Every day Butcher Wang slaughtered a pig. Half of the pig meat went to the restaurants in the area, and the other half was sold at his store. By the time the day ended, most of the other half of meat had been bought out. 

As usual, Xiaocao spent six copper coins to buy a pig head. For the tripe and intestines, she persisted on giving him four copper coins for them. As for the pig’s blood, Butcher Wang insisted on giving it to her for free.   

After lightly rubbing at the silver pieces in the purse that Brother Six had given her, she also bought two catties of pork belly and a large pork bone. Butcher Wang looked at her in surprise and said, “You’re buying a lot of meat today. Are you guys having guests over?”

Xiaocao didn’t bother explaining and only smiled, “Mhm, I need to take care of a visitor who has some status, so I need to get some stuff to make the table more presentable!” 

The bought ingredients were placed in the wheelbarrow that Yu Hai was pushing. She then led them into a shop in town that sold rice and other grains. As they entered the store, they could hear people making a racket. The sounds of the scolding voice of an adult and the wailing of child blended together into a cacophony.  

Xiaocao stood at the entrance, listening for a bit. Apparently, the child of the family that ran the store was naughty and accidentally spilled water on a bag of glutinous rice. Although the store’s manager did his best to save the rice, over ten catties of rice had been soaked by the...