Chapter 37: Signing the Covenant

Xie Wanniang was afraid of being swindled? As it happened, Mistress Qin was just as wary.

She knew her old friend well enough and had already spoken to her about similar matters, so she was not worried that the other party would vent her anger on her or Xie Wanniang. However, she did not know Xie Wanniang well enough. Regarding both the woman's craftsmanship and her character, Mistress Qin would have to verify them little by little through their future collaboration.

The two sat there, exchanging ideas back and forth for nearly half an hour before finalizing the specific terms of the contract. The agreement stipulated that Qin’s Fabric Shop would pay Xie Wanniang a deposit of twenty taels in advance and provide her with all necessary tools, fabrics, and specific patterns. In return, Xie Wanniang was to complete all the items detailed in the contract within six months and promised never to disclose the matter to anyone.

Xie Wanniang was meticulous. She not only required Mistress Qin to list the items she needed to make in the contract but also insisted on including the acceptance standards, procedures, and the process for paying the remaining balance. Although Mistress Qin’s wrist grew sore from writing, she felt these clauses were a safeguard for her own interests, and thus she did not find Xie Wanniang’s requests redundant at all.

Furthermore, they included a clause stating that if materials such as fabrics or embroidery threads were accidentally damaged while in Xie Wanniang’s possession, Qin’s Fabric Shop would sell the exact same materials to her at market price. This final point was suggested by Xie Wanniang herself; after all, there was always a possibility of unforeseen circumstances, and she had to consider every eventuality.

Once the contract was signed, Mistress Qin quickly gathered the first batch of fabrics, needles, threads, and embroidery frames she needed to provide. "Would you like me to send someone to take you back?"

Xie Wanniang shook her head. "Please keep these items for now. Since it’s not easy to come to town, I’d like to take the opportunity to buy some things." She had not yet paid for the fabric she had selected earlier; when she returned to collect these items, she would settle the payment for those three bolts of cloth as well.

After leaving Qin’s Fabric Shop, accompanied by Jiang Yuan, Xie Wanniang first went to buy pork belly, spare ribs, lard, eggs, brown sugar, a lamp, and lamp oil. Then, they went to the grain store to buy rice, white flour, red beans, dates, and other necessities. Passing by a pastry shop, she heard the clerk hawking freshly baked mooncakes and walked in, quite interested.

The mainstream mooncakes in Tang County at the time were the "tijiang" (syrup-crust) mooncakes and the "zailaihong" (naturally red) mooncakes. The crust of the zailaihong mooncake was made of shortcrust pastry, and the filling was exclusively a mixture of sugar and nuts; it earned its name from the red circular mark stamped on its surface.

The crust of the tijiang mooncake was made from syrup and flour, resulting in a softer texture. There were many choices for fillings, such as five-kernel, mixed-fruit, sesame, chestnut, red bean paste, date paste, and lotus seed paste. The pastry shop, which had been in town for many years, sold only these two types of mooncakes every August.

After explaining the varieties, fillings, and prices to Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan, the clerk pointed to the three types of packaging available in the shop: "We provide oil paper, cardboard boxes, and carved wooden cases. The oil paper is free, cardboard boxes are two coins each, and the carved wooden cases are five coins for small, eight for medium, and twelve for the largest."

Hearing this, Xie Wanniang immediately pointed to the oil paper and told the clerk, "I would like twelve tubes of mooncakes in total, all wrapped in oil paper." In Tang County, a "tube" of mooncakes referred to six mooncakes wrapped together in oil paper. Seeing that Xie Wanniang chose oil paper without hesitation, the clerk had assumed she would buy at most one or two tubes, but he was surprised to see her buy twelve all at once.

The clerk happily brought the oil paper over. "May I ask which types you would like?"

"Give me one tube of each of these two first." Xie Wanniang pointed to the red bean paste and date paste tijiang mooncakes. These were her personal favorites, so she bought them without hesitation. As for the others at home, after asking Jiang Yuan about his own preferences and those of Hao Yu and Wang Xiaozhi, Xie Wanniang bought two tubes of five-kernel, two of mixed-fruit, one of chestnut, and one of lotus seed paste.

She planned to give one tube each of the five-kernel and mixed-fruit mooncakes to Wang Xiaozhi. As for the remaining six tubes, she figured they weren't very expensive, so she would just keep them at home as snacks for everyone to enjoy slowly. Additionally, she needed to send holiday gifts to Magistrate Chen and Doctor Chen to maintain their relationship. She bought five-kernel and mixed-fruit for these two households as well, as they were the most popular flavors and the safest choices for gifting.

After buying the mooncakes, she bought two catties of "caozi" cakes and two catties of walnut crisps, asking the clerk to wrap them in one-catty portions with oil paper. A pack of caozi cakes, a pack of walnut crisps, and two tubes of freshly baked tijiang mooncakes made for a very respectable holiday gift in the village.

After paying, Xie Wanniang carefully placed the mooncakes and pastries at the very top of her basket before leaving the shop with Jiang Yuan. On the way back from the pastry shop to Qin’s Fabric Shop, Xie Wanniang also picked up a large block of tofu and twenty chive and pork buns.

Jiang Yuan had also bought something: two small jars of white liquor. He intended to give these as gifts as well—one to Magistrate Chen and the other to Wang Xiaozhi’s father-in-law, who had been a savior and good friend to his own adoptive father. A jar of liquor and a pheasant made for a very generous gift.

One carrying grain and pork on his back and shoulders, the other holding snacks and mooncakes in her hands, the two walked back to Qin’s Fabric Shop, which was about a hundred meters from the grain store. Seeing that they had bought so many things, Mistress Qin hurried to the backyard to call her husband, asking him to drive the cart to take Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan back to the village.

Mistress Qin’s husband was named Li Hong. He was the second son of her distant cousin. His family had lived in poverty, but every member was diligent, honest, and grateful. In earlier years, Mistress Qin’s parents had often helped them with rice, grain, and fabric when they were in need, and they had always done their best to repay the Qin family in return.

Delivering firewood, wild produce, vegetables, and new grain to the Qin family was standard practice. When the Qin family was targeted by thugs and vagrants because of their wealth, the entire Li family had risked their lives to fight off those who wanted to ransack the shop.

The two families were not close relatives, but they interacted very frequently. Later, when Mistress Qin’s parents wanted to find a son-in-law to marry into their family, they immediately thought of the three Li sons. Li Hong, the second son, was not as valued by his parents as the eldest, nor as pampered as the youngest, but he was favored by the Qin family for his hard work and honest, kind nature.

Since marrying Mistress Qin twenty years ago, he had silently stood behind her, day after day. Raising children, doing chores, caring for Mistress Qin’s ailing father, driving the cart, and moving goods—anything he could do, he did willingly. He never acted superior just because he was a man or because his wife was the owner of the shop, nor did he ever harbor designs on the Qin family’s assets.

Because of this, Mistress Qin lived a very contented life. The couple respected each other, and regardless of what outsiders said, they remained harmonious and in perfect sync.