"Xie Ninth Brother is here! You rejected such a fine gentleman—graceful as an orchid branch, peerless in character and appearance—only to set your eyes on that filthy, thieving brute! Don’t call me your father anymore; I have no such disgraceful, family-shaming harlot for a daughter! If not for your mother spoiling you blindly, I wouldn’t have delayed dealing with you until now! But no more delays—beat that bastard child out of this wretched girl’s belly at once!"
The room seemed crowded. A disheveled woman lay sprawled on the floor, her limbs pinned down, her head held firmly. She struggled desperately, breaking free for a fleeting moment, her voice choked with despair: "Father, you always speak of parental authority and matchmaker’s words, but why has no one ever asked if I’m willing? Why must I sacrifice my entire life for the sake of our family, my sisters, and your official reputation? I refuse! I too want to live like a human being, Father!"
"Unyielding to the end! Life is full of unavoidable constraints. Haven’t you enjoyed the family’s shelter, fine clothes, and prosperity? Shouldn’t you repay that? Your sisters grew up with you—shouldn’t you cherish and yield to them? Yet all you speak of is selfish gain! Such a vile heart—I regret ever siring you! Beat her!"
Then someone raised a club high and brought it down hard on her swollen belly.
Xie Qi, clinging to the wall, couldn’t help but let out a shout.
The sudden cry made the candlelit shadows turn toward him. The door was flung open by the livid Magistrate Cui. Xie Qi, mustering courage from somewhere, blurted out: "Uncle! I... I’ll withdraw from the betrothal! I swear never to speak of tonight’s events—just spare my cousin’s life!"
Without even packing, he and Yan Shu mounted their horses and raced nonstop back to Bianjing, enduring hardships along the way. By the time they reached the Xie household, the two looked worse than beggars on the street—so much so that the gatekeeper barely recognized them.
Back home, Xie Qi slowly regained his composure, but even now, his heart remained tangled in gloom.
Just then, a tantalizing aroma drifted over the wall. A young servant boy hurried in with a plate of griddle cakes, grinning eagerly:
"Ninth Brother, Third Brother’s servant sent these cakes from the new ‘Griddle Cake Beauty’ at Golden Beam Bridge. They say she makes the finest cakes—here, try one!"
"I’m not hungry..." Xie Qi set down his book, then glanced at Yan Shu, who was eyeing the cakes hungrily by the window. "You all can share them."
"Thank you, Ninth Brother!" Yan Shu leaped with joy, plopping down on the veranda steps with the servant boy. They devoured the cakes, heads bowed, filling the courtyard with the rich scent.
The fragrance teased Xie Qi’s nose, but his mind flashed back to that night—the moment the door swung open, the lamplight spilling out, illuminating the pool of crimson blood spreading beneath his cousin’s skirts like a dark puddle.
Yan Shu, being short, hadn’t seen much. But Xie Qi had witnessed it all.
His appetite vanished, replaced by nausea.
He had only met his cousin a few times. As a child under seven, during a stay in Chenzhou, she had taken him to temple fairs, markets, and acrobatic shows, her lively spirit etched in his memory.
From his uncle’s fragmented words that night, she must have been pregnant, caught after a failed elopement. Though she had erred in recklessness and selfishness, perhaps she didn’t deserve such brutality... Yet his uncle’s actions were meant to protect the reputation of the Cui family’s other daughters. Xie Qi didn’t know whether to pity her or scorn her as his uncle did.
Her piercing cry—"Parental authority, matchmaker’s words—why has no one asked if I’m willing?"—left him with an indescribable ache.
He sighed, stood, and shut the window.
Only carefree, oblivious Yan Shu and the servant boy lay sprawled on the polished veranda floor, patting their full bellies and sighing: "The Griddle Cake Beauty truly lives up to her name!"
"No wonder Third Brother sent these in such a hurry!"
"Ninth Brother’s loss is our gain—hehe!"
Meanwhile, Shen Miao returned to Willow East Lane with Ji Brother and Sister Xiang, running into Gu Tusu pushing his cart out. He helped her carry a table, chiding her for not waiting for him.
"Sales were quick today, so I brought it back myself," Shen Miao replied with a faint smile. "There’ll be many days ahead—I can’t trouble you every time. Go on back, Second Brother Gu."
Gu Tusu followed her to the Shen family’s back gate. She took the table, thanked him, and closed the door. He stood there, gazing silently at their newly built wall.
Unlike the whitewashed walls of other homes, the Shens had used stone and mortar to save money, leaving it unplastered—simple yet sturdy, taller than most, with sharp pottery shards embedded atop.
The gate was thick, its wood grain smooth and beautiful, coated in three layers of glossy lacquer.
Just days ago, the Shen compound had been a ruin overgrown with weeds. But in the short time since Shen Miao’s return, it had transformed.
He’d worried a lone woman couldn’t manage, but clearly, he’d underestimated her.
For some reason, Gu Tusu felt a pang of loss. Turning homeward, he opened his gate only to meet his mother’s probing gaze. His dark face flushed slightly. "I was helping out front," he muttered before fleeing.
Aunt Gu watched her son’s retreating figure, lips pressed tight. She wanted to say something but only sighed.
Years ago, the fool had fallen for Shen Miao, loitering around her family’s noodle shop to help. With their families’ long friendship, her parents had tacitly approved.
But then Rong Dalang arrived—a handsome scholar, refined and courteous—who swiftly captured Shen Miao’s heart.
Though trade brought comfort, scholars held higher esteem. His future was bright; marrying a merchant’s daughter was already a favor. The betrothal was settled swiftly.
Shen Miao wed the next year. Gu Tusu drank for three days, watching her from afar at the wedding.
Now she was back—alone, her reputation tarnished, yet more striking than ever. And her son was trailing after her again. How could Aunt Gu not worry?
Deep down, she wished he’d marry a decent, well-matched girl, inherit the tavern, and live a steady, uncomplicated life.
Aunt Gu sighed outside, but inside, Shen Miao, Ji Brother, and Sister Xiang had bolted the door tightly and were huddled under the blankets, counting their earnings for the day—they’d been too busy earlier to tally up their profits!
They spread out a cloth and fetched two straw strings, then poured the contents of the earthenware money jar onto the fabric with a clatter. As they counted, they threaded the copper coins onto the strings. Shen Miao had prepared fifty portions of pancake wrappers, giving one to Fat Lady as a gift, so they’d sold forty-nine in total.
Of these, twenty-four were the "Family Feast" priced at eight coppers each, twelve were the "Double Happiness" at seven coppers each, and the remaining fourteen were split evenly between three-copper vegetable pancakes and five-copper meat pancakes (without eggs).
Ji Brother thought for a moment and quickly declared, "The pancakes brought in a total of three hundred thirty-two coppers today!"
Sister Xiang, who was responsible for stringing the coins, had only managed to count up to fifty-eight and blinked in confusion. "How did you count so fast, Brother?"
Shen Miao also looked at him in surprise—mental arithmetic?
Ji Brother scratched his head, slightly embarrassed under his sister’s gaze. "Back when I studied with the tutor, I picked up arithmetic and other 'unorthodox' subjects faster than the Four Books and Five Classics. The tutor always said I was clever but didn’t apply it to the right things. But I’ve been thinking—if I don’t pass the imperial exams, I could still take the clerk exam and work as an accountant in the county office."
Shen Miao felt a pang of regret—if only this child had been born in modern times, he’d have been a brilliant STEM student.
Look at him, so young yet already with such a clear plan for his future. At his age, Shen Miao in her past life had no idea about the future—she’d just cried over failing to master flipping a wok!
"This isn’t wasting your talents. Not everyone has such a sharp mind. And I think your plan is excellent. There are countless paths to success—even if you don’t become a scholar or a provincial graduate, there are other ways to make a living, right?" Shen Miao had heard of too many scholars in Bianjing who drowned themselves in the river after failing the exams, so she made sure to set Ji Brother’s mind at ease early. "I’ve never believed scholars are inherently nobler than merchants. As long as a person earns their keep honestly, without stealing or cheating, they deserve respect."
Ji Brother had never heard such words before and nodded solemnly. "I’ll remember that, Sister."
Shen Miao continued calculating: they’d made twenty-one grilled starch sausages, but she’d set aside two for Ji Brother and Sister Xiang before setting up the stall and sliced one for sampling, so only eighteen were sold. Twelve were sold at four coppers each, and the remaining six were sold as "two for seven coppers" in three sets, totaling—
She glanced at Ji Brother, who instantly answered without hesitation, "Forty-eight coppers plus twenty-one coppers—the sausages brought in sixty-nine coppers."
"Yesterday’s grocery shopping was a big haul. I remember cucumbers and spring vegetables cost three coppers, a pound of pork was eight coppers, so two pounds came to sixteen, chicken breast was eight coppers, fifty eggs cost forty-five coppers, the oil was rendered from the pork so that doesn’t count, and let’s estimate five coppers for sauces, vinegar, and salt. Half a peck of coarse wheat flour was five coppers, a pound of charcoal seven coppers… so today’s stall expenses totaled eighty-nine coppers."
Factoring in the daily rental cost of the stall at two coppers (spread from the fifty-copper monthly fee), and excluding her own labor, their first morning market had netted a gross profit of three hundred ten coppers.
In Bianjing, even idle loafers running errands could earn one or two hundred coppers a day, so her earnings weren’t impressive. The meat sausages, requiring salt and flour for curing, had slim margins—she’d probably stop making them. Moreover, for long-term sustainability, she needed to find a cheaper source for meat and vegetables. Otherwise, with costs eating up a third of revenue, she’d eventually lose money.
In the food business, the golden rule was to price items at least three times the cost to break even. Today’s profits had to cover tomorrow’s expenses, and if costs stayed high, losses were inevitable.
Plus, it was late spring now, and charcoal prices had dropped with the warmer weather. In winter, a pound of charcoal could cost as much as six pecks of rice—expenses would soar.
After crunching the numbers, Shen Miao immediately adjusted her business plan.
"It’s not much, but today marks the start of our earnings. From now on, we’re officially in business." She hadn’t shielded Ji Brother and Sister Xiang from the calculations—they needed to understand how hard money was to come by. Learning the value of money young would keep them from growing up wasteful or lazy.
Ji Brother, having tallied everything with Shen Miao, felt a pang in his heart. His sister hadn’t factored in her own labor, but he remembered—every single one of those three hundred ten coppers bore the sweat of her effort.
Sister Xiang, meanwhile, was still muddled by the math but shared in the joy, bouncing up and exclaiming, "Sister Xiang’s big sister is the best ever!"
Ji Brother’s melancholy vanished at her antics, and he could only chuckle helplessly.
Shen Miao clapped her hands and stood up with a smile. "I think we still have some cabbage, carrots, and spinach left at home, plus a few eggs. How about we make spinach dumplings tonight? Have you ever had green-skinned dumplings?"
