chapter 5

chapter 5

To keep Young Master Xie from soiling himself again, I entrusted him to Widow Zhang, who spent most days sitting in our hut. With a bun tucked into my clothes, I went into the city to ask for news.

The prison guard kept a very tight mouth. After I pestered him shamelessly for days, he finally revealed something.

By Yongyuan law, no executions could take place after the beginning of spring. Eight months remained before the autumn executions. Before then, a prisoner sentenced to death could be spared by paying a redemption fine.

To redeem two people would cost five hundred thousand copper coins—five hundred taels of silver.

So I needed five hundred taels to save Madam and Lord Fu.

Selling me would not raise even a fraction of it, but at least there was hope.

I racked my brains for a way to earn such a fortune in eight months.

Madam’s cloth shops were no help. The moment the Fu family fell, rival merchants hired thugs to smash them in the name of justice. The embezzlement charge had ruined the family’s reputation, so ordinary people refused to buy our cloth. Within days, every assistant had found other work.

I calculated until my head hurt and found no answer.

Eager to tell Young Master Xie the news, I hurried back to the village—and interrupted Widow Zhang.

She sat beside the bed, both hands clasped around his, laughing so hard she bent double. Young Master Xie pressed himself against the wall with one hand over his chest, face blazing red from either shame or fury.

At the sight of me, Widow Zhang reluctantly released him. Looking back at every step, she cooed, “Bao, I will explain the finer mysteries of palm reading tomorrow.”

I had always been a good judge of character. Clearly, trusting her to watch him had been the right decision.

Only days ago, he had lain pale and miserable, refusing to rise. Now his face glowed with color, and he had enough strength to scrub the bed with his hands.

Excellent.

For the first time, he spoke to me of his own accord. Frowning, he ordered me to bring water so he could cleanse his hands.

Cleanse his hands?

I looked around.

The hut was a rough heap of straw and wooden boards. Light slipped through gaps in the thatch and left mottled patches on the dirt floor. When it rained, there was probably no difference between inside and outside.

What part of our circumstances made him imagine we had a washbasin and handkerchief waiting for him?

Still, he was the young master and I was the maid. Resigned, I searched everywhere. In the end, I dampened my sleeve and held it out.

His brows drew together. After a long struggle, just as my arm began to ache, he seized it and meticulously wiped every side of his precious hands.

Precious indeed.

Before I could stop myself, I muttered, “Sister Chun is perfectly clean. Why are you acting so disgusted?”

The beautiful, warmhearted Widow Zhang had worked hard to care for him, entertain him, and read his palm. If the village uncles who admired her saw his reaction, his injuries might take a great deal longer to heal.

Perhaps her palm reading had strained his ribs. Grimacing, he lay down and took several painful breaths before turning corpse-still.

I should have kept quiet.

That night, a storm truly came.

Inside and outside the hut were exactly the same.

I tore off several broad banana leaves and held them over him, terrified he would catch cold and burn with fever again. Poor people could not afford illness.

At some point, the rain stopped. I had fallen asleep still holding the leaves.

The instant I woke, I tossed them aside and felt his clothes.

Slightly damp. Nothing serious.

Young Master Xie leaned against the bed, watching me with a complicated expression. I had no idea how long he had been awake.

“You are only a maid. You owe the Fu family nothing. Go home. You do not have to do… all this.”

I wiped my mouth and waved carelessly.

“For the person I love, I am willing.”

The people I loved most in this world were Mother and Madam.

Madam treated me like a little sister. She gave me silver and taught me how to live. More than that, she showed me that a woman did not have to spend her life as a beast of burden for a man. She could live for herself.

Compared with that, everything I had done was nothing.

A tremendous coughing fit exploded through the hut.

Young Master Xie clutched his chest, coughing until his face twisted. I hurried over to pat his back, but he shrank toward the wall as if I were some terrible beast.

Awkwardly, I withdrew my hand.

He acted as though I had molested a sheltered maiden.

Still, his red face probably meant he was recovering.

Once he was well, I could leave him behind and focus on earning the redemption money.

After Widow Zhang touched his hand, he expressly forbade her from entering the hut. Our flimsy door could not keep anyone out, so he ordered me to take him along when I sold goods.

Fresh air might aid his recovery. I carried him onto a handcart.

A market stall earned barely enough to eat, but every shop in the city had refused me. For now, we needed to survive.

I told him to borrow money. Embarrassment crossed his face before he admitted no one would lend to him. Once the Fu family fell, his old scoundrel friends avoided him like the plague. Not one would offer help in the snow.

Madam’s description had been fair. A man despised by cats and dogs naturally had no one to borrow from.

Bringing him to market was not entirely useless, however. Whatever I sold, a long line formed in front of my stall—women from grandmothers of sixty to girls of seven.

Many came only to join the excitement. Eventually, I realized they had all come for him.

He was a living signboard!

So I did the work, while he called out to customers and smiled.

At first he refused absolutely. I invoked Madam’s name, and after forcing himself to call out once, his skin gradually thickened.

Our refugee village was poor, but it held many skilled people. Most of the uncles and aunties had made their living by a craft before war displaced them. Several women, in particular, could transform humble ingredients into wonders.

Once I had a little capital, I bought their food and sold it in the market. At dawn, I offered buns, steamed bread, and seven-treasure vegetarian porridge. At noon, I sold Widow Zhang’s noodles and dumplings. In the evening, I sold hair ornaments and tiny shoes.

“Jiang Taotao, put that thing in my hair one more time and see what happens!”

Young Master Xie yanked out a little flower and raised his hand to throw it.

One look from me stopped him. “Throw it, then. Every coin from these will save Madam.”

At the mention of his sister, his temper died. He lowered his head and let me put flowers in his hair.

They suited him surprisingly well. No wonder the village women called him handsome. As Madam’s brother, he had naturally inherited the same beauty.

That night, the flowers sold in a frenzy. When I placed a larger order, every woman in the village set aside her farm work to make them.

But someone could not bear to see us prosper.