“You…”

“Brother Xun, you…”

It was either dead silence or they spoke at the same time.

Shu Wanxiu nearly bit her tongue.

“Brother Xun, you go first.”

Xun Yi paused for a moment. “The Village Head told you I came here as a refugee. Do you remember?”

Unsure why he had suddenly brought this up, Shu Wanxiu nodded. “I remember.”

“Things will get better.” It was the first time in his life Xun Yi had said something so comforting to an outsider.

“If one day I help you with something, don’t think too much of it. I’ve been through the same thing.”

He finished the water, set down the bowl, and left, leaving Shu Wanxiu utterly baffled.

Of course, by evening, she understood what Xun Yi had meant.

She was washing rice to cook when Pang Lizhang cheerfully carried in a large iron pot and fitted it directly into the opening of her stove.

“Village Head, what is this…?” Shu Wanxiu was simply dumbfounded.

Pang Zhishan found a stool for himself and sat down with a commanding presence. “Hah! That Young Xun! He wanted to give you a pot but was afraid you wouldn’t accept it, so he specifically asked me to be the middleman.”

So the iron pot she had seen Xun Yi forging yesterday was intended for her family?

Even though Xun Yi had laid the groundwork a few hours earlier, Shu Wanxiu still found it hard to accept.

She asked hesitantly, “Village Head, may I ask how much a pot like this costs?”

“One string of cash.”

After blurting it out, Pang Zhishan corrected himself. “No, that’s not right. Outsiders have to pay one string of cash. For people from our own village, Xun Yi only charges eight hundred wen for an iron pot.”

Eight hundred wen. It was a sum so large Shu Wanxiu couldn’t even dream of it.

Pang Zhishan was good at reading people. Seeing the look on Shu Wanxiu’s face, he knew there was a good reason Xun Yi had asked him to make this trip.

“Do you know why he’s giving you a pot?”

Before she could even think of how to politely refuse, Shu Wanxiu subconsciously answered Pang Zhishan’s question first.

“I don’t know.”

“That day, when he came with me to deliver the hoe, you were making the evening meal. He recognized the pot you were using as the one he had once used.”

The Pang family had owned this iron pot for many years. Ten years ago, they had lent it to a young, half-grown Xun Yi.

Pang Zhishan looked at her and smiled. “Your aunt must have told you a little about Xun Yi’s past, but there are some things we couldn’t say without his permission before.”

Realizing Pang Zhishan was about to say something important, Shu Wanxiu stopped what she was doing to listen attentively.

“Ten years ago, I remember it was a bright, sunny day when I went to the county to pick him up. I had been on the road for half the morning to get to the county town, and at the entrance of the county yamen, I saw a huge, dense crowd of refugees.

“Because that was the first time since the founding of the dynasty that Fang Yuan County had received so many refugees, the yamen had no experience in handling it. Not only were the refugees chaotically clustered together, but the village heads from various villages who came to claim people also had no idea what the procedure was.

“I squeezed through the crowd for a good part of the day. It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that I finally figured out the list and found them under the scorching sun.”

Pang Zhishan squinted as he recalled the scene, feeling as if it were only yesterday.

“His clothes were tattered, and he wasn’t tall. He had a fierce look on his face and a great bow slung across his back.”

“In that jostling crowd, this little kid held his younger sister’s hand for dear life. If you brushed past him, it was fine, but if you bumped into his sister, he would glare and shove you back without hesitation.”

“I felt that it wasn’t a good thing for such a young child to be so aggressive. But having the two of them assigned to our village was already a special consideration from the county, given that our village didn’t have much land. I couldn’t ask the county to assign a different family just because I didn’t like him. So, I had no choice but to bring them back to the village.”

It is very difficult for a person to admit their mistakes in front of others.

Pang Zhishan paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before continuing with the old story.

“Because of the bad impression he made on me when we first met, I didn’t bother much with his affairs afterward. Fortunately, your aunt is kind-hearted and helped them a lot.”

“Over time, your aunt got to know them well and learned about his past.”

“His father was originally a hunter from the northern lands. One day, he shot a prey in the mountains. The animal was resilient and ran from the barren mountains all the way to the boundary of the landlord’s mountain before collapsing.”

“He hadn’t actually crossed the boundary, just gotten very close to it. But someone saw his father picking up the prey and deliberately spread rumors to slander his father’s name.”

Having offended a local tyrant, his father had no choice but to leave his hometown. He later married into a family in the central plains. After about ten years of stable life, they were unlucky enough to encounter a flood.

“His father risked his life to protect his wife and the two children, helping them survive the flood. Unfortunately, not long after they escaped, both he and his wife contracted a plague and died one after another.”

“Young Xun protected his sister all by himself. On the road, they were almost caught and cooked for food several times. Fierceness isn’t his true nature; he was just trying to protect himself.”

“After settling down, his life wasn’t easy either. At first, he wanted to use the great bow his father left him and the skills he had been taught to hunt. But he was so young, how could he easily enter the deep mountains?”

“Every time he went, he came back covered in injuries. But he was also very lucky, proving the saying ‘fortune favors the bold,’ as he always managed to get something.”

“After raising his sister under such harsh conditions for a few years, he became ambitious. He wanted to live a better life and even save up a dowry for his sister. So he sought out a master and learned the craft of blacksmithing in the county town.”

What happened after that was no secret. This summer, acting as her older brother, he had married his sister off in grand style.

“I guess because he’s experienced how difficult this journey is, he can’t bear to see you struggle and wants to help you out.”

“Just accept it. Think of it as an unexpected windfall.”

Shu Wanxiu was almost speechless.

He had gone to the trouble of having the pot made and then specially asked Pang Lizhang to be his spokesman. Did she have any room to refuse?

When she heard Pang Zhishan say that Xun Yi and his sister had nearly been cooked and eaten on their journey, Shu Wanxiu’s hand had unconsciously clenched tight. Only now did she feel the numbness from it.

She looked down and stroked the four crescent-shaped marks left on her palm.

“Alright, I’ll accept it.”

The marks left by her tight grip wouldn’t fade away so quickly.

“But I’ll also make a note of the eight hundred wen. I will pay it back when I have the ability.”

At first, it sounded like she agreed, but the more he thought about it, the more it didn’t seem right.

“Wait! That’s not right.” It took Pang Zhishan’s mind a few turns to figure it out. “Since he’s giving it to you, you shouldn’t keep an account of it. Otherwise, it would be as if Young Xun forced you to buy it.”

Shu Wanxiu took a deep breath, her brow furrowed.

“…Then I won’t keep an account, but I will owe him a favor.”

Pang Zhishan nodded. “That’s right, that’s the way.”

Before leaving, he added, “Weren’t you about to cook? Go on, try it out. See how the new pot works.”

The new pot… was naturally very good to use.

Perhaps it was from hearing Xun Yi’s story and feeling that she was, by comparison, a little luckier, or perhaps she was inspired by his story of turning his life around. In any case, Shu Wanxiu was exceptionally motivated in the following days.

She spent her days gathering firewood and catching fish, and her nights making dried small fish. One day, she even made another trip to Five Li Village to set a specific date to go to the county town to do business.

Her Paternal Uncle and the others were already building their house. With the whole village’s effort, it was said that it could be built in about ten days.

Taking into account the house construction and the growth of the vegetables in Shu Wanxiu’s field, they set the date for their business trip for two days before the relief grain distribution.

Why go to the trouble of making an extra trip?

Because there would definitely be a long queue on the day of the relief grain distribution, and doing business would delay them from getting the grain. Also, the refugees were all short of money. If one refugee found a way to make money, it would be fine if others didn’t see it, but if they did, they would surely follow suit.

If everyone went to the wilderness to catch fish, would the fish still fetch a good price?

Of course, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that other clever people had already thought of the same thing.

They wouldn’t stop others from making money, but they wouldn’t go around announcing their own plans either.

Their ultimate goal was to make a fortune quietly.

In the blink of an eye, the appointed day arrived.

The day before, Shu Wanxiu had poured the remaining rice in her house into a wooden basin, freeing up the cleaned grain sack to pack the dried small fish she had accumulated over the days.

Early that morning, she took another basket and filled it with freshly picked Chinese Leek, Winter Mallow, Garland Chrysanthemum, Coriander, and Spinach from her field.

Even though she only picked two portions of each vegetable and tied them into small bundles with wild grass, they still filled the basket to the brim.

“Shouyi, Auntie really can’t take you this time. You have to be a good boy and wait for Auntie to come back at Aunt Chen’s house, okay?”

The journey was long, and it would definitely take a whole day.

It was unavoidable that she would have to take Shu Shouyi to get the relief grain in two days. He had just barely put on some weight, and Shu Wanxiu didn’t want to keep taking him on long journeys, lest he lose the weight he had just gained.

Besides, it would be easy to lose track of him while doing business. What if he got lost in the crowd? What if they ran into kidnappers?

Shu Shouyi reluctantly agreed.

“Good boy. If Auntie sells all this stuff today, I’ll buy you a little trinket when I get back.”

As if a switch had been flipped, Shu Shouyi suddenly looked up. “Of course Auntie’s goods will sell out! But Auntie, don’t buy me anything. We need to save money!”

He had been going to the stream frequently to catch fish recently, and when Shu Shouyi had asked why, Shu Wanxiu had replied that they needed to save money. He had remembered that answer ever since.

“Also,” he held up two fingers and instructed seriously, “Auntie, don’t forget to buy needles, thread, and fabric scraps.”

“Okay, I definitely won’t forget.” She didn’t dare to forget.

These were things she had to buy as soon as she made money; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to sew clothes when the weather turned cold.

Carrying her goods, she took Shu Shouyi all the way to Aunt Chen’s house, then headed for Five Li Village, her feet treading on the morning dew.

Shu Yanrong had taken his son to the shallows the previous evening to get the fish. The catch had been good lately. He checked on them from time to time but never brought them home, instead quietly raising them in a fish trap in the shallows.

It wasn’t until yesterday evening that he brought them all home and kept them in water.

During the night, he was so worried that he got up every so often to check on them. Fortunately, they remained lively all night, and not a single one had turned belly-up by now.

“Let’s go.”

Both parties had been preparing for this business venture for a long time, so they were ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Shu Yanrong was not alone; his eldest son, Shu Chenglin, who was already married, came with him.

There were many fish. They had borrowed three buckets, and each person carried a load on a shoulder pole.

Carrying fish for dozens of li on mountain roads, they had spilled water countless times. It was only after several arduous hours that they finally entered the county town’s gates.

“Dad, where are we going to sell our goods? Should we ask a shopkeeper where the market is?”

They had never gone sightseeing in the town when they were refugees, so they had no idea where the market was. Shu Chenglin could only ask his father to make the decision.

“It’s getting late. We might not have good business if we set up a stall in the market now. We might as well hawk our wares in the small alleys.”

Shu Wanxiu thought that was a good idea; it was indeed late.

“Sister Xiu, are you coming with me or with my dad?” Shu Chenglin asked.

“I’ll go by myself.”

Both of them said, “How can you do that?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be careful. Let’s meet back here in two hours.”

Big fish were fish, and dried small fish were also fish. A family that bought large, live fish was unlikely to buy a portion of dried small fish as well.

“Since I came here to make money, I’ve naturally thought it all through. You don’t need to worry too much about me.”

Having been the head of her household for a while, Shu Wanxiu was gradually becoming more decisive. When she showed her mettle, her presence was no weaker than a man’s.

Shu Yanrong said, “You have to be careful.”

“Yes, I will.”