The sun was high but there was little warmth to it — chilly and bleak, even the shadows of passersby on the ground seemed faint. The wind outside gusted harder and harder, seeping through the cracks in the door and creeping coldly onto one’s body.
Su Chi pulled his collar together and turned to close the courtyard gate properly. With a broom, he carefully swept up the debris that had fallen while moving the firewood, gathering it into a dustpan. The water vat was nearly empty, so he drew several buckets from the well and poured them in until the vat was full. The surface of the water reflected the pale gray sky, shimmering brightly.
The pickled greens from last time were ready. Su Chi fished them out of the jar and swiftly sliced them into even, fine strips.
He made two flavors — one spicy and numbing, one sweet — and put them into two separate pickling jars. After two more days, they’d be ready to eat.
He also planned to take the finished pickled mustard strips to the shop to sell — a small dish for one wen. For customers with a bit of spare change, one wen was nothing. When they had their vegetable congee or wontons, they could buy a dish to go with it if they wanted.
If these little pickled vegetables proved popular, he could make more varieties in the future. Su Chi knew how to make all sorts of pickled sides — sweet, salty, spicy, sour — so he wasn’t worried about customers getting tired of them.
After finishing all that, Su Chi went to the small vegetable plot to check on the growth of the crops his a-die had planted. It hadn’t been many days since they were sown, but now tiny green sprouts had emerged here and there.
Jiangzhou wasn’t like the north — winters were cold but never snowy. Many cold-hardy crops, as long as they were tended properly, could still grow slowly. Fortunately, the seeds his a-die had brought were all specially chosen cold-resistant varieties.
Many tender, fragile seedlings had pushed through the soil, fresh and delicate. Su Chi crouched down and watched them for a long while, his eyes crinkling with a smile. Looking at these seedlings felt just like watching the little chicks he used to raise at home — it filled his heart with joy.
He estimated the time and decided to throw together a simple lunch for himself. With Chen Fulang watching the shop, he felt much more at ease. Su Chi planned to eat quickly at home and then head back to take over.
Xie Yushu wouldn’t be coming home for lunch, so he couldn’t be bothered to make anything elaborate. He steamed a pot of coarse brown rice, stir-fried some greens, and had it with pickled vegetables — a simple meal to tide him over.
After eating, he returned to the shop and sent Chen Yun home to cook for his family.
When he had hired Chen Yun, they’d agreed that he could go home at midday to make lunch for his family and then come back. There were still three mouths at home waiting to be fed, all relying on him for meals. It wasn’t too late — the timing was just right for cooking.
After Chen Yun left, there was only one table of customers left in the shop. The thick cotton curtain kept the cold out, making the shop warm and cozy. The kitchen was even warmer with the stove burning, making one drowsy. Su Chi’s eyes grew misty as he let out a yawn.
He was sleepy, but he couldn’t stop working.
The wonton filling from the morning had sold out, so Su Chi made a large new batch and swiftly wrapped enough for several dozen portions.
Since winter began, the hot soups had been selling fast and well. Even at midday and in the evening, many people came to the shop just for a bowl. Recently, though, more people came in the evenings — most buying them to take home for their families.
Su Chi’s shop had been open for a while now, and its reputation had long since spread through the small town of Songwan. Now, everyone in town who liked to have an early breakfast knew that the second shop just past the corner of Main Street was Su’s Bun Shop, run by a capable young fulang who made the most delicious food.
Especially his wontons — no one else could replicate that flavor.
In winter, eating something hot was the best. Though twelve wen a bowl was a bit pricey, one bite revealed a smooth, fresh flavor they’d never tasted before. No one knew how the meat was prepared to make it so delicious, and the broth was even more remarkable — they’d heard the shopkeeper added an expensive homemade savory powder. One bowl of that broth was sheer bliss.
Those who couldn’t eat at the shop would bring bowls from home and take one or two bowls back.
Sometimes, an entire family would buy just one bowl to share as a treat. Whenever Su Chi saw this, he’d always take the initiative to ladle in a little extra broth. Over time, more and more families came for evening wontons, and even in the afternoon, Su Chi was rushing to wrap more.
At the Zhao household.
Chen Yun peeled the egg for his younger daughter. The braising liquid seeped into the yolk — it was her favorite treat. She couldn’t wait and gobbled it down in one big “om-nom” bite.
The eldest daughter still wore her usual expressionless face, but she loved these eggs too. Her hands didn’t stop moving as she neatly peeled off the shell, eating it in small bites dipped in the sauce. Then she moved on to the incredibly flavorful wontons in her bowl. She lifted the bowl and took a sip of the broth first — it was so delicious it made one’s eyebrows tingle, truly too good.
A bite of home-cooked food, a bite of Su’s wontons. The broth was gone before long. She quickly finished the plain vegetables on the table, polished off her bowl of rice, cleaned up her own dishes, and went back to her room to study.
The wontons and five-spice tea eggs were something Su Chi had asked Chen Yun to bring home for the children — a little extra dish for them.
Chen Yun had refused at first. Su Chi had already given him such a good livelihood — how could he have the nerve to take things from the shop on top of that? He’d feel terrible.
But Su Chi was easygoing and soft-hearted. He also didn’t skimp on firewood in the shop — the stove never stopped, making the place wonderfully warm. So warm, in fact, that the chilblains on Chen Yun’s knuckles started to itch. Standing in the shop all day, he felt warm all over. Su Chi even let him wash things with hot water — where else could he find such a good shopkeeper?
Su Chi said these foods were “employee benefits” and told him to take them without worry — as long as he worked diligently, there would be more in the future.
“Employee benefits” was something Xie Yushu had mentioned to Su Chi the day she had winter cotton-padded clothes made for her subordinates. She said that as a good employer, she needed to always pay attention to her subordinates’ needs and use practical benefits — like raising wages and other incentive-based rewards — to encourage employees to work hard.
Su Chi applied what he’d learned on the spot and immediately grasped the essence: don’t skimp when you shouldn’t, and be generous when you should. He thought it made perfect sense.
He would also be a good shopkeeper in the future, and so he acted on that thought.
Chen Yun didn’t understand what “employee benefits” meant. All he knew was that his shopkeeper was the best of people — he must have accumulated great fortune in his previous life to have Su Chi as his neighbor.
Over at the other side, Zhao Shunshan was also eating with great satisfaction. After finishing her wontons, she poured her rice directly into the leftover broth and ate it soaked.
In the past, Chen Yun had bought wontons a few times, but they were always for the daughters — the adults never got to enjoy them. This time, not only did they get to eat, but it was free.
Today, Chen Yun had come home to cook later than usual. In the past, Zhao Shunshan would have already lost her temper with him — not like today, when she was so amiable.
She swallowed a mouthful of rice and asked vaguely, “How much wages does Su Fulang pay you?”
Chen Yun wiped the younger daughter’s mouth. “The shopkeeper is kind, and business is good. He gives me thirty wen a day.”
Su Chi paid him thirty copper coins a day. When Chen Yun first heard it, he was startled — so much.
Thirty wen a day meant nine hundred wen a month, nearly a full string of cash — about the same as what his wife earned as an accountant at the restaurant. Su Chi also gave him two to four days off per month without deducting his pay — a job better than anything he’d ever dreamed of.
Zhao Shunshan was taken aback. “That much! It’s almost as much as I make!”
“Eat your food. Don’t say so much.” Chen Yun couldn’t be bothered to look at her. After making sure the younger daughter was settled and telling her to go play quietly without disturbing her older sister, he lowered his head and ate his own meal.
“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything.” Zhao Shunshan was delighted.
Chen Yun glanced up at her and instructed, “From now on, since I’m at the shop, help out a bit with the household chores. Don’t always wait for me to come home and do everything.”
“Sure, sure, I understand. I’ll start tidying up as soon as I get off work.” Whatever he said, she agreed to it all.
Zhao Shunshan was in high spirits now. Her fulang finally had a proper job too, and the household expenses could ease up a little. Every winter, he always complained to her that there wasn’t enough money — this and that all cost so much. Now, at last, the burden on the family would lighten. She felt a sense of relief she’d never experienced before.
·
That night before bed, Xie Yushu was reviewing the large characters Su Chi had been practicing over the past few days.
She sat side by side with him, her back straight. She had just finished washing up and still carried the warm, moist warmth of the bathwater on her, looking fresh and clean. Her fingers held the sheets of paper, flipping through them one by one. Her gaze slowly swept across the pale yellow paper, landing on the starting strokes of the characters, then moving to the finishing strokes. She looked focused and serious, just like when she read her account books, but with a touch more gentleness.
When Xie Yushu was silent, she carried an air of steady composure — not imposing or intimidating, yet not to be disturbed. Su Chi gazed at her in a daze, feeling that his wife was extraordinarily beautiful, radiating a charm he couldn’t quite put into words.
“Improvement.” Xie Yushu curved her lips slightly, speaking to Su Chi who sat obediently beside her.
When a student was self-motivated and eager to learn, the teacher had an easier time.
Her fulang was just such a student — well-behaved, attentive, and diligent. His handwriting had gone from somewhat crooked to neat and upright. Never mind how it looked overall — at least the progress was visibly clear.
“Tomorrow you can start writing some more complex characters.” Xie Yushu wrapped an arm around Su Chi’s waist and leaned close to his ear, speaking softly in consultation. “Once you know enough characters, you can keep the accounts yourself.”
Currently, the shop’s account book was handled with Su Chi describing things verbally and Xie Yushu doing the writing. The book already had several pages filled — every day’s income and expenditure recorded clearly and in detail.
Su Chi had never kept accounts before. In the past, when he ran his stall, he’d just kept the daily income and expenses in his head and never had any issues. But after opening the shop, Xie Yushu suggested keeping a proper ledger so they could see at a glance what sold well and what had higher profit margins.
He’d listened and thought it made sense, so he’d gone along with it.
Having received praise, Su Chi was naturally pleased. But what made him even happier was that he was making a little progress every day — inching closer to her.
In the past, he had been illiterate, and life just went on. But ever since marrying Xie Yushu, the more he saw of her outstanding qualities, the more he realized — his wife seemed to know everything and could solve anything. Though she sometimes teased him and made him do embarrassing things, he was willing in his heart.
The better she was, the more he felt he couldn’t measure up to her in any way. He just wanted to be closer to her — even if only by an inch.
His wife never once looked down on him. Instead, she was considerate in every way, praising him every day for how good he was, how skillful his hands were, and even teaching him to read and write.
He often marveled — what kind of good fortune did he have, to meet someone as wonderful as his wife?
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