At this time, Little Dumpling Jiang Yuqing was being carried by her eldest brother Jiang Yujiang. They slowly made their way from one street stall to the next. Flanking them were six other boys ready to take turns carrying their little sister at a moment's notice.
Behind them were Li Chun and Gu Yu, along with two newly purchased young servants. Their group was thoroughly doted on.
The streets were packed with people for the New Year’s market. At her diminutive height, Little Dumpling would only be able to see shoes if her brother didn’t carry her.
At fourteen, the youth’s posture was already somewhat stately. Steadily holding his little sister now, watching her haggle with vendors with yelps and shouts, he couldn’t suppress the smile at the corner of his lips.
Jiang Yuqing had spotted a set of seven exquisitely crafted nested dolls of monkeys reaching for the moon. She wanted to buy them and have Li Deshun deliver them to her elder brother in the capital as a New Year's gift when he returned to Beijing.
This was because when Li Deshun had arrived, he’d given her a small box saying it was a gift from her elder brother. Inside was a gold pendant engraved with her name in a phoenix motif, two pairs of very beautiful kingfisher feather earrings, and some other small jade and stone ornaments.
Her brother living in the capital whom she recognized must be Jing Yan, who had left Qingzhou half a year ago. She hadn’t expected that pretty, somewhat overly serious little gentleman to still remember her and have someone bring her things from so far away.
She would naturally reciprocate this thoughtfulness. These nesting dolls would serve nicely as a return gift. Though she didn’t know how he was acquainted with Li Deshun!
The craftsmanship was excellent but when she asked the price, it was three hundred coins, which was rather expensive. She held up two tender, green onion-white little fingers in the shape of the character “no” and counter offered “Two hundred coins.”
The vendor was a young fellow who chuckled at the sight and said, “Hey, little missy, you can already bargain at such a young age. Very promising.”
“But I can’t sell them for two hundred coins. I’d be taking a loss. Look at the workmanship on these. The lowest I can go is two hundred and ninety coins.”
Just ten coins cheaper was taking advantage of her youth. Though the workmanship was admittedly great, these were ceramic, not porcelain. Forget two hundred, even at one hundred and fifty he’d earn a profit.
Quoting such a high price was purely because he saw how young she was and wanted to take her for a fool.
Given her experience in her past life as a ruthless “waist-chopping” figure in the night market behind the general’s estate, it was time to show this vendor a thing or two about the cruelties of the human realm.
Though her small tongue didn’t allow for too many words, nevermind that for now. Best to act first, talk later.
“No, two hundred,” she insisted.
“That’s too little. Seeing as you’re so cute, I’ll give you another discount--two hundred and eighty coins.”
“Two hundred.”
“Two hundred and seventy coins!”
“One hundred and nine.”
“Two hundred and sixty coins.”
“One hundred and eight.”
“Alright...hey, why do your prices keep going down? Fine, fine. I’ll take the loss and sell at two hundred coins.”
“No, one hundred and eight,” Little Dumpling held firm.
“Fine, one hundred and eight it is. Take it and go!” Any lower and he really would take a loss. The vendor neatly packaged up the nesting dolls and handed them to Jiang Yuqing.
The little one happily accepted them and carefully stowed them in her cloth bundle. From within, she took out a small embroidered purse with fat goldfish and fished out a piece of broken silver to give the vendor. He weighed it on a scale and returned seventy-two coins to her.
Lord Jiang was wealthy and felt copper coins were too heavy and inconvenient. Just then, a candy hawker happened to walk by. With a wave of her hand, Jiang Yuqing bought up all his kebabs of tanghulu candied haws.
At three coins per skewer, she took sixty-seven skewers for a total of two hundred coins. The candy seller grinned widely, baring his big teeth as he happily threw in the bamboo skewers as well.
And so, each Jiang child got to hold a tanghulu skewer, as did Li Chun, Gu Yu, and the little servants who followed behind.
Thirteen-year-old Jiang Yuhe was the most spirited of the bunch. He also had the biggest appetite and was the strongest, already half a head taller than his elder brother Jiang Yujiang.
At this time, he nimbly snatched up the bamboo pole of tanghulu skewers first, much to the envy of his other brothers.
What child doesn’t have the sweet and grand childhood dream of running wild through the village brandishing a pole of tanghulu?
Holding the sugary skewer pole, Jiang Yuhe instantly felt like the coolest kid on the block, with the aura of a warrior who had just returned triumphant from battle. He swaggered ahead of his brothers and sisters, as cocky as a victorious general coming home from war.
This lively bunch of attractive girls and boys walking down the main street, each holding a tanghulu skewer and eating away, was quite eye-catching indeed.
The children on the streets saw them and clamored for their parents to buy them some too. Having no choice, the parents approached Jiang Yuhe to ask the price.
Jiang Yuhe had wanted to say they weren’t for sale but was swiftly silenced by his cousin Jiang Yuhu covering his mouth. “They’re for sale, four coins per skewer!” Jiang Yuhu piped up with a broad smile.
The parent was taken aback. “Why so expensive? They usually only cost three coins a skewer.”
Jiang Yuhu beamed, “Uncle, as you say, that’s the regular price. But now it’s the New Year festival, sugar and all the ingredients have seen prices jump. We really have no choice.”
The parent considered this reasonable logic. He briskly fished out eight coins and bought two skewers, one for each of his sons.
This sparked an unstoppable wave. More and more people flocked to buy the tanghulu until all that was left were bare bamboo sticks.
The Jiang siblings looked at each other in shock. Huddling in a corner, they counted the coins in their pouches--two hundred and twenty-four in total.
So not only had they earned an extra twenty-four coins, they had gotten to eat eleven skewers for free!
The Jiang children were stunned. This was the first time they realized money could be earned this way.
Seeing the two hundred plus coins back in her hands, Jiang Yuqing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But through this experience, she saw that her usually discreet third brother Jiang Yuhu was a business prodigy. If he wished, he could be groomed for a future in commerce.
Delighted by this realization, Jiang Yuqing enthusiastically gave Jiang Yuhu a big thumbs up and loudly cheered, “Third brother, awesome!” She then fished out the extra twenty-four coins from her coin purse and placed them in his hand, cooing, “For brother!”
Jiang Yuhu was overjoyed at earning his little sister’s praise and the twenty-four big coins. His mouth lifted into a wide grin that didn’t fade for the rest of their walk.
It was this twenty-four coppers that sparked Jiang Yuhu's legend as the wealthiest man in Daxia. Later it even became his family heirloom. But that is another story for later.
Though servants trailed them, the Jiang elders still kept a close eye on their children’s activities. Naturally, they had witnessed everything that transpired.
Zhu's eyes shone as she asked her husband, "What if Third Son no longer wants to study and we let him learn business instead?"
Jiang Wenxi said, "I have no objections, as long as the child likes it himself."
Jiang Wenyuan added, "Sounds good. Third Son's aptitude for academics is average but he is nimble-minded and adaptive, prime material for business. Our family will surely expand into other industries in the future, so grooming him well could lead to great success."
Hearing her brother-in-law's affirmation of her son gladdened Zhu even more.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, they celebrated Minor New Year. Time to slaughter pigs, chickens, and ducks and steam rice cakes with meat.
That day, the Jiangs slaughtered three fat pigs, five sheep, plus chickens, ducks, geese, and plump fish. With over a hundred mouths to feed and no meat cutting allowed on New Year's Day, everything had to be prepared ahead of time.
Fresh pork was layered with taro, seasoned, mixed evenly, then wrapped in lotus leaves for steaming. The five-tiered steamer maintained its fire from the afternoon of the twenty-ninth all through the next morning. The aromatic steamed rice cakes weren’t removed until the embers had fully died down. Packed into six tall demijohns, the cakes were mouthwateringly fragrant.
The remaining meat, fowl, and fish were also cleaned, salted, wrapped in dried lotus leaves, and stored in large vats in the backyard. In this cold weather, they would keep for two to three days.
That night, word arrived from the prefectural city that the official road connecting Lingzhou Prefecture to the capital had been repaired and reopened. Upon hearing this, Li Deshun decided to set off back to the capital on the third day after New Year’s.
Finally, it was the eve of the thirtieth.
In southern China, reunion dinner was eaten early. Starting from late afternoon, the sounds of firecrackers began ringing through the villages.
The Jiangs' New Year's Eve dinner commenced at the hour of Shen (3pm).
The great hall contained ten tables lined up in a row with no distinction between masters and servants. The cuisine was identical, only divided by screens.
The ten Imperial Guards on duty guarding the sweet potato warehouse, because of their responsibilities could not leave the warehouse for too long, so the Jiang Family simply cleared out a space on the ground in the sweet potato warehouse, put a charcoal brazier underneath, and laid out some mats.
This way they would not neglect their duties, and could still have a nice New Year's Eve dinner.
Not only that, but the Jiang Family also had people make dumplings stuffed with chives and pork like in the customs of the north.
Although the look was nothing special, it was welcomed by all the guests, not for anything else, but just for the thoughtfulness the Jiang Family showed in how they treated people, which was enough to make them cherish it for a lifetime.
After dinner, everyone laid out melon seeds, fruit, tea, snacks, and pastries and started staying up through the night.
Just sitting around would be a bit boring, so Jiang Wenyuan had people bring out a wooden pot, bottles, and sticks that were made a long time ago for everyone to play a throwing game.
They were all young people, in their prime time for activity, so they immediately became excited and eagerly joined in. In no time the hall was exceptionally lively.
Li Deshun also became interested, and even put up fifty taels of silver as a prize. This prize was like a drop of water falling into a hot oil pan, and the noise almost lifted the roof off.
This was the Jiang Family boys' first time participating in this kind of game, and they were extremely spirited.
They had only heard their teacher talk about these kinds of games being popular activities for elite households, but back then their family was so poor they could barely eat their fill, so how could they care about such ethereal things. They never expected that now they could also experience this in their own home.
Jiang Yuqing had only seen it before in TV dramas, so this was also her first time experiencing it, and she felt it was quite interesting.
But because she was small, and not very strong, after trying twice and still not being able to toss it in, she gave up. She wholeheartedly cheered on her brothers instead, spurring them on.
In the end, the fifty taels of silver prize was collected by a junior officer of the guard.
After the throwing game ended, the servants brought in firecrackers.
Setting off firecrackers was always the children's favorite activity. Although they were far less beautiful than the fireworks she had seen in her previous life, still it was fun.
And because there were many people making it lively, the Jiang Family children, Jiang Yuqing included, all successfully stayed up until midnight.
After midnight came the New Year.
First the family's servants kowtowed and paid New Year's greetings to the main family. As usual, Old Man Jiang and Old Lady Hu gave each person a big red envelope with five hundred copper cash inside.
Next was the family's children paying New Year's greetings to their elders, including Li Deshun. Each person gave red envelopes to the children. Jiang Yuqing's red envelope was the biggest.
After that, it was the visiting officials from the farming communities, the guards and attendants who had come from the capital paying New Year's greetings to the Jiang Family and vice versa.
Then Old Man Jiang and Old Lady Hu, acting as the elders, gave each person a red envelope with one or two taels of silver, wishing them an auspicious and smooth new year.
After handing out the red envelopes, everyone went back to rest.
