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

"Mom! We're back!"

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing practically flew back to their stall, their faces flushed with barely suppressed excitement, their eyes shining brightly. Chen's mother was helping a customer tie up a newly bought bamboo basket with straw rope when she looked up and saw their expressions. She immediately understood the situation. After the customer left, she lowered her voice and asked, "All sold? Judging by the looks of it, the price... was good?"

The two sisters nodded vigorously, and Su Xiaoqing couldn't resist any longer. She leaned close to Chen's mother's ear and whispered quickly, "Mother, it sold for two and a half taels of silver!"

Mother Chen's hand trembled, almost dropping the copper coins she had collected. Two and a half taels?! She tried to remain calm, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up high, and the lines at the corners of her eyes were full of laughter: "Good! Very good!" She patted the backs of her two daughters-in-law's hands and didn't ask any more questions. They were still in the market, and it wasn't the time to talk about it in detail.

Looking at the sun, it was past noon, and the crowds in the market had thinned considerably; most stall owners were packing up to go home. Chen's mother made a quick decision, saying to Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe, who were organizing their remaining goods, "Dashan, Xiaohe, you two watch the stall and pack up what's left. I'm taking Xiaoyin and Xiaoqing out for a stroll, to pick up some bargains and buy some holiday treats. We'll be back in a bit."

"Yes, Mother, you go ahead," Chen Dashan replied calmly.

Mother Chen slung her large bamboo basket over her shoulder and led her two daughters-in-law toward the meat section, familiar with the area. At this hour, most of the good meat at the stalls was sold out. They turned to a familiar stall, where only a piece of pork belly weighing about a pound remained on the cutting board, with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, looking quite good. Next to it, in a wooden basin, were a few large, cleanly shaved bones.

"Boss lady, how much are the pork belly and pork bones?" Chen's mother asked.

The butcher was tidying up her knives when she saw a regular customer. She said readily, "Sister Chen, this is all we have left. Pork belly is fifteen coins a pound, and the bones are cheap, so take them all for three coins. Oh, right," she remembered something and pulled out a set of fairly clean pig offal from under the cutting board, "I have another set of offal here. If you want it, I'll give it to you cheaply, eight coins, with the bones included."

Although offal is troublesome to prepare, it makes a substantial meat dish when cooked properly. After a quick calculation, Chen's mother thought it was a good deal and nodded, "Alright, take it all. Pork belly, bones, and offal, that'll be... twenty-six coins, right?"

"That's right! Sister Chen is so quick with her calculations!" The woman laughed, deftly wrapping the meat and bones separately in dried lotus leaves, and tying the offal with straw rope. Chen's mother paid and carefully placed the "meat" into the bottom of her basket.

Next, the three of them bought five catties of glutinous rice and two catties of red dates, preparing to make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) at home. When they passed the cloth shop, Su Xiaoyin remembered that she was almost out of embroidery thread and cloth, so she said to Chen's mother, "Mother, we're out of embroidery thread and cloth, we need to get some more. The shopkeeper gave us a good price this time, so I'm thinking of buying more and embroidering more during the off-season."

Knowing that embroidery was now a stable and profitable source of income for the family, Chen's mother said without hesitation, "Buy what you need, don't be stingy."

The three entered the cloth shop, where the familiar shopkeeper was again present. Su Xiaoyin carefully selected several commonly used colored embroidery threads, and also chose two bolts of fine, well-colored cloth—one moon-white and one indigo—intending to embroider more intricate patterns. She also bought two new packs of embroidery needles, and the shopkeeper, as usual, generously gave her two large bundles of fabric scraps in various colors. The total came to 720 cash. Although the amount was considerable, considering the two and a half taels of silver she had just received, Chen's mother paid readily.

After finishing their shopping, the baskets on their backs became heavy. The three returned to their stall, where Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe had already packed up the remaining small wooden carvings, bamboo ware, and hair ties, and the cart was neatly tidied up.

"Mom, we still have some of our things at home," Chen Dashan said as he hitched up the cart. "Xiaohe and I made quite a few in our spare time recently, but we didn't bring them all today."

Su Xiaoqing also said, "I still have enough material for hair ties and sachets, so I can make some more."

Hearing this, Chen's mother felt even more confident. The Dragon Boat Festival market usually lasted for three days, with the first day being the busiest, and the following two days, while not as crowded, still seeing some business. She made a decision: "Alright! Then we'll come again tomorrow and the day after! Selling something is better than letting it sit idle."

The family pushed a cart, laden with their harvest and hope, on their way home. The setting sun cast long shadows across the country road.

Upon arriving home, Chen's parents prepared dinner together, with Su Xiaoyin and her sister helping out. Although tired, the atmosphere at the dinner table was exceptionally lively. Chen's mother cut half of the pound of pork belly and stir-fried it with wild vegetables into a large plate, glistening with oil and smelling incredibly fragrant. The other half was salted and hung up. The large bones were washed and put into a pot with a few slices of ginger, simmering slowly. The offal was repeatedly scrubbed with wood ash and salt and hung in a cool place, ready to be carefully processed the next day.

After enjoying this rare and delicious dinner filled with the aroma of meat, the family did not immediately disperse to rest. The oil lamp in the main room was turned up a little brighter, and Mother Chen once again took out her blue account book.

"Come on, let's settle the accounts." Mother Chen's tone was calm, but her eyes shone. "Xiaoyin, Xiaoqing, you two go first."

Su Xiaoyin calmed herself down and said, "Mother, the shopkeeper gave us a total of two and a half taels of silver for our embroidery today." As soon as this number came out, Chen's father, Chen Dashan, and Chen Xiaohe were all visibly stunned, and Chen Xiaohe even gasped.

Su Xiaoyin continued, "The cost of this batch of embroidery, including the fabric and thread, was about six hundred wen. So the net profit is one tael and nine mace of silver." She paused, a little embarrassed, "However... on the way back, we bought new embroidery thread and fabric, spending seven hundred and twenty wen. So we don't actually have that much cash on hand, but we still have the materials, so we can continue making embroidery."

Mother Chen nodded and wrote in the ledger: 2.5 taels of embroidery income, 600 cash cost, and a net profit of 1.9 taels (not deducting the cost of new materials, which are considered inventory).

Then, Chen Dashan said, "I made 380 coins today from selling small wooden items. I barely had any capital; it was all about the effort."

Chen Xiaohe announced the price: "I sold bamboo weaving for three hundred coins. It's all for the effort I put in."

Finally, Chen's mother said, "The hair ties and sachets sold for 365 coins. The cloth scraps were given away for free; there was no cost to them."

Father Chen silently did the mental calculations, then slowly said, "Three hundred and eighty plus three hundred equals six hundred and eighty; plus three hundred and sixty-five equals one thousand and forty-five cash... which is equivalent to one tael and forty-five cash. Adding the embroidery business, not even considering the cost of the materials, today's cash income alone is one tael and forty-five cash. And that doesn't even include the bulk of the profit from the embroidery business."

In one day, they made a net profit of more than one tael of silver! For an ordinary farming family, this was undoubtedly a huge sum of money. The main room was quiet for a moment, then filled with a tremendous, fulfilling joy. Everyone's face was beaming with smiles—the satisfaction of hard work yielding a rich reward, and pride in their own skills and business acumen.

"We'll go again tomorrow and the day after!" Mother Chen declared decisively. "We'll sell as much as we can!"

For the next two days, the Chen family set off before dawn again, heading to the county market. Just as Chen's mother had predicted, the number of people and their purchasing power were not as high as the first day, but their stall still attracted quite a few customers because of its unique goods and fair prices. They sold about 600 coins on the second day and about 500 coins on the third day.

After the three-day market ended and they returned to their old house, Chen's mother carefully compiled the accounts.

"On the first day, we earned 1045 cash; on the second day, 600 cash; and on the third day, 500 cash. In total, we earned 20145 cash over these three days." Mother Chen's voice carried a barely perceptible hint of excitement. "Plus, from the embroidery business, after deducting the cost of the new fabric, we netted 17.8 taels… This Dragon Boat Festival, our family earned nearly four taels of silver!"

Four taels of silver! A soft gasp rippled through the room. This was almost equivalent to more than half a year's net income for the whole family in previous years! Moreover, this money came "easily"—compared to the backbreaking labor of farming, it felt more like a reward earned through ingenuity and skill.

Mr. Chen puffed on his pipe, his face beaming with deep satisfaction through the smoke: "Good...that's wonderful. Our family has finally found the right path."

Chen Dashan said calmly, "Father, Mother, although this money is easy to earn, it's only because we caught the right season and accumulated wealth in the past. In the future, we need to be steady and pragmatic. We can't give up carpentry, bamboo weaving, and embroidery, and we need to keep an eye on mountain products. Only a steady stream can last."

"Dashan is right!" Chen's mother agreed. "Making money is a good thing, but we can't get carried away. We can't let any land go to waste, and we can't let any livestock go hungry. These skills are what we need to supplement our income during the off-season; they are the capital to make our lives better. Starting tomorrow, we'll go to the fields and feed the pigs. After this busy period, we'll think about what to sell at the next market."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Following the immense joy came a clearer plan and a more grounded mindset. The warm glow of the oil lamp enveloped the family, and the numbers in the account book seemed to shimmer with golden light. This Dragon Boat Festival, for the Chen family, brought not only money, but also confidence, direction, and the solid, bright dawn that this newly formed family had finally arrived at after weathering the storms together. Outside, summer insects began to chirp, and moonlight spilled into the quiet courtyard. The shadow of the jujube tree was reflected on the window paper, lush and verdant, as if silently sharing in the joy of this harvest.