After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

When they returned to the old house, it was already dusk. An oil lamp was lit in the main room, and Chen's father was sitting under the lamp mending an old basket. Hearing the sound of the gate, he put down his work, got up, and poured a bowl of steaming hot water for each of the returning guests.

"You're back? You must be freezing! Have some hot water to warm up." Father Chen handed over the bowl, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the group and their bulging baskets, asking questions.

Chen Xiaohe took the bowl, gulped down a large mouthful, exhaled a puff of white breath, and his face was filled with undisguised excitement: "Dad! Sales were fantastic today! Almost all the bamboo baskets, wood carvings, and hair ties we brought were sold out! The stall was completely empty!"

Mother Chen put down her basket, rubbed her slightly sore shoulders, and smiled. She walked to the table, took out a small cloth bag from her bosom, and asked Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe to take out all the money they had earned from selling goods that day. She then turned and went into the inner room, where she took out a slightly worn but very clean blue ledger and a worn-out writing brush—this was something Father Chen had occasionally bought when he helped the village keep accounts in the past, and now it had become the Chen family's "household account book."

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Chen's mother sat down, turned to a new page in the account book, licked the nib of her pen, and her expression became serious. "Come, let's settle today's accounts." She looked at her youngest son, "Xiaohe, how much did you sell your bamboo weaving for?"

Chen Xiaohe quickly pushed the money over; it was all loose copper coins, which he had already counted: "Mother, here's fifty-five coins! I sold four small winnowing baskets, three covered bamboo boxes, two wicker baskets, and a few bamboo cups."

Chen's mother nodded and wrote down in her notebook: Xiaohe bamboo weaving, fifty-five coins.

"Big Mountain, what about yours?"

Chen Dashan pushed his share of the money over as well, arranging it more neatly than his brother's: "One hundred and five coins. I sold a few wooden combs, seven or eight hairpins, three pairs of wooden animal carvings, and the last two small wooden horses."

"Hair ties," Chen's mother said, looking at Su Xiaoyin, "I counted the hair ties you and Xiaoqing made. Today we sold a total of sixty-eight coins. Some were sold for three coins each, and some for five coins for two. The fabric scraps were a gift from the cloth shop manager last time. There was no cost, so these sixty-eight coins are pure profit." She carefully wrote it down in the ledger: Hair ties, sixty-eight coins (net profit).

Then, she added the three sums together, muttering to herself as she scribbled on the paper: "Fifty-five, plus one hundred and five, that's one hundred and sixty; plus sixty-eight, that's two hundred and twenty-eight coins. Hmm, a total of two hundred and twenty-eight coins here. Your bamboo and wood crafts and hair ties require a lot of effort and thought, but you hardly spent any capital. These two hundred and twenty-eight coins are truly hard-earned money." Her tone was full of approval.

Listening from the side, Mr. Chen's dark face showed a gratified smile, and he interjected, "I wasn't idle today either. I went for a walk in the back mountain and found two pieces of linden wood with good grain. I've already carried them back and put them in the yard. Dashan, remember to take them with you when you leave. You can keep them to make something in the spring, or you can split them into small items."

"Yes, thank you, Dad," Chen Dashan replied.

Then, Chen's mother turned her gaze to Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing: "Xiaoyin, Xiaoqing, how are your embroidery sales?"

Su Xiaoyin took out the money they had carefully put away and said softly, "Mother, the shopkeeper of the embroidery shop accepted four handkerchiefs and a pair of pillowcases from us, and gave us a total of one hundred and seventy-six coins."

"One hundred and seventy-six coins?" Chen Xiaohe exclaimed in astonishment. "That's more than my brother and I earned in half a day!"

Su Xiaoyin continued calculating, "However, last time we went to buy cloth and embroidery thread, it cost 100 coins. So, we made a profit of 76 coins. And we haven't finished using the cloth we bought last time; the leftover scraps are just enough to make hair accessories, and the better quality cloth should be enough to make two more pairs of pillowcases." She paused, her tone tinged with a hint of heartache, "But today... we went to the cloth shop again and bought some new embroidery thread and two better pieces of cloth, thinking of trying to embroider children's bibs and slightly larger patterns, as the shopkeeper suggested, and it cost... 150 coins."

Upon hearing the figure of 150 coins, even Chen's mother gasped slightly. This was almost half of her embroidery earnings for the day, which had been reinvested.

Su Xiaoqing added in a low voice, "So, we'll only know how much we've earned from our embroidery work after we sell the new pieces next time."

Mother Chen carefully recorded the following in the ledger: 176 cash for embroidery; 250 cash for embroidery material costs (twice); and a shortfall of 74 cash, to be settled after the next sale.

After finishing her notes, she closed the ledger, looked at her family, and concluded, "Today we bought New Year's goods: pig's head, offal, big bones, and a pound of hard candy, which cost a total of 130 coins. So, after a busy day, the cash income doesn't seem like much; the bulk of it went into fabric."

She changed the subject, her tone not one of dejection, but rather one of grounded optimism: "But we can't just look at one day. All this winter, from gathering mountain produce, making small bamboo and wooden items, embroidering hair ties—all those odds and ends add up, and I think we've basically earned enough to cover our winter necessities and the things we need for the New Year! That's good! We farmers aren't afraid of slow progress, we're afraid of standing still. With work to do and hope in our hearts, life has a future!"

Chen Xiaohe, the most optimistic of all, immediately chimed in, "Mother's right! This is much better than just hibernating! By the way, Mother, I'm almost out of bamboo; I need to go to the back mountain to cut some more. While we're at it, let's see if the winter bamboo shoots are sprouting yet. I heard that if they do, many restaurants in the county town will buy them, and fresh ones can sell for fifteen coins a pound! If they really are, let's dig them up as soon as possible; that'll be a good business!"

This reminded everyone that winter bamboo shoots are rarer and more delicious than spring bamboo shoots, and their price is indeed much higher.

After a moment's thought, Chen's mother made her decision: "Alright! Tomorrow, you two take Xiaoyin and Xiaoqing to the bamboo forest to check out the mountains and rivers. If the winter bamboo shoots have sprouted, we'll quickly dig up a batch. If not, we'll cut some bamboo and check for any stray mushrooms or wood ear fungus. Remember, safety first."

After arranging tomorrow's affairs, Madam Chen reopened the account book and picked up the pile of copper coins: "Now, according to our agreed rules, today's cash income—mainly the 228 coins from bamboo and wooden utensils and hair ties, plus the 76 coins earned from embroidery after deducting last time's costs—totals 304 coins. Forty percent will be handed over to the public treasury..."

She carefully calculated, counted out the corresponding copper coins, and placed them out separately. "The rest, you can keep them safe in your own households. The new investment in the embroidery work will be considered as coming from the public fund; we'll calculate the profit sharing next time it's sold."

The soft glow of the oil lamp enveloped the family, the clatter of the abacus (as they silently calculated) mingling with the gentle clinking of coins, yet it lacked any hint of petty calculation. Instead, it was filled with the warmth and strength of meticulously planning for the family's shared future. Tomorrow, new work and hope will continue to extend with their footsteps into the mountains, on this land where they have taken deep root.