TATSD Chapter 49

“Ji Wei is taking care of her.”

“That’s exactly what’s wrong! Hurry up and come with me!” Aunt Zhou grabbed Liu Yimian’s arm and pulled him out of the courtyard, jogging back to the Ji family residence.

In the kitchen, Ji Wei was cooking and occasionally glanced out the bedroom window to check on Lin Sanjie. Seeing no movement, he returned to the kitchen.

He had some previously dried pork sausages and a pot of heavily seasoned broth—everything was cooked and ready to eat. While waiting for the rice porridge to cook, Ji Wei sat on a stool.

When he saw Aunt Zhou coming, he knew Liu Yimian had informed her about everything.

Ji Wei frowned at Liu Yimian, but quickly understood his troubled expression. If Aunt Zhou hadn’t insisted, Liu Yimian probably wouldn’t have said anything.

Before Ji Wei could speak, Aunt Zhou exclaimed, “Dalang, how could you bring her back here?!”

Liu Yimian jumped, quickly closing the door, fearful that the noise would carry into the bedroom and be heard by Lin Sanjie.

“What’s there to fear? If she hears, she hears. If she had any shame, she wouldn’t keep clinging to Dalang.” Aunt Zhou held Lin Sanjie in disdain, believing that while men could be at fault, Lin Sanjie was also to blame for entangling herself with Ji Wei. Furthermore, people tend to favor those they know well; lately, Ji Wei has been performing well, naturally winning Aunt Zhou’s favor.

Ji Wei felt uncomfortable hearing this and cleared his throat.

“Aunt, once she wakes up and gets out of bed, I’ll send her back.”

“By then it’ll be too late!” Aunt Zhou glared at Ji Wei. “A woman staying here? What will others say if they see you two together? What about Yimian? If you two think you can brush it off, I won’t let Yimian be the subject of gossip!”

“Aunt…” Liu Yimian called softly, gently tugging at her sleeve, but Aunt Zhou pulled away and glared at him. “I’m doing this for your sake! Don’t defend him!”

“He’s not in his right mind; why are you going along with him? Hurry up and send her back. Here’s an idea: you go prepare the medicine. When that woman wakes up, I’ll take her back. It’s better than you two going together!” Aunt Zhou laid down her plan decisively as if it were not up for discussion.

However, her suggestions hit the mark, and Ji Wei gratefully acknowledged her.

“Thank me for what? It would be better to thank Yimian. I’m not doing this for you; it’s for him.” With that, Aunt Zhou left the two of them and went to check on Lin Sanjie in the bedroom.

Fearing Ji Wei would misunderstand, Liu Yimian quickly explained, “I didn’t mean to say anything; Aunt Zhou insisted on coming to see you. She thought you were sick, so I had no choice but to tell her. Brother Ji, you won’t hold it against me, right?”

“It’s fine if she knows. Having a woman here makes things easier. Otherwise, as a rough man, it wouldn’t be good if I were seen taking her back.” Seeing Liu Yimian’s dejected expression, Ji Wei ruffled his hair, trying to lighten the mood. “Come help me chop the seasoning; we’ll take some to Lin Sanjie later. She needs to eat something before taking her medicine.”

“Okay.”

Lin Sanjie remained unconscious for a while. It wasn’t until the three of them had finished lunch that she slowly began to wake up.

The last person watching over her was Liu Yimian, but now, as she opened her eyes, it was Aunt Zhou who stood by. She paused for a moment and asked where Liu Yimian had gone.

“Am I not good enough to take care of you? Get up and eat; take your medicine and then hurry home!” Aunt Zhou said, holding a bowl of porridge and wearing an expression of distaste.

Lin Sanjie felt a pang and looked downcast.

“I don’t want to eat; I want to leave.” After a long sleep, she finally felt a bit stronger. Though her head still throbbed and spun, she could prop herself up on her arms.

“What if you faint on the side of the road?” Aunt Zhou shot her a glance. “Wouldn’t Dalang have to take care of you then? Since that’s the case, you’d better recover a bit before leaving.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m not being nosy; a woman’s reputation is very important. Dalang already has Yimian, and even if they aren’t officially together, it won’t be long now. You’re a widow and have enough trouble as it is; there’s no need to get involved with someone like Dalang. It won’t do you any good.” Aunt Zhou earnestly advised, partly out of dislike for Lin Sanjie’s entanglement with Ji Wei and partly out of genuine concern for her well-being, given her beauty and youth.

“Find a suitable partner in the future; wouldn’t that be better?”

While Lin Sanjie ate her porridge, her demeanor was cold and indifferent. “I’ve seen through men’s true nature, and I’ve nearly died once. I won’t seek him out again; I’ll just consider it a mistake from the past.”

Aunt Zhou smiled. “I’m glad you’ve come to terms with things.”

After finishing her medicine, Lin Sanjie managed to get out of bed with Aunt Zhou’s help. She walked into the courtyard and, upon seeing Ji Wei standing at the kitchen door, quickly averted her gaze, trying to head for the entrance.

Aunt Zhou supported her and reassured Ji Wei, “I’ll take her back shortly; you just give me the medicine.”

Ji Wei gathered some herbal remedies, noticing some mountain ginseng that had been chopped, and handed it along with the box to Aunt Zhou, so Lin Sanjie could properly nourish herself.

Aunt Zhou took Lin Sanjie home, giving her several important reminders along the way.

Just as they were about to leave the courtyard, Lin Sanjie, who had tried to stand but felt dizzy and weak, suddenly collapsed to the ground. The bedding fell off, creating quite a commotion.

Aunt Zhou was startled and turned around to see her sitting on the floor. Shocked, she hesitated to leave and stayed behind to help her make the bed, even preparing dinner and bringing it to her bedside to spare her the trouble of getting up, in case anything else happened.

After everything was taken care of, the medicine took effect, and Lin Sanjie succumbed to sleep again. Only then did Aunt Zhou feel at ease to leave.

Upon seeing Ji Wei, she pointed a finger at him and scolded him not to get involved with Lin Sanjie’s affairs anymore. If he needed anything, he should just call her, to avoid any gossip from others.

After a lengthy lecture, Ji Wei suddenly remembered that Aunt Zhou had been selling stuffed pancakes in the market that morning. Why was she still at home?

Mentioning this made Aunt Zhou burst into laughter.

“You wouldn’t know, but the bun vendor didn’t come to set up today, and my business has been booming! I ran out of eggs and had to come back early.” In the past, business was so slow that selling twenty coins’ worth in a morning was considered good, and he didn’t bring many eggs. Who would have thought that with the bun vendor absent, the regular customers who were used to stuffed pancakes would all flock to him?

“I hope she never comes back.”

“That’s not certain.” The bun vendor not showing up today said a lot about the situation.

It seemed Liu Qing had lost a bet and couldn’t come up with the money to support the pancake stall. But it was strange; without Liu Qing, Lin Qing and Li Erba should be able to help, and they weren’t so financially strained that they couldn’t scrape together a little money.

Ji Wei had initially thought they would drag this out, but it hadn’t been long at all, and they were already struggling. It seemed there might be issues among the three of them as well.

In the following days, Lin Yaozu sent someone to order an additional three hundred pounds of cookies.

Previously, he had gradually purchased about three hundred pounds, and sales were slow at first since many people didn’t know what cookies were and were hesitant to buy them. However, as more people tried them and enjoyed the taste, they kept coming back.

To compete with another pastry shop, Lin Yaozu bought in bulk at a cheaper price.

Many customers brought friends and family to buy together, and cookie sales kept increasing. If Ji Wei hadn’t mentioned that cookies were prone to moisture and couldn’t be stored for too long, Lin Yaozu might have ordered five hundred pounds in one go.

While he was busy managing all this, he needed to communicate with Wen Xuan to design the mooncake packaging and get it approved by Elder Zhang.

He wanted to ask Zhao Hu to help him hire a few more workers but couldn’t find him.

Ji Wei clearly remembered seeing Zhao Hu just a moment ago.

A Qiu, who happened to be nearby pouring water for someone else, looked up thoughtfully and said, “Brother Zhao seems to have gone out for something. He said he’d be back soon, but it’s been about a quarter of an hour now. Did you need him for something, Brother Ji?”

“I was hoping to hire a few more people; everyone seems to be exhausted.”

Generally, Ji Wei hired familiar skilled workers for efficiency, working two-hour shifts and rotating them the next day.

However, the workload had become too intense lately, and some people were starting to take leave. Ji Wei was worried they wouldn’t be able to maintain normal operations, so he had to keep recruiting.

After all, at ten coins an hour, there was no shortage of people wanting to work.

“I know some brothers who’d love to come!”

“So do I!”

“I can call them to come by this afternoon; how does that sound?”

Upon hearing that Ji Wei was short-staffed, everyone began to shout their offers.

In the past, they were afraid that coming to work would mean competing for jobs, but now they realize that they couldn’t keep up relying solely on themselves. It was better to make money together, even inviting friends, family, and neighbors.

“Alright, if you have someone in mind, just call them. I’ll check in this afternoon.” Just then, Zhao Hu suddenly appeared at the door, leaning against the frame, seemingly out of breath.

Ji Wei was a bit puzzled and waved him over.

“Where have you been? Why do you look so out of breath?” Ji Wei squinted, inspecting Zhao Hu until he lowered his head in shame.

“I shouldn’t have slacked off; that’s my fault. Just cut my pay in half for this morning.” Zhao Hu had left earlier because Aunt Zhou asked him to deliver some prepared food to Lin Sanjie.

This task had originally been Aunt Zhou’s, and Ji Wei had given her quite a bit of money to buy fish and meat to help her recover. However, her stall had been doing so well lately that it was hard for her to leave early to do this. She figured since Zhao Hu was working at Ji Wei’s place, it wouldn’t take much time for him to deliver it.

The task was simple; he didn’t even need to go inside. Just deliver the food to Lin Sanjie, and when Aunt Zhou returns, she can take it back.

But Zhao Hu didn’t expect that when he got to Lin Sanjie’s house, she was grinding soybeans.

This was a labor-intensive task, and she was still recovering from her illness, sweating heavily and looking pale. She was surprised to see Zhao Hu.

Seeing her in such a state, Zhao Hu offered to help grind the soybeans. Lin Sanjie was indeed struggling and didn’t refuse; she just said she’d give him a block of tofu in return for his help.

Before they knew it, over fifteen minutes had passed, which was longer than Zhao Hu had anticipated.

After a brief explanation and realizing he was helping Lin Sanjie, Ji Wei didn’t deduct Zhao Hu’s pay and let him return to work.

…

At the bun vendor’s side.

She had been up all night, her body aching, but didn’t dare slack off with Liu Qing. She helped him dress and cooked for him. Once he was full and a bit in a better mood, she weakly asked, “Qing Ge, what should we do about the stall?”

Mentioning the stall ignited Liu Qing’s anger.

They had agreed to share the burden, yet it was Lin Qing who first claimed he couldn’t provide any money. Li Erba, confused, had held off for a few days, but when he found out about it, he also claimed he couldn’t contribute.

The three of them had been hoping to scrape by for a few days, but they hadn’t expected the situation to escalate so quickly, leading to complaints from the vendors, who ultimately refused to help.

Liu Qing felt frustrated and humiliated, nursing injuries after being beaten and hiding in the bun vendor’s home.

But hiding away wasn’t a solution. The thought of the bet he had made with Ji Wei made him regret his decisions.

“What are we going to do? What else can we do? We need to borrow money! You need to borrow too!” Not only was it about the bet with Ji Wei, but he also owed money to the gambling den. Liu Qing felt like he was at the end of his rope.

“Qing Ge, I’m just an orphan. Where do you expect me to borrow money?” The bun vendor cried out in distress.

“I’ve treated you well over the years, and I’ve given you plenty of money. Now that I’m in trouble, shouldn’t you help me out?” Liu Qing said, gripping her chin, his tone surprisingly gentle.

But that gentleness only frightened the bun vendor more.

“It’s all gone! I have nothing left!” she cried, shaking her head.

“How can that be? I’ve given you so much…”