Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Finished Product
When Li Tao Hua saw Qin Hui Yin come in carrying firewood, her face tightened. “Who told you to do this kind of hard labor?”

Tang Yi Xiao followed right after her.

Li Tao Hua saw him carrying the light back basket, then looked at Qin Hui Yin hauling a huge bundle of firewood. Flames seemed to shoot from her eyes. “You actually let Yin Yin carry firewood? Yin Yin is a young miss—soft skin, delicate flesh. How could she carry something that heavy?”

For once, Tang Yi Xiao didn’t argue. He glanced at Qin Hui Yin, set down the basket, then took the firewood from her back and carried it into the kitchen.

Li Tao Hua hadn’t expected him to be this obedient. She turned back to Qin Hui Yin, baffled. “What’s wrong with him today?”

“Mom, don’t yell at him.” Qin Hui Yin waved her off. “He didn’t make me carry it—I chose to. Just now on the mountain I saw—”

She stopped when Tang Yi Xiao came back out, swallowing the rest.

He had the shoulder pole across his back, two water buckets hanging from either end. He was clearly heading out to fetch water.

“Don’t go,” Qin Hui Yin said. “We have enough for today. Fetch more tomorrow.”

Tang Yi Xiao looked at her, something complicated flickering in his eyes. He pressed his lips together and didn’t speak.

“I need someone to tend the fire,” Qin Hui Yin went on. “Help me stoke it.”

Tang Yi Xiao paused, then set the buckets back.

Qin Hui Yin turned to Li Tao Hua. “Mom, the braised meat in my pot didn’t dry out, right?”

“You asked me to watch the fire—how could I let it dry out?” Li Tao Hua said irritably. “But that smell really is something. A bunch of people have been wandering around our gate asking what I’m cooking, like the greedy worms in their bellies got hooked. Pah. They want food but won’t say it, just hoping I’ll offer it myself. I’d have to be an idiot.”

As if summoned by her words, a few mischievous children clung to their front gate and craned their necks, eyes wide.

One of them called loudly, “Auntie Tao Hua, what are you cooking? It smells so good!”

Li Tao Hua snapped, “What else could it be? Food. Every family’s food smells good—even corn buns smell good!”

“Auntie Tao Hua, let us taste some! Yours smells amazing.”

“No. We don’t even have enough to eat ourselves!” Li Tao Hua shooed them away like flies, then turned to Qin Hui Yin. “Don’t go being softhearted. There are too many mouths in this village. Plug one, and another opens. Don’t create a heap of trouble for yourself just for face—it’s not worth it. But you’re a young miss. Let Mom handle the part where people get offended.”

Qin Hui Yin slipped her arm through Li Tao Hua’s and leaned in, acting sweet. “Mom, you’re the best. With a mom this good, I’m really too lucky.”

Li Tao Hua’s expression softened despite herself.

“But Mom,” Qin Hui Yin added, lowering her voice, “can you be a little nicer to people from now on? Today on the mountain…”

She told Li Tao Hua what she’d seen—Black Bull and the other boys, Tang Yi Xiao on the ground, the ugly words they’d spat out. Li Tao Hua’s face shifted, a complicated tightness settling around her mouth.

When Qin Hui Yin finished, she squeezed her mother’s arm. “You still have to be the best to me in the whole world, or I’ll get jealous. And I’ll be the best to you in the whole world too, because you’re the most important person to me.”

Li Tao Hua reached up and patted her hair. “Mom will listen to you.”

Before, her daughter hadn’t liked Song Rui Ze, and Song Rui Ze’s personality wasn’t likable either. Even though Li Tao Hua had been his stepmother for nearly a year, she had never cared about him. Now her daughter wanted to get along with the people of the Tang Family, and Li Tao Hua decided she should treat the Tang Family’s stepchildren a bit better too—if only to find her daughter someone to talk to.

Her own reputation was bad, and it dragged her daughter down. That meant Yin Yin couldn’t even find friends in the village. Tang Lu Wu seemed honest; she probably wouldn’t bully her. But if they were going to truly get along with the Tang Family, then that marriage arrangement they’d once mentioned for Tang Lu Wu would have to be turned down. Luckily, they hadn’t agreed on the bride price last time, so nothing had been finalized.

“Mom,” Qin Hui Yin said, lifting her basket slightly, “these wild mountain chilies are important. Can you transplant them in the corner of the courtyard?”

“Sure.” Li Tao Hua nodded. “Mom will plant them.”

Tang Lu Wu had just come back from the vegetable plot and happened to hear. “Auntie Li, how about I do it?”

Li Tao Hua pointed at the pea starch spread out in the yard. “That powder is dry already. Help Yin Yin put it away.”

Speaking of pea starch, it was time for Qin Hui Yin’s real work.

She took a small amount into the kitchen, rolled up her sleeves, and began. Tomorrow she planned to go into town to sell Chilled Jelly Noodles. From the original owner’s memories, she knew this world hadn’t seen this food yet. It was the height of summer; commoners couldn’t afford ice, and there was no easy way to escape the heat. If they could eat one serving of this right now, it would feel like coming back to life.

Tang Yi Xiao sat by the stove tending the fire, his eyes following Qin Hui Yin’s hands even when he tried not to.

When he saw the clean white pea starch slowly turn thick and glossy under her stirring, his eyes widened in spite of himself.

Making the jelly wasn’t complicated. Heat, timing, constant movement. When it reached the right texture, she pulled it off.

“All right,” Qin Hui Yin said. “Put it out. Pull out all the firewood and smother it immediately, or it won’t taste good.”

Tang Yi Xiao moved fast. By the time her sentence ended, the fire was already out.

Qin Hui Yin poured the jelly into a container and set it into the water jar to chill.

Then she began preparing seasonings—vinegar, soy sauce, salt, a few other mixtures. She even used two wild mountain chilies. People in this era didn’t understand spicy food yet, so she didn’t dare add much—just enough to wake up the flavor.

She tasted the vinegar and soy sauce she’d bought. Barely passable. If time weren’t so tight, she would have brewed her own. She also wanted to make fermented black beans, but that would have to wait until she’d dealt with the trouble right in front of her.

“Cough, cough…” Tang Yi Xiao got choked by the chili fumes, eyes watering.

“I don’t need you here anymore,” Qin Hui Yin said, waving him away. “Go out first!”

Tang Yi Xiao didn’t move right away. He stared at the cooling jelly like it had grown out of the pot. “What is that thing? Can people really eat it?”

“Don’t worry.” Qin Hui Yin’s mouth curled. “Once you taste it, you’ll probably want to swallow your tongue.”

She bustled around the kitchen alone.

Li Tao Hua came in once, took one look, and left again, because there truly wasn’t much she could help with beyond hovering.

Tang Lu Wu washed her hands and stood nearby, awkward but earnest. “Do you need me to do anything?”

“The braised meat is about done,” Qin Hui Yin said. “Help me pick some out. There aren’t many of us, so we can’t eat much. Just take a piece of pork intestine and a chunk of pork ear.”

Tang Lu Wu wasn’t afraid of work—she was afraid there would be no work for her to do.

A person needed value to deserve a place in the world. Otherwise, they ended up like Sister Ju Hua from the village, sold off to a bachelor as a wife and dead the next year in a difficult childbirth.

So when Qin Hui Yin gave her something to do, Tang Lu Wu felt her heart settle.

These past two days had felt especially comfortable. Qin Hui Yin’s temper had become surprisingly good—no more snide mockery, no deliberate cruelty. Li Tao Hua no longer docked Tang Lu Wu’s food either; whatever everyone else ate, she ate. Tang Lu Wu only hoped it could stay this way.