Gu Jun stood at the alley entrance, watching as he took a few steps forward and stopped in front of a house. The house next to it had been demolished, leaving an open space with old bricks and wood piled in a corner. A few people stood in front of the house, led by an old craftsman dressed in blue, with a short beard that was mostly black but had quite a bit of white in it.
Lin Yue walked over, exchanged a few words with the old craftsman, and then joined the crowd. In just a moment, a few more people arrived. The old craftsman opened his mouth, but it was too far to hear what he was saying. After a while, the group started working and all headed to the open space.
Gu Jun couldn’t see Lin Yue anymore; he was like a fish, disappearing among the buildings. Children were playing nearby, and Gu Jun turned his gaze to them. They were young and not very tall, but they looked more well-dressed and spirited than kids from the countryside, with none of them looking malnourished.
The children were playing happily until they suddenly noticed a stranger staring at them. They paused, suspicious, but seeing that the stranger didn’t move, they resumed their play, though they kept their distance. After all, he was almost an adult; how could he play with little kids?
Gu Jun deliberately ignored what Lin Yue had said to him, leaning against a big tree, bored, staring at the sky. Suddenly, a commotion broke out, and Gu Jun snapped back to reality. He looked up to see a few kids fighting over an old bull. Here, they called spinning tops “old bulls.”
The noise was giving Gu Jun a headache. He tried to move away, but as the noise grew louder, an idea suddenly popped into his head—a good way to learn the language and characters of the Xuan Dynasty.
“When you spin the old bull, it fell three times. We agreed that after three times, it’s someone else’s turn!”
“I counted, it wasn’t three times!”
“It was! Everyone saw it!”
“I saw it too, it definitely fell three times.”
“This is my toy, even if it fell three times, I can play one more time. Besides, it didn’t fall three times. The time it fell in the middle, I spun it back up, so how can that count as once?”
The group of kids was arguing fiercely when they suddenly heard a strange voice, as clear and pleasant as flowing water. They all turned around to see the stranger who had spoken.
Gu Jun said, “I have something more fun.”
The kids thought he sounded weird and exchanged glances. A slightly taller kid stepped forward and asked, “What is it?”
Gu Jun replied, “A jumping grass frog.”
The kids, like a bunch of little radishes, ran over in unison. “Show us,” they said, adding, “You talk kind of funny.”
Gu Jun smiled without responding to their last comment and said, “Wait a moment.” He found a nearby vendor selling pancakes and shamelessly asked for a reed leaf. He cut the leaf to the right size and folded a frog.
The frog would jump with a press, causing the kids to exclaim in surprise. One of them reached out to grab it.
Gu Jun, quick-eyed and quick-handed, held down the kid’s hand and said, “I can give you the grass frog, but in exchange, you have to teach me to read.”
“We don’t know many characters.”
“That’s fine.”
“Deal,” said the tall kid.
The kids weren’t lying; they really didn’t know many characters. Gu Jun extracted everything from their little heads and only got a few dozen characters. He memorized them all and practiced speaking with them for a while. When he looked at the time, it was already noon.
He gave the frog to the kids and said, “It works better with paper. Come back in the afternoon, and I’ll teach you how to fold it, but…”
The kids immediately understood his unspoken words. “We’ll bring you a sugar pancake!”
Gu Jun had only wanted some sunflower seeds or something, but this unexpected treat made him grin from ear to ear. He agreed without hesitation, “Alright!” He didn’t feel the least bit guilty about tricking the kids.
The kids took the frog and scattered. Gu Jun stood up, the tree’s shadow casting a cool shade. He suddenly wondered why he hadn’t thought of this exchange method before. In a daze, he remembered.
He had thought of it, but at the time, he believed the kids wouldn’t know many characters or be able to say much. Even if he traded with them, it wouldn’t be of much use, so he hadn’t acted on it. And indeed, that was the case.
Now, however, he had a backer and didn’t have to worry too much about gains and losses. Gu Jun suddenly laughed, stood on tiptoe, and looked toward the construction site. By this time, Lin Yue should be done with work. The owner didn’t provide meals, so they could go out to eat together.
After watching for a while, he indeed heard the sound of work ending. The old craftsman and others came out, looking exhausted. Gu Jun quickly searched among them but didn’t see Lin Yue.
Where was he? Gu Jun ran toward the construction site. While he was thinking about Lin Yue, someone else was thinking about him.
That day, the pawnshop clerk felt humiliated after being rebuked by this “Miss Gu” and was furious. He cursed for a while and then went out to see if Gu Jun could pawn something for a higher price.
Gu Jun had left too quickly, and he didn’t see her. So he grabbed a little beggar, gave him a few coins, and told him to find her. The beggar called his friends, and they quickly found her and reported back to him.
The county town was only so big, and the name of the pawnshop where Gu Jun pawned her items was well-known. He didn’t need to check to know that Gu Jun had gotten what she wanted.
Feeling stifled, he instructed the beggar to follow Gu Jun secretly and cause her some trouble if possible, like beating her up. If that wasn’t possible, scaring her would do.
This wasn’t something worth mentioning, and it would have been forgotten if not for the fact that the pawnshop’s rival found out and reported it to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper’s face fell immediately, and he scolded him harshly: “I knew you were petty! If it weren’t for your brother-in-law and sister, I wouldn’t have let you work here. People come and go; how much can a pawnshop earn? How much commission can you get? You even had someone follow her. Zhao Shuilai, what, a few coins aren’t money? If you’re so eager to get rid of money, give it to your wife! I think your wife is more sensible than you! You’re ruining the pawnshop’s reputation!”
Zhao Shuilai quickly admitted his mistake. The rival, standing nearby, quietly added fuel to the fire: “The shopkeeper is right. When you hired him, you made it clear that business is business, and I heard it clearly. But he doesn’t remember it at all, which isn’t good…”
The shopkeeper’s chest heaved with anger. Zhao Shuilai glared at his rival, “You…”
The shopkeeper said, “Shut up!” The rival said, “Don’t be angry, shopkeeper. It’s not worth it to get upset over him. He might just be like this, and over time, his work will slack off. I’ll clean the backyard and repeat what you said to him. It’s not easy to find someone who knows a few characters and can do simple math.”
The shopkeeper made the final decision: “Fine, repeat what I said to him. You don’t need to clean the backyard; let him do it!” With that, he left.
Zhao Shuilai glared at his rival, who hummed a tuneless song, walked around the counter, and sat down, extending a hand, “Pour me a cup of tea. There are no customers now. Come, let me explain it to you carefully!”
Zhao Shuilai couldn’t stand him and turned to leave, not even bothering to work. When he got outside, the beggar returned, and Zhao Shuilai thought he finally had something to be happy about.
But to his surprise, after following for a while, the beggar reported that her husband had arrived, and nothing had been done. Zhao Shuilai was so angry his nose was crooked. After a few drinks, he went home that night, washed up with his wife’s help, and lay on the bed, thinking he had to teach those who wronged him a lesson.
His rival? His wife? A man? A woman? He stared at the gray-white canopy above the bed, and that night, a plan formed in his mind.
The next morning, he went out to find Gu Jun. He thought it would take a long time, at least seven or eight days, but unexpectedly, he found her in just one morning. Staring at Gu Jun with a sinister look for a moment, he avoided her and found Lin Yue by following the beggar’s description of her husband’s features.
He waited until Lin Yue finished work and immediately stepped forward to block him. The old craftsman pointed at the man and asked, “Do you know him?”
The old craftsman was very satisfied with Lin Yue. He worked diligently and didn’t slack off, so the craftsman was willing to protect him a bit if needed.
Before Lin Yue could speak, Zhao Shuilai answered, “I have something important to discuss with this brother.”
The old craftsman stared at him intently. Zhao Shuilai met his gaze without fear. “Alright, let’s go,” the old craftsman said, withdrawing his gaze and leaving with the others.
Zhao Shuilai turned to pull Lin Yue, saying, “Brother, come with me.” Lin Yue stood still, and Zhao Shuilai couldn’t move him despite his efforts.
He got anxious and looked up, initially to observe Lin Yue’s expression. But upon looking up, he realized that not only was this man tall and strong, but he was also handsome, a real heartthrob.
Thinking of his own unremarkable appearance, jealousy surged within him, and he wished the man would just drop dead. Lin Yue’s cold gaze swept over him like a sharp blade, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Unconsciously, he let go of Lin Yue’s shoulder, rubbed his uncalloused hands, and forced a smile, “I really have something to tell you. Don’t get me wrong. If I didn’t feel compelled, I wouldn’t say anything. After all, this concerns your wife.”
Lin Yue asked, “You know my wife?”
Zhao Shuilai quickly replied, “Of course, I know her!”
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at him with a half-smile. After a moment, he brushed the dust off his clothes and said, “Go ahead, what is it? I, her husband, don’t know, but you, an outsider, do. No need to change places; everyone’s gone, and no one else can hear us.”
Zhao Shuilai swallowed and lowered his voice, “Your wife is a loose woman, having an affair with a guy named Wang from the Jinbao Pawnshop. Every time they meet, they fool around. I wouldn’t have known if Wang hadn’t gotten drunk and bragged about it to me.
“Wang said he wanted to marry your wife, but she couldn’t bear to leave you. You’re good-looking, and there’s no one better looking than you in the whole county.
“Your wife said that even if you were gone, she wouldn’t marry Wang. She said she wanted to become a concubine for a rich family, to live in luxury and wear gold and silver.”
Lin Yue said, “Is that so?”
Zhao Shuilai said, “Yesterday, your wife pawned some clothes and fooled around with him at the Fulai Inn. I saw them with my own eyes.”
Lin Yue: “Hmm.”
Zhao Shuilai said, “Aren’t you a man? They’re walking all over you!”
Lin Yue snorted, “You and that Wang guy are enemies, right? Trying to use me to get rid of him, and you can’t even come up with a good reason.”
Zhao Shuilai’s heart skipped a beat, “I am enemies with Wang, otherwise, I wouldn’t tell you this. But what I said is true, believe it or not. You know the saying, ‘You know a person’s face but not their heart; you can paint a person but not their bones.’ You better understand this early!”
With that, Zhao Shuilai turned to leave. Lin Yue grabbed his shoulder, “You’ve said your piece, now I have something to say to you.”