My Only Share of the Family Split Was a Broken Pot, So I Set Up a Stall to Support Us All

[Food Business + Everyday Life + Building a Fortune] After her grandfather dies, eighteen-year-old Lu Suihe is kicked out of the Lu family eatery by her second uncle. Her inheritance consists of a leaky pot, half a worn-out cookbook, and a ramshackle house she can stay in for only seven days. If she can’t come up with three taels of silver within seven days, she’ll have to pack up and leave with her grandmother and younger sister. Everyone in the clan says three women can’t keep a roof over their heads or support themselves. Lu Suihe doesn’t argue. She simply sets up her broken pot by the ferry crossing. She makes soup from bean pulp and fish bones, and sells out on the very first day. The sisters count and recount the money in their bowl, convinced they’ve finally got their little business off the ground. * A down-at-heel accountant in an old blue robe sits down at their stall. He says, “Three copper coins a bowl? You’ll lose at least half a coin on every one.” His name is Zhou Heng. The son of a granary clerk, he fell on hard times three years ago when his father was convicted of embezzlement in an old case involving spoiled grain. Since then, he has survived by taking odd jobs. He has been poring over accounts since childhood and is a shrewd calculator, but, unfortunately, he has lost his sense of taste. Lu Suihe asks, “Since you’re good with numbers, would you be willing to stay and help us check the books?” * From then on, a bowl of soup is what keeps Zhou Heng by Lu Suihe’s side. One tends the stove and cooks; the other keeps the books and draws up contracts. But their good fortune doesn’t last. The grain delivered to them is mixed with moldy rice, and their little shop is soon dragged into a much deeper crisis. Lu Suihe gradually realizes that the simple comforts of everyday life and a hot meal can sometimes be harder to hold on to than a profitable business.