The moment Zhang Huai heard talk of building a house, his heart stirred. He looked at Juhua and thought, ’Once the house is built, I’ll be closer to her.’

As he thought this, his heart softened. He looked at Juhua with shining eyes and said, "Don’t worry. When the time comes, we can shovel up this earth and pile it near the courtyard. It’ll be perfect for planting some wild chrysanthemums and fruit trees. If there’s enough space, we could even make a vegetable garden."

Qingmu laughed. "That’s how we made our vegetable patch. We had to shovel everything, plants and all, into the backyard. It was backbreaking work. What’d you bring that basket for? To pull up some carrots?"

Zhang Huai said, "I came to harvest some cabbage. And to tidy up the furrows while I’m at it."

Juhua looked at the patch of cabbage, thinking, ’My family has already sold one batch of spicy cabbage. It’s fine if we keep what’s left for ourselves. Besides, we have sausages to sell, so we’re not desperate for this bit of silver. But Zhang Huai’s cabbage... he should really make it into spicy cabbage and sell it. After all, I was the one who told him to plant more in the first place.’

So she said to Zhang Huai, "Huai Zi, have your mother come over to my house, and I’ll teach her how to make this spicy cabbage. The next time Manager Mao comes to restock, he can just buy from your family. We don’t have much cabbage left and plan on keeping it for ourselves."

Zhang Huai nodded happily. "Alright! I’ll tell my mother when I get back."

After a moment, he asked worriedly, "Didn’t you say before that you weren’t going to share the recipe for the spicy cabbage? If you teach my mother, what will you do when other people come and ask you for it too?"

Juhua waved a hand dismissively. "Don’t worry, I have it all figured out. The other villagers don’t grow much cabbage, so they probably won’t come asking. They’ll likely just pickle theirs the same old way. I have another idea, but I’ll wait until next year to implement it. Let’s just leave things as they are for this year."

She planned to wait for Li Changyu and Manager Mao to return. Based on their feedback, she would see if there was truly a market in Qinghui County for items like the sausages, spicy cabbage, and acorn flour. If they were popular, she would naturally make some bigger moves next year.

Qingmu, anxious for Zhang Huai to earn more silver, chimed in, "How heavy do you think your pig will be by the New Year? You’ll earn more selling it as sausage than as plain meat, and then you’ll be able to buy some land." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Zhang Huai shook his head. "It’ll definitely be heavy by the New Year, but I don’t think I can wait that long to slaughter it. If the sausages sell well, Manager Mao will surely want to stock up early to sell before the festivities. I think I should slaughter the pig sooner, make the sausages, and have them ready. Otherwise, if I wait until the New Year, it’ll be too late."

Hearing his words, Juhua was all the more impressed by his business acumen.

She voiced her agreement. "Huai Zi is right. You can’t wait for the New Year. You have to get a head start and prepare. Besides, don’t you need to get new piglets after you slaughter the big one? It all works out the same."

Seeing that Juhua agreed with his idea, Zhang Huai’s eyes filled with a smile.

Come to think of it, it seemed Juhua had been agreeing with many of his ideas lately. The joy in his heart bubbled up irrepressibly.

Afraid that Juhua would notice, he pressed his lips together to hide his smile, then turned to harvest a few heads of cabbage and pull some carrots. After that, he grabbed his hoe and busied himself, making small talk with Qingmu while urging Juhua to head back, saying it was cold out in the fields and she should be careful not to catch a chill.

Qingmu looked up at Juhua. "You go on back. I’ll chat with Huai Zi for a little longer."

Juhua nodded, then headed back with the carrots in hand.

When her mother saw the carrots, she took them and began washing them by the well. "Huai Zi only cleared that land this year, didn’t he?" she asked Juhua. "How does he manage to take such good care of it? Look at these carrots—they’re so much bigger than ours."

Juhua explained to her how Zhang Huai had used homemade compost to line the planting holes.

Her mother laughed. "I knew it. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s like the saying goes, ’The crop’s the flower, but fertilizer is the power.’ If he used fertilizer, it’s no surprise the carrots grew so well. Your father used all of our compost on the wheat fields."

Seeing that the sun had grown stronger, Juhua brought a small stool outside. She chatted with her mother while doing her needlework in the sun.

She watched her mother bustling about, not even letting her help with the meals, and felt both touched and a little helpless—her mother was making her use the winter lull to rest her body and, more importantly, heal her face.

Summer and autumn were too busy, there was nothing to be done about it, but if she rested well this winter, the scars on her face would heal faster. That was what her mother had told her.

So Juhua played the part of a proper young lady, focusing wholeheartedly on making clothes, shoes, and socks. As a result, her needlework improved considerably.

Around noon, Qingmu and Zhang Huai walked into the courtyard together.

Qingmu poured two cups of water and handed one to Zhang Huai. "Why don’t you just eat here?" he said. "We can get right back to work this afternoon. It’s not like your mother is waiting on these vegetables to start cooking."