After seeing the old madam out, Xu Su Ying went to the wing room next door to find her daughter, her face clouded with frustration.
The moment she lifted the curtain and stepped inside, a faint, warm scent of medicinal herbs washed over her.
The herbal fragrance was a complex mixture, with the scent of nightshade being especially strong. Xu Su Ying stood in the doorway for only a moment, but she already felt her restless heart begin to settle.
Her almond-shaped eyes swept across the room and, just as she expected, she saw Wanqing by the window, intently focused on removing the cores from a batch of yuanzhi.
Her cheeks were fair and glowing, her features exquisite and luminous. Bathed in the brilliant golden sunlight, her lips looked redder and her hair blacker. She seemed to become more vibrant and radiant, like a peony in magnificent bloom.
Hearing the footsteps approach, she looked up. Light danced in her almond-shaped eyes—a mirror image of her mother's. Parting her red lips, she asked, "Mother, what brings you here?"
Xu Su Ying paused for a beat before walking closer. "Your grandmother left. I didn't have anything to do, so I figured I'd come help you."
As she spoke, she glanced around the room. "This room of yours is a bit too small. With all these shelves, there isn't even space for a proper wardrobe."
When Chen Song and Xu Su Ying were branched off from the main family, they were given only a single thatched hut.
It leaked when it rained in the summer and let in drafts in the winter. Life was as hard as it could get.
The couple worked themselves to the bone to earn money, and after a year, they finally saved up enough to build this small courtyard house.
The courtyard was built on a north-south axis, with three main rooms, a wing room to the west, and a kitchen to the east.
At first, before they had children, the courtyard felt quite empty. Now, with three children added to the family, it had become cramped.
The main building was the most spacious. Part of it was set aside for receiving guests, while the other part served as the couple's living quarters. The two brothers, De'an and Yao'an, lived in the eastern side room, while Wanqing occupied the room to the west.
Take Wanqing's room, for instance. When she was the only one living in it, it looked quite spacious.
But ever since this girl of theirs became interested in blending incense, and the family started selling spices, all the associated equipment was moved into her room.
The once-spacious room was partitioned down the middle, instantly making it feel constricted.
The inner section could only fit a bed and a vanity. There wasn't even room for a cabinet, so Wanqing's clothes had to be kept in trunks tucked behind her bed.
As for the outer section, it was furnished with two large racks and a medicine cabinet. The racks were densely packed with medicinal herbs and flowers; some were air-drying, some were steeping in liquids, and others were simply waiting to be processed. The medicine cabinet held the finished incense.
With the addition of various incense-making tools, the small outer section was so cluttered there was barely room to walk.
"I told you to move all of this to the west wing," Xu Su Ying said, "but you refused."
"The west wing room is needed for farm tools, spare equipment, and the pickled vegetables and salted eggs you prepare, Mother. Come winter, we'll also have to store the charcoal bricks in there... If I move all my things over, where would you put everything else?"
Xu Su Ying stubbornly tilted her chin up. "If it comes to it, I'll just have your father build another room next to the west wing."
"There's no space, Mother."
"Right next to the west wing, there's that long lean-to. We store firewood under one half, and the other half is the ox pen."
There's no place for the two-wheeled cart, so it's already been moved to the backyard.
"But the backyard already has the outhouse, the chicken coop, and the pigsty. We even set aside a patch of land for fruit trees and vegetables. It's crammed full as it is."
Xu Su Ying said, "I'm planning to pull up those fruit trees, leaving just the vegetable patch. We can use the cleared space to move the ox pen and the woodshed."
Seeing her mother speak with such gusto, Chen Wanqing opened her mouth to object several times, but ultimately held her tongue.
'I'm already at the age where marriage isn't far off. Mother really doesn't need to go through all this trouble for my sake.'
Seeing her daughter's hesitation, Xu Su Ying couldn't help but give her a gentle glare.
A mother knows her daughter best, and Xu Su Ying understood what Chen Wanqing was thinking in a single glance.
"What, are you not going to visit your family after you're married? And don't your two brothers have to get married someday? Our home is a bit small, I admit. If we have to, we can ask the village chief for a plot of land and build a whole new house."
Chen Wanqing's only response to her mother was a rather helpless sigh.
"Mother, didn't you say we're saving up to buy a house in the county seat? We should just stick to buying property there. That way, it'll be more convenient for Dad to get to the government office, and my brothers can come home every day after their studies."
'As for Mother, she'd also have more to occupy her time, so she wouldn't get so bored that she spends all day making wild plans.'
The mention of buying property in the county seat pulled Xu Su Ying's wandering thoughts back to the present.
"I am saving up, but we don't have enough Silver yet. Just give it another year, and then we'll move into the county seat."
"How much more do we need? I can cover the difference for you."
Xu Su Ying glared at her daughter. "I've already told you, the money you earn is yours. Keep it as your nest egg for when you marry. It's not like you don't contribute to the household—you already give the family fifty percent of the shop's profits."
"You help me with the work, Mother, and you taught me the skill. Besides, I'm not married yet. The Silver I earn is supposed to go to..."
"Alright, alright, that's enough of that nonsense. I have other ways of making money, and they're much less troublesome than your incense-making. The only reason I taught you this craft is because I didn't want to do the work myself. I'm just relieved that you have a skill to fall back on. Now I don't have to worry about you struggling after you're married."
Outsiders all assumed the Chen family's spice shop in the county seat was Xu Su Ying's enterprise, but in reality, Wanqing had arranged it all herself.
At first, the family sold incense in front of the local private school. Later, once they had saved enough money, they rented a storefront.
It was a tiny shop with a storefront barely wider than one's palm, but business was legitimately booming.
They had earned a great deal of Silver over the past two years, so they went ahead and bought the shop outright.
But a modest family understood the importance of concealing their wealth. They never told outsiders they had bought the shop, always claiming they were still renting. Nor did they say the business belonged to Wanqing, treating it as a family enterprise instead. This was to prevent unsavory characters from scheming to take both the girl and her fortune.
In the time it took for the mother and daughter to talk, Chen Wanqing had already finished removing the cores from a whole jar of yuanzhi.
The next step was to cure it with a licorice root decoction and then sun-dry it.
There was already a batch of cured yuanzhi on the racks. She carried the new batch outside and spread it evenly on a shallow wicker tray to dry.
In the East Wing Room, Chen De'an leaned against his headboard, gulping down porridge as he stared at his friend with wide, curious eyes.
Suddenly, he noticed that his friend, who had been discussing next year's county examination with him, had a stunned look on his face, his gaze distant and unfocused.
Chen De'an thought he was reconsidering whether to even participate next year and quickly interjected, "Of course you have to take it. You've already been set back four years because of your uncle. Jing, how many four-year periods does a person get in a lifetime? I know you're gifted and a brilliant student, but anything can happen during the exams. Just being an outstanding scholar doesn't guarantee you'll pass on your first attempt. Jing, you..."
Chen De'an was about to press his point more earnestly when he saw the friend before him calmly pull back his far-off gaze.
He gave a slight nod and said in a slow, deliberate tone, "Of course I'm going to participate. And it won't be just me. You're going to take the exam with me next year, too."