The four of them worked tirelessly until the hour of Xu (7-9 PM).
Leiting had already taken his place by the back gate to guard the house for the night, while the yellow dog, instead of sleeping in its own kennel, squeezed into the chicken coop with Rong Rong, the little white hen, and the speckled hen.
The shop finally began to quiet down.
In the Song Dynasty, there was no curfew, so a few gates between the inner and outer city were left open for passage.
Youyu’s mother arrived just before Shen Miao closed the shop.
She seemed reluctant to take a carriage and had walked, stopping and running along the way.
When she arrived, her forehead was sweaty, and she was panting heavily.
Shen Miao led Youyu out and praised her greatly in front of her mother:
“Auntie, your Youyu is amazing! She didn’t break a single bowl today. When I told her to take a break, she even filled all four water jars, sprinkled water on the ground, and swept it clean. And today, when the swill collector came, she alone lifted the swill bucket and helped me take it out, earning three coins!”
In the Song Dynasty, there were “day scavengers” who roamed the streets to collect swill.
They would buy the swill from Bianjing at a low price and transport it to the countryside, selling it to pig farms or farmers who needed fermented fertilizer-a very environmentally advanced practice.
This was the first time Youyu’s mother had heard someone praise her daughter for being capable.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she said,
“Really? That’s wonderful, truly wonderful. As long as you’re satisfied, Madam Shen, that’s all that matters.”
On her way over, she had been anxious, worried that Youyu might cause trouble or be scolded for not doing well.
Now, her heart was finally at ease.
Youyu seemed to understand that she was being praised.
Her flat face turned red, and she began to grin at Shen Miao, her wide eyes narrowing into slits.
After seeing Youyu off and agreeing on the time for her to come to work the next day, Shen Miao turned back to the shop.
Just as she was about to close the door, a young man, drunk and disheveled, stumbled in.
His green silk robe with a scrolling grass pattern was as wrinkled as pickled vegetables, and he was accompanied by a servant.
“Madam, two bowls of mutton noodles, please,” the servant said as he helped the man sit down and walked to the counter to order.
“And a bowl of sobering soup.”
“Coming right up. Please take a seat, I’ll bring it over.” Shen Miao opened the drinks cabinet to fetch the sobering soup and couldn’t help but glance at the man.
He looked familiar.
But she couldn’t quite place him.
Perhaps he had bought her hand-pulled pancakes when she was selling them at the bridge market?
Shen Miao shrugged and went back to pull the noodles.
There was just enough dough left today’s supply would be sold out after these two bowls.
With Youyu’s help, she had sold more noodles today, and the evening had been smooth and orderly, leaving her still energetic and not feeling tired at all.
As she pulled the noodles, she pondered:
After closing the shop, should she prepare some braised sauce and braise some pig’s head meat to introduce a new dish tomorrow-braised noodles with pig’s head meat and cucumber salad?
Lost in her thoughts, she finished the noodles and brought them out, only to notice that Ji Ge seemed distracted, dragging his feet as he came out from behind the curtain.
“Sister, XiangJie is already asleep.”
But Shen Miao could tell something was off with his expression and asked softly,
“What’s wrong?”
Ji Ge hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and confessed,
“Lately, when I’ve been studying, I feel like I’m not making any progress… Sometimes I even zone out and want to leave my desk. Today, when I went to the bookstore, I stared at the words but couldn’t focus. I don’t know what’s wrong with me—my mind just won’t settle.”
Ji Ge felt guilty.
His sister worked so hard, yet he couldn’t concentrate on his studies.
It was as if a bucket of water was sloshing around in his heart, making him restless.
How useless.
His voice grew even quieter,
“In a few days, the results for the Piyong Academy will be announced. Sister, what if I don’t get in?”
Only then did Shen Miao realize that beneath Ji Ge’s composed and mature exterior, he had been anxious all along.
She felt a pang of guilt.
In her efforts to keep the shop running smoothly, she had neglected him.
Otherwise, she would have noticed his low spirits earlier.
Still, it was remarkable that Ji Ge, with his reserved nature, had taken the initiative to confide in her.
“Come, sit next to me,” Shen Miao said, leading Ji Ge to the table in the farthest corner of the shop.
There were still customers eating, and the shop couldn’t be left unattended, so Shen Miao decided to talk to him right there.
She gently ruffled Ji Ge’s hair and said softly,
“I’m sorry too. I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot about the results. You must have been worried for days, unable to sleep well, right?”
“You just asked me what would happen if you didn’t get in. Well, I’ll tell you it doesn’t matter. Whatever happens, happens.”
“It’s okay if you don’t get in. There’s more than one path in life. If you still want to study, we’ll find another teacher. If you don’t want to continue studying, that’s fine too.”
“We’ll find a craft you like, and you can learn a skill to make a living.”
Shen Miao carefully guided him, but Ji Ge’s eyes reddened with shame and guilt.
“It’s my fault. I’ve let you down, Sister.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” she replied, then thought for a moment.
“Oh, when I was in Jinling, I heard about a man named Xu Xiake. Let me tell you his story.”
She began to recount the tale of Xu Xiake, who was born into a wealthy merchant family in Jiangyin.
His ancestors were scholars, and his great- grandfather had even passed the imperial exams.
Yet, his father taught him the principles of reading and being a good person, not the pursuit of fame and fortune.
When Xu Xiake expressed his love for mountains and rivers and his desire to travel the world, his parents fully supported him, even selling family property to fund his travels.
While his peers chased official positions and wealth, Xu Xiake, with his parents’ understanding and love, climbed Mount Huangshan alone in winter and wrote in his travelogue,
“On the fourth day, I sat listening to the sound of melting snow all day.”
He stayed on the mountain peak, listening to the sound of snow melting until dawn.
Such a life would be hard to understand in other families, but Shen Miao found it deeply moving.
Looking into Ji Ge’s bewildered eyes, Shen Miao said gently,
“Ji Ge, we only have one life, and it’s ours to live. We shouldn’t let fame and fortune dictate our studies or chase after results. You need to understand what kind of person you want to be in this life.”
“What do you love to do most? I hope your life is filled with your own pursuits and that you live it happily. As for things like starting a family or supporting a household, those aren’t your responsibilities.”
“You might think I’m working hard, running this little shop alone. I’m glad you care about me, but I want you to know that I’m doing this willingly. I love cooking, I love having a busy little shop, and I love making money.”
Ji Ge was first shocked and surprised, but he couldn’t help but laugh at his sister’s candid admission,
“I just love making money.”
Seeing that he had taken her words to heart, Shen Miao smiled.
“Xu Xiake faced many hardships during his travels-robberies, the death of companions, and illnesses. But he never gave up on his dreams.”
“He continued to explore the world with his own feet, and even when he developed a leg condition and could no longer walk, he didn’t despair. Because his hands could still move, he eventually wrote the invaluable ‘Xu Xiake’s Travelogue.’ “
Shen Miao patted Ji Ge’s shoulder.
“So, whether you get in or not, it doesn’t matter. Don’t be disheartened or sad. As long as you’ve done your best and have a clear conscience, that’s enough.”
The warmth of her palm on his shoulder was light and comforting, like a breeze that easily lifted the heavy burden he had placed on himself.
He struggled to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes.
He didn’t cry, but someone else in the shop began to sob loudly.
Shen Miao turned around in surprise.
The young man in the shop was crying so hard that his hands trembled.
He put down his chopsticks, covered one wrist with the other hand, and wept uncontrollably, his body shaking as if years of pent-up frustration and despair had finally burst forth like a floodgate opening.
Then he laughed and cried, and after a while, he stumbled out of the shop, still laughing and crying.
“One life, what is true joy? One life… only one life… Ha… My half-life has been a joke…”
“Sorry, sorry. Keep the change.”
The servant, seeing the situation, hastily pulled out a handful of coins to settle the bill, bowed deeply to Shen Miao,
and hurriedly chased after his master.
Shen Miao and Ji Ge exchanged glances, utterly baffled.
How much had he drunk to end up like this?
It seems the pressures on young people in ancient times were quite heavy too…
Shen Miao shook her head.
But with the man gone, it was time to close the shop.
“It’s late. Let’s go rest.”
The next morning, Shen Miao had already forgotten about the strange customer from the previous night.
She yawned as she opened the shop, and sure enough, there was already a line of customers waiting to buy instant noodles.
But the crowd was noticeably smaller than the previous days, and she didn’t even need to hand out bamboo tokens.
But the first person in line was…
She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.
“Jiu Ge?”
Xie Qi stood in the morning breeze with a smile.
At that moment, as she looked at Xie Qi with sleepy eyes, she suddenly remembered the drunken, weeping customer from last night.
It dawned on her she finally realized why the man had looked so familiar.
That strange man bore some resemblance to Jiu Ge!
Their eyebrows and nose were somewhat similar.
After selling the instant noodles and the shop quieted down, Shen Miao finally had time to attend to Xie Qi, who had bought three packs of instant noodles but hadn’t left.
Curiously, she asked, “Jiu Ge, is there something on your mind?”
Xie Qi nodded, straightened his clothes, and stood up solemnly.
“Madam Shen, after much consideration, my mother and I have decided to boldly ask if you would be willing to collaborate with us to establish a workshop specializing in instant noodles?”
“The Xie family would provide the funds and reliable workers, while you would contribute the recipe and any future innovations in flavor and technique…”
Shen Miao’s eyes instantly lit up!
Instant noodles, having been introduced centuries ahead of their time through her hands, had always been waiting for this opportunity.
When the soldiers had come to eat them, she had already begun to consider the idea of starting an instant noodle factory and had thought it through carefully.
However, lacking both funds and connections, she had set the idea aside.
Now, with Xie Qi’s proposal, she immediately nodded with a gleam in her eyes, “Yes.”
This caught Xie Qi off guard, and his words,
“Please consider this carefully, Madam Shen…” got stuck in his throat, neither swallowed nor spoken.
He couldn’t help but widen his eyes,
“…Madam Shen, this matter is actually quite significant. Our family wants to establish this workshop not to make money in Bianjing, but to set it up in Youzhou.”
“Please don’t agree hastily. Let me explain in detail, and you can decide after hearing me out.”
Shen Miao looked at him thoughtfully.
Xie Qi sighed with a wry smile,
“Although I’m from the Xie family, I don’t want you to suffer any losses.”
“Jiu Ge, don’t worry. I’m someone who loves to eat everything, but I don’t love to suffer losses.”
Shen Miao narrowed her eyes slyly and extended five fingers,
“To be completely honest, I’ve already given this matter some thought, Jiu Ge. Hear me out: You provide the capital, and I’ll contribute my skills.”
“That’s the basic idea. However, I want to hold 30% ownership in the workshop. I won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations, but I expect to receive dividends every year.”