Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Cui Family Merchant Ship set sail from Gusu, leaving behind riverbanks lined with the hazy gray of willow-covered embankments.

After passing Hangzhou, while navigating the Fuchun River, Cui Ning spotted a young man in a green robe waving at him from a neighboring vessel.

“Brother Cui! Come have a drink! It won’t stop you from making your fortune!”

It was Cui Ning’s childhood friend, Zhu Guang.

The Zhu and Cui families were old family friends.

Zhu Guang and Cui Ning had been inseparable since they were toddlers, playing in the mud, poking hornet nests, skipping school, and even getting lost together before being snatched away by a kidnapper.

Later, the Zhu family moved to Hangzhou, and they had lost touch for the past six years.

“So it’s you, you rascal! I was wondering who it was!”

As the moon reached the middle of the sky, the boats drew close together, and the two friends shared wine while reminiscing about the past.

Zhu Guang poured a full cup of wine, still feeling a lingering fear as he brought up their experience of being kidnapped six years ago.

“Back then, that gang was in league with the local yamen. They specialized in snatching children and mutilating them to turn them into Beggars.

“If we hadn’t both met those kind-hearted girls, our lives would have been over.”

The moon hung cold and clear in the sky, just as bright as it had been during the Lantern Festival six years ago.

Cui Ning fell silent.

He remembered it all.

Six years ago, after being kidnapped and taken to a strange land, he was first starved for three days and then beaten for seven.

He was starved until his mind was a blur and beaten until he kowtowed and begged for mercy, until he didn’t even dare to harbor the thought of running away.

On the day of the Lantern Festival, the Kidnapper broke his leg and tossed him a bowl, telling him to go beg for food.

Cui Ning was cold, hungry, and lying on the ground in despair when he recalled what the Kidnapper had said:

“Just one broken leg isn’t a heavy enough injury; it won’t earn much money. It’ll be better once we poke his eyes out.”

The moon hung cold in the sky, offering no warmth.

That was the first time in his thirteen years that Cui Ning had looked at the moon with such greed.

He had to memorize this moon. In case he was blinded later, he could at least pull this memory out and think of it.

While other families were reuniting, his only companions besides the moonlight was a girl squatting by the river washing clothes for others.

It was eight-year-old Xiaoyu.

She watched him for a long time. When she saw no one was around, she pulled half a steamed bun from her robe and quietly handed it to him.

“Don’t look down on it for being small. I only get one bun to eat after washing clothes all day.”

…

Cui Ning was terrified; he didn’t dare reach out, nor did he dare to speak.

Xiaoyu blew on her chapped, bleeding hands and chattered on incessantly:

“When my mother was alive, she taught me not to go away with strangers.

“I was very obedient, but then Mother died, and I missed her so much.

“They said they knew where my mother was and could take me to find her. I believed them.

“If they try to lie to you like that, don’t believe them. Once people die, they can’t be found.”

…

Hearing Xiaoyu mention parents, Cui Ning’s tears instantly burst through the floodgates.

“I have them! I have a father and a mother! They’re waiting for me to come home!”

Xiaoyu earnestly noted down his name and hometown, telling him to wait.

Cui Ning didn’t hold much hope.

She was in a den of wolves and tigers herself; how could she possibly save him?

It wasn’t until seven days later that a limping, disheveled Xiaoyu brought his sobbing parents to him.

She had hidden in a dung cart to get out of the city, slept under bridges and in ruined temples, and remained wary of every kind-looking face as she begged her way all the way to Gusu.

On the way back, when Xiaoyu spoke of these things, her eyes shone with pride.

“See? If I hadn’t missed my mother so much back then, I wouldn’t have been tricked.”

Those clear, bright eyes of hers were even more unforgettable to him than the moon in the sky.

To repay her kindness, his parents spent fifteen taels to buy Xiaoyu, intending for her to be Cui Ning’s concubine.

But the thirteen-year-old boy, experiencing the first stirrings of love, gripped her hand tightly and said, word by word:

“Xiaoyu won’t be a concubine. She is my wife.”

After returning home, while his leg injury was still healing, he often suffered from nightmares and could only fall asleep if he was holding Xiaoyu’s hand.

Xiaoyu had a gentle temperament, so she sat by the edge of the bed and coaxed him over and over, confirming repeatedly that she would not leave.

Half a month later, Zhu Guang, who had been abducted to the south, also returned. Following behind him was a dark-skinned, thin, and unattractive girl who remained dull and silent.

Zhu Guang said the girl was Ah Ping, a fisherman’s daughter who had saved him, and he insisted on marrying her no matter what.

Looking at these two unpresentable daughters-in-law, the elders of the Cui Family and the Zhu family shook their heads in distress.

But then they thought that these two girls were, after all, their sons’ lifebloods, so they held their noses and accepted it.

“Do you remember? Back then, I said Ah Ping was ugly, and you wanted to sever our brotherhood.”

“Do you remember? Back then, I said Xiaoyu’s mother was a singer and player from a brothel, and you beat me until I spat blood.”

The two men looked at each other and laughed, nudging one another as they poured more wine.

As the alcohol and memories surged, the moon in the sky looked clear and bright through their drunken eyes, like someone’s eyes.

Whose eyes? He couldn’t remember.

Cui Ning wanted to ask Zhu Guang.

What happened later? Did you eventually marry that fisherman’s daughter?

Before Cui Ning could speak, a young woman with her hair styled in a matron’s bun and dressed in fine silks appeared. With her hands on her hips, she started scolding and reached out to pinch Zhu Guang’s ear.

“Zhu Guang! Who gave you permission to drink!”

The young woman before them was beautiful with fair skin, and even her voice when she was angry was delicate. At a glance, she looked like a pampered lady from a prestigious family.

So, Zhu Guang hadn’t married that fisherman’s girl after all.

Cui Ning’s heart settled slightly.

But in the next second, Zhu Guang was already baring his teeth in pain, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

“Ah Ping, I was wrong, I was wrong! Cui Ning was the one who tempted me with the wine first!”

Only then did Cui Ning look closely.

It was Ah Ping. She had been well-cared for by Zhu Guang, showing no trace of the dark, thin, dull, and timid fisherman’s girl she had once been.

The pearls and emeralds in her hair tinkled softly, and her dress and fox-fur coat were made of the latest fashionable fabrics.

The hand pinching Zhu Guang’s ear was delicate and white, and the jade bracelet on her wrist made her skin glow like snow.

Ah Ping’s entire outfit likely cost no less than three hundred gold pieces.

Cui Ning thought of when Xiaoyu had come to borrow thirty-three taels of silver from him. Her hands had been red, swollen, and cracked from the cold. She had been wearing a thin, washed-out old winter coat, her body shivering, stuttering even as she spoke for fear of displeasing him.

Cui Ning’s heart felt a dull thud of pain.

Seeing it was Cui Ning, Ah Ping happily looked behind him.

“Cui Ning is here? Then Xiaoyu must have come too! Where is Xiaoyu? Are you two married yet? Why haven’t you invited us for a wedding drink?”

Xiaoyu had not come.

Zhu Guang was a clever man. Seeing Cui Ning’s silence, he understood most of the situation.

The wine jar was now empty.

Zhu Guang leaned against the railing, tilted his head back, and drained the last cup of wine like a general who had won a battle.

He had no regrets, so he let the evening breeze blow freely through his open heart.

“A-Ning, to be honest, I’ve been jealous of you since we were kids.

“My family isn’t as rich as yours, I’m not as good at accounting or business as you, and even my Ah Ping wasn’t as pretty as your Xiaoyu.

“But whenever I think of Ah Ping being my wife, I feel very wealthy. I’m wealthier than you; I’m wealthier than anyone in the world.”

Cui Ning stared blankly at Zhu Guang for a long time.

The wind dispersed the drunkenness and the drifting clouds, revealing a bright, clear full moon.

Cui Ning set down his brush and summoned his personal attendant, Shimo. He instructed Shimo that before sending the family letter, he should go to the instrument shop to buy that paulownia qin, and then find the best teacher to instruct her.

Shimo hurriedly brought over the account book.

“Regarding the cost of the qin, should I record it under Miss Xiaoyu’s account as usual, Young Master?”

Seeing that thin account book, Cui Ning felt another sharp pang in his chest.

“Put the account book away. From now on, you are not allowed to mention the words ‘keeping accounts’ to Miss Xiaoyu.”