The two men stood before the announcement wall near the county office. Not only them, but every time a notice was posted, many people would gather around to look. However, when Shopkeeper Liu caught sight of them, his eyes flashed with disdain.
“Tsk, this competition really came at the perfect time, wouldn’t you say, Shopkeeper Xiao?” Liu Tianfu said with mock delight.
“Exactly,” Xiao Shun sneered, his gaze drifting toward them. “Now everyone can finally see what real fragrant drinks are so that they won’t be fooled by some bumpkin-made swill.”
Qiao Suiman narrowed his eyes slightly. He could tell they were mocking him, but before he could speak, someone nearby retorted: “What do you mean by bumpkin-made? Are you saying folks from the countryside can’t make drinks?”
“You two grown men are so petty. You’ve been targeting them nonstop since earlier.”
At this point, most of the people gathered around were those who had just finished eating at the banquet. Many of them had heard the argument, and it was clear that Liu Tianfu and Xiao Shun were the ones who started the trouble in the first place. Now they were openly slandering others in front of everyone, which was going too far.
The two who spoke up were seated at a nearby table during the banquet and had also tried the drinks. The beverages were better than any they had before, and they even discussed visiting the shop later to buy more. Now that they ran into Qiao Suiman, they couldn’t help but rebuke Liu Tianfu.
“What do you know?!”
Xiao Shun snarled: “A country ge’r like him couldn’t possibly make anything good. ‘Fragrant Drink’? What a joke! It’s just brewed tea leaves and not even the expensive ones. Who knows what else he puts in it? It reeks of burnt flavor. And that ‘Persimmons of Good Fortune’? It’s nothing but cheap tricks. It’s not even a proper fragrant drink. People are only buying it now because it’s new. Give it some time, and no one will remember it.”
Xiao Shun’s face twisted with disgust. He’d known of Qiao Suiman back when he was still selling at the East Market. They always claimed that the county magistrate had tasted their drinks. They even carved bamboo tubes, using all sorts of tricks to fool people. Though their stall did well, they sold so little that it couldn’t compare to his shop.
After the weather turned cold, Xiao Shun kept his drinks warm over a fire, and many customers preferred them hot, so his business thrived. Meanwhile, Qiao Suiman’s drinks became harder to sell.
But their happiness didn’t last long. Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing came up with insulated wooden barrels and even offered a place for customers to rest. Their business quickly picked up again, and they even started a business with Laifu Wine House. The thought infuriated Xiao Shun. In the East Market, his drink shop was the largest, yet the wine house steward somehow decided to partner with some country ge’r. It was a direct slap to his face!
Yet he didn’t dare offend the wine house steward, so he directed all his resentment toward Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing.
After the New Year, Liu Tianfu from Beide Road mentioned that the two had bought a shop there. Xiao Shun was waiting for them to make fools of themselves. After all, people who couldn’t even read wouldn’t know if they were being swindled!
But he never expected that after they went door-to-door and visited many places, their business would be so good after opening! Even residents from the East Market traveled to Beide Road just to see Qiao’s Fragrant Drinks’ signboard and those fancy tubes!
As a result, there were fewer customers in his store, and Xiao Shun became even more displeased with Qiao Suiman.
Qiao Suiman was no pushover. Hearing this, he scoffed coldly. “Whether my drinks are good or not isn’t for you to decide with empty words. If the customers enjoy them and are happy, then they’re good. By your logic, what you make must be excellent, right? If yours were truly good, you’d have plenty of customers, so what’s there to worry about? You say the customers are being deceived, but the steward of the Liu residence approached me to do business. It was the Liu family’s master’s decision. Do you think I have the power to deceive nobles?”
“You, you serpent-tongued charmer!”[mfn]巧言令色 qiǎo yán lìng sè (lit. clever speech, feigned expression) – This expression originates from classical Chinese texts like the Analects of Confucius. It criticizes insincere speech and deceptive charm. It implies someone is using smooth talk and a pleasing demeanor to manipulate others, lacking genuine virtue.[/mfn]
Qiao Suiman didn’t understand what “serpent-tongued charmer” meant and glanced at Lu Dongqing in confusion. Lu Dongqing clenched his fists, barely restraining his anger. But seeing Qiao Suiman’s expression, he couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head. “It just means you’re good with words. Ignore him, let’s check the notice.”
“Mm.” Qiao Suiman nodded. Hmph! He knew it couldn’t have been anything nice, but since Lu Dongqing said so, that must be what it meant. Whether it was praise or insult, he’d take it as praise.
They moved to the announcement wall, where the crowd made way for them. Someone asked, “Young ge’r, were you the one who made the drinks for the banquet?”
Someone nearby replied: “Yes, you must’ve came late. I saw them deliver the drinks myself. The taste really was excellent.”
“Pfft, no wonder. I didn’t get it at first, but now it’s clear that they’re just jealous that his drinks taste better.”
The first speaker added, “Young ge’r, where’s your shop? I had some of that, what was it, Fragrant something drink. It was so good! Sweet and aromatic. I forgot to ask you where you are from.”
“I know this one,”
Before Qiao Suiman could answer, the man who had spoken for them at the beginning said, “It’s on Beide Road. I asked them before, right, little ge’r?”
“That’s right,” Qiao Suiman said with a smile, “It’s the seventh shop on the second alley of Beide Road, next to Wu’s Noodle Shop.”
Qiao Suiman found that many people knew about Wu’s Noodle Shop. Sometimes, when he was strolling around and someone asked him where the shop was, he would answer like this.
“I know that place. I went there to eat not long ago!”
Liu Tianfu’s expression grew even more sour. The drinks in his shop were sourced from Xiao Shun, but the drink business on Beide Road had never been as good as that in East Market. Since Qiao Suiman arrived, things had improved, but he got none of the benefits.
His shop’s noodles were copied from Wu’s after seeing their success, but they didn’t turn out as good. Now the two shops were crushing his business, and Liu Tianfu was fuming.
Lu Dongqing read the notice, his eyes lighting up with surprise. He turned to Qiao Suiman and said, “Xiao Man, it’s a fragrant drink competition! The registration opens next month, and the contest begins in the fifth month in town. The top three winners will be able to go to the prefecture city to make drinks for the people there!”
The current emperor was open-minded and benevolent, so local officials had the leisure to come up with unique ideas to organize various competitions. Drinks are loved by everyone from high-ranking officials in the capital to ordinary people. The officials in the prefecture city came up with this competition to bring joy to everyone.
“Really? There’s such a competition!” Qiao Suiman’s eyes sparkled. “Where do we register?”
“At the county office. The winner gets six taels of silver, and the top contestants will have a dedicated street in the prefecture city to showcase their drinks for three days,” Lu Dongqing explained.
“Hmph.”
Xiao Shun snorted through his nose, raised his eyebrows in mockery, and said, “You don’t know a single character, yet you want to participate in the competition? When it’s time to register, you won’t even know how to write your name. What, are you counting on your husband to write it for you?”
Liu Tianfu burst into laughter. “Exactly! Just go back and look after your little shop. While people are still willing to drink your tea, earn as much as you can, then go back to the countryside.”
“You—!”
Qiao Suiman planned to ignore them, but they kept pushing their luck, insulting not just him but countless others. There weren’t many literate people to begin with, so does that mean illiterate people can’t do business?
These two looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts. Qiao Suiman also sneered, “You’re the ones who should go back and mind your own business, so you won’t be bored every day and feel uncomfortable when you see other people’s businesses doing well. Even though there aren’t many customers, you should still cherish them. What will you do when there are even fewer customers in the future?”
Lu Dongqing smiled as well, though his eyes remained cold. “The notice doesn’t say illiterates can’t join. You’re the funny ones, going on about ‘country bumpkins’ and ‘illiterates.’ Are you trying to make decisions for the officials?”
Liu Tianfu and Xiao Shun’s words were really too much. Most of the onlookers lived in the county town, but few could afford to send their children to school. Many worked as laborers or relied on handicrafts for a living. Someone immediately cursed, “You bastards. Look how good you are. You think you’re so great just because you know a few characters?”
“What’s wrong with being from the countryside? Isn’t the rice, flour, vegetables, and melons you eat grown by the farmers in the countryside? You fill your bowl and then curse the hands that filled it. No wonder your business is failing!”
“Instead of focusing on how to make the drink taste better, you’re just looking for trouble. I’ll say it, your skills and your character both fall ten thousand li[mfn]十萬八千裡 shí wàn bā qiān lǐ (lit. one hundred and eight thousand li) – This is a classical Chinese exaggeration (hyperbole) meaning an immense gap, not a literal distance; huge difference between something; li (裡) is a unit of length used in ancient China which is equivalent to ~500 meters[/mfn] behind those young couple!”
When Xiao Shun and Liu Tianfu heard this, they started to curse at those people. In the end, they attracted the yayi and drove them all away.
What should have been a pleasant affair turned into a heated confrontation, drawing even more people to the announcement wall. Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing explained to those interested in their shop that it would be closed for three days to focus on supplying the Liu family’s banquet. Only then did they return to their shop.
They could still faintly hear people cursing Liu Tianfu and Xiao Shun. Qiao Suiman pursed his lips, tugged Lu Dongqing’s sleeve, and asked, “Dongqing, will you teach me how to read?”
Lu Dongqing froze, then asked nervously, “Is it because of the nonsense they said? Don’t listen to them. The county office…”
“No,” Qiao Suiman said, his expression softening. “I don’t care what they say. I just want to learn more. I’ve been thinking about it since we bought the shop. I thought it would be great if I could understand the words myself and read them to Mother, Da-ge, and Qin Yu-ge. The shop is running steadily now, so we can study after dinner or when there are no customers.”
So that’s how it was. Lu Dongqing breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been too quick to assume. Qiao Suiman was not the type of person who would be bothered by a few words from others. So he happily said, “Alright.”
“How about we go buy books from Huaqing-ge’s bookshop now? Back when Father taught me and Songzi, we started with the Three Character Classic[mfn]三字經 sān zì jīng – a traditional Chinese primer for children, using three-character verses to teach Confucian values[/mfn] and the Thousand Character Classic[mfn]千字文 qiān zì wén – another foundational tex; it is a 1,000-character poem (no repeats, except one character and, each line has four characters; it is used for literacy and calligraphy practice.[/mfn]. Huaqing-ge has them.”
“Alright.”
They wasted no time. Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing went to Xide Road to buy two books, some paper, ink, and brushes, then took a longer route back to the shop.
When they reached Beide Road, Qin Xiaoyao was cleaning the noodle shop The busiest time had already passed. Qiao Suiman mentioned Liu Tianfu in passing, and the two even spent some time cursing him together. Unfortunately, Liu Tianfu wasn’t at his food shop and only a young worker was looking after it. Otherwise, Qin Xiaoyao would have gone over to argue with him.
Qiao Suiman held Qin Xiaoyao back and repeated the things that the onlookers had shouted earlier. Qin Xiaoyao laughed so hard he couldn’t stop.
Though the drink shop has a notice saying they were closed for three days, the bamboo shop remained open. The two opened the doors, and Lu Dongqing sat at the central bamboo table flipping through the books and waiting for customers while thinking about how to teach.
Qiao Suiman watched intently. Although he couldn’t understand the text yet, judging by the titles, Classic this and Text that, they had to be important!
Lu Dongqing had a rough plan. Reading and writing couldn’t be rushed. He would start by teaching Qiao Suiman how to grind ink and hold the brush, then move on to recognizing and writing characters.
Qiao Suiman recalled how he secretly mimicked Lu Dongqing’s brush-holding posture during the Qixi Festival and smiled. He never thought that he would actually learn to write now.
Qiao Suiman was quick to learn. He held the brush in the same way as Lu Dongqing. Whenever he did something wrong, Lu Dongqing would adjust his fingers. The shop door was wide open, and the two of them sat there, hand over hand in plain sight. Qiao Suiman grew a little self-conscious. He glanced around, and seeing that no one was looking in their direction, he felt relieved.
—
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