Chapter 6

Chapter 6

My days were uneventful, but I had gained my freedom.

What Pei Qian gave me was a pouch of gold beads-a large pouch.

In all my sixteen years, I had never seen so much money. No matter where I put it, I could not feel at ease.

This gold was now my entire life and livelihood. If I lost it, what would I use to repay Pei Qian in the future?

I intended to use money to make more money.

The Sima Family held the empire, while the great clans kept watch over the Sima Family.

In such chaotic times, doing business was no easy matter.

I took Ah Tao out twice and made a careful survey of Anyi. The most profitable trade was in stationery and writing supplies.

But there were also many people in that line of business.

I found a broker and rented a shop. Ah Tao and I went in and out for several days before finally getting the storefront in order.

I watched the shop myself. Business was only average, but after supporting Ah Tao and me, there was still some left over. Life was built up slowly like this. As long as one did not stop, one could always reach somewhere.

On the day of the Shangsi Festival, business was especially good. Only after the customers gradually thinned did I go out to have a look.

It was much the same as in Boling. Nearly every young lady in the city must have risen early to dress and adorn herself, for by now they had all taken to the streets.

According to custom, on the third day of the third month, people were supposed to go to the waterside to bathe and make offerings to their ancestors. These days, however, it was little more than an excuse for young lords and ladies to roam about and amuse themselves.

Just look-which young lady did not have maids behind her carrying several baskets? The baskets were filled with flowers and fruit. If their mistress took a fancy to some young lord, she would take out the flowers and fruit and throw them at him.

If the fruit did not break, picking it up and selling it again would make for decent business too.

“My lady, we didn’t prepare anything at all. If you take a liking to some young lord, what will you throw at him?” Ah Tao asked.

“Whatever I pick up from the ground will do.”

Before long, the carriages of the great noble clans and aristocratic families arrived.

Most of the young ladies from the great clans sat within their carriages, veiled by curtains, so their faces could not be seen for the moment.

The young lords of each family, however, mostly came in bright robes on spirited horses, letting everyone look at them openly.

Whenever a procession came by, people would judge and comment, looking first at the horses, then at the men, and then at the family emblems.

It was no different from the old days in Boling, except back then, I had been one of those sitting inside a carriage.

Now I was instead an ordinary person who showed her face in public and did work the great clans would disdain. But who cared?

So-called aristocratic families merely happened to be born with every advantage. They did not know who supported them, nor did they know the suffering of others.

They neither labored nor produced.

They were only a pack of mediocre people who knew nothing but luxury and pleasure. If true trouble came, all they knew how to do was flee in every direction.

That was what my grandfather used to say, and I agreed with him wholeheartedly.

Then came the carriage of the Pei Family. The name of the Pei Clan of Hedong was famous as thunder-who did not know it?

The Pei Family was known for producing beauties. Even now, people still told tales of how, in his youth, Grand Guardian Pei’s looks had been unsurpassed under heaven.

The moment the Pei Family’s carriages and horses arrived, fruit and flowers were hurled as if they cost nothing, accompanied by the young ladies’ cries of excitement. It truly was far too noisy.

Only, the young lord on that white horse looked terribly familiar.

While others wore their collars open, his remained fastened tightly. His brows were knitted, and he was very earnestly being impatient.

The others all carried themselves with a certain idle ease. Only he rode his horse so properly and uprightly.

Yuan Shen? Or was he truly Pei Qian?

For the sake of not marrying me, he was even willing to change his family name.