Chapter 8: Early Market
The summer sun always rose so early. Its light streamed through the simple, rough window, dusted with tiny burrs, gently spilling across Ye Ning’s eyes.
The crowing of roosters, the barking of the guard dog, the chirping of insects and birds mixed together. Ye Ning slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the patched-up ceiling above his bed.
Ye Ning felt a surreal sense, as if he truly had traveled from a harsh, famine-stricken end-of-the-world setting into this secluded paradise.
“Oy,” Ye Zhu said as he passed by Ye Ning’s door, peeking inside. “Still not up? What, trying to shirk the noodle stall today? Planning to stay lazy and live the life of a Ger? Let me tell you, a Ger should act like one! A noodle stall, hard work—none of that should fall to us. At home, we should just calmly mend shoes, patch clothes…”
Bang!
Before Ye Zhu could finish his chatter, Ye Ning slammed the door, cutting off the babbling entirely. The door was thin and offered little sound insulation, and Ye Zhu spat in frustration as he left unwillingly.
Ye Ning stretched lazily, gazing at the sunlight streaming through the window. The sun was brilliant, unlike anything he had seen for a long time in the end-of-the-world days. The sky was a clear, endless blue. He inhaled deeply, catching the scent of flowers and fresh grass.
“How wonderful.” Ye Ning got up, washed quickly, dressed neatly, and stepped out the door.
“Ye Ning,” Zhang Zhiyuan called, already standing in the yard early in the morning with a book in hand, reviewing. Seeing him, he immediately walked over. “Are you going to the noodle stall again today?”
Ye Ning nodded, and the two of them left together. Ye Zhu leaned against the fence, feeding chickens, snorting disdainfully and muttering, “The eldest of the Zhou family circles around Ye Ning, and now the cousin too. What’s so special about Ning Ger? Just looks handsome, that’s all!”
Opening a noodle stall required some supplies—at minimum rice and flour, as well as vegetables and fruits. Later, when more money was earned, they could add more tables and chairs, aiming for three sets. For now, funds were tight, and the stall was small. One set of tables and chairs would suffice for the moment.
Early in the morning, Ye Ning did not rush to the stall. Instead, he went to the market, which just happened to be the village’s early market day.
The villagers of Qingtian Village generally lived self-sufficiently. Occasionally, they needed to buy items, but traveling to the county or provincial town was too far, and the roads out of the village were rough and inconvenient. So, once a month, a market was set up at the village entrance. Villagers from neighboring villages would also come to purchase what they needed or items unavailable in their own village.
At such times, the entrance to Qingtian Village became the liveliest spot of the month.
Zhang Zhiyuan, seeing that Ye Ning intended to go to the market, hesitated. He opened and closed his mouth twice, unsure how to speak.
“What is it, cousin?” Ye Ning asked. “You can say it straight.”
Though Ye Ning looked gentle and soft-spoken, he was not the type to waste time on hesitations.
Zhang Zhiyuan chose his words carefully, not wanting to hurt Ye Ning’s pride. “You… just ended your engagement with the Zhou family. The early market will be crowded, filled with villagers from our own and neighboring villages, who love to gossip. If you have anything you need to buy, perhaps you could make a list, and I could go for you.”
Ye Ning suddenly understood. Zhang Zhiyuan worried that the villagers, prone to gossip, might harm his “delicate feelings.”
Ye Ning shook his head. “Don’t worry, cousin. People are born with mouths to speak and ears to listen. What others say is none of my business. Besides, running a noodle stall will inevitably involve interacting with villagers, so this is unavoidable.”
Zhang Zhiyuan was stunned, repeatedly cupping his hands in admiration. “Your openness and broad-mindedness are truly humbling.”
“Look,” Ye Ning said, just as they overheard some villagers whispering as they passed, likely also headed to the market. They pointed at Ye Ning behind his back. “It’s him! That Ning Ger—heard he was rejected by the Zhou family!”
“Wow, so pretty!”
“Pretty doesn’t matter. He’s still an abandoned Fulang. Which family in the village would dare take him?”
Ye Ning ignored them entirely, focused on reaching the early market. Their gossip was loud enough, perhaps deliberately, to attract his attention. But Ye Ning didn’t glance at them once, leaving them bored and empty-handed, feeling no satisfaction from their own idle chatter.
Ye Ning planned to start the noodle stall and checked the copper coins in his sleeve pouch. His previous self had saved a few, but they were not much. If he wanted to buy meat… Ye Ning stood in front of a meat stall, thinking carefully. Meat was still too expensive. If he spent the money, his funds would be even tighter. Any unexpected incident would leave him without resources.
In the end, Ye Ning gave up on buying meat and turned his attention to the small shrimp and fish nearby. Without meat to simmer the soup, the broth would naturally lack richness. Fortunately, Qingtian Village lay near the river, so small shrimp and fish were abundant. He could use river fresh to make the soup, and it would still taste good.
“How much for these shrimp and fish?” Ye Ning asked.
The vendor was a daintily dressed Ger. He cast Ye Ning a sidelong glance and held up his index and middle fingers to indicate two copper coins.
This was the countryside, where prices were naturally low. Plus, being close to the river, small fish and shrimp were almost worthless, so the vendor sold them very cheaply.
Ye Ning did a quick mental calculation of his expenses, decided it was reasonable, and nodded. “I’ll take this basket.”
He handed over the coins decisively. The Ger gave Ye Ning another sidelong glance, lazily raised his hand to take the coins, muttering, “So this is that abandoned Fulang the Zhou family didn’t want. Just looks a bit good-looking, that’s all. Got dumped and still wandering around outside—aren’t you afraid people will laugh?”
Ye Ning paused mid-hand. He didn’t open his palm; instead, he clenched the coins and withdrew his hand.
“Eh?” the vendor said. “Pay me! Are you buying or not?”
“I’m not buying,” Ye Ning replied calmly.
The Ger was surprised. “What’s wrong with you? You wanted it just now, and now you don’t?”
Ye Ning cast a sidelong glance at him, then at the small fish and shrimp in the basket. “Your mouth isn’t clean, and maybe the fish and shrimp aren’t either. I’m afraid I’ll get a stomachache and end up as gossipy as you. That wouldn’t do.”
“You… you…” The Ger’s mouth wasn’t as sharp as Ye Ning’s. Most other Gers would have scurried away or muttered a rebuttal, but facing Ye Ning’s pointed words, he couldn’t utter a single counter. Instead, he grumbled behind Ye Ning’s back: “You won’t buy my fish and shrimp! Mine are the cheapest in the whole early market. Who else would sell them this cheap?”
Few vendors at the early market sold fish or shrimp. Most villagers of Qingtian Village were self-sufficient. They could catch their own fish and shrimp, so market stalls usually sold fashionable or specialty items from the county, which were easier to sell.
Ye Ning wandered through the market and bought some bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and a few pickled vegetables, but he did not buy any fish, shrimp, or meat. Zhang Zhiyuan looked troubled. “It seems the previous stall had the cheapest fish and shrimp. If not… wait here, I’ll go get them.”
Ye Ning shook his head. “People like that don’t deserve to make money. No reason to let him earn an extra two copper coins.”
“But without these,” Zhang Zhiyuan said, “we don’t even have enough coins to buy meat. How will you make broth?”
Ye Ning squinted, unfazed. He smiled. “If there’s no fish or shrimp, I’ll catch them myself. I’ll still have two copper coins left.”
Zhang Zhiyuan was stunned, mouth agape. He rubbed his ears to make sure he’d heard correctly. Ye Ning, a Ger, was planning to go into the water himself to catch fish and shrimp. That was work usually done by big lads, never a Ger. It was entirely unconventional, entirely unorthodox. Yet Ye Ning’s expression left Zhang Zhiyuan unable to argue…
*
“Master seems to make an exception for that Ning Ger?”
Cheng Zhao, the long-time attendant who followed Jiang Changxin, had been with the family for a few years. Though from the lower ranks of the household, he had always gotten along with the foolish young master. Soon after arriving, he had been assigned to serve the young master closely.
Cheng Zhao felt he might have asked too much, or asked what he shouldn’t have, so he quickly lowered his head, afraid to speak further.
Jiang Changxin did not respond immediately. He spread out his sleeve, sat on the red-lacquered, carved wooden chair at the head of the room, and lifted his tea cup. He removed the lid and blew lightly on the tea. The rising steam blurred his sharp eyes slightly. Lost in thought, Jiang Changxin sank into his own contemplation…
The people of Qingtian Village all believed Jiang Changxin was a fool. Even the Jiang family’s patriarch, the old master, and the matriarch, thought their grandson and son was simple-minded. Yet… something “unexpected” had happened to the young master of the Jiang family, who should have been dull and foolish.
——Jiang Changxin had been reborn.
When he opened his eyes, he returned to the secluded, remote Qingtian Village. Though he should have been at the age to be simple-minded and naive, Jiang Changxin carried all the memories of his previous life. As such, he understood everything and knew everything.
At this age, the eunuchs held absolute power, controlling the court. His biological father—the current emperor—was still a puppet under the eunuchs. They sent their agents everywhere to hunt down royal relatives and nobles, intending to eradicate the Liang clan. Jiang Changxin was now being raised in the Jiang household, without any influence of his own. After weighing the risks and benefits, he decided to continue pretending to be a fool on the surface while secretly accumulating power.
Cheng Zhao was a relative of the late Empress Cheng. After rebirth, Jiang Changxin immediately found the fleeing Cheng Zhao, protected him from the eunuchs’ pursuit, and arranged for him to enter the Jiang household. Aside from Cheng Zhao, only one other person knew the secret that Jiang Changxin had fully restored his consciousness.
As for the Jiang family… the old master had risked everything to send Jiang Changxin out of the palace during dangerous times and had brought him to this remote countryside to live in seclusion. He even set a family rule forbidding his descendants from ever entering government service, all to protect Jiang Changxin’s life. This kindness, Jiang Changxin remembered deeply.
He did not want the Jiang family to know he had regained his mind. He simply did not wish to drag the family into the chaos and suffer the same fate as in his previous life, when his entire household was massacred.
In his previous life, before Jiang Changxin was retrieved to the palace, the Jiang family had already fallen into ruin. The Zhou family, holding a grudge against the Jiang family’s reputation in Qingtian Village, tried to curry favor everywhere and eventually aligned with the eunuch faction. Although the Zhou family did not know Jiang Changxin’s identity, they used the eunuchs to suppress and marginalize the Jiang family. The old master repeatedly tolerated these actions to prevent Jiang Changxin’s identity from being exposed.
But fate did not align with intention. In the end, the eunuchs discovered Jiang Changxin’s identity. The Jiang family faced a massacre. Though they had no blood relation to Jiang Changxin, they risked everything to send him away. The Jiang family’s mansion was finally engulfed in flames, consumed entirely by fire…
Clink!
Jiang Changxin set the tea cup down on the table. The light collision between the cup and tray made Cheng Zhao flinch. He carefully lifted his head to peek and muttered inwardly, Master is angry. This expression is definitely anger. He did not know Jiang Changxin had been reborn, nor did he know why he was angry.
Jiang Changxin narrowed his eyes. The Zhou family. He was not concerned about Ye Ning; he simply could not tolerate the Zhou family and intended to intervene in their affairs. What surprised him, however, was that Ye Ning—a delicate, dainty Ger, whom he had no memory of in his previous life—turned out to exceed all his expectations.
Thump—thump! Splash—
“What’s that noise?” Jiang Changxin’s thoughts were interrupted, and he returned to his senses.
Cheng Zhao, unsure what had happened, peeked outside. With a rush, a dark figure appeared and landed steadily in the room. It was a young man dressed in fitted black clothing, expressionless, with a face as pale as a corpse.
“Yu Yuan,” Cheng Zhao said, patting his chest, “you always appear out of nowhere. You’re scaring the master!”
The one called Yu Yuan was another person Jiang Changxin had sought out after rebirth. Like Cheng Zhao, he had been a loyal subordinate of the late Empress Cheng, Jiang Changxin’s biological mother. They had always been loyal to the royal family and had fled in order to avoid the eunuchs’ pursuit.
Yu Yuan was astonishingly skilled in martial arts, spoke little, and unlike Cheng Zhao’s smooth manner, Jiang Changxin had assigned him to protect matters in secret, as a precaution.
Yu Yuan spoke sparingly, his tone dry. “Ye Ning of the Ye family, along with the clerk Zhang Zhiyuan, is in the small river behind the courtyard, catching fish.”
Jiang Changxin’s cold, piercing gaze flickered. Cheng Zhao, astonished, whispered, “Ye Ning? Again, that Ning Ger?”
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