Fan Changyu used a bamboo sieve to scoop out the braised pork offal, which exuded a rich aroma. She drained the excess liquid. The blend of spices and meat fragrance was just right, and the color of the braised dishes was beautifully appetizing, far superior to those she had seen at the cooked food stalls earlier in the day.
Chang Ning eagerly peered over the stove, but looked disappointed when she realized it was all offal: “No pig ears…”
She loved eating pig ears.
Fan Changyu lightly poked the pork intestines and stomach with chopsticks. They were so tender that holes easily formed, indicating they were perfectly cooked and flavorful.
She said, “We’ll have intestine noodles tonight. I’ll braise pig ears tomorrow.”
Chang Ning’s eyes lit up again at this.
Taking advantage of the roaring fire on the stove, Fan Changyu scooped out the braising liquid, cleaned the pot, and started boiling water for five portions of noodles.
She instructed Chang Ning: “Go tell Madam Zhao’s family not to cook their late-night meal. We’ll all have intestine noodles together later.”
Chang Ning obediently agreed and ran next door to relay the message.
Cooking noodles didn’t take much time. Fan Changyu prepared seasonings in four large bowls and one small bowl in advance. To enhance the flavor, she added a spoonful of rendered lard to each. When she poured in the boiling noodle water, the lard and seasonings melted, instantly releasing a fragrant aroma.
Fan Changyu kept it simple. She drained the noodles into the bowls, topped them with a layer of soft, tender intestines cut into small pieces, and sprinkled some chopped green onions to finish.
If her mother were making noodles, she would have simmered a pot of rich broth to use instead of plain noodle water, making it even more flavorful.
She placed her younger sister’s bowl on the table for her to eat first, then carried the three large bowls of intestine noodles next door.
When steady yet light footsteps sounded on the wooden stairs connecting the loft to the ground floor, Xie Zheng opened his eyes.
A moment later, the woman’s voice came from outside the door: “Are you awake?”
Xie Zheng replied, “The door isn’t latched.”
His voice was still hoarse, but much better than yesterday.
Fan Changyu pushed the door open with her elbow, holding an oil lamp in one hand and a steaming bowl of noodle soup in the other. “I just heard from Madam Zhao that this morning, a large falcon swooped down from the sky and crashed through the window of the room downstairs, breaking it. How strange!”
Xie Zheng pressed his lips together, remaining silent.
He hadn’t expected his gyrfalcon to be so foolish, diving down recklessly at the sound of his whistle.
Fan Changyu glanced at his face, noticing that although still pale, his overall complexion was much better than yesterday.
She had grown accustomed to his taciturn nature and placed the oil lamp on the table, saying, “Fortunately, the bird didn’t hurt anyone. Uncle will have to repair the window downstairs when he has time. This loft you’re staying in may be a bit cramped, but it’s quiet.”
Xie Zheng finally gave a soft “Mm” in response.
Fan Changyu held out the bowl of noodles: “I made some noodles. Please make do with this.”
Xie Zheng had already caught the aroma. The unfamiliar topping on the noodles was the source of the meat fragrance that had wafted through the entire alley earlier.
The smell intensified his hunger. After drinking bitter medicine and plain porridge for several days, this bowl of noodles before him could be considered a delicacy.
He thanked her and accepted the bowl, immediately picking up some noodles with his chopsticks and eating.
The noodles were smooth, and the soup was rich. Though not made with high-quality flour, at that moment they tasted better than any noodles he had eaten before. The meat topping was soft, tender, and chewy, with a burst of flavor in every bite.
Despite priding himself on having tasted many delicacies, he couldn’t quite identify what this was.
Xie Zheng asked, “What is this?”
Fan Changyu, who was about to hurry back to eat her bowl of intestine noodles, answered, “Intestines.”
Xie Zheng’s hand paused mid-bite. Upon hearing the word “intestines,” he had an ominous feeling.
Seeing that he didn’t seem to understand what intestines were, Fan Changyu explained more directly: “It’s pork large intestine.”
His expression changed instantly.
Fan Changyu had seen people who disliked eating pork offal before, but this man’s earlier expression while eating didn’t suggest he found it unpalatable. Now that his face had turned so grim, she couldn’t understand the reason and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he answered with some difficulty.
Xie Zheng discreetly took several deep breaths to suppress the feeling of nausea.
Fan Changyu was still thinking about her bowl of intestine noodles. If she didn’t return soon, they might become soggy. She said, “I’ll head back then. When you’re done, leave the bowl on the cabinet over there. Madam Zhao will come up to collect it later.”
The door closed softly, followed by the sound of her descending the stairs.
Xie Zheng looked at the bowl of noodles in his hand, his brow furrowed, unsure whether to continue eating.
He wasn’t pampered or spoiled. During difficult military campaigns in the past, he had eaten tree bark and grassroots, but he had never eaten animal intestines.
Pork intestines? Wasn’t that where pig excrement passed through?
Just thinking about it made it hard to swallow.
But considering his injuries, this bowl of noodles was the most nourishing food he had been given in the past two days.
After much internal struggle, Xie Zheng finally picked up the noodles again and stiffly brought them to his mouth.
Heaven bestows great responsibilities upon a man, first by hardening his will and tempering his body…
It was quite tasty.
That night, Xie Zheng, who rarely dreamed, had an unusual dream about the woman who had saved him. In the dream, she was cheerfully herding a pig. As they walked, she suddenly drew a large knife, cut open the pig’s belly, and pulled out a long intestine. Looking at him, she said, “This is the intestine. I’ll cook it for you.”
The pig’s squeals in the dream overlapped with those from outside, abruptly waking Xie Zheng. He realized he was lying in a cold sweat.
The pig’s squeals from next door continued. Xie Zheng glanced out the window; it was barely dawn.
However, there was already activity downstairs. It seemed the elderly couple had risen to help the young woman slaughter the pig.
Recalling the dream he had just had, Xie Zheng’s expression turned extremely unpleasant.
Herding pigs, slaughtering pigs, pork intestines… everything related to that woman seemed inseparable from pigs.
He pressed his brow bone and closed his eyes again, trying to block out the sharp, piercing squeals from outside.
Just a few more days of endurance, he thought. The gyrfalcon had already delivered his message. His old subordinates would soon find him, and it wouldn’t be long before he could leave this place.
He would leave a generous sum of money for the woman and the elderly couple as a token of gratitude.
In the backyard of the Fan family home, Fan Changyu had already tied the pig to the slaughter bench with thick ropes. She had inherited her father’s extraordinary strength; a pig that would normally require several men to hold down, she could restrain alone.
The slaughter bench in their home wasn’t made of wood, but a stone bench specially commissioned by her father.
Once the pig was tied down, it couldn’t move an inch no matter how much it struggled, eliminating the need to hold its tail.
She thrust a long, sharp bleeding knife directly into the pig’s neck, almost to the hilt. The pig’s sharp squeal instantly ceased, and blood flowed from the knife wound. The wooden basin beneath the stone bench collected a full tub of blood.
It was considered auspicious to kill a pig with a single stroke, and the more blood drained, the better.
Madam Zhao, who had come to help, saw the basin of pig’s blood and immediately smiled: “This basin of blood will be enough to eat for several days.”
Fan Changyu didn’t respond. She pulled out the bleeding knife, her expression unusually stern, with a few specks of blood on her face and sleeves.
Whenever she slaughtered a pig, she seemed to become a different person, with an aura that made others hesitant to approach her. It was likely the inherent fierceness of those who take life.
After draining the blood, Fan Changyu untied the ropes and dragged the pig to the edge of a large pot of boiling water. She scooped up the hot water to scald the pig’s hair before using a scraper to remove it.
Chang Ning peeked into the yard from the doorway. Madam Zhao said, “Ning, go play outside. Children shouldn’t watch these things, or you’ll have nightmares.”
Chang Ning whispered, “I’m not afraid,” but still shuffled away reluctantly.
After scraping off the pig’s hair, Fan Changyu rinsed it with water again. She did most of the work herself, barely letting Carpenter Zhao and Madam Zhao help. She lifted the pig and hung it on an iron hook attached to a pillar in the yard, then used a cleaver to split the pig in half.
One half remained hanging on the iron hook, while she carried the other half to a makeshift table made of a door panel supported by two stools to cut up the pork.
The elderly Zhao couple watched in amazement, muttering, “This girl takes after her father…”
After cutting up the pork, Fan Changyu was in a hurry to take it to the meat market on a handcart. She asked Carpenter Zhao to help deliver the twenty catties of meat ordered by Chef Li from Yixiang Lou yesterday.
After some thought, she also packed some braised offals for Chef Li. It wasn’t because she hoped to do business with him for braised meats in the future—he was a chef at a high-end restaurant, and she had no intention of showing off—but purely to thank him for his patronage.
When she arrived at the meat market, Fan Changyu was among the early arrivals. Only a few shops had opened, with butchers arranging the pork they would sell that day in front of their stores.
Some acquaintances saw her and were surprised: “Oh, Changyu, are you going to open your family’s pork shop too?”
Fan Changyu cheerfully confirmed.
She opened the large doors of her family’s shop, which had been closed for over a month. Everything inside was clean, with all items still in the places her father used to keep them, though covered with a thin layer of dust.
Thinking of her father, Fan Changyu felt a pang in her heart, but knowing this wasn’t the time for grief, she quickly composed herself. She fetched water to wipe down the entire shop inside and out, then began arranging the freshly slaughtered pork on the chopping board. She also displayed the offal she had braised the night before.
It wasn’t until the sixth period of the Chen hour (around 8-9 AM) that a few people started trickling into the market to buy groceries.
Fan Changyu’s meat shop was in a good location. Unlike the other shops manned by burly men or mature women, she was a young woman, which made some of the shopping aunties feel she might be easier to bargain with. As they passed by, they would ask how much the meat cost.
Fan Changyu smiled and told them the price, adding that since the shop was reopening today, they would get one tael of braised offal free with every catty of pork purchased, as a gesture of celebration.
Hearing that they could get free braised meat with their fresh pork purchase, the aunties were tempted. Most ended up buying some pork from Fan Changyu.
As soon as the market opened, she had already made several sales, while only Fan Changyu’s shop was open among the nearby pork vendors.
The butcher from the shop across the street watched enviously and shouted, “Fan’s second daughter, you can’t do business by breaking the rules! All the meat sellers in this market have the same price. What do you mean by giving away free stuff with meat purchases?”
Fan Changyu knew this man had never gotten along with her father. Unintimidated, she replied eloquently, “Uncle Guo, you’re wrongly accusing me. Isn’t the price of meat in my shop the same as everyone else’s? How have I broken any rules? The gift is because our shop is reopening today, for good luck. Which trade rule says that’s not allowed? Uncle Guo, could it be that you think I’m easy to bully now that I’m an orphan girl without parents?”
Unable to argue with Fan Changyu, the man’s yellow face turned red with frustration: “Such a sharp tongue! I can’t out-talk you!”
A friendly butcher nearby came to her defense: “Come on, Old Guo. Changyu is only selling one pig today. Why are you nitpicking with a youngster?”
Not wanting to be labeled as someone who bullies the young, Butcher Guo barked, “Fine, you can give away your freebies today, but don’t do it again tomorrow!”
Fan Changyu had only planned to offer the free items for one day anyway, as she intended to sell the braised meats tomorrow. She replied, “Of course.”
Butcher Guo finally let it go.
Waiting for people to come and ask about prices meant the meat sold slowly. Although Butcher Guo across the street looked like he was about to burst with anger, those who might have considered asking about prices at his shop were deterred by his fierce expression.
With the free items only available for one day, Fan Changyu decided she needed to spread the word as much as possible.
As the market became busier with people coming and going, she made a quick decision and started calling out, “Pork for sale! Get one tael of braised offal free with every catty of pork purchased!”
This call was very effective, immediately drawing a crowd of people asking about pork prices.
Fan Changyu haggled with customers while skillfully chopping meat, occasionally putting on a pained expression as she lowered the price by a few coins. Before the morning market was half over, almost all the pork in her shop had been eagerly bought up, with even better results than she had anticipated.
Across the street, Butcher Guo’s face had soured to the point where it rivaled the stench of his outhouse.
Fan Changyu ignored him, tidied up her meat shop, tucked her knives into a satchel on her back, closed the shop door, and set off for the pig market to buy two more pigs, her money pouch bulging.
As she passed by Butcher Guo’s shop, he growled menacingly, “If you give away any more freebies tomorrow, don’t accuse me of bullying an orphan girl!”
Fan Changyu let out a cold snort from her nostrils, ignoring him.
Tomorrow she wouldn’t be giving anything away—she’d be selling it!
Walking down the street, Fan Changyu did a rough calculation. This 90-catty pig, minus the head and offal, yielded about 70 catties of meat. Selling it all at fresh meat prices, today’s gross profit came to over two strings of cash.
The pig’s head and offal, once braised and sold tomorrow, would bring in even more income!
After deducting the cost of buying the pig, she had netted over one string of cash from this single pig!
Feeling the weight of the money pouch against her body, Fan Changyu’s steps became lighter, and the earlier unpleasantness with Butcher Guo was completely forgotten.
But just as she left the meat market and before entering the pig market, she heard someone urgently calling her name from behind: “Changyu! Changyu!”
Fan Changyu turned to look and saw it was Carpenter Zhao, running towards her with a look of anxiety on his face.
Fan Changyu quickly asked, “What’s happened, Uncle Zhao?”
Carpenter Zhao, out of breath, gasped: “You need to go home quickly and see! Your uncle brought people from the gambling den and broke down your door. They’re ransacking the place looking for the property deed. My old bones and your aunt’s couldn’t stop them!”