Chapter Sixteen: The Target of Resentment

Lin Sangqian thought for a moment and said, “The others are easy to handle; I’m just worried that my grandmother will come again. She’s an elder, so we can’t hit or scold her, and others still think we must show her filial piety.”

“Hmph! Someone like her counts as an elder?” Lin Hongda snorted coldly.

“We need to come up with a way to make her believe that our family actually has nothing at all, and that it’s all the eldest and second child making things up in front of her…”

Lin Sangqian narrowed her eyes, plotting slowly in her mind.

…

Aunt Wu had just finished dinner with her family when she heard someone calling outside, “Aunt Wu, are you home?”

“Yes!” she shouted back, pulling her voice, and walked out of the house. When she saw it was Lin Sangqian, she was a little surprised. “Sangqian! What brings you here?”

Thinking for a moment, she asked warmly, “Do you need more white handkerchiefs?”

“No, Aunt Wu, I have enough white handkerchiefs.” Lin Sangqian stepped forward and handed her the basket she was carrying. “I came to bring you something.”

Aunt Wu took the basket, lifted the cloth, and instantly her eyes widened in shock.

Braised pork! And two big white steamed buns!

This… even during New Year’s, her family couldn’t eat anything this good!

“Sangqian, where did you get this?” Aunt Wu hurriedly covered it back up and tried to hand it back. “Why are you giving this to me? Keep it and eat it with your father and mother!”

“Aunt Wu, we’ve already eaten. We’re all full,” Lin Sangqian said with a smile. “Please accept it.”

Aunt Wu could already smell the fragrance of braised pork and couldn’t help but swallow, perplexed. “Where did you get such good things?”

“They’re gifts from one of my mother’s friends,” Lin Sangqian replied. “But please, Aunt Wu, don’t tell anyone, especially not any of my relatives.”

Aunt Wu immediately understood and nodded vigorously. “I understand! Don’t worry.”

“Then I’ll let you get back to your work, Aunt Wu. I’ll be going.”

“Why not come in and have a drink of water?”

“No need, I’ll head home now.”

“Take care on the way!”

After Lin Sangqian had left, Aunt Wu hurried back inside with the basket, delight lighting up her face. “Hurry up and come here! Look what we’ve got!”

Her husband and son, who had spent the whole day working in the fields and had just lain down, were puzzled by her excitement.

“What’s the matter? What could be so good?”

Aunt Wu took out the two white steamed buns, and the two men’s eyes were already wide. When she produced the bowl of braised pork, both of them immediately jumped to their feet.

“Mother! Where did you get something so good?” her son, Wu Kuan, asked excitedly.

“It was brought over by the third Lin family’s girl,” Aunt Wu replied. “But you must remember, don’t tell anyone.”

“We know.”

There were two buns in total; Aunt Wu gave one to Uncle Wu and one to Wu Kuan.

“Mom, how can you give them both to Dad and me? Let’s split one in half each,” Wu Kuan said, breaking his bun in two.

Uncle Wu also broke his bun in half. “We’re men, how could we take it all for ourselves?”

“You two have to go back to the fields…”

“And you work hard taking care of the house! Come on, eat up!”

…

The next morning, Lin Sangqian was up early again. She made ten leek and egg stuffed pancakes, and with the remaining pork, made thirteen pork-stuffed pancakes.

The three of them each had one pork pancake, and then Lin Sangqian and Lin Hongda prepared to head to town.

Liao Shuxia was staying home to embroider handkerchiefs.

Today, Lin Sangqian was clearly much better than yesterday; by the time they reached the entrance of the town, she was a bit tired, but not exhausted.

They had planned to set up their stall where they had been the day before, but to their surprise, someone was already there, selling steamed buns.

They had no choice but to look for a new spot. After searching for a while, they finally found an empty space.

Next to them was an aunt selling sweet potatoes, who greeted them warmly as soon as she saw them. “You two aren’t here often, are you? You look unfamiliar!”

“We only came for the first time yesterday,” Lin Sangqian replied with a smile.

“No wonder. Are you father and daughter? What are you selling?”

Lin Sangqian lifted the cloth from her basket, and the aunt leaned in for a look. As soon as she caught the delicious aroma, she immediately began to salivate.

“Oh my! Why do these pancakes smell so good? How much is one? I haven’t had breakfast yet!”

“It’s fate that we’re selling together. The leek and egg ones are one copper coin, and the pork ones are five.”

“What? There’s also pork?”

The aunt’s eyes lit up as she inhaled deeply, but in the end, she hesitated and said, “Give me one with leek and egg then.”

She handed Lin Sangqian a coin, and Lin Sangqian wrapped the pancake in a clean handkerchief before giving it to her.

“Auntie, do you know where I can buy oil paper?” Lin Sangqian asked.

Yesterday, she had forgotten to buy oil paper. Now, thinking about selling pancakes, it would be much more convenient to have some.

“You’re looking for oil paper? Right over there, look, there’s a vendor! It’s really cheap, a copper coin can buy dozens of sheets!” the aunt said, munching on her pancake.

Lin Sangqian looked over and indeed saw a vendor nearby selling oil paper, along with all sorts of other odds and ends.

She handed the coin she’d just received to Lin Hongda and sent him to buy some oil paper.

The aunt sat beside them, eating her pancake with evident relish, drawing the attention of passersby.

“Auntie, how much are these pancakes?”

“They’re not mine, they belong to the father and daughter beside me. Buy one, they’re delicious!”

Someone recognized Lin Sangqian as the girl selling pancakes the day before and hurried over to buy.

The leek and egg pancakes sold out quickly. The pork ones were a bit expensive and only two sold at first.

But everyone looked on enviously at the pair.

Their business even helped the aunt’s sweet potatoes, as some people bought a few after having a pancake.

The aunt was so delighted she couldn’t stop smiling, calling Lin Sangqian her little lucky star and enthusiastically helping advertise her pancakes.

Lin Sangqian noticed that not far away, the man selling steamed buns was glaring at them with undisguised resentment.

She paid it no mind—this was business, after all, and everyone relied on their own skills.

“Girl, watch the stall, I’m off to the restroom,” Lin Hongda said, clutching his belly.

“Alright, go ahead.”

With the aunt’s enthusiastic advertising, several more pork pancakes were sold, leaving just two. Lin Sangqian looked around, searching for the little girl named Zhao Lan’er from yesterday.

She wanted to save a pork pancake for Zhao Lan’er.

But Zhao Lan’er never showed up. Lin Sangqian sighed, sold one more pork pancake, and gave the last one to the aunt.

“How can I accept this? I can’t!” The aunt waved her hands. “That’s the pork one, it’s precious…”

She trailed off, swallowing hard. It had been months since she’d eaten pork.

“Auntie, you must take it. If you hadn’t helped today, I wouldn’t have sold so smoothly.”

The aunt grinned sheepishly and was just about to take it when, suddenly, a hand shot out and snatched the pancake away.