Xie Yan thought Lu Lin had a point and wouldn’t let Lu Yang keep napping. He told him to hold out a bit longer and wait until they got to the shop.
But Lu Yang just shut his eyes and went silent.
Xie Yan: “…”
He started to take off his coat to cover Lu Yang, but Lu Yang grabbed his hand to stop him from moving.
Seeing how narrow the cart was, Lu Lin shifted himself to sit front and back with Xie Yan to block the wind for Lu Yang.
Mule carts were faster than donkey carts, so Old Man Chen, who had been far behind, soon caught up.
Old Man Chen had made extra tofu today and brought his eldest son along to sell it in town.
Every time they sold tofu at the market, they had to pay a stall fee and register a permit, which took a chunk out of their earnings. Old Man Chen hated that. Lately, after selling the tofu, he’d wander nearby looking for a better spot to set up shop.
But street vendors still had to pay stall fees—there was no such thing as just setting up anywhere. The only places left alone were tucked-away alleys, and even then, there weren’t many customers.
So Old Man Chen told his eldest to carry the tofu around and sell it door to door.
Chen Laoda (the eldest) got stubborn and refused.
“If you’d just get the workshop running, we wouldn’t have to deal with any of this!”
Of course Old Man Chen knew that. There were four mouths to feed in their house—every day was money going out. Of course he was anxious.
The few hundred pounds of soybeans they’d bought on the last village trip were almost used up. They’d have to buy more today, and that meant another big expense.
He was just waiting.
“Once Brother Yang gets here with the New Year’s gifts, I’ll ask him for a bit of money.”
Chen Laoda didn’t want to hear it. “That ‘good man’ you found for him—if you so much as take a penny from him, he’ll smash all our tofu! What are you even thinking? Just open the damn workshop already. Once we’ve got it running, Brother Yang’ll need something from us eventually, and then we can talk money.”
Old Man Chen said he’d wait, but in his mind, he was already planning to ask a broker about shop rentals.
Stalls just weren’t gonna cut it. He couldn’t stand the freezing cold in winter, and once summer hit, he couldn’t take the heat either.
Once he knew how much rent and other costs would be, he could ask Lu Yang for the money.
If he got it—it was free money.
If he didn’t—he’d find other ways to save.
Of course, none of this would be said to his eldest.
His eldest had been duped by Lu Yang and was obsessed with opening a tofu workshop and splitting the profits, without sparing a thought for saving money for the family.
Soon enough, the father and son overtook Sha Zhu and moved ahead.
But Sha Zhu, being the knucklehead he was, suddenly got competitive. Side by side with Old Man Chen’s mule cart, he started racing it, trying to pull ahead.
Old Man Chen shot him a look and muttered, “Idiot.”
Sha Zhu glared. “Old fart, who’re you calling an idiot?!”
Chen Laoda, who usually cowered like a wet chicken around Li Feng, somehow found his courage when yelling back at Sha Zhu: “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?!”
Sha Zhu wasn’t scared of them—before Lu Yang started keeping him in check, he’d been a well-known local thug. And judging by his experience of bullying the weak and avoiding the strong, these two looked like nothing but puffed-up posers.
He said, “I am talking about you. If you don’t move, I’ll toss you both into the ditch!”
Lu Lin wanted to step in and break up the fight, but he knew Sha Zhu wouldn’t listen.
Lu Yang was still “asleep,” so he looked to Xie Yan to step in—but Xie Yan was too busy watching the argument unfold with interest.
Xie Yan didn’t know much about Lu Yang’s past, but he had just heard Old Man Chen mention asking “Brother Yang” for money.
That “Brother Yang” might be his husband—or maybe someone else—but either way, Xie Yan didn’t like it. So he figured, let Sha Zhu yell at them a bit.
The Chen father and son didn’t want to escalate things—they had tofu on the cart, and if a fight broke out, it’d get ruined.
They whipped their mule harder, trying to get far away from Sha Zhu.
Sha Zhu felt embarrassed. Already in a bad mood lately, he jumped off the cart, grabbed a clump of mud, and hurled it.
The tofu was well-covered, but Chen Laoda, sitting at the back, got smacked with mud, dirtying his coat. He was furious and almost jumped off to fight.
Old Man Chen, seeing this, knew Sha Zhu was a troublemaker. He cracked his whip, and the mule bolted, tearing down the road.
As Sha Zhu climbed back into the cart, Lu Yang quietly moved his gloves aside.
Xie Yan looked down and met his eyes. As if struck by a sudden realization, he said, “That father and son ran off. Sha Zhu scared them away.”
Lu Yang sat up, pulled on his coat, rubbed his hands, his face, and his ears. Then, almost out of habit, he said to Sha Zhu, “Don’t cause trouble.”
Everyone has their match. Lu Yang feared Old Man Chen, Sha Zhu cussed out Old Man Chen, and Sha Zhu feared Lu Yang.
He nodded immediately, more meek than when Old Man Chen ran off.
They finally arrived at the shop. Lu Yang sneezed nonstop. Lu Lin got the stove going and started boiling ginger tea to warm him up.
Xie Yan and Sha Zhu went to the front to open the shop. Xie Yan praised him, “You did pretty well today.”
Sha Zhu had no idea what the compliment was for—but didn’t dare ask. He just got even busier with his chores.
Running into Old Man Chen made Lu Yang more determined than ever to stick to his original plan—he wasn’t going out to sell today. He’d stay in the shop.
Because of that, they didn’t make too many buns today: three trays—two of stuffed flower rolls and one of plain buns. Lu Lin handled the front; Sha Zhu took care of errands. Meanwhile, Lu Yang and Xie Yan stayed warm by the kitchen fire, going over the gift list.
When it came to food gifts, that part of the list was easy to settle. For the Luo brothers, they’d go with something practical—definitely meat and candy. Since the shop was now selling dried goods too, they’d pack two pounds of each kind.
Rice and flour were off the table for now. They were staples eaten every day—give too little, and it looked stingy; give too much, and it wasn’t impressive either.
For the Wu family, Lu Yang thought it over and decided on pastries.
The Wu family ran a fabric business and were rolling in money—they definitely weren’t short on meat, candy, or even pastries. But since they lacked for nothing, pastries came off as more refined and tasteful—a pretty gesture.
On top of that, when he visited, Lu Yang planned to bring some meat buns along. That would feel more personal, more down-to-earth.
For his mother’s side of the family, he’d skip the sweets for now. Two pounds of meat, plus some rice and flour to take back. The countryside was different from town—give too little and it looked bad. Bringing groceries home meant saving them a trip into town.
Then there was the matter of the people in Lizhai.
Lu Yang had already told Li Feng they’d keep things under wraps for now. Once things on his end were smoothed out, he’d invite the four of them for a meal together.
Right now, he couldn’t just show up in Lizhai—it would upend his brother’s life.
He told Xie Yan, “Let’s deal with the other gifts first. Once we’re done here, you head to Lizhai, find Li Feng, and invite him into town for dinner.”
Xie Yan: “…”
So it was Li Feng.
No wonder he didn’t like the guy on sight—turns out they were fated love rivals.
He really didn’t want to go. His husband was that great. What if Li Feng regretted letting him go?
When he said he didn’t want to go, Lu Yang teased him for ages.
Even after all the teasing, Xie Yan still didn’t want to go.
Lu Yang couldn’t help laughing—and for the first time in ages, he actually laughed so hard he got a stitch in his side.
When that happened, the pain hit the side of his chest and stomach, and the spot he clutched wasn’t the usual one. Even hot water didn’t help this time.
Once the hot water didn’t work, Xie Yan panicked. When Lu Yang finally recovered, he wanted to take him to the clinic.
Lu Yang refused.
Seeing a doctor was expensive—the consultation fee was steep, the medicine even more so. And it wasn’t like one dose would fix things. They couldn’t afford that kind of cost.
The shop hadn’t really taken off yet. Once they could steadily make one or two taels of silver a day, he’d go see a physician.
Lu Yang told him, “You don’t need to be scared of Li Feng. I’ll teach you—act like you’re interested in my brother. He’ll be more terrified of you than you are of him.”
Xie Yan was so anxious he didn’t think twice and agreed—afraid Lu Yang might start hurting again.
Seeing him agree, Lu Yang grinned again.
“You’ve met Li Feng, right? If you actually did that, he’d beat you so hard you wouldn’t know which way was up.”
Xie Yan immediately said, “Then can I not go?”
Lu Yang smiled sweetly. “If you don’t go, then I’ll have to go myself. And once I’m there, who knows—I might not come back from Lizhai…”
Xie Yan: “I’ll go!”
Lu Yang collapsed onto him, laughing.
My scholar husband is really easy to read—his every thought’s written all over his face.
Back then, Lu Yang used to poke him just to get him to react.
Now, he just liked teasing him. Lu Yang knew he should hold back—using Xie Yan’s feelings to entertain himself would only wear down his patience and affection. But it was so hard to resist.
He really, truly enjoyed being cared about.
