Chapter 20

They were busy for a while; during the rush Zhou Chengkang ran off to fetch more fine flour and meat and vegetables. A little rice remained, Li Qinghe had planned to eat it herself if she couldn’t sell it.
When she could finally catch her breath and looked up, most of the crowd had thinned and the box the matron had given her was filled to the brim.
Seeing her pause, Zhou Chengkang hurriedly handed her a cloth. “Tired?”
Li Qinghe took it, smiling and shaking her head. “I’m all right.”
They split the last two between them, and even had the matron cook a bowl of noodles to share.
The matron brought over the noodles but didn’t leave; she sat beside them. “If you ask me, you should open your own stall. I can’t keep up with the demand here.”
Li Qinghe understood at once. She’d sold something novel today; under normal circumstances people wouldn’t spend so much on such food. If she stayed here long-term, some customers might skip buns and noodles to treat their families to her cakes, and that could hurt the matron’s trade.
Today, though, it was fine, Li Qinghe’s novelty had drawn onlookers, and while some couldn’t afford the cakes they could still buy a couple of buns. The matron sold all her noodles and buns clean.
Li Qinghe smiled. “Actually, I raise fish; I don’t have time to sell these. Matron, would you like to try running it?”
The matron paused, then brightened with surprise. “Are you serious?”
Zhou Chengkang ate in silence and didn’t ask questions. Li Qinghe glanced at him and nodded. “I’m serious. I can teach you.”
The matron understood immediately. “Taking on a pupil, how much do you charge? To be honest, it’s not for me; I want my daughter to learn, but she doesn’t have much silver.”
“How much would you be willing to give?” Li Qinghe asked, her face unchanged.
The matron’s eyes flicked to the last bowl of mixed rice; she knew that the rice was what made the cakes taste so good. Then she looked at the copper coins beside Li Qinghe that hadn’t yet been counted. The box was hers, no one knew how much it held better than she did, and she had seen the ingredients Li Qinghe had brought. In terms of profit it would indeed earn more than her bun shop. Tentatively she asked, “Five taels?”
Li Qinghe smiled. “Matron, give me six taels and I’ll teach you everything, no holding back.”
Hearing that, the matron relaxed at once. “Deal.”
Worried Li Qinghe might change her mind, she quickly fetched the silver and handed it over. “I happen to have ready silver. Shall we draw up an agreement?”
Li Qinghe neither agreed nor refused but tucked the silver away. “If you’re going to learn, it’s best to start soon. In a couple of days the autumn harvest begins and I’ll be cooking. Once everyone is busy, I can’t very well be away for silver, people will think I’m shirking my work to sneak out.”
Seeing this, the matron dropped the idea of a written agreement. “I’ll go fetch her and have her come tomorrow.” She added at the end, “Just one thing… you mustn’t teach this to anyone else.”
That last sentence had a much more careful tone, and Li Qinghe gladly agreed. After they counted the copper coins, they found two thousand one hundred; she’d spent a thousand and one on ingredients today, so she’d earned just over a tael of silver.
The matron helped count, too. When she finished she squinted with pleasure, happier than if she’d earned it herself.
The two returned to the carriage. Li Qinghe split the money in half and handed some to Zhou Chengkang. “This is yours.”
“I don’t want it.” Zhou Chengkang hurriedly refused. “I helped you, I didn’t expect any pay.”
Li Qinghe produced three taels of silver. “So if you borrow my money, you won’t pay me back?”
“No need to pay me back.” He blushed as if remembering something. “From now on, any money I earn will be for you.”
Li Qinghe was a little surprised and inwardly amused. “You did say that yourself.”
They chatted and laughed all the way back to the village; Zhou Chengkang truly didn’t take any of her money. Li Qinghe happily pocketed it, such ideas were worth encouraging.
The next day she went back into town, this time without Zhou Chengkang escorting her. She taught all day; the matron’s daughter picked it up, so the money was secure. Before she left, the matron, looking a little embarrassed, brought out a written agreement.
The contract stated that Li Qinghe agreed to teach the recipe and would not teach anyone else in Luoyue Town. Li Qinghe had no objections; after impressing her fingerprint, she took a copy home.
She had spent all her silver on fish fry and genuinely wanted to sell some food to earn money; selling at the matron’s shop had been a spur-of-the-moment idea.
She had originally planned to buy household things with Zhou the day before the big market and set up a stall on market day. But because Zhou was delayed and she couldn’t easily carry her purchases back, she thought the food-selling would have to wait. Then on the road into town she suddenly remembered the matron’s shop, she could sell there and wouldn’t need to bring pots and pans; everything was already there.
It was meant as a trial, but when the matron watched her count money several times, her envy was obvious. And after frying over two hundred cakes in the heat and exhaustion, Li Qinghe decided to be ruthless: she let the matron have the business, and in return it would forge a good bond.
Near the village she saw Zhou Chengkang standing off to one side. When he noticed her his face lit up. “Qinghe, are you going again tomorrow?”
“No.” It wasn’t difficult, after a day’s teaching she could practice on her own and start selling.
Zhou Chengkang seemed distracted, clearly thinking of something else. After a long moment he cleared his throat twice. “I told my mother yesterday; she agreed to the match. I was thinking of coming tomorrow to formally propose. Is that all right?”
Li Qinghe was curious about where the Zhou family’s engagement money had come from, but she didn’t ask. An engagement should indeed happen sooner rather than later; she smiled, “All right.”
She answered casually, and Zhou Chengkang’s eyes immediately brightened; his smile grew wider. “Qinghe, don’t worry. I’ll treat you well from now on.”