After selling all the mountain goods, Cao Wen sat for a while under the old pagoda tree at the crossroads in the center of town.
He mentally calculated the money he had earned recently from selling mountain goods.
Being in public, he couldn’t take out the money to count, so he did the math silently.
The bulk of the money came from selling wild boar, and today he sold mountain goods again—altogether around 6,110 wen.
He also sold some herbs and wild pheasants in the past two days, but spent around 300 wen here and there, leaving about 1,000 wen.
Roughly estimating, he had over 7 taels of silver now.
In the past few days, he had indeed earned a decent amount.
Not to mention those poor tenant farmers who couldn’t even get full meals—his income was equivalent to that of an average peasant household for a whole year.
But Cao Wen wasn’t cheerful.
He still had to repay 3 taels of silver to his cousin Zheng Kui.
He wasn’t the type to owe money, and the fact that he had borrowed money even to get married made him uncomfortable.
He also vaguely felt that his cousin wasn’t a trustworthy person.
It was best to repay the debt soon and keep some distance.
Setting aside that large 3-tael expense, he still had half remaining.
He stood up from the stone bench, patted the dust off his backside, and headed straight to the grain store.
The rice he bought last time wasn’t much and wouldn’t last long.
Since he had sold off all the mountain goods today at the market, he decided to buy more in one go and store it.
Having grain at home gave him peace of mind.
He planned to buy some paddy rice as usual.
Though it required extra work to hull, it saved quite a bit of money.
He could switch to hulled rice once he was better off.
“How much for the paddy?”
“No price hike—still 14 wen per sheng.”
Standing by the rice barrel, Cao Wen already knew the price.
He mainly wanted to ask,
“Any discount for buying in bulk?”
The clerk put down his ledger and replied,
“A whole shi is 1,050 wen, saves about 20–30 wen compared to buying small amounts.”
He came up to Cao Wen and added,
“Our store’s rice is clean and nice—no mixed in husks or moldy grains. Buying by the shi is a good deal. Young master, go with the shi.”
A shi (about 120 jin or 60 kg) of paddy would last a long time, even if eaten generously—it could feed one for a few months.
Cao Wen was tempted.
“Make it an even 1,000,” he bargained.
The clerk laughed,
“Young master, you’re trying to knock off 50 wen just like that. We’re just a small business—we can’t afford to be that generous.”
“Well, it’s a big order. If I were just buying 3–5 sheng, I wouldn’t even ask,” said Cao Wen.
“If you can give a good deal, I’ll also get some flour.”
The clerk sighed, a little helpless.
He couldn’t refuse outright, but agreeing wasn’t easy either.
The shopkeeper at the counter noticed the stalemate and came over to smooth things out: “Take a look around and see what else you want. If it’s a big enough order, we can offer you a special deal.”
Cao Wen picked out 5 sheng of flour— 60 wen per sheng, totaling 300 wen.
The shopkeeper thought for a moment, lowered his voice, and agreed to Cao Wen’s price cut.
While the clerk packed the rice, he warned Cao Wen not to tell anyone about the discounted rate.
Cao Wen knew they’d agree. In less than two months it would be the autumn harvest.
A large influx of new rice would lower prices, and people wouldn’t buy as much afterward.
Better to sell more now at higher prices.
He paid 1,300 wen cheerfully.
After Cao Wen left, Xu Duoyan took advantage of the residual heat in the stove while washing dishes to boil some hot water and did laundry with the clothes they’d worn yesterday.
Summer clothes get sweaty, and without hot water the smell doesn’t come out.
He first soaked Cao Wen’s bloodstained clothes in cold water, scrubbed out the blood, and then rinsed with hot water.
If you used hot water first, the blood would set and be hard to clean.
Their clothes weren’t good quality—coarse linen, like sackcloth, and patched up.
Luckily, they were both men.
No need to look pretty.
As long as it covered what it needed to, it was fine.
After scrubbing off the dirt, Xu Duoyan wrung the clothes out and hung them on the clothesline in the courtyard.
Water dripped to the ground, startling a hen that was pecking for bugs nearby.
The frightened chicken scuttled into the corner on stiff legs.
Seeing its clumsy run made Xu Duoyan smile.
He hoped the hen would start laying eggs soon—maybe they’d hatch chicks.
Wiping his hands on his waistband, he saw the sun had risen higher.
He quickly tidied up some firewood and bamboo slats and took them to the eaves outside the main hall.
He was preparing to build a chicken coop by the back wall.
“Cluck cluck cluck!”
They had very few tools—only a blunt, crooked sickle.
Peeling bamboo with it was hard work.
Xu Duoyan, wrestling with the bamboo, thought to himself that once they had money, he’d definitely buy a better knife.
Suddenly, the hen squawked loudly and flapped over to the clothesline.
“Haven’t been around for a few days, and you’ve raised chickens now?”
The half-open bamboo fence creaked.
A man walked in and kicked at the hen, which flew off in fear.
“Cao Wen! You married and learned to manage a household now, huh? Your big bro’s here, and you don’t even come out to greet me!”
Xu Duoyan froze at the sound.
When he saw the man with triangular eyes enter, his brows furrowed tightly.
“Well, if it isn’t little Miss Xu!”
The man was clearly delighted to see him.
His smile grew increasingly lewd.
He strode over and raised his chin: “Where’s that brat Cao Wen?”
Xu Duoyan shot him a cold glance and ignored him, continuing his work.
Seeing himself snubbed, Zheng Kui sneered and barged into the house, circling once before returning to the threshold.
“Where the hell is Cao Wen? He took a real beating last time. Shouldn’t he be at home recovering? Where’s he gone wandering off to?”
No reply.
Zheng Kui’s gaze shifted back to Xu Duoyan, clearly annoyed at being ignored.
But upon seeing Xu Duoyan’s face, his mood shifted.
He felt the other looked even better than before—perhaps he hadn’t seen him for a while?
Back when he was with the Qian family, this wench didn’t give him the time of day.
He couldn’t do anything about it because of the Qians.
But now he’d ended up with the Cao family and still dared give him attitude?
She probably didn’t know her place yet.
Zheng Kui squatted down, staring at Xu Duoyan’s delicate features, emboldened by lust.
He reached out to grab Xu Duoyan’s chin.
But before he could touch him, he got slapped aside, and a sickle was pressed against him.
Rubbing his sore arm, Zheng Kui saw the fierce look in Xu Duoyan’s eyes, but wasn’t afraid.
“You little slut! What, Cao Wen hasn’t taught you proper manners yet? Still daring to pull a knife on me?”
He grabbed the sickle handle.
Xu Duoyan fought back, swinging the rusted sickle—though dull, it was sharp enough to slice a gash on Zheng Kui’s arm.
Blood welled up.
The wound wasn’t serious, but it enraged him.
He’d long lusted after Xu Duoyan.
The blood only excited him more.
Taking advantage of Xu Duoyan’s momentary distraction, he wrenched away the sickle and tossed it aside.
“So you’re feisty? Let’s see if you can still act fierce once I’m done with you!”
He grabbed Xu Duoyan’s arm, overpowered him, and slammed him to the ground—the stool toppled over with a loud bang.
Zheng Kui tried to pin Xu Duoyan down with his leg, but to his surprise, he was kicked hard in the crotch.
A sharp, piercing pain shot through him.
Before he could even cry out, the person beneath him suddenly grabbed him by the throat.
He stared wide-eyed, gasping for air, and looked at Xu Duoyan in disbelief.
He couldn’t believe that a woman could have such strength!
If it were an ordinary woman, she would have already been stunned and at his mercy from that earlier fall.
But Xu Duoyan not only fought back with kicks and punches, she had even managed to get a hold of his throat.
The suffocating pressure finally made him stop underestimating his opponent.
He struggled to retaliate, but Xu Duoyan, having anticipated it, shifted her arms to block his.
In the scuffle, he only managed to grab the high collar of Xu Duoyan’s clothing.
With a ripping sound, the collar tore halfway off.
A glimpse of a pale neck flashed before his eyes, but before he could get a clear look, an angry voice shouted from above:
“What are you doing? Let go of her—now!”
Hearing the familiar voice, Zheng Kui instinctively felt relief—that idiot had finally come back.
His face was flushed red from lack of oxygen as he tried to turn his head and call out, expecting Cao Wen to kick this crazy woman aside and give her a good beating.
But before he could react, he felt like a pair of iron hands had grabbed the back of his collar, choking him again.
For a moment, it felt like his neck was about to snap.
Then he saw his feet leave the ground, and in just a blink, he was heavily slammed onto the ground in the courtyard.
The pain was overwhelming, but what stunned him even more was that—
He, a man weighing over a hundred jin, not only failed to subdue a woman, but was actually lifted and thrown down by a barely grown kid.
Lifted and thrown!
“A-Yan, are you okay?”
Cao Wen quickly crouched to help the person on the ground.
Xu Duoyan, startled by Cao Wen’s sudden return, instinctively raised a hand to cover her neck.
She didn’t even take Cao Wen’s extended hand, instead getting up quickly on her own.
Afraid of revealing too much, she covered the torn collar and ran into the house.
Seeing Xu Duoyan’s flustered attempts to hide himself made Cao Wen’s anger flare all the way up to his chest.
Zheng Kui, watching as Xu Duoyan fled into the house clutching her clothes like someone who’d been assaulted, grew even more furious.
He slowly picked himself up from the ground, body aching and feeling like it had fallen apart.
He didn’t even know where to place his hands to soothe the pain.
Damn woman.
“Cao Wen, you little punk, how dare you—”
He didn’t finish the sentence before a solid punch landed square on the left side of his face.
Zheng Kui felt as though his jaw had shattered.
He couldn’t get a single word out before the punches kept raining down.
Instinct kicked in—he curled up on the ground, covering his head to protect himself.
“Broad daylight, and you dare pull this kind of stunt? Looking to die?”
“Aah! Stop hitting me! Stop!”
“Cao Wen! I just got carried away, that’s all!”
The punches were like iron hammers.
No matter how tough Zheng Kui’s bones were, he felt they’d soon break.
Seeing that Cao Wen had no intention of stopping, he desperately began to plead: “Didn’t we agree before? I lent you money so you could marry her, and then we’d both enjoy her together!”
“Even if you want to back out, we could’ve talked about it—why resort to violence?!”