The timing was just about right when two officers in black uniforms stepped out to keep order.
Behind them, someone opened the gate to the cattle pen, leading out one cow after another.
Each was displayed for a bit before being tagged with a wooden placard marked with a price. If you liked it, you could bargain and buy it on the spot.
Naturally, haggling was part of the process.
Clara didn't see any signs of slaughter, so she knew this wasn't what she came for. She gave Lester a swift kick in the calf just as he was craning his neck to take a better look at the cows.
"We're leaving. Heading to the slaughter yard," Clara said.
Lester winced from the kick, put on a face of disapproval at the cattle—as if they didn't meet his high standards—and then turned to follow Clara and the children.
Clara handed Chad and Deb to him. "It's crowded. Keep them close and wait for me by the side."
The slaughter yard was busiest in the morning—this was when pigs, cows, and sheep from all around the city were butchered in one go.
Beef was the rarest to find, since draft cattle were valuable and only slaughtered when sick or too old to work.
Clara considered herself lucky. There were two cows being butchered today.
Freshly slaughtered and sold on the spot—each vendor laid out their own goods for open trade.
Clara bought all the tendons from both cows, spending fifty copper coins.
With her most important errand done, she was in high spirits. Returning to the roadside where Lester and the four kids were waiting, she grabbed some charcoal and took the children for a walk around.
Deb, perched in her father's arms with a better view, was the first to spot a man selling candied hawthorn skewers. She tugged on Lester's sleeve and pointed eagerly. "Daddy, let's buy those!"
Lester thought she was asking him to buy and hesitated—until he glanced at Clara and saw her give a small nod. Then he flagged down the vendor, set Chad and Deb down, and pulled out the coins to buy each of the four kids a skewer.
While paying, he couldn't resist adding a comment to Clara: "Eight copper coins. You better pay me back later. This is our grocery money."
Clara gave him an impatient nod—she hated that stingy attitude of his.
The kids, on the other hand, were overjoyed. They hadn't expected their father to pay. Originally, they were planning to use the two coins they'd earned teaching him to cook, just to share one stick.
Now they each had their own. Happiness came too suddenly, and their smiles were dazzling.
"Mommy, you eat first," Deb said sweetly, standing on tiptoe and offering her skewer to Clara with shining eyes.
The bright red hawthorn berries glistened under a layer of hardened sugar syrup—visually irresistible.
Touched by her daughter's gesture, Clara didn't refuse.
She bit into the first berry—crackling sugar shell, tart and juicy inside. The flavor was pretty good.
"Is it yummy?" Deb asked, more excited to see Clara enjoy it than to eat it herself.
Clara nodded. "Very tasty," and motioned for her to try it too.
Deb's mouth was too small to bite through the candy. The sugar coating made her salivate, so she had to lick it for a while before managing a nibble of the berry.
It was a brand-new flavor—sweet and sour—and her eyes sparkled as she let out an amazed, "Wow!"
She was just too cute. Clara scooped her up for a hug.
Chad had been trailing behind her for a while, holding up his skewer, hoping she'd notice. Just as he was about to get disappointed, Clara suddenly turned and picked him up too.
His gloom turned into pure delight. He held out his treat like a treasure. "Here, Auntie!"
Clara took a bite of his as well.
Then, of course, Adam and Ben weren't about to be left out. They insisted Clara try theirs too.
She laughed. Who could say no to snacks? She accepted each one graciously.
After polishing off two more berries, Clara sighed with contentment. "Not bad at all. We'll buy these again next time."
"Again?" Lester looked down at his now-empty money pouch and nearly wept. "No more! We can't afford it!"
Clara scoffed at him.
The four kids all made faces at him in unison.
Lester clutched his chest in mock agony. He had paid, and yet hadn't even tasted a single bite. Was there no justice in the world?
"Here, Dad." Adam took pity on his father, worried that the bitterness would fester and cause his stepmother to get annoyed. He handed over the last two berries from his stick in a gesture of peace.
Lester, despite himself, was easy to appease. Just like Deb, he started licking the sugar coating with a grin.
"Adam, you're a good son. Dad didn't raise you for nothing," he said warmly, throwing an arm around his eldest's shoulder.
Adam chuckled, but added pointedly, "But Dad, you never raised us at all. Ever since I was born, you've never taken care of us. You were always off in the city, and every time you came back, you asked Mama for money. You never gave us even a single copper coin. It was Mama who raised us."
Clara, walking ahead, heard it and looked back in surprise.
Lester's smile froze. He and Adam locked eyes for a beat before the boy looked away, and both of them fell silent.
While buying charcoal, they unexpectedly ran into someone familiar.
"Billy Lin? What are you doing here?"
Lester startled like a spooked bird, his whole body going stiff.
Clara also gave Billy a curious once-over. He was holding the hand of a young girl, looking nothing like the fierce debt collector she remembered. The gentleness in his eyes toward the girl was surprising.
Billy greeted her with a friendly smile. "Madam Clara, out shopping for the New Year?"
Clara nodded and looked at the girl beside him.
The girl seemed about seven or eight, dressed neatly and clearly well cared for.
"Papa, who are they?" she asked curiously.
"Friends of Papa's," Billy replied.
"Oh," the girl said and didn't ask further.
They had already finished buying their charcoal. Billy hoisted the loaded basket onto his back and got ready to leave.
Clara stopped him and asked to speak privately. She wanted to know what Lester had borrowed the twenty taels of silver for.
That was no small sum.
Billy's answer surprised her.
It wasn't gambling. It wasn't for drinking or chasing women.
It was a scam.
Someone had tricked Lester by claiming to have connections at the county office. Since Lester could read and write, the man offered to recommend him for a government job.
Lester, desperate and foolish, believed him. He immediately borrowed the silver and handed it over to this so-called "brother." The man disappeared with the money.
And Lester wasn't the only victim—several other poor students from the academy had also been scammed.
But unlike Lester, they only borrowed five or ten taels. Their families had land and collateral, so it didn't hurt them as much.
Clara watched Billy and his daughter disappear down the street. Then she turned back and looked at Lester with a calm but cutting stare.
"Pies don't fall from the sky. Only traps do," she said slowly and clearly.
Lester knew in an instant—she had dug up his whole embarrassing past.
He felt like a fish laid bare on a chopping board, exposed, with not even a shred of privacy left.
Annoyed and humiliated, he hoisted the bundle of charcoal onto his shoulder and stormed off in silence.
The gloomy air around him was so heavy, the four kids, who had been laughing just moments ago, instantly quieted down.
"Come on," Clara said gently. "Let's go eat something tasty."
She meant the wonton stall near the city gate. She'd tried it last time, and it was absolutely delicious.
(End of Chapter)
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