Xiao Li entered through the door with half a pig carcass hoisted on his shoulder, saying, “Didn’t you want to smoke-cure some preserved meat? It’s also just in time to give New Year gifts to Elder Brother Song. I ordered a pig from Li Tuhu—we’ll keep this half for ourselves, and I’ve already had the other half delivered to Elder Brother Song’s house.”

Xiao Huiniang couldn’t help but sigh. “You’re always so extravagant with money. I keep telling you to save up for marriage, but who knows when you’ll actually manage to save enough…”

Though she said this, she still went into the courtyard to help, calling for Wen Yu to bring out two more long benches.

These benches were normally placed beside the square table for meals. Wen Yu looked at the half pig carcass Xiao Li had brought back—it was quite hefty. She felt that even if they placed the two benches side by side, they probably wouldn’t be enough to hold it.

But since Xiao Huiniang had asked, she obediently carried the benches out. However, before she could arrange them properly, she saw that scoundrel place the pork directly on the ground in the courtyard.

Wen Yu couldn’t help but freeze for a moment, thinking to herself: Did he also realize that two benches wouldn’t be enough to hold the meat?

After setting down the pork, Xiao Li pulled off the leather shoulder guard he’d used as padding and shook off the blood before tossing it aside. When he looked up and saw Wen Yu staring in his direction with confusion written all over her eyes, he glanced at the two benches she’d placed together and said, “Don’t put the benches together—spread them apart.”

Then he walked toward the kitchen and removed the door from its frame.

Now Wen Yu understood—the two benches were meant to support the door panel.

After arranging the benches, she stepped back to the side. When Xiao Li placed the door panel on top and was about to hoist the half pig carcass onto it, she saw Xiao Huiniang roll up her sleeves as if to help lift it. After a moment’s hesitation, Wen Yu also planned to lend a hand.

But when Xiao Li saw Xiao Huiniang approach, he said, “Step back a bit, Mother. I can handle this alone.”

With that, he grabbed a pig leg in each hand and with one lift of his arms, hoisted the half carcass onto the door panel.

He had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows for ease of work. When his arms exerted force, the attractive arc of his taut muscles extended all the way to his elbow joints. Further up, though concealed by fabric, the outline of his sinewy muscles could still be faintly discerned.

Disheveled hair fell across his forehead, and paired with his intense, bold features, it diminished his roguish air and added a touch of youthful vigor.

Standing to the side and witnessing this scene, Wen Yu could only think that this man’s strength was like some kind of beast of burden. Among her father the Prince’s troops, soldiers who could draw a one-dan bow were already considered elite. She wondered—with the arm strength of the man before her, how many dan could he draw?

After placing the pork and straightening up, Xiao Li raised his hand to wipe away sweat but realized his hands were covered in blood from carrying the meat. He could only raise his arm to awkwardly wipe the corner of his forehead. Seeing Wen Yu standing not far away, he called out, “Give me a handkerchief.”

Wen Yu, abruptly called back to her senses, didn’t immediately react to where she should find him a handkerchief, so she simply handed over the silk handkerchief she’d used earlier at the market as a face veil.

When Xiao Li saw the neatly folded handkerchief in her palm, he was clearly stunned for a moment. He had meant for Wen Yu to go inside and find some old rag for him to wipe the blood off his hands.

But after a moment’s hesitation, he still reached out and took it.

The blood on his hands immediately stained one corner of the handkerchief red. He pinched it and carelessly wiped the sweat from his face, then habitually tucked it into his robe.

Seeing this, Wen Yu’s expression changed. Just as she was about to speak up and remind him, Xiao Huiniang came out of the kitchen with a knife, saying, “Using this cleaver to chop through bones will probably curl the blade. Why didn’t you have Li Tuhu portion the meat properly?”

Xiao Li then turned to examine the cleaver. After one look, he said, “Forget it, I’ll just use the wood-chopping knife.”

With that, he returned the cleaver to Xiao Huiniang, picked up the wood knife, and walked to the water vat. He poured some water on both the blade and the whetstone, pressed his foot on the stone, held the blade with two fingers, and said while sharpening, “Having Li Tuhu portion the meat would cost another sixty wen. I happen to be home today—I can do it myself just as well.”

Xiao Huiniang was quite exasperated with her son. She moved a low stool over to sit nearby and began tearing the palm leaves he’d brought back into strips, twisting them into ropes and tying knots, all while scolding, “I tell you not to spend money so lavishly, but you never listen. Yet you’re strangely thrifty about these trivial matters.”

Xiao Li, seemingly accustomed to such lectures, replied, “This is called saving where you should save and spending where you should spend.”

The mother and son had already steered their conversation far afield. At this point, Wen Yu felt it inappropriate to bring up the handkerchief again. She figured he was probably just too busy and had absent-mindedly tucked it into his robe—after all, the handkerchief still had blood on it. He’d notice it himself eventually.

If she made a point of reminding him again, it might seem like she was being self-important despite her face full of red rashes, which would make things awkward for both of them.

She had already calmed her thoughts, but then Xiao Huiniang, having lost her patience arguing with her son, pulled her into the conversation: “Look at him—with such a foul, stubborn temper, I don’t know which girl will ever take a fancy to him. A’Yu, when you look for a husband in the future, you must never choose someone with such a terrible, obstinate temperament!”

Suddenly called upon, Wen Yu was momentarily speechless, completely at a loss for how to respond.

From his end, Xiao Li frowned and called out, “Mother.”

Xiao Huiniang stopped there and said to Wen Yu as if sharing secrets, “Never mind, never mind. I won’t say more—if I do, he’ll just find me, this old woman, annoying.”

Wen Yu handed over the palm leaves she’d torn to Xiao Huiniang, only saying, “Second Master is filial. He just wants to fulfill his filial duties to you.”

Just then, another knock came from outside. Wen Yu went to open the door and found a half-grown youth she’d never seen before.

When the youth saw the rash marks on her face, he seemed about to gasp in shock but, realizing it would be rude, forcibly stopped himself. He only muttered under his breath, “Just as Third Brother said.”

Wen Yu didn’t quite catch that and asked the youth, “Who are you looking for?”

When the youth looked up again, he had already put on a fresh smile. Lifting the wine jar in his hand, he said, “I’m looking for my aunt and Second Brother!”

Xiao Huiniang had already heard the voice from the courtyard and said, “Is that Xiao An? Come in quickly—we’ll have pig slaughter soup together in a bit.”

Wen Yu stepped aside at the door, saying, “So you’re a guest. Please come in.”

The youth was clearly unaccustomed to being addressed so formally for the first time. He scratched the back of his head and said, “My name is Hou Xiao’an. You can call me Monkey or Xiao An, big sister.”

He then stepped into the courtyard. Upon seeing Xiao Huiniang, his smile brightened several degrees. “Aunt, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. You look even more spry than before—you even seem younger!”

Xiao Huiniang was so delighted by his words that she couldn’t stop smiling. “You sweet-talker, just trying to make this old woman happy.”

Hou Xiao’an set the wine jar under the eaves and went over to help Xiao Li, saying, “How could that be? I’m telling the truth—you just don’t believe me, Aunt.”

These words brought another round of laughter from Xiao Huiniang.

Xiao Li interrupted his banter with his mother and asked, “Didn’t Tiger come with you?”

Hou Xiao’an took the portioned meat Xiao Li handed him and threaded palm leaves through the holes, lowering his voice to say, “After Third Brother returned to the gambling house and learned that you had the brothers take over the market, he was overjoyed. Then he ran into Wang Qing, who came back looking for trouble, so he got into a fight with him. Right now he’s still being lectured by the boss.”

Xiao Li’s meat-cutting hand paused. “Is Tiger injured?”

Hou Xiao’an shook his head. “No, he’s not. He told me not to tell you yet, but I figured you’d find out sooner or later anyway. If I don’t tell you now, when you do find out, you’ll thrash me.”

With a forceful swing of his right arm, Xiao Li brought the wood knife down, and the thick pig leg bone was severed. He made a small hole in the leg meat with the knife tip and tossed it to Hou Xiao’an, saying flatly, “Good that you know.”

Hou Xiao’an exaggeratedly shrank his neck. “Second Brother, I’ve been utterly loyal to you, devoted and steadfast through thick and thin, childhood sweethearts even, and you still—”

“Shut up!” When Xiao Li heard him trying to show off by using idioms but coming out with “childhood sweethearts,” a vein throbbed at his temple. As if at his limit, he said, “If you don’t know what the words mean, don’t use them randomly!”

As he carried the pork threaded with palm leaves and turned to go inside, Hou Xiao’an was still cupping his chin, puzzling it out: “Huh? Did I say it wrong again? Doesn’t ‘childhood sweethearts’ mean growing up together from childhood without suspicion of each other?”

Wen Yu happened to be passing by to get meat. She hadn’t heard clearly what they’d been saying in low voices earlier, only knowing that Xiao Li had suddenly snapped at him about not using words incorrectly.

Now, seeing the youth’s rather distressed appearance, she found it amusing and said, “The meaning you’re thinking of is correct, but that phrase can only be used between men and women.”

Hou Xiao’an slapped his forehead, suddenly understanding. “So that’s it! No wonder Brother Xiao looked so disgusted with me!”

His gaze swept over Wen Yu’s hands holding the palm leaves, and he suddenly asked, “Big sister, you know so much—have you studied?”

Meeting the youth’s apparently clear and innocent eyes, Wen Yu suddenly realized this youth was far cleverer than she’d initially thought. Her face showed no trace of a slip, her smile warm and gentle as she said, “I haven’t studied. I just recognize a few characters.”

Having failed to glean anything from her, Hou Xiao’an wasn’t discouraged. He obediently said, “Oh.”

When he took the two cuts of pork from Wen Yu’s hands and brought them inside to hand to Xiao Li, he muttered quietly, “Second Brother, don’t you think this sister that Chen Laizi gave you is very unusual?”

Xiao Li was already tall, and standing on a horizontal bench at this moment, reaching up to hang meat on a long nail in the beam, the sense of looking down was even more pronounced when he glanced down at Hou Xiao’an.

His eyes quite plainly conveyed a few words: If you have something to say, spit it out.

Hou Xiao’an scratched his ears and cheeks for a moment before finally squeezing out a phrase: “Refined young lady… wait… that’s not quite right either. Why can’t I think of the right words…”

He struggled for a good while before finally giving up and choosing more direct language, trying to make Xiao Li understand: “It’s just… although her appearance doesn’t look particularly good, she speaks in such a refined manner and her behavior is elegant. Her hands barely have any calluses—you can tell at a glance she’s not a girl who could be raised by an ordinary family. Yet she doesn’t have even a trace of a young miss’s delicate airs. She’s just… very unusual. I wonder what her family originally did…”

But Xiao Li simply said three words flatly: “I know.”

“Ah? Second Brother, you know? Did she already tell you?”

Xiao Li couldn’t be bothered to humor him further. He snatched the remaining cut of pork from his hands and hung it on the beam before saying, “I mean, everything you just said—I already know all of it.”

Hearing this, Hou Xiao’an’s expression became even stranger, his confusion evident. “Second Brother, don’t you want to get to the bottom of it?”

“No.”

Xiao Li stepped down from the bench and with a hook of his foot, kicked the bench back to its original position.

Hou Xiao’an picked up a nearby cloth and wiped the footprints on the bench, asking, “Why not?”

Xiao Li had once wanted to get to the root of it all. After all, here was someone who, despite being beaten to that extent by Chen Laizi, had still tried to fight back with half a brick in her weakened state—yet after arriving at his home, she retracted all her claws and only put on an obedient appearance. At first, he’d worried she might harm his mother.

But after several days of observation, he’d discovered she was merely trying her utmost to preserve herself.

He turned his head halfway, his handsome, clear-cut face divided by light and shadow into stark contrast, and said, “When someone uses every method available to them just to survive, there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as she doesn’t bring calamity to my household, I can turn a blind eye.”