Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Profit
Back at the Tang Family home, Tang Da Fu stared at the strings of copper coins laid out on the table as if they might sprout legs and run away. “Well?” he asked, eyes shining. “How much?”

Tang Yi Chen sat with the ledger open, counting the last bundle with careful fingers. When he finished, he wrote a number on the page—slowly, clearly, right in front of everyone.

The others practically vibrated, desperate to know.

In that moment, they wished with all their hearts that they could read. They’d never felt so keenly that literacy wasn’t a luxury—it was power.

Tang Yi Chen looked up. “Eight taels and 23 copper coins.”

“Eight taels?!” they all shouted at once, each voice louder than the last.

Only Qin Hui Yin didn’t react. She’d known exactly how much stock they’d prepared. With the prices she’d set, she’d already done the math in her head.

“About 2.5 taels were costs,” she said. “After deducting that, we earned 5.5 taels. So our total balance is 12.5 taels.”

Tang Yi Chen flipped to another page. “The bowls and chopsticks are long-term. We won’t need to spend on them again next time. From now on our main costs will be ingredients, oil paper, bamboo-tube bowls, and disposable chopsticks.”

He tapped the ledger lightly. “Based on today’s portions, that’ll be about one tael total. Future profits will be higher.”

“Exactly,” Qin Hui Yin agreed. “The big expenses were the folding cart, the folding tables and chairs, bowls and chopsticks, the grill rack—things like that. Those are already paid for.”

“Time to hand out wages,” Li Tao Hua said, holding out her palm. “Hurry up. I’m saving private money.”

Qin Hui Yin laughed and handed out wages—50 copper coins each. Only those who’d worked got paid for now. Tang Da Fu and Tang Yi Chen received nothing.

Tang Yi Xiao and Tang Lu Wu sat with their coin strings in their hands, dazed.

In the past, they’d worked themselves raw. Wages? They were lucky not to be scolded. Worse, they’d lived with the fear that if they didn’t do well enough, they’d be thrown away.

Now they still worked every day, but their effort was seen. It had value. Someone said, You did well, and here is proof.

They could endure hard work. They weren’t afraid of exhaustion. What had always crushed them wasn’t the labor—it was being treated like they didn’t matter.

Li Tao Hua turned the coins over in her hand, satisfied, then remembered something. “By the way, how much did you pay Third Grandpa for the cart, and how much was his commission today?”

“The cart fee was 20 copper coins,” Qin Hui Yin said. “His commission—earned by his own ability—was another 20. That’s 40 in total. Third Grandpa’s helped us a lot. That amount isn’t much.”

Tang Yi Chen noted it down and recalculated the balance in their communal funds.

Qin Hui Yin kept the silver. Tang Yi Chen kept the ledger.

Truthfully, Tang Yi Chen had contributed more than anyone could deny—he’d written their signboard, made the menu, tracked every coin coming in and out. He deserved wages. But if they paid him, Tang Da Fu would be the only one left empty-handed, and that would put the head of the house in an awkward spot.

So they held off. Next time they went to the county town’s bookshop, they’d make it up to Tang Yi Chen with good calligraphy paper.

Tang Yi Chen pushed a string of coins across the table toward Qin Hui Yin. “These 100 copper coins are your wages. Everyone else has theirs. You’re the big boss—you can’t go without.”

Qin Hui Yin took it with a bright smile. “Then of course I’m taking it.”

Tang Da Fu watched his sons and daughters each receive wages while only he—and the injured Tang Yi Chen—had none. The envy in his chest wasn’t bitter. It was hopeful.

Before, he’d worried that with his lame leg he’d never make a living again. Now he didn’t worry. As long as he followed Hui Yin, he could earn more than he ever had outside.

Most importantly, he had to keep Hui Yin happy. If Hui Yin was happy, his wife would be happy. And if his wife was happy, this family wouldn’t split apart.

It had been a victory worth celebrating. They were exhausted, but no one wanted to eat plain porridge in silence tonight. They decided to make a few extra dishes and reward themselves properly.

Tang Da Fu picked and washed vegetables. Li Tao Hua chopped meat with quick, decisive strokes. Tang Yi Chen sat near the stove, tending the fire and cooking rice. Qin Hui Yin lit the brazier and set skewers on the rack, the fat hissing and dripping into the coals.

Tang Yi Xiao lifted a shoulder pole and started for the water vat.

“Don’t go,” Qin Hui Yin called. “I already hired someone. He’ll bring water over soon. One copper coin fills the whole vat.”

“I can do it,” Tang Yi Xiao said stubbornly. “We don’t need to waste money.”

“We’re exhausted,” Qin Hui Yin said, not even pretending to argue gently. “If we can slack off, we should. I also hired someone to gather firewood. A full load is one copper coin—I ordered two loads.”

“Second… Sister, that’s too wasteful,” Tang Yi Xiao said, disapproval pinching his brows. “Gathering firewood is easy. I can—”

Qin Hui Yin paused, eyes smiling. “What did you call me?”

Tang Yi Xiao froze. Color crept up his neck. “…Second Sister.”

He looked as if he’d rather face the fire than meet her gaze.

Qin Hui Yin reached out and patted his head. “Good boy. Call me that from now on.”

Tang Yi Xiao shifted awkwardly. “If I’m not carrying water or gathering firewood, what am I supposed to do?”

“Go invite Third Grandpa over for dinner,” Qin Hui Yin said. “Tell him we’re eating together—and drinking tonight.”

Recently, Tang Yi Xiao had been glued to his family, either working or sleeping. It had been a long time since he’d walked the village road alone.

The children playing nearby noticed him immediately. One after another, they stepped into his path and blocked the way like a wall.

Tang Yi Xiao moved left. They moved left.

He moved right. They shifted again.

His patience snapped. His eyes went cold. “Get lost.”

A boy at the front shoved him in the chest. “Tang Yi Xiao, you’ve gotten pretty fearless lately. Did you forget the days you crawled under my crotch?”

The other boys laughed, ugly and excited. “Getting cocky because we gave you face?”

Tang Yi Xiao had put on a little strength lately and wasn’t as skinny as before—but the boy in front was broader, and he had friends. The shove became a grapple. A trip. A knee in his side.

In seconds, Tang Yi Xiao was pinned to the ground.

“Let go of me,” he rasped. “Let go…”

“Not so obedient lately, huh?” the boy said, leaning in, breath hot with victory. “You don’t help us gather firewood anymore. You’re nowhere to be seen all day. Now we can’t collect enough and we get scolded at home.”

He dug his palm into Tang Yi Xiao’s shoulder. “Today we’ll put that debt on your head, so you learn what happens when you don’t listen.”

Tang Yi Xiao thrashed, but the weight on him didn’t budge. The pain flared, sharp and humiliating.

Then he opened his mouth and bit down hard on the boy’s hand.

The boy screamed like he’d been stabbed. “Ah! It hurts! Let go—let go! Pry him off—hurry!”

“Oh no, he’s bleeding!”

“Tang Yi Xiao, are you crazy? Let go! It’s bleeding!”

“Someone come—someone come quick! Tang Yi Xiao’s gone crazy!”

At the Tang house, Li Tao Hua stood at the door and glanced down the road. “Where did that brat go? I told him to invite Third Uncle Tang over. Did he fall into the latrine? Why isn’t he back yet?”

She called into the kitchen that she was going to check around the village.

Qin Hui Yin, busy stirring the pot, answered without looking up.

The weather was clear, the sky clean. The moonlight would be good tonight. If it got too late, they could move the table into the courtyard and eat under the moon.

Li Tao Hua walked toward Third Master Tang’s house. Along the way, a few village men let their eyes linger where they shouldn’t. Li Tao Hua didn’t even slow down. She turned her head and called calmly to the women beside them, “Your man is staring at me again.”

The women snapped at their husbands at once. The men flinched. And Li Tao Hua earned a fresh round of “fox spirit” insults for her trouble.

She rolled her eyes.

She was just walking down the road, minding her own business. They couldn’t control their own husbands, so they blamed her for being pretty instead.

Brainless.