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With 20 taels of silver in hand, Wanqing strolled through the streets, mentally listing all the things she needed to buy—meat, salt, flour, needles, fabric, and cotton. She counted them off on her fingers as she walked.
Zhiwen, however, was growing increasingly anxious. He wanted to hurry home. Carrying so much silver—weren’t they afraid of being robbed?
Twenty taels!
He felt like danger lurked in every passerby. His footsteps felt unsteady, and he just wanted to grab his sister and run straight home.
Noticing how her brother was glancing around as if they were under siege, Wanqing couldn’t help but laugh.
“Brother, what are you afraid of? Don’t worry.” She patted her chest, looking completely at ease.
Zhiwen nearly had a heart attack. He grabbed her sleeve and whispered urgently, “Little sister, let’s just go home. We can buy things next time!”
Feeling the nervous tremble in her brother’s grip, Wanqing reconsidered.
Although the silver was safely tucked away in her personal space, they were still just two unarmed children. Buying too much in one trip might attract unwanted attention. The county had all sorts of people, and they couldn’t always count on making it home safely like last time. It was better to keep a low profile.
“Alright, I won’t shop anymore,” she agreed.
Hearing this, Zhiwen let out a long breath of relief.
Before leaving, the siblings treated themselves to a small meal at a street-side eatery. This time, Wanqing insisted on having a three-wen bowl of wontons, paired with a large meat bun. They ate until they were stuffed.
Afterward, they quickly bought five catties of meat and three catties of salt, spending a total of 115 wen. Then, they took an ox cart home.
As the sun set, the golden-red glow bathed the siblings in warm light, making them look as if they were wrapped in clouds of fire.
As they neared home, their youngest brother, Zhiyuan, spotted them from afar. His excited shouts drew the entire family to the entrance, eagerly awaiting their return.
Even though this wasn’t their first trip to the county, Li Shi still worried endlessly.
The moment Zhiwen stepped into the courtyard, he closed the gate behind him and gestured for everyone to gather inside.
Seeing his serious expression, Li Shi’s heart, which had just settled, began to pound again. She immediately lowered her voice, asking, “What happened?”
Zhiwen glanced at his sister. Wanqing grinned and pulled out the contents of her basket—five catties of meat. The sight of the fresh meat on the table made everyone instinctively swallow their saliva. Meat! How long had it been since they had eaten meat?
Clearing her throat, Wanqing redirected their attention and took out a cloth bundle from her pocket.
Four large silver ingots, each worth five taels, totaling 20 taels, along with 44 copper coins.
The dried mushrooms had sold for 165 wen. Their expenses for meat and transportation had totaled 121 wen.
The sight of those four heavy silver ingots left everyone speechless, their mouths hanging open in shock.
Was this real silver?
Li Shi snapped out of her daze first and exclaimed, “Where did all this silver come from?!”
“Brother, you explain,” Wanqing said as she plopped onto a wooden stool, looking utterly exhausted, as if making money had drained all her energy.
Still feeling lightheaded, Zhiwen recounted their entire trip—how Wanqing had cooked pork intestines at Fumanlou, how Shopkeeper He had bought the recipe for 20 taels of silver, and how everything had unfolded like a dream.
Li Shi was stunned. She turned to Wanqing. “Qing’er, since when did you learn to cook?”
Ah, the inevitable question.
It was time for an explanation.
Wanqing replied, “Mother, when I was unconscious for those two days, I kept dreaming. In my dreams, you were making all sorts of delicious dishes while I watched, drooling. When I woke up, I realized it was just a dream. But the images stayed in my mind, floating around.
“When I saw the pork intestines, I remembered the method from my dream and decided to try it.
“There are still many, many more dishes in my dreams, but I can’t remember them all at once. I need to see the ingredients to recall them!”
“This…” Madam Li was stunned.
After a moment of silence, she carefully instructed her daughter, “Qing’er, don’t tell anyone about this. The rest of you as well, don’t go around talking about it, understood?” She wasn’t sure why, but she just felt that this shouldn’t be spread around.
“Got it!” A scattered chorus of voices responded.
“Mother, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll just tell Shopkeeper He that you taught me how to make the braised intestines.”
Madam Li felt that her daughter had changed after her illness, but at the same time, she hadn’t. Could she really have dreamed about the cooking method?
Bodhisattva bless us, Bodhisattva bless us, Bodhisattva bless us! Madam Li closed her eyes and silently recited the prayer three times.
“Qing’er did the right thing. In the future, always discuss things with Mother first! But… selling just one braised intestines recipe for twenty taels of silver—wasn’t that too much?”
“It’s not too much, Mother. You don’t know how cheap intestines are! But once they’re properly prepared, restaurants sell them for a high price. They’ll easily make back twenty taels in no time!”
Wanqing picked up a silver ingot and bit it, shocking Madam Li. “Why are you biting silver?”
“I just want to check if it’s real.”
“You silly child, since when is silver fake?”
“Hahaha.” Wanqing wasn’t sure if counterfeit silver existed in ancient times, but in modern times, there were plenty of fakes.
Her two younger brothers copied her and bit the silver as well. The house was soon filled with laughter. They had never seen so much silver before. Having a few copper coins at home was already considered good, but now they even had silver—this was truly a fortune!
Seeing everyone’s smiles, Wanqing felt incredibly happy and at ease.
Twenty taels of silver could sustain a family for several years in this society. A regular household wouldn’t even spend two taels a year unless they were marrying off a son or building a house.
Madam Li took out a clay jar meant for storing money and carefully placed the twenty taels inside. Then, she scooped out a handful of copper coins from the jar and counted them. Including the thirty-six copper coins left from selling dried mushrooms, there were exactly fifty in total. She declared that they would return the money to Grandfather, and everyone nodded in agreement.
That evening, when it was time to prepare dinner, Wanqing told Madam Li that she wanted to eat wontons.
She and her older brother had eaten wontons in town today, but the rest of the family hadn’t. She wanted them to taste it too. That way, she could trick herself into believing that they had all enjoyed the meal together in town.
Now that they had earned so much money, Madam Li was in high spirits. Not only did she agree to make wontons, but she also made steamed white buns.
Eldest sister Wanru and their mother busied themselves in the kitchen. With nothing to do, Wanqing offered to help tend the fire, but Madam Li refused. She insisted that Wanqing go rest on the bed and promised to call her when the food was ready.
That night, when Lin Heng returned home, the family immediately shared the good news with him. Lin Heng couldn’t believe it until Madam Li brought out the silver to show him. Holding the silver in his hands, it finally felt real.
Lin Heng felt like he didn’t even recognize his daughter anymore. Her ability to make money put even him to shame.
Is making money really this easy?
When the steaming wontons and white buns were placed on the table, Lin Heng was overwhelmed with emotion. It had been less than a month since they separated from the main family, and now their household already had meat and white flour buns. This rapid rise in fortune was almost miraculous.
Madam Li also sighed with emotion. Their family had lifted themselves out of poverty so quickly. Looking at Wanqing, her gaze was filled with tenderness. Bodhisattva, please bless my Qing’er with a life of peace, health, and happiness.
While eating his wontons, Zhiwen thought to himself that since his little sister had earned all this money, he should treat her even better from now on.
Eldest sister Wanru gazed at Wanqing softly, her eyes filled with gratitude. Wanqing playfully winked back at her.
Zhijin, the younger brother, was full of admiration for his second sister. She was truly amazing—she could earn money and even catch wild rabbits! The traps they had set only worked when their second sister checked them. After that, no more rabbits had fallen in. Clearly, she was their family’s lucky star!
Even the youngest, Zhiyuan, though still small, understood that all the meat, buns, and wontons were thanks to his second sister’s hard work. He secretly resolved to always stick close to her and listen to whatever she said.
Wanqing, however, wasn’t thinking about any of this. She was too busy enjoying her wontons. Madam Li’s wontons tasted just as good as the ones in town, perhaps even better because of the spirit spring water she had used.
They were absolutely delicious—so delicious that she wanted to cry!
“Mother, your wontons are really delicious.”
“Yeah, they’re amazing! I’ve never had such tasty wontons before,” Zhiqin said.
“Me too,” Zhiwen quickly chimed in. “They taste even better than the ones in town!”
Madam Li was indeed a skilled cook, but she had never really had the chance to show her talent. The family had always lacked ingredients—no matter how skilled she was, she couldn’t cook without proper supplies. Every day, they had survived on wild vegetable porridge and coarse grains. Even the best cook couldn’t make much out of that.
“Mother, from now on, let’s eat better. Father, you should buy some flour and grain every day when you come home. We have money now. If you have money, you should stock up on food. Our family doesn’t own farmland, so we must store plenty of grain.”
Wanqing felt that even storing a year’s worth of food wouldn’t be enough. Grain yields in ancient times were low, and if a famine hit, even money wouldn’t guarantee food.
Lin Heng nodded. “Alright, I’ll start buying more grain.”
“You must! In the future, when we build a new house, we should dig a huge underground cellar and fill it with grain. That way, we won’t have to worry, even in times of disaster!”
“A new house?” Zhiqin immediately caught onto the key point.
“Of course! A brand-new house!”
The idea of a new house instantly piqued everyone’s interest.
“Father, are we really going to build a new house?” Zhiwen asked, looking at Lin Heng expectantly.
Lin Heng hesitated for a moment before saying, “We definitely need to get a new house. We can’t live in a thatched hut forever.”
“It has to be next year! Big Brother is already fifteen—once we have a new house, it’ll be easier to arrange a marriage for him!”
Hearing Wanqing’s words, Zhiwen’s face turned bright red. He quickly made up an excuse about washing up and ran off.
Wanqing hadn’t expected her brother to be so easily embarrassed. She glanced at her elder sister, Wanru, who tapped her forehead lightly and said, “You’re still a child, yet you talk so shamelessly.”
“Sis, what’s the big deal? Men marry when they grow up, and women do the same—it’s just natural.”
“No proper young lady goes around talking about marriage like that. Since when did you become so talkative?”
“It’s not like I was talking about myself. I was talking about Big Brother! Mother, isn’t he already at the right age to start thinking about marriage?”
Wanqing had originally meant to talk about building a new house, not Zhiwen’s marriage, but somehow… it seemed like everyone had misunderstood her intentions.
“Alright, stop teasing your brother,” Madam Li said, a faint smile tugging at her lips as if recalling something.
“Okay, okay,” Wanqing relented.
The family soon dispersed, each returning to their rooms.