Chapter 104: She’s My Wife

While Shen Lie was still in the stove room, Zhou Lizheng arrived.

He had come to deliver the news about the turmoil in the north. With such a significant favor from Zhou Lizheng, along with his assistance in persuading others, and considering that many people in the Zhou family were also anxious to buy grain after hearing the news, Zhou Lizheng had indeed gone to the county early this morning to arrange a batch of transactions.

This included several villagers from the surrounding villages.

Zhou Lizheng said, “Last night, upon hearing about the turmoil in the north, many families were more proactive compared to the last time. Some immediately asked me to arrange transactions for them. I reckon that in the next few days, they’ll also need to buy grain from the county.”

Those who had experienced the hardships of war before and had elders at home were unwilling to buy when the price was over eighty cents per bucket. Now, with the price at three hundred and fifty cents per bucket, it was enough to make their faces twitch. Besides, even with that price, it was difficult to secure enough grain. They were probably preparing to buy some soybeans to store at home.

Zhou Lizheng didn’t explain these details to Sang Luo, but she heard someone in the village mentioning stockpiling, which made her feel that the efforts of Shen Lie and Zhou Lizheng were not in vain.

After arranging the transactions, the conversation naturally turned to business matters. Zhou Lizheng asked Sang Luo if she was going to the county tomorrow.

Sang Luo nodded. She was supposed to deliver three urns of jujube sugar and sour jujube cakes to Yongfeng Pavilion tomorrow, which were the last three urns she had saved up this autumn and winter.

Zhou Lizheng said, “If the price of grain doesn’t change much, my family can probably buy four stone. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have my eldest son bring the cart to meet you at the foot of the mountain, and we’ll go to the county together. Does that sound good to you?”

Sang Luo smiled. “There’s nothing inappropriate about it. Just let Zhou Brother know when to come out in the morning.”

With Sang Luo’s approval, Zhou Lizheng left with a smile. Soon after, Qin Fangniang and others also brought tofu carriers and soybeans to be delivered today.

While Shen Lie and the others talked, Sang Luo mentioned the trip to the county with the Zhou family tomorrow and asked them, “Aunties, do you have any plans on how much grain to buy?”

Indeed, they did.

Qin Fangniang said, “Our family plans to buy two stone. That’s all we have left. We’ll leave some money for salt and medicine.”

Since mid-October, business in the county had been declining. With the constant rise in grain prices, the people in the county were naturally on edge. They could easily check the daily grain prices, making them more anxious than the atmosphere in the village.

For the past month, Qin Fangniang and the others had relied on taverns and wealthy households to support their livelihoods.

Gan Shi said, “It’s the same for us. We can gather enough money to buy two stone of grain.”

The Lu family was slightly better off. Feng Liuniang reported that they would buy three stone, but the Lu family had many more mouths to feed compared to the Shi family and the Chen family, so it wasn’t necessarily an advantage.

Having only been in business for less than three months, the three families had thin reserves from before. Although they had paid rent and taxes after the autumn harvest and still had some grain left, it wouldn’t last long. After thinking for a moment, Sang Luo suggested, “Have you considered buying less millet and stocking up on soybeans while the news of the northern war hasn’t spread here yet and soybean prices haven’t risen sharply? “

During the famine years, soybeans were the main staple food. None of the three families lacked soybeans, but in the past two months, Sang Luo had received quite a few soybeans from them in exchange for tofu, which helped cover some expenses. However, they probably didn’t have much left now.

Qin Fangniang and the others glanced at each other. Indeed, they had considered buying soybeans, but they had planned to save their money for buying grain with Sang Luo first. Then they would use the money they earned later to buy soybeans. But if news of the situation in the north were to spread here, would soybeans still be at their current price?

When rice prices soared, soybean prices also rose, but since soybeans were abundant in the mountainous areas here, and the government didn’t tax them, the price increase was only moderate. However, if news spread and people began to panic-buy, the situation could change. So even businesses like Sang Luo’s tofu business, which relied mainly on soybeans, hadn’t raised their prices. They had only bought quite a few soybeans a few times when they couldn’t buy much grain in the county, storing them in the rack in the stove room.

But not being able to raise prices before doesn’t mean that prices won’t rise when there’s rebellion everywhere in the north. Several people immediately took it to heart and said they would discuss it with their families when they returned.

Sang Luo nodded and said, “Alright, bring your money tomorrow. The Zhou family will bring a cart, and Aunt Tian’s family will bring another. It’s best to bring another one in case we can’t buy grain but can still buy soybeans.”

Feng Liuniang nodded and said, “We have a cart at home, so we’ll bring one tomorrow too.”

With the arrangements made and the goods for the next day decided, Qin Fangniang’s group left together.

…

After everyone left, the water in the stove room boiled, and Shen Lie started to prepare to slaughter the chickens.

Shen An and Shen Ning stopped writing and came out to watch.

Shen Ning’s eyes were fixed on the beautiful pheasant feathers. When Sang Luo was adjusting the saltwater, she ran over and asked, “Sister-in-law, are we still making feather dusters with these pheasant feathers?”

Sang Luo smiled and said, “We already have one at home. We don’t need so many. Just do the same as last time: remove the fat, dry them, and store them properly.”

Shen Ning smiled and went to prepare straw and wood ash to soak the feathers, then went outside to help her eldest brother.

For dinner, there was stewed pheasant with winter bamboo shoots and chicken offal. The freshness of the pheasant meat and bamboo shoots was enough to tantalize the taste buds.

Now that Sang Luo had some money, she wouldn’t shortchange herself. Every ten days or so, she would buy some pork or even lamb to improve their meals.

But pheasant meat was entirely different. Sang Luo had never had the chance to eat such a thing before. Shen An and Shen Ning had never eaten it in the past few years either. Shen Lie had eaten it, but in the mountains, they would just roast the whole bird with only salt and almost no other seasonings, unlike what Sang Luo made.

So during this meal, the three siblings were all focused on eating, and even Sang Luo, who usually restrained herself from eating too much, accidentally ate too much.

…

The next day, they were going to the county, so they had to make some preparations in the evening. Besides the goods they were going to sell, the most important thing was money.

Shen An was the most skilled at this. He half-bent over the bed and pulled out the broken jar from under the bed. It felt quite heavy in his hands.

Starting from October, apart from buying essential items like knives, hoes, and scissors, Sang Luo had used the money earned from selling tofu and dried bean curd to buy grain and soybeans.

Soybeans were easy to buy, but grain was hard to come by. Sang Luo had gone to the county almost six or seven times a month, taking Shen An and Shen Ning with her each time. However, the grain they could buy was limited, less than one and a half stone.

They had thought the grain at home would last for a year, so they hadn’t considered using Xu Zhanggui’s connections. Therefore, the amount of money spent was not much.

So, in the past two months of October and November, apart from the aforementioned expenses, the remaining money was used for household expenses. Now, when Shen An brought out the jar, there were more than three guan in copper coins inside. This was the recent earnings. In addition, there were several one or two liang silver ingots, all exchanged with Yongfeng Pavilion and Dongfulou.

Shen An and Shen Ning counted them.

“Sister-in-law, there are fourteen taels in total.”

Sang Luo acknowledged and looked at Shen Lie, who looked dumbfounded at the small pile of silver.

He knew that Sang Luo’s tofu business could support their livelihood, but he didn’t know she could save up so much money.

Shen An and Shen Ning usually didn’t have much money, so they were quite aware of how much was in the jar. Shen Lie, on the other hand, was stunned when he saw the small pile of silver.

Seeing his reaction, Sang Luo said, “Besides selling tofu and dried bean curd, we also sold some other things before. We didn’t do too badly.”

As she said this, she remembered something and asked Shen Lie with a smile, “The crystal candies are sweet and sour. We have them at home as snacks. Do you want to try them?”

Without even thinking, Shen Lie shook his head. They had only been together for a little over a day, and he didn’t know if it was his imagination, but sometimes he felt like Sang Luo was treating him like Shen An and Shen Ning.

Even though she was clearly younger.

With fourteen taels of silver and the extra three guan, plus the box of ginseng that Shen Lie had brought back, Sang Luo carefully stored everything away.

Early the next morning, the family of four set off before dawn, along with several other families, to go to the county.

The guards at the city gate were already familiar with Qin Fangniang’s group. Rain or shine, they had been going to the city almost every day for over two months. Even Sang Luo, Shen An, and Shen Ning had made an impression on them. Therefore, the inspection at the checkpoint was very lax. They didn’t even need to take anything, just glanced at it, took the entry fee, and waved them through.

It was the unfamiliar faces of Shen Lie and the others that required a closer look at their entry permits before they were allowed to pass.

After entering the city, Qin Fangniang’s group went about their business, while Chen Youtian, Shi Dalang, Lu Erlang, and Zhou Dalang followed Sang Luo. As for Chen Dashan, he said he would go and sell the pheasants first.

Sang Luo had asked him on the way if she should help sell them together, but Chen Dashan shook his head, saying he had his own connections. However, after entering the county, they found that he and Sang Luo’s group were headed in the same direction.

Thinking it was a coincidence, they walked straight to the back door of Dongfulou. Chen Dashan and Shen Lie exchanged glances and finally looked at Sang Luo together.

“Are you selling your pheasants to Dongfulou?” Shen Lie asked.

Sang Luo looked at Shen Lie and Chen Dashan and said, “Did you also sell your game to Dongfulou before?”

Both Shen Lie and Chen Dashan laughed.

Sang Luo also smiled. “Then let’s go in together.”

By “together,” she naturally meant Shen Lie and Chen Dashan. Chen Youtian and the others waited outside for news, while Shen An and Shen Ning, who were already familiar with the back kitchen of Dongfulou, went in with their older brother and sister-in-law.

The kitchen staff recognized Sang Luo, and with a smile, they called her “Madam Sang” and welcomed Shen An and Shen Ning. They were about to invite them in.

The head chef glanced at Shen Lie and Chen Dashan standing behind Sang Luo for a few moments before exclaiming and putting down his task to walk a few steps towards them, “Is it Little Shen and Little Chen?!”

Initially a bit unsure, but when he saw Shen Lie and Chen Dashan both smiling at him, he called out to Uncle Yu and the head chef became delighted, “It’s really you! It’s been years since you last came. Where have you been? Drafted into the army?”

Shen Lie nodded and smiled, “Just came back. Uncle Yu, how have you been?”

The head chef nodded repeatedly and, upon hearing that they had just returned, wanted to catch up and inquire about the situation outside. However, seeing Sang Luo still there, he didn’t want to neglect her, so he smiled at Shen Lie and Chen Dashan, “Wait a moment, I’ll first help Madam Sang with her goods.”

Then he called Sang Luo over.

Sang Luo smiled and presented the vegetarian tripe and pheasant with winter bamboo shoots that she had brought.

The head chef’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw the pheasant and bamboo shoots. “These are good things, but…”

He looked at Sang Luo and asked, “Madam Sang, you can now catch pheasants yourself???”

Wasn’t that too versatile?

Sang Luo didn’t know how to catch any pheasants, but before she could speak, Shen Lie, smiling, answered on her behalf, “I caught these pheasants.”

Glancing at Sang Luo again, he smiled at the head chef and said, “A-Luo is my wife.”

A series of question marks appeared on the head chef’s forehead as he looked at Sang Luo, then at Shen Lie, his eyes full of surprise.

Shen Lie, however, smiled with his eyebrows curved, and subconsciously glanced at Sang Luo again, only to meet her gaze as she heard his words and looked at him. Shen Lie quickly suppressed his smile, turned his head aside, and tried to maintain a serious expression.

Sang Luo: …

That came out quite smoothly.