have fun.
He’d grown up in the county town, yet was oddly unfamiliar with many kinds of entertainment—he’d been poor and craving things his whole life. Now, with his brother along, he was broadening his own horizons too.
He even said he wanted to take their mother out, but she always refused. She’d only gone with them once to a teahouse to listen to storytelling, and afterward complained it was too noisy and didn’t want to go out anymore.
The brothers, though, loved the teahouse. There were all kinds of delicious pastries there, and Lu Liu’s favorite was the little twisted fried dough. There were also plenty of stories to hear. The storytellers didn’t just recite stock tale plots; they also told stories from their own county—like the incident where Xie Yan cursed seven scholars in the street.
The first time Lu Yang heard that one, he sprayed tea straight out of his mouth.
Of course, most of what they heard were still storybook tales.
In those stories, scholars were often heartless men. Once they passed the imperial exams, they’d abandon their humble husband from their poor days, marry into high office, and soar upward without a care in the world.
Lu Liu listened with mounting anger, clearly imagining those heartless scholars as Xie Yan.
He didn’t say anything at the time, but once home, he was so stifled he didn’t even dare chatter about it with Lu Yang. Bottling it up gave him nightmares that night—dreaming Xie Yan turned out just like in the stories, with his brother crying and begging. It made him furious.
Lu Yang started laughing from the very first word Lu Liu said, and by the end was laughing so hard he almost couldn’t breathe.
“No wonder they say dreams are the opposite of reality. Let me tell you—if anything, I’ll be the one dumping him, and he’ll be the one crying and begging me!”
Lu Liu thought he looked so imposing. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled up at him.
Sleep during pregnancy wasn’t comfortable. With such a big belly, it felt like holding a massive weight against his chest.
Lu Yang would sometimes rub his belly and press his ear against it, listening for movement.
They looked so much alike that when Lu Yang looked at him, it was like seeing himself pregnant.
Such a huge belly on such a thin body, two skinny legs barely able to support the weight. His body couldn’t keep its balance, tilting backward under the load, leaving his waist and legs sore and aching.
He couldn’t even lie still—he still had to move around. It was miserable.
Lu Yang said, “If I ever get pregnant, I’ll only have one. Better to do it multiple times than have a belly this huge. Can you even see the road in front of you?”
Lu Liu also felt it was big. Once they returned to the mountain stronghold, he wouldn’t go out casually anymore.
The roads were bad. If he stepped into a hole or tripped over a stone, it would be too late to cry.
The brothers chatted for a while, then drifted off to sleep.
During the day, Lu Yang also took his brother to the Common Sayings Bookshop to read. Lu Liu had been learning characters for a long time but had never gone to a bookshop to read before.
There were so many characters in the books. Lu Liu thought he already recognized quite a few, but once he opened them, there were still many that looked like heavenly script, making his eyes spin.
Lu Yang told him, “Written language is more refined than the words we use in daily speech. That’s why I say once you’ve learned enough common characters for everyday use, you need to start studying prose. Learn a few pieces to really become literate. Then you’ll be able to buy books and read them yourself. Reading opens the mind—once you’ve learned to read, you must read more, and read good books.”
Lu Yang bought him some beginner texts: The Hundred Family Surnames, The Thousand Character Classic, and The Three Character Classic.
The Hundred Family Surnames was easy to learn, and Lu Liu already recognized quite a few surnames. The Thousand Character Classic also contained surnames, like “Huang.” He recognized all the numbers in the titles of the three books, and when he read them aloud, he realized that the only character he didn’t recognize was the “character” in The Thousand Character Classic.
After studying characters for so long, not recognizing the word “character” itself—Lu Liu couldn’t stop laughing. Every time he saw the book, he laughed.
It was hot outside, so they didn’t stay out long.
He’d never been to the yamen before, and rarely even passed by it. Lu Yang took him to walk around near the government office.
