An Jing had never paid much attention to it all this time, feeling it was someone else’s business and had nothing to do with her.
Watching Liu Yingen and Liu Sizi laughing and chatting as they walked past their land, An Jing didn’t immediately say anything to Xiao Changyi, but waited until the two men had walked far away before she said, "Judging by their demeanor, Uncle Liu really must have appeared to him in a dream."
Xiao Changyi nonchalantly said, "Perhaps not."
An Jing, taken aback, asked sensitively, "Do you know something?"
Xiao Changyi didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he waited until they had returned home and entered the house before he described the scene he had previously encountered with Mrs. Hongxia and Liu Yingen having a heated exchange.
An Jing immediately understood, "Could it be that Liu Sizi is not—"
Before An Jing could finish her sentence, Xiao Changyi cut her off, "I merely suspect." After all, there was no solid evidence.
An Jing understood and said no more.
On the eleventh of September, Wang Youbao arrived, wearing a face full of smiles.
It had been more than twenty days since Wang Youbao’s last visit, and seeing him so cheerful now, An Jing and Xiao Changyi could guess, even just by thinking with their toes, that Wang Youbao must have made a handsome sum of money.
"Changyi, An Jing, I owe it to you for giving me that fermented bean curd recipe. My business at Hundred Dishes Restaurant has picked up again," said Wang Youbao, both grateful and happy. "I took your advice and didn’t add fermented bean curd to every dish, rather I provided it in limited quantities each day. Ha ha, you didn’t see it, but some people would line up at the entrance of my restaurant early in the morning, fearing they might miss out."
Wang Youbao, who appeared to have lost about ten pounds, now had a face that no longer bunched up when he smiled, no matter how he laughed.
It seemed that Wang Youbao had continued to keep up with his weight loss.
An Jing felt somewhat relieved and couldn’t help but smile, "That’s great then, you don’t have to think about closing down your restaurant anymore."
"Naturally, I wouldn’t close it down now, all thanks to you," Wang Youbao said. As he spoke, he took out several silver notes from his chest and smilingly handed them over to Xiao Changyi, "This is the money I made from selling grain rice, minus the costs. We’re splitting it fifty-fifty; this is your deserved six thousand taels."
An Jing thought she had heard wrong, "How much did you say?"
Wang Youbao: "Six thousand taels."
Seeing Xiao Changyi not taking the silver note, Wang Youbao’s face immediately turned sad, "This is what you deserve. Just from selling the grain rice, I myself have also made six thousand taels. If you sold it yourselves, I wouldn’t have earned a single coin."
After a pause, Wang Youbao’s voice became quieter and he looked quite wronged, "You gave me the fermented bean curd recipe, and my restaurant is making good money now. You are practically letting me make a profit for nothing. Now, you are even reluctant to take the money for the grain rice; do you really consider me a friend? I feel like you’re treating me like a beggar being given alms..."
The more Wang Youbao spoke, the more aggrieved he sounded, and the more it felt off. After exchanging glances, An Jing and Xiao Changyi decided to accept the money.
"Alright, stop it, we’ll accept it," An Jing spoke first, and then Xiao Changyi took the silver notes and passed them on to An Jing.
Once Wang Youbao saw that they had accepted the money, his happiness returned.
An Jing gazed silently at the sky for a moment before looking down at the silver notes in her hand. There were six notes, each of one thousand taels. An Jing had never seen silver notes before; today was her first encounter with them. She couldn’t describe her feelings exactly—only that she felt these were much harder to counterfeit than modern banknotes.
However, no one here would dare to counterfeit these, for it was an offense punishable by death.
An Jing didn’t immediately put the silver notes away, but asked out of curiosity, "How did you sell it to make so much money?"