TATSD Chapter 90

Daxi Town

After parting ways with Chen Peizhi and the others at the alley near the academy gate, Liu Chengyin headed straight home. He had to get home before dark to make it in time for dinner. Otherwise, knowing You Guizhi’s character, she wouldn’t leave him any food.

He had been delayed on the road today, so Liu Chengyin dared not linger. He quickened his pace, but his steps slowed when he reached the stretch of road where he could see his house.

The Liu family was indifferent, and relatives or friends rarely visited their home. Today, however, Liu Chengyin saw strangers by the front gate. A sense of caution arose in him. Seizing the opportunity when no one was paying attention, he quickly ducked behind a large tree next to the house, pressing his back against the wall and listening to the conversation inside.

“…Keep your man in check. What’s he doing drinking in the street when he has no money?” You Guizhi said, pulling on the middle-aged man’s arm. He brushed her hand off with disdain, straightened his sleeves, and coldly replied, “Give you ten more days. If you don’t come up with the money by then, we’ll take Liu Shan’s left hand in exchange!”

“Master, please give us a few more days!” You Guizhi pleaded, rushing at the man, only to miss and fall flat on the ground, ending up in a heap.

“No more grace! Ten days, and bring me three taels of silver!” The middle-aged man said coldly, turning to leave with his two subordinates.

After they had gone, Liu Chengyin cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and hurried into the house.

At the same time, Liu Shan, who claimed to be out, slipped out of the kitchen. Seeing Liu Chengyin return, he rushed over and reached for his waist, but Liu Chengyin dodged, his face showing a hint of disgust. Coldly, he asked, “What do you want?”

“Chengyin, do you have any money? Do you have any? Those people came again to collect the debt! Ten days, ten days! Where am I supposed to get three taels of silver for them? These bloodsuckers, in less than a month, the debt’s grown to three taels and four coins!” Liu Shan cried out in regret, pounding his chest.

He remembered the incident when he drunkenly knocked over a wine jar at the tavern, which had caused a mess. For over ten days, he couldn’t get in touch with Liu Piaoxu, who always claimed to be out, and Liu Yimian had been making things difficult at his end. Unable to repay the money, they were on the verge of being sued by the tavern owner. In desperation, Liu Shan had borrowed two taels of silver from Old Master Zhou, a usurer, to cover the debt.

What he never expected was that Liu Chengyin, who claimed to have no money, suddenly came up with a large sum and went to study at the county academy without repaying the family debt. Enraged, Liu Shan had tried to beat him up with a bench, but Liu Chengyin had threatened to sever ties with him, or Liu Shan might have broken his legs by now.

Borrowing money from Old Master Zhou was easy, he could always get as much as he needed. However, the interest was steep, and the debt compounded every ten days. This was already the third round, and in ten days, he owed three taels and four coins. If he couldn’t pay, according to Old Master Zhou, Liu Shan would have to pay with his hand.

Liu Shan was scared out of his wits. Seeing Liu Chengyin, he felt as though he had found a lifeline and pinned all his hopes on him.

“I don’t have any money!” Liu Chengyin said impatiently.

Liu Shan was an alcoholic. Whenever there was any spare cash in the house, he would steal or take it to buy alcohol. Although their lives weren’t great, they managed to get by. But ever since the drunken incident, things had taken a turn for the worse.

Now the two taels had turned into three taels and four coins, and with Liu Shan working intermittently, they couldn’t save any money.

Liu Shan was in a panic and ran after Liu Chengyin, catching up to him. “How can you not have money? Didn’t you say you had wealthy friends? Why don’t you borrow money from them?”

“Do you want to see your father lose a hand?” Liu Shan snapped when Liu Chengyin didn’t respond.

Seeing Liu Chengyin say nothing, Liu Shan became more desperate and shouted, “If you don’t get me the money, my hand will be gone. I’ll make sure you can’t continue your studies at the academy! You wouldn’t have made it this far without me! Do you think you would be able to go to school if it weren’t for your old man?”

He grunted in anger and stormed off.

It was obvious what he was going to do—to find someone to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

“Chengyin, are you really out of options for getting the money?” You Guizhi looked at him with a worried expression. Though she was strong-willed, in the face of such a major problem, she was just another ignorant woman. To solve this problem, the men in the family were needed. Since Liu Shan couldn’t help, she had to rely on Liu Chengyin, who was the only one in the family attending school.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “I remember you saying that Liu Yimian is studying at the academy too. Could you borrow some money from him?”

For the past half month, Liu Chengyin hadn’t mentioned anything about money to Liu Yimian. His goal had been to build a good relationship and foster better feelings between them, but today, Liu Shan’s words were like a knife hanging over his head, forcing him to put his plans into motion earlier than expected.

If something happened to Liu Shan, his own life would be difficult.

That old man was crazy enough to do anything.

“I’ll try, but I don’t know if I can,” Liu Chengyin replied, preparing to leave. However, You Guizhi stopped him again.

“Trying isn’t enough! You must do it, or your father… he…” You Guizhi lowered her head and wiped her eyes, pretending to be heartbroken.

Liu Chengyin saw it and coldly sneered in his heart. If that old man gets into trouble, it’s you who’ll be the first to run away.

However, he didn’t say these words aloud. He merely smiled and said gently, “I have an idea.”

“What?” You Guizhi leaned forward eagerly.

Liu Chengyin picked up a broom from the door and handed it to her. “Hit me.”

“What?” You Guizhi was stunned.

“Go ahead, hit me. Just aim for my shoulder and arm,” Liu Chengyin said, rolling up his sleeves and extending his arm towards her. He gave her a meaningful smile. “Don’t you want to?”

You Guizhi stared into his eyes. After confirming he wasn’t joking, her long-suppressed impulse surged.

Yes, she had wanted to beat Liu Chengyin for a long time.

The eldest son of the Liu family always had this air of superiority. You Guizhi knew that, even though he rarely defied her and usually listened to her, women could always sense such things directly. She knew Liu Chengyin didn’t like her.

That alone had made her uncomfortable for a long time.

Now that Liu Chengyin was telling her to hit him, she naturally couldn’t resist.

Yao Guizhi took the broom and aimed the bamboo handle at Liu Chengyin’s bare arm. She struck it hard, producing a muffled thud. Quickly, a long red mark appeared on his pale skin.

Since Liu Yimian went to the county school, Ji Wei rarely stayed at home to cook. Most of the time, he ate with the others, and for dinner, if no one was around to cook, they would either eat leftovers from lunch or go out to eat.

Because Ah Qiu was feeling unwell and had taken leave to see a doctor, she couldn’t go out to buy groceries. So, Ji Wei had to wake up early to go to the market.

As soon as the butcher saw Ji Wei, he rushed out of his shop, enthusiastically pulling him in and complaining, “You haven’t been here in a long time. Are you dissatisfied with my meat?”

“Not at all. Your meat is fresh and cheap, freshly slaughtered pigs every day. How could I complain? It’s just that I haven’t been able to come out to buy recently,” Ji Wei replied. The pork stall still had large pieces of unsold meat, and Ji Wei was quite tempted.

Hearing this, the butcher’s face lit up, and he slapped Ji Wei on the shoulder. “What do you need? We’re familiar with each other, don’t hold back!”

There were only a few cuts of meat on the counter, with half a pig hanging on an iron hook, not yet broken down.

Ji Wei walked around the pig and quickly pointed at different parts. “This one, this one, and this one—I’ll take them all.”

The butcher, smiling broadly, grabbed his knife and swiftly separated the meat from the pig. Ji Wei bought pork from the chest, loin, and neck, and he also took the pig’s hooves. The total cost came to nearly 200 wen.

No one had ever bought so much meat at once, but Ji Wei, alone, bought as much as ten people would. It was no wonder the butcher was so enthusiastic whenever he saw Ji Wei.

“It looks like your business is doing well. You bought all this meat without batting an eye!”

“Not really, just getting by.”

The butcher’s words carried some envy. He knew Ji Wei had an unusual taste for odd cuts of meat, so he threw in both pig ears and wrapped them in a bag. “This is a gift from me. Come again next time!”

Ji Wei paid, grabbed the bags of meat and vegetables, and headed back to the North Street.

He was responsible for the shop on North Street, while Zhao Hu took care of the family in the West Alley. However, Aunt Zhou, busy with her street stall, rarely returned home until after lunch, leaving the cooking to others.

This left Zhao Hu in a difficult position. As a grown man who couldn’t cook, he struggled to manage. On one occasion, he couldn’t figure things out and went to find Aunt Zhou. Hearing about this, Lin Sanjie closed her stall early, reduced the number of stinky tofu she sold, and went to Ji Wei’s house to help Zhao Hu and the workers prepare lunch.

By then, even Zhao Dalong had stopped going home and joined the others at Ji Wei’s place for communal meals.

As for the matter between Lin Sanjie and Zhao Hu, Ji Wei had heard some rumors. Some busybodies, knowing about Ji Wei’s past with Lin Sanjie, ran to tell him, hoping he would react or get involved in the drama.

But Ji Wei wasn’t the same person he used to be, and he had no interest in Lin Sanjie anymore.

Lin Sanjie had come to terms with her past and had moved on, which was good for both her and Ji Wei. Moreover, she had now set her sights on the honest and hardworking Zhao Hu.

This mutual understanding was none of anyone else’s business.

Ji Wei arrived at his shop on North Street, and since no one had come yet, he opened the door, weighed out the ingredients, and started a fire on the stove. He cut the pork belly and tenderloin into small cubes and placed them in a small bowl with water to steam.

When the workers arrived, Ji Wei started his work. Without Ah Qiu, there was no one to run errands or serve tea, so Ji Wei asked the others to fetch water from the yard. The smell of meat soon filled the air, and one by one, the workers couldn’t help but peek inside, curious.

“Ji Wei, what are you making?”

“Is it for lunch?”

As soon as the topic of food came up, everyone began salivating.

“Working here is like a blessing from the past life! The pay is good, and there’s meat to eat! You can’t even ask for this!”

“This isn’t for lunch,” Ji Wei said when he saw their disappointed faces. “But for lunch, there will be pig’s feet.”

“Pig’s feet! He’s making pig’s feet!” As soon as he finished speaking, the workers cheered in unison, forgetting about their work.

Ji Wei quickly pointed out a few small mistakes, then took the pork out of the steamer after an hour, drained the water, and used a rolling pin to separate the meat into thin strands, making sure it was fluffy without falling apart.

He then fluffed the shredded pork, added the rich broth and pre-mixed soy sauce and sugar, and stir-fried it in the pot, continuously cooking until the moisture evaporated. Finally, he added oil to fry it until it turned golden and crispy.

Each strand of pork was distinct, light, and fluffy, with a rich golden color. This was Ji Wei’s first attempt at making pork floss in this world.