Lu Liu asked him, “What are you thinking?”
Li Feng wanted to go straight to the prefectural city and settle down there in one step, without making a stopover in the county town.
“The new village is building a drying ground. We’ll open a mountain-goods shop in the county and set up a large warehouse. The prefectural city also needs a point of contact. We’ll live inside the prefectural city. For now, we won’t open a storefront in the city proper—we’ll rent a shop by the docks instead. Adding both sides together, the yearly cost will be about one hundred fifty taels of silver. The shop rent can be counted as business expenses and split evenly among everyone.”
Since he had more silver on hand, he would shoulder a larger share. Once they made money later, he could gradually take his principal back.
Because someone needed to stay in the prefectural city, he would take that spot himself.
Lu Liu agreed with him. Making a stop in the county town would make them seem unreasonable—taking up a shop here and then still taking up another shop there.
Lu Liu said, “I wonder when my older brother and the others are going to the prefectural city.”
Li Feng placed his large hand on Lu Liu’s belly and said, “It won’t be long. They’ll probably move after the New Year.”
Lu Liu hadn’t heard anything about this. “How do you know?”
Li Feng thought of Xie Yan, and his expression darkened.
“Xie Yan has grown a lot. He told me the prefectural academy’s library has over a thousand books.”
Lu Liu was shocked. “That many?!”
Li Feng nodded. “How could he read that many books in the county town? Lu Yang will definitely take him to the prefectural city. Business in the county has smoothed out, and the Chen family matter has been resolved—what reason is there to stay?”
Lu Liu nodded blankly.
His older brother was leaving. And he was leaving too. What about Father and Daddy?
Li Feng moved to sit beside him, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and gave him a squeeze. “You won’t give birth until the end of the year. You’ll need time to recuperate, and the child will need time too. I’ll go ahead first and get things settled in the prefectural city. The goods can move first, and I’ll slowly look for a suitable house to rent. I’ll arrange both ends properly.”
Lu Liu didn’t say anything. Around here, sons were expected to support their parents in old age, which was why people cursed younger sons and daughters as money-losing burdens. No married child ever brought their parents to live with them at the in-laws’ home.
He pressed his lips together and stayed silent for a long time. People always said that supporting a household meant that with two more people, there were two more mouths to feed—no family would be happy about that. They were about to add two children. If they also brought his parents over, that would be four more mouths. He didn’t know how Li Feng would arrange it.
Lu Liu patted his own cheeks, cutting off the downward spiral of his thoughts and stopping himself from overthinking.
There would be solutions to these matters. Overthinking was the one thing that helped nothing.
He turned his head to look at Li Feng and spoke about something else.
“Da Feng, are we still going to print books? We have silver on hand now—we can buy woodblocks. I asked my older brother some time ago about what ‘making something out of nothing’ means. He used book printing as an example for me. Do you want to hear it?”
Li Feng wanted to hear it.
Lu Liu said, “If we use our own drawings to carve new woodblocks, or buy old ones, we spend money first, then print books and sell them—that’s buying in and selling out. If we talk with Old Master Lu, we can first borrow his old woodblocks and write an IOU. Once we make money, we pay him back. That’s using his things to make money—making something out of nothing. If that condition doesn’t persuade him, we can also promise that once we earn silver, we’ll ask him to carve a certain number of pages of new illustrations. We use his things to earn money, then use that money to buy new ones and keep earning.”
Li Feng nodded repeatedly as he listened. “Xiao Liu, you’ve really become capable.”
Lu Liu chuckled, then asked him, “So are we still printing books to sell?”
Li Feng wanted to do it. Selling this kind of book in villages, even with many variations, only brought in a few taels of profit.
Last time, Lu Yang had given him a batch of books, and he sold them in the prefectural city—they sold very well.
The docks had heavy foot traffic and plenty of shady establishments. These kinds of books sold best there.
There were also many people inside the prefectural city. He could casually squat outside an inn and sell them.
Going that far to sell books, a few dozen copies were nothing.
Last time he took over two hundred copies and sold them all in no time.
Li Feng rubbed Lu Liu’s shoulder. Feeling it was getting cold, he spread the quilt and prepared to sleep.
He said to Lu Liu, “I’ll go ask around in the county in a few days.”
Lu Liu wanted to hire people to sew the books. Everyone in the stronghold was busy now, but there were still some people who didn’t go into the mountains and instead stayed home. When their hands were free, they did needlework.
The wages didn’t need to be high. Even two copper coins per book was enough to get people to sew them—just some extra money on the side. It was suitable work for old men and women.
This was different from raising chickens or rabbits. It could be outsourced, took up no space, required little labor, and though each bit of money was small, the profits added up.
Hearing the urgency and anticipation in his tone, Li Feng hugged him and praised him thoroughly.
“My Xiao Liu is really capable. You can even think up such money-making business ideas. No one else’s husband compares to you. Soon I’ll be relying on you to feed me—when you support me, you’ll buy meat for me every day.”
In the past, Lu Liu had always praised him like this. Now Li Feng copied it right back, making Lu Liu so happy he was bubbling over. He kicked his legs under the quilt, rubbed against Li Feng’s leg, even grabbed Li Feng’s hand and brought it to his mouth to give it a playful bite. He was delighted beyond measure.
Li Feng couldn’t help laughing. “Why are you acting like Er Huang?”
Lu Liu froze.
Huh? Who was like Er Huang?
Clearly Da Feng was the one most like Er Huang!
As he thought that, he paused again.
No, that wasn’t right. Da Feng came first, then Er Huang. Er Huang was their son—of course a son should resemble his father.
Lu Liu told him this and concluded, “If a son looks like you, that’s father-and-son resemblance. I’ve been with you so long that I look like you too—we’re a married-couple resemblance!”
Li Feng had originally wanted to say that he didn’t have the habit of kicking his legs and biting people, but when he heard “married-couple resemblance,” he swallowed the words and instead rubbed his big foot a few times against Lu Liu’s leg.
He was a laborer by nature, with thick calluses on his hands and feet. Rubbing like that made Lu Liu itch all over.
They had a skin scraper at home for scraping dead skin off the feet. Li Feng usually only scraped when the soles got hard and uncomfortable in his shoes. Lu Liu had never scraped someone’s feet before and couldn’t really help him, so he said, “Next time you scrape your feet, I’ll grind the soles smooth for you.”
Using a small whetstone, smoothing them out so walking would feel comfortable.
Li Feng didn’t want him to do it. Grinding feet meant holding someone’s feet—what was there to hug about big, stinky feet?
He said, “Pick a sunny day and help me clean my ears instead. I haven’t cleaned them in a long time.”
Lu Liu agreed. “Okay. Then you have to come home early—come home early, when the sun is good.”
They went to sleep. The next day, Li Feng got up early. Lu Liu slept a bit longer. Later, Shun-ge’er came to help him get up and dressed.
It was hard for Lu Liu to get up now. Even getting off the kang required someone to support him.
In the morning, they sorted mushrooms, sold goods, and studied characters. When there was free time, Lu Liu had Shun-ge’er count the copper coins with him and string them into bundles.
Li Feng didn’t come home at noon. He had been up in the mountains these past two days.
Once Doctor Hu had gotten familiar with everyone, Li Feng asked Da Qiang for leave and went to the county.
Da Qiang was going to the county to deliver firewood. Boss Ding’s demand for firewood had increased.
With the new grain harvested, the distillery fires burned hotter, and he now had to deliver one extra cart of firewood each month.
Li Feng asked to go along. He could also buy wine, sauce, oil, and salt to restock the small shop, borrowing Da Qiang’s cart to bring back more goods.
Da Qiang went first. Li Feng then made a trip to the East District to talk with Old Master Lu about the woodblocks. This was Lu Yang’s godfather. Li Feng had money on hand and didn’t want to take advantage of him. He took out five taels of silver and bought fifty old woodblocks. Old Master Lu threw in seven more old ones as a gift, completely clearing his stock.
Just like before, he bought paper and ink from Old Master Lu as well, saving himself another trip elsewhere.
After finishing this business, Li Feng pinched his nose and went to the Xie household to look for Xie Yan.
Since he had already called him brother-in-law, Xie Yan had agreed to make small scrolls for him.
The paintings were already completed on the road. According to Li Feng’s requirements, they were exactly the images he wanted. A few days would be enough for Xie Yan to mount them.
When he arrived at the Xie household, all three family members were there. Lu Yang was making padded cotton boots. Judging by the size, they weren’t for Xie Yan.
Lu Yang said, “They’re for my father. All year long, I’m giving this and that—everything bought with money, no real thought behind it. Before it gets cold, I’ll make two pairs of cotton boots to give him.”
Li Feng didn’t say anything and went to ask Xie Yan for the small scrolls.
Xie Yan seemed glued in place, sitting right next to Lu Yang and refusing to move, shooting Li Feng a meaningful look.
