「In the blink of an eye, it was the Little New Year.」

On the day of the Little New Year, a bitter wind howled under a gloomy sky. It was so cold that dripping water turned to ice.

Just a single trip across the courtyard was enough to make one’s nose run from the biting chill.

Experienced old farmers could tell at a glance that snow was coming. And it wouldn’t be a light dusting—when it came, it was bound to be a heavy snowstorm.

Mrs. Zhao was making offerings to the Stove God; today was the day to send the Lord Stove off to Heaven.

After kowtowing, she said to Chen Wanqing, "A good snowfall would be welcome. We’ve only had one snow this winter, and the soil in the fields has dried into hard clumps. A proper snow would moisten the earth and kill off the pests in the fields, ensuring a good harvest next year."

She added, "We just had the roof tiles redone when you and Jing got married, so at least our family doesn’t have to worry about the roof collapsing under the snow."

But many families in the village still lived in thatched-roof cottages. Such houses were fine for normal days, but a heavy snow was terrifying. The entire family wouldn’t dare to sleep, fearing that if they fell into a deep slumber, the roof would collapse and crush them all underneath.

It was like this in the Zhao Village, and it was the same in all the other villages. Even the county town couldn’t completely avoid such situations.

Chen Song had been so busy these past two days he was hardly ever home. He was leading the county government’s constables, going from village to village, beating a gong to remind everyone to repair their houses before the snow began to fall.

Just as they were speaking, the snow began to fall.

At first, it was just a few tiny flurries. But in the short time it took for Xiang’er to run out of the house, the flurries had turned into large snowflakes.

They tumbled down from the sky, and the ground quickly turned white.

Seeing this, Chen Wanqing grew a little worried about Zhao Jing, who was studying in the south room.

Zhao Jing had risen long before dawn. After a round of fist practice, he went into his room to study. He had only come out for breakfast and hadn’t moved from his seat in the south room since.

Sitting still for so long makes a person cold easily, especially on a day as freezing as this. ’I hope he doesn’t freeze.’

Chen Wanqing said, "Mother, I’ll prepare a brazier and take it to Jing."

"Alright. I’ll go heat the charcoal. You should rest."

"You rest, Mother. I’m not busy anyway, I’ll do it." Chen Wanqing got the brazier ready, but just as she was about to take it in, Zhao Jing happened to walk out of the south room.

"My shoulders and back are a little sore, so I got up to stretch."

"Perfect. You can take the brazier in yourself, then. Saves me a trip."

Zhao Jing chuckled at her words. "Thank you, Wanqing. Have you finished putting everything away?"

"I have. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the time to get a brazier for you."

She had been too busy the past few days to organize the dowry she had brought before the wedding. Although there wasn’t much to it, she had also brought back quite a few things from her family home on the day of her bridal return visit. It all needed to be put in its proper place, and one task led to another until now.

"Don’t you need to make incense, Wanqing?"

"Of course I do. The demand for Moonlight Fragrance is especially high after the New Year. I’m very busy."

It’s just that she had outsourced the work of slicing, grinding, and sifting to Second Aunt’s family. With their help, Chen Wanqing had a lot more free time.

Now, all she needed to do was wait for the processed materials to be delivered, mix them according to her fixed formula, and then, depending on the demand, form them into incense pills or incense sticks.

Fortunately, neither mixing the incense powder nor making the pills and sticks made much noise or took too long. Otherwise, she would have felt too awkward to work in the room next to Jing, afraid the noise would be too loud and disturb him.

After hearing Chen Wanqing’s words, Zhao Jing said, "Since you have to make incense, Wanqing, why not go over now? This brazier is burning brightly, enough to heat both rooms. It’ll save you the trouble of preparing another one later."

Chen Wanqing thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright."

Xiang’er looked like she wanted to say something, but Mrs. Zhao quickly pulled her back.

Watching the figures of her brother and sister-in-law disappear side-by-side into the south room, Xiang’er asked her mother in confusion, "Mother, why did you just pull me back? Sister-in-law told me before that there’s a lot of work before the New Year, and if I had time, I should help her make incense sticks with the squeezing device."

The squeezing device, also called an "extruder," was filled with the mixed incense paste. When you squeezed it, long strips would come out, which were the incense sticks. It seemed like a lot of fun.

She had wanted to try her hand at it for a while, but back then, Qing’er and her elder brother weren’t even engaged. Of course, she couldn’t have rashly brought it up, or it would have looked like she was trying to steal Qing’er’s incense formula.

But she wasn’t worried about that now, because her sister-in-law was planning to teach her how to make incense anyway. She wasn’t sure how much of a talent she had for it, or if she could even learn. But just thinking about squeezing out the incense sticks sounded fun. It was something she liked, so she was sure she could do it.

Mrs. Zhao couldn’t bring herself to tell her daughter that a craft like incense making was a skill usually passed down through generations. In some families with strict rules, even the daughters of the household weren’t allowed to learn it; the secrets were passed only from father to son.