The two went out, and Gouzi's father took He Zifeng to his house. They lived in completely opposite places, on the edge of the village. Gouzi's father didn't have much contact with the villagers, but surprisingly, he kept a horse.
Dog's father readily agreed and hitched up the horse-drawn carriage, saying, "Here, this is the most convenient way for us to go to the county town."
He Zifeng's eyes lit up when he saw the horses; they were much faster than the oxcart.
He Zifeng got into the carriage. Gouzi's father said, "Go to the county, don't go for nothing." After saying that, he put down several more bundles, all filled with the same scraps of cloth from last time. He had a lot of goods, and he figured it would take a while to sell them. There was just enough room for two people to sit on the outside of the carriage, and it was cooler there.
Once the carriage was on the road, it sped along. You could feel the wind whistling through the air as you sat inside.
Dog's father was extremely proud of the carriage, saying, "What do you think of my horse?"
He Zifeng said, "Not bad, you bought it?" The horse is tall and big, but the carriage is a bit simple. You can tell at a glance that it's a cargo truck.
Dog's father said, "I can't afford to buy it. I rented it from the horse rental company in the county. They really make a killing. After I rent the horse, I have to feed it, take care of it when it gets sick, and it can't be overworked. It costs eight hundred coins a month. If the horse dies, I'll have to pay compensation. It's like bringing home a tyrant." He complained, but he looked quite pleased with himself.
He Zifeng said, "With this, it will be convenient for you to go to the market."
Dog's father liked to hear this and laughed, "That's true. If we were to walk, it would take at least two hours, but by carriage it would take less than an hour. I can't leave it now, but raising a horse is really expensive. It costs two hundred coins a month just to buy hay and feed, which is about one tael of silver a month. And that's for an old horse. If it's a plump and strong young horse, it's even more expensive! But young horses have bad tempers, and we don't know how to train them. It's not as good as an old horse, which eats less and has a better temperament."
He Zifeng liked it more and more as he looked at it, and also inquired about where to rent a horse-drawn carriage.
Gouzi's father started working at the age of fifteen. There was no place in the county he didn't know. After talking about things in the county, they soon arrived in the county town. Gouzi's father first unloaded his goods in his rented courtyard, and then got down to business with He Zifeng.
There is a street in the county that is always used for selling things. The road is very wide, with stalls in the middle and a path wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side by side. There are shops on both sides.
Dog's father, familiar with the place, led He Zifeng to the county government office. They paid the fee to the clerk in charge and had a document written. Soon after, a yamen runner came with a white paint pen to measure the land. Paying the fee meant they were officially in charge; it was two hundred coins a month. There weren't many customers during the day, only during market days or temple fairs. The street was quite long, but there were only a dozen or so stalls.
He Zifeng secretly gave each of the yamen runners who were measuring the land twenty-five coins. These runners who were sent out to do the work had no background and could not usually get a penny of tribute. Seeing that He Zifeng was so sensible, they gave him a very large area.
He Zifeng bought some more seasonings and rented a small storage room in the county. It cost fifty coins a month, and the old man in charge of the house gave him a key. He could come and go through the side gate from now on; it was a small backyard and wouldn't affect the landlord's living situation. After finishing everything, he returned to the village with Gouzi's father.
Dinner was served as soon as they got home. The roast chicken Qiu Yu made smelled amazing even before it was fully cooked, and now it was even more mouthwatering. He Zifeng and Gouzi's dad came back and ate. There was snow-white rice, big pieces of roast chicken, and local grain liquor. Gouzi's dad ate very happily. There was a little left before they left, and Qiu Yu gave Gouzi a chicken leg.
Dog's dad repeatedly declined, saying, "How could I accept this? I've already eaten enough."
He Zifeng said, "This is for Gouzi."
Dog's dad genuinely liked the things they made, and seeing that they were offering it sincerely, he reluctantly accepted it and then sauntered back home.
He Zifeng had also drunk some wine and smelled slightly of alcohol. He told Qiu Yu what had happened.
"What should we sell?" Although Qiu Yu cooks delicious meat, it's too expensive and we're afraid she won't buy it.
He Zifeng thought for a moment and said, "Your chili sauce is quite good. How about we make some pancakes and spread the chili sauce on them? Make a savory pancake." There's a sauce-making workshop near the old house, and Qiu Yu's chili sauce is exceptional. Even the picky Xiao Wan Shi said that Qiu Yu's sauce tastes good with everything before the falling out with the old house.
Spreading it on a pancake was He Zifeng's old way of eating it, and he never got tired of it. Plus, it was made with whole grains, which made it much cheaper.
Qiu Yu said, "That's how we eat in our village. Can people from the county get used to it?"
"Give it a try."
The two of them spent quite a bit of money today, fifty coins for the chicken. After renting a stall and a place to store their goods, plus giving gifts to the yamen runners, buying seasonings, and so on, they only had one hundred and seventeen coins left. Including the one string of coins that Qiu Yu had hidden, that was all the family had.
In the past, Qiu Yu would cook whatever was available at home, but now that she was doing business, she couldn't be as casual as before. She asked He Zifeng to buy some mixed grains, a total of 50 catties of three kinds, which cost 100 coins. After buying them, they would go to the millstone at the village entrance and spend 5 coins to grind them finely themselves before bringing them back. Now they had to be very careful with every coin they had.
The two of them had paid for a stall for a month, and the cost of the stall was five or six coins every day they opened their eyes. They couldn't wait to start making money as soon as possible.
Qiu Yu wanted a mixture of three different grains, so he went to the stone mill and worked on it himself, going around and around until almost nightfall before he finished. The flour didn't need sifting; He Zifeng was meticulous in his work, and the flour he milled was so fine that it looked like mist when the wind blew, without a single grain of residue.
When I got home, Qiuyu had already started making soy sauce and bought a lot of soybean oil.
He Zifeng entered the kitchen, and the aroma of the sauce grew stronger and stronger, looking incredibly tempting.
Qiu Yu said, "I bought it from Uncle Cripple."
He Zifeng said, "His sauce is quite good." Uncle Cripple also makes sauce, and his is no worse than the He family's. However, he doesn't have Wan Hai's marketing skills, so his reputation isn't widespread. Only a few nearby villages know that his craftsmanship is good, but he's just an old bachelor. He's content with the little money he earns, enough for him to buy wine and meat.
Qiu Yu said, "Uncle Crippled even gave me a discount; he bought ten catties and gave me two catties free." She probably heard about what happened in their family as well.
He Zifeng said, "He's a really kind person. From now on, we'll get our sauce from him." He finished cooking the sauce that evening and kneaded the dough. It would be much more convenient to go to the county tomorrow. Looking at Qiu Yu in the kitchen, he said, "You stay home, I'll go tomorrow." He knew how to make pancakes anyway, and Qiu Yu had already prepared the most important sauce; he could handle everything else.
Qiu Yu said, "I want to go too." Last time it was He Zifeng's decision, and this time he was also involved. If he wasn't allowed to go, he would overthink things at home.
He Zifeng couldn't resist his wife's nagging, so he said, "Then go to bed early."
The two lay on the bed, and after a while, Ranran ran over and insisted on squeezing between them. She lay down comfortably, tilted her little face up at He Zifeng, and asked, "Dad, where are you going?" To save time, they had already put all the things they needed for setting up their stall on the cart. The little one was clever; at that moment, she tugged at He Zifeng's clothes with her little hand, watching him expectantly.
He Zifeng said, "Tomorrow I'll go to the market with your uncle to sell some things, and I'll bring you some candy when we get back tonight."
Xiao Heran said, "I want to go too." His determined expression was exactly the same as Qiu Yu's.
Qiu Yu, who was also standing nearby, said, "Ranran, be good."
Xiao Heran glanced at Qiu Yu, his expression pitiful. As he lowered his eyelids, he wiped his eyes with his arm, looking somewhat forlorn: "But I want to be with Father."
He Zifeng looked at his son and his heart softened. He said, "Okay, but you can't wander around. Otherwise, if the county's beggars arrest you, you won't be able to see your father again."
Xiao Heran hadn't expected his father to change his mind, and nodded emphatically. Qiu Yu disagreed, saying, "How can you let the child go?"
Xiao Heran turned to look at Qiu Yu and said, "I'll be good." He looked like he would cry in front of Qiu Yu if she didn't let him go.
Qiu Yu frowned. Seeing that things were not going well, Xiao He Ran rolled into Qiu Yu's arms, rubbed his little face against hers, and said in a childish voice, "Daddy promised me that he wouldn't bully the children."
Looking at her son, Qiu Yu couldn't help but say, "You're already four years old, and you still love to act like a spoiled child..."
Seeing that neither Qiu Yu nor Xiao He Ran showed any sign of wanting to sleep, He Zifeng forcibly extinguished the candle and said, "Go to sleep. If you're awake when Daddy gets up tomorrow, we'll go together! If you're asleep, we won't take you. And don't cry, good children get candy tonight."
"Mmm." The son's voice came. It was getting late, so they didn't take the little guy back to his own bed. The three of them squeezed together, which had a unique kind of warmth. Before long, their breathing became even as they slept soundly.
He Zifeng got up very early because he had something on his mind. As soon as he moved, Qiu Yu also woke up; it was still dark outside.
He Zifeng quietly lit the candle, and sure enough, his son was still sleeping. But the little guy had his own little scheme; he grabbed Qiu Yu's clothes with one hand, and as soon as Qiu Yu moved, little He Ran woke up groggily, sitting on the bed yawning.
Qiu Yu picked up her son and put him on the bed, saying, "Sleep for a while." This time of day was really too agonizing for the child.
But Ranran refused, saying, "I'm up!" But she reached out her arms for Qiuyu to hug her.
Seeing that her son's eyes were open but his face was full of sleepiness, Qiu Yu didn't know what to do and looked to He Zifeng for help.
He Zifeng said, "Never mind, take it with you." Then he went to the kitchen and moved the large iron pot and the soy sauce cakes and other things onto the cart.
They rushed to the county under the stars and moon.
Qiu Yu held her son in her arms, and the little one, perhaps feeling safe, fell asleep in her embrace. Qiu Yu had no choice but to carry her son the rest of the way.
Everything was quiet, with only the sound of the wind whistling through the woods occasionally echoing in my ears.
He Zifeng pushed the cart and said to Qiu Yu, "Why don't we put the child on the cart and cover him with my clothes?"
"It's alright," Qiu Yu said. But her son was already so big, and her arms ached after a short while. He Zifeng took his son from him, and the little guy woke up. He Zifeng carried his son on his back, and the little guy looked up and saw a sky full of stars: "It's so beautiful."
Upon hearing such childish words, the two of them laughed.
When they arrived in the county, it was just dawn. They went to the stalls, but only a few were there. They were all selling food. Some were frying dough sticks, others were boiling noodles; they had set up their stalls as well. There was an iron wok under a stove, and a large work surface next to it. They had twenty portions of sauce and rested dough, and half a bag of mixed grain flour. They had also brought clean well water. They first poured out a small basin to wash their hands, and then immediately began kneading the dough.
Qiu Yu rolled out the dough, and He Zifeng then put it in the pan to bake; the two had a clear division of labor.
There were already a few people scattered on the street. Some regular customers from the fried dough stick stall bought a fried dough stick and a bowl of tofu pudding to drink, while others wrapped their purchases in oil paper and carried them home with hemp rope.
They were new faces setting up stalls on this street. Some people glanced at them, but none of them came over to ask.
The first pancake was quickly cooked. Even He Zifeng thought it was good. The pancake was a bit thick, and the outer layer still had a little oil bubbling on it when it was taken out of the pan. The crust was flaky, while the inside was still soft and chewy.
He said to Qiuyu, "Let's eat first. There aren't many people around now, and we've walked so far since we got up early."
Qiu Yu hummed in agreement.
A layer of secret chili sauce was brushed onto the flatbread, and the aroma exploded when the sauce hit the hot flatbread. Customers waiting for their fried dough sticks glanced back several times at the large flatbread, cut into small pieces. The three of them started eating; the savory flatbread was indeed delicious. He Zifeng ate quickly, devouring half a flatbread in no time, and Qiu Yu also ate with relish.
He Zifeng made the second one when he saw the man who had just bought fried dough sticks walk over and ask, "How much is your pancake?" The closer he got, the stronger the aroma became. Especially early in the morning, before people even woke up, their stomachs woke up first, letting out a rather energetic growl.
Qiu Yu said, "Six coins per pancake." They use mixed coarse grains, which are inexpensive. Unground coarse grains only cost two coins per pound. With oil, sauce, and firewood, they can earn at least four coins per pancake. It tastes just as good, and they are honest in their business. Such a thick pancake can fill up a grown man! The bone broth noodles next door cost ten coins a bowl, so eating pancakes is a great deal.
Seeing how good the quality and how cheap it was, the man said, "Give me a picture. I can smell it from far away! It smells so good. Add more sauce, I like it strong."
He Zifeng and Qiu Yu both make noodles and don't have time to collect money, so they let the customers look at the money and then give it to Xiao He Ran.
The little guy didn't expect his two fathers to give him such an important task, so he immediately puffed out his chest and looked very serious and responsible.
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