The Laba festival had just passed, and with only about twenty days left until the New Year, the festive atmosphere in the village was particularly thick. People were air-drying salted fish, cured meat, and soy-marinated ducks and chickens. It was a time for every household to show off its financial strength.
The Thorne family was clearly the wealthiest. Their courtyard was filled with hanging cured meat and salted fish, along with a dozen or so soy-marinated ducks. While other families kept only a few of their own chickens and ducks and sold the rest for cash, Phoebe Huxley didn't sell a single one. She kept a few for making soup and laying eggs, and slaughtered the rest to be cured and marinated.
