Chapter 4

The supposed servant buyer from Qinghe paid a lavish ten taels for Yaer.

Even Fifth Madam, whose eyes were shaped like coins, was dazed by the windfall. For several days she stopped scowling at us, and our gruel grew noticeably thicker.

As life in the broker’s house eased, I dared not relax. Every day, I searched for a path of my own.

After the Qinghe party left, Fifth Madam received several other buyers, mostly brothel madams and owners of acrobatic troupes. They all wanted me, but she refused them. I understood why. Their offers were too low. Having sold Yaer so dearly, she meant to get the same price for me.

But buyers as extravagant as the Qinghe stewardess did not appear every day. Half a month passed. Girls came and went, while I remained unsold.

Fifth Madam lost patience.

One night, I overheard her telling a servant that she would sell me to Landlord Wang in the south of the city. He was a famous rich man with a household full of beautiful concubines and pretty boys, yet every few days he bought another very young maid.

I did not know exactly what happened inside his gates. I knew only that if I was sold there, death would be my best escape.

I did not want to die.

After one stunned moment, I dropped to the floor and began digging mushrooms from the wall. The room was damp and dark, and brightly colored fungi often grew there. I did not know whether they could kill anyone, but they were the only weapon I had.

I wrapped them in silk and crushed them, planning to slip the powder into the tea when millet was cooked at dawn.

Perhaps Heaven could not bear to watch me reach that end.

At first light, officials raided Fifth Madam’s establishment.

The soldier who brought the charge said she had arranged a private sale without an official seal. The woman’s family insisted they had never sold their daughter. They later found her clothes and shoes at the human-meat market.

Qingyun Street was full of brokers, and poor families who sold their children did not always sign contracts. Most simply exchanged goods for money. Household registration was supposed to go through the authorities, but officials rarely cared about such trifles. The paperwork was usually a formality.

Fifth Madam had never troubled herself over those details. Now the truth had surfaced, and the contract at the human-meat market bore her mark in plain ink.

She had no defense.

She clung to the soldier’s coat and begged, “Good sir, do you serve the prefectural office? My younger brother is one of your colleagues. His name is He Liu. Could you send him word? Take this silver and have a drink on me…”

For the first time, the ruthless Fifth Madam wore a fawning smile and emptied gold and silver from her purse. The soldier did not even glance at it.

“Who wants your drinking money? Since you asked, I’ll tell you. He Liu was exiled for stealing government property. He left two hours ago.” He laughed coldly. “If you submit to execution now and walk fast in the next life, perhaps you can still catch him.”

So this was not simply an old crime exposed. It was collective punishment.

Officials and merchants had always been bound together. When the official fell, the merchant fell with him.

Fifth Madam collapsed to the ground as though struck by lightning.