RMCF: Chapter 47

 

Chapter 47

Xu He finished washing the pork offal to be spiced that night. The brine used yesterday had congealed into a soft, jelly-like substance, softer than a baby's cheek when poked.

Once the pot was heated, it would slowly melt back into the fragrant brine. Having already been used to spice meat once, today's brine would be even more aromatic and effective.

He'd heard that renowned aged brines were kept simmering continuously over low heat all year round, never allowing the fire to go out. This kept them intensely fragrant and prevented spoilage in hot weather.

But their household didn't have the means for that. They could use this brine a couple more times before it went bad; once the weather got hotter and it spoiled, he'd just make a fresh batch.

Today he'd originally planned to go to a villager's field to pick some cowpeas for spicing, but with the tax business it didn’t happen. He had to let it go and use some more fiddlehead ferns to spice instead.

He was just about to ask Zhang Fangyuan if they could start the fire and begin spicing when he suddenly heard someone arrive outside.

Not many people came to their house normally. The couple didn't have the best reputation. Aside from the two neighboring relatives they occasionally interacted with, almost no one visited.

He was about to go out and see, but Zhang Fangyuan had already gotten there ahead of him.

“Fangyuan, not resting yet?”

Standing at the kitchen door, Xu He saw a a not-so-familiar face entering the yard, but he recognized her. It seemed to be Madam Wu. She was a cousin to Zhang Fangyuan's father, but by Zhang Fangyuan's generation, the relationship was even more distant.

“Sky's just getting dark, shouldn't be many people resting yet. Besides, the yamen runners came to our village today to collect taxes—I doubt even fewer people can sleep tonight.”

Zhang Fangyuan stood blocking the yard entrance. Since he didn't go inside, the woman who'd come felt awkward about barging in.

“True.”

Zhang Fangyuan said, “Auntie, something you need?”

At this, the woman began dabbing at her eyes, tears coming quickly. “It's about these taxes. A whole big family, you know. Your older cousin didn't get a good marriage settled at the beginning of the year, so this year we're paying double the poll tax. And your uncle has been called up for frontier guard duty this time. When you add it all up, it's truly unbearable. The family simply can't scrape together that much money…”

“If only you'd come a bit earlier, Auntie. I just bought livestock recently, money's all tied up. And this afternoon I paid our own taxes. Even if I wanted to lend, I couldn't get the money out.”

Madam Wu was silent for a moment, as if weighing the truth of Zhang Fangyuan's words, reluctant to let it go. “Then Fangyuan, when will you get your money back?”

“Three to five days, at least. Even if I earn it back, there's the matter of the money I borrowed from Baoli Moneyshop before to buy the horse. They know I have a stall in town and come collect payments every day.”

“…”

Zhang Fangyuan added, “Auntie, why not take my cart to town tomorrow? I often borrow from Baoli Moneyshop; their interest rates aren't too high. You could try borrowing there.”

Hearing that debt collectors came every day, the woman didn't dare borrow. Wouldn't borrowing from a fellow villager with no interest be better? And hearing that Zhang Fangyuan borrowed there often, she couldn't help but feel disappointed. She should have gone straight to the eldest Zhang or the fourth Zhang’s house instead.

This Zhang Fangyuan might be in business, but he'd spent lavishly on buying a horse, getting married, throwing a wedding, being extravagant and having no parents to restrain him... it would be strange if he had any money.

“Then I'll think it over.”

Zhang Fangyuan said, “Well, Auntie, if you do decide to go to town tomorrow, be sure to come by early.”

The woman walked out of the yard without even acknowledging Zhang Fangyuan's words.

Once she was far enough away, Xu He came over. “I thought you didn't have much contact with Madam Wu.”

“You think people choose to borrow based on how close they are? If you lend to someone you don't have much contact with, it's even harder to collect the debt later.”

Zhang Fangyuan pulled Xu He back inside. “Ever since I can remember, every tax collection season, all these distant relatives would pop up. Calling me 'nephew,' 'good little brother,' 'good big brother'… all that warmth could make your head spin. My father had a soft heart. When people came crying and pleading, he'd lend. When he died, those people didn't even come to the funeral, let alone repay the money.”

“My Fourth Uncle is a bit better, lends only to people he actually deals with, but he's still stuck with a mess of bad debts, impossible to recover. You try to bring up repayment, and they put on a face, saying 'we're relatives, don't you trust your own kin?'”

“I've done my share of debt collecting. It's way more trouble than lending. In short, whether you lend or not, it hurts relationships and offends people. Better to cut it off at the root and avoid a long night of trouble.”

Xu He understood the ways of the world well enough, but he didn't have Zhang Fangyuan's depth of experience. He nodded seriously.

Zhang Fangyuan had been quite polite today, relatively speaking. In the past, when anyone came to borrow, he'd just say no and tell them to get lost. He had a bad reputation anyway, didn't care if villagers called him cold and heartless. He wouldn't lose a single pound of flesh over it.

Help in emergency, not in poverty. If someone couldn't even pay the basic annual tax, what else could it be but poverty. And if you lent this time, when land rent collection came due in the second half, they might not even have repaid the first loan before coming back to borrow again, figuring you had money and were easy to ask.

However, since having Xu He, his temper seemed to have improved noticeably without him realizing it. He no longer directly cursed people away. Although it took a bit more effort, it was better this way.

Three groups of people came to borrow money that night, and Zhang Fangyuan turned them all away. After everyone should have settled for the night,* they waited another shichen. No one would come knocking at that point, so the couple finally lit the fire to make the spiced meat.

* ( 人定 ) — the word used here isn’t a specific hour exactly, but in ancient times, aside from the 12 shichen system, people also called parts of the day by which tasks were usual for that period, in this case when the day’s work is done and everyone has settled in for the night (can also mean the time of the last shichen)

Doing it this way also gave the villagers coming to borrow money one less thing to criticize. Otherwise, they'd say, “Ah, your family eats fish and meat, so you must have plenty of spare money. My whole family doesn't even have enough to eat. If you don't lend me a bit, I'm definitely not leaving.”

Then they would cry pitifully. Some even dragged their children along, all crying together. In short, they weren't afraid of embarrassing their children, just making a huge headache.

By the time the meat and vegetables were spiced, it was already the second half of the night. The couple barely managed to lay the meat out on bamboo trays to cool before collapsing into bed.

They hadn't slept two shichen before they were up again at dawn, packing their goods and heading to town. This way, they avoided most people, and anyone wanting to borrow who came looking for them would find nobody there.

Yesterday's earnings were completely spent, and they'd even had to dip into savings. After learning the weight of taxes, Xu He's determination to earn money only grew stronger.

Having not slept enough, his eyes were sore and swollen. Back in the Xu household, he hadn't slept much either, but it never bothered him this way. Now that he'd gotten comfortable sleeping at the Zhang house, suddenly not getting enough rest felt strange and unfamiliar.

But he didn't dwell on the discomfort. Soon he was fully immersed in selling spiced meat.

“This spiced pig trotter is really fragrant, nice and chewy. Chop it up and deliver it to Zuifang Tower up ahead.”

“Alright, please wait a moment.”

Today's customers were all buying in bulk—half to a full jin at a time, with deliveries to the tavern in the east, the teahouse and opera house in the west.

He couldn't leave his stall for long, and didn't want to enter those places himself, so he had to reduce his profit a bit by calling over a young errand boy. Deliveries cost two wen per order. Xu He bargained with him for a while, promising he'd give him all his delivery business whenever the boy was free. Only then did the boy agree to one wen per delivery.

Xu He felt that in the city, as long as you were diligent, you could earn a little money doing just about anything. But conversely, everything cost money, and if you weren't careful and frugal, you could spend a lot in a single day. No wonder Zhang Fangyuan, for all his earning ability, could never seem to save up.

The spiced pig trotters and tail were extremely fragrant, even better than the pig head meat—not at all greasy, perfect for snacking with wine.

The spare ribs he cut into individual pieces, and packed in oilpaper bags for easy gnawing. The more you chewed, the more flavorful they became; delicious enough that you couldn't stop.

But Xu He noticed that most customers buying trotters and ribs were men. Women and ger might buy them, but they wouldn't eat them on the street, finding it unrefined.

Interestingly, wealthy young ladies and gentlemen would stop their carriages or sedan chairs at a distance, send their servants to buy, and then gnaw away inside their carriages, until their mouths were greasy.

By midday, Xu He's spiced meat was completely sold out again, even earlier than yesterday.

The quantity he'd prepared was roughly the same as the day before, but the variety was different. These items were more like snack foods to eat on the spot, rather than things to take home and eat with rice. They seemed more popular with the customers in this area.

Given how well they sold, Xu He decided the next time they purchased livestock and slaughtered a pig at home, he would directly spice all the offal at once. Then, he could also sell in the afternoon.

He still didn't plan to buy offal from other stalls. Firstly, the cost was higher. Secondly, it wasn't practical for both of them to come to town to do business every day.

There were still things to take care of at home. The fruits and vegetables in the garden, gathering firewood in the mountains… In short, there were plenty of tasks in the village too.

Life for the couple was good, but they were short on manpower. The current arrangement worked well: they could earn money in town, and during the gap between finishing one batch of offal and the next livestock purchase, they could tend to things in the village.

“Today I made three hundred and eighty wen.” Xu He was tucked away in the chair behind Zhang Fangyuan's stall, counting money. The big man stood in front, cutting meat for customers who'd placed orders, perfectly blocking anyone from seeing Xu He counting. “Eighty wen more than yesterday!”

“The ribs, trotters, and tongue all sold for more, so naturally, it's more money than yesterday.”

“To sell the tongue, I specially prepared a chili powder mix. It was worth the effort.” Xu He calculated. “Besides the stall fees and oil paper, I also paid at least twelve wen to the errand boy—he made a good profit.”

Zhang Fangyuan finished cutting the meat, put it away, and squeezed in next to Xu He. Xu He immediately felt as if a big, sun-warmed stone pressed against him. He shrank back. “You're too hot.”

“You take my spot and then complain about me.” Zhang Fangyuan lifted the hem of his shirt, took out a palm-leaf fan, and started fanning himself. Leaning back in the chair, he said, “I feel like every time you're here, business at the stall gets worse.”

Xu He finished putting the money away and shot Zhang Fangyuan a sidelong glance. “Always lounging around here like some lord—does that look like properly doing business? First you blame the wind, then you blame the rain, now bad business is my fault!”

Zhang Fangyuan laughed. After a moment, he said again, “I'm serious.”

He leaned closer, covering his mouth with his large hand, and whispered in Xu He's ear, “Those young widows and fulang, they all come to buy things.”

“Have you no shame!” Xu He pushed at the man, but he was as solid as a rock. “Fine, I'll go back. Wouldn't want to hinder your business.”

“Don't…” Zhang Fangyuan couldn't stop laughing. He quickly grabbed Xu He as he tried to get up. “I'll fan you some cool air. You didn't sleep well last night. Take a nap. Look, you've got dark circles under your eyes.”

“How can you see dark circles? Nonsense.” Xu He turned his face away. He was dark-skinned; there was no way one night of poor sleep would show as dark circles.

“I'm serious. Go home and look in the mirror.”

“I'm not that vain.” Xu He suddenly stood up from the chair. “It's the start of summer. I'm going to buy some fabric and make you a couple of summer shirts.”

“Make yourself a couple too.”

Xu He was about to say something, but Zhang Fangyuan spoke first. “My birthday's coming up. Make yourself a decent outfit, and I'll take you to Dongli for a proper meal out.”

Xu He immediately swallowed his words about still having clothes to wear. “Alright.”

 

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