Chapter 77: CH 77

Lu Junming couldn’t see Zhong Cheng yet, but a gust of cold wind and snow flew by. As Mo Yan was still waiting for him, he entered the courtyard with his horse.

They entered the house together. Mrs. Liang was sitting on a chair and rose up to greet Lu Junming, “Come in, come in, it’s cold outside.”

Because of her coughing, her voice was a little hoarse. He shook off the snow of his coat and took it off, Mo Yan taking it for him.

He had just sat down when Mo Ling’s voice came from the courtyard. “Leave your carriage here and come in, the snow’s about to get heavier.”

Mo Yan smiled towards Lu Junming, satisfied in her victory.

The Mo family home wasn’t large enough for a carriage, so Zhong Cheng left the carriage outside and led his horse inside, tying it to the same tree as Lu Junming’s horse.

Mo Feng heard the sound of horses and went outside. When he saw the two horses, he went to grab a few sorghum stalks for the horses to chew on.

Mo Ling hadn’t waited for Zhong Cheng and entered the house first. He went inside later.

When they opened the door, Mrs. Liang saw that the ground had turned white. With how poor the weather was, she couldn’t leave her guests outside, so she decided to have the two over for dinner. “Ling’er, did you buy any meat from the market?”

Mo Ling shook off the snow on her body. “It’s too cold, why would I?”

“Then, go kill our old hen. It’s too old to lay eggs, and is just a waste of sorghum.”

Mo Ling put her hands under the table, and Lu Junming realised that there was a heater under it. No wonder the room is so warm.

He said, “Mrs. Liang, you’re unwell, go rest! We’re going to talk for a while.”

She returned to her room while coughing, and Mo Ling went to catch the old hand after warming her hands sufficiently. Zhong Cheng also wanted to help but was stopped by Lu Junming, “Brother Cheng, I want to speak to you.”

Mo Yan placed a bowl of drunken dates on the table, and the three spoke while eating them.

Lu Junming took note of a lot of goods when he went to the Upper Valley, so he took note of the costs and locations of them. He wanted to speak to Mo Yan about how much of each they wanted to import.

The reason he wanted to speak to Zhong Cheng was also because he wanted to discuss importing these goods. He had to confirm with Mo Yan how much of each they wanted to import before knowing how many people and carriages they should send.

After Zhong Cheng found out, he immediately wanted to go back, “I have the men and the carriages, but we can’t go there without exporting any goods!”

Lu Junming stopped him. “Don’t worry, we’ve already taken that into consideration. Various fresh grains would sell well in the city, and I’ve noted down the buying prices and locations of the buyers. As long as you send it to them, they’ll accept it. However, you’ll have to source the grains yourself.”

“Sure, it’s not hard to get a hold of grains anyways.”

As they had both the imports and exports confirmed, he was no longer in a rush to leave and went to help Mo Ling catch the old hen.

Lu Junming and Mo Yan continued discussing the imports. It was fine to import a little more of anything with a long shelf life, since it’d be hard to get a hold of by the end of the year. However, he couldn’t decide on how many textiles to import.

“Just bring some samples, ones from a textile workshop.”

“But I don’t know anything about textile workshops!”

“Then when Zhong Cheng and his caravan go to the Upper Valley, I’ll follow them.”

“They’re going to be living rough, and it’d be all men, you shouldn’t follow them. If you do, I should go to protect you at the very least.”

It had turned dark. Mo Yan had just lit the oil lamp when the door opened. The fragrant smell of a chicken preceded Zhong Cheng, who was holding a large platter. On it was the old hen, fat glistening on it and the vegetables it was cooked alongside.

Mo Ling, who was walking behind him, took out the cutlery and bowls. “The kitchen’s too cold, let’s just eat here.”

Lu Junming and Zhong Cheng went to tell Mrs. Liang dinner was ready, but she replied, “Don’t worry about me, you eat first.” A bout of coughing followed that sentence.

Mo Ling brought a bowl of food and a biscuit over. When she lifted the drape to her room, they could see her gasping for breath on the kang. She looked extremely ill, and nothing like the shrewd and cunning person they were used to.

Mo Feng went to where they were having dinner, and they all sat down together. He immediately grabbed a chicken thigh and started eating. Lu Junming gave the chicken wing in his bowl to Mo Yan, and Mo Ling said, “You don’t need to give it to her, she can eat by herself.” [1]

The other chicken thigh was given to Zhong Cheng, and Mo Yan and Lu Junming had a chicken wing each. Mo Ling put the chicken neck in her own bowl, and they ended up eating so much not even the vegetables were left.

After eating, Mo Ling cleaned up and put the cutlery and bowls back into the kitchen. Zhong Cheng helped her open the door, and they could only see white outside.

Mo Yan ran out to watch the snow, and Mo Ling turned around to berate her, “You’ve just eaten, it’s too windy to go outside. Get back in.”

Mo Yan asked Lu Junming, “So I won the bet, what do I get?”

“Anything you want, you can even have me.”

“Why would I have you? You eat a lot and you eat high-quality food too, I can’t afford that. Tomorrow, accompany me to make snowmen.”

“Ok, let’s make them in my courtyard. There aren’t any chickens and the snow is clean.”

She grabbed his coat, which he put on. Then, he left after saying goodbye to Mrs. Liang; a few coughs from her was also a form of her saying goodbye. Mo Yan wanted to send him off, but was stopped by him, “Listen to your sister.”

Lu Junming got on his horse and left, but as soon as he left, Mo Yan rushed after him.

The world had turned white, obscuring Lu Junming, with his silver coat and his white horse. She could faintly see a horse galloping by the pond.

“Lu Junming!” Mo Yan yelled.

The horse turned around and ran back, only stopping when it came in front of Mo Yan, its breath visible in the cold weather.

Mo Yan touched its neck, but Lu Junming didn’t dismount, just gently took her hand off and said, “Go back quickly!” before going back.

She was about to turn back when Mo Ling found her, “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

She giggled, “I wanted to see if he looked dashing in his coat while on horseback.”

“He’s good-looking anyways, so of course he does! Did you have to do it when it’s snowing so heavily though?”

The snow didn’t fade, and just got heavier and heavier. A thick layer of snow had formed on top of Zhong Cheng’s carriage already.

Mo Yan said, “The snow’s really heavy. Brother Cheng, stay here for the night; we’ll sleep with mum so you have a place to sleep.” Then, she asked Mo Ling if that was fine.

Zhong Cheng looked at Mo Ling too, who said, “You’ve already organised it, so why are you asking me for my permission?”

Mo Yan turned to him, “She agreed!”

Mo Ling said again, “Just get inside quickly!”

Mo Yan and Zhong Cheng both made faces at her before going in.

After arranging where he’d sleep, the siblings went to Mrs. Liang’s room. Mo Yan couldn’t sleep and started reading her Hundred Herb Compendium under the dim light of the lamp.

Mrs. Liang turned to look at her, and before she said anything, Mo Ling spoke for her, “Why don’t you go sleep? You’re wasting oil, and oil isn’t free!”

Mo Yan turned to smile at them, “I need to find a cure for mum. It’s not a terminal illness, I don’t believe it can’t be cured.”

Mrs. Liang gently coughed twice before saying, “Search quicker then! You’ve searched for several days without a solution already, I want to know if I can be cured or if there’s nothing to be done quickly!”

Mo Ling turned towards her. “Mum, before taking your medicine, tell us where you store your money first.”

The three laughed, making Mrs. Liang cough again.

Post-translation notes: This chapter has made me feel more sympathy for Mrs. Liang than I ever expected to feel. She always seemed really competent.

[1] Even Mo Ling has figured out how much Lu Junming simps for Mo Yan.