Taking advantage of the nightfall, Cao Wen strode into the town.
Lanterns and candles lit up the streets, making the market streets quite bright.
Perhaps due to the festival, it was still lively even after dark.
Though he’d just been here not long ago, the town had a completely different look in the evening than in the morning.
But Cao Wen wasn’t in the mood to admire the scenery.
While there were still people around, he raised his voice and shouted,
“Wild pheasant! Freshly caught wild pheasant!”
He shouted casually while still walking quickly.
Though people might buy some wild game during festivals, by this time most had already had dinner, and those who hadn’t were already cooking.
Since they were already preparing meals, who would still need to buy a pheasant?
His real aim was to try the restaurants—see if any kitchen would take it.
Sure enough, no one in the street market paid him any attention.
Cao Wen went straight to a restaurant and poked his head in through the back door.
“Want a pheasant?”
“No, no! We’re busy, go ask somewhere else,” came the curt reply.
The kitchen was bustling—cooks, assistants, and maids were all busy since it was dinner time.
No one had the time to deal with him.
A middle-aged man in a square cap didn’t even look at Cao Wen.
As soon as he heard the voice, he waved him off without hesitation.
Cao Wen, carrying the pheasant, tried another eatery.
This one was much quieter, with only two tables of customers in the front hall.
The shopkeeper was standing with his hands behind his back, watching the kitchen.
Hearing Cao Wen’s voice, he gave him an annoyed glance and snapped: “Pheasant? I barely have two customers. Who’d want a pheasant that costs half again more than regular chicken?”
Just as Cao Wen was about to push his sales pitch, the shopkeeper cut him off: “Take it away. We don’t need it.”
Leaving the eatery, Cao Wen looked at the pheasant in his hand.
Hunting it had been no easy task, and it seemed just as difficult to sell it for some money.
Still holding the pheasant, he walked down the street, calling out again while scanning for any potential buyers.
“Hey, young man, how much for that wild game?”
Cao Wen turned his head at the voice and saw a burly man with his sleeves rolled high standing in front of a shop called “Flowing Interval Tavern”.
“Honest goods at a fair price!”
Cao Wen hurried over with the pheasant.
The man inspected the feathers.
They were glossy and slick—clearly a genuine wild pheasant.
“Not very fat, looks like a little over a pound. Once plucked, not much will be left.”
“That’s the thing with wild pheasants—they’re lean but flavorful. Lightly roasted, they’re perfect with wine.”
The man raised his head and looked at Cao Wen.
“Roasted?”
Cao Wen paused, suddenly remembering that iron woks weren’t widely used yet.
Most dishes were still boiled or roasted.
He had spoken too habitually.
“I mean roasted, with a sprinkle of spices,” he corrected.
The man chuckled.
“You know your stuff. But I’m buying this so my wife can stew it into soup.”
With that, he took the pheasant and went through the back door of the tavern, grabbed a scale, and weighed it.
“One pound four ounces. Pretty close.”
Cao Wen offered quickly: “Let’s just call it one pound, brother. A holiday bonus.”
The man raised an eyebrow.
“So…forty copper coins then?”
Free-range chicken usually sold for a bit over twenty coins per pound.
Wild pheasant, being rare, often sold for double.
Forty coins was a low price.
The man was clearly trying to get a deal, but Cao Wen was eager to sell.
He’d already faced enough rejections tonight, so he didn’t argue.
“Forty it is,” he said straightforwardly.
The man clearly looked pleased.
“Hold on, I’ll get your money.”
While waiting, Cao Wen looked around the courtyard, where large wine jars were stacked.
The aroma of fermenting liquor was thick in the air—pleasant to any wine lover.
The man returned, counting out the money.
“Here’s forty coins. You can count it.”
Cao Wen accepted it without much checking and asked: “Brother, do you sell cherry wine here?”
“Don’t be fooled by how small this tavern looks. We’ve got a wide variety of wines. Everyone in this town knows about our fruit wines. Why? Want some?”
“I don’t drink much. Just wanted to ask if you brew cherry wine here,” Cao Wen replied.
“I’ve got some wild cherries I just picked from the mountain. If you use them for brewing, I can bring them over.”
“Cherries are out of season now,” the man muttered, “but you can still find a few up in the mountains.”
Then he added,
“Bring them over and let me have a look. Just a few days ago, Lady Li, the wife of the village gentry, ordered some sweet fruit wine for a women’s banquet. We’re almost out of cherry wine at the tavern.”
Cao Wen had never intended to sell those wild cherries on the street in the first place—cherries spoil too easily, especially in this heat.
Walking around with them wouldn’t last half a day before they all went bad.
If he could find someone to take them in bulk, that would be ideal.
If not, he’d pit them, dry them in the shade, and store them.
Later, he could try his luck at the fruit vendors.
Yes.
Sometimes, giving a little benefit made people more willing to negotiate in the future—it made selling other things easier later on.
“Alright then, I’ll bring them over early tomorrow,” Cao Wen agreed.
After selling the pheasant, Cao Wen hurried home.
At this hour, everyone working in the fields had already headed back, and the road was quiet.
As soon as he reached his little fenced courtyard, the scent of meat floated faintly in the evening breeze.
He quickened his pace and went inside.
As promised, Xu Duoyan had already stewed the pheasant in a clay pot.
Even though he’d had a hearty meat meal earlier that day, after a busy afternoon, he was hungry again.
He went into the kitchen and couldn’t help lifting the lid of the pot.
Thick steam rose instantly, carrying with it a rich aroma.
The whole pheasant was boiling away in the water.
Although there weren’t any other ingredients stewing with it, the wild pheasant’s fragrance was strong—it really was more flavorful than ordinary free-range chickens.
A pot of food like this warmed not just the body, but the heart.
Xu Duoyan was beneath the stove, cleaning the pheasant feathers.
She carefully sorted the intact ones—if there were few, they could be made into shuttlecocks; if there were many, into feather dusters.
For tenant families, these uncommon things were especially precious.
She could sell them at the market for a few copper coins—that alone could pay for lamp oil.
She looked up at him, about to ask if he had sold the pheasant.
But seeing that he returned empty-handed and in a good mood, she figured he had.
So, she quietly continued tending the fire.
Cao Wen saw that Xu Duoyan didn’t respond to him and wondered if she was still upset with him.
So he took the initiative: “Sold the pheasant for forty copper coins—to a tavern. They asked me to bring over the wild cherries tomorrow for brewing.”
“That money…”
Xu Duoyan listened quietly as he described what had happened at the market.
She didn’t say a word, but she listened earnestly.
The ordinary trivialities somehow made her feel deeply at peace.
When he stopped talking for a while, Xu Duoyan looked up in confusion—only to see him holding out the money he’d earned from selling the pheasant.
She was stunned.
Cao Wen remembered that one of his training instructors had once complained during downtime that, ever since he got married, he hadn’t seen his own paycheck.
From that, he had deduced: “Married men hand over all their money to their wives.”
Even if the instructor didn’t seem too happy about it, rules were rules.
“You should hold on to the money,” he said.
Xu Duoyan blinked.
Was this man an idiot?
He was actually trying to hand the money over to her to manage?
Seeing that she didn’t take it, Cao Wen said,
“We need money for household expenses. If you’re short on anything, just go get it. I won’t question you.”
The honesty in his words made the suspicion in her heart soften into a strange uncertainty.
“You keep it. I’m just a weak woman—not good at managing money.”
She made a small gesture, which Cao Wen didn’t quite understand.
But seeing that she didn’t reach out, he realized she was refusing to take it.
Before he could say anything more, Xu Duoyan carried off the pheasant feathers and, avoiding further conversation, pointed toward the pot.
“Dinner’s ready. Let’s eat.”
He had been smelling that pheasant for ages.
Even if he was lazy about eating sometimes, tonight he was truly starving.
Cao Wen glanced at the copper coins still in his hand—no one wanted them.
His brow furrowed.
Why didn’t she want the money?
Was it too little?
Probably.
It was just a small sum—not really worth managing.
A little discouraged, he quickly pulled himself together.
I’ll just have to earn more from now on!
The two of them set the table together.
They were eating quite late tonight, and it was already completely dark outside.
Xu Duoyan walked to the front door of the main room, glanced left and right to make sure no one was around, then shut the door and lit a candle.
No one could blame her for being as cautious as if guarding against thieves.
At this hour, hardly anyone would still be outside.
Tenant families didn’t get to eat meat often.
They feared gossip—if word got out, it could bring unnecessary trouble.
When Xu Duoyan returned to the table, the man sitting cross-legged had already unwrapped both rice dumplings and neatly placed them in her bowl.
“De?”
Xu Duoyan pointed at the two dumplings in her bowl, giving a short puzzled noise.
Cao Wen said,
“I don’t like eating those. They were meant for you anyway.”
His words were so natural and matter-of-fact that Xu Duoyan’s brows knitted slightly.
Something warm briefly surged through her heart.
He raised his hand, about to say something else, when—
She watched as his free hand reached for the pheasant.
He tore off the two not-so-fat drumsticks and happily plopped them both into his bowl.
Xu Duoyan’s stirred heart quietly deflated as she awkwardly looked away.
Well…fair enough.
He had been honest.
He didn’t like dumplings.
He liked chicken drumsticks.
Just as she was trying to collect her thoughts, the bowl with the drumsticks was suddenly pushed in front of her.
“Eat more meat. You’re too skinny.”
Cao Wen grinned as he looked at the frail girl across from him.
He really wanted to enjoy the joy of feeding someone.
“Come on, eat up.”
Xu Duoyan:
……
He glanced at her with a smile at the corner of his mouth, his eyes crinkled in delight.
He let out a light sigh.
What is this guy trying to do?!
He gave her the chicken leg and then smiled—fine, but why did he smile so shamelessly?!
Don’t think you can win me over just by handing over two chicken legs!
Xu Duoyan hurriedly pushed the bowl back, but Cao Wen didn’t even lift his head, as if he had already predicted her reaction.
He simply reached out and pressed down on the bowl’s edge:
“Eat. Stop always thinking about others. You deserve to be taken care of.”
Protecting and caring for civilians had once been a deeply ingrained belief in Cao Wen’s life.
But when he lay helpless and worthless in the sanatorium, he came to understand that he was just an ordinary person, and that the alliance had only been brainwashing them all along.
Even so, right now he truly felt that Xu Duoyan deserved to be cared for and protected—so giving her a little extra at mealtime wasn’t too much to ask.
Xu Duoyan paused.
She couldn’t sense even a hint of ill intent in this man—suddenly she felt as if she had been a bit selfish.
When Cao Wen had come to propose marriage, he brought along a matchmaker and a cousin who acted like a thug.
The two of them colluded to pressure her into marrying, threatening to cause trouble if she refused.
She had resented and hated both him and that cousin.
Naturally, she also hated this world that forced people to bow their heads.
Before she came here, she had mentally prepared herself—expecting that they would surely have some fierce conflicts.
No matter how hard life was, for the sake of her mother, she had to grit her teeth and keep going.
But when she steeled herself and prepared for a battle of wits and will, she found that this man was completely different from the one who had come to propose and fetch her—he didn’t seem like a bad person at all.
In fact, sometimes, he even seemed a little…dumb.
Still, Xu Duoyan dared not jump to conclusions.
After all, they had barely begun to get to know each other.
Maybe his kindness was just an act.
Or maybe his cousin had been the true bad influence, always leading him astray.
He was younger then—easily impressionable.
Now that he wasn’t with his cousin anymore, his behavior had naturally straightened out.
Xu Duoyan thought: No matter what, as long as he doesn’t cause trouble, we can get along peacefully.
I will do my best for this so-called family.
But if he dares get out of line, she thought coldly, I’m no weak little girl anyone can push around.
I won’t let him off easy.
She glanced at Cao Wen, who was happily gnawing on the chicken head, and let go of the bowl, no longer resisting.
The two of them quietly enjoyed this rare, hearty meal.