Chapter Four: Change Begins with a String of Cash

“Are you out of your mind?!”

Wu Li chased after Wu Ning and blocked his way.

“The big sacks of grain have already been snatched by that woman, and now you want to give away the little ones too?”

Glancing down the mountain at Aunt Seven, who had already disappeared out of sight, Wu Li was so angry that he ground his teeth.

“I must report her misdeeds to the Ancestral Lady!”

He then glanced at the limp sack in Wu Ning’s hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll go talk to my father and fetch some more grain.”

As he spoke, he turned to dash back to his own yard.

“Come back!” Wu Ning called him back and tossed the sack into Wu Li’s arms.

Clatter—the sack was heavy and made a crisp sound.

“What are you doing?” Wu Li was puzzled at first, but after a pause, he realized something was off. “Why is it making noise?”

His eyes went wide as he stared at Wu Ning, excitement growing in his gaze, and he anxiously tore open the sack.

Heavens…

“So much money?!”

It turned out to be half a sack of large coins—not grain at all.

Wu Ning simply spread his hands in exasperation. “I intended to give Aunt Seven half the rent, but then…”

“Hahaha!!” Wu Li burst into laughter, nearly choking on his own breath.

“That shrew, even she can miscalculate sometimes!”

Wu Ning also chuckled. “Man proposes, heaven disposes.”

With half a sack of large coins, who knew how many bags of old grain they could buy.

“Wait a minute!” Wu Li suddenly realized something.

“How did you get so much money?”

He weighed the sack—there must have been at least one string of cash in there. That was no small sum.

Wu Ning pointed to the soup stand by the roadside. “I earned it.”

“You made this much with just that stall?”

“It’s not that much,” Wu Ning explained. “Since the start of spring, I’ve only managed to save up this much.”

Wu Li was speechless. That was a bold claim—spring to now was only three or four months. If he could save a string of cash in that time, wouldn’t that mean he could earn four or five strings in a year?

His own family’s kiln worked all year—preparing materials in spring and summer, producing charcoal in autumn and winter. At the end of the year, they would be lucky to have five or six strings left over.

By that calculation, how could he not be doing as well as Wu Ning’s little soup stand?

He didn’t know that, small as Wu Ning’s stall appeared, the business sense behind it was as intricate as running a large charcoal kiln with a dozen workers.

——

It was nearly noon, the sun high in the sky.

At this hour, few people were climbing the mountain, and even fewer went to the temple to seek guidance from the immortals.

With little business, Wu Ning simply abandoned his stall and sat under the grapevine with Wu Li, Huzi, and Qiao’er to cool off.

The four of them sat around a low table, staring in a daze at the full string of coins before them.

A whole string of cash!

Neither Wu Li nor Huzi had ever seen, let alone touched, so much money in their entire lives.

“Can I pour it out and count it?” Huzi drooled, wondering how much pork this kind of money could buy.

“Count what?!” Wu Li glared at him. “What if someone sees?”

“Besides, can you even count that high?”

Huzi looked a little put out; he really did want to count it.

“I can count to thirteen!”

“Get lost!”

Wu Li rolled his eyes, unwilling to waste words on him. But then, a thought struck him. He suddenly jumped up, pointing at Huzi with a fierce look, as if about to give him a beating.

Huzi was startled, thinking Wu Li was about to get physical again, and quickly dodged away.

“Wu Sanhu!” Wu Li’s face was murderous.

“I’ll say this now—if you dare tell your mother about Wu Ning having a whole string of cash, I’ll skin you alive!”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Huzi shook his fat hands. “I definitely won’t say a word.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Wu Li grinned smugly, then turned to look at Qiao’er.

Before he could speak, the little girl covered her mouth. “I won’t say anything either.”

“Good girl, Qiao’er,” Wu Li said, satisfied, then turned to Wu Ning. “Jiu Lang?”

“Hey, Jiu Lang, what are you daydreaming about?”

Wu Ning’s thoughts were dragged back by Wu Li’s insistent voice. He glared at him in annoyance.

“What are you shouting for? I’m thinking!”

“What are you thinking about? Tell me.”

Wu Ning knew Wu Li was impatient; if he didn’t explain, the other boy would keep pestering him.

Resting his chin on his hand, Wu Ning turned his gaze to the money bag on the table.

“What do you think we should do with this string of cash?”

“There’s a lot we could do!” Wu Li’s interest was piqued. He started counting off on his fingers.

“We could buy half an acre of wasteland.”

“We could trade it for ten bushels of coarse grain.”

“We could buy two thousand jin of charcoal.”

“And…”

As he trailed off, Huzi, noticing the pause, quickly added, “And we could buy lots of pork!”

Wu Li was both amused and exasperated by the oaf, smacking Huzi on the back of the head. “You want to eat yourself to death?!”

“…We could have enough to eat,” Qiao’er murmured timidly, causing the two boys to fall silent.

“To have enough to eat…”

A little girl of only six, and the first thing she thought of, upon seeing a whole string of cash, was simply “having enough to eat.”

Smack!

Ow!

After a brief silence, Wu Li gave Huzi a hard slap, making him howl.

“You really hit me?!”

“You deserve it! Qiao’er, how did you end up with a mother and brother like them?!”

Huzi was aggrieved, clutching his sore spot. “It’s not my fault—it’s my mother! She’s the one who doesn’t give Qiao’er the good food.”

“Couldn’t you sneak some for her?”

“But I’m hungry too!” Huzi looked like he could use another smack.

“Besides, isn’t it you and Jiu Lang who look after her? It’s not like Qiao’er has ever gone hungry.”

“You—!”

Wu Li was ready to hit him again—the fat fool always asked for it.

“Enough!” Wu Ning’s head ached from their bickering. “Both of you, stop! Aren’t you tired?”

He frowned, shifting his gaze back to the money bag.

“Qiao’er is right. With this, we can have enough to eat.”

“And perhaps…”

“Change our fate!”

——

Wu Ning had been in this era for five years, but coming from a life of comfort, he’d never learned to be frugal. Whenever he had a bit of spare cash, his first thought was always to improve life for himself and his niece.

If not for Aunt Seven’s recent antics, forcing him to drink thin gruel and scrape by, he wouldn’t have managed to save up this whole string of cash.

In all five years, he’d never had so much money at once.

Now, by a twist of fate, the cash hadn’t fallen into Aunt Seven’s hands, but into his own. So—

He really needed to think: what could he do with it?

Maybe, just maybe, it could truly change his destiny.

As he was thinking, a middle-aged man entered the yard.

Wu Li noticed someone coming and, without even looking to see who it was, instinctively hugged the money bag to his chest and dashed inside.

“You silly boy! Do you think you’re a thief?”

“Huh?”

Wu Li froze, turning slowly around, his face plastered with a fawning grin.

“Oh, it’s only you, Father.”

He’d thought Aunt Seven was coming back for revenge.

Wu Ning watched Wu Li’s panicked, foolish antics and felt even more certain of his own plan.

Maybe change should begin with this string of cash.

At the very least, as Qiao’er said, it would mean having enough to eat.

For now, he set the thought aside, stood up, and greeted the visitor. “Uncle Fifth, please, come in and sit.”

“No, thank you.” Uncle Fifth was a typical mountain man, face tanned and weathered, but now grinning warmly. “By the looks of it, your uncle isn’t home yet?”

If Wu Ning’s uncle were home, these half-grown boys wouldn’t dare to be horsing around in the yard.

“He’s not back yet,” Wu Ning answered honestly. “But he should be soon.”

“So? Has Uncle Fourth returned already?”

The Ancestral Lady had mentioned in the morning that Fourth Uncle would be back.

“He has,” Uncle Fifth replied, turning to leave. “When your uncle gets home, tell him to come have supper at our place tonight.”

Wu Ning hesitated, then quickly called out, “Uncle, wait a moment!”

He ran after him. “Since Uncle Fourth rarely comes back, why don’t you all come to our house? Let me cook you a good meal.”

Uncle Fifth didn’t reply, but he understood—Wu Ning had probably been given a sack of grain earlier and now wanted to do something in return.

“Alright! I’ll have your aunt bring two jin of lamb ribs. Tonight we’ll see what you can do in the kitchen, Jiu Lang.”

Wu Ning wanted to refuse, not wanting Uncle Fifth to go to the trouble, especially now that he had money. But he knew Uncle Fifth would never agree to that, so he nodded his assent.

After seeing Uncle Fifth off, Wu Ning turned back, counted out fifty large coins from the money bag, and raised his brow at Wu Sanhu.

“Huzi, do you want to eat some pork?”

“Yes!” Huzi nodded eagerly, his head bobbing like a chicken pecking at rice.

“Qiao’er wants some too…”

“That’s all I need to hear!” Wu Ning tossed the fifty coins to Huzi.

“Go into town and buy some provisions—tonight you’ll have a feast!”