The next morning, Fan Changyu brought fresh pork and braised meat to her family’s butcher shop first thing in the morning.

The morning market was already bustling. Vendors and peddlers were calling out their wares, while elderly women in thick padded jackets, baskets hooked over their arms, browsed the various stalls, picking through the goods and haggling over prices.

After laying the meat out on the chopping board, Fan Changyu greeted several butchers who had been on good terms with her father, as she usually did. This time, however, their responses seemed somewhat strained.

Just as Fan Changyu was wondering what was going on, an older woman who had come to buy vegetables apparently noticed the pork head meat on her stall, still steaming and giving off an enticing aroma. She asked, “Is this braised pork head meat also something you’re giving away as extras?”

Fan Changyu assumed the woman had heard about her giving away braised offal before. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she said, “Daniang, pork head meat isn’t cheap, and the spices for braising it cost a fair bit too. How could I possibly give this away?”

The older woman pursed her lips and shifted her gaze to the braised offal beside it. “So the braised offal is free, then?”

“When my shop reopened, I gave it away for a day to celebrate the occasion. But I don’t give it away anymore. If you’d like to buy some, it’s only two wen for one liang.”

The older woman’s expression immediately changed. “All the other butcher shops give it away when we buy meat. And you actually expect people to pay for yours?”

Fan Changyu was even more puzzled. “You mean all the butcher shops along this street give away braised offal when you buy pork?”

The older woman said, “Why would I lie to you? Just look for yourself!”

“Here you go! Take care!”

Just then, a customer finished making a purchase at Butcher Guo’s stall across the street. His shout drew Fan Changyu’s attention. She looked over and saw that the woman who had bought the meat was carrying not only a piece of pork, but also a packet of braised offal wrapped in oil paper.

Butcher Guo noticed Fan Changyu looking at him and immediately turned his face away, going back to fussing with the pork on his stall.

There was a large basin tucked into the corner of his chopping board. It was too far away to see what was inside, but now that she thought about it, it was probably braised offal.

Fan Changyu’s eyes widened. What a shameless old man! When she had given away braised offal as a favor before, he had been so sour-eyed that he had nearly stormed over and flipped her stall right then and there. He had even repeatedly warned her not to give away free meat again. And now he had turned around and was using the exact same trick to drum up business for himself.

Looking at the shops on either side, she saw that they, too, had basins of braised meat sitting on their chopping boards beside the fresh pork. No wonder they had looked so awkward when she greeted them earlier.

The older woman asked, “So, are you giving it away or not? If you’re not, I’ll go buy my meat somewhere else!”

Fan Changyu immediately said, “I am!”

After all, pig offal was practically worthless. And the braising spices she had bought weren’t only for the offal—they were also used to braise pork head meat. She might as well continue using the offal as a freebie to drum up interest in her braised meats!

When everyone was selling fresh pork side by side, some customers couldn’t tell the difference in quality. But braised offal was another matter entirely. Its color and aroma spoke for themselves!

If anything, this was actually good for her business.

The auntie had already had her eye on the braised meat at Fan Changyu’s shop. The braised meat at the other stalls looked dull and grayish and barely had any aroma, whereas hers had a rich, glossy red color that made it look like quality goods at a glance.

The moment she heard that Fan Changyu was giving away free extras too, the woman’s face broke into a wide smile. “Give me five jin (around 2.5 kg) of rump!”

Fan Changyu swiftly chopped off five jin of pork rump, weighed it, and handed it to the woman. Then she cut her five liang (around 250 g) of braised offal.

The older woman took the braised offal, gave it a sniff, and immediately exclaimed over how fragrant it was. Before leaving, she made sure to add, “You make a fine bonus! I’ll tell all my neighbors to come buy their meat from you next time!”

Fan Changyu smiled and agreed, saying that she would give the woman an even bigger bonus next time. The older woman walked away happily, carrying her meat.

When the others saw the woman leave Fan Changyu’s shop with both fresh meat and a packet of braised offal, they couldn’t help but notice how good the braised offal looked. Curious, they came over to ask the price—and without exception, they all ended up buying their meat from Fan Changyu’s stall.

As the people buying meat and vegetables saw the crowd gathering around Fan Changyu’s shop, they instinctively assumed that her goods must be better. They, too, squeezed their way over to take a look.

Before the morning market was even halfway over, all the fresh meat and braised offal at Fan Changyu’s stall had been snapped up, leaving only half a braised pig’s head unsold.

By contrast, the only customers the other butcher shops managed to get were those who had come to them after Fan Changyu’s meat had sold out and had no choice but to settle for buying elsewhere.

Seeing that someone had finally come to his stall, Butcher Guo hurriedly launched into his sales pitch, gesturing enthusiastically at the pork on his chopping board. “Take a look! Top-quality pork belly, and I’m even throwing in some braised offal for free!”

A customer buying vegetables took a peek into his basin and, upon seeing the grayish, unappetizing braised offal inside, immediately pursed their lips and shook their head. “The bonus from Fan’s Butcher Shop is glossy and bright red. Yours looks like you just boiled it in water and tossed in a bit of salt!”

“I’ll come earlier tomorrow. I’ll buy from Fan’s Shop!” The customer put down the piece of pork they had examined, then walked away without another word.

Butcher Guo’s face was positively livid. He glanced at the pork in his shop, then at the basin of braised meat, and in his fury kicked over the stool beside him, muttering a string of foul curses under his breath.

Naturally, the commotion did not escape the notice of the people at the nearby stalls.

Fan Changyu’s family’s butcher shop stood directly opposite Butcher Guo’s, so she had witnessed the whole thing as well.

The wife of a butcher who was on good terms with the Fan family quietly said to her, “Truth be told, none of us wanted to go through the trouble of giving away favors/bonuses.”

After all, when only one shop was doing it, business had indeed been good. But once every butcher shop along the street started giving away bonuses, and none of their braised offal had any particularly outstanding flavor, business went back to being much the same as when they had simply sold pork. They were just giving away a portion of braised offal for nothing.

The butcher’s wife continued, “But that Guo fellow has more tricks up his sleeve than there are holes in a beehive. A few days ago, he repeatedly warned you not to give away free things. Then the very next day, he started giving them away himself. And he doesn’t even have the shame to feel embarrassed about it. Several of us went over to reason with him, but he was completely unreasonable. If anyone tried to lay a hand on him, he’d just throw himself on the ground and accuse us of attacking him. And he has an uncle who works as the county magistrate’s assistant. There’s nothing we can do about him. We couldn’t exactly stand by and watch him steal all our business with the offals, so we all started giving away braised offal too.”

The uncle mentioned is 舅舅 (jiùjiu), which specifically means his mother’s brother — his maternal uncle.

Fan Changyu knew that the woman was explaining all this because she didn’t want her to misunderstand them. She said, “I understand, Shenzi.”

Seeing that Butcher Guo had finally suffered a setback today, the butcher’s wife was secretly delighted. She stole another glance at his stall and couldn’t resist gloating, “Good thing you came back, Changyu. Let’s see how many more days he can keep giving away that salt-water-boiled offal.”

Relying on the fact that he had a relative working as a clerk in the county government, Butcher Guo had always been arrogant and looked down on everyone. The vendors who did business along this street had long since grown sick of his attitude.

In the past, only Fan Changyu’s father had been unafraid of trouble and dared to keep Butcher Guo in check. After something happened to Changyu’s parents, Guo had taken to treating himself like the tyrant of the entire street, barking orders at everyone from morning till night.

Fan Changyu barely spared Butcher Guo another glance. After selling the last half of the pig’s head, she counted the copper coins in her cash drawer.

The pig she had slaughtered that day weighed only a little over eighty jin (approx. 40 kg). The fresh meat and braised meat together had brought in a little over two strings and three hundred wen. After deducting the one string she had spent buying the pig, she had made a net profit of one string and three hundred wen!

Fan Changyu threaded the copper coins onto a thin cord and weighed the heavy bundle in her hand. Her spirits immediately lifted.

The property would soon be transferred into her name, and business at the butcher shop was gradually getting back on track. From now on, life for her and her younger sister would only get better!

Once she had saved enough money, she would take her younger sister to the capital to seek medical treatment! She had heard that the best things in all under Heaven could be found in the capital, and the finest physicians were there too.

After tidying up the shop, Fan Changyu took the money to the market. She bought medicine for the two medicine pots at home, one large and one small, then purchased some spices needed to make the braising broth. After setting aside one string to buy the next pig, she was once again left with only a few hundred wen.

一大一小两个药罐子 : lit two medicine pots, one big and one small. “Medicine jar” is a humorous expression for people who are frequently taking medicine. One large/big and one small is referring to older and smaller ones.

Fan Changyu let out a soft sigh. Truly, it was only after taking charge of a household that one learned how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt could be.

柴米油盐 (chái mǐ yóu yán) — literally “firewood, rice, oil, and salt,” referring to the basic necessities and everyday expenses of running a household.

She picked and chose a few New Year goods before heading home. She had not even reached the alley when she spotted a snow-white gyrfalcon soaring into the sky from the direction of her house. It seemed to be the same one she had seen before.

Fan Changyu found it rather strange. Did that gyrfalcon often come around here looking for food?

If it came here often… then surely there would be a chance to catch it, right?

The gyrfalcon disappeared from sight in an instant, but Fan Changyu was already calculating in her mind how much it could fetch at the market if she managed to catch it.

When she arrived home and pushed open the courtyard gate, the first thing she saw was the half-open window of the man’s room. He was sitting at the desk in an old black robe, long hair cascading loosely around him. His expression was calm and composed, and his slender, scabbed fingers held a calligraphy brush as he concentrated on writing something.

Outside the window stood a red plum tree. Her father had planted it for her mother long ago.

This year, perhaps even the plum tree knew that the person it had once bloomed for was no longer there. Since the beginning of winter, it has produced only a single flower bud.

Amid branches laden with frost and snow, that lone splash of vivid color at the tip of the branch was striking. Even so, it could not compare to even a tenth of the beauty of the person inside the room.

Fine snowflakes were blown through the open window by the wind, some settling in the man’s hair. Beneath his dark tresses, his brows and eyes looked exceptionally cool and refined.

Fan Changyu’s breath caught faintly. When the man looked up at her, she did not hurry to avert her gaze. Instead, she continued looking at him openly and asked, “Aren’t you cold with the window open?”

Xie Zheng met her gaze and discovered that she was still staring at him without the slightest intention of looking away. His brows drew together almost imperceptibly. He turned his eyes aside and said, “It’s rather dark inside. The light is better with the window open.”

His voice was as cool and clear as ever.

Fan Changyu gave an “Oh,” then took the things in her hands to the main room and put them down. After checking on her younger sister who was taking her afternoon nap, she prepared a brazier of charcoal and brought it over to him.

Perhaps because the window had been left open the entire time, Fan Changyu found the room just as cold inside as it was outside.

She glanced at the desk, where quite a few sheets of paper already covered in ink had been laid out, and couldn’t help asking, “What are you writing?”

He had written so much. Surely he had been freezing here all morning. Wasn’t he cold?

Xie Zheng finished writing the final character and set down his brush. But with no brush rest at hand, he had no choice but to temporarily place the ink-stained brush in the notch of the inkstone.

He said calmly, “Model essays.”

Fan Changyu knew what model essays were. Song Yan used to scrimp and save just to buy them; a single volume could cost as much as three hundred wen.

She asked in surprise, “You can write model essays too?”

Xie Zheng continued to fob her off with the same excuse he had used on Carpenter Zhao. “I’ve traveled around and picked up a few things along the way. The bookshops in small places carry all sorts of books, both good and bad. As long as I write something convincing enough to fool people, the bookshops will take it.”

Fan Changyu was momentarily speechless. She couldn’t help thinking that the scholars who bought those model essays were really rather unlucky.

Then she remembered that some of the model essays Song Yan had scrimped and saved to buy in the past might have been like this. The thought gave her a small, rather satisfying sense of schadenfreude.

She cleared her throat, only then remembering his injuries. “The roads are slippery when it snows. Even after the snow has been cleared, there could still be a thin layer of ice on the ground. The wounds on your body only split open again yesterday. It would be far too dangerous for you to go outside on crutches so recklessly…”

She had rattled off all that in one breath. Was she… simply worried about him?

Xie Zheng’s expression froze for a moment. Only then did he lower his gaze and say, “I asked the old man next door to bring them back for me.”

Fan Changyu’s expression softened somewhat. But when she thought of why he had been writing model essays in the first place, she still pursed her lips and said, “Since you’ve already agreed to pretend to marry into my family, I’ll keep my promise and make sure you can recuperate properly. Things are only tight right now because the property hasn’t been transferred into my name yet. You… really don’t need to do this.”

The thought of an injured man, still suffering from his wounds, braving the cold wind and racking his brains to write model essays just to earn money to help support the household made Fan Changyu feel terribly guilty.

A cold wind blew into the room, stirring Xie Zheng’s unbound hair. He looked at the woman before him, whose delicate brows were furrowed with concern. His usually indifferent expression took on a subtle shift.

Not wanting her to misunderstand, he said, “I was merely writing model essays to pass the time. I had nothing else to do. It’s not what you think.”

The more he tried to explain it that way, the more firmly Fan Changyu became convinced of her own conclusion.

After all, who would sit in the freezing cold, letting icy wind blow through the room, just to write model essays for entertainment?

For a moment, her feelings became exceedingly complicated.

She pressed her lips together and said, “Don’t worry about me being poor. I can afford to support you!”

With that, she left the room, leaving Xie Zheng alone at the desk. His slender fingers pressed against his brow, his gaze deep and complicated, as though he were contemplating a matter that was giving him a real headache.