The next morning, under a bright, pleasant sun, Jiang Shu followed Shen Qingxu’s directions and found the Stilt House beside the old banyan tree with the crooked trunk.
As she approached, the wooden door creaked open, and Shen Qingxu stepped out with an enormous bamboo basket strapped to his back. It was full of all kinds of leaves and roots, still carrying the fresh, earthy scent of soil.
Curiously eyeing his getup, Jiang Shu asked, “Where are you going?”
He adjusted the straps and answered concisely, “I’m going to sell herbs.”
His answer took Jiang Shu by surprise, but—
“Sell herbs?” Her eyes lit up. “Can I come along and watch?”
Shen Qingxu glanced at her, his expression unchanged, and gave a faint nod. “Sure.”
He led Jiang Shu through the lanes of the village. But instead of heading for the bustling market she had imagined, he took her farther and farther away, finally stopping beside an old wall near the edge of the village, where almost no one passed by.
There were only a few large stones, their surfaces worn smooth, and the sparse shade cast by an old tree nearby.
Shen Qingxu set down the basket. Without even laying out a mat, he took out the herbs one by one and neatly sorted them into piles on the ground in front of him.
Then he sat down right there, leaned back against the mottled old wall, and closed his eyes. He looked utterly content to wait for customers to come to him, without making the slightest effort to attract them.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, dappling his face.
Amused, Jiang Shu watched him for a while, then followed his example and found a clean stone to sit on.
She was wondering how he expected to sell anything when she noticed Shen Qingxu’s wrist move.
It was the little emerald-green snake. Jiang Shu’s strongest memory of it was still the moment it had suddenly wriggled out of a bag and startled her.
Now it was curled obediently around his fingertip, its little head raised, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu instinctively shrank back.
Shen Qingxu seemed to notice her nervousness. He opened his eyes and said slowly, “That means it likes you.”
“Huh?” Jiang Shu’s eyes widened in surprise. She almost thought she’d misheard him, her gaze shifting between the cold, slick little snake and Shen Qingxu’s expressionless face. “It likes me?”
That was certainly an unusual way of showing affection.
Then again, maybe that was just how snakes showed they liked someone.
Shen Qingxu turned his head to look at her.
He reached out with the index finger of his other hand and lightly tapped the little green snake’s head. It seemed to be ticklish; its slender body wriggled slightly, but its head remained stubbornly pointed toward Jiang Shu.
“Mm,” Shen Qingxu said, sounding quite serious. “It rarely acts this way around strangers. It really likes you.”
Hearing Shen Qingxu say that, Jiang Shu began trying to overcome her fear.
As the sun climbed higher, its rays grew a little harsh.
Sitting on the stone and watching Shen Qingxu’s eerily quiet “stall,” Jiang Shu found herself getting impatient on his behalf.
An hour passed, and he still hadn’t made a single sale. His herbs looked excellent, but hidden away in this out-of-the-way corner, with no calls to draw people in, who would even know they were here?
At last, she couldn’t hold back. Fanning herself with one hand, she leaned closer and asked in a low voice, “You… really aren’t going to call out a few times? How will any customers come and buy from you?”
She had imagined he would at least call out to passersby enthusiastically, like the other vendors at the market.
Shen Qingxu was looking down, teasing the little green snake with his fingertip. At her question, he didn’t even raise his head. His voice was as calm as if he were stating an obvious truth. “Why should I call out? Anyone who wants to buy will come and buy.”
Jiang Shu: “…” What kind of way was that to do business?
And yet, as if to prove his “nonsense” right, people really did begin to show up, one after another.
Most were older locals dressed in traditional Miao attire. They seemed to know exactly where to find Shen Qingxu, walking straight to this secluded corner and squatting down to quietly pick through the herbs. Now and then, they asked a brief question or two in their dialect.
Shen Qingxu answered just as briefly. The transactions were so quiet they seemed almost eerie, as if they were carrying out some unspoken exchange.
He casually slipped the coins he received into an old embroidered cloth pouch at his waist.
Before long, nearly all the herbs in his basket had been sold.
Shen Qingxu began gathering up the few herbs that remained, preparing to pack up.
Looking at the cloth pouch at his waist, which seemed a little fuller now, Jiang Shu asked curiously, “What are you going to do with the money you made?”
Shen Qingxu placed the last herb in the basket and straightened up.
His gaze fell on Jiang Shu’s face. After sitting for so long in the sun, a fine sheen of sweat had gathered on her smooth forehead, and her cheeks were faintly flushed.
He watched her for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Would you like some milk tea?”
“Huh?” Jiang Shu blinked, not quite understanding at first. Then she asked excitedly, “Are you going to buy me milk tea?”
Seeing her expression brighten at once, Shen Qingxu gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Mm.”
He lifted the now much lighter bamboo basket onto his back and gestured for Jiang Shu to follow.
Sunlight danced across the indigo collar of his robe through the leaves. At some point, the little green snake had quietly slipped back into his sleeve, leaving only a faint glimmer of emerald visible.