BYBOTE Chapter 54: Regarding the Transfer of Technology

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Matchmaker Qiao stayed at the Luo family for three days before finally delivering a reply to Luo Yong, saying that the Luo family had agreed to the marriage proposal. Upon receiving the news, Luo Yong immediately sought help from Xi Yanqing, asking what he should bring to the Luo family.

When Xi Yanqing had married Luo Fei, they had skipped the earlier steps of the traditional marriage process— "proposal of marriage," "exchange of eight characters," and "betrothal approval." He had started directly from the "presentation of betrothal gifts." However, that did not mean he was unaware of what would make a good gift.

When it came to gift-giving, one could either follow tradition or cater to personal preferences. Xi Yanqing believed that the safest approach was to do both.

Thus, Luo Yong bought some nuts, three feet of shoe fabric, and a wooden comb before heading to the Luo family.

Since Luo Yong no longer had any elders, Xi Yanqing accompanied him. Originally, Jing Rong was supposed to go with them as well, but just as they were about to enter the Luo household, Luo Yong suddenly changed his mind and refused to let Jing Rong come along. Luo Yong felt that Jing Rong, with his fair skin and delicate features, might accidentally catch Luo Ru’s eye. Although it was unlikely that Luo Ru would even see him, what if she did?!

"You really have no confidence in yourself, do you?" Jing Rong said, speechless.

"Either wait here or go home and wait for me—be a good brother, will you?" Luo Yong insisted.

"Fine, fine! You stubborn fool, just go in already. I'll do whatever I want." Jing Rong glanced down at his own outfit. "Tch, I need to go back and change." He had dressed neatly for Luo Yong’s sake, but the clothes weren’t suitable for farm work.

"I doubt it’ll take long. If you don’t mind waiting, you can just stay here," Xi Yanqing suggested. "Though it is a bit cold." With the New Year approaching, this was the coldest time of the year.

"Don't worry about me, you two go ahead." Jing Rong rubbed his hands together. "If you take too long, I'll go check in with Han Yang." The second uncle of the Han family had already arranged for the delivery of hay, which Jing Rong had paid for. It was supposed to arrive within the next couple of days, so he figured he’d go see if it had arrived.

With that, Xi Yanqing and Luo Yong entered the Luo family’s house.

Luo Yong was visibly excited, to the point where Jing Rong could tell from behind that he was both eager and nervous.

Seeing his friend act like this, Jing Rong couldn’t help but smile. He then idly strolled around the entrance of the Luo house, leaving footprints in the snow.

It had snowed the previous night. The Luo family courtyard had been swept clean, with three piles of snow neatly stacked inside, but the area outside the gate remained untouched. Since few people had walked there, the snow was pristine and smooth. Under the sunlight, it glistened beautifully.

Jing Rong looked up at the sky, squinting slightly from the bright light. His lips curled into a faint smile—good weather always put him in a good mood.

In northern winters, as long as there was no wind, the cold wasn’t unbearable. Jing Rong stood in the sunlight for a while before continuing his little game, using his footprints to create a pattern in the snow. Before long, he had formed the shape of a string of candied hawthorns.

Just then, the creaking sound of a door opening came from behind him. He had been so focused on his "art" that he hadn’t noticed any approaching footsteps.

Jing Rong thought Xi Yanqing and Luo Yong had finished their conversation surprisingly quickly, but when he turned around, he saw an unfamiliar face.

The man’s features seemed somewhat familiar, so Jing Rong guessed he might be Luo Fei’s eldest brother.

Indeed, the man was Luo Ji. However, since he had never met Jing Rong before, he didn’t initiate a conversation. First, he figured that if this person were truly a friend of Xi Yanqing and Luo Yong, he wouldn’t be standing outside instead of going in. Second, although the man was loitering near their house, the area was still technically public space, so it wasn’t really his concern.

More importantly, the man didn’t say anything upon seeing him. Luo Ji wasn’t much of a talker, so if the other person didn’t speak, he saw no reason to start a conversation either.

As for Jing Rong, he had intended to say something, but when he noticed Luo Ji’s gaze land on his snow-drawn "candied hawthorns" and the faint smirk that followed, he suddenly felt a little embarrassed. On impulse, he turned and walked away—toward Han Yang’s house.

What made it even funnier was that someone ended up following him.

Luo Ji was also heading to Han Yang’s house. His home wasn’t very big, and with the marriage discussion taking place in the main room, he had stepped out to give them space.

Standing outside in the cold for too long wasn’t ideal, so he decided to head to Han Yang’s place instead. But as he walked, he realized that the person in front of him was heading in the same direction.

Luo Ji’s strides were larger than Jing Rong’s, so although Jing Rong had started ahead, he soon found himself behind.

Staring at the broad-shouldered figure in front of him, Jing Rong felt increasingly awkward. Finally, he gritted his teeth and called out, "Brother, wait a moment!"

Luo Ji stopped and turned around. "Is something the matter, little brother?"

Jing Rong cleared his throat. "Are you Brother Luo Ji, by any chance?"

Luo Ji nodded slowly. "And you are...?"

Jing Rong cupped his fists in greeting. "I’m Jing Rong. I moved to Huaping Village not long ago. Earlier, I was standing outside your house waiting for Brother Xi and Luo Yong."

Luo Ji smiled slightly. "So you’re Jing Rong. Xi and my younger brother often mention you."

Jing Rong grinned. "Thank you for your help before. I should have visited your home earlier to pay my respects, but I’ve been tied up caring for my flock of sheep. I truly feel embarrassed about it."

Luo Ji wasn’t the type to fuss over such things. Though he had indeed helped this young man repair his house once, it had been more for Xi Yanqing’s sake, and it wasn’t a big deal to begin with. So, he simply smiled and said, "No need to be so formal, Brother Jing Rong."

Seeing that Luo Ji was easy to talk to, Jing Rong took the opportunity to ask him about Luo Yong’s proposal and, upon learning that Luo Ji was also heading to Han Yang’s house, walked and chatted with him along the way.

Meanwhile, Xi Yanqing and Luo Yong finished their discussion and stepped out of the Luo house—only to catch a glimpse of two small figures in the distance. Had it not been for their sharp eyesight, they might not have recognized them.

"Well, he sure left in a hurry," Luo Yong remarked. Then he turned to Xi Yanqing and said, "Brother Xi, I won’t be going home for lunch today. I’ll eat at your place instead. While I’m there, I’ll ask Brother Qi for advice on what betrothal gifts to buy."

"Just admit you want to eat at my place. Why make up an excuse? Do you think I don’t know what gifts to buy?"

"Hey, as long as you know, why bother pointing it out?" Luo Yong lowered his voice and grumbled, "You have no idea how bad Jing Rong’s cooking is. Even I can’t eat it. I’m not picky, but his food is just... unbearable. Honestly, one of these days, you and Brother Qi should try it. It’s practically poisonous!"

"Is it really that bad? Now I’m curious." In the military, they had all eaten mass-prepared meals, and they had never cooked together after leaving. Xi Yanqing had never actually tried Jing Rong’s cooking, and Luo Yong’s words had piqued his interest.

Luo Yong gave him a look of disbelief, then followed Xi Yanqing to find Luo Fei.

When Luo Fei saw them return, he asked eagerly, "How did it go? Wait, never mind. Judging by Luo Yong’s expression, it’s obvious it went well, didn’t it?"

Luo Yong chuckled. "Thanks for the good luck, Brother Qi. Now I just need to prepare the betrothal gifts."

Originally, the matchmaker should have asked for the woman's name first and then gone to the ancestral temple for divination to see if they were suitable for marriage. However, since Luo Yong's elders were no longer around and this was not his hometown, the steps of "asking for the name" and "seeking auspiciousness" were omitted.

Now, Luo Yong only needed to prepare the betrothal gifts, send them over, and choose an auspicious day for the wedding.

The problem was that picking a wedding date was difficult. Luo Yong was currently living at Jingrong's place. Although he had two rooms, it wasn’t appropriate to hold the wedding there. If he waited until his own house was built, it would likely be summer. Half a year didn’t sound long, but when he thought about it as 180 days, Luo Yong felt deflated, like a frostbitten eggplant.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

The Luo family was adamant that Luo Ru could only get married in the summer, partly because Luo Yong didn’t have his own house yet, and partly because of the eldest son, Luo Ji. Although Luo Ji repeatedly claimed he had no plans to remarry for the time being, Luo Tian and Li Yuehua thought otherwise. They still felt that it was improper for the younger two brothers to be married while the eldest remained single—it wouldn’t sound good if people talked. They had been looking for a matchmaker recently, but hadn’t found a suitable candidate. Either the woman’s family thought being the eldest sister-in-law would be too burdensome, or Li Yuehua was dissatisfied with the woman's family.

Li Yuehua believed that although her eldest son had been married once before, that didn’t mean he should just settle for anyone.

But she was determined to find him a wife before her daughter got married—how could it be that easy?

“Mom, does it have to be a girl? Couldn’t it be a guy too?” Luo Fei asked Li Yuehua. He had been sent to the Luo family while Luo Yong and Xi Yanqing went to town to deliver ice cream and buy betrothal gifts. Hearing about Li Yuehua’s concerns, he asked, “Do you remember Han Xu’s cousin who came to his wedding?”

“I remember,” Li Yuehua said. “That kid from the Tian family, right? Your big brother has met him before.”

“Huh? When did that happen? How come I didn’t know?” Luo Fei was stunned. He had been thinking that if his brother didn’t have a strict preference for gender, maybe Han Xu could help set something up with Tian Wenyu—he had a pretty good impression of him.

“It was at Han Xu’s wedding. I even asked your aunt about it. But the Tian family wasn’t too optimistic about it. They probably knew your big brother was still hung up on your sister-in-law, so they were afraid their son wouldn’t be able to win a place in his heart.”

“That is tricky,” Luo Fei said. “But I don’t know anyone else.” And in this place, free love wasn’t really a thing, so when would his brother ever get married? Luo Fei picked up a basket of needlework and sat in the kitchen. “Sanbao, what are we eating later?” He had eaten breakfast at home before coming over, and since the Luo family had switched to two meals a day in winter, he hadn’t wanted to mess up their schedule. But now it was already the afternoon, and he was starting to get hungry.

“What do you want to eat, Second Brother?” Luo Ru had already put some buns in the steamer, but she hadn’t decided on a dish yet.

“I want something cold.” Luo Fei licked his lips. “Can you make cold shredded radish for me? The sour and sweet kind.”

“No way,” Luo Ru said. “Brother Xi told me before he left that you’re not allowed to eat cold food. He said you’ve been eating too much of it lately.”

“Tsk, he’s not here! If you don’t tell, I won’t tell, who would know?!” Luo Fei argued. “Besides, you’re my sister first and his sister-in-law second—shouldn’t you take my side?! Haven’t you heard the saying? If a pregnant woman craves something and doesn’t get to eat it, the baby will be born with red eyes! Do you want your nephew to look like a little rabbit with red eyes?”

“Second Brother, stop talking nonsense.” Luo Ru frowned. “That’s not a thing.”

“Of course, it is!” Luo Fei started off serious but then pretended to look sad. “Sanbao, would I lie to you about something this important? This concerns your nephew! Can you bear to see me worrying over this?”

“Well…” Luo Ru hesitated for a moment. “Alright, but you can’t tell Brother Xi!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’d never tell him.” Luo Fei grinned. “I want a big plate of it—make it more sour than sweet.”

“Okay.” Luo Ru went to the cellar to get a radish and made a plate of sweet-and-sour shredded radish for Luo Fei. For the rest of the family, she made cabbage and potato stew. Life in the countryside was like this—once winter set in, meals rotated through the same few dishes. But as long as they were full, that was good enough.

Luo Fei ate four big buns with his shredded radish, stuffing himself until his stomach was round. Then he sat on the heated brick bed, waiting for Xi Yanqing to come pick him up. He could go back by himself, but Xi Yanqing would definitely worry if he did, so he decided to wait.

Luo Ru looked at his belly and asked, “Second Brother, do you think it’ll be a boy or a girl?”

“I don’t know.”

He didn’t have X-ray vision…

Li Yuehua answered without hesitation, “Definitely a boy. When I was pregnant with your big brother, I always felt hot and craved cold food.”

“What about people like Han Xu, who always feel cold?” Luo Fei asked.

“Either a girl or a boy,” Li Yuehua said. “But no one can really tell until the baby is born.”

“That’s true.” Luo Fei yawned, leaning against the wall, almost falling asleep.

Eating and getting sleepy—it seemed like this cycle would continue forever.

When Xi Yanqing returned to the village, he didn’t go to the Luo house right away. Instead, he helped Luo Yong bring the betrothal gifts back to his place before taking the ox cart to the Luo house. Luo Ji came out to help unload the cart and feed the ox while Xi Yanqing took some town-bought snacks inside for Luo Fei.

Luo Fei, enveloped in a familiar scent, opened his eyes. “You’re back?”

“Mm,” Xi Yanqing replied. “I bought you some sour berries and rice cakes. Want some?”

Luo Fei was about to say yes when—hic!—he accidentally burped, sending a wave of radish smell straight into Xi Yanqing’s face…

Xi Yanqing’s expression was complicated. “You ate radish at lunch?”

Feeling guilty, Luo Fei averted his gaze. “Mm. Where’s the rice cake, Qing-ge? Where is it?”

Damn it, he had even taken a nap—why was he still burping?! Fortunately, no matter how sharp Xi Yanqing was, he couldn’t tell whether it was raw or cooked radish just from the smell!

Luo Fei’s eyes darted around as he felt smug. He grabbed a rice cake from Xi Yanqing and started eating without thinking.

Just then, Luo Ji walked in. Xi Yanqing casually asked, “Big Brother, did you guys have radish for lunch today?”

Luo Ji, ever the honest man, said, “Nope, only Erbao did. He drowned it in vinegar—so sour that only he could eat it.”

Blocked by Xi Yanqing and unable to signal to his brother in time, Luo Fei: “…”

Big Brother! We share the same roots! Why are you turning against me?!

Don’t you realize that by mentioning the vinegar, you just confirmed that I ate it raw? And if he knows I ate it raw, he’ll definitely know I ate something cold!

Luo Fei was speechless. Seeing this, Luo Ru quietly retreated to her room.

Xi Yanqing glanced at Luo Fei. “Seems like you enjoyed it. Let’s go before it gets dark.”

Luo Fei mumbled an “mm” and dragged his feet outside. As they left, he clung to Xi Yanqing’s arm, trying to be cute. “Qing-ge, was everything okay in town today?”

Xi Yanqing said, “There was a small issue. Someone saw how well our ice cream was selling and started copying us, even selling it cheaper.”

Xi Yanqing had only found out about this earlier when he was delivering goods, after a restaurant owner mentioned it. It was surprising how quickly someone had jumped in to compete for market share. The funny thing was, this town wasn’t even that big—on a good day, they sold around a hundred ice creams, mostly because people found it novel and bought several at once. Sales had already started slowing down in the past couple of days, yet now someone else was trying to squeeze into the market.

“Do they make it taste good?” Luo Fei asked.

“I asked Luo Yong to buy two for us to try. The taste is similar to ours. But so far, they are only selling popsicles and pure milk. Adding eggs is probably just a matter of time.”

“So what should we do? Should we keep selling?”

“Of course. Sales in the county are much higher than here. As long as we maintain our quality and stay ahead of others, we’ll be fine. But today, Brother Shi asked me something.”

“What was it?”

“He asked if I had any thoughts about moving to town in the future. Our shipment quantities are increasing, and although traveling back and forth isn’t a big deal—especially since there’s not much farm work in winter—if the numbers keep growing, it will become overwhelming. Right now, it’s still manageable, but what about when the weather warms up? Ice cream will surely sell better then, and just the two of us won’t be able to handle it. Most importantly, if we want to expand production, we’ll need more space. We don’t have enough room here. Are we supposed to build a factory? That would cost a lot of money, and who knows if we’d even have enough. Plus, it would delay building our new house, and the risks would increase.”

“What do you think Brother Shi meant?”

“I think he wants to expand production to meet future demand,” Xi Yanqing said. “Wife, do you want to move to town?”

“No.” Luo Fei answered firmly. “I like eating the vegetables I grow myself, and I like the countryside atmosphere. Maybe my thoughts will change in a few years, but for now, I have no desire to move to town. What’s so great about town? Just more shops and convenience for shopping, that’s all. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s any better than the countryside. Plus, we have family and friends here. If we move to town, we barely know anyone there.”

“I feel the same way. So, I have an idea.” Xi Yanqing locked the door and sat Luo Fei down in a chair. “I’m thinking we should just share our ice cream-making techniques with Brother Shi. In the future, we’ll provide the technology and act as technical shareholders, while they handle the production. When spring comes, we won’t be able to manage both farming and ice cream production unless we stop farming or lease out all our land.”

“Do you really like farming?”

“I like watching the seeds I plant grow and bear fruit.” Xi Yanqing playfully poked Luo Fei’s belly. “This little fruit here is my proudest work.”

“You always go off-topic!” Luo Fei swatted Xi Yanqing’s hand away. “Would Brother Shi even agree? After all, our ice cream-making method isn’t that complicated.”

“I think he would like it. Honestly, their foundation is much stronger than ours. The way we’re doing things now—small-scale and slow—actually limits overall growth. But since we were the first to come up with the idea of making ice cream, Brother Shi and Brother Li probably don’t feel comfortable bringing it up themselves. However, Brother Shi did mention the saltpeter ice-making process. He’s already started looking for a site to build an ice cellar. That’s a huge investment, and we can’t afford to put money into it right now, so I didn’t say anything. Brother Shi suggested giving us ten percent of the profits as a ‘technical fee,’ meaning we’d be technical shareholders.”

“Ten percent is actually a good amount.” Compared to the cost of building and managing an ice cellar, all they had contributed was an idea. And fortunately, that idea was valuable. As for the possibility of being tricked, Luo Fei didn’t think they had anything worth cheating them out of.

“So, if you have no objections, I’d like to discuss this with Brother Shi.” Xi Yanqing said. “Think it over.”

“No need to think. Let’s go with your plan,” Luo Fei said. “Didn’t we agree that you handle external matters while I take care of things at home? As long as you don’t let me and our little tiger go hungry, I won’t interfere.”

“How do you know it’s a little tiger? What if it’s a little donkey?”

“My mother told me. When she was pregnant with my eldest brother, she always felt hot and craved cold foods.”

“I really want to meet him soon.” Xi Yanqing gently stroked Luo Fei’s belly and couldn’t resist kissing it.

Luo Fei looked down at Xi Yanqing, his eyes sparkling.

Three months in… It should be fine now, right?

Xi Yanqing heated the water and prepared a large tub of bathwater for Luo Fei. He carried Luo Fei in his arms, carefully placed him in the tub, and then joined him…

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, it's a big help, thank you🌰🌰🌰