Chapter 4 Setting up a stall

Song Yushu was always efficient. He quickly ordered a small cart and tools for setting up a stall from a carpenter in the village. After all the tools were ready, he couldn't wait to go to town.

Spices in this world are not cheap, and many can only be bought in pharmacies. So, after spending three taels of silver and the previously ordered utensils, he now only has five hundred copper coins left.

This amount of money won't be enough to order pork for many days, but since the Wei family is the original owner's maternal family, they should be able to reserve some pork for her by giving her two days' credit and offering some interest.

Since Song Yushu was not the original owner of the body, he went to the Wei family's pork shop with some trepidation.

"Ah Fang is here! Your parents have been saying you haven't been home for a long time! Come and sit down," Brother Wei said, having just finished packing the pork for the guests when he saw Song Yushu.

Sister-in-law Wei, who was standing to the side, looked puzzled, but ultimately said nothing.

“Brother, sister-in-law, the Zhou family has been very busy these days. When I have time, I will go to see our parents. I came here this time to order some pork from you. I plan to sell some food in town.” Song Yushu did not intend to go in and sit for long.

“Are you short of money? I have some here, take it if you’re in a hurry. Setting up a stall is too tiring. If you need money, just tell your family,” Brother Wei said, frowning.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sister-in-law Wei pinched him hard.

"Ah Fang, your brother never thinks before he speaks. The money from selling pork has always been managed by Mother, and we can't make the decisions," Sister-in-law Wei felt that Song Yushu was trying to freeload again, and she was rolling her eyes inwardly, but she couldn't kick him out because of her husband's feelings.

“Brother, sister-in-law, you’ve misunderstood. I really want to sell some food. I need to order pig’s head, pig’s trotters, and pig offal every day, so I wanted you to save some for me. If I don’t have enough money, I’ll pay you back in a couple of days when I’ve earned some silver,” Song Yushu said, taking out the remaining copper coins and handing them over.

Wei's sister-in-law was initially unwilling, but Song Yushu's act of taking out a copper coin really surprised her. Since she married into the Wei family, she had never seen this stingy sister-in-law take out even half a copper coin.

Brother Wei would never accept money from his own sister, and he refused outright.

"We're family, why would we take your money? Take whatever you want, but we can leave the pig's head and trotters. Why do you want the offal too?"

"Brother, please accept these. I've caused the Zhou family a lot of trouble over the years, but I won't anymore. I'll take these for now! Remember to save these parts for me tomorrow!"

Fearing that Brother Wei would return the copper coins, Song Yushu packed his things and left with a basket on his back.

After returning to the Wei family home, Sister-in-law Wei and Brother Wei told Mother Wei everything that had happened.

"Your sister must have been wronged by the Zhou family. I just heard that the Zhou family paid a full twenty taels of silver as a bride price for Zhou Chengli's marriage. That second son of Zhou is such a coward, daring to pay twenty taels of silver. In the end, he will only drag Afang down with him!"

"Twenty taels is no small sum. Ah Fang must be short of money, otherwise why would she think of selling food in town?"

The Wei family thought it made more and more sense, so they discussed it and decided to go to town together to help Song Yushu the next day.

Song Yushu was unaware that her actions had sparked considerable speculation within the Wei family, and was currently busy cleaning up the most difficult part: the pig offal.

Besides a pig's head, a pair of pig's trotters, and a set of offal, Song Yushu planned to braise all the eggs in the basket. After all, the chickens were painstakingly raised by the original owner, and he couldn't let them go to the Zhou family for free.

As usual, Zhou Chengzhu helped with dinner. Song Yushu casually stir-fried some vegetables and that was it. Zhou Chengzhu looked at the meat that Song Yushu had bought and dared not say anything.

Song Yushu didn't intend to tell Zhou Chengzhu too much about selling braised food, but he couldn't hide it from her anyway.

After all, when Song Yushu got up in the early morning to braise meat, the aroma woke Zhou Chengzhu up, and she rushed over to guard it, making it impossible for her to get away from her.

"You can have a taste, but if you tell anyone else in the Zhou family about this, you can forget about ever eating anything good again, understand?"

"I know, Mother, I promise I won't tell!" Zhou Chengzhu had never smelled meat so delicious before. If Song Yushu hadn't stopped her, she would have taken the whole pot away.

Fortunately, the second branch of the Zhou family was some distance from the old Zhou family residence, otherwise they would have been exposed long ago.

Zhou Chengzhu was no longer sleepy at this point. She stood by the pot, waiting for the braised food to be ready so she could be the first to eat it.

Song Yushu was too lazy to chase them away. Anyway, she wouldn't be able to take the meat out before it had been braised for the required time, so let them stay if they wanted.

Fortunately, Song Yushu's braised food was ready before dawn. She cut off a piece of braised pork offal and left it for Zhou Chengzhu before hurriedly packing up and pushing her small wooden cart to town.

By the time they arrived at Wei's butcher shop, Song Yushu was covered in sweat.

"Father, Mother, why are you both here?"

Song Yushu hadn't expected the Wei family to have such a grand display; it seemed she had underestimated the original owner's status within the Wei family.

"Honestly, why didn't you come to us if you didn't have money? Why did you have to sell food? Losing money is no joke," Wei's mother said, feeling distressed when she saw her pushing a bunch of things over. She quickly asked Wei's father to help.

“Just set it up in front of our shop. Your stall isn’t big, it won’t get in the way.”

Seeing that she still wanted to help, Song Yushu quickly helped her to the side: "Mother, don't disbelieve me, I'll let you taste my cooking today!"

After saying that, he opened the wooden bucket and neatly cut up the braised pig's head meat and placed it on a plate.

"This... did you really make this?" Mother Wei looked at the braised food on the plate in disbelief, the aroma wafting into her nose.

"It smells so good! It would be even better with a little wine!" Mr. Wei said with relish after taking a bite of the pig's ear.

"You old fool, can't you be serious for once! Your daughter still has business to do! And all you want to do is drink! Forget it, you should go sell pork with the eldest son, so you don't get in the way here!" Mother Wei shooed him away with a look of disgust, and stayed behind to help Song Yushu.

"Mother, you should go in and rest too. I can manage here," Song Yushu said, feeling bad that Wei's mother had come to help.

“You, you suffered such a big loss this time, why didn’t you come to find your mother? I’ve heard about what happened to the Zhou family. Zhou Lao Er is really getting old. Does he really only have Zhou Chengli as his son? Chengyu is also studying, and Chengzhu will need to prepare her dowry in a few years. All of this costs money! Do you think you can pay for it all?”

As Wei's mother spoke, she became increasingly angry.

"Mother, don't worry, I didn't spend a single copper coin on Zhou Chengli's marriage. Let the Zhou family do what they want. As for the rest, I'll make plans when I've earned some money," Song Yushu didn't plan to tell Wei's mother about her desire to divorce. She would wait until she had saved up some money before discussing it.

"Hey! Your pork shop sells other food too? It smells delicious!"