Chapter 37

Li Qinghe was astonished.
Her surprise showed plainly on her face. Zhao Wanwan glanced into the bustling kitchen and said softly, "I've asked, if I leave, my job will definitely be gone. I pleaded and the steward agreed to find someone to cover for me, but he had conditions: the person can't be a novice; it's best if they've worked as a helper in a tavern before. Sister, will you cover for me this once? Please?"
Looking at the kitchen's heated bustle, Li Qinghe really had no intention of returning. She shook her head. "I'm very busy, in a couple of days I'll have dozens of chicks. You know chicks need careful tending or you'll lose everything. I could spare a day or two for you, but two months... I've already put the fry in the water; I simply can't leave."
Zhao Wanwan was full of worry. "Isn't there Fourth Brother Zhou? He could help you with these things. Sister, I rarely ask you for favors, if you help me this once, I'll be sure to help you if you ever need me!"
Her eyes were full of expectation. Li Qinghe spread her hands. "I really can't. You can't count on me, you know how busy my household is. Besides, my fields have been cleared and in a few days we'll be spring‑planting with the others; we'll be hiring people then."
Zhao Wanwan sighed. "If I can't find someone, then I won't be able to go."
If she couldn't go, a group of scholars gathered together could easily end up at the brothel, and if something happened then...
She thought that, and Zhao Wanwan was already saying, "I'm afraid my husband will forget me after he leaves. They say scholars like to go to the brothel and play drinking games."
It turned out she understood perfectly well.
Li Qinghe suggested, "Why don't you find someone to cover for you? You can certainly find someone in town. At worst, give them a little extra pay."
Hearing that, Zhao Wanwan grew impatient. "But if I hire someone and when I return they don't give me my job back, or if she does the work better than I do, what if the tavern lets me go?"
By the end her tone had turned unpleasant.
She was upset; Li Qinghe lost heart too and said, "Fourth brother is still waiting for me. Let's leave it at that."
She turned to leave, but Zhao Wanwan grabbed her sleeve. "Sister, from how you looked earlier, you seem quite familiar with the head chef?"
"Just acquaintances," Li Qinghe said calmly. "I can ask him to take a few fish, but to have him save your position, I'm afraid that's not possible." With that she pulled her sleeve free and left.
Zhao Wanwan wanted to follow but someone in the kitchen called out, "Fire‑tender! Where have you run off to slack off?"
No matter her reluctance, she had to go in. "Coming."
Away from the kitchen, Li Qinghe shook her head and stopped thinking about Zhao Wanwan.
There were still too few chickens at home. Chicks relied entirely on being hatched at home, and with the risk of early death, raising them was much harder than raising fish.
She and Zhou Chengkang went to the seed shop. People usually planted barley and rice; she had no paddy fields so rice was out of the question, and they could only buy barley.
When they returned home it was still early. Madam Qian came over in a slow shuffle, her clothes patched and worn, she'd just come back from the fields. At this hour she was probably returning to make dinner.
"You went into town, why didn't you bring back any buns or bones?" Madam Qian sized them up and scowled.
Li Qinghe replied offhand, "We went late; there were none left."
“You go back,” Li Qinghe urged the troubled-looking Zhou Chengkang. “I'll go back and make the food.”
Zhou Chengkang looked at her and wanted to stroke her hair to comfort her, but seeing Qian standing nearby he let it go. “Don't dwell on it. Look ahead.”
After he left, Li Qinghe went inside. Qian poked her head out of the kitchen. “Hurry up and help. Are you even going to eat?”
It was a lecturing tone. Li Qinghe had planned to help with the cooking, but Qian's entitled manner annoyed her, she wouldn't put up with that, so she turned and went in. “I'm not hungry.”
If I'm not eating, I don't have to cook, right?
Sure enough, Madam Qian said no more, snorted, and pulled back inside.
When the meal was ready, she really took it all out to the fields, leaving not a scrap; Li Qinghe wasn't angry and went into the kitchen to cook for herself.
The weather warmed up and everyone began spring planting. Li Qinghe's land was just a patch of fallow ground; with only her and Zhou Chengkang working it, they were slow. She wasn't worried. When Li Xingwang's family finished planting and invited them over to help, they finished everything in two days.
When that job was done, Li Fu's fields still needed planting. Madam Qian was unwell and resting at home, so Li Qinghe went to help plant there for a day.
The father and daughter returned that evening to find the stove cold and no cooking started. Li Fu certainly hadn't done it. Li Qinghe went into the kitchen herself, she was truly hungry.
Li Fu grabbed her. “Don't cook. Rest a while; I'll ask Aunt Qian to do it.”
But they searched all around the house and couldn't find her.
After exchanging glances, the father and daughter fell back to Li Qinghe cooking, and Li Fu ran to help her stoke the fire.
By the time they set the dishes on the table, it was already dark outside. Li Fu peered out several times, his face growing grim. Just as they finished eating and he was about to go look for her, she returned on her own.
“Where did you go? Couldn't you see it was getting dark? If something had happened, where would I have looked for you?”
When Li Fu had first come back he was exhausted, hungry, and furious; after eating his anger had mostly faded, but his tone was still far from gentle.
Madam Qian, who had been in a good mood, frowned at his words. “Yanxi and the others were leaving, I just walked them to the road.”
Li Fu snorted. “You went to town, who did you stop to chat with? Couldn't you have come back earlier?”
“It was so close, what could happen?” Madam Qian scoffed.
It looked as if they were about to argue again, so Li Qinghe went back to her room to avoid it. Still under the eaves she heard Madam Qian complain, “What did Qinghe say about me this time? The moment I came back you were sour-faced, who are you throwing that at?”
Honestly, Li Qinghe did sometimes speak ill of Madam Qian, but always the truth, never invented. And today she truly hadn't said anything. Anyone would have been angry in that situation; she had been hungry when she first came back and had almost walked away from it. Now, hearing Madam Qian's words, she flared up. She didn't return to her room but turned and entered the main room again. “I've had the Zhou family check for an auspicious wedding date. We'll marry as soon as possible.”
Li Fu was stunned; as he opened his mouth, Li Qinghe had already turned and left.
She and Madam Qian hated each other, but Li Fu couldn't cut ties with them, and Li Qinghe would leave sooner or later anyway, might as well marry early. Besides, marrying Zhou Chengkang wasn't a bad match.
That last point was the more important one.
The next morning when she went to the pond, Zhou Chengkang was already there and had finished feeding the fish. They chatted about fry and chicks, and then he suddenly said, “Qinghe, let's get married. I'll cook for you from then on.”
Still mindful of Madam Qian's entitled attitude from yesterday, Li Qinghe looked into his eyes. “Alright.”
“You agree?” Zhou Chengkang beamed, reached for her hand. “I'll have someone check the dates right away.”
Both were pleased. Zhou Chengkang was impatient; while Li Qinghe watched, he ran off to find a matchmaker.
By the afternoon news spread: the Zhou family's fourth son's wedding was set for the fifth day of the fourth month, two months from now.
The news wasn't surprising. Before the New Year Zhou Chengkang had helped daily with catching and selling fish; after the New Year he'd helped with planting and even looked after the chicks' coop, he'd practically been living there. Given their closeness, marriage was inevitable.
In fact, if the two hadn't grown so close, people might well have come calling to propose to Li Qinghe, her possessions made others envious. Whoever married her would be marrying in with over ten taels of silver and a fishpond that was like a hen laying golden eggs, bringing in income every year.
With the wedding date set, their daily interactions didn't change much, if anything, they grew a little closer. Zhou Chengkang seemed more confident; he often held her hand. It was clear he looked forward to getting married.
With the marriage arranged, it was time to prepare the dowry. Yu Yan came by to congratulate them and, smiling, asked, “Do you want me to embroider your wedding dress?”
Girls from peasant families usually had only a little embroidery on their wedding garments, sometimes none at all. They probably knew she was reluctant to go to the Zhang family, so Madam Xu had specially had a piece of bright red fabric brought back for her wedding dress, a rare, vivid cloth. Li Qinghe only knew simple embroidery. “I'll do my own dress. As for your work, I've already decided: you can embroider the marriage quilt for me.”
Yu Yan wasn't displeased; she teased, “How about pomegranates on the wedding quilt? It symbolizes good fortune, cover it and you'll soon have a noble son…”
Li Qinghe shot her a look. “Make it look nice.”
Yu Yan laughed heartily, then said, “I'll go to the cloth shop with you to pick out the embroidery thread. It'll look beautiful, I promise.”
Wedding preparations were tedious. Madam Xu couldn't help, and there was no relying on Qian; Li Qinghe prepared everything herself. The next day she picked out quilts, fabrics, and threads, then took the measurements Zhou Chengkang had given her to town to have the furniture made.
At that moment, Zhou Chengkang and his mother arrived with the matchmaker, bringing the betrothal gifts.
The Zhou family's offerings were proper and modest: pastries, seeds, and bolts of cloth, the cloth meant to provide one outfit each for the bride and her parents. Notably, they placed five taels of silver atop the bolt intended for Li Qinghe.
That single silver ingot was a considerable show of sincerity in this little village; no other family had ever been so generous. Usually gifts were like the Hu family's or Zhao Wanwan's dowry, argued over many times before anything was settled. And though they were called betrothal gifts, they were really a way to bargain: for example, the Hu family expected in return to help the Lis save on grain taxes later on.
But there were no conditions attached to this one, which surprised Li Qinghe; she glanced at Zhou Chengkang several times.
No one needed to puzzle it out, the silver couldn't have come from Mrs. Zhou; it was surely his own savings. When had he managed to scrape that together?
No matter what she thought, the marriage was settled.
The next day, when she asked him privately, Zhou Chengkang said helplessly, "It's not mine, it's borrowed."
Li Qinghe looked doubtful. She hadn't asked for five taels, why place it there?
Seeing her suspicion, Zhou Chengkang explained in a low voice, "Mother borrowed it; I agreed. Third brother got five taels, so you shouldn't get less."