Shen Xuan had a dream. In it, he was back to the day Lin Ye was first discovered by Wang Xiaolian.
The village chief said that since they were to be married, they must have a formal wedding night.
So, under the gaze of a group of villagers, the two were led into a room adorned with festive red characters and lit red candles.
"Lin Ye." Shen Xuan and Xue Fenglin sat opposite each other on the bed, dressed only in their undergarments.
Seeing the other looking at him intently, Shen Xuan's face flushed slightly as he said,
"Actually, we only need to act for them, we don't have to really..."
Before he could finish, Xue Fenglin's handsome face suddenly magnified before his eyes, and then his lips landed on Shen Xuan's.
Shen Xuan shivered, trembled, and couldn't help but let out a soft sigh. As his lips parted, he was deeply penetrated, and then his entire neck, body, and legs felt as comfortable as falling into soft feathers, until his last consciousness faded into a blank whiteness...
"Hiss—" Shen Xuan froze, his eyes snapping open as he looked down sharply between his legs.
He wasn't sure when he had gotten into bed last night; his underclothes were pulled open.
His chest and hem were wide open, and there was a fresh stain on the fabric between his legs.
Shen Xuan covered his face in exasperation, thinking, 'How dare I have such an improper thoughts about Lin Ye!'
Although it was only a dream, the thought of facing the other person later made Shen Xuan feel particularly guilty...
He quickly got up, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and took the dirty ones to the well to wash.
After hanging the clothes out to dry, Shen Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. He had drunk too much last night; he seemed to have blacked out during dinner and didn't know what happened afterward!
Shen Xuan went to the kitchen and saw that the things on the table from last night had been cleared away, even the bowls offered to the ancestors.
Only the chrysanthemums on the cabinet remained in their cups, looking no different from usual.
'I didn't do anything inappropriate after blacking out last night, did I?'
Shen Xuan was a bit bewildered. He shook his head, pushing away that embarrassing dream, and scooped rice to make porridge for breakfast.
A little while later, when the porridge was almost ready, Shen Xuan sliced some pickled vegetables.
Then he went to Xue Fenglin's room, knocked on the door, and called him to get up for breakfast.
Xue Fenglin came out, also having changed into a fresh set of clothes, both inner and outer.
Seeing Shen Xuan, he seemed no different than usual. He greeted him good morning and sat down to eat.
Shen Xuan felt relieved seeing his normal expression. 'Good, good,' he thought, 'it seems I didn't make a fool of myself last night.'
After they finished breakfast together, Shen Xuan was about to clear the dishes.
Xue Fenglin, however, reached from behind him, held him in place, then bent down close to Shen Xuan's back and picked up the dishes from the table.
Shen Xuan's back stiffened, feeling Xue Fenglin's movement was too intimate, as if he was about to embrace him!
Although he and Xue Fenglin had been living together for some time, they had always maintained a respectful distance, a subtle boundary.
This time, he didn't know what was going on, but the sense of distance with Xue Fenglin seemed to have disappeared, and he felt much closer...
Shen Xuan's face flushed, and his heart pounded a few times. But before he could react, Xue Fenglin had already quickly cleared the dishes and left.
In just a few seconds, it was hard to make any judgment.
'is it because i have that kind of dream, so I'm overthinking it?'
Shen Xuan deliberated for a long time, finally feeling a bit guilty. He secretly glanced at Xue Fenglin from the corner of his eye, seeing him washing dishes expressionlessly, his back held perfectly straight.
Seeing the other's serious demeanor, Shen Xuan felt sure he was just imagining things.
***
Shen Xuan returned to his room. He didn't need to write memorial texts today, so he was unusually idle.
He stopped indulging in unnecessary thoughts and began to ponder what he should do after today.
Shen Xuan was an unmarried Ger. He couldn't participate in the imperial examinations, and finding a job was also difficult.
He could only rely on himself to start a small business, which would be easier for him to achieve.
In fact, Shen Xuan had observed Jinli Street a few days ago when he was buying memorial texts. He noticed that because Jinli Street was near the academy, the literary gatherings there were particularly lively.
Pen, ink, stationery, novels, and storybooks also sold very well. Besides these, businesses selling snacks and tea drinks were also doing quite well.
Because Jinli Street had many wealthy patrons, the snacks here were more expensive and refined than elsewhere.
For example, fragrant melon seeds. Unlike the plain roasted melon seeds at the South City Dock, the fragrant melon seeds on Jinli Street were roasted with tea leaves.
There were various flavors like Biluochun fragrant melon seeds, Longjing fragrant melon seeds, almond fragrant melon seeds, and so on, and their prices were two or three times higher than those in the South City.
Roasted melon seeds at the South City Dock cost only twenty wen per jin, while Biluochun fragrant melon seeds on Jinli Street cost sixty wen per jin.
Despite this, Shen Xuan saw many customers from the literary gatherings send their servants daily to buy fragrant melon seeds, often buying five jin at a time.
After all, the tea seat fee at the Guiyun Tower literary gathering alone was one taels of silver per person, and they still came daily.
For these scholars and literati, a mere three hundred wen for fragrant melon seeds was nothing.
Shen Xuan thought of many popular street foods from the modern world, like fried chicken tenders, skewers, grilled tofu, oden, and so on...
In fact, as long as they weren't yet common in the Great Jin Dynasty, any one of them would taste good, and if sold on Jinli Street, they would surely be very attractive.
However, after a closer examination, Shen Xuan found that these items would face significant problems when setting up a stall.
After much thought, he couldn't sell even one of them, which made him feel a little helpless.
For example, there were no refrigerators now, so in such hot weather, how to keep ingredients fresh was a big problem!
Also, some snacks required high heat, which could be done on a stove, but would be inconvenient for a street stall.
The Great Jin Dynasty didn't have gas stoves, he couldn't chop firewood and cook at the same time while running a stall, could he?
After much deliberation, Shen Xuan finally decided on the most convenient and safest venture: opening a tea stall.
This venture wouldn't require much effort; one person could easily make and sell, and there was no fear of the tea spoiling in the heat and making people sick. He would only need to rent well water from nearby shops.
A tea stall sounded simple, but to make money, it needed its own unique selling point. On Jinli Street, every large restaurant sold tea.
Even roadside wonton stalls offered a bowl of plain water for two wen. Besides this, Shen Xuan had a strong competitor on Jinli Street.
Next to the steamed bun shop, there was a tea stall selling sour plum soup that did exceptionally well.
In the few days Shen Xuan was writing memorial texts, this stall could sell a dozen bowls of sour plum soup in the time it took for an incense stick to burn.
Often, guests from the literary gatherings would crave that sweet and sour taste and specifically send their servants to fetch teapots from inside to get sour plum soup.
The tea Shen Xuan wanted to make this time was citrus lemon tea. However, without modern tools, this lemon tea couldn't be made the same way as in modern times.
Shen Xuan planned to first make the tea paste at home, then seal it in jars and take it to the stall for brewing.
This way, while the taste might not be as fresh as modern hand-shaken lemon tea, there would be no fear of the tea spoiling, and the recipe could be protected to the maximum extent, preventing others from stealing it.
After deciding, Shen Xuan began to prepare the things needed for setting up a stall. First, the stall itself.
Along Jinli Street, one could set up stalls freely on both sides, but the officials from the Lezhou Prefect's Yamen occasionally came to cause trouble, so he just needed to manage them.
Currently, there were three types of stalls on the street: one had a fixed canopy, with a stove, tables, chairs, and benches, occupying a larger area.
These stalls mostly sold wontons, noodles, etc., rented well water and firewood from surrounding shops, and stayed in fixed locations every day.
Besides these, there was also a simple mobile stall that could be set up with just a bamboo table and a few bamboo poles.
These stalls sold things like silk flowers and handkerchiefs, and also various small snacks.
People setting up these stalls in the morning would carry their goods and set up on the street; their locations were usually not fixed.
The joss paper stall Shen Xuan had partnered with earlier was this type.
The last type was peddlers who directly carried baskets or backpacks, walking through the streets and alleys.
They mostly sold small items like candied hawthorn and tea eggs. Some were local residents setting up stalls to supplement their household income, while others were servants from wealthy families secretly earning private money.
Because the items they sold were simple, they didn't need to set up a special stall, usually selling for a day or two and then not coming back; their business was not very stable.
However, this time on Jinli Street, Shen Xuan did not plan to use any of these three types of stalls. Because he lived far away, commuting daily between Yunshui Village and Jinli Street was inconvenient.
To make setting up a stall easier, Shen Xuan decided to commission a custom stall cart. Since he had already bought a mule, having the mule pull the stall cart back and forth every day would be convenient.
***
After deciding, Shen Xuan left his house and headed towards Carpenter Yang's home in the village.
Carpenter Yang's house was in the east end of the village, a bit far from where he lived.
As he walked across the fields, Shen Xuan heard villagers still discussing the Zhong family's affairs.
"I heard Brother Zhong still hasn't been found. Eight out of ten, he won't be found."
"If he was kidnapped, that would be better. I'm afraid he ran into the deep mountains and was taken by some wild beast."
"Sigh, the marriage arrangement had already been agreed upon, saying she would marry in the latter half of the year. Now it's good. The family can't use the person, and they can't bear to lose the bride price from that marriage, so they said they'll marry off their daughter instead."
"Isn't Little Sister Zhong only fourteen? She's going to marry that thirty-two-year-old widower?"
"Isn't that right? The Zhong family needs the bride price money to marry off their youngest son. Besides that old widower in the village, who else can afford a five-taels silver bride price?"
Shen Xuan clicked his tongue in sympathy, feeling sorry for Brother Zhong and Little Sister Zhong for having such parents.
Wang Xiaolian's character was so bad, yet Nanny Wang still loved him, even giving him three mu of land as dowry.
But Brother Zhong and Little Sister Zhong's parents were completely like demanding ghosts, who wouldn't stop until they had squeezed everything out of them.
Shen Xuan soon arrived at Carpenter Yang's house and described his needs to him. Carpenter Yang had only ever made things for villagers in Yunshui Village his whole life, and he only knew a few basic tricks.
After listening to Shen Xuan for a long time, he still didn't understand what was going on and quickly became impatient.
"What's a stall cart? Never heard of it,"
Carpenter Yang said somewhat arrogantly.
"You're just a Ger, why are you being so fanciful? Thinking of going out to do business? Is business that easy to do?"
"If you still don't understand, bring me a charcoal stick, and I'll draw you a diagram,"
Shen Xuan patiently told him. Carpenters knew how to draw with charcoal sticks, and Carpenter Yang's home had these tools.
"Draw what diagram? I'm a carpenter, don't I know more than you, a Ger?"
Carpenter Yang became angry upon hearing Shen Xuan imply he didn't understand and directly threw Shen Xuan out.
"This stall cart is just something you're talking nonsense about; it can't be made at all. You, you should just stay home honestly and bear children for your husband, don't think about anything unrealistic,"
Carpenter Yang said to Shen Xuan in front of a group of villagers.
"What? Shen Xuan is going to set up a stall?"
"He's a Ger, and he's going to set up a stall? Is that true?" In no time, the news spread like wildfire, and the entire Yunshui Village knew that Shen Xuan was going to set up a stall.