Two days later, before dinner, Su Chi first had Xie Yushu drink a cup of Ophiopogon and goji berry tea to soothe her throat—he’d been simmering it all afternoon.
After she finished, he pulled a clean handkerchief from his bosom and gently wiped the corners of her mouth.
Putting the handkerchief away, he noticed her lips were still a bit dry and peeling. He frowned slightly: “Did you drink water today?”
“I did.” Xie Yushu held his wrist, answering with a hint of guilt.
She had—just one cup. When she was busy, how could she remember to drink water? Though Ye Youchun had reminded her twice.
She’d wondered at the time why this normally rough-and-tumble woman had suddenly become so attentive and caring.
On reflection, Su Chi must have put her up to it.
She’d noticed that ever since they’d gotten married, her fulang had grown increasingly prone to fussing and nagging over minor things.
But she didn’t mind being looked after by Su Chi every day.
As they ate, Xie Yushu brought up the person who had stolen the two racks of ribs from Sun Wuyou’s place.
Su Chi had just drunk half a bowl of soup when he heard this. He paused mid-scoop, his eyes confused and slightly anxious: “What happened with that person now? Was he caught? Or did he steal from somewhere else?”
It really was strange. That fulang had worked at Sun Wuyou’s for a few days, only to steal two racks of ribs—abandoning his wages and losing his job. What was the point?
Even creepier was that he’d vanished without a trace and never came back.
They wouldn’t go to great lengths over two racks of ribs, but every time Su Chi thought about it, it sent a chill down his spine.
Could there really be such a peculiar person lurking in the lane?
Seeing his troubled expression, Xie Yushu realized she’d frightened her sensitive, protective fulang. She reached out with one hand and gently soothed his back: “It’s not what you think. Don’t be scared.”
“He’s also a pitiful person.”
Su Chi looked at her with even more confusion: “Pitiful?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Xie Yushu set down her chopsticks. “Youchun found out about him yesterday.”
She then told Su Chi the whole story in detail.
The previous day, Ye Youchun had told her everything she’d learned.
Ye Youchun had taken this matter to heart and, upon returning to the village, started asking neighbors who might know something about it.
Villagers, with their monotonous days of labor, found their greatest entertainment in gathering together to gossip about other people’s business. They’d talk about one household, then another—and when they ran out of local news, they’d dig up stories from outside the village. If there was anything worth hearing, they’d listen with relish, then go home to retell it with raised eyebrows, embellishments, and exaggerations to their families.
Ye Youchun’s neighbor, Fourth Aunt, was also one who enjoyed listening to gossip. She happened to know about the person Ye Youchun described and poured out everything she knew like beans from a bag, telling her the whole story in detail.
That’s when she learned the man was a madman.
His name was Xin Miao, and he lived in Zhongtang Village. He’d once had a wife, who had passed away two years ago. The posthumous child born that same year hadn’t survived either—the baby died before reaching two months old.
A family of three suddenly reduced to one. Struck by such a devastating loss, his personality changed drastically, and he began to lose his mind.
His madness came and went. Most of the time he was not in his right mind, but occasionally he’d have moments of clarity and could speak normally. The neighbors had long grown used to it and, since he never harmed anyone during his episodes, they left him alone.
But somehow, two months ago, Xin Miao had found an abandoned baby no one wanted. He’d suddenly become much more stable, with fewer episodes and visibly brighter spirits. He’d even borrowed rice porridge from neighbors to feed the child, saying that when he had the chance, he’d go into town to find work and repay them.
The neighbors weren’t bad people—simple and honest folk. It was just a little bit of grain to feed a baby, hardly worth demanding repayment. So they said nothing.
But a few days ago, they’d noticed Xin Miao wasn’t at home. He’d said he was going elsewhere to borrow food for the child. He’d been gone for several days and came back carrying two beautifully shaped racks of ribs, saying he wanted to make steamed meat paste for the baby.
Though he was mad, the neighbors had no bad opinions of him.
When his madness was in remission, they said, he never did anything dishonorable. He kept himself clean, could work the fields, dry goods, keep the house tidy, and was a good cook. He’d taken that dirty abandoned child and cleaned him up until he was fair and tender—now the baby could even call him “father.”
It was just that fate had been cruel. Just when his life was starting to improve, the land his wife had left him was forcibly taken by his wife’s sisters and their families.
Now with no land and no wife to back him up, it was hard enough to support himself, let alone the child.
To make things worse, his wife’s family even said: why should he use their family’s land and house to raise some child of unknown origin?
Who knew if it wasn’t some wild woman’s bastard? They said they wouldn’t take responsibility—all sorts of nasty things.
Every word was slander, accusing him of being unfaithful to his husbandly duties, claiming the child was his own, and that there was no way he’d use their family’s property to raise a child.
Not only did they want to take the land, they also wanted the house, and they wanted to drive him out of Zhongtang Village, leaving him and that bastard child to fend for themselves—pushing him to the brink.
Xie Yushu listened in silence, not knowing what to say.
So those ribs weren’t stolen from the Sun household?
Hadn’t he been working at the Sun place during those missing days?
And these past few days he hadn’t shown up—was he at home taking care of the child?
All the pieces fit together. Xin Miao was that person.
Since he was normal when not having an episode, he wouldn’t have committed theft intentionally. Xie Yushu reasoned that he must have had a sudden episode while working at Sun Wuyou’s, which was why he’d grabbed something and run.
But what had triggered the episode? Had something happened? Or had something set him off?
After finishing her story, Xie Yushu fell into thought, pondering the reasons behind it all. A moment later, she noticed that Su Chi beside her was secretly crying.
Startled, she immediately pulled him into her arms: “What—why are you crying?!”
Su Chi wiped his tears against her chest. Xie Yushu’s heart ached as she used her sleeve to dry the corners of his eyes, at a loss for what to do.
“He—he’s so pitiful…” Su Chi buried his face in her embrace, his voice nasal and muffled.
Just thinking about it—if those two things had happened to him, his heart would have shattered. He wouldn’t have been able to bear it.
Even the thought of losing Xie Yushu alone would probably drive him mad.
Whether it was because becoming a fulang had made him softer-hearted, or because he’d always been gentle and kind by nature, he deeply sympathized with Xin Miao’s plight.
He was such a good person, yet fate had been so cruel—loading him with hardship after hardship, and cruel in-laws who bullied him at every turn.
How could one person endure so many blows in succession?
The abandoned child was pitiful too.
Xie Yushu patted his back and soothed him for a long while before his tears stopped. She bent down and kissed his reddened, tear-stained nose: “How about I send Youchun and He Chao to go check on him tomorrow?”
Ye Youchun was a woman—going alone to Zhongtang Village might be inconvenient. He Chao was a ge’er, so if she brought him along, that would be just right, and the villagers wouldn’t have anything to say about it.
Su Chi hugged Xie Yushu’s waist, looked up at her blankly for a moment, then slowly nodded: “Alright.”
The next day, the moment Ye Youchun and He Chao arrived at the Xie household, Su Chi pressed some bundles into their hands and told them to give them to Xin Miao when they visited.
Inside were some provisions—a small bag of polished rice and white flour, two slabs of cured meat, a small jar of pickled vegetables, and a dozen or so eggs.
One jar held a thick egg-and-meat vegetable paste that Su Chi had gotten up early to simmer. In this weather, it wouldn’t spoil easily—the child could eat it for several days and get some nourishment.
Su Chi also wrapped up several pieces of clean cloth, thinking both Xin Miao and the child could use them.
Ye Youchun and He Chao cradled the bundles in their arms, told Su Chi not to worry, and turned to leave.
After seeing them off, Su Chi locked the courtyard gate and headed to the shop.
The shop was running in good order. Chen Fulang had boiled a pot of hot water and mixed it with half a basin of cold water at the sink to wash the morning’s used bowls and chopsticks. Su Chi tied on his apron and began greeting customers.
A customer who walked in was clearly a regular, ordering with practiced ease: “Boss! Two bowls of that congee set, four five-spice eggs, and two orders of mini buns.”
Su Chi tallied swiftly: “That’ll be forty wen.”
He took the money, dropped it into the small coin basket, brought over their order, said “enjoy your meal,” and went back to the kitchen.
The shop was now full, every table occupied. Would-be dine-in customers shook their heads and settled for takeaway orders instead.
Su Chi mixed another batch of mini bun filling and wrapped them together with Chen Fulang, then found himself with a moment of free time.
He untied his apron and took out the ledger he’d brought from home, flipping through it roughly page by page.
He could recognize most of the characters now, and numbers fastest of all. Seeing the daily tally of copper coins lifted his spirits—his sadness for that stranger eased considerably.
After saving up a little longer, he’d be able to buy land for his father.
In the back kitchen, only the sounds of Chen Fulang lifting and closing steamer lids and the faint rustle of Su Chi flipping through the ledger broke the quiet—much calmer than the chatter of the dine-in customers. And it was precisely this stillness that allowed Su Chi to clearly make out what they were talking about.
“What’s that bundle you’ve got there?”
“Dried kelp from Xie’s Seafood—everyone in the county’s been buying it to stock up at home.”
“Xie’s Seafood? What’s that? Where did it come from? I’ve never heard of it.”
“You haven’t heard? I went to the county a few days ago, and all the dried goods shops were selling this stuff—it’s in high demand. I had to run to several shops before I could get this one packet. There’s only half a jin in here, and it cost me fifty wen.”
“Half a jin for fifty wen! Kelp sells for that much? Isn’t it normally two or three wen per jin?”
“It’s dried kelp—Xie’s drying technique is top-notch. Look at the color, feel the texture. Hehe, don’t be fooled by this little packet—tear off a piece, soak it for two quarters of an hour, and you’ll get a whole big basinful. It’s delicious stewed with meat or in cold salads, and it lasts for days! Xie’s kelp is high-quality, crisp and refreshing—everyone in the county is into eating this now!”
“Hmm, not bad. Share some with me?”
“Get lost—buy your own. This is for making soup for my fulang. He had a bowl at a friend’s house last time and begged me to go to the county to buy some.”
After eavesdropping on that exchange between customers, Su Chi’s eyes curved into a happy smile.
He’d been quietly going over the ledger when he heard “Xie’s” and perked up his ears, unable to resist listening to the whole conversation.
Who else could “Xie’s Seafood” be but his wife’s business?
She’d really built a great reputation—even the people in town knew her brand.
But the markup was astonishing. He remembered this stuff selling for forty wen per jin—so why was it now fifty wen for half a jin in the county? The price had more than doubled!
No wonder his wife had to go out every day—rushing to the base, delivering goods at the ferry, and coming home exhausted, clinging to him and asking to be rubbed here and there, just like a child.
A few more customers came in. Su Chi put away the ledger and headed to the front to get busy.
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