Grandmother’s hands were very rough from years of hard work, but they were warm.

Rongrong felt a deep sense of affection as her grandmother held her hand.

“Since you were sold away, I’ve been worried every day about how you were treated in other people’s homes, suffering hardships and being mistreated. Now, it’s all right; you’ve redeemed yourself, and your parents in heaven can rest easy. From now on, you can live with your grandmother peacefully.”

The Xue family truly cared for their daughter Rongrong.

When they had to sell her, it was because they could no longer make ends meet.

They clung to the hope of redeeming their daughter one day by selling her into a live contract.

“Rongrong, the kang is warm now. Let’s sit on the kang and talk,” Cui He urged.

The family went into the inner room and sat on the warm kang.

With the elderly and children present, it looked quite lively.

Rongrong had Xue Dacheng bring in the backpack and distribute the items.

She made a new cotton jacket for her grandmother.

Not remembering the exact size, she made it larger based on her memory of her grandmother’s figure.

When she tried it on her grandmother, it indeed turned out to be a bit too big.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit large; it’s better this way, otherwise, it would be hard to work in,” Grandmother Xue said.

The cotton jacket she wore had been used for many years, its original color worn out, and she had only this one for winter, with no spare.

Rongrong said, “Grandmother, wear this one for now. I’ll take your measurements this time, and when I return to the capital, I’ll have a new one made and sent to you by Uncle Yang.”

“One is enough. Why do you need to make so many?”

As soon as Grandmother Xue finished speaking, Cui He added, “Rongrong is now successful. She’s able to redeem herself and support herself. Please let her show her filial piety.”

Rongrong didn’t like the tone Cui He used, but the reasoning was sound.

Seeing Rongrong’s well-dressed appearance, Grandmother Xue knew she wasn’t short of money.

She remembered how Rongrong was sent to the Marquis’s residence when she was so young and couldn’t help but shed tears.

Seeing this, Cui He quickly signaled her two sons, “A-Mu, A-Lin, come and greet your aunt.”

Xue Dacheng’s two sons, the elder named A-Mu and the younger named A-Lin, were eight and seven years old respectively.

They were thin and dark-skinned, their eyes bright but shy in front of Rongrong.

Hearing Cui He’s call, they stepped forward from behind Xue Dacheng and said, “Hello, Aunt.”

Since the two nephews were younger, Rongrong gave each of them a red envelope.

“Quickly thank your aunt,” Cui He said, tapping A-Mu and A-Lin on their heads.

A-Mu and A-Lin quickly thanked her, “Thank you, Aunt.”

“I brought some date paste pastries for you. Take them and share.”

In the village, children hadn’t even heard of date paste pastries, let alone eaten them.

When Rongrong unwrapped the oiled paper package, the two children curiously sat by the kang and began eating.

Next, Rongrong gave a red envelope to Xue Dacheng and his wife, containing the money Xue Dacheng had used to redeem Rongrong.

In addition, she distributed gifts: a cotton vest for Xue Dacheng and a delicate silver hairpin for Cui He.

The couple was naturally pleased with the gifts.

Rongrong then took out another cotton vest and asked, “What about Second Brother?”

Rongrong’s “Second Brother” is Xue Xiaoshan, who was picked up by their grandmother while foraging for mushrooms in the mountains.

At that time, he was about four or five years old and couldn’t remember much.

Since he was a boy and could help with labor, the Xue family decided to keep him.

Because he was found in the mountains, he was named Xiaoshan, which means “little mountain.”

Xue Xiaoshan was always quiet and didn’t bond much with Xue Dacheng and Rongrong.

He mostly listened to their grandmother.

When Ah Lin ate the pastries Rongrong had given him, his previous awkwardness vanished.

When Rongrong asked about Xue Xiaoshan, Ah Lin puffed out his cheeks and said, “My father sent Second Uncle to a neighboring village to help someone. He won’t be back until tomorrow, but he said he could earn extra wages.”

“Eat your food, or you’ll choke!” Cui He poked Ah Lin’s head and said, “He’s not a Xue family member. Why are you wasting money on him?”

“Second Brother isn’t our real brother. When I’m not home, he always takes care of our grandmother. I wanted to thank him,” Rongrong said calmly, making Xue Dacheng and Cui He look a bit pale.

They were generally lazy and hadn’t been very considerate of their grandmother; their two sons were also left to her care. From Ah Lin’s brief comments, it seemed that the children were closer to Xue Xiaoshan than to their own parents.

It was probably for the best.

With Xue Dacheng and Cui He’s attitude, they wouldn’t raise good children.

Even though she had just met them, Rongrong felt that Ah Lin and A Mu were honest children.

“Rongrong, what kind of work are you doing in the capital?” Grandma Xue asked, holding Rongrong’s hand with worry.

“You’re just a girl. What kind of job can you do? It’s better to come back. With your two brothers here, you’ll always have something to eat.”

Rongrong understood her grandmother’s concern.

As a single woman in the capital, with no support, her only asset was her beauty, and Grandma Xue naturally feared she might be involved in something improper.

“Grandmother, don’t worry. I learned many skills while working at the Marquis’s residence. Look at this ham—I cured it myself. This kind of ham can sell for four to five taels of silver in a restaurant!”

“Four to five taels?” Xue Dacheng and Cui He exchanged surprised glances.

Grandma Xue was also shocked. Four to five taels was a lot of money.

Even one tael would be a huge amount for an ordinary farmer.

Grandma Xue had never eaten ham and had no idea of its value, but she knew that one tael of silver could buy sixty to seventy pounds of good pork.

Cui He grumbled, “If ham is so valuable, how much does a pound of pork cost?”

“Pork legs aren’t expensive, but not everyone can make ham. There are only three places in the world where people know how to make it, and the recipe is a closely guarded secret. I learned it by chance from a chef from Jinhua who was at the Marquis’s residence. I picked up a few techniques.”

Actually, she learned it while studying in the palace’s imperial kitchen, where a Jinhua chef was curing tribute hams.

The tribute ham was a blend of methods from Jinhua and Xuanwei, adapted with some rare ingredients available only in the palace.

The palace chefs didn’t intentionally keep it secret.

Rongrong had a good memory and keen observation, so she remembered most of the process.

This time, she experimented with making ham herself.

Though she couldn’t afford or find the palace’s rare ingredients, she used some cheap substitutes.

The final result wasn’t as good as the tribute ham from the palace but was quite acceptable in the local markets.

“Rongrong, quickly put away this ham and take it to sell,” Grandma Xue said hastily. “We don’t need to eat this. Just buy a few more pounds of meat instead.”

Xue Dacheng and Cui He fully agreed with the old lady’s words; pork was already quite a treat, and there was no need to waste money.

“Grandmother, don’t worry. It’s all made by myself. The only expense was for the pork. Today is New Year’s Eve, and I specially wanted you to try it,” Rongrong said as she stood up from the kang. “For tonight’s New Year’s Eve dinner, you rest and let me do the cooking.”

Seeing that Rongrong wanted to cook, Grandmother Xue couldn’t bear to let her.

She got up from the kang and followed her to the kitchen.

Xue Dacheng and his wife, who were typically lazy and inept at cooking, stayed behind, leaving their sons A-Lin and A-Mu to help.

The so-called kitchen wasn’t a separate room but a makeshift shed next to the thatched cottage, with a stove and a water tank.

Despite being a shed, it didn’t feel cramped and was rather spacious.

Since it was New Year’s Eve, Cui He had bought a pound of pork and some vegetables from the town that they didn’t grow themselves.

The pot on the stove was simmering with chicken soup.

“I had the chicken killed this morning and started the stew. This chicken was specially raised for you,” Grandmother Xue said with a smile.

The Xue family raised free-range chickens, which ate both grains and insects, making the meat tender and elastic.

When Grandmother Xue lifted the pot lid, the rich aroma of the chicken soup wafted out.

“Rongrong, let me ladle you a bowl.”

“Ladle four bowls; we’ll all have some.”

“Okay.” A-Lin and A-Mu had been craving it for a while.

The chickens at home were usually kept for laying eggs, and only on New Year’s Eve could one be slaughtered.

The village night wind was strong, and the chicken soup in Rongrong’s ceramic bowl quickly lost its heat, making it just right to drink.

As the soup went down, she immediately felt warm inside.

The Xue family’s free-range chicken was well-raised, using spring water from the mountains and dry pine wood for burning.

Therefore, this bowl of chicken soup was even more delicious than the ones with bird’s nest and ginseng from the Marquis’s residence or the palace.

After the four of them finished the chicken soup, they began preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner.

A-Lin and A-Mu were in charge of lighting the fire, while Grandmother Xue insisted on helping Rongrong chop vegetables.

Rongrong herself prepared the dishes according to the ingredients.

While they were busy in the kitchen, no one paid attention to what Xue Dacheng and his wife were doing in the tile house.

“Maybe… let’s just forget about it!” Xue Dacheng walked back and forth in the room several times, feeling extremely restless.

He occasionally peeked outside and, seeing Rongrong, Grandmother Xue, and the two sons happily cooking, he felt like an ant on a hot pan.

Cui He glared at him impatiently, “Are you even a man? How come you promised something and now, at the last moment, you’re backing out? I’m telling you, we’ve already received and spent Sun Laocai’s deposit. If we back out now, where will we find the money to return to Sun Laocai?”

Xue Dacheng was left speechless by Cui He’s reprimand.

After a while, he managed to say, “We initially thought Rongrong would come home and stay for free, so we’d find a match for her.

But now look at her; she’s so capable.

A piece of ham could sell for three or four taels of silver, and Sun Laocai only gave us ten taels.

Adding the money for Rongrong’s redemption, that’s only fifteen taels. Isn’t that a loss?

Talk to Rongrong; she must be able to come up with the money to return to Sun Laocai.”

“Fine, she’s your sister. You go talk to her.”

“I…” Xue Dacheng remembered that Rongrong used to listen to him, but this time, she had been cold towards him, unwilling to even be close.

He was no better than Cui He. “I may not be convincing, but I’ll go talk to Grandmother. Rongrong will definitely listen to her.”

Cui He’s mouth moved several times but ultimately did not refute him.

She mumbled, “Will she still give us any of the money she earns in the future?”

“If she doesn’t give us, she’ll give it to Grandmother, which is the same. A-Lin and A-Mu are Grandmother’s own grandsons. Surely, she will care for them?”

Xue Dacheng’s words finally reassured Cui He, but she hesitated again, “Then tonight…”

“Rongrong returned the redemption money to me. You should take this money and give it back to Old Man Sun. Tell him not to come today.

Tomorrow, I’ll sneak back to Grandma and ask Rongrong for some more money to make up the total and return it to him,” Xue Dacheng said.

Cui He gave Xue Dacheng a disdainful look and replied, “Why should I go? What do you need this man for?”

“Wasn’t it you who found Old Man Sun? Of course, you should go. If I really sold Rongrong, my parents would never rest in peace,” Xue Dacheng said.

Cui He muttered to herself, thinking that when they received the five taels of deposit from Old Man Sun, Xue Dacheng didn’t say anything like this.

However, Rongrong was indeed making money now, and she was ungrateful, so it was better to flatter her and get as much money as possible rather than having her resent them after becoming a concubine for Sun.

Xue Dacheng glanced at the people busy in the kitchen and handed the money to Cui He, telling her to sneak out and find Old Man Sun.

According to their original plan, Old Man Sun would lure Xue Xiaoshan to a neighboring village with a promise of double wages.

During the New Year’s Eve dinner, Cui He was supposed to mix a drug into Rongrong’s food.

After the meal, they would send Grandma Xue and the children to the thatched cottage to sleep.

When the drug took effect, Xue Dacheng and Cui He would let Old Man Sun in.

By tonight, the deed would be done, and tomorrow morning, Old Man Sun would give the remaining five taels to Xue Dacheng and his wife and take Rongrong back to be his concubine.

Cui He knew Xue Dacheng was indecisive.

Although he had agreed to the plan for the sake of the money, he quickly changed his mind when situations changed.

Cui He wasn’t naive either; she could see that with Rongrong’s cooking skills, if the ham really sold for three to five taels, and if they helped make more, they could earn dozens of taels a month.

Even if Rongrong didn’t like them, Cui He could tell she wouldn’t shortchange them.

From the red envelopes given to the two nephews, it was clear she would be fair.

Old Man Sun was too impatient. It was better to wait and see.

If Rongrong earned money and didn’t share it, then they could sell her to Old Man Sun later.

Cui He made up her mind, took the money, and sneaked out to find Old Man Sun at the village entrance.

Rongrong was busy in the kitchen and didn’t pay attention to Xue Dacheng.

She divided the pork into two parts: one half was minced and used to make cabbage and pork dumplings, while the other half was used to make six four-season meatballs—one for each person in the family.

The one for Xue Xiaoshan was saved for his return the next day.

She also sliced a large plate of ham.

The chicken soup that Grandma Xue had stewed was excellent, but Rongrong took some chicken meat, shredded it, and made hand-torn chicken.

She also stir-fried some shredded radish. In total, she prepared six dishes, symbolizing “six sixes smooth” for good fortune.

Though six dishes didn’t seem like many, Rongrong was used to making pastries and dishes for fun, and now, doing everything herself was a bit exhausting.

When the six dishes were served, Rongrong invited Grandma Xue to take a seat of honor and sat beside Ah Lin and A Mu. She then called Xue Dacheng and his wife to join the New Year’s Eve dinner.

When they entered, they found only Xue Dacheng in the room—Cui He was missing.

“Where’s Cui He?” Grandma Xue asked.

“Who knows? I thought she might have gone to the toilet,” Xue Dacheng answered evasively.

He was actually quite anxious.

Cui He had been gone for over half an hour, which was unusual.

Xue Dacheng thought it wasn’t a big deal, just needed to tell Old Man Sun something, but she hadn’t returned yet.

He wondered if something had happened to her but felt it was unlikely.

The village was small, and the distance from home to the village entrance wasn’t far.

“Dacheng, go look for her. What if something happened?”

“It’s nothing. You know her. She probably went to watch some excitement. I heard today that Uncle Qian’s son brought back a lot of firecrackers. She must have gone to see them.”

“Since that’s the case, let’s eat first. A-Lin, go get a big bowl and save some food for your mother,” Rongrong said.

Seeing that Xue Dacheng was unwilling to go out to find his wife, she didn’t wait for Cui He to join the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Cui He running out on New Year’s Eve night clearly meant she didn’t care much about the dinner.

Rongrong didn’t want to let Grandmother and the two nephews go hungry.

“Oh.” A-Lin, now very impressed with his aunt from the capital, immediately ran to the kitchen to get a big bowl when Rongrong instructed him.

Rongrong had them start eating while she served Cui He six dumplings, a Four Happiness Meatball, and some chicken and bamboo shoots.

Xue Dacheng also sat at the table, occasionally glancing outside.

Even though the table was filled with delicacies he usually couldn’t enjoy, he had little appetite.

Grandmother Xue and A-Lin and A-Mu were different.

Usually, Grandmother Xue cooked for the whole family of six by herself, and with so many mouths to feed, she didn’t pay much attention to the details of cooking.

Most of the time, just filling the stomach was enough.

Tonight’s New Year’s Eve dinner was different.

The dumplings, chicken, and meatballs were all hard-to-come-by treats, and Rongrong’s skilled cooking made them taste even better than she remembered.

Especially the plate of ham.

When she had heard that the ham would cost three to five taels of silver, Grandmother Xue had thought it was an exaggeration.

Three to five taels could buy several live pigs; no matter how well the meat was prepared, it was just one hind leg.

But now, as she tasted the ham sliced as thin as a cicada’s wing, she realized that the three to five taels were indeed worth it.

“The cooking skills in the Marquis’s residence really can’t be compared to those outside. I once had a meal at the Huibin Restaurant in the capital, and it was the best meal I’ve ever had. But I feel that the chef at Huibin Restaurant can’t compare to my granddaughter’s skills.”

As Rongrong chatted with Grandmother Xue, she kept an eye on Xue Dacheng’s actions.

It was unusual, truly unusual.