Chapter 27

Sang Luo arrived quickly. As it happened, the commotion next door had just subsided after Shen Jin received a sound beating and ran off to recover.

Sang Luo knew nothing of the chaos sparked by a piece of pork crackling, nor would she have cared if she had; she would have simply treated it as passing entertainment. Carrying her household registration documents and a small package of dried fish wrapped in leaves, she set off with Old Woman Chen to find the village head.

Seeing the dried fish, Old Woman Chen paused, then went to the kitchen and fished an egg out of the storage jar. It was another copper coin’s worth, but to get the travel permit processed quickly, this was the necessary price.

The village head of Shili Village did not actually live in Shili Village. In the Great Qian Dynasty, one *li* consisted of one hundred households; with only twenty-some families, Shili Village clearly fell short. Fortunately, it was not far—just over a mile away in Zhoujiagou.

The village head’s surname was Zhou. Old Woman Chen was not particularly close to his wife, but they were acquainted. Once the half-package of dried fish and the egg were pressed into the village head’s wife’s hands, the smile on her face became significantly warmer. After learning the purpose of their visit, she led them into the house and sent her son to fetch the village head.

The process went smoothly. Zhou the village head, upon hearing that the permit was needed to set up a food stall in the county town, took out his brush and ink. He copied the details from the registration books, collected ten copper coins from them, and promised to head to the county town the next day. By tomorrow evening, the permit would be ready. The business was settled.

Back in Shili Village, Sang Luo parted ways with Old Woman Chen at the crossroads. Once home, she took the young siblings out to pick "immortal tree" leaves, preparing for their upcoming venture to Sanli Village. Indeed, before she could head to the county town, she had to act as a peddler in Sanli Village one more time—she had to earn enough to cover the permit fees and the city entry tax, didn't she?

In the remaining time, she led the two children to continue clearing the wasteland behind their house, busy without a moment's rest.

They had only had pork liver soup for lunch, so for dinner, Sang Luo prepared a proper meal of "dry" rice. Well, it was barely dry rice. With only one earthen pot and no steamer, making dry rice was a technical challenge. She had to cook it like porridge but with less water, carefully controlling the fire, relying on the experience she had gained over the past few days with the earthen pot and the simple stove.

As she portioned out the rice, Shen An looked at the meager remaining supply, his frugal instincts kicking in. "Big Sister, would it be alright if we just had bean rice instead?"

Sang Luo smiled. "Eat up, don't worry. I won't let you go hungry, and I have other uses for those soybeans."

When serving the rice, she used a large wooden spoon—half a spoonful per person. It wasn't much, but it was white rice. The sweet, fragrant satisfaction of eating plain white rice was profound, especially with a side of eggplant stewed with pork fat, minced meat, salt, soy sauce, mint, perilla, and wild scallions.

As he ate, Shen An suddenly began to shed tears. Both Sang Luo and Shen Ning were stunned. He hurriedly wiped his eyes, laughing and crying at the same time. "Big Sister, this life feels like a dream."

As he wiped, the tears only flowed faster. "If only Big Brother were back, too."

That single sentence made Shen Ning’s eyes turn red. Tears welled up in her eyes, trembling until they couldn't be held back, falling in strings. The little girl looked at Sang Luo through tearful eyes. "Big Sister, Big Brother will come back, won't he? The villagers say the government hasn't reported him dead or removed his name from the registry. My big brother might still be alive. Big Sister, what they said is true, isn't it?"

Sang Luo remained silent. In the original owner's memories, Lady Li was most infuriated by the fact that the government had not processed the deaths of the soldiers, often cursing about it. Because they hadn't removed the names, the government didn't have to pay pensions to the families of the fallen. Furthermore, the Emperor’s decree at the start of the year—granting two years of tax exemption to families of those who died in battle—would not apply.

There were others in nearby villages who were confirmed dead but whose records remained unchanged. So, the lack of record-clearing didn't necessarily prove anything. However, it had been nearly half a year since the men from the same draft as Shen Lie had returned. After six months of silence, the chances of him coming back were slim. It was more likely that he had died on the battlefield, nameless and unburied.

But looking at those two pairs of tearful, hopeful eyes, she didn't have the heart to tell the truth. She couldn't bring herself to destroy the last glimmer of hope in the children's hearts.

Sang Luo nodded. "Yes, as long as there is no definitive bad news, that is good news."

With just that consolation, the children’s spirits seemed buoyed. They tried their best to force a smile, wiping their tears while carefully, bit by bit, eating every last grain of rice in their bowls. It wasn't that they were particularly hungry, but the white rice and the oily, meaty dish were too luxurious and had come too hard; they were reluctant—and afraid—to waste even a morsel.

The next day, they headed to Sanli Village. As Sang Luo had anticipated, having gone for two consecutive days, the "immortal tofu" was not as easy to sell as it had been at first. Because she had borrowed buckets from the Chen family, she had made twenty-four portions. Even so, she had to circle the village twice to sell fifteen, and the remaining nine were only sold while peddling through other villages on the way back.

These twenty-four portions earned thirty-two copper coins, which she exchanged for three and a half liters of soybeans and two eggs. This time, Sang Luo didn't spend much—just three coins for an iron needle and two for maltose. She brought the remaining twenty-seven coins home, stopped by the Chen house to repay the five coins she owed the old woman, and was left with twenty-two.

This was the first time they had money left over to last through the night.

What Sang Luo didn't know was that her quick repayment had greatly excited the Chen family, especially Qin Fangniang, who was about to go to the county town to sell the tofu herself. It was as if she could already see herself making money.

That evening, without waiting for Sang Luo to come to them, Old Woman Chen made a trip to Zhoujiagou to retrieve the permits and sent her daughter-in-law to deliver them to Sang Luo. The old woman was very particular, instructing Qin Fangniang to stand far outside the door and call out, never stepping a foot inside. She knew Sang Luo’s technique for making the tofu was a valuable secret, and she was afraid her daughter-in-law might accidentally see something she shouldn't, causing a rift between them.

...

On the sixth day after transmigrating to this world, Sang Luo was headed to the county town.

It was Qin Fangniang's first day selling, and she was so excited she hadn't slept well. She rose while it was still dark, and Chen Youtian escorted her to Sang Luo’s place. Sang Luo was ready and waiting.

The lotus leaves for wrapping, the bowls for samples, the sugar water, and the wooden spoons were all packed into the carrying baskets. She also brought the six handfuls of purslane she and the children had picked the previous evening, along with the dried fish she had prepared, hoping to exchange them for a few coins. Since she planned to buy household goods, she also tucked the twenty-two coins she had saved into her sleeve.

Shen An and Shen Ning followed behind, clearly wanting to go, but Sang Luo couldn't allow it. "The permits are too expensive. I can't take you both to the county town this time. Don't worry, once we have more money, I will definitely take you there to see the sights."

After comforting the children—who were capable of tending to the fire and cooking—Sang Luo left them to watch the house and set off with Qin Fangniang. Chen Youtian didn't leave immediately; he insisted on carrying the two heaviest buckets. Qin Fangniang, having no load, took the two carrying baskets from Sang Luo.

By the end, the three of them walked toward the edge of the village, with only Sang Luo walking empty-handed. Chen Youtian walked with them for three or four miles. Seeing the sky brighten, he finally stopped, handed the load to Qin Fangniang, and turned back.

Having been a "third wheel" to their displays of affection, Sang Luo finally took back her own load. She thanked Chen Youtian, and once he left, she joked with Qin Fangniang, "Auntie, Uncle Youtian is really good to you."

Qin Fangniang felt a bit shy. "He just has a bit of brute strength."

The couple was equally introverted and shy. Looking at Sang Luo’s frail appearance, she asked, "Can you carry that?"

Sang Luo smiled. "It's alright. It's much lighter than the first time I carried those water buckets. I've been carrying things these past few days, so I've built up some strength. Have you been to the county town before, Auntie?"

"I have," Qin Fangniang replied, then hesitated. "But it's been many years, so I'm not very familiar with it."

In truth, she was a stranger to it. The first time was the year they had fled the famine; they were only at the city gate where wealthy families were giving out porridge, and she hadn't even touched the gate itself. The second time was when they came to register in Shili Village; she had accompanied her mother-in-law to sell some things and run errands, but her mother-in-law had gone inside while she waited outside. After all, for those living outside the city, entering required a permit, and that cost money—five copper coins. Who would spend that just to visit? In the years since, only the men had gone to the county town for manual labor during the slack season.

Thinking of this, she began to feel nervous.

Sensing Qin Fangniang’s anxiety, Sang Luo steered the conversation toward farming, asking what could be planted at this time of year. Qin Fangniang had seen the small patch of land behind Sang Luo's house cleared and planted with wild mint and perilla, so she knew she wanted to farm. This was Qin Fangniang’s specialty, and her expression relaxed.

"The climate here is good. There’s still plenty you can plant: radishes, malabar spinach, turnips, cabbage, mustard greens, cucumbers, scallions, garlic, and chives. If you want to plant them, I’ll pack you some seeds when we get back."

"That would be wonderful, though I'm not very good at farming."

Qin Fangniang smiled. "It's not hard. I'll teach you when the time comes."

Qin Fangniang was honest and warm-hearted. True to her word, she spent the rest of the journey sharing agricultural wisdom with Sang Luo. Sang Luo had actually cleared land and grown vegetables during the years she lived in the mountains, but the original owner hadn't. To farm openly and properly, she really did need a mentor. Besides, she didn't know what many of the local vegetables looked like in the ground, let alone how to grow them, so she listened very attentively.

One teaching and one learning, they passed Sanli Village without noticing. Not long after, they finally left the mountain path, and the view opened up. In the distance, the earth-yellow city walls came into sight.

"That's the county town ahead."