Xie Zheng put on his clothes with a grim face and got up. As soon as he stepped out the door with his cane, he saw Fan Changyu coming down from the attic, holding an oil lamp in one hand and a sea eagle with disheveled feathers in the other.
Seeing Xie Zheng, she was a bit surprised: “Did I wake you?”
The sea eagle, having been slapped a few times and looking dejected, immediately started whimpering pitifully upon seeing its master. However, this time it didn’t dare to be hysterical; its cry was as weak as a chick’s, and the feathers on its head were all ruffled up, no longer sleek and glossy as before.
Xie Zheng was silent for a moment before speaking: “This is…”
Fan Changyu shook the sea eagle in her hand and revealed a big smile: “I’ve seen this goshawk around several times. I just happened to buy an old hen, so I tried setting a trap to catch it. I didn’t expect to catch it!”
Ordinary hawks can only snatch small chicks, but this goshawk was exceptionally large. Its wingspan was nearly a meter long, and its strength was astonishing. While struggling on the roof, it had made a large hole. If Fan Changyu hadn’t gone up in time after hearing the commotion, it might have escaped the trap. It only settled down after being slapped by Fan Changyu a few times.
She said: “Tomorrow morning, I’ll take it to the market and see how much silver I can get for it.”
The sea eagle continued to look at its master pitifully with its beady eyes.
Xie Zheng couldn’t bear to look at this stupid bird and lied with a cold face: “There’s no market for live hawks and eagles. If killed, the meat is tough and sour. Ordinary families can’t afford to keep them. Without proper training from a falconer, their wild nature is hard to change, and they’re likely to harm people.”
“Is that so?” Fan Changyu was immediately greatly disappointed.
She scratched her head: “But this goshawk’s leg was injured by the trap, and its wing was hurt on the roof beam while flapping. If released into the wild, it might not survive this winter.”
The sea eagle let out a weak and pitiful cry at the right moment.
Xie Zheng: “…I know a bit about falconry. I can try to train it. A well-trained hawk or eagle can sell for over a hundred taels of silver.”
“Eh?” Fan Changyu was very surprised, but upon hearing that a well-trained large hawk could sell for several dozen or even a hundred taels of silver, she became very happy. Even the thought of having to repair the roof tomorrow didn’t seem like a big deal anymore.
“Then let’s keep it at home for now!”
She immediately found a chicken coop to put the sea eagle in and brought out medicine and bandages.
The sea eagle huddled in the corner of the cage, its leg lifted by Fan Changyu to apply medicine and wrap bandages. Its beady eyes were full of terror, but it didn’t dare to move.
Xie Zheng watched as the sea eagle’s foot was wrapped up like a zongzi, his eyelid twitching twice.
After finishing all this, Fan Changyu squatted next to the cage, looking at the sea eagle with eyes full of love for the potential hundred taels of silver: “Tomorrow morning after slaughtering the pig, I’ll give you some fresh offal to eat.”
The pork had to be saved for selling, but the offal could be used freely.
The pig slaughtered today had all its offal made into braised dishes.
Before returning to her room, Fan Changyu thought for a moment. Felt that the main hall was too cold, and since she and her sister’s room had a kang bed, they hadn’t lit a charcoal brazier. Worried about Yan Zheng’s severe injuries and weak constitution, she had only lit a charcoal brazier in his room. It would be perfect to put the hawk there.
That was potentially a hundred taels of silver; it absolutely couldn’t be allowed to freeze to death!
So Fan Changyu turned on her heel, picked up the chicken coop with the sea eagle, and knocked on Xie Zheng’s door.
Regardless of the expression on the room’s occupant, she put the chicken coop in a corner of his room: “It’s cold at night. To avoid the goshawk getting too cold, I’ll leave it in your room for now.”
Xie Zheng gave the sea eagle a gloomy look: “…Alright.”
As soon as the door closed, the sea eagle’s beady eyes met its master’s narrow, gloomy phoenix eyes. Dragging its injured leg and drooping its wing that had lost many feathers, it trembled-
Early the next morning, Fan Changyu, true to her word, brought half a leaf of chopped pig lung to feed the sea eagle after slaughtering the pig.
Today seemed particularly cold outside. The snow had piled up almost to the doorstep. When the door opened, a blast of cold air made one shiver. Looking out through the doorway, icicles had formed a row under the eaves.
Fan Changyu’s hands were red from the cold. After putting the large bowl of pig lung into the cage, she rubbed her hands and said to the person sitting at the head of the bed: “Today is the Great Cold. It’s freezing. Put on more clothes when you get up. I’ve made some mao xue wang to warm you up.”
Xie Zheng nodded to show he understood, but he didn’t have many thick clothes. In no time, Fan Changyu brought over a set of her father’s thick padded jackets.
When Xie Zheng put them on, his figure became somewhat bulky, but thanks to his tall stature, he still looked handsome.
Moreover, these winter clothes were truly warm. No matter how cold the wind blew, his body remained warm.
However, along with the padded clothes came a dark blue hair tie. Xie Zheng had seen this hair tie before; last time, Fan Changyu had angrily tied it on her head.
He frowned-
When Fan Changyu came out of the kitchen carrying a large soup bowl, she saw that he had already gotten up and washed. She said, “You’re up? Perfect timing to sit down for breakfast.”
The soup in her bowl looked bright red at a glance, and a very strong spicy aroma wafted through the air.
Fan Changyu noticed he hadn’t used the hair tie she had brought, but she didn’t say anything.
She had seen how much he loved cleanliness. Bathing was inconvenient in winter, but he would often wipe himself down with hot water every few days. He also washed his hair tie frequently, and sometimes when it wouldn’t dry quickly, he would dry it by the fire pit. That’s why she had brought him the bought hair tie to use alternately.
She wasn’t that petty; how could she say she wouldn’t give it to him and then really not give it to him?
The bowl was too full, and having just come off the stove, it was scalding hot. After putting the soup bowl on the table, Fan Changyu hurriedly pinched her ears with her burned fingers: “Whew, so hot!”
Little Chang Ning came over: “Let Ning’er blow on it. Blowing will make it not hot anymore.”
Fan Changyu, both amused and exasperated, held out her fingers to her sister. Chang Ning puffed out her cheeks and blew several times before stopping.
Fan Changyu looked up to see Xie Zheng looking at her with a strange expression. She wiped her face, finding no charcoal smudges, and asked, “Is there something on my face?”
He withdrew his gaze and only said, “No.”
Fan Changyu eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then set out the bowls and chopsticks: “Try this mao xue wang! It’s best eaten freshly scalded, but we don’t have time for that today.”
The top of the soup was covered with a layer of Sichuan peppercorns and dried chili peppers that had been doused with hot oil. Underneath were cubes of pig blood, braised pork intestines from last night, pork stomach, and other offal-like pig lungs. Unfortunately, there were no bean sprouts at home, so there wasn’t a layer of plump, crisp, and tender bean sprouts at the bottom.
Fan Changyu ladled a piece of pig blood into her sister’s bowl. Little Chang Ning sucked in air from the spiciness but still looked eagerly at the soup bowl after finishing one piece: “More!”
Fan Changyu gave her two more pieces.
This was the first time Xie Zheng had seen such a hodgepodge soup. Looking at the soup, it seemed that it couldn’t be drunk, and the Fan family didn’t have the habit of using serving chopsticks.
For everyday stir-fried dishes, it was fine to pick from different sides, but with this stewed pot, it was almost impossible to use chopsticks.
During his hesitation, the Fan sisters had almost finished half a bowl of rice. Fan Changyu saw him only eating rice without touching the dish and asked in confusion: “You don’t eat spicy food?”
“…It’s not that.”
He finally abandoned his fastidiousness about dining and frowned as he picked up a piece of dark red cooked pig blood.
The first sensation upon tasting was numbing and spicy. There was almost no need to chew; with a slight press, the blood curd melted between his lips and teeth. It was unexpectedly delicious.
He gradually tried the braised offal in the dish. First braised then cooked, the braised flavor perfectly combined with the numbing spiciness, making it hard to control the speed of one’s chopsticks.
By the end of the meal, Xie Zheng had almost forgotten his fastidiousness about food.
As Fan Changyu had said, his body soon broke out in a sweat from the spiciness, and he no longer felt the severe cold outside at all.
He asked: “Is this a local specialty dish?”
Fan Changyu said, “I suppose so. It’s a famous dish at the Yixiang Lou in town. That female proprietress knows so many dishes!”
Xie Zheng only briefly considered promoting this dish in the military before giving up. Military meals were only concerned with being filling and couldn’t be this elaborate. Moreover, spices like chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns would be a significant expense.
After cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Fan Changyu brought the sea eagle from his room to the fire pit. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to remind him: “There’s half a leaf of pig lung left in the kitchen. Cut it up and feed it to the goshawk later.”
She scratched her head, a bit embarrassed, and said: “If you have time, maybe try training it a bit?”
Xie Zheng’s lazy glance was like a slow slicing: “…Alright.”
The sea eagle trembled and shrank its neck in the cage, looking like a giant quail.
Fan Changyu then confidently pushed her cart to the shop. Today, with heavy snow, there were few people on the streets at this time.
The street with the meat shops was also cold and quiet.
Fan Changyu opened the shop door and cleared the accumulated snow from under the eaves, only to find that the stove she had built outside with bricks had been smashed.
She was immediately amused and angered. How many days had she been selling braised meat in this shop? How quickly had she aroused jealousy to the point of having her things smashed?
After experiencing the incidents with Fan Da and the gambling house, she became known for her fierceness and shrewishness outside. Sometimes, such a reputation had its advantages.
Fan Changyu immediately threw down her broom, put her hands on her hips, and cursed: “Which bastard smashed your aunty’s things? Too cowardly to say things to my face and only daring to do such things behind my back. Were your ancestors turtles?”
Having practiced martial arts since childhood, her voice, powered by her dantian, could penetrate the entire street.
The butchers in the neighboring shops didn’t make a sound, but when her gaze swept over Butcher Guo, he immediately shouted: “Why are you looking at me? I didn’t smash your things!”
Fan Changyu hadn’t suspected him because, apart from schadenfreude, Butcher Guo’s face showed no signs of a guilty conscience.
A butcher’s wife nearby seemed to remember something and suddenly said: “Oh no, Changyu, your shop was closed for a month before. Did you forget to pay the protection fee?”
Fan Changyu was hearing about this protection fee for the first time and asked in confusion: “What’s that?”
The butcher’s wife sighed: “When we open shops for business, besides paying monthly taxes to the officials, we also need to give some money to please the gang leader who controls this street. It must be that your shop has been doing great business these days, and those people have heard about it. I bet they’ll be coming over soon.”
Fan Changyu understood the situation. Those people had smashed the stove in front of her door last night as a warning, and they would come to collect the protection fee today.
She thanked the butcher’s wife, first arranged the fresh meat and braised meat on the chopping board, then placed a long staff behind the door. She continued selling meat while waiting for those thugs to come.
At the third quarter of the Chen hour (around 8:45 AM), a group of street ruffians came swaggering towards the meat market, their arrogance evident. People along the way avoided them.
Fan Changyu heard the commotion from inside the shop and looked out.
Oh, old acquaintances!