Wan Hai would never give him money. The more money you give a small-time hoodlum like Liangzi, the more arrogant he becomes. Wan Hai said, "Let's find a secluded place to talk."

Liangzi wasn't afraid of him; after all, the barefoot aren't afraid of the ones wearing shoes.

Xiao Wan was both anxious and remorseful, her heart pounding. He Dong's gaze towards her held a hint of malice, which terrified her so much that she fell ill.

When Wan Hai returned, Madam Wan was alone in the room, and her expression was different from usual: "How is it?"

Wan Hai didn't say anything specific, only saying, "Mother, you shouldn't have done such a thing."

Xiao Wan was so frightened that tears streamed down her face: "I'll never do it again." Little did she know that Liangzi was so shameless; he had already given them money, yet he was now asking them for more.

Since He Zifeng and his family separated from the family and moved out, Xiao Wanshi has been worrying about everything every day, and she looks a bit old.

...

He Zifeng had no idea what had happened to the He family; he was grinding flour at the village entrance at that moment.

Everyone was quite curious and asked, "You really sent your child there to study? How is it going?"

Is it expensive?

How much money do you earn in a day now?

"I see you've already started laying the foundation for a huge site. You're building such a big house?" Many people admired him. Who wouldn't want to live in a big house? He Zifeng had done something that everyone wanted to do.

The women looked at He Zifeng's muscular physique and found him increasingly pleasing to the eye; how come they hadn't noticed it before?

Everyone says his father, He Donglai, is a terrible person, but his son is quite handsome. Several aunties joked, "They really misjudged him." If they had known He Zifeng was so handsome and responsible, they would have made their move long ago.

Uncle Xu said, "Little He, why don't you get some wheat flour? My wife cooked me a bowl of it last time, and even the broth was good stuff, very nourishing."

Wheat flour was expensive, so ordinary families could only prepare about 20 jin (10 kg) a year, just enough to make dumplings for one meal during festivals.

He Zifeng pondered that they were running low on flour. He asked, "How should we get some?"

Uncle Xu said, "I'll trade you three catties of mixed grain flour for one catty of wheat flour." With mixed grain flour, we can have a few more meals. Besides, judging from how finely he ground the flour, he wasn't the only one eyeing He Zifeng's mixed grain flour; Uncle Xu beat him to it.

He Zifeng said, "Then let's exchange it for ten catties of wheat flour."

Uncle Xu laughed and said, "Alright, I'll go back and get it right away. You young people are really willing to spend money on food."

Everyone looked at it and said, "How are you going to eat this if we take it back?"

He Zifeng said, "I don't know yet." They had experienced hunger before, and their families had a habit of stockpiling food. Especially the white flour that they ground themselves in the countryside, which they intended to eat themselves, because you couldn't buy that quality outside even if you paid money.

The woman next to me said, "Did they just mention noodles, and now you're craving noodles too?"

He Zifeng laughed and said, "Actually, I hate making noodles the most."

He was still a child when Xiao Wanshi entered the family. Xiao Wanshi was sweet-talking but ruthless. He was quite happy that the family was finally going to make noodles and he could eat some fine grains. But how could Xiao Wanshi let him eat? She would first coax him to do chores, and then find some excuse to not let him eat.

Everyone was laughing and joking. No one saw Qiuyu pass by after buying the bottles; she only paused briefly before returning to her house.

As soon as I got back, I saw Old Lady Gao coming over to deliver pickled radishes: "We made too many last year, and we can't finish them all. We're giving some to the neighbors."

"Thank you, Grandma Gao," Qiu Yu said.

"No need to thank me, it's nothing valuable," Old Lady Gao laughed. "If you like it, I'll bring you more." Her pickled vegetables were exceptional—crisp, juicy, and not too salty. But every household in the village pickled vegetables, and there were many skilled picklers, so no one appreciated hers.

Qiu Yu thought for a moment, grabbed a handful of copper coins, and went to the butcher in the neighboring village to buy some pig intestines, pig stomach, pig heart, and pig liver. She also bought two pork bones. They cost five coins per pound, and she bought twenty pounds for one hundred coins. The pork bones were a gift from the butcher.

The butcher was quite pleased. Usually, these pig offal have a special fishy smell that is difficult to remove, so he can only use a lot of seasonings. People in the surrounding villages are reluctant to even burn more firewood, so how could they be willing to put in the effort?

These things were practically given away for free. Only a few old rascals who loved to drink would come and buy them because they had nothing else to eat with their drinks. They'd take them home, boil them in salt water, and eat them with their alcohol. Lately, I guess the old rascals are out of money; they don't come anymore, and even the pig offal is unsold.

Qiu Yu washed the pig offal repeatedly before throwing in the seasonings to cook.

This stew was done in the kitchen, and it took quite a long time to cook. He set up a small stove in the yard to simmer the sauce. While he was cooking, he washed the bottles and let them air dry. By the time the chili sauce was done, the bottles were almost dry too. Then he bottled it.

It was almost dark when He Zifeng returned from outside. He had ground three full bags of flour that day.

Seeing He Zifeng return, Qiu Yu suddenly realized that he had been so focused on making money that he had forgotten to cook dinner: "What do you want to eat? I'll make it now."

He Zifeng said, "I'll do it." Seeing that his wife was still sullen, he magically produced a bunch of grapes from behind his back. He said, "Here, wild grapes." These were small and sour, but this bunch was very sweet; he had tasted them before. Qiu Yu couldn't eat sour things, so she spent a penny to buy the sweetest ones from her aunt.

Qiu Yu was indeed pleased to see this and said, "It's been so long since I've had this."

He Zifeng said, "Try it and see if it's sour. If you like it, I'll make you some more next time."

Qiu Yu peeled open a grape, revealing pale green flesh, no bigger than a fingernail. He tasted it and found it very sweet. Then he noticed He Zifeng looking at him with a smile, his ears slightly red. Without a word, he peeled another grape and popped it into He Zifeng's mouth.

He Zifeng ate the grapes Qiu Yu fed him, and they were so sweet they warmed his heart. He asked, "What would you like to eat?"

"Noodles." Qiu Yu said, then glanced at He Zifeng.

He Zifeng asked, "Would you like soup noodles or noodles with minced meat sauce?"

“Hmm…” Qiu Yu hesitated for a moment.

He Zifeng said, "Then I'll do it all."

Then he got busy. He Zifeng was now quite skilled at kneading and rolling dough, and in less than fifteen minutes, two steaming bowls of noodles were ready. One was a vegetable soup noodle dish, and the other was a braised noodle dish with a topping of spicy sauce and diced salted pork.

He Zifeng served the food to Qiu Yu.

Qiu Yu tried them, and they were all quite delicious.

Seeing that he liked it, He Zifeng's lips also curled up slightly.

He made himself a bowl. He finished eating quickly and started kneading dough to work. He was used to the work and didn't find it tiring.

After Qiu Yu finished eating and washed the dishes, she wanted to come and help, but He Zifeng stopped her, saying, "Get some rest. You have to set up your stall tomorrow."

Qiu Yu couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she had no choice but to go back to her room.

When He Zifeng returned to bed, Qiu Yu nestled close, her warm touch brushing against his skin. He Zifeng whispered in his ear, "Not asleep yet?"

"I can't sleep without you," Qiu Yu said softly. As soon as she finished speaking, she was embraced tightly in a warm hug.

He Zifeng said, "Go to sleep."

"Um."

"..." But after a long while, Qiu Yu still spoke up: "You're holding me too tightly."

He Zifeng said, "Have you regretted being with me? Things have only gotten a little better this year. I've suffered a lot in the past."

The night was quiet, and He Zifeng didn't know why he had suddenly become sentimental, but there was no response from Qiu Yu.

He Zifeng didn't pressure him. This was normal; after all, Qiu Yu was a perfectly good young man, handsome and with the potential to marry someone better. Being with him only meant being exploited by her scumbag father and Xiao Wanshi, and her life hadn't been very happy before.

Just then, a kiss landed on He Zifeng's face: "Go to sleep," Qiu Yu said.

He Zifeng was stunned for a moment, as if a flame had been ignited in his heart. He Zifeng rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows. There were no lights in the room, but the moonlight outside was bright, and he could still see Qiu Yu's face clearly. A light peck kiss was not enough; he wanted to let Qiu Yu know how a man kisses.

"Qiuyu, may I kiss here?"

"I never expected that you would agree to marry me."

"Jade."

"I'm willing to do anything for you."

Qiu Yu's heart was burning with emotion at his string of words: "Me too."

...

The next day, He Zifeng woke up feeling refreshed, even though he had only slept for a total of two hours.

When Qiu Yu woke up, although he had opened his eyes, he was not fully awake yet. He Zifeng leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

Qiu Yu: "Huh?" Her whole mind seemed to be awakened by a kiss before she came to her senses. She glared at He Zifeng with annoyance.

He Zifeng, with his thick skin and innate talent for eating to his heart's content, even wanted to give her another kiss.

She brought 300 dough balls and all the seasonings to her stall today. Qiuyu also put the braised pork offal she made last night in a basin and poured in two bowls of braising liquid to make it more flavorful.

It was still dark when they set off; the roosters hadn't even crowed yet. Qiuyu's braised dishes are excellent; her pig's trotters last time were universally praised.

They set off soon after. They left, but the faint aroma of cooking wafted out, just a wisp of it wafting into people's noses.

The neighbor's husband was startled awake: "What time is it?"

"It's not even midnight yet, go to sleep." His wife rolled over, too sleepy to stay awake any longer.

"Can you smell anything? It smells like stewed meat." His stomach was growling.

His wife was sleeping next to him and ignored him.

He insisted on tugging at his wife's clothes: "Really, it's definitely stewed meat, and it smells pretty good."

His wife, disturbed repeatedly, slapped him across the face: "Get lost. You look like meat, go to sleep."

"..."

The next morning, he was still pondering it with dark circles under his eyes.

Then I heard Wang Er talking to his wife, "Wife, shall we buy two catties of meat?"

This sentence gave him a hint, and he quickly found some money and went to the neighboring village to buy meat.

The butcher said, "You're too late. All the big, fatty pieces of meat have been sold. What's going on in your village? So many people are coming to buy meat today."

He still craved the taste of the meat from his dream and said, "Stop talking nonsense, you want to eat it! Cut a piece of this for me."

"Okay!" the butcher replied happily.

...