Chapter 3

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Early the next morning, Fan Changyu left Changning with Aunt Zhao and set out with three hundred copper coins and a silver hairpin tucked into her pocket.

The hairpin was a gift from her parents on her coming-of-age day, costing over two taels of silver. Pawning it should give her just enough to buy a pig.

She entered the pawnshop, but to her surprise, after scrutinizing the hairpin for a long time, the shopkeeper finally held up three fingers. “Three hundred coins.”

Fan Changyu almost choked, her eyes widening. “This hairpin is pure silver, and you’re only offering three hundred coins?”

The shopkeeper replied, “The hairpin may be silver, but it’s not very heavy, and the style is outdated. I know things are difficult for you, so here’s my offer: five hundred coins. No more than that.”

“One tael. I won’t pawn it for a coin less.”

The shopkeeper placed the hairpin back on the counter. “Then you’d better take it back.”

Fan Changyu had been counting on pawning the hairpin to buy a pig, but she hadn’t expected the greedy shopkeeper to lowball her like that. Without wasting any more words, she pocketed the hairpin and started to leave.

The shopkeeper, surprised at the girl’s stubbornness, quickly called out, “Hey… come back, come back. One tael it is! Just think of it as me taking pity on you, buying this hairpin at a loss. It’s early in the morning, and it’ll be my first deal of the day.”

Walking out of the pawnshop, Fan Changyu now had an extra tael of silver in her pocket.

To get a sense of the market price for braised meat, she took a stroll down the street known for selling cooked foods. It happened to be market day, and although it was still early, the marketplace was already bustling. Many farmers from the countryside had come with mountain goods to sell, hoping to exchange them for cash and purchase New Year’s supplies.

After making a round of the area, Fan Changyu observed that the cooked meat shops primarily sold roast chicken and goose, while the most popular braised pork items were pig’s head and pig’s ears. Offal, however, was the least popular among them.

A plump woman noticed Fan Changyu eyeing the food displayed outside her shop and called out, “Miss, want to buy some roast chicken?”

Fan Changyu asked, “How much for the pig’s head meat?”

The woman smiled broadly, “You’ve got a good eye! This pig’s head meat was braised just last night, simmering the whole night—it’s fragrant! Five coins per liang. How much would you like?”

That worked out to fifty coins per jin, but vendors often quoted a higher price, leaving room for bargaining.

Testing the waters, Fan Changyu deliberately said, “That’s pretty pricey…”

The woman quickly replied, “With New Year’s coming up, what meat hasn’t gone up in price? Mine’s actually one of the best deals here. But if you’re serious about buying, I’ll give it to you for nine coins per two liang.”

Fan Changyu figured that most of the time, this was probably the going rate, which meant the braised pig’s head meat cost roughly forty-five coins per jin.

Using this method, Fan Changyu proceeded to various cooked-meat shops to inquire about the prices of braised pig ears and offal. She found that braised pig ears were the most expensive, priced at sixty coins per jin. But, since a pig only had two ears, the rarity made them more valuable.

In contrast, braised offal was much cheaper at twenty coins per jin. Offal wasn’t very popular—wealthier people didn’t like it, and poorer families often didn’t know how to prepare it properly, leaving it with an undesirable smell. Meat shops typically didn’t even sell it; if someone really wanted some, they could get a whole bucketful for less than ten coins.

With a clearer picture of prices, Fan Changyu left the cooked-food street and headed to the meat market. Just beyond it was the livestock market. The meat market was even busier than the street selling cooked foods. Her family’s pork stall had an excellent location here, but it was currently shut tight. Other pork vendors had all opened for business, with slabs of pork displayed on cutting boards and hooks. Her stall’s spot at the entrance had already been taken over by small vendors setting up temporary stands.

Seeing her family’s pork stall closed while others bustled with business left Fan Changyu with a bitter feeling. She stood there for a moment, watching the shuttered stall and silently promising herself that she would soon reopen it.

With her money in hand, she turned and headed to the livestock market. The scene here was much more chaotic—pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses were all being sold, and if she wasn’t careful, she could step into some animal’s fresh droppings. The smell was anything but pleasant.

Most of the sellers were middle-aged men in short brown jackets, each with a few pigs or sheep tied beside them. They shouted bargaining terms in jargon that would sound like gibberish to anyone unfamiliar with the trade. As a young woman with a refined appearance, she drew quite a few curious glances.

Several livestock sellers called out to her, asking what she wanted to buy, but Fan Changyu ignored them. She had come here with her father before to buy pigs and knew that dealing with livestock traders rarely yielded a fair price.

It was market day, and she knew that many rural farmers, unwilling to sell their pigs to middlemen at low prices, had brought their own pigs directly to the market to sell. The prices they offered would be more reasonable than what the livestock traders were asking.

Fan Changyu looked around but didn’t see any pigs that met her standards. Her father, with his years of experience in butchering, had taught her that the best pigs to buy had rounded rumps and thick, short tails—signs of a pig with thick skin and ample fat, yielding premium meat.

Just as she was about to move on, she spotted an old man in a corner, thin and dark-skinned, standing next to a plump pig. The pig had a sturdy build, with ropes tied around its front legs and neck, as though ready for sale. However, it was covered in dirt, and with the day still early, there weren’t many buyers in the livestock market, so few people approached to ask about it.

The old man watched the passersby with a hopeful gaze, but he didn’t seem confident enough to call out for customers—he looked like someone who wasn’t used to haggling.

Fan Changyu stepped forward and asked, “Old man, how much for your pig?”

Finally, someone had come to inquire, and the old man seemed a bit nervous. “I was hoping to sell this pig so we can celebrate the New Year. The pig traders who came to our village offered ten coins per jin, but I decided to bring it to town myself. If you’re buying, I can offer it to you for twelve coins per jin.”

Fan Changyu hadn’t expected the pig traders to press the price down so low when buying from villagers. The traders she’d spoken to earlier were asking eighteen or nineteen coins per jin for live pigs, and even after exhausting haggling efforts, she’d barely managed to bring them down to fifteen. The old man’s price was practically a gift from the heavens.

Had the market been busier, the pig would have been snatched up long ago. Without hesitation, Fan Changyu exclaimed, “I’ll take it!”

The livestock market had large scales for weighing animals, and when the pig was weighed, it came to a solid ninety jin. Fan Changyu handed the old man one tael and eighty copper coins, then started her journey home with the pig in tow, heading to her house on the west side of town.

By now, the meat market was already in full swing, and if she slaughtered the pig and tried to sell it today, she’d only catch the end of the market, where there wouldn’t be many customers left and where buyers would likely try to bargain down the price. It was better to go back, prepare everything carefully, and bring the pig to sell fresh the next morning.

As she left the market, walking through the streets with a pig in tow, she attracted quite a bit of attention, with people frequently glancing her way.

Fortunately, Fan Changyu had a thick skin. When familiar faces stopped to ask her about the pig, she confidently took the opportunity to drum up business, telling them that she would be slaughtering the pig for her pork stall tomorrow and inviting them to come by.

By chance, she ran into a chef from a restaurant who had often bought meat from her father’s shop. Hearing that her family’s pork stall would reopen the next day, and seeing the well-fed pig she was bringing home, the chef immediately placed an order for twenty jin, giving her a deposit of two hundred coins on the spot.

By the time Fan Changyu made it home, her face was flushed with excitement. The narrow alley echoed with the sounds of her guiding the pig with a bamboo stick, her calls mixing with the pig’s grunts, filling the entire lane.

As she approached her house, a nearly snow-white hawk soared from the direction of her home and disappeared high into the sky. She looked up with a touch of surprise. Hawks sometimes ventured into the countryside in winter, hunting farmers’ chickens and rabbits, but there was no one in town raising such animals. What would a hawk be doing near her home?

The houses on both sides of the narrow alley were cramped, built by the government years ago, each home a modest two-story structure.

At the far end of the alley, in the attic of one of these houses, a man half-sat on the bed by the window, draped in an old, worn-out gray jacket that did little to mask his air of refined elegance. Beside the brazier at the foot of the bed lay a thin, burnt-out charcoal stick, and a small tear was visible on the inner robe he’d been wearing before.

The window was half-open, letting the cold breeze sweep in, ruffling the man’s collar and long hair. That face, pale as new snow under a clear moon, could only belong to the man Fan Changyu had rescued.

The noise from the alley below drew his gaze outward. There, walking down the narrow path where the snow and ice had just started to melt, was a beautiful woman with a cheerful expression, her brows lifted in a smile. She wore the light apricot short jacket he’d seen her in last night, like a small beacon of warmth suddenly appearing on an ancient, silent painting.

But in her hand was… a pig? The pig’s grunts immediately confirmed its identity.

The man’s expression turned slightly bemused.

He had seen refined ladies steeped in poetry and elegant manners, and fierce, battle-hardened daughters from military families. But a woman herding a pig down an alley—this was a first.

The young woman was already out of view from his window, but he could hear her younger sister’s delighted exclamation as she ran out to greet her, “Big Sis, where did you get such a huge pig?”

Her cheerful reply rang out, “Of course, I bought it!”

The lively sounds outside continued, as it seemed the family’s matron had also come over to help with the pig. The man closed his eyes to rest, tuning out the noise. His priority was to heal as quickly as possible.

Fan Changyu was oblivious to all of this. After she secured the pig in the small shed behind the house, she grabbed the bucket of pig offal that the Chen family had given her for butchering their pig yesterday. She took it to the well outside the alley to rinse it again.

Pork tastes best when slaughtered fresh, so the pig she’d brought home today would have to wait until morning for butchering. That meant there wasn’t time to prepare braised meat tonight. Instead, she decided to braise this bucket of pig offal, planning to use it as a complimentary addition for anyone who bought pork the next day.

For every jin of fresh pork someone bought, Fan Changyu planned to give away an extra liang of braised pig offal.

Her visit to the market today had shown her that there were plenty of shops selling prepared foods, indicating a healthy demand but also stiff competition, as diners had many options to choose from. If she started selling braised meats immediately, people might hesitate to pay to try her family’s flavors without knowing if they were any good. After all, braised meats didn’t come cheap.

Fan Changyu thought it over: pig offal was inexpensive, making it an ideal giveaway to draw in customers. While people might not buy it on its own, many would happily accept it as a free bonus.

This approach would give her stall a strong reopening, attracting pork buyers and setting the stage for her future braised meat business. Once customers tasted her free braised offal, they would know the quality of her cooking. Then, when she eventually started selling braised meats, those who enjoyed it would naturally return.

After thoroughly washing the pig offal, Fan Changyu rolled up her sleeves and got to work. She lit the fire, filled the pot with water, and gathered an assortment of spices, placing them in a clean cloth bag along with ginger and garlic. She tossed it all into the pot to simmer and begin preparing the flavorful braise.

The stove in her kitchen was well-stocked with supplies. Her mother, a meticulous woman, always insisted on quality in their food. Back when the family was well-off, gathering such ingredients had never been a challenge.

Fan Changyu had learned many dishes from her mother, though most of them she could only make passably well. Braised meats, however, were an exception—perhaps because she’d loved chewing on braised pig trotters since she was young, so she’d mastered this particular craft.

As she began cutting the offal, her movements were broad and practiced, honed by years of butchering and chopping bones. The heavy cleaver slammed onto the cutting board with such force that any thief stumbling upon this sight would surely flee in terror.

An hour later, the rich aroma of braised meat filled the Fan family’s kitchen, wafting through the alley. The neighbors took notice, sniffing the air from their homes, wondering who was simmering meat with such an enticing fragrance.

The scent drifted upward, and since the Zhao and Fan families’ houses were right next to each other, the aroma was particularly strong in the attic. The man resting there caught a whiff, his throat moving as he swallowed involuntarily, then he closed his eyes, forcing himself to ignore it. His body was still frail from injury, and he hadn’t eaten a proper meal since he’d been hurt.