MFBOWSBTMT Chapter 25

After harvesting the wheat and gathering the fallen grains from the fields, the three members of the Qiao family began sun-drying the crops in their own courtyard. Fortunately, the Qiao family’s yard was spacious enough for the task, sparing them the need to go to the communal threshing ground unlike the other households, who had to leave a man behind to guard it all night to prevent the grain they had worked so hard to grow from being stolen by others.

 

The weather was good, and the wheat dried quickly. Qiao Ruifeng and Qin Yu each took a flail and beat the wheat stalks, causing the grains to fall off. Qiao Suiman wasn’t idle either. He used a stick to thresh the wheat in the corners, bundling the beaten stalks and setting them aside. Once completely dry, they would be stored in the woodshed for kindling.

 

As Qiao Ruifeng and Qin Yu knocked off more and more grains, Qiao Suiman followed behind, sifting the wheat. Although the weather had remained favorable, food was no small matter, and farmers had to be cautious. Only once the grains were properly sifted and stored indoors could they feel at ease.

 

By the afternoon, the first round of threshing in the courtyard was finally done. They set aside the stalks that were clearly empty of grains, leaving only the scattered bits that needed to be carefully picked out. None of them complained of exhaustion, meticulously inspecting the grains for fear of wasting even a single kernel.

 

Two more hours passed, and Qiao Suiman handed out cloth masks. With their faces covered, they finally finished sifting all the wheat. The fine wheat stalks kicked up dust, and without the masks, they would have been coughing nonstop from the particles.

 

By the time they scooped the grains into storage jars, it was already night. Under the moonlight, they tidied up the wheat and locked it securely in the woodshed, finally able to relax. Now, they only needed to spread it out on sunny days for further drying.

 

Qin Yu hastily steamed a few buns, and after eating, the three of them went straight to bed, too exhausted to even wash up. The air seemed to carry the sweet scent of wheat.

 

——

 

Early the next morning, Qiao Ruifeng spread the wheat out to dry again before heading to the riverside for training. The past few days of urgent harvesting had disrupted their practice, but with the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, they had less than a week left. From now on, each day would include an extra half-shichen[mfn]时辰: a traditional Chinese unit of time equal to two hours[/mfn] of practice.

 

Qiao Suiman was also preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival. The peach and green plum trees in their backyard were full of fruit. After giving some to the Chen family, the village chief’s family, and the Zheng family, there were still plenty left. Qiao Suiman picked the ripe peaches, carefully peeled off their skins, removed the pits, and kept only the crisp, juicy flesh.

 

He took a large earthen bowl, mashed the flesh of over a dozen peaches, added two bowls of water, and transferred the mixture to a small iron pot. A low fire burned beneath the stove as the peach pulp and water bubbled.

 

Qiao Suiman added some sugar and stirred slowly with a spatula. As the mixture thickened, he reduced the fire and continued stirring until the peaches had completely softened into a paste.

 

The peach syrup was now ready. Since the peaches were naturally sweet, he had only added a little sugar. However, the plums were sour and required more, so he had bought another half-jin[mfn]斤 : ~600g[/mfn] of sugar to prepare the plum syrup.[mfn]the “syrup” are being diluted to water so they would become drinks[/mfn]

 

This year’s peach harvest had been plentiful. At first, he had only planned to add the fruit pulp to drinks, but yesterday a sudden idea struck him. Since he was already making thirst-quenching drinks, why not make both green plum and peach versions? It wasn’t much extra effort.

 

Thus, he now had four beverages to offer: Perilla Drink and Peach Blossom Drink as hot flavored drinks, and Green Plum Drink and Immortal Peach Drink as thirst-quenching drinks. Qiao Suiman was full of motivation. Compared to the fragrant drink shops in town, his four varieties might seem meager.

 

He had seen those shops’ menus, and they were so densely packed with characters that he couldn’t read and could only count them line by line. In total, there were at least twenty kinds of fragrant drinks.

 

But for now, he was content. Little by little, he would accumulate more. In the past, he had only sold one type of drink, but now he had quadrupled his offerings. In time, he would surely expand even further!

 

Plums were harder to work with. They were small and their skins didn’t peel as easily as peaches. It took a long time just to extract the flesh from a whole basket.

 

Qiao Suiman boiled them with water as well, but this time, he added three times the amount of sugar. His heart ached at the expense, but there was no helping it. All he could do was hope that he’d make enough coins on that day to make the effort worthwhile.

 

Once both the peach and plum syrup cooled, Qiao Suiman poured them into separate clay jars, sealed the mouths, pressed them down tightly with wooden blocks, and stored them in the cool, shaded kitchen.

 

Now, all that was left was to wait for the Dragon Boat Festival. He had done all the preparations. He cleaned and dried the wooden barrels, asked the village chief to rewrite the signboard, now including the new drinks and bamboo tubes, with prices marked.

 

“Qin Yu-ge, come and try this.”

 

As usual, whenever Qiao Suiman made something new, he had Qin Yu taste it first. His elder brother would just gulp it down without being able to describe what made it good.

 

Qin Yu smiled faintly. Recently, Xiao Man had been experimenting with these drinks every day, and he seemed livelier than before. It made Qin Yu happy too.

 

He picked up a bowl and took a sip of the Green Plum Drink and widened his eyes slightly. “This is delicious, sour and sweet. If you drink it in summer, your appetite will be much better.”

 

He took several more sips. In previous years, green plums were only been used to make vinegar, dried fruit, or sold cheaply to winemakers in town. He had never imagined they could be prepared like this.

 

Next, Qin Yu tried the Immortal Peach Drink. The name had actually been a funny misunderstanding.

 

When Qiao Suiman had asked the village chief to write “Fresh Peach Drink”[mfn]鮮桃漿 “xiān táo jiāng” with 鮮 “xiān” meaning “fresh”[/mfn], the village chief wrote the “immortal”[mfn]仙 “xiān”[/mfn] character instead.[mfn]since QSM asked the chief verbally, there was a mix-up as 仙 (immortal) and 鮮 (fresh) are pronounced the same (xiān)[/mfn] After finishing, he had even joked that Qiao Suiman had a knack for naming things, now they could enjoy the same peaches as the immortals.

 

Qiao Suiman was illiterate and thought the village chief had misunderstood, so he sighed, “So ‘immortal’ and ‘fresh’ are written with the same character. I meant fresh peaches, but I guess immortals eat peaches too.”

 

Only then did the chief realize his mistake and offer to rewrite it. But after some thought, Qiao Suiman decided “Immortal Peach” sounded even better than “Fresh Peach” and kept the original sign.

 

Qin Yu had just tasted the sweet-and-sour Green Plum Drink. When he tried the Immortal Peach Drink next, with no sourness at all, it seemed incredibly sweet and fragrant. Peaches were already aromatic, but when made into thick syrup and mixed with water, the smell became even richer.

 

“Both are delicious. Children will probably prefer this one. It’s sweet and fragrant.”

 

Qiao Suiman beamed, his eyes curving with delight. “That’s good. All this effort wasn’t wasted. Qin Yu-ge, let’s make lots of money together!”

 

Qin Yu laughed heartily. How could he refuse? “Alright, I’ll be counting on you to lead me to riches!”

 

“What are you two so happy about?” Qiao Ruifeng had returned.

 

“Xiao Man says he’s going to make me rich. Shouldn’t I be happy?” Qin Yu said with a smile.

 

“Sounds great. Maybe while I’m competing for prizes, you two might earn more than me selling drinks,” Qiao Ruifeng teased, seeing their excitement.

 

“Maybe we really will! Ge, I heard this year’s prizes are double what they were before. Other villages are all eyeing first place.” Qiao Suiman had picked up plenty of gossip during his market trips, and this was one tidbit.

 

“Our village has never taken first before, but this year might be different. Lu Dongqing isn’t just for show. Sometimes even I can’t keep up with his rowing. Uncle Liu has been drilling us harder these past few days.”

 

“Train hard, but don’t overdo it,” Qin Yu reminded.

 

“I know. We’re all careful.”

 

At the mention of Lu Dongqing, Qiao Suiman fell silent. The more he thought about it, the more he felt Lu Dongqing had helped him immensely. If he had gone to someone else for the bamboo tubes, things wouldn’t have gone as smoothly, let alone getting a discount of three wen per tube.

 

He felt he ought to do something in return but wasn’t sure what. Then, looking at the two jars of thirst-quenching drinks, an idea struck him.

 

——

 

The next morning.

 

Qiao Ruifeng headed to the riverside as usual. But unlike before, aside from carrying his usual bamboo tube, he also held two new ones. They were leftovers from the ones he had made for Qiao Suiman’s market trips but hadn’t sold.

 

They were now filled to the brim with Immortal Peach Drink and Green Plum Drink. Qiao Ruifeng couldn’t help but chuckle, remembering how his younger brother had handed him the drinks, trying to act nonchalant despite his obvious nerviousness.

 

Then his laughter turned a little sour. No one had ever taught them these things growing up. Under such circumstances, they were not as happy as they are now. Recently, both he and Qin Yu had noticed the changes in Qiao Suiman. It was a relief, but also bittersweet.

 

Well, then he would just have to find him a good match. Xiao Man isn’t the type to sit idle, and he loves making these drinks. His future husband would have to be someone who wouldn’t restrict him. Some villagers still gossiped about Suiman not being married yet and how improper it is to appear in public to do business. But so what? As long as he is happy.

 

From what he could tell, Lu Dongqing seemed like an excellent choice. Based on their recent interactions, he didn’t seem to find anything improper about Qiao Suiman’s actions. Miao Lianhua doesn’t like to gossip about others, and she has no objection to Man-ge’r approaching them for a partnership.

 

Most importantly, Xiao Man probably already had feelings for him.

 

When he arrived at the training spot, Lu Dongqing was already there. As the lead rowers, they had to arrive earlier than the others. Seizing the moment while no one else was around, Qiao Ruifeng handed the two bamboo tubes to Lu Dongqing.

 

Lu Dongqing blinked in surprise. “This is…?”

 

“Xiao Man asked me to bring them to you,” Qiao Ruifeng explained.

 

Dongqing looked even more startled. “He… He gave these to me?”

 

“Mn.” Qiao Ruifeng suppressed a smile. “New flavors. He said to let you try them too.”

 

“Thank you. And thank Man… Man-ge’r.” Lu Dongqing knew those close to Qiao Suiman called him Xiao Man, but he didn’t yet have the right to address him so familiarly. Like everyone else in the village, he called him Man-ge’r.

 

“No need for thanks.”

 

Lu Dongqing opened one tube and took a slow sip. It tasted like peach juice but richer. “Is this made from peaches?”

 

“Mn. Called Immortal Peach Drink,” Qiao Ruifeng said, amused. “With the character for ‘immortal.’”

 

Lu Dongqing chuckled softly. Qiao Suiman really had a way with names.

 

He opened the other tube and took a sip. He recognized it right away. “Green Plum Drink?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Sweet and sour. Lu Dongqing thought of Qiao Suiman, his heart feeling just like these two drinks – both sweet and sour, full and warm.

 

Once everyone arrived, the two stopped chatting and focused on training. To help them practice well, the village chief gave each of them two eggs every day, reminding them to eat properly to maintain their strength for rowing. Naturally, they were happy to oblige.

 

With only two days left until the fifth, they couldn’t afford to slack off. Today, for some reason, perhaps because he drank the beverages Qiao Suiman had sent, Lu Dongqing looked refreshed, as if he didn’t feel tired at all. Even when everyone else was panting and exhausted, his face still glowed with energy.

 

How strange. Could it be that people from the north were really so much stronger? Everyone secretly wondered.

 

And so, two more days passed, until finally, the fifth day of the fifth month arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

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Translator [LUNE]: Will be updating every single day ( ͡°ω ͡°) see u tomorrow