MFBOWSBTMT Chapter 95

“This is great news! A plaque with the County Magistrate’s inscription is the first of its kind in Shuiqing Town!”

 

“Man-ge’r, your business is truly remarkable.”

 

Butcher Wang exclaimed twice.

 

Qiao Suiman hadn’t expected such an immense reward today beyond winning first prize. He grinned and said, “It’s a pity we’re out of goat milk, otherwise I could have made some for everyone to taste.”

 

“Qiao-gege, so many people said they wanted to buy milk tea. When will you start selling it at the shop?” Tang Guo’er asked.

 

Qiao Suiman hadn’t thought it through yet. He wasn’t sure at first whether milk tea would suit people’s tastes, so he only bought enough for the competition. If he were to sell it in the shop, he would have to prepare several times more, and the price would need careful consideration. After all, goat’s milk was not cheap.

 

Qiao Suiman replied, “I’ll think about it some more.”

 

The competition had taken the entire morning, and by now everyone was hungry, so they decided to eat at Wu’s Noodle Shop.

 

When they reached Beide Road, Qiao Suiman realized that the news of him winning first prize had already spread. A large crowd had gathered in front of his shop. Some sharp-eyed customers spotted him right away and shouted, “He’s back! Shopkeeper Qiao is back!”

 

“Shopkeeper, when will that milk tea be sold?”

 

“I heard it’s unbelievably good. Even the County Magistrate bestowed a plaque inscription!”

 

“You must let me know when you start selling it! I’m far too curious. Just smelling it on the street earlier made my mouth water.”

 

Lu Dongqing, Lu Xuesong, and the other men, with their loud voices, shouted repeatedly that it would be sold later and asked everyone to wait for news. Only then did the crowd gradually disperse.

 

Qin Xiaoyao welcomed their large group into the shop, smiling warmly. “Xiao Man, truly remarkable! I heard all about it, you’re first place! As for that Xiao Shun, hmph, serves him right. Thankfully, he didn’t steal your win.”

 

Qiao Suiman smiled in response. “His mind wasn’t set on the right path to begin with. Let’s not talk about him. Xiaoyao, we’d like to order.”

 

The Chen and Wang families had returned to their village, so they didn’t come along. After placing their orders, Qiao Suiman and his group finished eating, then drove the donkey cart to send Qiao Ruifeng and Qin Yu to the East Market. From there, it was much closer for them to head home.

 

When they finally returned to their shop to rest, Qiao Suiman was both exhausted and exhilarated. Lu Dongqing said with a smile, “Rest for a while? You haven’t had a proper rest these past few days.”

 

He had seen how busy and tired Qiao Suiman had been in the past few days. Though he felt distressed, he knew how much importance Qiao Suiman placed on the competition and how dearly he loved his fragrant drinks, so he quietly offered support and comfort.

 

The shop door was half open, and light filtered through the windows, spilling onto the two of them.

 

Qiao Suiman let Lu Dongqing massage his shoulders and arms, leaning his head back against him. Softly, he said, “I’ve been thinking about the milk tea.”

 

Lu Dongqing replied, “One large bowl of goat milk costs twenty-five wen, enough to make at most four servings. Adding the cost of tea leaves, sugar, dried flowers, firewood, and your labor, each tube would have to sell for over twenty wen.”

 

Qiao Suiman continued, “Drinks priced at just over ten wen still sell. But I worry that if milk tea is too expensive, once the novelty wears off, customers won’t buy it anymore.”

 

“Magistrate Liu’s plaque will attract customers once it arrives,” Lu Dongqing reassured him. “Plus, all those judges praised it highly. There’s no need to worry too much about that. The fifteenth is when we leave for the prefectural city. We can start selling after we return. For now, let’s take a few days to rest, hm?”

 

Qiao Suiman nodded in agreement. Recently, Lu Dongqing had been spending much time carving bamboo tubes, and orders for book boxes and lanterns from the academy had been delayed for several days. Familiar with the bamboo shop’s goods, Qiao Suiman opened the bamboo shop himself and kept watch there so that Lu Dongqing could carve in peace.

 

The next day, as soon as the drink shop opened, many customers were already waiting outside. There were even more than on the shop’s opening day. They had all come because of Qiao Suiman’s reputation as the champion of the fragrant drink competition. Even though he had anticipated this and prepared double the usual amount, everything was sold out by noon.

 

After selling the drinks, Qiao Suiman went straight back to the room and collapsed on the bed. Even Lu Dongqing, who  worked with him for several hours making drinks, was so tired that he collapsed beside him.

 

“I don’t want to count copper coins today,” Qiao Suiman said weakly.

 

A faint smile appeared on Lu Dongqing’s face as he gently nuzzled Qiao Suiman’s cheek. “Then we’ll save them for later.”

 

After resting a while, Lu Dongqing heated some water, and the two of them soaked their hands together, which slightly relieved the soreness and swelling.

 

“It’s still early, why don’t we go home later? Let’s go to Hedong Village to buy milk on the way, and then we can make milk tea for Mother and the others when we get back.” After Qiao Suiman recovered his strength, he thought that they would be idle in the shop anyway, so they might as well go home and stay for another night, and he could also make milk tea for his family to try. Aside from Lu Dongqing and Qin Yu, no one else had tried it yet.

 

“Alright, I’ll hitch the donkey cart.”

 

“Then I’ll pack our clothes.”

 

They divided the work and cooperated, and soon packed up and went back to the village by donkey cart. Since opening the shop, the route between home and the shop had become exceedingly familiar to them. The donkey’s hooves clattered on the bluestone streets of the town, then kicked up dust on the rural dirt roads. In less than half an hour, they reached the goat farm in Hedong Village.

 

Master Tang had already heard from Tang Guo’er about the fragrant drink competition. The moment he saw Qiao Suiman, he happily welcomed them in. Upon hearing they wanted to buy goat milk, he directly had his servant Xiao Wu prepare three bowls and gifted them to Qiao Suiman as a congratulatory present for winning the competition.

 

Unable to refuse Master Tang’s warm generosity, Qiao Suiman accepted. He also told him in advance that future purchases of goat milk for the milk tea would have to be supplied by him. Master Tang patted his chest in assurance, promising a steady supply without fail.

 

Qiao Suiman had just entered the village with the goat milk and other ingredients when people who saw him on the road shouted, “Man-ge’r is back!”

 

“Man-ge’r, I heard you took first place! Good heavens, you even spoke with the County Magistrate! How incredible!”

 

“Man-ge’r, that milk tea of yours, is it for sale? I’d like to try some too! Xuesheng said the judges were so impressed they were speechless!”

 

Lu Dongqing drove the donkey cart, but before they could even turn onto the path home, they were surrounded and unable to move. The villagers all looked at them as if they were rare curiosities, scrutinizing them endlessly.

 

Qiao Suiman answered the important questions and said with a smile, “Uncles, aunties, I’ll head home first. We can chat tomorrow if we have time.”

 

A woman recognized the several bowls of goat milk he was holding and asked, “Are you going home to make milk tea?”

 

Qiao Suiman didn’t hide it and said truthfully, “Yes.”

 

“What a coincidence! Could this old woman trouble you for a bowl to drink?”

 

Lu Dongqing looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Li Da’s grandmother.

 

Old Lady Li’s eyes flashed with resentment. Her precious grandson was beaten twice by Qiao Ruifeng, and the village chief didn’t even interfere. Instead, he blamed their family’s quarrel with the Lin family and even wanted to drive them out of the village!

 

In her view, nothing even happened to Qiao Suiman that time, so why make such a big fuss? It was already good enough that a ge’r without any luck could get married at all.

 

Later, when she heard from villagers that he married into that refugee family from the west end of the village, she laughed for a long time, waiting to see them become a laughingstock. Unexpectedly, the two would end up opening a shop in town, while her precious grandson could only marry some older maid!

 

She was filled with hatred.

 

Qiao Suiman simply snorted coldly. “You can drink it if you want.”

 

Old Lady Li’s eyes gleamed, thinking he felt guilty for Qiao Ruifeng, and she was about to extort more when she suddenly heard him say:

 

“Thirty wen per serving.”

 

“You black-hearted wretch! How dare you demand coin from this old woman for a mere drop of your drink!”

 

Old Lady Li rushed to the donkey cart and raised her hand to slap him.

 

Qiao Suiman steadied the bamboo basket holding the goat milk with one hand and pushed Old Lady Li’s hand away with the other. “What? Am I supposed to give it to anyone who asks? Since when is that the rule? One hand pays the money, the other delivers the goods. That’s the way it is, even for the Heavenly King[mfn]天王老子 Tiānwáng Lǎozǐ – The Heavenly King (an epithet for the Jade Emperor) or a supreme authority figure. Means “even the highest authority”.[/mfn] himself.”

 

Lu Dongqing’s anger had flared the moment he saw someone from the Li family. He halted the donkey cart, grabbed Old Lady Li by the collar, and said, “You still dare to jump around in front of us? Hah, do you think I’m dead?”

 

The others, seeing this, were so frightened they quickly scattered like birds and beasts[mfn]做鸟兽散 zuò niǎo shòu sàn – an idiom meaning to flee in all directions[/mfn], only daring to watch from a distance. This couple had shown their faces in front of the County Magistrate! If they reported them in front of the Magistrate, they would be in big trouble.

 

Lu Dongqing pushed her away, and Old Lady Li staggered back. He said fiercely, “Don’t let me see you again, or you can forget about Li Da’s life!”

 

Old Lady Li was shocked by the ferocity in his eyes. Only then did she remember that this man was a refugee from the north. Life on the road for refugees was brutal. Who knows, who knows if he had really killed someone before!

 

Old Lady Li’s legs trembled uncontrollably and she dared not utter another word. Those who had also intended to shamelessly beg for a taste all fell silent too. After all, they themselves had often spoken ill of Qiao Suiman in the past.

 

With no one blocking their way, the donkey cart rolled forward once more. Qiao Suiman took Lu Dongqing’s hand and said softly, “Don’t be angry at people like that. They were already frightened ever since they heard I appeared before the County Magistrate.”

 

Qiao Suiman knew very well the character of some people in the village. They bullied the weak and feared the strong. The slightest connection to someone important they couldn’t afford to offend would make them afraid for a long time.

 

Although the County Magistrate’s inscription was merely a compensation, in the villagers’ eyes, it was already a connection as vast as the heavens.

 

“In the future, as the shop earns more money, even more people will try to cling to us,” Lu Dongqing said, his tone softening. This was also why he had acted as he did just now.

 

Last time they returned home, Miao Lianhua said that since the two of them opened the shop, people in the village had been trying to claim kinship with her. Some women called her Miao-jie, only to ask that their children be taken to work in town. She refused them all. Normally, they wouldn’t even greet her, yet now they acted so close.

 

Qiao Suiman thought the same. Besides, their shop wasn’t large to begin with. Even if their business prospered further and they expanded like Shopkeeper Hu’s, if they ever needed to hire people, he would still only consider a few close families.

 

“Never mind them. I haven’t forgotten how those people in their families bullied me before,” Qiao Suiman said angrily.

 

Lu Dongqing frowned slightly. “Which ones bullied you?”

 

Qiao Suiman burst into laughter. Having someone to back him up felt wonderful. “The youngest son of the Wu family from the east of the village used to throw stones at me when we were children. And he forbade me from telling Da-ge. Hmph, I told Da-ge anyway, and he beat him up. Later, I secretly tripped him with a rope on the mountain. He fell so hard that he lost a teeth.”

 

“And then there’s a little ge’r from the Liu family. He always joins Wang Ling’er in cursing me. He was foolish. I pretended to be a ghost and scared him twice, and he didn’t dare say anything more about me. Later, he married, and I never saw him again.”

 

There were actually others. He and Qiao Ruifeng were the easiest targets for bullying when they were children. Their father and grandmother didn’t care, and they had no mother. Qiao Ruifeng, being a man, could fight back with his strength and sometimes win, but he, being weaker, could only use his wits.

 

Recalling it now felt like something from a past lifetime. Qiao Suiman’s tone was light, but Lu Dongqing still felt a tightness in his heart. Pursing his lips, he said, “Fortunately, you’re clever. I’ll go teach him a lesson another day!”

 

Qiao Suiman laughed heartily, his laughter drifting with the wind. “That one from the Wu family turned into a ruffian. He offended people, and even his own family disowned him. Now I don’t know where he is.”

 

Wang Ling’er’s end was miserable. As for the others, Qiao Suiman shook his head. “They didn’t come to a good end. Let’s just act like we don’t know them from now on.”

 

“Mm,” Lu Dongqing responded, but in his heart, he still wanted to catch those people and beat them up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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