Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Preparations

Tang Da Fu ate until his lips shone with oil.

Li Tao Hua watched him with pure disgust. “Look at you. Can you have some backbone?”

“Wife,” Tang Da Fu mumbled around a mouthful, blissed out, “your cooking is too good.”

“It’s not me.” Li Tao Hua lifted her chin. “It’s my daughter.”

Her eyes flashed with pride. “The villagers all say my daughter is dead weight. I really want them to open their eyes and see what my daughter can do.”

“Yes, yes.” Tang Da Fu nodded eagerly. “Yin Girl’s cooking is so good, I’m the one benefiting.”

He wiped his mouth, expression turning solemn. “Wife, Lu Wu told me you even bought medicine for Xiao Er. The family’s in trouble, but you still took out money for his medicine. Xiao Er is lucky to have a mother like you. In the future, the child will definitely be filial to you.”

Li Tao Hua’s lip curled. “If my daughter hadn’t insisted, I wouldn’t have taken that money out. We can’t even keep the pot going—who would be willing to spend money on that? Tang Yi Xiao hasn’t taken medicine for years and he’s still alive, isn’t he? But my daughter said to buy it, so we bought it.”

Tang Da Fu reached for her hand, eyes full of infatuation.

“Wife,” he said, voice soft, “my leg can move now. Should I go work in the fields too?”

“You want to go to the fields now?” Li Tao Hua flung his hand away as if it burned her. “Are you trying to be crippled for life? Don’t make trouble for me. Just seeing you annoys me.”

Still, after tasting Qin Hui Yin’s cooking, Li Tao Hua had even fewer objections to whatever Qin Hui Yin wanted to do. She hadn’t minded before. Now she minded even less. If anything, she found herself looking forward to tomorrow’s “thing,” even if she refused to admit it out loud.

Not everyone in the village was eating noodles with meat.

The smell from the Tang household drifted into neighboring courtyards and made mouths water. Families stared at their bowls of corn mush and their mixed-grain cakes—year after year, day after day—and felt their tempers spike.

In Madam Wang’s house, jealousy twisted like a rope.

“Kid’s father,” Madam Wang hissed, face pinched, “I heard that cheap bitch sold all her clothes in town. What can those ragged clothes even fetch? And she dares to spend like that! When she’s sold every last piece, let’s see how that household survives. Her man still owes 50 taels of silver outside. How does she have the nerve to eat meat?”

Tang Jiang chewed his grain cake slowly, eyes down. His voice came out complicated, tired. “What does other people’s business have to do with us? Stop staring at them all day. Live your own life.”

“I’m waiting to see that cheap bitch starve,” Madam Wang spat. “She only survives by clinging to men. Once Tang Da Fu’s money is all squandered, who knows which wild man she’ll latch onto next.”

Tang Ming Xiu had been silent until then, picking at her food with a scowl. Now she slammed her chopsticks down.

“Mom, my clothes can’t be worn anymore. When are you going to buy me clothes? I’m 15. It’s time to talk about marriage. If I don’t even have a decent outfit, how am I supposed to negotiate a match?”

Madam Wang’s brows drew together. “I know. Next market day I’ll go into town and buy you something you can wear.”

Something you can wear meant something less torn at the secondhand stall. Even the roughest new outfit cost 30 wen. Madam Wang would rather chew stones.

Tang Ming Xiu’s eyes flashed. “Auntie Li’s clothes were so nice that even at a secondhand stall they’d sell for 50 wen. Back then, she was willing to trade them for peas, but you refused. If we’d traded, I’d have clothes to wear.”

“Li Tao Hua is unlucky,” Madam Wang snapped, jabbing Tang Ming Xiu’s forehead. “You dare wear her clothes? Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch her bad luck? It’s just one outfit. It’s not like I’m not buying you one.”

“The clothes you buy me—can they compare to hers?” Tang Ming Xiu shot back. “Mom, listen. The man Auntie picked out this time is really good. His father is the village headman. They’re not short on money.”

Her voice rose, sharp as a needle. “If you won’t spend money to dress me up, I won’t marry into a good family. And don’t expect me to support this house later. If I live badly, I’ll bring my husband to your door to mooch off you. Think about it—do you want your daughter to marry well, or marry poorly?”

“You stinking girl,” Madam Wang shrieked. “You dare threaten your own mother? I must have been cursed for eight lifetimes to marry your useless father and give birth to a debt-collector like you!”

Tang Ming Xiu’s mouth curled. “When my brother comes back, I’ll tell him you called him a debt-collector.”

“When did I ever call him a debt-collector?”

“If you didn’t marry my father, could you have given birth to him? You regret marrying my father, don’t you? That means you regret having him.” Tang Ming Xiu stood, eyes bright and cold. “If I’m a debt-collector, then he’s a debt-collector too.”

Madam Wang’s hand lifted—ready to smack her.

Tang Ming Xiu was already out the door.

She wasn’t staying home. If she stayed, she’d be forced to do chores.

Plenty of households were just as foul-mouthed as Madam Wang’s. Plenty of women couldn’t stand to see Li Tao Hua eat well, or even simply look well. They hated that she’d hooked the men’s attention and still managed to live with color in her cheeks.

But in the Tang household, another kind of tension brewed.

Tang Yi Xiao swallowed his medicine and wiped sweat from his forehead.

For the past few days, his chest had felt tight and uncomfortable. Without medicine, he suspected he wouldn’t last much longer.

“Little brother,” Tang Lu Wu asked softly, “how do you feel?”

“Much better,” Tang Yi Xiao said, forcing calm. “Sister, don’t worry.”

Tang Lu Wu’s shoulders loosened. “It’s all thanks to Yin Yin. Otherwise your medicine would have stopped. Little brother, don’t be so harsh to Yin Yin in the future. This time, she really helped you.”

Tang Yi Xiao’s eyes narrowed, too sharp for a nine-year-old. “Sister, you’re just too stupid.”

Tang Lu Wu’s face went pale.

“That mother and daughter pair isn’t that kindhearted,” Tang Yi Xiao continued, voice low. “They definitely have another scheme. Right now they’re giving us a taste of sweetness. But there’s another move coming. I’m sure of it.”

Tang Lu Wu pressed her lips together. “I don’t know about schemes. I only know that if you can’t keep taking medicine, you’ll be in danger. Dad has no money. We can’t buy it ourselves.”

Tang Yi Xiao didn’t argue. He only looked at her for a long moment, something hard and determined settling behind his eyes.

If his foolish sister insisted on trusting them, then he would be the one to watch. The one to guard her.

Qin Hui Yin didn’t know what the village women whispered, and she didn’t know what Tang Yi Xiao suspected. She only knew the household was sinking, and they needed a way to climb out.

That meant money.

That meant a breakthrough.

The next day, after drying the pea flour, she went up the mountain.

This time, she was looking for a seasoning she could use instead of chili peppers. If she wanted to make chilled jelly noodles, she needed heat. Without it, the dish would lose its soul.

She searched the outer mountain and found nothing that fit. She hesitated, then pushed a little deeper, careful with every step.

Not far. Not reckless. The moment anything felt wrong, she would leave.

She worked as she walked, eyes sharp.

“So much wood ear…” she whispered, delight bubbling up. “We’re rich, we’re rich…”

Her basket grew heavier.

“So many wild yams. No one found them? What a waste.”

She chattered to herself like a happy little sparrow, hands busy, mind already calculating meals and coins.

Then she spotted a trap ahead.

Inside, a rabbit lay twisted and dying.

Qin Hui Yin stopped at the edge of the trap, breath catching. The rabbit’s sides fluttered weakly. Its eyes were half-lidded.

A rabbit…

She stared until her eyes stung, then turned away with tears clinging to her lashes.

Only one person set traps in these mountains.

She didn’t dare snatch food from a tiger’s mouth.

She’d barely taken three steps when a shadow cut across her path.

A tall youth stood in front of her, as if he’d risen straight out of the earth. His eyes were icy black, fixed on her with a chill that prickled her skin. In his hand was a sickle.

The blade dripped red.

The blood shone wet and cold.

Qin Hui Yin’s heart jumped into her throat. She didn’t think—she simply flinched sideways and ran, legs pumping, basket bouncing hard against her back.

Terrifying.

She honestly believed that if she’d stayed even one more second, he would have swung the sickle and cut her down.