After listening to what Su Chi had said, Xie Yushu patted his hand and told him not to worry—she’d go take a look tomorrow.
The next day, Xie Yushu wasn’t as busy as she’d been the day before. She helped Su Chi at the shop in the morning, attending to customers, and went to the Hu household before dinner as promised.
She followed the address Fang Kui had given her and found it easily enough. As it happened, the Hu family also lived on Qingshui Lane, but at a distance from the Xie courtyard—one at the east end, the other at the west. The two families wouldn’t normally run into each other.
She’d barely knocked a few times when hurried footsteps came from inside. The door was opened by a middle-aged woman with a stern face, her brow tightly furrowed as if carrying an unshakeable worry.
Aunt Hu opened the door and asked her business. Xie Yushu answered honestly. Predictably, the next moment—bang—the door slammed shut right in her face, the wooden panel narrowly missing her nose.
Startled by this imposing rejection, Xie Yushu stepped back half a pace, touched her slightly reddened nose, but ultimately didn’t knock again.
When she got home, Su Chi came up to her and immediately noticed the faint red mark. He leaned in with concern, gently brushing his fingertip over the flushed skin, muttering: “Don’t worry about this anymore. I’ll handle it.”
Though he said that, Su Chi was still a bit angry. One thing was the auntie not wanting to sell vinegar—that was one matter. But deliberately hurting someone was another.
He couldn’t seem to let that go.
Xie Yushu looked at her husband with concern. Let him handle it? That Aunt Hu hadn’t even taken her seriously—how would she be polite to a man?
But seeing Su Chi’s serious expression, that stubborn look that refused to back down, she didn’t voice her thoughts. Fine, let him do as he wished. That Aunt Hu probably wouldn’t lay a hand on a young man either.
The more Su Chi thought about it, the angrier he got. He even set aside the important task of making chili oil for the time being. Later that evening, he went back to the Hu household alone to demand an explanation.
This time, Aunt Hu didn’t come to the door. Instead, a young, unmarried man’s face appeared from behind it—likely her son, judging by his age.
Hu Yuan recognized Su Chi at the door. He knew the gentle husband before him had come once before, only to be driven away by his mother. He pulled the door open a little wider so they could speak.
Su Chi suppressed the anger he felt over Xie Yushu’s reddened nose and kept his tone polite: “Is Aunt Hu home?”
Hu Yuan nodded, though his face was troubled: “She is, but my mother is already resting in her room.”
“Well…” Su Chi was at a loss for words. With that said, he couldn’t very well force his way in. Those words clearly meant Aunt Hu didn’t want to see anyone—who went to bed this early?
Hu Yuan knew why Su Chi had come and felt deeply apologetic: “I’m really sorry. Our family can’t do business with you.”
“Why not?” Su Chi truly couldn’t understand. Why did the Hu family refuse to do business with shopkeepers? Wasn’t it a good deal? He’d never seen anyone turn away money.
Hu Yuan quietly apologized on behalf of his mother: “My mother doesn’t have a good impression of shopkeepers. Please don’t take it personally—she didn’t mean any harm.”
Seeing that Husband Su was good-looking, good-natured, and easy to talk to, Hu Yuan slowly told him about a wound their family had carried for years.
The Hu family had moved from Lüban Town a few years ago. Since arriving here, they’d only done business with individual customers and neighbors, never again dealing with commercial establishments.
Back in their old town, things had been very different.
Back then, they did business with everyone—restaurants, shops, even street stalls making a humble living. Their vinegar-making craft had been passed down through generations, and the flavor was unparalleled. The moment a jar of vinegar was opened, the sour fragrance would travel half a street.
The vinegar was clear and bright in the bowl, delicious with anything you dipped in it, even drinkable straight from the mouth. Their business was so good it made others envious.
Every few days, people running restaurants, shops, even stalls would do business with the Hu family. Everyone wanted long-term supply. The Hu family never cut corners with any customer, always dealing in good faith, never cheating anyone. The quality of their vinegar was undeniable—no one could say a bad word about it.
In those years, the Hu family lived comfortably.
Then one day, his mother went to deliver vinegar to a restaurant as usual. The restaurant owner played a dirty trick, accusing her vinegar of being watered down, saying she was dishonest in business and tampering with her products—claiming who knew what else she’d mixed in, making it sound very convincing.
Though his mother was honest and hardworking, she would never tolerate anyone slandering her craft and her carefully selected ingredients—especially someone maliciously attacking the quality of her family’s vinegar without cause. She argued with the restaurant owner on the spot, both of them shouting, neither willing to back down.
Their argument drew a crowd of onlookers on the street. The restaurant owner was also sharp-tongued and unreasonable, rallying a group of people to back her up. With words flying back and forth and the other side outnumbering them, they could turn black into white. Aunt Hu was immediately at a disadvantage, forced to endure accusations from the crowd.
Once this incident blew up, all the businesses that had previously dealt with her family cut ties. The Hu family’s orders vanished overnight.
The restaurant manager later approached Aunt Hu privately and said that if she wouldn’t pay compensation, she could just hand over her family’s vinegar recipe instead.
Those words struck Aunt Hu’s deepest nerve. The vinegar recipe and craft were more precious to her than her own life.
She neither agreed nor disagreed. She simply stayed silent for several days. Heartbroken, Aunt Hu decided to move her entire family far away from Lüban Town, to Songwan Town.
From then on, their family never did business with shopkeepers again. They only sold to neighbors and other individual customers—one jar per person, no more.
Su Chi was silent for a while after hearing this. Finally, he understood why Aunt Hu was the way she was.
It wasn’t that they were being deliberately targeted—it was just that people had broken her heart.
They were all pitiable people.
This kind of thing couldn’t be forced; it had to be taken slowly.
Had she truly given up all hope?
But as Su Chi stood outside the courtyard, he could see inside: row upon row of large vinegar vats and jars, evenly spaced, neatly arranged in lines, their surfaces polished to a gleaming shine.
When Su Chi got home, he and Xie Yushu set about preparing dinner together.
Xie Yushu sat in front of the stove, holding tongs as she added firewood one piece at a time, occasionally turning them: “Do we have to use her vinegar? I think the vinegar from other shops is fine too.”
She had a discerning palate, but she wasn’t picky about vinegar—as long as it was sour enough and had flavor.
“The customers like vinegar,” Su Chi said as he stir-fried. “If we’re going to offer it in our shop, we should offer the best. If it’s not the best, we shouldn’t offer it at all.”
Xie Yushu raised an eyebrow at this, a smile flickering in her eyes. Her husband certainly had high standards for himself—he looked exactly like a reliable, responsible shopkeeper.
Compared to him, she was practically a slacker.
“Besides, I want to introduce a new item—something that tastes best when dipped in vinegar.” Su Chi deliberately kept her in suspense, not telling her what it was.
“Whatever you say. As long as you know what you’re doing.” Xie Yushu said it lightly, but inside she was curious. Since he wasn’t volunteering the information, she wouldn’t show her interest.
She knew he knew what he was doing. She only helped out at the shop occasionally—Su Chi was the one who held everything together, inside and out. Her husband was incredibly capable.
As they talked, a rich aroma wafted from the wok. Su Chi spooned the first dish onto a plate and set it on the table, then started on the second.
“Another new item for the shop? Can you handle the extra work?” Xie Yushu frowned after a moment’s thought.
Su Chi had just added the washed greens to the wok. At her words, his hand paused, the spatula stopping at the bottom of the pan. He looked at Xie Yushu with bright, radiant eyes, a slight smile curving his lips: “You underestimate me?”
His tone wasn’t angry—just filled with a confident, unquestionable assurance, as if to say he would do it well.
Seeing Su Chi’s adorable, earnest expression, Xie Yushu’s heart melted. Her worry that he couldn’t handle it wasn’t doubt in his ability—it was fear that he’d exhaust himself.
She set down the tongs, stood up, walked over to him, and planted two kisses on his cheek: “How dare I underestimate you? You’re the hardest-working and most capable person in this family.”
They were still cooking—why was she coming at him like this?
Su Chi’s face flushed from the kisses. He freed one hand to gently push her away, not wanting her to get splattered with oil: “I know. Get away from me now.”
“If you get too tired, hire someone to help. I can’t be with you every day.”
“I know. I’ll handle it.”
Su Chi wasn’t unwilling to spend money on hiring help. It was more that he felt he was still young enough to handle the work himself. He had no plans to hire anyone for now. But if business got too busy to manage, hiring someone would be inevitable.
·
A few days later, winter had truly arrived. The wind was harsh enough to scrape the skin off one’s face, and everyone on the street bundled up tightly.
At the town gate, a few scattered ox-carts were parked. A middle-aged couple climbed down from one. They were plainly dressed, clearly of ordinary means—though their clothes had no obvious patches, and their spirits seemed much better than before.
These were Su Ping and Cai Zhi, returning from Bailian Town.
That morning, they’d gone to the Bai household to see their son. Though the remaining fifteen guan of betrothal money promised by the Bai family hadn’t been paid, at least Sheng-ge’er was filial—he’d saved up some money during his time with the Bai family and given it to them.
They took the money and didn’t want to linger at the Bai estate. The servants there looked at them not like in-laws, but like thieves casing the place. Uncomfortable, they took the money and left in a hurry.
The couple planned to have a meal in town before heading home. They rarely came to town themselves—usually Sheng-ge’er would come to buy whatever the household needed while they stayed home comfortably waiting for him to return with their supplies.
With the two guan from Su Sheng tucked in her money pouch, Su Ping was pleased, but she couldn’t help complaining: “That Sheng-ge’er really has no sense. It’s been so many days since he’s come home, enjoying all the fine food and drink at the Bai household. If we hadn’t gone ourselves to ask for money, do you think he’d even remember he has a mother and father back in the village?”
Cai Zhi shot his wife a sideways glance, annoyed: “When you were taking our son’s money, you called him filial. Now that we’ve left the Bai household, you’re calling him unfilial? Is that how a mother should act?”
“Alright, alright, let’s drop it. What kind of talk is that in the middle of the street?” Su Ping hugged her not-particularly-thick coat, breathing white puffs of air. “This weather is freezing. Let’s go get some hot soup and a warm meal.”
Cai Zhi was also cold and hungry by now. They wandered down the main street for a while, passing several shops whose offerings they couldn’t even identify.
As they browsed, they spotted a shop with steamers out front in a side street off the main road. Cai Zhi pointed: “Let’s go there. Looks like they have some hot soup.”
Su Ping nodded, and the two quickened their pace toward Su’s Bun Shop.
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