Chapter 41

They strolled around the streets that day and bought Tian Yao some small, filling snacks, as the heavy physical labor often left him very hungry at night.

They saw that it was almost time for Tian Yao to return. If he went back late, he might have his wages docked. Only then did Tian Yao reluctantly escort Yu Nian to the spot in town where they waited for the ox cart, the place he was to wait for the Village Chief and the others.

“Yu Nian, in five more days, I’ll be able to come home.” Tian Yao calculated the progress of the work. If he pushed himself a bit harder, the process might speed up even more.

Sleeping alone was already something he couldn’t get used to, and he was sure it was the same for Yu Nian.

This time, it was Yu Nian’s turn to watch Tian Yao’s departing figure.

On the ox cart ride back, Yu Nian’s mind kept replaying the image of those heavy loads pressing down on Tian Yao’s back. The images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, churning his insides until a sharp pain seized him. It felt as if someone were using a rusty, dull knife to saw back and forth over his heart, the wound healing and tearing open repeatedly, the pain forcing him to clutch his chest.

The Village Chief noticed his condition and frowned. “Yu Nian, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Yu Nian shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

He looked at the Village Chief. “Chief, those few mu of empty land still owned by the village – have they been sold yet?”

The Village Chief shook his head. “How could they be sold so easily? Most families in the village already have enough land allocated to them. Apart from the few mu Chen Xu’s family bought a while back, the remaining families without land simply couldn’t afford to buy any. Why? Are you interested?”

The Village Chief pondered. The leftover land in the village was all registered with the County Yamen, and the price was uniformly set by the Yamen. Since the land in Huailing Village was fairly fertile, the Yamen had priced it at twelve taels per mu. They had just received twenty-five taels of silver, which was more than enough to buy two mu. If they could negotiate with the Yamen officials, they might even be able to buy it for twenty taels.

Yu Nian looked at the Village Chief. “Then have you ever considered renting the land out?”

The Village Chief shook his head. “The County Yamen strictly forbids renting out land. Families that have already bought land can hire tenant farmers, but for these unsold plots, the management rights belong to the Yamen.”

Yu Nian lowered his eyes, lost in thought.

The Village Chief added, “Isn’t Yao Ge’er on good terms with Liu Zhi? If you really want to farm, you could talk to his family about it.”

Yu Nian shook his head. “Their good relationship is a bond of friendship. If other things are added to it, it wouldn’t be good.”

The Village Chief looked at Yu Nian. “If you could pass the exam and become a Scholar, you could buy land at half the price. Your scholarship seems far superior to that boy from the Tian family. Why not try for the Provincial Exams?”

A bitter smile touched Yu Nian’s lips. “Although you helped me establish a household register for Huailing Village, we still don’t know the situation in Yuancang Prefecture. If I were discovered holding dual registries or participating in the imperial examinations as a convicted criminal, it would be extremely dangerous for you and for Yao Ge’er.”

The Village Chief sighed. Those without talent wasted opportunities to take the exams, while those with talent couldn’t even participate. Fate was truly unfair. He believed that with Yu Nian’s scholarly ability, the county and provincial exams wouldn’t pose a challenge for him at all. Such a pity. Truly a pity.

Neither spoke further after that. Upon reaching the village, Tian Dazhuang took Yu Nian all the way back home.

Little Gray was an expert at guarding the house. It heard the sound of Yu Nian’s wheelchair scraping against the ground from far away and quickly ran to greet him.

Yu Nian patted its head and bid farewell to Tian Dazhuang.

Little Gray was very excited to see him, jumping up and down, unable to stay still for a moment. It nudged Yu Nian’s wheelchair with its head, trying to steer him towards the chicken coop.

Understanding its intention, Yu Nian maneuvered his wheelchair himself and followed it. He heard the chickens in the coop clucking loudly, as if they wouldn’t stop until they’d alerted everyone within a ten-li radius. Yu Nian went closer to look and found two eggs in the nest. No wonder the hen was making such a racket – it had come asking for its reward. Yu Nian smiled, found the fodder Tian Yao had prepared earlier off to the side, and fed all the chickens a portion. It was inconvenient for him to go inside to collect the eggs, so he sent Little Gray in instead.

Those chickens were terrified of Little Gray. The moment it entered, they all shrank back to the side, watching as Little Gray swaggered over, picked up the eggs in its mouth, and walked off.

Yu Nian turned and went back into the house, Little Gray following behind him.

After returning home, Yu Nian didn’t do anything else. First, he found the drawings Little Dad had left for Tian Yao. Pictures of chickens, ducks, fish, and rabbits vividly appeared before his eyes, all of them drawn out. He had already tried rabbit, and Tian Yao said it was very tasty.

Chickens, ducks, and fish weren’t difficult ingredients to obtain either. The difficulty lay solely with the chili pepper.

Their home wasn’t lacking in seasonings. Scallions and ginger were essential staples. Tian Yao’s cellar still held a good amount of ginger. The cooking oil used nowadays was all lard – fatty cuts of meat, after rendering, yielded snow-white lard. But in Little Dad’s drawings, the source of oil was a kind of plant.

Yu Nian set that particular drawing aside and focused intently on the others.

From as far back as he could remember, the only cooking methods he’d known were stir-frying and stewing. Not only were they unoriginal, but much of the flavor was also lost in the process. If they were to follow these methods of Little Dad’s, it would undoubtedly deliver a major shock to the existing food industry.

This was the path he envisioned for how they could earn money in the future.

But the first issue to solve now was where to source the ingredients. Meat was already common enough. The difficult things were the chili peppers and the other items depicted in Little Dad’s drawings.

Yu Nian thought of those seeds. If they could successfully grow them once, then as long as they could save the seeds afterward, they could continue perpetually.

Yu Nian glanced out the window at the vegetable garden. Right now, that small patch of vegetables was the entire hope of their family.

Tian Yao’s return home was silent and unexpected. Yu Nian had thought he wouldn’t be back for another five days, but he hadn’t anticipated that three days after Yu Nian’s visit, Tian Yao would return, his bundle on his back.

When he arrived, Yu Nian had his sleeves rolled up, a hatchet in his hand, with weeds scattered all around him.

“Yu Nian! What are you doing?” Tian Yao pushed open the courtyard gate, his voice full of alarm.

“Aunt Shun brought me some weeds from when they were hoeing their fields. They can be used to feed the chickens, so I’m chopping them up.” Yu Nian put down the cleaver in his hand and opened his arms. “Welcome home.”

In almost an instant, Tian Yao ran over and threw himself into Yu Nian’s chest. Bending his upper body, he hugged Yu Nian tightly. “I missed you so much!”

Yu Nian stroked his hair and kissed his cheek. “How did you manage to come back so early?”

Tian Yao said, a little sheepishly, “I worked through one whole night and finished all my assigned work. As soon as I got my wages, I came straight home.”

It was manageable at first – he was so tired that he’d practically fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. But as he gradually adjusted to that high-intensity physical labor, he found himself unable to sleep at night. Without the person he could touch just by turning over, without the person who held him in his arms, he just couldn’t sleep well, no matter what. Especially after Yu Nian had come to visit him, his longing at night grew even stronger. So he simply decided to skip sleeping at night, finish his work, and come home early.

“Yu Nian, I’m a little tired.” Tian Yao promptly sat down on Yu Nian’s lap, gently bumped his nose against Yu Nian’s, and then kissed his lips.

Tian Yao’s way of kissing was taught to him by Yu Nian. Whether it was a light peck or a lingering, passionate kiss, whether gentle like a soft breeze and drizzle or fierce like a violent storm, he had learned it all from Yu Nian.

Yu Nian nibbled his lower lip, his hand resting on Tian Yao’s chin, tilting his head up slightly. Tian Yao’s eyes, even when exhausted, still sparkled.

“Let’s go back to the room to sleep.”

Tian Yao held onto his sleeve, unwilling to let go. After one last kiss, Tian Yao pushed Yu Nian’s wheelchair, wheeling him back to their room as well.

The exhaustion of the entire day took over the moment Tian Yao touched the bed. He didn’t have the energy for anything else, only knowing to grab Yu Nian’s hand before sinking into a deep sleep.

When he woke again, the sun had already set. Yu Nian, one hand still held in Tian Yao’s, was dozing against the backrest of his wheelchair.

Tian Yao sat up, the fatigue in his body completely gone. “Yu Nian, are you hungry?”

Yu Nian opened his eyes, his gaze clear. “A little.”

Tian Yao jumped out of bed. “I’ll go cook!”

Yu Nian followed behind him, thinking about how he should tell Tian Yao about his idea.

In the kitchen, Tian Yao noticed the small basket on the stovetop. There had been five eggs when he left, and now there were somehow even more than before. He frowned, looking displeased. “Yu Nian! What have you been eating these past few days?”

“Didn’t you steam some cornbread for me before you left? I’ve been making congee.”

Tian Yao was still unhappy. “You had time to cook for me, so why don’t you treat yourself better?”

Yu Nian came to his side. “I haven’t been mistreating myself. Do you know why there are more eggs? The chicks you’ve been raising have started laying eggs.”

Tian Yao’s eyes widened. “Really?”

His earlier mood vanished completely. He rushed to the chicken coop and patted each of the six chickens one by one.

Patting them, he said, “Lay more eggs, okay? And then you can hatch them, and our family will have an endless supply of chicks and eggs, won’t we?” He pointed at one hen. “The family’s hope rests on you.”

Yu Nian had followed him out. Hearing Tian Yao’s childish words, he smiled.

On their way back inside, they stopped to look at the vegetables, which were already growing very well. Tian Yao stared at them for a long time. “Yu Nian, what’s this supposed to look like when it’s grown?”

Yu Nian wasn’t entirely sure either. “I’ll look through the notes again when we get back.”

They ate a meal together. Having nothing else to do in the afternoon, Tian Yao, unable to sit still, wanted to go up the mountain to see if he could hunt any game. Although they had silver put away, they couldn’t just live off their savings forever. On his way back earlier, he’d heard the Village Chief say that the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month was an auspicious day, the day the Enlightenment School was set to open. Coming home today, he had also run into villagers heading to town to buy cloth to make new clothes for their children.

He also wanted to make Yu Nian a new set of clothes. In the past, Tian Wen had always worn long scholarly robes to show off his status as a scholar. His Yu Nian was also learned, but he never flaunted it. Still, since he was going to be a teacher, he really should wear nicer clothes – that way, he could command the respect of the village children.

But Yu Nian held him back. “Yao Ge’er, I need to talk to you about something.”

His serious manner startled Tian Yao again, making him think something else had happened at home while he was away. He became extremely tense.

Yu Nian ruffled his hair. “Why so nervous? I have something proper to discuss with you.”

But Tian Yao still looked at him warily.

Yu Nian shook his head, smiling wryly, not understanding why Tian Yao was still so worried he might have second thoughts. “I wanted to talk to you about our family’s livelihood from now on.”