Chapter 2
Before Su Wanqing could make sense of that, Shen Jibai slapped his thigh and turned to me.
“It came to me when I saw Miss Wanqing bow! If we could teach the pigs, they wouldn’t just be pigs raised on music. They’d be pigs that know their manners. We could get an even better price!”
I tapped the table to bring him to his senses.
“Stop that nonsense. What good is teaching a pig to bow? Are you going to have it salute the butcher when we sell it? We sell pork. We aren’t putting on a circus.”
Shen Jibai scratched his head, a little disappointed.
“All right, then. Pigs that have heard a star courtesan play should be enough of a draw.”
He leaned closer, lowered his voice, and laid out the figures for me.
“I’ve worked it out. We have eighteen pigs in the pen, and they’ll be ready to sell in another two months. Say each weighs two hundred jin. An extra ten copper coins per jin means another two thousand per pig. For eighteen pigs, that’s more than fifty taels of silver!”
“Buying her freedom only cost twenty taels. We can’t lose!”
For a moment, everything went quiet.
Su Wanqing finally understood what Shen Jibai had brought her home to do. Her fragile expression froze as she stared up at us.
She had imagined life after someone bought her freedom countless times.
An honored concubine, a mistress kept outside the household, or perhaps a maid waiting on others.
In any case, there would be the intrigues of the inner household, jealousy and rivalry.
What she had never imagined was that all her accomplishments in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting would land her in a pigpen.
Seeing her fidget, I spoke.
“Don’t worry yourself. You’ll have food and a room, and regular monthly wages. Just play for four hours a day; the rest of your time is your own. If the pigs sell well at year’s end, you’ll get a share of the profits too.”
Su Wanqing looked up sharply. Her eyes were full of astonishment, as if she hadn’t believed such good fortune possible.
[The heroine is way too relaxed! What if the courtesan falls for him and steals him away?]
[Exactly. A man and a woman together every day—something’s bound to happen.]
[Men wouldn’t behave even as portraits on the wall. Pay attention, girl!]
Ignoring the comments, I turned to Shen Jibai.
“Go to the market tomorrow and buy Miss Wanqing a sturdier stool to sit on while she plays. And two boxes of incense for her room. The pigpen smells strong. Don’t let it get to her.”
“And buy a few lengths of coarse cloth. I’ll make her two work smocks. Those gauzy dresses of hers are too fine to waste by getting pig stink into them.”
“Of course! Whatever you say, Qingru!”
Shen Jibai agreed at once.
Beside the table, Su Wanqing had finished her bowl without noticing. She kept picking up empty air with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth.
She was clearly in a complete daze.