The Prime Minister’s Little Wife

Chapter 17: Taking Her Brothers to Town

Xu Zhizhi called Xu Dahu to come up and cut some bamboo to help carry the wild boar with their uncles.

She pretended to pick wild vegetables nearby while keeping an ear out for her uncles’ voices. When she heard them approaching, she took out a twenty-year-old ginseng root from her portable space.

Seeing that only Second Uncle, Third Uncle, and Xu Daniu were coming, she called out, “Dahu, come see what I found!”

Second Uncle and the others hurried over. “What else did you find? Didn’t you say you caught a two-hundred-pound wild boar?”

Xu Zhizhi walked over and showed them the ginseng. “Uncles, look at this.”

“It’s ginseng! My sister found one last time, and that’s how our family had enough to eat. We sold it and bought a lot of good food,” Xu Daniu said excitedly.

Second Uncle, Third Uncle, and Xu Dahu were all thrilled. They had never seen ginseng in their lives! Seeing the wild boar in the trap added to their excitement.

Together, they managed to haul the boar out of the trap, tied it up, and carried it back to Old Xu’s house. Third Uncle knew how to butcher pigs.

Xu Dahu fetched water, and Xu Daniu started a fire. With many hands making light work, they had everything cleaned up by dusk.

Xu Zhizhi cooked a large pot of rice, made a pork blood soup, and prepared bean sprouts. Since they didn’t have cucumbers, she took some lettuce from her space and sliced it thinly. (Everyone was busy, so no one noticed it wasn’t a wild vegetable.) She got all the ingredients ready.

Xu Daniu brought in a large piece of meat, and Xu Zhizhi decided to make two plates of braised pork. She sliced the lean meat thinly to make boiled pork slices. She skipped the braised pork intestines for now, as there wasn’t enough time to clean them. Instead, she made steamed pork ribs and a cold wild vegetable salad—five dishes in total.

They set up two tables, each with generous portions of the dishes.

The whole family ate until they could barely move. Xu Zhizhi specifically introduced the bean sprouts, showing them to everyone before cooking. At the time, no one had much of a reaction, but now that they tasted them, they were convinced they could sell well.

After the meal, Third Uncle chopped one side of the pork and packed it into two baskets to sell in town the next morning. The other side was left whole.

Xu Zhizhi said, “Third Uncle, let’s not sell this side. Cut it into three equal portions for our three families to share.”

Second Aunt Xu smiled happily, while Third Aunt Xu was both pleased and a little annoyed that Xu Zhizhi didn’t know how to manage a household.

Mother Xu was unhappy because her own family wasn’t included. She was about to get angry when Xu Zhizhi added, “Third Uncle, could you help divide our portion further? Tomorrow, my mother will send some to her parents’ house.”

“Then let’s just cut it into four portions. It’s not fair for your family to get less,” Second Uncle suggested.

Father Xu agreed. “That works. And let’s not sell the trotters either. Each family can have one.”

With Father Xu’s decision, Mother Xu couldn’t say much. As long as her parents got some, she was satisfied. Xu Zhizhi observed her mother’s reactions. As long as things were fair, she wouldn’t say anything.

But if her mother continued to prioritize her own family over her husband and children, leaving them half-starved, Xu Zhizhi would have to address it later.

Second Uncle had initially taken a little over a pound of beans. This time, they had about twenty pounds of bean sprouts. They had eaten two pounds at dinner, gave each family two pounds, kept four pounds for themselves, and packed about ten pounds to sell in town the next morning.

Once everything was prepared, they agreed that Second Uncle’s family, Xu Dahu, and Xu Erhu would go to town. Third Uncle’s family, including Third Uncle and Xu Honghua, would also go. Xu Zhizhi would take her two brothers. They would all leave early the next morning.

Mother Xu would deliver the goods to her parents’ house.

Seeing her younger cousins looking at her eagerly, Xu Zhizhi said, “Next time, I’ll take you girls along. Tomorrow, we’ll be busy selling pork and bean sprouts. There won’t be time to stroll around.”

The cousins smiled happily. Xu Zhizhi thought to herself how easy it was to cheer them up. They really were good kids.

Everyone went back to sleep. Xu Zhizhi returned to her room, entered her portable space, and took a bath. It had been ten days since she arrived here, and she had grown a little taller and become fairer. She admired herself for a while, feeling quite satisfied. For the past few days, she had been smudging a bit of ash on her face during the day to avoid becoming too fair too quickly, which might attract unwanted attention.

Xu Zhizhi felt like she hadn’t slept long when she heard noises outside. She quickly got up and went out to find everyone who was going to town already dressed and waiting for her.

Her two brothers were especially dressed in the new clothes she had bought fabric for last time. They greeted her, “Good morning, Sister.”

The brothers had grown a bit taller recently, gained some weight, and become a little fairer. The older brother looked like a handsome young man, while the younger one was adorably cute.

Third Uncle’s family had a ox cart, and everything was loaded. It seemed they were just waiting for her. Xu Zhizhi said, “You’re all so early! Get on the cart. I’ll be ready soon.”

“We need to go early to sell our goods in town. Otherwise, we won’t get a good spot,” Third Uncle explained.

Xu Zhizhi rinsed her mouth, quickly got ready, and climbed onto the cart. Xu Honghua had already taken a comfortable spot in the middle. Her black hair was tied into two braids, and her eyes lacked the innocence of youth, instead showing a maturity and slight calculation beyond her years. Her floral dress wasn’t flashy but subtly accentuated her figure.

Xu Zhizhi knew this thirteen-year-old cousin was now a bit taller than her and quite pretty. Dressed up, she looked like a proper young lady. Xu Honghua had been raised with care by Third Aunt, eating well and never working in the fields. She was likely being groomed to marry into a wealthy family and was Third Uncle and Third Aunt’s favorite, even more so than their only son, Xu Erniu.

Third Uncle drove the ox cart, with Xu Dahu sitting up front. The journey was filled with laughter and chatter. Although the ride was a bit bumpy, it didn’t feel as long as when she had traveled alone. They arrived in town quickly.

They found a spot, unloaded their goods, and set up. Third Uncle went to park the ox cart. Since they weren’t professional hunters, they didn’t have a regular spot and had to sell their goods on the ground.

They laid out the wild boar meat and bean sprouts. Xu Zhizhi said, “The bean sprouts are two copper coins per pound, or three coins for two pounds.”

One copper coin was equivalent to one wen. Beans cost eight wen per pound, and one pound of beans could produce about eleven pounds of bean sprouts. Pricing it this way would allow them to make a decent profit, which seemed fair. As for the wild boar meat, Xu Dahu would handle the pricing since she wasn’t sure.

Xu Honghua wouldn’t stay in such a dirty, chaotic place. She got off the cart without a word and left, probably heading to the embroidery shop to sell her work.

Xu Zhizhi bought a large bag of meat buns, ate one herself, and left the rest for her four brothers and Second Uncle to eat while they sold the goods.

She went off to sell the ginseng herself. Her brothers had no objections, especially since Xu Dahu was much taller and stronger than her. She felt confident leaving them to handle things.

She went straight to Kangning Hall. Sun Hao’s expression was even worse than last time, but Old Doctor Shangguan was as polite and enthusiastic as if she were his long-lost relative.

The twenty-year-old ginseng she brought this time was nowhere near as valuable as the thousand-year-old one from before, but Old Doctor Shangguan wasn’t disappointed. It was exactly what he needed. He bought it for twenty taels of silver—a fortune to others, equivalent to ten years of earnings.

Xu Zhizhi didn’t mind. She bought a lot of medicine for Father Xu and other herbs she needed, ending up with five taels left. Sun Hao’s expression improved slightly when he handed her the change.

Xu Zhizhi didn’t linger. At a corner where no one was looking, she stored the medicine in her portable space and took out a small basket with a pound of bean sprouts she had prepared earlier. She headed to the largest restaurant in town, Zuixiang Lou. This time, her main goal was to figure out how to sell bean sprouts to big restaurants.

(End of Chapter)