Starting from Mountain Farming and Hunting

Liulin Village wasn’t far from Baisha Township. Driving there took just over ten minutes.

The temple fair was quite lively. From a distance, the sounds of gongs, drums, and opera performances could already be heard.

There weren’t many people on the main street. After passing through, it didn’t take long before they reached the area of the temple fair. In the surprised gazes of some passersby, Lin Heng parked the motorcycle, and the five of them walked inside to enjoy the festivities.

The scenery inside was pleasant. Many wintersweet trees had been planted, their clusters of yellow blossoms swaying in the cold wind, releasing a light and lingering fragrance.

There were all kinds of performances here: opera, acrobatics, and more, but Lin Heng had already seen these last time and found them rather dull. Still, his father- and mother-in-law enjoyed them, and Xiulan accompanied them as they wandered around.

Meanwhile, Lin Heng browsed some roadside stalls selling all sorts of odd and curious goods. Even just looking without buying was entertaining enough.

“They even have people playing with Chinese yo-yos here. That’s pretty rare,” Lin Heng remarked with interest, watching two performers not far away displaying their skills.

“Come on, let’s go light some incense,” Xiulan called to him after a while, waving from not far away.

Lin Heng nodded and walked over, hearing Xiulan explain that her parents wanted to burn incense and pray for peace. He didn’t mind—it didn’t cost much—so he followed them inside and burned a stick of incense.

Lin Heng bought a stick of incense for one yuan, and the whole family was invited to the back garden for tea and to admire the flowers. In the backyard, all kinds of wintersweet were in full bloom. It was quite a sight. The tea was good, too; sipping tea and enjoying the blossoms made for a pleasant afternoon.

Mother-in-law was delighted with the peace amulet she held in her hand, while father-in-law was pleased to have seen the temple’s back garden—enough to provide him with a new story to tell after returning to the village.

Xiao Xia, ever curious, peppered everyone with questions about this and that, her wonder at the world shining through.

Once the pot of tea was finished, everyone got up to leave, with the temple caretaker seeing them to the gate.

“This temple fair is really something. So lively—I can see why everyone says it’s fun here.” Leaving the temple, Chen Changxia said with a cheerful laugh.

“I feel like I’ve broadened my horizons, too. It’s my first time coming out for New Year’s,” Wang Zhi said with emotion. In the past, she’d never had the time to go out during the holiday.

“If you like it, let’s wander around a bit longer. There’s no rush,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

After another walk around, and once they’d toured the whole place, Chen Changxia finally said with a grin, “I’m satisfied. Let’s head back for lunch.”

“Is it already noon?” Wang Zhi asked.

“Yes, it’s already twelve thirty,” Xiulan answered.

“Let’s hurry home, then; you must all be starving,” Chen Changxia said quickly, surprised at how much time had passed without anyone noticing.

“I’m fine,” Lin Heng said with a smile. To be honest, he had gotten hungry long ago, but fortunately there was food sold at this place.

They returned to the parking spot, and Lin Heng drove everyone home.

Just as they arrived back at Liulin Village, they saw three people standing outside the door. Clearly, they had been waiting for a long time. From afar, it was easy to see them pacing back and forth, restless from the wait.

However, once Lin Heng’s motorcycle pulled up and stopped, the expressions of the three visibly softened.

Xiulan recognized her second elder sister and greeted her with a calm expression. “Second Sister, Second Brother-in-law, Happy New Year!”

“You bought this??” Chen Xiuhua’s eyes widened in disbelief. How was it that in just a few months, her younger brother-in-law had changed from horse carriage to such an impressive motorcycle?

“Yes, I just took Mom and Dad to the temple fair,” Xiulan replied with a nod.

Chen Changxia got out of the motorcycle and said with a smile, “Xiuhua, Chen Lin, sorry about that, we went out to have some fun. You haven’t been waiting too long, have you?”

“It’s all right, Dad, that’s perfectly normal,” said the man called Chen Lin, waving his hand with a smile.

“We’ve waited more than an hour,” Chen Xiuhua said, her tone tinged with irritation.

Chen Changxia opened the door to welcome everyone inside, while Wang Zhi took Chen Xiuhua’s hand and tried to soothe her, admitting they had indeed forgotten about the second daughter’s visit for New Year’s.

Chen Xiuhua’s husband, Chen Lin, came over to greet Lin Heng. “You must be Lin Heng, right? I’ve heard about you from Mom and Dad before. Nice to finally meet you.”

As he spoke, he offered Lin Heng a cigarette.

“Thanks, but I don’t smoke,” Lin Heng replied with a friendly wave of his hand.

“No problem,” said Chen Lin. He had wanted to have a smoke himself, but hearing Lin Heng didn’t smoke, he put the cigarette away.

After they entered the house, Chen Lin even took the initiative to sit next to Lin Heng and struck up a conversation. He figured Lin Heng must be wealthy and influential. With their family connection, getting to know him couldn’t be a bad thing—who knew, maybe there’d be an opportunity to make some money.

Lin Heng had nothing better to do and chatted along, finding Chen Lin rather amusing. He was good with words and had a sense of humor.

Not far away, Chen Xiuhua’s glare could have pierced through someone. She was furious that her husband had gone out of his way to befriend her brother-in-law. Just because of a motorcycle—what was so special about it anyway?

“Chen Lin, come here and help me,” she called, looking for an excuse.

Once outside, she couldn’t hold back anymore, scolding him bluntly. “What are you doing? Are you trying to go against me on purpose?”

Chen Lin sighed. “I just think we should make use of the resources we have. That motorcycle is brand new—at least six or seven thousand yuan. Even a secondhand one would cost three or four thousand. Anyone who can drive something like that must be pretty well-off. You and Chen Xiulan are sisters, so we have a natural advantage for collaboration, don’t you think?”

Chen Xiuhua was surprised—that motorcycle was so expensive? But then she immediately scowled and said, “I’ll never bow my head to Chen Xiulan. You can give up on that idea.”

“Besides, who knows if that motorcycle is even theirs—maybe it’s borrowed or rented.” With that, Chen Xiuhua turned and went back inside.

Chen Lin was left speechless for a long time. He lit a cigarette before heading back in. Once inside, he apologized to Lin Heng, then kept quiet.

Lin Heng could guess what had happened, but he really didn’t care. He’d never intended to interact much with Chen Xiuhua and her husband anyway. It was just that Chen Lin had taken the initiative to chat, and he’d found the guy pretty likable, so he went along with it for a bit.

As for Chen Xiuhua, he had no interest in paying her any attention. This woman could envy Xiulan for her looks and blame her for their parents’ favoritism—her heart was simply too small. Yet none of these things were really Xiulan’s fault.

People are all different, even with the same upbringing. There was nothing to be done about it.

“Lunch is ready.”

A call came from the kitchen, and Lin Heng quickly got up to help serve the dishes.

At the table, the atmosphere was fairly harmonious. Lin Heng didn’t drink since he had to drive. He sat with Xiao Xia in his lap, feeding her. She especially liked eating the persimmon cakes on the table.

By the time they finished eating, it was already two o’clock. Lin Heng and Xiulan had no desire to linger and bid their farewells.

Xiulan’s parents handed a red envelope to Xiao Xia and gave Lin Heng and Xiulan two large bags of dried fish, sending the three of them off with warm goodbyes.

“Whew!”

Once outside Liulin Village, Xiulan let out a long breath, feeling much lighter.

“Should we go into the city to hang out?” Lin Heng asked her.

“Sure. There’s nothing to do if we just go home anyway,” Xiulan replied with a nod.

“Great!”

With that, Lin Heng nodded and headed toward the city center. A bit after three o’clock, they arrived in town.

After getting into the city, Lin Heng first stopped at the motorcycle dealership where he’d bought his motorcycle. Seeing that the showroom was open, he went in and picked up his license plate.

After fixing the plate to the motorcycle, he went to a tailor shop, but unfortunately, it wasn’t open today.

He didn’t mind, though, and took Xiulan straight to the busiest place in the city: Baishui Temple. The temple stood beside Taibai City’s largest river, the Bai River. Around it were clustered a snack street, shopping street, antique street, and a street filled with folk customs.

Whenever festivals rolled around, these streets would buzz with activity.

Lin Heng first entered the antique street. He parked in a nearby lot and brought Xiulan and Xiao Xia to look around.

Inside, there were high-end shops selling jade and antiques, as well as one-man stalls with all kinds of curios on display.

Lin Heng didn’t have any kind of “golden eyes” for appraising treasures. He came mostly for the fun of it. If he spotted something he liked, he’d buy it; the question of authenticity wasn’t that important to him.

“This market is enormous,” Xiulan exclaimed, clearly amazed. It was so much larger than the one in Baisha Township.

“I’ll take you to the antique market in Ancheng sometime, or even the one in the capital. Those are truly huge,” Lin Heng said, laughing.

Thanks to the abundance of ancient tombs in the Qinling Mountains, there were countless antique markets here—almost everywhere, though the size varied.

Xiao Xia clung to Lin Heng as they walked, looking around but growing quiet in the crowd. There were just too many people; she hardly dared to speak, gripping Lin Heng’s coat tightly.

Not long after, Lin Heng stopped at a stall selling calligraphy and paintings. The vendor displayed all kinds of scrolls and artwork from earlier times.

“Which one do you like, boss?” the middle-aged stall owner asked with a smile.

“That bamboo painting’s not bad. How much is it?” Lin Heng inquired, pointing at an ink painting of bamboo.

“Boss, you’ve got a sharp eye. This painting is quite something—it’s from the famous Ming dynasty…” the seller began.

Before he could finish, Lin Heng cut him off. “Save the sales pitch. Just tell me the price.”

If he’d said it was done by a scholar or a recommended candidate from the Qing dynasty, Lin Heng might have believed it, but calling it Ming dynasty right off the bat—did he really think customers were idiots?

The stall owner agreed readily. “No problem. If you really want it, just fifty yuan for that painting. In the future it could go for thousands or even tens of thousands. This is a piece from the Ming dynasty, after all.”

Xiulan’s jaw dropped. “That expensive?”

Lin Heng smiled faintly, held up three fingers, and said, “Three yuan, plus that orchid painting next to it.”

“Wait, wait… Deal, deal!” The stall owner had been prepared to haggle more, but seeing Lin Heng about to leave, hurriedly agreed.

“Too late.”

Lin Heng shrugged, making it clear he was heading to the next stall.

“Don’t go, Elder Brother, I’ll throw in another piece for you.”

But it was already too late. Lin Heng didn’t even turn his head as he walked away.

“See what I mean now?” Lin Heng smiled at Xiulan.

Xiulan blinked. “They’re all fakes, aren’t they?”

“Not all of them, but real ones are maybe one in a hundred, sometimes even one in a thousand. Outsiders playing this game will lose everything before they know it.” Lin Heng laughed as he replied.

“Learnt something new.” Xiulan chuckled softly.

They hadn’t gone far before they came across another place where people were betting on stones. A good number of people—adults and children—had gathered to watch.

Lin Heng, carrying Xiao Xia, watched for a while just to learn. There was no way he would actually play—the risk in this was even higher than buying antiques.

After a bit, Lin Heng headed to another stall selling calligraphy and paintings. This one was bigger than the last and also had some things like bead bracelets.

After browsing, he bought three paintings—plum blossom, orchid, and bamboo—for three yuan, along with two bodhi-root bracelets.

Of course, these paintings were all fake, but he only wanted them to decorate his house anyway. As long as they looked good, it didn’t matter whether they were genuine—the important thing was that he liked how they looked.

Getting authentic pieces wasn’t really difficult. You just needed to go to an official state-owned antique shop, but those were all quite expensive—he couldn’t afford them.

Xiao Xia was so happy with her bracelets that she kept shaking them, joy lighting up her face.

As they neared the exit of the antique market, Lin Heng spotted an old man’s stall.

“Grandpa, how much for a box of these?”

Lin Heng asked curiously. The stall wasn’t selling anything else—only bamboo-backed mahjong tiles.

These were handmade, crafted from ox bone and bamboo. Even if they weren’t real antiques, they were still worth a fair bit.

“This set is from the Republic era, thirty yuan a box,” the old man replied.

Lin Heng bargained, “How about three yuan?”

The old man waved a hand in disapproval. “I already told you, they’re from the Republic. Lowest I’ll go is twenty-five.”

With that, Lin Heng said no more. He took Xiulan and Xiao Xia and headed over to the snack street. Though he did want those mahjong tiles, you’d have to be out of your mind to pay a price like that.

“Twenty’s fine too!”

Hearing Lin Heng walking off, the old man called out after him, but Lin Heng didn’t even turn around.

Strolling down the snack street, he bought sugar figurines and candied hawthorns for Xiao Xia. Lin Heng and Xiulan bought two jin of sugar-roasted chestnuts and ate them as they walked.

Afterwards, they wandered around near Baishui Temple. They didn’t go inside, but leaned on the railing and looked at the Bai River. The setting sun cast the sky in deep orange, splashing light across half of it, and the glow seemed to tint Xiulan’s hair with a hint of pink.

Finished shopping, the three of them made their way back to the parking lot.

Rumble, rumble!

With the thunderous roar of an engine, one after another, golden puffed rice sticks shot out from holes in the tractor’s barrel. A group of people—adults and children alike—waited on the side ready to buy.

These rice pops were made from corn and sugar using a tractor setup. Both adults and children loved them.

“Daddy, I want one too!”

Xiao Xia smelled the sweet aroma in the air and spoke up quietly.

“I’ll go get you some.”

Lin Heng nodded. They weren’t expensive and tasted great. He liked them as well.

After asking the price, it turned out to be one yuan per jin. Lin Heng bought a whole jin. It took three meter-long plastic bags filled to the brim just to reach that weight.

“Here.”

Lin Heng broke what he’d bought into three sections and handed one each to Xiao Xia and Xiulan.

“So tasty!” Xiao Xia took bite after bite, just like a little puppy who couldn’t get enough.

Having bought everything, they got in the vehicle. Once everyone was seated, Lin Heng started it up and headed toward Red Maple Mountain.

They drove a bit slower this time, since the temperature had dropped quickly once the sun set and it was much colder.

By the time the three returned home, it was already seven o’clock. Fortunately, the motorcycle had headlights, so they didn’t have to worry about not seeing the road at night.

“I thought you all weren’t coming back tonight!”

Father Lin saw the three of them return and greeted them with a smile.

“We just stayed in the city a bit long, so we’re back late.” Lin Heng smiled as he answered.

“Grandpa, the city’s so much fun, and there’s so, so much to eat!” Xiao Xia piped up in her soft, childish voice.

“So, did you bring me anything?” Father Lin bent down and looked at Xiao Xia.

“We did! The whole bike is full!” Xiao Xia pointed at the puffed rice sticks on the vehicle.

“You really are my good granddaughter.”

Hearing this, Father Lin laughed happily and lifted her up.

“Bring everything in and come eat. We’ve been waiting for you all,” Father Lin said, still holding Xiao Xia.

“Okay,” Lin Heng and Xiulan replied in unison.

Xiulan carried their things inside. Lin Heng drove the motorcycle into the courtyard, then headed toward the old house.

【End of Chapter】

#### Translator’s Notes

reform era: Refers to the period of ‘Reform and Opening Up’ (改革开放) initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, which marked a significant shift in China’s economic policies.

betting on stones: Refers to gambling on the quality of uncut jade or other precious stones, a high-risk activity where buyers speculate on the value of the raw material.

bodhi-root bracelets: Bracelets made from the roots of the Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa), which is sacred in Buddhism due to its association with the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Republic era: Refers to the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), which followed the fall of the Qing dynasty. Items from this era are often considered antiques.

sugar figurines: A traditional Chinese folk art where melted sugar is shaped into figures, animals, or other designs. Often sold as a treat at temple fairs and markets.

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