Chapter 14 The Taste Within_1

The marketplace was bustling, with the constant calls of vendors and a stream of people coming and going. Lin Yue browsed with great interest, and she encountered a woman from the same village who had come in the same ox cart. The woman's name was Chunxi, and she had a stall selling tassels and purses she had made herself, along with over a dozen eggs and several jars of pickles. However, perhaps because she was too shy to hawk her wares loudly, few people paid attention to her goods.

"Sister Chunxi, what a coincidence to see you here so soon," Lin Yue greeted her with a beaming smile.

"Little sister, did you and your husband come to stroll around the market?" Chunxi saw Lin Yue's smiling face and put away her earlier disappointment at not having sold anything, although she still seemed a little envious.

Lin Yue had a good impression of Chunxi and wanted to help her out. She thought about how there wasn't much pickles left at home and decided it was a good time to buy two jars. There were no seasonal vegetables available in the fields currently, and the wild greens hadn't yet sprouted. For poor families like theirs, eating meat was a luxury that happened maybe once or twice a month at most; pickles were a staple, which is why most folks would preserve several jars before winter.

Lin Yue tasted Chunxi's pickles. Although they weren't as good as the ones her grandfather used to make, they were certainly better than the nearly spoiled jar at home. The jars were wiped so clean it showed that Sister Chunxi liked cleanliness, which made Lin Yue feel comfortable eating from them. She had intended to help out and didn't bargain, buying two jars at twenty coins each.

People like to join in on a commotion when buying things. When some women saw Lin Yue tasting the pickles, they followed suit, found the taste to their liking, and also bought a jar. Gradually, more people gathered around Chunxi's stall, and soon all of the few jars of pickles she brought were sold, as were a number of tassels and purses. Since Lin Yue had let others buy the two jars she had picked out—I mean, they were from the same village—Chunxi hadn't expected to sell so well. She only brought four jars of pickles, but she had more at home and agreed to deliver them to Lin Yue the next afternoon.

Although there were many items at the marketplace, they didn't need to buy much. Lin Yue purchased a few small items here and there and also bought several sticks of candied hawthorns. She ate one stick herself and saved a few to bring back for the little ones at home.

"Wait, Brother Erhu, let's buy a wooden basin to take back with us," said Lin Yue as they passed a stall displaying wooden wares. Recalling that there was only one wooden bucket at home, which made washing faces and vegetables inconvenient, she preferred not to mix uses, so she tugged at Zhao Erhu's sleeve, urging him to buy a basin. This time, however, Zhao Erhu didn't agree.

"No need to buy one, I'll make it for you back home. You can have as many as you want." Zhao Erhu said.

"Brother Erhu, you know carpentry too? That's incredible." Lin Yue asked curiously, not expecting her man to be so skilled. He was capable of hunting, farming, cooking, and now even carpentry—he was showing some serious potential.

Zhao Erhu blushed a bit at Lin Yue's praise, "That's nothing. Poor families like ours can barely fill our stomachs, let alone have spare silver to buy these things. We rely on doing everything ourselves. After all, the wood from the mountains doesn't cost anything. With a bit of effort, one learns how to make these small items. It's just that they're not as refined as those made by real carpenters."

Zhao Erhu had planned to buy some grain at the marketplace, since the prices could be cheaper there, but this time his luck wasn't great. The harvest had been poor the previous year, so there were fewer people selling grain at the market. The only two vendors there were selling low-grade white rice, consisting of broken grains mixed with a lot of bran and even some unfiltered small stones. Glancing at his squeamish and picky young wife, Erhu ultimately decided to buy the rice from a grain shop instead.

White rice was categorized into superior, medium, and inferior grades, with significant price differences between them. The superior white rice was twenty-eight coins per pound, the medium grade eighteen coins per pound, and the inferior ten coins per pound. The superior white rice had uniformly full grains with a fresh aroma and looked very appealing, but unfortunately, it was too expensive. The inferior white rice, though cheaper, was like what he had seen at the market earlier; even after washing, it was very hard to clean the bran and small stones mixed in it. The medium-grade rice, though not as good as the superior in terms of uniformity and fullness of the grains, was finer but still cleaner.

Zhao Erhu spent a little over one tael of silver to buy eighty pounds of the medium-grade white rice. He bought such a large quantity all at once because he figured that he wouldn't come to town for a long time before he went up the mountain to hunt, so it was better to stock up. In addition to white rice, Erhu also bought twenty pounds of white flour, spending another six hundred coins. The ten taels of silver he had earned from selling fur were gone, with over two taels spent just on grain.

Spending money like running water did hurt Zhao Erhu, but there was no helping it; his wife was his tender spot. Doctor Zheng had ordered him to nourish his wife's health well, and he too wished to fatten her up quickly. Otherwise, facing his delicate and soft young wife every day but not being able to touch her was truly frustrating, especially after having tasted the pleasures of flesh - the cravings were even harder to endure. Thus, it is said that a man without a wife is truly pitiable, but a man who has a wife yet cannot enjoy her is even more so.

"Brother Erhu, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something dirty on my face?" Lin Yue felt somewhat uncomfortable under Zhao Erhu's intense gaze and reached up to touch her face.

"No, Brother Erhu has bought so much grain, Niuniu must eat well and take care of your health, that's the most important thing," Zhao Erhu said with a double meaning, but Lin Yue didn't grasp the deeper implication and thought Erhu was simply concerned about her health, which warmed her heart all the more.

"Yes, don't worry Brother Erhu, I will definitely eat well and make myself strong and healthy," Lin Yue said crisply, a radiant smile on her face, blissfully unaware of the plans Zhao Erhu had in mind, or else she would be crying.

"Niuniu is really good," Zhao Erhu said, more pleased than ever with Lin Yue's obedient nature, and fondly ruffled her hair. Leaving the grain at the store for safekeeping, he then took Lin Yue to the pork shop on the street. In order to fatten his wife up, just eating rice was not enough; she needed to eat something more substantial with fats.

On market days, the crowd was usually larger, and business naturally better than on normal days. By the time Lin Yue and Erhu arrived, the butcher had already sold more than half of a big fat pig. The white, fatty meat was particularly pleasing to the eye; people typically lived frugally, craving rich, fatty foods, which is why fat was more expensive than lean meat. Fat was priced at thirty-five coins per pound, compared to the lean meat which was twelve coins cheaper at just twenty-three coins per pound. Despite the difference, people still preferred the fatty cuts; all things considered, lean meat was too dry and less satisfying.

"The pork looks good today. Give me five pounds of the fat meat," Zhao Erhu declared jovially, which made the butcher take a second look. Apart from a few rich families in town, most of his customers usually bought just a pound or half a pound of meat; this man didn't look wealthy, so maybe his family was hosting a guest, which is why he was buying so much.