If someone was around, he’d immediately spring up and get busy with something.
But as soon as they left, he’d squat back down beside his scholar.
Xie Yan tried to speak up too, but just couldn’t manage much enthusiasm.
He really wanted to help, so Lu Yang told him, “Laba Festival’s coming up. There’ll be lots of people out shopping. Let’s go buy more red paper—you can write couplets, blessing characters, and those ‘double happiness’ signs. Can you do paper cuttings? If you can, make some of those too. I’ll sell them at the market. Any leftover red paper, give it to me. I want to stick it outside our shop. Just imagine it—all bright red and festive, catches the eye!”
Lu Yang had once pieced together scraps of red paper to make a big “Chen” character outside the Chen family’s tofu shop, which made old man Chen grin from ear to ear.
But for his own shop, he wouldn’t do something like that.
He wanted to paste up signs that showed what kind of business he was running. So people passing by would take one look and know what he sold.
There were plenty of literate folks in the county. Even if they hadn’t formally gone to school, they’d seen enough shop banners and signs to recognize those common words.
And when he hollered at the door later on, he could even teach passersby to read—point out which word meant “pork buns,” which one meant “melon seeds.” That would stick in people’s memories. Business would start booming in no time!
Where there’s a crowd, there’s business.
Where there’s business, there’s money.
And with money—he’d send his scholar off to school.
Then he could have the big bed all to himself—he could roll around it eighteen times if he wanted!
Hahahahaha!
What a damn good feeling!
He was still talking to Xie Yan, but his mind had already wandered over mountains and seas, drifting who knows where.
Xie Yan had been talking for a while with no reply, then saw Lu Yang suddenly grin at nothing, looking pleased as can be.
After a pause, once Lu Yang came back to earth and looked at him, Xie Yan said, “I can do the writing. I’ll go home and practice. I can’t do paper cuttings, but my mom can.”
Even better. She could do the cuttings at home. Otherwise, with the two of them out running around all the time, she’d be stuck at home alone, likely overthinking things.
Keeping busy was best—no time for brooding when your hands were full.
Lu Yang was in such a good mood that everything sounded great—every other word out of his mouth was “Good! Good! Good!”
His cheer was infectious. Xie Yan felt better too, even smiled a little.
Lu Yang didn’t expect to make much from selling vegetables—it was more of a side thing, just earning whatever he could. But to his surprise, tons of people came to buy.
And they were buying in bulk—five or ten pounds of radishes and cabbage at a time.
Stuff people ate daily only got more expensive the closer it got to the New Year.
Lu Yang had grown up in the county and knew how prices went. From Little New Year onward, meat and veggie prices would spike.
That was the prime time to make money—but he couldn’t afford to gamble. If they didn’t sell everything that day, they might not scrape together enough for Xie Yan’s school fees.
He didn’t bring too much produce with him into town, especially since others needed room to ride in the cart too.
Thankfully, Lu Song was hardworking. As soon as the snow stopped, he harvested a cartload and brought it over. Seeing how quickly things were selling, he rushed back to the village for more.
Each household only had ten to twenty pounds of veggies—maybe thirty or forty at most.
This year, since there were buyers, most folks hadn’t bothered making much pickled veg. They saved it to sell instead.
When the second cartload came in, Lu Bo came to help too. He borrowed a donkey cart from a relative, and the two brothers hauled in three more cartloads before they finally had enough stock to really serve the steady stream of customers.
Xie Yan had developed an eye for things now—he’d invite the two older brothers inside for tea to warm up.
He even followed Lu Yang’s advice and brought them some meat buns to eat.
Lu Song knew how much they cost—five coins for one meat bun. He held it awkwardly, too shy to take a bite. Lu Bo, a bit slower on the uptake, bit into his—and when he tasted the meat filling, he exclaimed in shock, “Meat! This is a meat bun!”
His dopey surprise made Xie Yan stare at him for quite a while.
Lu Yang often said Xie Yan was a blockhead, but Xie Yan had never seen it for himself—until now. And wow, he really was a blockhead.
Lu Song covered his face in embarrassment. But since his little brother had already eaten, he didn’t hold back either.
It was getting late, so the brothers didn’t rush to leave. They planned to head back to the village with Lu Yang and his husband.
Lu Yang was busy up front. For every customer who came to buy vegetables, he’d take the opportunity to explain what their shop sold.
The main product was their signature pork buns—thin-skinned and packed with juicy meat! On the side, they also sold sunflower seeds, peanuts, and red dates. Soon they’d be adding rice and flour too, sold at market price. For folks living nearby, it was a convenient option to swing by their shop instead of trekking out.
He even said cheerfully, “My husband is a scholar—soon he’ll be writing couplets to sell. Since we’re all neighbors, if you come by, just pay for the paper and ink—we won’t charge you for the calligraphy!”
Seriously though—who does business without making money?
A scholar giving away his writing for free? Come on.
That’s what people were thinking, but Lu Yang talked such a good game that everyone just smiled and nodded, happy to go along with it.
Not long after, the shop needed restocking again. Seeing both Lu Song and Xie Yan were around, Lu Yang asked them to go out and buy more supplies.
They always bought the sunflower seeds, peanuts, and red dates from the same shop. Lu Yang had practically worn out his tongue bargaining, but eventually scored a wholesale price equal to the peddlers’. He didn’t buy much—just five pounds of each.
The shopkeeper thought he was stingy and rolled his eyes the whole time while weighing the goods.
It was the first time Lu Song had ever seen that kind of attitude from a shopkeeper. He and Xie Yan endured the whole scene, and afterward, he asked Xie Yan how Lu Yang had managed to talk the guy into giving them the deal.
Xie Yan replied, “We’re selling his goods in our shop. My husband told him it’s basically like opening a second store—for free.”
Lu Song: “…”
That’s bold. Who knew you could do business like that?
Once the dry goods were in, Lu Yang saw they were almost sold out of buns too. He was so thrilled he couldn’t stop grinning.
He said, “That shop owner’s terrible at business. He gives discounts to anyone who buys more, but when I’m basically helping him sell his stuff, he acts like I’m robbing him blind. He’s got walnuts and chestnuts too, but wouldn’t sell me any. Couldn’t even get longan fruit. I’ll have to find someone else next time.”
Still, they’d agreed to work together for a bit longer. Lu Yang promised to eventually buy a hundred pounds of each item—just in smaller batches.
Since he had a storefront, the shopkeeper finally relented and let him take a small supply to start with.
Xie Yan tried to comfort him: “His business isn’t as good as ours. When Da Song and I went, there weren’t any customers besides us.”
Lu Yang laughed at him. “You’re being silly. His shop is just a wholesale supplier—it’s meant for resellers, not casual customers. Street vendors and peddlers go where the crowds are. They push their carts wherever people gather. Me? I’ve got a fixed stall—and I’m riding the coattails of the veggie business. People come out to buy vegetables, spot the snacks, and think, ‘Eh, my mouth’s bored, might as well get something to munch on.’ But if a peddler got to them first, they wouldn’t even look at my stuff.”
There weren’t many peddlers out in winter, so he’d lucked out.
Xie Yan was clever—he immediately asked, “Can we sell sunflower seeds and peanuts in the village too?”
Of course they could! They’d bring some back home.
They closed the shop an hour early. For now, they didn’t leave anyone to watch the stall. Any unsold produce was taken home by Lu Yang.
They went door to door calling out to sell, and the vegetables cleared out fast. He made sure to shout out the shop’s location too, letting people know they could buy from the store next time.
The sunflower seeds and peanuts sold decently, only a few red dates were left.
Lu Song asked Lu Yang, “Are vegetables really this easy to sell? When we used to go into town, we had to walk around forever. People always tried to haggle us down.”
Lu Yang rubbed his face—he’d been smiling so much, his cheeks were sore.
“That’s all intentional,” he said. “It’s like when you guys carry firewood to sell—people try to bargain you down on purpose. They know you’re from the village, that you’ve walked twenty li to get here, hauling that stuff on your backs. You think you can carry it all the way back? You’d be lucky to earn enough for a meal. They see that, and they squeeze you for a lower price.”
“But once you have a storefront, it’s different. You can sell—or not. Take it or leave it.”
When it came to food, especially vegetables, there was no shortage of demand. These days, hardly anyone could afford meat for every meal. People still needed their greens. Even to make pickled vegetables, you had to buy fresh ones first.
Lu Song: “…”
People in town are seriously sly.
Xie Yan found it all pretty interesting and asked, “What was it like when you used to sell veggies?”
Lu Song thought for a moment, then replied, “It’s been a year or two since we last sold any. There are three grown men in our house. We eat a lot, can’t afford meat, so we rely on vegetables. Only when we really couldn’t finish what we had did we bring some into town for market day. But with so little to sell, it wasn’t worth paying for a booth in the official marketplace. Roaming around with it was all luck. If we ran into someone who actually wanted it and thought the price was fair, they’d buy it right away. But most of the time, it was just like Lu Yang said—we’d walk a ton of pointless miles, panic as the day wore on, and end up dropping the price just to get rid of it.”
