Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Ox-Cart Business

The mother and daughter went to Jihuai Hall to sell medicinal herbs. Uncle Chen was as amiable as ever. The three bags of herbs sold for one hundred and forty-five copper coins, even more than Luo’s wages, leaving Luo stunned once again.

An Yi counted out fifteen coins and placed them back on the counter. “Uncle Chen, thank you for your kindness. Please use these to have a cup of tea.”

Uncle Chen laughed heartily, “What a thoughtful little girl. Alright, Uncle Chen will accept your gesture, but next time, don’t bother with this again.”

“Yes,” An Yi replied with a sweet smile, curtsied imperfectly, and returned to Luo’s side. She took her mother’s hand and led her out of the pharmacy. “Mother, I’m hungry. I want noodles.”

“Oh, oh.” Luo took An Yi to a nearby noodle stall, and they each had a bowl of noodles.

After their meal, they bought some rice and left the city to head home.

An Yi groaned inwardly—they would have to walk another two hours. Her legs were about to give out!

Once outside the city, Luo carried ten pounds of white rice on her shoulder, a bundle in her hand, and strode ahead purposefully. An Yi trudged behind, barely keeping up, moving slower with each step.

“Xi’er, just hold on a little longer. We’re almost home,” Luo stopped by the roadside to wait, encouraging An Yi.

Too exhausted to speak, An Yi dragged her leaden legs forward, nearly in tears. She had held on so many times; why weren’t they home yet? The journey home felt endless.

At long last, the pair reached the entrance to their village. Luo looked at her daughter with concern, “Xi’er, sit here and rest a while. I’ll ask your second brother to come and fetch you.”

An Yi nodded, too tired to move, and sat on a large stone by the village entrance to catch her breath.

After a short wait, An Jian came running and carried her home on his back.

Completely spent, An Yi collapsed on her bed. “Mother, I’m not hungry. I don’t want to eat. I just want to sleep.”

Luo hurried over, “Good child, you can’t skip a meal. Let me feed you.”

After a bowl of rice soaked in soup, An Yi felt a little revived. Thinking of the convenient transportation in the city, and recalling the ox cart she had ridden last time, she no longer dreamed of fine horses. She just wished she could ride an ox cart into town each time, avoiding such exhausting walks. Lying on her stomach, she asked, “Since the oxen aren’t plowing, why not hitch them to carts and make some money taking people into town?”

“Who would be willing to spend money on such luxuries?” Luo laughed.

“Mother, I actually think little sister’s idea is a good one,” An Jian agreed.

An Yi yawned. “If they’re worried business won’t be good, they could go every other day. One coin per adult. If you bring a child, the first one rides free; if you bring more than one, each extra child is five hemp coins.”

“Mother, there are so many people in the village, and every couple of days there’s someone going to town. You could talk to Fourth Great-Uncle. Cousin Man tends the oxen all day and doesn’t have much else to do. Any money earned would be a bonus,” An Jian said, wanting to make this work so An Yi wouldn’t have to suffer on the walk to town.

Luo thought for a moment. “Tomorrow, I’ll talk to them. If it works, that’s great. If not, next time Shuanzai, you go into town instead. Meet the pharmacy owner. In the future, you can go to sell the herbs, and Xi’er will stay home. Only if there’s a ride with the Guangnian family will she go into town.”

The siblings both nodded.

The next day, Luo spoke with Luo Yaozu about the idea. After discussing it with his two brothers, they agreed it was worth trying. Luo Chunli hitched the ox to the cart and started taking passengers to town for a fee.

A coin for the ride wasn’t expensive. Though the villagers weren’t wealthy, they could still manage it and appreciated the chance to save their strength. After a short round of calls through the village, Luo Chunli’s ox cart was soon full.

Every other day, Luo Chunli made a round trip and earned twenty-eight coins. For a farming family scraping a living from the earth, this was a tidy sum, and he could barely contain his joy. On the following trip, he made thirty-three coins.

However, seeing his success, others in the village hitched their oxen to carts to compete. Soon, seven ox carts were lined up at the village entrance. Although Jingtang Village was populous, and people traveled to town almost daily, with so many carts, supply quickly outstripped demand, and business suffered.

Luo Chunli barely made ten coins on a round trip and soon lost interest.

Luo Fugui advised, “Since our family started this business, we should stick with it. If you can’t get passengers, neither can they. If business is poor, the others will give up, and then you’ll be able to make money again.”

The whole Luo family agreed this made sense, so Luo Chunli kept at it, running the cart every other day, right on schedule. After about ten days, only he and Ni Ni’s father were left at the village entrance, and business improved again.

Life flowed on peacefully, and An Yi grew increasingly fond of her new life—rising at dawn, resting at dusk, sometimes playing beanbag toss with Qiao’er and the others on the threshing ground. Simple and calm. Of course, it would have been even better if not for the Xinliu family.

The An siblings’ habit of going to the fields and hills to dig for medicinal herbs eventually drew the villagers’ attention. Since Luo was busy with embroidery work and seldom socialized, people started coming to her home to pry, among them Aunt Liu.

To others, Luo could respond vaguely, but since Aunt Liu had once saved her daughter, she couldn’t hide the truth and told her everything.

When An Yi returned and heard about this, she could no longer restrain her anger. “Xinliu pushed me down. Saving me was only what she should have done.”

“Child, how could you say that? Xinliu only pushed you by mistake; it wasn’t on purpose...”

“She did it deliberately! Otherwise, why would her mother just happen to be waiting there to ‘save’ me?” An Yi retorted.

“Xi’er!” Luo scolded sharply, her face darkening. “If I hear you say such heartless things again, I’ll have to discipline you.”

An Yi had always known Luo wouldn’t believe that Aunt Liu and her daughter had set a trap. She didn’t blame Luo for being unable to discern friend from foe, but resented Aunt Liu and her daughter for harming her while pretending to be saviors. Gritting her teeth, she suppressed her anger, walked to Luo, and tugged at her sleeve, speaking softly, “Mother, please don’t be angry. I won’t say it again.”

“Xi’er, money is just a worldly possession. The most important thing in life is to have a conscience, to remember kindness and not hold grudges. If someone helps you, you must remember it for a thousand years,” Luo said earnestly.

An Yi sighed inwardly. Remember kindness but not grudges? She couldn’t do that. She believed in repaying both kindness and enmity.

That afternoon, when the siblings went to dig herbs, they found themselves followed by two extra shadows—Xinliu and her younger sister Congliu.

“Xi’er, are these weeds really medicinal herbs? Can you sell them in town?” Congliu doubted An Yi’s claim.

“Yes,” An Yi replied coolly.

“You’re not lying to us, are you?” Congliu still didn’t believe her.

An Jian, annoyed, said, “If you don’t believe us, don’t follow us to pick herbs. Why would my sister need to lie to you?”

Xinliu tugged Congliu, forcing a smile. “Shuanzi, don’t be upset. Of course, we believe Xi’er wouldn’t lie to us.”

An Jian gave a cold snort, ignored the sisters, and bent down to search for dandelions and strongroot.