chapter 3

I crossed the broad avenues, turned into a narrow lane, and entered a neighborhood of the lowest sort, worlds away from Goldfish Alley. Following my memory, I found the place where Uncle Ying had lodged us when we first reached the capital.

I told the gatekeeper I was from his hometown, and she let me in.

Two years had scarcely changed Uncle Ying, but the sight of me stopped him short.

“Well, if it isn’t my little countrywoman.”

I took out a tael of silver, told him what had happened to the Wu family, and asked him to take me home the next time he traveled north. He weighed the broken silver in his palm, then tossed it back.

“Help the women cook on the road. That’ll pay your fare.”

I thanked him again and again. I was still happily calculating how much one tael could buy back home when I turned and saw the Wu family’s young master and young miss sitting in a corner.

They were two pale, proud beauties, as precious as my orchid.

The young master said nothing. The young miss was still weeping. Huddled together with bloodless faces, they looked like orchid leaves shriveled beneath a merciless sun.

Uncle Ying said he had bought them that very day. He had heard about the confiscation. The case was serious, and Master Wu had been sentenced to beheading. Madam Wu, the children, the family-born servants, and the old retainers had all been sold.

Uncle Ying was not exactly a slave broker. He merely traded in young children now and then because they were easy to resell. He had bought the Wu siblings from the authorities. He had not wanted the boy, who was already too old, but the little girl refused to release her brother, so he purchased them together. A literate son of an official could always be kept as an apprentice.

Madam Wu, the nannies, and the senior maids had gone to other brokers.

I looked at the silent siblings, thought for a moment, then knelt before Uncle Ying and told him I wanted to buy them.

He was drinking tea. The shock made him spit it straight at me. I dodged in a hurry while he coughed.

“Do you have any idea what those two are worth?”

I shook my head.

He rolled his eyes. “Now that you can read, you’re worth a little more than before. But even if I sold you again, you wouldn’t fetch half of either one.”

That made sense. The young master and young miss had grown up amid gold and silver. Even as slaves, they were far more valuable than me.

Nanny Zhang had been right. I truly was better suited to plants than people.

I rose uncertainly, twisted my ankle, and nearly dropped the orchid. Fortunately, I had wrapped the pot in my coat, and its new flower spike escaped harm.

Uncle Ying noticed what I carried.

“Where did that come from?”

“Madam Wu gave it to me,” I answered, not entirely without guilt.

He stared at the orchid for a while. I had already crouched to inspect it for fresh damage when his voice came from above my head.

“Do you truly want to buy your young master and young miss?”

“What?”

I looked up in confusion, then nodded with all my strength.

The Wu family’s ancestor had helped found the dynasty. By Master Wu’s generation, they were only a collateral branch, and aside from his status as a provincial graduate, no one in the household still held office. But they enjoyed the protection of their ancestry, Madam Wu came from a prominent family, and she managed the estate with skill.

They were not among the realm’s great ministers, but they were certainly rich.

The two-handled pot in which I had raised my orchid turned out to be a Song-dynasty jade *you* vessel, crafted by a renowned artisan of the previous dynasty.

Uncle Ying had recognized that it was valuable, though not how valuable. He took me to the Jade Treasure Studio and bargained at length with the proprietor.

It sold for eight hundred taels.

I floated out of the shop clutching the silver. The instant we crossed the threshold, Uncle Ying wiped the smile from his face, turned, and spat back at the storefront.

“Blackhearted shop. Blackhearted thieves.”

Back at the brokerage, he sat down, drank a mouthful of tea that had long since gone cold, and jabbed a finger at me as I stared into space.

“Give me six hundred taels. Then take your young master and young miss. Silver paid, goods delivered.”

I came to my senses and hurriedly pushed all the silver toward him. He gave me a speechless look, drew a small scale from his robe, and carefully weighed out the greater part of the money.

Watching him move piece after piece of silver onto his side of the table made my heart ache.

Uncle Ying found my expression hilarious. He pushed the remainder back and went to untie the siblings’ legs.

“What do you plan to do with them? Take them back to the Hailang River? Such delicate creatures won’t survive in that cursed place. They’ll drag you under with them.”

I wrapped the remaining silver once more, selected a piece neither too large nor too small, and set it on the table through gritted teeth.

“Take all of us home. This is their fare.”

Uncle Ying sat down again and lifted his tea, looking more amused than ever.

“You really are a clever face with a fool’s heart.”

Ignoring him, I wrapped the silver again and again, then found a cracked earthenware jar under the eaves and placed my now potless orchid inside.

“I’ll take the young master home as a live-in husband. I promised Grandfather I would find one. The young miss is his sister, so count buying her as part of my bride-price to him.”

Uncle Ying never managed to drink that cold bowl of tea in peace.

This time I failed to dodge. He sprayed half my sleeve.