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Little Qiyue, with her round, glistening eyes, stared at him for a long time. After a while, she made a soft, babyish sound, her words coming out in a cute and muffled manner: “Da…da…”
Although she only said one syllable, Tan Yiliang immediately took it as a call of “big brother” and smiled widely, unable to hide his joy. “Mother, did you see that? Little Qiyue called me! She called me~”
Wan Chunmei, equally delighted, quickly crouched down to Little Qiyue and said, “Little Qiyue, come, come, call me ‘mother.'”
Little Qiyue stretched out her small hand, pinched Wan Chunmei’s nose, and softly babbled, “Niang…niang…”
Her words weren’t exactly right, but Wan Chunmei’s joy overflowed.
Wan Chunmei felt a lump in her throat, and her eyes grew misty. After raising so many boys, it was the first time a girl had called her “mother.”
She hurriedly took Little Qiyue into her arms, cradling the girl’s head as if she were holding a rare treasure, hugging her tightly. “Child, that’s right, I’m your mother, your real mother.”
Tan Yiliang, unaware of Little Qiyue’s background, didn’t understand the deeper meaning behind his mother’s words. He simply thought she was overwhelmed with emotion, too happy to contain herself.
Just then, a youthful, cheerful voice rang out from the doorway. “Mother, big brother, I’m back!”
Tan Yiliang quickly turned to look and saw Tan Erqian, smiling as he stepped inside. He hurried forward with joy. “What a coincidence! I was just telling Mother that you still hadn’t come back. Didn’t expect you’d be here so soon!”
Tan Erqian grinned as he entered, setting down the bundle in his hand. He looked at Tan Yiliang and said, “Big brother, when did you start missing me so much?”
Tan Yiliang laughed and replied, “I was just wondering how your pickled vegetables were selling.”
Tan Erqian poured himself a glass of water and drank it in one go, wiping his sleeve with a chuckle. “Sold out, all gone.”
He patted the bundle on the table and said, “This here is the copper coins.”
The bundle looked quite hefty. Tan Yiliang was astonished. “All of this… is from selling the pickled vegetables?”
Wan Chunmei also turned toward the sound, her gaze falling on the bundle on the table, and she was stunned.
“It’s not all of it,” Tan Erqian said as he began to untie the bundle on the table. He pulled out two taels of silver and explained, “This is the money from selling the pickled vegetables.”
Then he took out the remaining five taels of silver from the bundle and continued, “These are from Eunuch Xu in the capital. His wife really likes our pickled vegetables, so she paid for a year’s worth. They want us to send ten barrels of the freshest pickled vegetables to the capital every month for a year. This is just the deposit. After they receive the vegetables, they’ll pay us an additional fifty taels of silver each month.”
Wan Chunmei was somewhat stunned. “Wait, wait. Erqian, you mean Eunuch Xu from the capital? The one that Boss Bai asked us to send pickled vegetables to?”
Tan Erqian nodded. “That’s right, it’s him.”
Wan Chunmei still couldn’t quite believe it. “He actually ordered pickled vegetables for a whole year?”
Tan Erqian laughed, pulling his mother over. “Yes, Mother! He ordered pickled vegetables for a whole year! Not a bit more, not a bit less—exactly a year!”
Wan Chunmei collapsed into the chair, not sure whether it was from joy or shock. Her dark, bright eyes were wide, and she couldn’t speak a word.
Tan Erqian walked over and gave her a gentle nudge. “Mother, Mother, what’s wrong?”
Wan Chunmei slowly came back to herself. “It’s nothing, nothing at all. I was just startled by that fifty taels of silver each month. It feels like a pie falling from the sky. I can’t help but think it’s too good to be true.”
Tan Erqian took her hand and reassured her, “Mother, this isn’t a pie falling from the sky. You earned it with your own skill! Your pickling expertise isn’t just famous in Pingyang County—it’s top-tier even in the capital!”