Chapter 24
"Do you know them?"
Yu Ying shook her head, “I have never met them.”
Fu Wei, contemplating her answer, gazed at her silently for a moment before asking, “Why would you risk your safety to earn money to redeem their service if you don’t know them?”
Yu Ying met Fu Wei’s gaze, exhaled softly, and slowly said, “Because if I don’t rescue them, your elder brother will soon be killed by a falling rock in the quarry.”
Fu Wei was taken aback, then frowned, about to speak, when he suddenly remembered that she was no ordinary person. Thus, her words were very likely true.
The room fell into a prolonged silence.
Yu Ying thought Fu Wei might trust her but needed time to adjust, so she decided to give him some space before discussing other matters, "You hardly ate just now. I'll make some porridge for you in a bit."
Saying this, she lifted the curtain, intending to leave.
"To me, despite our blood relation, they are strangers."
Fu Wei's cold voice reached her ears, halting Yu Ying's movements. She turned back to him, puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"
Fu Wei, with a slightly lowered gaze, said calmly, "Although we have no blood relation, you and I are no longer strangers. Compared to those who are blood-related yet feel like strangers, I am more inclined towards you."
Being cared for by someone in a foreign land can be deeply moving.
Yu Ying was taken aback by his words and paused for a long while.
After regaining her composure, she glanced outside through the slightly lifted curtain, then turned back to him, "Because of the complexity and uncertainties involved, I can only tell you that your elder brother's death indirectly led to you being the only survivor of the Fu family."
Seeing Fu Wei's startled expression, Yu Ying realized that Luo Shi, Fu An, and Fu Ning were no longer strangers to him.
Moments later, Fu Wei spoke, his voice somewhat low, "Is everything you said true?"
Yu Ying nodded and hummed affirmatively, her expression solemn, devoid of any hint of jest.
"Although I'm not sure what you're thinking, I'm clear about my own thoughts."
She spoke earnestly, "To me, the Fu family were strangers at first, but not anymore. I can’t accept the disappearance of the two children who are either stubborn or sweetly smiling in front of me. Nor can I accept knowing that several lives could be lost and how to prevent it, yet doing nothing."
Concluding, Yu Ying simply said, "I always act according to my conscience and with no regrets."
As she finished, hearing some noise from outside, she lifted the curtain and stepped out.
Fu Wei, having heard her speech, sat still, his expression a mix of bewilderment and surprise.
After a long while, he seemed to come back to his senses, slowly saying, “Acting according to one's heart, with no regrets...”
Yu Ying came out of the house to see Fu An returning from washing dishes by the river.
She glanced at the curtain of the house, pondered for a moment, then withdrew her gaze and rolled up her sleeves to fetch half a jin of lychees.
Today's business at the restaurant was exceptionally good, and the remaining liangfen wouldn’t last the whole next day. So, the shopkeeper asked her to bring twice the usual amount the next day, giving her a couple of days off to prepare herbs at home and also to deliver the newly flavored liangfen.
Considering that lychees change color after one day and lose their fragrance after two, and that pears can last several days without issue, she decided to make lychee-flavored liangfen first.
The freshness of the lychees suggested they were picked in the morning. Perhaps due to their small size and few people having spare money to buy them, they hadn’t sold out.
Because of their price, the vendor hadn’t agreed to a tasting, so Yu Ying wasn’t sure how sweet they were.
After peeling one to taste, she found it wasn’t particularly sweet, but the lychee flavor was still strong.
She peeled all the fruit, separating the flesh from the seeds, and placed the flesh in a bowl, yielding half a bowl.
Then, she added a bowl of clean water to the clay pot and cooked it with the lychee flesh.
After boiling for a while, she removed the contents and let them cool.
She placed a layer of muslin over a new bowl to strain the fruit pulp and juice. After filtering it twice, she squeezed out the remaining water from the pulp.
In the end, she had just one bowl of juice.
Calculating, Yu Ying figured adding another bowl of water to make the ice cream would yield nearly two full bowls.
The wooden bowls in the Fu household were not small but rather large, making two bowls of ice cream quite a significant amount.
Using Wu's Eatery's large bowls as a reference, which were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, and adding some sugar water, she expected to yield about six or seven bowls in total.
Since lychee is naturally sweet, she could dilute the sugar water with half water, saving some cost for six or seven bowls.
The cost of the sugar water wouldn't be included in her expenses, nor would it be charged to her account.
She used to earn one coin per bowl of ice cream, but adding lychee increased the cost. In ancient times, lychees were expensive, and though cheaper in Lingnan, they were still pricier than other fruits.
However, Yu Ying's target wasn't all patrons but those who ordered dishes at the eatery.
She noticed that day at the eatery, apart from those who ordered plain noodles, many could afford rice and cooked dishes. A one or two coin increase in the price of the ice cream would still be affordable.
After the conversation with Fu Wei today, not knowing if he was in the right state of mind, Yu Ying didn't disturb him further and went on to prepare the next day's ice cream.
When everything was set, it was almost dark, so she had to burn some firewood in the clay stove for light.
After a simple bath, she returned to her room and poured out all the copper coins she had earned recently onto the bed.
The household lacked many essentials, not even a pot, so the money from selling the silver leaves and her previous earnings had been almost entirely spent.
Earning over a hundred coins today was a significant amount.
In the dim light, Yu Ying counted each copper coin one by one.
In the end, she earned a total of one hundred and fifty coins.
Yu Ying sighed. This one hundred and fifty coins were far from a thousand, let alone seven taels of silver.
But it was a good start. Initially, her entire fortune was just seven coins and two silver leaves worth seventy-six coins. Now that she had saved up some money and could afford oil, salt, rice, and occasionally meat, things were already much better.
After reassuring herself, Yu Ying strung ten copper coins together with a straw stem, keeping only ten coins for miscellaneous expenses and burying the rest in the ground.
Early in the morning, Yu Ying went to the mountains without bringing Fu An or informing Fu Wei, just taking a firewood knife and a backpack and heading out.
Now, in the village, aside from Aunt He who was tight-lipped, no one knew that Yu Ying was supplying food to the eateries in Jade County. They only thought she went to the mountains to gather herbs to sell to the medical halls in Jade County.
They didn't know how much money she had made, but seeing her frequently going to the mountains and the county, everyone assumed she was making a little money and thought of venturing into the mountains themselves to try their luck finding some herbs.
Even though they couldn't recognize any specific herbs, they picked anything that looked unusual and unfamiliar, hoping some might be medicinal despite the possibility of being just weeds.
When Yu Ying arrived in the mountains, she saw many villagers digging for herbs.
Observing their baskets, she noticed more weeds than herbs, indicating they were picking blindly.
Some saw Yu Ying but no one dared to ask her how to identify herbs.
Even if someone asked, Yu Ying wouldn't tell, mainly to avoid trouble.
She was afraid some might think they knew a few herbs and randomly pick them for consumption.
It was fortunate that no one got sick from consuming the herbs, as any incident would be her responsibility. Yu Ying knew she couldn't discuss herb identification with them, so she had to avoid them and pick herbs in less frequented areas.
Seeing her leave, the woman who was threatened by Yu Ying in the fields yesterday raised her head and said to someone beside her, “She’s just being cautious around us, afraid we’ll see what herbs she’s picking and follow suit. This mountain isn’t hers alone; how selfish.”
The person who heard these words, showing displeasure, replied, “Keep your voice down. We are infringing on her livelihood and still expect her to teach us about herbs? You’re dreaming.”
Yu Ying faintly heard this conversation but didn’t take it seriously.
With more people in the mountains, there was a sense of emboldened courage.
However, when they take their herbs to the medical hall and find more weeds than herbs, the unscrupulous hall might either refuse to buy or offer a mere wen.
Wasting half a day for just one wen, earned through risk, they would probably not return.
Early in the morning, Fu Wei, who hadn't slept all night, sat on the bamboo bed, silently staring out of the window and into the courtyard.
As for the matters Yu Ying spoke of last night, Fu Wei didn’t doubt their truthfulness.
After all, no one would be foolish enough to strain themselves or put themselves in danger just to deceive others.
There was a blood relation between him and the Fu family, yet there was none with her, and yet she toiled for their sake while he was of no use.
Thinking of this, how could he possibly sleep?
He lowered his gaze to his legs, immobilized in braces, and remained motionless for a long time, as if frozen.
When would his legs recover to normal?
Only with the recovery of his legs could he be of help.
At the very least, then he could protect her when she went into the mountains to gather herbs.
Sounds from outside the courtyard stirred Fu Wei, who had been motionless for a long time. He looked out to see Yu Ying returning with her basket, her face flushed with heat as she entered the yard.
Yu Ying hurried back, covered in a thin layer of sweat. After setting down her basket, she scooped up a ladle of water to wash her face.
When Fu Ning saw Yu Ying return, she hurriedly ran over in her grass shoes to bring her some mint water.
After washing her face, Yu Ying opened her eyes to see a bowl of water in front of her. Looking up, she saw the little girl smiling at her with a pure, innocent grin.
Yu Ying returned a gentle smile and thanked her, then took the bowl and drank the water.
After a few sips, Yu Ying said, "Auntie needs to step out for a bit. I'll be back soon."
She patted the little girl's head and then hurriedly delivered the prepared ice cream to the village entrance.
She waited a while at the entrance before Shopkeeper Chen arrived.
Since it wasn't the usual day for going to Jade County, there were no other passengers on the ox cart.
After placing the wooden barrel and clay pot on the ox cart, Yu Ying said, "I have to gather herbs today, so I won't be going to town. In the clay pot is lychee ice cream. Please tell Shopkeeper Chen to price it at four coins per bowl."
Hearing the price of four coins per bowl, Shopkeeper Chen exclaimed, "Four coins? That's expensive!"
Yu Ying smiled, "Although it's priced at four coins, it's only three coins for those who dine at the eatery. They might think it's a bit pricey, but they'll also see it as a good deal."
After a moment of thought, she added, "Please tell Shopkeeper Chen that this ice cream is mainly for those who order dishes and those who have tried it before. They have the means and, having tasted the ice cream before, will surely be curious to try a new flavor."
"Also, lychees will be out of season in about half a month, so tell him to inform the customers that this flavor will only be sold for ten days, with sales ending each day once it's sold out. Rarity increases value, and those eager to try new flavors will naturally hurry over, increasing the eatery's customer base. Even if it sells out, they might stay to dine on other items, right?"
Shopkeeper Chen listened and found her reasoning quite persuasive.
Shopkeeper Chen looked at the amount of lychee ice cream, realizing it wasn't much, but understood that attracting customers was the most important aspect.
"Moreover, since lychees are naturally sweet, you could advise Shopkeeper Chen to dilute the sugar water with some plain water, which can also save costs."
Shopkeeper Chen couldn't help but admire her, yet he soon showed a hint of regret: "If you were a man, Lady Yu, you would surely have achieved great success. It's a pity you are a woman."
Although Yu Ying didn't appreciate such remarks, she didn’t retort.
In this era, women were often underestimated, and arguing wouldn’t change their mindset.
Regardless of their views, she wouldn't let prejudice against women stop her from doing what needed to be done. She focused on doing her best, regardless of others' opinions.
As she watched the ox cart leave, Yu Ying remembered Shopkeeper Chen's lament about her being a woman, contrasting it with something Fu Wei said the day before.
—"With your skills, you'll find other ways to make money."
This sentiment starkly contrasted with Shopkeeper Chen's earlier statement.
Unlike Shopkeeper Chen, Fu Wei didn’t dismiss her abilities because of her gender; he was someone who respected others.
This realization brought a faint smile to Yu Ying's face.
Staying at the Fu residence was actually a very good choice, given her lack of alternatives.
Chapter 24
"Do you know them?"
Yu Ying shook her head, “I have never met them.”
Fu Wei, contemplating her answer, gazed at her silently for a moment before asking, “Why would you risk your safety to earn money to redeem their service if you don’t know them?”
Yu Ying met Fu Wei’s gaze, exhaled softly, and slowly said, “Because if I don’t rescue them, your elder brother will soon be killed by a falling rock in the quarry.”
Fu Wei was taken aback, then frowned, about to speak, when he suddenly remembered that she was no ordinary person. Thus, her words were very likely true.
The room fell into a prolonged silence.
Yu Ying thought Fu Wei might trust her but needed time to adjust, so she decided to give him some space before discussing other matters, "You hardly ate just now. I'll make some porridge for you in a bit."
Saying this, she lifted the curtain, intending to leave.
"To me, despite our blood relation, they are strangers."
Fu Wei's cold voice reached her ears, halting Yu Ying's movements. She turned back to him, puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"
Fu Wei, with a slightly lowered gaze, said calmly, "Although we have no blood relation, you and I are no longer strangers. Compared to those who are blood-related yet feel like strangers, I am more inclined towards you."
Being cared for by someone in a foreign land can be deeply moving.
Yu Ying was taken aback by his words and paused for a long while.
After regaining her composure, she glanced outside through the slightly lifted curtain, then turned back to him, "Because of the complexity and uncertainties involved, I can only tell you that your elder brother's death indirectly led to you being the only survivor of the Fu family."
Seeing Fu Wei's startled expression, Yu Ying realized that Luo Shi, Fu An, and Fu Ning were no longer strangers to him.
Moments later, Fu Wei spoke, his voice somewhat low, "Is everything you said true?"
Yu Ying nodded and hummed affirmatively, her expression solemn, devoid of any hint of jest.
"Although I'm not sure what you're thinking, I'm clear about my own thoughts."
She spoke earnestly, "To me, the Fu family were strangers at first, but not anymore. I can’t accept the disappearance of the two children who are either stubborn or sweetly smiling in front of me. Nor can I accept knowing that several lives could be lost and how to prevent it, yet doing nothing."
Concluding, Yu Ying simply said, "I always act according to my conscience and with no regrets."
As she finished, hearing some noise from outside, she lifted the curtain and stepped out.
Fu Wei, having heard her speech, sat still, his expression a mix of bewilderment and surprise.
After a long while, he seemed to come back to his senses, slowly saying, “Acting according to one's heart, with no regrets...”
Yu Ying came out of the house to see Fu An returning from washing dishes by the river.
She glanced at the curtain of the house, pondered for a moment, then withdrew her gaze and rolled up her sleeves to fetch half a jin of lychees.
Today's business at the restaurant was exceptionally good, and the remaining liangfen wouldn’t last the whole next day. So, the shopkeeper asked her to bring twice the usual amount the next day, giving her a couple of days off to prepare herbs at home and also to deliver the newly flavored liangfen.
Considering that lychees change color after one day and lose their fragrance after two, and that pears can last several days without issue, she decided to make lychee-flavored liangfen first.
The freshness of the lychees suggested they were picked in the morning. Perhaps due to their small size and few people having spare money to buy them, they hadn’t sold out.
Because of their price, the vendor hadn’t agreed to a tasting, so Yu Ying wasn’t sure how sweet they were.
After peeling one to taste, she found it wasn’t particularly sweet, but the lychee flavor was still strong.
She peeled all the fruit, separating the flesh from the seeds, and placed the flesh in a bowl, yielding half a bowl.
Then, she added a bowl of clean water to the clay pot and cooked it with the lychee flesh.
After boiling for a while, she removed the contents and let them cool.
She placed a layer of muslin over a new bowl to strain the fruit pulp and juice. After filtering it twice, she squeezed out the remaining water from the pulp.
In the end, she had just one bowl of juice.
Calculating, Yu Ying figured adding another bowl of water to make the ice cream would yield nearly two full bowls.
The wooden bowls in the Fu household were not small but rather large, making two bowls of ice cream quite a significant amount.
Using Wu's Eatery's large bowls as a reference, which were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, and adding some sugar water, she expected to yield about six or seven bowls in total.
Since lychee is naturally sweet, she could dilute the sugar water with half water, saving some cost for six or seven bowls.
The cost of the sugar water wouldn't be included in her expenses, nor would it be charged to her account.
She used to earn one coin per bowl of ice cream, but adding lychee increased the cost. In ancient times, lychees were expensive, and though cheaper in Lingnan, they were still pricier than other fruits.
However, Yu Ying's target wasn't all patrons but those who ordered dishes at the eatery.
She noticed that day at the eatery, apart from those who ordered plain noodles, many could afford rice and cooked dishes. A one or two coin increase in the price of the ice cream would still be affordable.
After the conversation with Fu Wei today, not knowing if he was in the right state of mind, Yu Ying didn't disturb him further and went on to prepare the next day's ice cream.
When everything was set, it was almost dark, so she had to burn some firewood in the clay stove for light.
After a simple bath, she returned to her room and poured out all the copper coins she had earned recently onto the bed.
The household lacked many essentials, not even a pot, so the money from selling the silver leaves and her previous earnings had been almost entirely spent.
Earning over a hundred coins today was a significant amount.
In the dim light, Yu Ying counted each copper coin one by one.
In the end, she earned a total of one hundred and fifty coins.
Yu Ying sighed. This one hundred and fifty coins were far from a thousand, let alone seven taels of silver.
But it was a good start. Initially, her entire fortune was just seven coins and two silver leaves worth seventy-six coins. Now that she had saved up some money and could afford oil, salt, rice, and occasionally meat, things were already much better.
After reassuring herself, Yu Ying strung ten copper coins together with a straw stem, keeping only ten coins for miscellaneous expenses and burying the rest in the ground.
Early in the morning, Yu Ying went to the mountains without bringing Fu An or informing Fu Wei, just taking a firewood knife and a backpack and heading out.
Now, in the village, aside from Aunt He who was tight-lipped, no one knew that Yu Ying was supplying food to the eateries in Jade County. They only thought she went to the mountains to gather herbs to sell to the medical halls in Jade County.
They didn't know how much money she had made, but seeing her frequently going to the mountains and the county, everyone assumed she was making a little money and thought of venturing into the mountains themselves to try their luck finding some herbs.
Even though they couldn't recognize any specific herbs, they picked anything that looked unusual and unfamiliar, hoping some might be medicinal despite the possibility of being just weeds.
When Yu Ying arrived in the mountains, she saw many villagers digging for herbs.
Observing their baskets, she noticed more weeds than herbs, indicating they were picking blindly.
Some saw Yu Ying but no one dared to ask her how to identify herbs.
Even if someone asked, Yu Ying wouldn't tell, mainly to avoid trouble.
She was afraid some might think they knew a few herbs and randomly pick them for consumption.
It was fortunate that no one got sick from consuming the herbs, as any incident would be her responsibility. Yu Ying knew she couldn't discuss herb identification with them, so she had to avoid them and pick herbs in less frequented areas.
Seeing her leave, the woman who was threatened by Yu Ying in the fields yesterday raised her head and said to someone beside her, “She’s just being cautious around us, afraid we’ll see what herbs she’s picking and follow suit. This mountain isn’t hers alone; how selfish.”
The person who heard these words, showing displeasure, replied, “Keep your voice down. We are infringing on her livelihood and still expect her to teach us about herbs? You’re dreaming.”
Yu Ying faintly heard this conversation but didn’t take it seriously.
With more people in the mountains, there was a sense of emboldened courage.
However, when they take their herbs to the medical hall and find more weeds than herbs, the unscrupulous hall might either refuse to buy or offer a mere wen.
Wasting half a day for just one wen, earned through risk, they would probably not return.
Early in the morning, Fu Wei, who hadn't slept all night, sat on the bamboo bed, silently staring out of the window and into the courtyard.
As for the matters Yu Ying spoke of last night, Fu Wei didn’t doubt their truthfulness.
After all, no one would be foolish enough to strain themselves or put themselves in danger just to deceive others.
There was a blood relation between him and the Fu family, yet there was none with her, and yet she toiled for their sake while he was of no use.
Thinking of this, how could he possibly sleep?
He lowered his gaze to his legs, immobilized in braces, and remained motionless for a long time, as if frozen.
When would his legs recover to normal?
Only with the recovery of his legs could he be of help.
At the very least, then he could protect her when she went into the mountains to gather herbs.
Sounds from outside the courtyard stirred Fu Wei, who had been motionless for a long time. He looked out to see Yu Ying returning with her basket, her face flushed with heat as she entered the yard.
Yu Ying hurried back, covered in a thin layer of sweat. After setting down her basket, she scooped up a ladle of water to wash her face.
When Fu Ning saw Yu Ying return, she hurriedly ran over in her grass shoes to bring her some mint water.
After washing her face, Yu Ying opened her eyes to see a bowl of water in front of her. Looking up, she saw the little girl smiling at her with a pure, innocent grin.
Yu Ying returned a gentle smile and thanked her, then took the bowl and drank the water.
After a few sips, Yu Ying said, "Auntie needs to step out for a bit. I'll be back soon."
She patted the little girl's head and then hurriedly delivered the prepared ice cream to the village entrance.
She waited a while at the entrance before Shopkeeper Chen arrived.
Since it wasn't the usual day for going to Jade County, there were no other passengers on the ox cart.
After placing the wooden barrel and clay pot on the ox cart, Yu Ying said, "I have to gather herbs today, so I won't be going to town. In the clay pot is lychee ice cream. Please tell Shopkeeper Chen to price it at four coins per bowl."
Hearing the price of four coins per bowl, Shopkeeper Chen exclaimed, "Four coins? That's expensive!"
Yu Ying smiled, "Although it's priced at four coins, it's only three coins for those who dine at the eatery. They might think it's a bit pricey, but they'll also see it as a good deal."
After a moment of thought, she added, "Please tell Shopkeeper Chen that this ice cream is mainly for those who order dishes and those who have tried it before. They have the means and, having tasted the ice cream before, will surely be curious to try a new flavor."
"Also, lychees will be out of season in about half a month, so tell him to inform the customers that this flavor will only be sold for ten days, with sales ending each day once it's sold out. Rarity increases value, and those eager to try new flavors will naturally hurry over, increasing the eatery's customer base. Even if it sells out, they might stay to dine on other items, right?"
Shopkeeper Chen listened and found her reasoning quite persuasive.
Shopkeeper Chen looked at the amount of lychee ice cream, realizing it wasn't much, but understood that attracting customers was the most important aspect.
"Moreover, since lychees are naturally sweet, you could advise Shopkeeper Chen to dilute the sugar water with some plain water, which can also save costs."
Shopkeeper Chen couldn't help but admire her, yet he soon showed a hint of regret: "If you were a man, Lady Yu, you would surely have achieved great success. It's a pity you are a woman."
Although Yu Ying didn't appreciate such remarks, she didn’t retort.
In this era, women were often underestimated, and arguing wouldn’t change their mindset.
Regardless of their views, she wouldn't let prejudice against women stop her from doing what needed to be done. She focused on doing her best, regardless of others' opinions.
As she watched the ox cart leave, Yu Ying remembered Shopkeeper Chen's lament about her being a woman, contrasting it with something Fu Wei said the day before.
—"With your skills, you'll find other ways to make money."
This sentiment starkly contrasted with Shopkeeper Chen's earlier statement.
Unlike Shopkeeper Chen, Fu Wei didn’t dismiss her abilities because of her gender; he was someone who respected others.
This realization brought a faint smile to Yu Ying's face.
Staying at the Fu residence was actually a very good choice, given her lack of alternatives.
