Chapter 9

The guard returned about four hours later.

His manner had improved considerably. He opened the cell before I could ask.

Unlike my brutal arrival, our route out led through a tunnel and up a flight of steps at its end.

Chun Sanniang was cooking in the back yard. When she saw me emerge from underground, she nearly dropped her spatula.

“H-how did she get out?”

“This young lady is an old acquaintance of the master’s. You really have no sense!”

The guard shouted at her in reproach.

“Has my husband come back?” I asked.

Chun Sanniang paused. “Not yet.”

“Where’s my dog?” I frowned at the absence of Pea Pudding’s bark. “You haven’t put him in your cooking pot, have you?”

She laughed awkwardly. “How could I? Such an adorable dog. I’d never be so cruel…”

She told the inn boy to bring Pea Pudding over.

He was listless and gave two weak barks on seeing me.

Chun Sanniang hurriedly stuffed some dry rations into my hand. Pea Pudding wolfed them down. His next bark had some life in it.

I took him with me into the carriage bound for the county seat.

It stopped after only two hours.

A servant of the magistrate met me at the rear gate. He asked me to wait in a side room. Lu Jingzhi was entertaining a guest and would see me afterward.

“There’s a guest in the residence?” I asked.

“Yes. A Daoist priest from far away, they say. He heard the magistrate keeps a golden image of the Venerable Heavenly Dragon, so he’s come to pay his respects. He even intends to take the Heavenly Dragon teachings back to his home and spread them.”

Before I could ask more, the servant closed the door and left.

After the time it took three sticks of incense to burn, the door creaked open. Heavy footsteps approached.

Pea Pudding barked furiously at him.

I quickly rose, but he pressed me back into my seat.

Rough fingertips brushed my cheek and finally stopped before my eyes.

“Ah Fu, you’ve grown thin.”

A voice so long absent I’d nearly forgotten it sounded beside my ear. Lu Jingzhi said blankly, “You really can’t see anymore.”

He sounded as though he’d already known about my blindness.

“As head of a whole county, Your Honor still agrees to see a commoner like me. How benevolent.”

“Ah Fu, I’d have seen you even without your threats about a secret letter.”

Holding my wrist, Lu Jingzhi sat beside me, unable to hide his excitement. “After I was transferred to Lingshan County, I went to Apricot Village to find you. But the place was deserted, and no one knew where you’d gone. Later someone said you’d injured your eyes and gone elsewhere for treatment. I sent people everywhere to look for you.

“I know you came to Qianzhou looking for me. That letter you mentioned… it’s about my time as a bandit on Mount Qian, isn’t it?”

There was a probing note in his voice. I smiled faintly. “I made it up. I was afraid you wouldn’t see me otherwise.”

Lu Jingzhi seemed to relax a little. “Ah Fu, I was wrong before. Have you… forgiven me now?”

I “looked” toward him. “I forgave you long ago.”

It was true. I’d never even hated him.

“Ah Fu…”

He said my name with feeling.

We’d been husband and wife for six months. His feelings might not have been genuine, but our affection hadn’t been false. That was why I’d found his story about debts over a brothel girl so hard to believe.

Perhaps he’d felt some guilt toward me. Perhaps that was why he’d told me where he was really going when he left Apricot Village.

“Ah Fu, I’ve never remarried. There are only a few concubines here. I’ve been waiting for you!” he exclaimed. “Nothing matters more than your forgiveness.

“I’ll choose an auspicious day at once. Marry me again. This time I won’t fail you!”

I stiffened. This wasn’t what I’d expected.

I’d assumed he’d be married by now, but would let me stay at the county offices for a few days, either out of old affection or fear of my threats.

His enthusiasm made me suspicious instead.

Would a man who’d deceived you so ruthlessly from the start really wait, hopelessly in love, for your return simply because he felt guilty?

Still, I pretended delight and agreed.

He settled me in a side room near the study.

The next day, after returning from court, he consulted an almanac and discussed wedding dates with me.

Things were different now, he said. A magistrate’s wedding had to be grand. Having wronged me before, he would give me the most splendid wedding in the city.

As he eagerly discussed this, a servant entered to say the Daoist who’d come to burn incense the day before had returned.

“I won’t see him. Tell him I’m busy.”

Clasping my hand, Lu Jingzhi refused without a thought.

“Jingzhi, you should see him.”

I urged him gently. “I heard yesterday that the Venerable Heavenly Dragon protects the people and answers their prayers. If this priest wishes to carry its name back to his home, surely that’s a good deed.”

Mainly, I wanted to meet him myself.

Pleased, Lu Jingzhi patted the back of my hand. “I’m fortunate to have Ah Fu as my wife again.”

As he started to leave, I caught his hand.

“May I come with you?”

I said, “I met a Daoist priest when I was little. He told my fortune: a hard life, full of calamities. I’d like to ask this priest whether there’s any remedy.”

After a moment’s thought, Lu Jingzhi agreed.

The Daoist had been waiting in the front hall for some time.

He approached to greet Lu Jingzhi, and a familiar scent of agarwood reached me.

“Reverend Ying, this is an old friend of mine. She’s had a difficult life since childhood, and it weighs on her. Might you tell her fortune?”

Standing before the priest, I already had a good idea who he was.

Sure enough, Ying Que’s voice came from above me. “For a friend of Your Honor’s, I would be glad to.

“Might I ask the young lady’s date and hour of birth?”

“I’m an orphan. I don’t know.” I stepped forward and held out my palm. “Please read my hand instead.”

With a murmured apology, Ying Que approached. Stopping before me, he asked quietly, “What’s going on?”

“Destroy the snake statue,” I said without preamble.

Ying Que faltered. Lu Jingzhi began walking toward us.

After studying my palm, Ying Que made a show of reciting incomprehensible astrological terms. Finally he said, “Now that you’ve been reunited with someone from your past, the baleful fate is broken. Henceforth your course will be smooth and your fortunes will rise.”

I curtsied with a smile and thanked him. A maid then helped me back to my room.

Before long, I heard a noise outside the window.

I pushed it open. Ying Que caught my wrist. “Ah Fu, this place is dangerous. Let’s get out first.”

I didn’t move. “Did you smash that golden image of the Venerable Heavenly Dragon?”

Ying Que glanced around, then climbed through the window.

He sighed. “There is no golden image.”