GD (QT) Chapter 4

The slaughterhouse was built outside the county town. Every night, the butchers would begin slaughtering pigs and sheep, processing them fresh to be transported into the city for sale. If people from the nearby villages had livestock to sell, the butchers would take them too.

When Lin Yu arrived pushing the wild boar, the butcher, holding his cleaver, was startled.

“Whoa! Such a massive wild boar. You hunted this?”

Don’t let the name fool you—wild boars are violent and fierce; even experienced hunters don’t dare provoke them lightly.

Lin Yu simply asked with a smile, “Are you buying?”

“Buying.” The butcher looked at his farmer’s attire with curiosity, but he definitely wasn’t going to turn down a wild boar delivered to his door.

“The price for wild boar can’t compare to domestic pig. Even though it’s all meat, wild boar is gamy and not fatty enough. Domestic pig goes for ten copper coins a catty, but wild boar only sells for seven. Here, I can give you five copper coins per catty at most. Any more and I won’t make a profit.”

“Brother, see if you’re willing to sell at this price.”

Lin Yu had calculated the rates before coming and knew the butcher’s price was relatively honest. “I’ll sell. Let’s weigh it.”

Seeing how straightforward he was, the butcher cheerfully called over a few of his men to carry the pig to the scales. Usually, two people could carry a domestic pig, but this wild boar was so enormous it took four men to hoist it up.

“Good heavens! Four hundred and three catties. This is worth three or four domestic pigs!” The butcher was astonished. “Two thousand and fifteen copper coins. I’ll round it down to two thousand, and give you two catties of pork on the side. What do you think?”

Two catties of pork would normally cost twenty coins. Lin Yu didn’t haggle. “Deal. Make them two catties of fatty meat.”

“Straightforward! I’ll pick the fattest cut for you.” The butcher was also in a good mood. Just yesterday, a wealthy family in the city had asked if he had any wild game and offered a high price. By flipping this boar, he’d make a tidy profit. Because of this, he specifically cut an extra-large slab of fatty pork. “If you catch any more wild game, send it my way. I’ll definitely give you a good price.”

Lin Yu tossed the pork into his basket and entered the county town with his copper coins. The two thousand coins were heavy, so he simply wrapped them around his waist, experiencing for the first time what it felt like to be “laden with ten thousand strings of cash.”

The county town was significantly more bustling than Qingshan Village. In the early morning, people were coming and going in a lively atmosphere.

Lin Yu wasn’t here to loiter. Last night, he had promised his two daughters he wouldn’t go hunting again, and he wasn’t just patronizing them. He was earning money to improve their lives; if he caused his daughters to live in constant fear, he’d be putting the cart before the horse. Aside from selling the pig, he wanted to walk around the city to find other ways to make a living.

The shops on both sides of the street were busy. Lin Yu weighed the possibility of going into business but dismissed it. In ancient times, merchants had low status, faced great risks, and had no security. It was better to find something safe, stable, and officially supported—something with a bit of status that wouldn’t suck him into power struggles.

At the most crowded part of the market, Lin Yu found the government notice board. He looked up to see a variety of notices: lost and found, new regulations from the magistrate, dates for imperial examinations, and even two wanted posters. He took an extra moment to look at the portraits on the wanted posters—they were quite realistic—and he memorized them.

Scanning the board, his gaze landed on a government announcement:

[Encouraging the innovation of agricultural tools across the land. Those who provide useful designs shall be rewarded.]

This was something worth trying.

Having a plan in mind, Lin Yu didn’t linger in the city. However, he paused when he passed a stall selling hair ornaments, picking out two beautiful silk flowers. With pork in his basket, copper coins at his waist, and silk flowers tucked in his shirt, Lin Yu thought Lin Pan and Lin Lai would surely be happy when they saw them.

Feeling tired from the walk, Lin Yu pulled out the flatbreads and sat on a large roadside rock, finishing every last bit. The bread the girls made was tasty, but there was a bit too little of it—they hadn’t kept any for themselves. He thought to himself that as soon as he got home, he’d take the money to buy grain; it was cheaper to buy directly in the village than at the town market. Once the rice jar was full, they could eat as much as they wanted.

Planning everything out, Lin Yu returned to the village. As soon as he entered, someone called out to him.

“Lin Er, they say you caught a huge wild boar. Is it true?”

Lin Yu saw it was the village’s notorious gossip.

“It’s true,” Lin Yu said. “There’s no money or food at home, so I had to risk my life on the mountain. I can’t let my daughters starve to death with me.”

“Hunting is so dangerous! The old hunter in the next village was gored by a boar. When they found him, his intestines were hanging out.”

The gossip clicked her tongue. “If your house is out of food, why didn’t you borrow from your Eldest Brother? I saw his family eating white rice just a few days ago. It smelled wonderful.”

Lin Yu gave a simple, honest smile. “The rice was taken from my house by my Mother. Once she took it, my house ran out of food.”

Family scandals must be aired; Lin Yu didn’t mind helping promote the reputation of the eldest Lin branch.

The gossip grew even more excited and started shouting, “What kind of mother does that? Isn’t that forcing her son’s family to their deaths? Your Big Brother really has the stomach to eat that rice!”

Without looking up, Lin Yu said, “Mother has always been biased toward Big Brother since we were kids.”

He didn’t say more, leaving plenty of room for her imagination to run wild. Behind him, he heard several old women starting a heated discussion. Grandma Lin’s bias was well-known, but in the past, the original owner had always played the part of the filial son and never spoke up, so others couldn’t say much. But now that he had spoken, the women were in an uproar, all agreeing that the mother had gone too far. There was no logic in starving the Second Son’s family while the First Son lived in luxury.

Hearing the voices behind him, the corners of Lin Yu’s mouth curled up slightly. From now on, the eldest Lin brother shouldn’t even think about taking advantage of him again.

“Dad, you’re back!” Lin Lai was delighted to see him and happily helped him unload the basket. “Dad, take a rest. I’ll go return the cart.”

Lin Yu didn’t stop her, but he looked around and noticed something was wrong. “Where is your second sister?”

“Grandma said she wasn’t feeling well and made Sister go over to help with chores,” Lin Lai said, pouting.

In the past, Grandma Lin had always relied on being the grandmother to order the three girls around. This happened often. Although the girls weren’t happy, a grandmother asking her granddaughters to do a bit of work was considered natural, so they always had to go help.

Lin Yu frowned. They had already had a falling out yesterday, yet Grandma Lin still had the thick skin to order his daughter around. Thinking of how the girls never even got a sip of water when they worked over there, and how they never received a kind word for their hard labor, Erzi was extremely displeased.

“It’s almost time to eat. Go tell your sister to come home and cook,” Lin Yu said.

Lin Lai nodded happily. If she called her sister back, she wouldn’t have to work for her Uncle’s family anymore.

Suddenly, Lin Yu stopped his daughter. “Did she only call your sister today? Not you?”

“Yeah. I wanted to go too so we could finish faster and come home early, but Grandma said she was annoyed just looking at me and wouldn’t let me go,” Lin Lai said, feeling aggrieved.

Lin Yu sensed something was wrong. He stood up. “I’ll go get her myself.”

“Dad?” Lin Lai was confused.

The premonition in Lin Yu’s heart grew stronger. He quickened his pace all the way to the eldest Lin brother’s house. Grandma Lin and Aunt Lin were sitting by the door, chatting and eating melon seeds. When they saw him, panic flashed across their faces.

Lin Yu’s heart sank.

“Where is A-Pan?” Lin Yu asked directly.

Grandma Lin spat out a shell. “Can’t a grandmother even ask her granddaughter to do a bit of work now?”

“Where is she?” Lin Yu didn’t waste words with her and tried to push through the door.

“Second Brother, Mother is talking to you! How can you be like this?” Aunt Lin was panicking and tried to block him with her hands.

Grandma Lin also slapped her thigh and began to wail, “You unfilial son! You catch a wild boar and don’t even think to offer some to your mother. I ask a granddaughter to come over to light the fire and cook, and you come barging in to start a fight. This is unfilial!”

With the two of them making a scene, the neighbors began poking their heads out to watch.

Lin Yu laughed from anger. “Why don’t you shout about how you took all my family’s grain and left me and my daughters to starve?”

“You and Sister-in-law have hands and feet. We’ve been separate households for years; how do you still have the nerve to order my daughter to cook for you?”

“A-Pan! Come out! We’re going home. We aren’t working for people for free anymore.”

When Lin Yu’s voice grew loud, Grandma Lin and the other woman found they couldn’t squeeze out any more tears. Grandma Lin actually stepped away from the door and sneered, “Pandi came to work for a bit, but that girl is lazy. She left after just a short while. Who knows where she’s hiding to slack off?”

She shot a look at Aunt Lin.

Aunt Lin followed suit and swung the door wide. “Go ahead and look if you don’t believe us. We didn’t hide your daughter.”

Lin Yu went inside and did a circuit, but sure enough, there was no sign of Lin Pan. The two women at the door watched with mocking smiles. Grandma Lin shouted loudly, “What has the world come to? A son shouting at his mother! Old man, why did you leave so early and leave me to take this abuse from my son?”

But Lin Yu didn’t believe a word of it. Lin Pan was an introverted, timid, and very sensible girl; she would never have slipped away in the middle of a chore to play.

Suddenly, his eyes landed on the dry well in the courtyard. This well still had water when Lin Yu was a child, but it had slowly dried up when he was in his teens. Now it was just for show. In the past, the eldest Lin brother always kept it covered with a heavy stone, fearing his two precious sons would fall in.

But now, the heavy stone was gone, replaced only by a large pot lid.

Lin Yu walked toward the well.

Aunt Lin panicked and rushed to block him. “You’ve looked! You’ve searched! Now get out! You’re not welcome here!”

“Get lost.” Lin Yu shoved her aside.

Aunt Lin stumbled from the shove. Her eyes darted around, and she immediately collapsed to the ground, wailing. “There’s no justice! My brother-in-law is laying hands on me! Lin Er is trying to kill me!”

Grandma Lin immediately joined in. “Erzi, what are you doing? No matter what, you shouldn’t have laid a hand on your sister-in-law! Apologize to her right now!”

The neighbors outside, not knowing the truth, began to gossip.

“Did Lin Er really hit her?”

“I never would have guessed he was that kind of person.”

“He probably has a lot of resentment. I heard his mother took all their food.”

“Still, he shouldn’t take it out on his sister-in-law.”

Grandma Lin thought this would stall him, but Lin Yu’s expression didn’t change as he walked straight to the dry well.

“Lin Yu, you dare!” she screamed, about to rush up and tear at him, certain that while Lin Yu might shove Aunt Lin, he wouldn’t dare touch his own mother.

Lin Yu let her pound on him as he shoved the well cover aside.

“A-Pan!”

Lin Pan was inside the well, tied up hand and foot.