He wanted to make Li Feng a well-fitted cotton coat—something that would look dignified when worn.
Zhao Peilan had taught him two methods. One was to make it thick and substantial, then tailor it in at various points. The other was to make the inner layer thick while keeping the outer layer a bit thinner.
Lu Liu remembered that Li Feng also wore a leather jacket. When he went out to deliver goods, he would definitely wear the leather jacket more often—it blocked the wind. Cotton coats did not block wind well; if the wind blew long enough, it would cut right through.
After giving it some thought, Lu Liu decided to make a thinner cotton coat first, something Li Feng could change into when going out to meet people and keep up appearances. For traveling, he would wear the leather jacket.
Once this one was finished, he would make a thicker cotton coat.
While Lu Liu was busy sewing clothes, deep in the mountains, inside the safe house in Da Qiang’s hunting grounds, Chen Laomo woke up with his lower half bare. Waking up in a strange place, he still hadn’t realized how serious the situation was.
He saw Wang Meng, and he also saw his own father still sleeping. With his legs clamped together, he went to wake his father.
As soon as the father and son woke up, they started shouting and making a ruckus. Wang Meng said, “Don’t rush. You’re going to stay in the mountains for three days. Da Feng said that once you woke up, I should help him by beating the younger one.”
Wang Meng alone could take on the two of them; Old Man Chen couldn’t stop him.
After beating Chen Laomo, Wang Meng warned them, “This is the deep mountains. If you get lost, even the immortals won’t be able to save you. If you want to go wandering around, go ahead—walk wherever you like, look wherever you like. If you run into wild beasts, that just means you’re lucky. At least once in this life, you’ll get to be food.”
The deep mountains…
Chen Laomo didn’t believe it. Bare-bottomed, he chased after Wang Meng and ran outside. One look, and he saw dense forest in every direction.
He had never seen vegetation this thick in his life. Looking up, he could only see a few shafts of sunlight. The grass nearby was as tall as his waist.
Wang Meng pointed above his head. “See that wild beehive?”
Chen Laomo’s legs went weak. Without hesitation, he turned around and hid back inside the house, slamming the door shut and locking Wang Meng outside.
The safe house was too close to the beehive. Because the door hadn’t been shut immediately, two wild bees chased inside. Chaotic screaming erupted from within.
They opened the door again, wanting to run out, but when they saw even more wild bees buzzing outside, they didn’t need Wang Meng to remind them. They hid back inside once more, choosing to kill the bees that had entered so they could have some peace.
With courage like that, Wang Meng shook his head.
It seemed this place didn’t even need someone guarding it.
He took out his small knife and cut off a piece of the honeycomb Da Qiang had stored, then ate it.
So sweet. So good. No wonder his own Jiu Ge’er kept thinking about it.
Jiu Ge’er didn’t get along with Yao Fulang. Yao Fulang wouldn’t let Jiu Ge’er eat honeycomb. Jiu Ge’er said he wasn’t craving it—just that everyone else had eaten it except him, so he wanted some too.
Wang Meng didn’t care what he was thinking. If he wanted to eat it, Wang Meng would get him a piece.
What a coincidence—Da Qiang came up the mountain, heard the screaming in his hunting grounds, and thought something had happened. He rushed over, only to catch Wang Meng in the act of stealing honey.
Da Qiang flew into a rage on the spot.
“So it’s you, Wang Meng! First thing in the morning and you’re stealing my honey!”
Wang Meng licked his fingers. “How is this stealing? My husband wants to eat it. I’m just tasting it for him. If it’s good, I’ll buy some from you.”
Da Qiang scolded him, “You had to come all the way into the mountains to taste it? You’ve got thick brows and big eyes, you look honest and simple—how can you do something like sneaking around stealing honey?”
Wang Meng pointed at the safe house. “I was here on business anyway. And what’s wrong with tasting it in the mountains? The honey here is fresh. My husband only wants to eat fresh honey.”
Remembering the relationship between their husbands, he added, “My husband won’t eat honey from the same comb as yours. I’m taking it myself—safe and proper.”
He stole honey and still thought he had the moral high ground.
Da Qiang chased him, trying to hit him. Wang Meng ran toward the safe house. He ran inside, and Da Qiang followed. Seeing two more men inside, he froze. When he realized one of them was bare-bottomed, Da Qiang got even angrier.
“What kind of nonsense are you doing in my safe house? I’ll throw all of you out to feed the wild bees!”
When Old Man Chen saw him, it was like seeing a savior. He was just short of kneeling and kowtowing, begging Da Qiang desperately to take him and his son down the mountain.
“We’re both honest people. Yesterday we were drinking at our son-in-law’s place, drank too much, and when we woke up, we were in the mountains. Please, have mercy and take us down!”
Da Qiang took a closer look. Weren’t these Li Feng’s father-in-law and brother-in-law?
He then looked at Wang Meng again. Wang Meng was wiping his knife, sticky with honey.
Wang Meng said, “Da Feng told me to lock them up. Yesterday they even wanted to eat Erhuang. I advise you not to interfere.”
Da Qiang truly didn’t interfere. He asked Wang Meng for money.
“No matter how much you ate, give me ten copper coins.”
Wang Meng went outside with him to settle accounts, leaving the father and son locked inside. He even deliberately left a crack in the door and let a few more wild bees inside.
Da Qiang finally understood.
Wang Meng was black-hearted—nothing honest about him at all.
The two of them ate honey outside, listening to the Chen father and son shriek inside, chatting idly. “This really opens your ears. When has the mountain ever been this lively?”
During the day, Da Qiang stayed on the mountain. Wang Meng used his water flask to rinse off a big leaf, wrapped a piece of honeycomb in it, and went down the mountain.
Da Qiang couldn’t stand the noise. He called out from outside, “If you two keep yelling, I’ll catch a few snakes and throw them in there.”
The inside immediately fell silent.
Satisfied, Da Qiang took his gear and went off to find another place to set up beehives.
He had just started to figure out the method. Some places quickly produced honey, while others attracted no bees at all. He needed to observe and adjust often.
Three days passed like this. Before Li Feng and Er Jun came down the mountain, the Chen father and son finally regained their freedom.
Time passed strangely in the mountains. They didn’t dare speak loudly, had nothing to do, couldn’t wander around, and could only fill their stomachs with wild fruit and roots. In just three days, it felt like three years.
When they came out of the safe house, their steps were unsteady. Chen Laomo even forgot to look for his pants, as if he had gotten used to being like that.
Wang Meng dug up his pants. The stench was unbearable.
On the way down the mountain, they ran as if ghosts were chasing them, staggering and stumbling all the way.
When they reached the Li household, Lu Liu asked whether they wanted to eat. The two were terrified and immediately drove the mule cart away.
The smell was too strong, their expressions too panicked. Many people asked about it. Wang Meng told everyone that the two of them insisted on going up the mountain to see what it was like, and ended up so frightened that they wet their pants.
That was normal. There were people like that in the mountain stronghold too. For example, Er Tian—after being frightened by a snake in the mountains, he refused to go a second time no matter what.
Anything could happen in the mountains. Even if you were scared, you had to wait for the right moment to come down. Staying a couple of days was common.
Everyone laughed about it, treating it as casual gossip after meals.
Lu Yang only heard about it three days later.
Another three days after that, Li Feng and Er Jun came down the mountain, delivered a batch of goods to the county early in the morning, and brought along the ginseng.
Li Feng had dug up five ginseng roots. Xie Yan wanted two.
Lu Yang understood immediately. He had Li Feng rest at home while he went to find the God of Wealth to appraise the quality of the ginseng. Between the two households, they kept three roots.
The Wu Ping family was wealthy and didn’t delay payments. They immediately sent someone to fetch the silver from the accounts.
Li Feng took their silver but didn’t take Lu Yang’s. He said to Lu Yang, “Consider it Xiao Liu’s filial offering to you.”
Xie Yan said he would buy some next time.
Lu Yang accepted with a smile.
Hearing more about the Chen family afterward put him in an even better mood.
Later, he would go by the medical hall, then take care of the Chen family matter as well. From now on, he would not look back.
……………………………………
After Lu Yang got married, this was his first time coming inside the tofu workshop.
The Chen family’s newly opened tofu workshop had moved locations, changed its storefront, and the courtyard layout was completely different from what he remembered. Yet as he walked in and looked around, he could still see traces of the past everywhere.
In such a small place, crammed with so many people, he had survived in the cracks. Clearly there was nowhere for him to stand, yet wherever there was work to be done, that was where he was sent.
The tofu workshop wasn’t open for business today. Old Man Chen and Chen Laomo had run home, frightening Lu Sanfeng and Chen Laoda, who hurried to attend to them and ask what had happened.
Chen Laomo’s wife was inside the house, cursing nonstop, deeply displeased by the smell on the Chen father and son, and even more unhappy about their several days away in the mountain stronghold.
Lu Yang came in and no one paid him any attention. He walked around the courtyard, until the mule called Stubborn Donkey snorted loudly at him. Its big eyes were full of gentleness.
