Golden candlelight shone bright. The old madam trusted no one else, so she personally ladled out the mutton soup for everyone.

She too had once run a large household, so she knew how things should be arranged. First she brought out the mixed rough grain and fine grain buns studded with wild vegetables that had been made earlier, piling a large basketful onto the kang.

These were the flesh and blood who shielded their own grandmother from blades and arrows — no matter what, they had to be fed until full.

As for the mutton, she ladled it with real standard.

A large coarse porcelain bowl — first a generous half-ladle of mutton offal at the bottom, then two large sections of spine bone stripped of meat to fill out the volume, then seven or eight evenly placed pieces of mutton arranged on top of the bones. The last three pieces especially had to rise above the rim of the bowl to look proper. Finally, a fierce ladle of broth was added on top — that was a truly full bowl. Even the Emperor’s household would eat no better than this.

Even the Empress herself wouldn’t dare make it this generously every day!!

There was salt in the house, and before ladling the soup, the old madam threw three handfuls of salt into each of the two pots.

She didn’t agree with Qiqian’er’s way of seasoning — what did “just the right taste” even mean? What was so great about “just right”? That girl had no experience! Back home, the whole family normally ate from one pot of stew, and even during the autumn harvest when extra hands were hired to help, it was still just one pot of stew. A clever daughter-in-law who knew how to cook showed her skill through salt. Hmph, this little chit didn’t even know how to handle salt properly, and there was still much to teach her.

The old madam carried the mutton soup in, beaming, calling out cheerfully to everyone: “Good, good! Today it really is like New Year’s! Look at that oil, smell that salt! So fragrant! Quick, take your bowls, eat, eat!”

Chen Dasheng jumped down from the bed at once to help, but was sternly refused by the old madam — dividing the meat carried the weight of running the household, and whoever reached in was suspected of harboring ulterior motives.

Qiqian’er didn’t bother competing for that effort. The old madam liked to keep an eye on the grain vats and the kang cabinet, so those were kept by her bedside. Doing this made her, in the old madam’s eyes, the most beloved person in this world.

Ordinary common folk had never had the custom of eating at a table, so everyone relaxed, crossed their legs, and sat on the kang to eat.

When it finally came around to the old madam and Qiqian’er’s turn to take their bowls, Qiqian’er declined. Without lifting her head, she said to the old madam, “Grandma, I’m settling the accounts for everyone. I’ll eat last.”

The old madam gazed at her pen and the characters she wrote as though gazing upon something divine, her heart swelling with pride. She nodded, delighted, her voice honeyed: “Ai! Good child, my heart… You go on and work, Grandma’s keeping it warm on the stove for you! The rest of you eat quickly — there’s more in the pot… oh! Slow down, it’s hot! Careful, don’t scald yourself, slow down… ah, tsk!”

The old madam had meant to say “my heart and liver” (a term of endearment), but felt it was too much and held herself back in the end!

Hearing the old madam say this, the people in the room, none of them ones for standing on ceremony, all offered thanks and picked up their bowls to eat. In an instant the room filled with the sound of smacking lips, chewing and swallowing, and slurping around the rims of bowls.

The old madam had thrown in a full three handfuls of salt, yet everyone still ate with relish.

This bit of saltiness was nothing — on campaign, the greatest luxury they’d had was a few pieces of pickled vegetable; you could take one small bite of that and stretch it through an entire meal, and it tasted wonderful.

Chen Dasheng quickly finished a bowl of meat and held his bowl up to his grandmother: “Grandma! More!”

His bowl was truly solid meat, nothing else mixed in.

The old madam’s face twitched, but she still answered cheerfully: “Ai, good, good, good! Coming right up, coming right up, my eldest grandson’s waiting!”

She’d taken his bowl and gone barely two steps when three more empty bowls were thrust at her from the kang, all calling out together: “Grandma! Heh heh…!”

The old madam took the empty bowls and looked down, her heart sinking. She’d been thinking that tonight she’d eat whatever bones these people had gnawed clean — crushed up and soaked in broth with dry buns, that would still be tasty. Only, this bunch of little rascals could really eat — not a scrap of bone remained.

Every single one of them was like a dog! What kind of teeth did they have? Couldn’t they leave at least a little bone marrow?

Qiqian’er smiled without lifting her head. She didn’t need to look at the stove to know the old madam would surely be throwing another two handfuls of salt in.

She wrote out the eight ledger books in front of her, labeling each with one of eight great characters: Betrothal, Clothing, Food, Housing, Travel, Social Obligations, Upbringing, Savings.

Once done, she looked up to formally settle accounts with Yu Qingguan, then remembered this man was actually more than ten years older than Choutou — calling him “uncle” wouldn’t really be appropriate.

So she called out instead: “Elder Brother Yu?”

Yu Qingguan was eating heartily with his head down, not registering at all that he was being addressed, until Qiqian’er poked him with her pen and he looked up, dazed.

Qiqian’er smiled at him: “You’re older than Choutou after all, so calling you uncle would be improper. Never mind how you two sorted things out behind the scenes — shall we agree that from today, whatever anyone calls whoever, we just answer as it comes?”

Yu Qingguan nodded without much thought: “Ai, ai! Whatever suits you, little sister-in-law, call me however you like.”

Qiqian’er smiled and said: “Good. Now let me explain how we’ll be settling the accounts.”

She lifted the ledger, pointing at the characters and reading them aloud to the room: “This is Betrothal — the gift money given when a family takes a wife for their son.

Clothing! Clothes and shoes and socks, through all four seasons, covering the body and warding off cold — all of this is clothing.

Food! Food means grain, representing meals.

Housing! This means one’s dwelling, one’s house.

Travel! This means mules, horses, carts — coming and going.

Social Obligations! This means comings and goings, relatives, ceremonial courtesies.

Upbringing! This means descendants, raising and educating children, passing on the bloodline.

Savings! This means accumulating money and storing grain, blessings extending to later generations.”

This group who loved to eat so much would even give up their meat for this. Like children, they murmured along under their breath without realizing it, silently reciting along with Qiqian’er.

Chen Dasheng stared fixedly at those characters, pride flying openly across his face.

Once Qiqian’er finished teaching, she said to Yu Qingguan: “I vaguely recall hearing Elder Brother Yu has family back home?”

Yu Qingguan’s usually plain, square face showed an expression beyond his ordinary reserve — his eyes filled with longing. Not sure what he was thinking of, he smiled and said:

“Yes! Of course I started a family. My family was poor, I married late — I didn’t have a wife until I was twenty, your sister-in-law. She’s — she’s half-deaf. She had a fever at eight or nine and the family didn’t tend to her properly, so she couldn’t hear well after that. Everyone knew about this, but well, if she’d been perfectly fine, would they have given her to me? She’s a good person, virtuous too — raised our children and served my mother, not so different from little sister-in-law here.”

Qiqian’er nodded and asked again: “Ai! I see. But how many children does Elder Brother Yu have?”

Hearing this, Yu Qingguan smiled even more broadly: “Four! Two boys, two girls. My eldest girl…”

He paused for a long while, then set down his bowl and counted on his fingers for some time before saying, startled: “Yo! My eldest girl should be old enough to marry now! Counting it out, she’d be about the same age as little sister-in-law — fifteen this year. My eldest boy should be thirteen. Third girl should be eight this year. The youngest, who’d just been born when I left — if it hadn’t been for having him, his mother nearly didn’t make it, holding on as she did, and we spent so much on medicine and owed so much grain — if not for that I wouldn’t have had to come out here. Ai, with all this chaos and war, I don’t even know if they’ve survived…”

Qiqian’er nodded, reached out, turned to a page, and in order added four names: Yu Da’ni, Er’ni, Dazi, Xiaozi.

Yu Qingguan’s wife really was capable — she’d taken care of both his mother and his children, while her own health had been ruined. It was said that not long after she’d been sent to the border, that woman had passed away.

Once she’d filled it in, Qiqian’er didn’t use an abacus, just held out her hand and tapped her fingers like a fortune-teller, then drew a breath and said: “With this many mouths, Elder Brother Yu, I’m afraid your savings will be stretched thin.”

The moment she said this, the whole room was stunned.

Yu Qingguan exclaimed even more in shock: “That can’t be! Little sister-in-law, calculate it again — this is over five hundred taels! My — back home, a good mu of farmland only costs two strings of cash.”

In their hometown, a household with fifty extra mu of land counted as an upper-class household.

Qiqian’er laughed lightly: “Elder Brother Yu probably doesn’t understand — let me explain in detail. I don’t know what the new dynasty’s land laws will be, so let’s calculate using the old standard. Back home, two strings per mu — but out at the border, one mu of decent farmable land that can actually produce grain is only worth a mere two hundred cash. But if that land were in the Two Rivers region, in the southern four commanderies, good upper-grade land can sell for as much as forty strings a mu in good times.”

The whole room drew a collective breath. Forty strings? An unheard-of figure.

Seeing them so alarmed, Qiqian’er pressed her lips together and smiled: “But don’t be afraid now — right now it’s still the first year of the new reign, the new land laws haven’t come down yet, and with the realm having lost half its population, everywhere is full of ownerless, abandoned fields. I think — since His Majesty means to nurture the people, at the very worst, ownerless wasteland around Yandu shouldn’t cost more than five hundred cash a mu, and that would even be top-grade land.”

The old madam suddenly blurted out: “What a fright!!”

Everyone, hearts still pounding, nodded together.

Qiqian’er smiled and said: “Heh~ Taking advantage of this opportunity, for your hereditary land grants, I’ve already picked out a good spot for you all. In front of our Quanqian estate, at the foot of the mountain, there’s a Wenshan Temple — the land around that temple is all ownerless, and it’s top-grade. Tomorrow when you all get back to Yandu, go find the land officer and tell him our hereditary land allotment will be the thousand mu over there.”

She then looked at Chen Dasheng: “If you don’t know who the land officer is, go find Little Hua, or go find Lord Zeng. Grandma and I will be nearby here too, so we can look after things often. Tomorrow when Elder Brother Yu’s children arrive, I’ll have people on hand — I’ll have my eldest nephew run errands for me, and it’ll teach them a bit about managing an estate too.”

Hearing this, Yu Qingguan was overjoyed and tried to crawl forward to kowtow to Qiqian’er, but she glared at him and said: “This habit of yours needs to end right now! You’re a Marquis of the City Gate — a man of rank who dines with the finest vessels. Who would dare accept your bow so easily now? If you keep this up, I won’t manage this for you anymore!”

Yu Qingguan hurriedly apologized.

But Qiqian’er kept scolding: “Elder Brother Yu is a seventh-rank official besides — bowing to me, a woman of the inner household, would be improper. Never do this again. You and I aren’t blood relations, but I hope our descendants will be like brothers of shared blood — that’s what real kinship should be.”

These words moved everyone; they looked at one another and laughed together, nodding — only Chen Dasheng didn’t laugh.

This man had been to countless battlefields, had cut off countless heads — human heads, horse heads, none of it frightened him. But asking him to work connections and social ties? What was he supposed to do?

But since his wife had arranged it, he couldn’t show weakness. Gritting his teeth, he finally nodded firmly at Qiqian’er and said with the resolve of one throwing himself into a well: “I — I’ll go! Go! Go beg people!”

Qiqian’er looked at him, and only after a good while moved her gaze back down to the ledger.

“I also plan to take out a hundred taels from each of you brothers’ and uncles’ total accounts. In the future you’ll all be starting households and families, your numbers will keep growing. Going forward, each household should have at least three hundred mu of land as a baseline to be able to afford the cost of living around Yandu and Qingfeng. Land right around Qingfeng we can’t afford with our small official ranks, but a manor three hundred li out is still manageable.”

Hearing this, everyone nodded happily, all saying, we’ll do as you say, whatever you say.

Seeing their agreement, Qiqian’er made up a master ledger as well, and organized it by headcount, drawing up an account for all eleven people.

She and the old madam each kept separate accounts, not mixed in with the family’s.

Since everyone had agreed to this, then her money was her own, Chen Dasheng’s was his own, and the old madam’s naturally belonged to the old madam herself.

So it was said — those who could count numbers might try to play tricks, but those who couldn’t would have no idea, and would even go on praising her as shrewd and capable.

Once she’d finished writing, Qiqian’er clapped her hands once: “Right, by the usual reckoning, five chi make a bu, a hundred bu make a mu, a hundred mu make a qing, nine qing make a well-field, and five qing makes a manor. Our family here counts as a great household with at least five manors.”

Five manors — the room fell silent. The old madam leaned against the doorframe, quietly wiping away tears. Everyone privately couldn’t believe it — that someone like them would actually become people with manors to their name?

Once the family’s emotions had settled, Qiqian’er’s fingers began flying again, and the numbers coming from her mouth left people dazed:

“Elder Brother Yu, let’s start by calculating your income from the land’s yield. Counting it now, you’ll have three hundred mu of land — a hundred mu tax-exempt hereditary land, two hundred mu of taxable top-grade land. One mu produces two to three hundred jin of grain — let’s calculate a middling figure — three hundred mu of top-grade land would yield roughly seventy-five thousand jin of grain a year.”

Seventy-five thousand was an enormous number; the whole room suddenly found it hard to breathe.

The old madam wanted to keel over again.

Seeing them so shaken, Qiqian’er laughed: “What good thing are you all imagining? You think you can just buy some land and haul seventy-some-thousand jin of grain straight home? Out of this grain you have to deduct the tenant farmers’ share, the court’s taxes, seed and other consumption, irrigation construction — and by court regulation, you’ll also need to dig drought-resistant wells for the fields.

And a proper well like that costs at least thirty strings to start, and that’s not even counting natural disasters, or the fact that fields need to lie fallow every other year. This is still just a rough accounting — I’m telling you all this so you have it clear in your minds.”

Yu Qingguan didn’t care about any of that — he was already beaming with joy: “This is already more than enough! Little sister-in-law, before I left, I knelt before the earth god and swore that no matter what, I’d risk my life to see that my children never go hungry. Now — this is already enough.”

Qiqian’er nodded, but paid no mind to how happy they all were, already fantasizing in their heads about mountains of grain, imagining themselves rolling around on piles of it like mice.

She kept counting on her fingers as she spoke: “After deducting losses and consumption, let’s say your net income is thirty-seven thousand jin of grain a year, and from that we also need to set aside seven thousand jin for household social obligations and for feeding your own people and livestock. So, Elder Brother Yu, your fixed annual grain income is thirty thousand jin. Add to that your seventh-rank official salary of one hundred dan of grain a year, and altogether your yearly income comes to three hundred forty-three dan of grain.”

The old madam cut in from the side: “Who could eat seven thousand jin? Girl, your numbers are off!”

Qiqian’er didn’t want to argue with her and pretended not to hear, continuing: “As a seventh-rank official, besides your grain stipend, you also have your annual salary income. You’re an imperial guard and also an official in Yandu, and capital officials have always drawn double salary by tradition — so that’s roughly two hundred strings a year for you.

We can’t calculate grain prices based on current wartime rates — in extraordinary times, we should reckon using an average year’s price. So, calculating three hundred forty-three dan sold well in an average year, Elder Brother Yu would earn one thousand eighty-three strings, converted to one thousand eighty-three taels of silver. Add the four hundred thirty-two taels you have on hand with me now, and if all goes well, by this time next year you’ll have fifteen hundred taels as your base, plus a full estate house in Quanhou village on top of that.”

Qiqian’er’s accounting was crystal clear, and the way she rattled it off, thousands here and thousands there, left the whole room utterly enthralled, as though listening to an opera.

They sat quietly for a long while before Yu Qingguan finally said, his voice dry: “I — I’ll have that much money?”

Qiqian’er laughed: “That much? That’s all in the future! What you have on hand right now is five hundred thirty-two taels, and I’m about to start spending it for you. First, the hundred taels for buying land has to come out, so you’ll be left with four hundred thirty-two taels.”

Spend money? Why spend money? He’d rather die than spend it — it should all be saved! Why spend at all?

Yu Qingguan struggled to pull himself out of his sweet dream of riches and asked, somewhat hesitant: “Little sister-in-law? Why do we need to spend money — now that things are good, food, clothes, all my needs are covered by His Majesty. I don’t need to spend anything.”

But Qiqian’er turned the silver pouch upside down, piling the silver onto a chest and beginning to sort it into stacks as she asked: “Does Elder Brother Yu still have other family? Are your parents both in good health?”

Yu Qingguan said: “My father passed long ago. When I left, my mother was still in good health, and I have an elder brother and sister.”

“Does Elder Brother Yu know how far your home is from Yandu?”

“I asked before — they told me if I were to go home and back, it’d be over two thousand li. My family’s in the south, and part of the road is by waterway.”

Qiqian’er looked up at him, reached out, and pushed ten of the silver cakes from the five stacks toward him: “Then! When spring comes next year and the escort agencies in the city open for business, this hundred taels will serve as the escort fee. You can’t leave your post, so you’ll have to entrust someone else to go fetch your wife and children.”

She swept her hand again, pushing out five more silver cakes: “For the journey, the escort agency will need to hire a servant woman to look after your mother and wife, and feed your four children — two thousand li, six people, let’s call it fifty taels. Not excessive, is it?”

Yu Qingguan looked as though his heart and liver would shatter, and said, his voice trembling: “No — no, not excessive. It should be spent, spend it.”

Qiqian’er reached out again and pushed out another ten silver cakes, but didn’t push them toward the spending pile — she just looked at Yu Qingguan and said: “You’ve been gone seven years — has your mother and wife and children been entirely dependent on your brother and sister’s care this whole time?”

At this, Yu Qingguan’s face turned pale, and his fists clenched.

If his brother and sister had helped even a little, he wouldn’t have had to sell his land and abandon his wife and children to come out here and endure all this upheaval.

Qiqian’er understood, and nodded: “Hmm… then Elder Brother Yu needs to stay alert on this point. Tell the head escort — when he goes to fetch your family, have him first ask around among the neighbors. If, in these seven years you’ve been away, your brother and sister helped out at all, even a little, we can’t pretend it never happened.

You’re an official now, so when your family is collected, no matter what, you should give that household fifty taels of silver — that’s the proper courtesy among family… If they didn’t help at all, of course, there’s no need to give them anything.”

This time Yu Qingguan didn’t look at Qiqian’er. He reached out and pulled the silver cakes toward himself, his tone heavy: “I’m afraid, without paying that ransom money, my brother and sister-in-law won’t let them go.”

Everyone has their own troubles. Qiqian’er smiled, reached into the pile and pulled seven cakes back to their original place, pointing at the remaining three: “Tell the head escort — go in at midnight, take the whole family away quietly, five taels a person!”

Hearing this, Yu Qingguan’s eyes lit up, and he looked up at Qiqian’er, asking loudly: “Like this — this would work?”

“Ten mu of top-grade land, why wouldn’t he do it? Men of the martial world are bold enough.”

“What if — what if my brother and sister-in-law see the people are gone and report it to the authorities?”

“The court has only just gotten things sorted out — clearing things up two thousand li away will take time. But does Elder Brother Yu’s family have any land or property?”

“My wife fell ill, and the few mu of ancestral land were sold to my brother. There’s still, right now, three rooms of an earthen house with a tiled roof.”

Hearing this, Qiqian’er smiled: “Then rest easy. For the sake of those three tiled rooms, your brother and sister-in-law certainly won’t dare make a fuss. Besides, you’re not sitting for the imperial examinations — it’s not as though the local government office will come beating drums to your family’s door.

They won’t even know you were sold into the Tan family army in the first place. Second, you’re a military officer — with your guard corps alone spanning twenty-some garrisons and tens of thousands of men. Your brother and sister-in-law, coming from the countryside, the government won’t even issue them a travel permit. Third, once these people are secretly taken to your posting, what can they do even if they come? Just pretend not to recognize them and drive them off! If they were truly family, why weren’t they family when it counted?”

Once Qiqian’er said this, every man in the room silently thought to themselves: from now on, even if we get beaten within an inch of our lives, with the scar of a blade across our back and belly, we’d better not provoke her — this woman really is a fearsome one.

With that person settled and seventy taels saved, Qiqian’er, now flush with extra funds, smilingly counted out fifty taels more: “This fifty taels will go toward — come next spring, since you’ll have a house but nothing decent to furnish it with, you’ll need at least a basic set of plain wood furniture, plus new bedding, kitchen utensils. Being frugal, this should be enough.”

The old madam stood up, wanting to say something, but remembering Qiqian’er’s fierce streak when it came to cutting off people’s paths to wealth, she held herself back and sat back down.

She shuffled her stool, not lifting her bottom from the seat, over to her grandson’s side and reached out to pinch him.

Chen Dasheng’s face remained expressionless, unmoving.

Fifty taels for furniture and bedding, just like that — had she lost her mind?

The old madam thought it too expensive, and so did Yu Qingguan. He wanted to open his mouth and say something, but Qiqian’er said first: “A seventh-rank official may not amount to much in Yandu, but your family is already one of officials and gentry. Not to mention you’ll be dining from fine vessels — with people coming and going for social calls, will you really have everyone sit on the floor at your house?”

Hearing her stern tone, Yu Qingguan swallowed and said: “Yes, yes! Spend, spend it then… little sister-in-law, use it as you see fit.”

Once he said that, there was no holding her back — she kept right on itemizing: “Once your wife and children arrive, they’ll be the young mistress and young masters of an official household from then on. We can’t let them keep suffering, so at the very least, the household should buy a maidservant or two to help out…”

Before she’d even finished, the whole family burst out, shocked: “Buy people?”

Qiqian’er drew a breath and nodded helplessly: “Yes, there’s no avoiding it. Once everything’s settled, you’ll find you can never go back to these frugal days.

The girls will need to socialize with other young ladies going forward — everyone they mix with will be from official and gentry families. Today an outing, tomorrow a tea gathering. Even though they’re the daughters of a minor official, they truly will be young ladies now. Even when going out, they’ll need at least a rough servant woman accompanying them — surely they won’t go out on foot still wearing coarse cloth and thorn hairpins?

The household will absolutely need a mule cart, and with a cart comes the need for a driver. The young master coming home will need to study too — even if two of them share one, they’ll need a study companion. And official sons need familiar surroundings from a young age — a good private school in Yandu, I heard once, a good teacher’s tutoring runs at least two thousand cash a month…”

From then on, everyone in the room watched Qiqian’er’s hand keep sweeping across that pile of silver cakes without pause.

“Once people arrive, each season one set of proper clothes needs to be made, and ordinary jewelry and hair ornaments too. Silk and satin run three strings seven hundred cash per bolt, and you’ll need four bolts. Fine cloth is eight hundred cash a bolt, you’ll need ten. For the servants’ own clothing, cheaper cloth at three hundred cash a bolt, five bolts needed. Straw sandals at twelve cash, need thirty pairs. Wooden clogs at three hundred cash, twenty pairs. Yandu is cold, and a good boot shop in the city sells leather boots at three strings five hundred each, need six pairs… and then the young master’s school satchel, primer books, brushes, ink, paper, inkstone, tuition and meal fees…”

Yu Qingguan’s body had long since gone limp against Tong Jintai beside him. Everyone kept watching until Qiqian’er’s hand stopped sweeping across the chest, having nothing more to itemize, and they all let out a breath as though rescued from certain death.

Yandu was terrifying! Being an official was terrifying! Eating from a copper hotpot was even more terrifying!

Qiqian’er’s hand came up empty, and she pursed her lips: “Ah, right, and the two daughters’ dowries, and the two sons’ betrothal gifts for taking wives — that’s two more major expenses, at least a thousand strings should be set aside…”

Yu Qingguan stared blankly at the roof beams, eyes glazed, muttering to himself: “Little sister-in-law, just — just kill me now.”

Qiqian’er swept the pile of silver cakes and loose silver neatly into the pouch, laughing lightly: “Killing you would turn you into money — so, killed you shall be.”

She packed up the pouch, then took a string of copper cash from underfoot, untied the hemp cord, and counted out five hundred cash, saying to Yu Qingguan: “Hold out your hands, both of them.”

Yu Qingguan held out his trembling hands, and Qiqian’er, as if bestowing charity, dropped the five hundred cash into them with a jingling clatter: “Elder Brother Yu, from now on you have a family and household. Whether your mother and wife and children live well depends entirely on you from here on. In Yandu there’s no shortage of wealthy men — plenty who’d spend ten thousand strings on an ordinary horse whip without blinking.

But you’re not like that. You’re just a gate officer watching the door for His Majesty. You don’t have the knack for making money on the side, or the cleverness to curry favor with superiors, so don’t try to learn other people’s crooked tricks — you won’t manage it, they’re too skilled at it.

So, starting this month, your salary comes to me first and I’ll manage it for you. You get five hundred cash a month, not one more! Spend it as you like — if you don’t use it all, good for you, if you run out, you’ll have to endure it.”

Qiqian’er waved her hand: “Next!”

Yu Qingguan cradled the coins that kept slipping from his grip, shrinking gratefully into the corner of the kang.

Tong Jintai drew a breath and hitched up his cloth belt. This quiet, low-presence San Dao mustered his greatest courage in life, set down a somewhat larger silver pouch in front of Qiqian’er with a thud, and called out:

“Sister-in-law! This is way more than my second brother’s! We have no father, no mother, no elder brother or sister, no old home to return to, no relatives to visit! In this whole world, it’s just me! I don’t ask for anything else, just one thing — I want to find myself a wife just like you! I’m offering this whole pile, way more than my second brother’s! Please find me one just like you — doesn’t matter if she’s uglier than you…” ahh!!”

Chen Dasheng slowly withdrew his foot, kneeling back down slowly beside his wife, and inexplicably nuzzled against her, saying low: “You’re pretty!”

Qiqian’er watched the flatbread slowly slide off the wall. She blew on her palm, glared around the room, and saw the whole family bow their heads in fear.

She gave a snort and said: “Take this one out and hang him from a tree. Next!!”

Author’s Note: I’ve faced unprecedented difficulty — how much does a mu of farmland cost in ancient times, how much for a bolt of cloth, how much for an escort job — you’d never guess how much digging I did. I even went and read academic papers over this! Someone asked why I updated twice — don’t ask, asking means death. I gave Yu Qingguan an extra thousand taels.