County town.
The bustling streets were packed with moving crowds, lively and clamorous, and right in front of one small stall, people were gathered thick and fast.
“Oh my, Lin Ge’er, you finally came! Yesterday you didn’t show up all day, and my little grandson didn’t get his cold dishes, throwing a tantrum the whole day long.” Seeing the preceding customer leave, an older woman stepped forward in a few strides. “Seeing that you weren’t here, I had no choice but to go buy cold dishes elsewhere to coax my little grandson, but I never expected that after taking a single bite, he spat it right out, saying it wasn’t the taste of cold dishes. I refused to believe it and took a bite myself, and that flavor was both sour and bitter. That finally made me understand why your family’s cold dishes sell so well. Those things from other places simply can’t compare to yours.”
By the end of her sentence, the older woman shook her head with a look of reluctance to recall the experience.
Overlooking certain remarks, upon hearing that the other loved his family’s cold dishes, Gu Lin smiled. “Thank you for the kind appreciation, Auntie.”
Noticing that the older woman looked quite familiar, Gu Lin thought back carefully, remembering that she indeed came to buy cold dishes every single day. He asked, “I recall your little grandson can eat spicy food, right?”
“He can! The little fellow takes after his dad and his grandpa. He’s not afraid of spice at all,” the older woman’s bold, booming voice drowned out the clamor of the crowd.
“Got it,” Gu Lin acknowledged, then turned around to speak to the busy woman working behind the counter. “Sister-in-law, one portion of cold dishes, extra spicy.”
Hearing this, the woman raised her head. Under the sunlight, a somewhat aged face looked slightly swollen. “Coming.”
Standing some distance away, the older woman at the front of the stall could only catch the silhouette of a woman, unable to clearly see what she looked like. Curiosity showing on her face, she asked the young ge’er in front of her, “Lin Ge’er, where did your Zheng boy go? Who is that woman mixing the cold dishes?”
Gu Lin raised his gaze to look at the older woman. “That’s my neighbor’s sister-in-law. Xiao Hao went to school, and we didn’t have enough hands at the stall, so I specially invited her to help out.”
At this moment, Sister-in-law Zhao’s batch of cold dishes was also finished. She walked over to hand the cold dishes to Gu Lin, and at last, the older woman could see Sister-in-law Zhao’s face clearly. The woman’s complexion was rather dark, with a lifeless expression across her entire face. Her already small eyes were puffed up as if filled with water, and her eye sockets were deeply sunken and bruised black.
The older woman gasped inwardly, and only after the woman had walked away did she lower her voice to ask Gu Lin, “What on earth has your sister-in-law been through? Why does it look as though all her vitality has been sucked away, as if she’s about to collapse?”
Gu Lin first glanced back at the woman, then turned back around. His previously smiling face revealed a hint of sorrow as he spoke in a low voice to the older woman, “My sister-in-law lives a hard life. Her husband was in poor health from a young age, and she had to shoulder everything in the household, big and small. Later, after finally managing to raise her eldest son and sending him to learn carpentry, she never expected that the carpenter’s daughter and son-in-law would have a falling out. Her son was wrongly suspected by the carpenter’s son-in-law of having an illicit affair with his wife and was given a severe beating. During the scuffle, his arm hit a wood saw, blood flowed all over the ground, and the wound was so deep the bone was visible.”
Upon hearing Gu Lin’s words, the older woman’s face showed a look of shock, as that injury sounded severe enough to strip away half a person’s life, yet she still suppressed her fear to press further. “And what happened after? How did their family handle it?”
The young ge’er shook his head slightly, letting out a sigh. “How else could they handle it? My sister-in-law went to that carpenter’s house to demand compensation, but the carpenter’s family simply shut their doors, refusing to admit they injured anyone. They even told my sister-in-law to scram, saying my nephew hurt his hand because he brought it on himself, and their family wouldn’t shell out a single copper coin.”
Gu Lin wasn’t lying. These words were the exact original statements made by Old Carpenter Wang’s family.
Ever since learning the identity of the carpenter’s son-in-law, Sister-in-law Zhao had never imagined she could get justice. However, Zhao Dagen had sustained injuries and needed to buy medicine, and with no spare funds to turn around at home, she had bitten the bullet last night and gone to Old Carpenter Wang’s house to demand compensation. Little did she expect that Old Carpenter Wang’s family would act with utter impunity, flatly refusing to acknowledge the debt and even splashing dirty water onto Zhao Dagen.
Hearing this, the older woman widened her eyes with burning anger. “Where did such wretched scoundrels crawl out from? After ruining half a life, they still dare to turn tables and shift the blame! Aren’t they afraid Heaven will strike them down with a lightning bolt to finish them off?”
Just as the older woman finished speaking, a young scholar dressed in a long robe stepped forward. “If they refuse to compensate, Boss Gu, you can take your sister-in-law to the yamen to file a lawsuit.”
As soon as they began discussing this matter, the crowd lining up in front of the small stall had already pricked up their ears to listen. When they heard how despicable and shameless the perpetrators were while the victims had to swallow their grievance in silence, many people found it impossible to remain indifferent.
Hearing the scholar’s suggestion, Gu Lin wore a bitter, helpless smile. “If only things could be resolved that way.”
Someone sharp-witted caught the implication immediately, realizing there must be a deeper background to the matter, and eagerly pursued the question. “What do you mean by that?”
Gu Lin looked toward the crowd gathered before the stall with a helpless expression. “The carpenter’s son-in-law is no ordinary person. He’s an official clerk in the county yamen. How could we ordinary folk ever dare to fight against such people? Even after losing half our lives to injuries, we can only swallow the bitter pill ourselves.”
At these words, the crowd fell into a heavy silence. Living here in the county town, they had far more opportunities to interact with yamen runners and petty officials than people living outside the city gates, so they knew all too well that in the eyes of those officials and runners, all of them put together weren’t even as important as a single flower in the courtyard of the county yamen.
Gu Lin observed the crowd’s reactions without a trace, his gaze falling upon the fair-faced man with a black beard who suddenly left the queue. Then, withdrawing his gaze and sensing the gloomy atmosphere, he quickly changed the subject, enlivening the mood once more. Only then did the crowd regain their spirits, no longer drooping in low spirits.
Once all the cold dishes were sold out and the very last customer departed, Sister-in-law Zhao approached Gu Lin with anxiety and unease written all over her eyes. “Will this really work?”
Gu Lin’s expression grew slightly solemn. “Whether it works or not, this is our only option left.”
He had deliberately staged this scene today precisely to catch the eye of certain individuals.
When he had consulted Zheng Hao last night about whether there was truly no way to bring the Wang family’s son-in-law to justice, the boy, discerning his firm determination to help the Zhao family, had offered a solution. “The Wang family’s son-in-law isn’t difficult to deal with; he isn’t the only official clerk in the county yamen. A certain petty official comes to buy cold dishes at our stall every single day, and this particular clerk happens to bear a deep grudge against the Wang family’s son-in-law. Tomorrow, you simply need to stage this scene with Sister-in-law Zhao so he sees it. Suspicion will naturally take root in his mind, prompting him to investigate, and after that, everything can be smoothly resolved.”
That was why Gu Lin had brought Sister-in-law Zhao to the county town bright and early. Having never acted in front of others before, Gu Lin lacked experience. To prevent it from looking intentional, he took an alternative route by letting Sister-in-law Zhao walk up before the customers displaying her haggard expression. Seeing her appearance, the older women buying cold dishes would naturally grow curious and ask about it.
Sure enough, upon witnessing Sister-in-law Zhao’s exhausted and weathered look, the older woman at the front couldn’t contain her curiosity and confusion, blurting out the question.
Naturally, Gu Lin couldn’t answer right away. He had to put on a troubled facade, speaking in a low voice to apprise the older woman of the whole story from start to finish. Through this sort of back-and-forth questioning, wouldn’t the matter naturally reach the ears of anyone with a stake in it?
Recalling Zheng Hao’s composure in his mind, Gu Lin realized that if the boy hadn’t pointed it out in time, he would never have known that the customers at his cold dish stall were hiding such extraordinary backgrounds.
Looking at Sister-in-law Zhao, who remained anxious and unsettled beside him, Gu Lin offered a gentle word of comfort. “Overthinking won’t help. Let’s pack up the stall and go buy some meat to help Dagen nourish himself.”
Sister-in-law Zhao had been lost in thought, but hearing Gu Lin’s words, she snapped back to attention immediately. “Right, right, we must buy some meat to nourish Dagen.”
Working with nimble hands and feet, she packed up the stall, pulled Gu Lin along to purchase meat, and then used the stove at the medical clinic to brew a rich meat porridge for Zhao Dagen to drink.
Seeing that Zhao Dagen had finished his porridge and closed his eyes to sleep, with Uncle Zhao and Sister-in-law Zhao keeping watch by his side where he couldn’t be of much help anyway, Gu Lin said to them, “Xiao Hao will be leaving school soon, so I’ll go take a look at the private school.”
Remembering this, Sister-in-law Zhao hurriedly urged, “Go on then. Everything is fine here with your Uncle Zhao and me.”
Gu Lin turned and left the medical clinic, making his way toward the Five Willows Private School.
Just as he arrived at the entrance of the school, he saw a group of children carrying book satchels walking out. Gu Lin raised his eyes to scan the crowd, and a moment later, he spotted a small figure clad in a cyan long robe walking out from the school grounds.
The young ge’er raised his hand and waved it in the direction of the young boy. “Xiao Hao, over here!”
Zheng Hao looked over in that direction, then lengthened his stride and walked over at a quicker pace.
Gu Lin raised a hand, intending to take the book satchel from him, but Zheng Hao slightly sidestepped to avoid it. “I’ll carry it myself.”
“Alright.” Gu Lin had originally worried the satchel might be too heavy and weigh the boy down, but seeing Zheng Hao carry it without any effort, he didn’t press the matter. “It’s almost time for the midday meal. Let’s go eat first.”
Gu Lin brought Zheng Hao to the Full House Restaurant. At this hour, the interior of the restaurant was bustling with activity. Manager Chen stood behind the counter, rapidly clicking his abacus beads, and could only nod in greeting when he caught sight of them. Gu Lin didn’t mind, returning a slight nod before leading Zheng Hao to an empty table by the window in the main hall.
“Today is your first day of school, so we should properly celebrate,” Gu Lin said to Zheng Hao with a radiant smile.
He had felt a twinge of guilt and regret for not being able to send Zheng Hao to school that morning. It was the child’s very first day of formal schooling, an occasion where the entire extended family would tag along, yet he had let the boy walk to school all by himself.
Hearing Gu Lin’s words, Zheng Hao fell silent. Did this person even realize what he was saying? Ordinary families could only afford to study by pooling the entire household’s strength, everyone tightening their belts to support a single scholar. Who would ever spend extra money to celebrate a child’s start of school?
At that moment, a restaurant waiter trotted over and asked, “Greetings, valued patrons. What would you like to order?”
Gu Lin gestured toward Zheng Hao. “What would you like to eat?”
Zheng Hao lowered his gaze slightly. “I’m not picky, anything is fine. You order.”
Gu Lin turned to the waiter instead. “What signature dishes does your restaurant have?”
The waiter’s voice rang out clear and bright. “Four-joy meatballs, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, braised pork belly.”
After rattling off over a dozen dish names, the waiter paused to ask. “Honored guests, those are our restaurant’s signature dishes. What would you like to have?”
Pondering for a moment, Gu Lin replied, “Serve a portion of braised pork belly, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and seasonal vegetables simmered in garlic oil.”
The portions at Full House Restaurant were quite generous, and three dishes would be just enough for two people. He turned to look at Zheng Hao, asking, “Is this alright?”
“Alright,” Zheng Hao nodded.
The waiter flipped his wiping cloth over his shoulder. “Right away, please hold on for a moment.”
Once the man left, the table grew quiet again. Gu Lin asked Zheng Hao, “How do you find the school?”
Zheng Hao raised his head. “The teacher and my fellow students are all very good.” He continued, “Today the students just arrived, so we spent the time getting familiar with the school rules. Formal classes start tomorrow.”
Gu Lin nodded in understanding, as generally the first day of a new term was meant to let students ease into and adapt to school life.
Seeing him drift off in thought, Zheng Hao paused briefly before asking, “Did things go smoothly this morning?”
At the mention of this, Gu Lin perked right up. “Smoothly! As soon as I finished speaking, the target person left.”
Zheng Hao thought for a moment and said, “That person will come looking for you and Sister-in-law Zhao by the day after tomorrow at the latest. You two should keep that in mind.”
Seeing the boy’s youthful face etched with solemn seriousness, Gu Lin couldn’t help but find it slightly amusing, yet knowing the boy meant well for him, he offered reassurance. “Rest assured, we know what to do.”
As they spoke, the dishes were served. Gu Lin halted the conversation and began eating with Zheng Hao.
After finishing the meal, Gu Lin had the waiter pack a portion of braised pork belly and a clay pot of double-red-date stewed old hen soup to take back for Sister-in-law Zhao and the others.
Zheng Hao still had to return to school for the afternoon session, so Gu Lin dropped him off along the way before heading back to the medical clinic.