Shen Zhengze took a few steps forward and stood at the front.
“What do you want?” he asked the outlaw in a low voice.
The outlaw shouted, “I want to leave the city! Let me out of the city!”
Jiang Mo felt a stinging sensation on her neck and furrowed her brows slightly. Looking ahead, she unexpectedly met a pair of deep, soothing ink-colored eyes.
She was stunned.
The man before her was dressed in a cloud-brocade white robe—not the cold, pale moonlight white, but a slightly warmer shade. He wore a jade belt, and his tall, sturdy frame had one hand clasped behind his back. He looked mature and handsome with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, and one could faintly sense the hidden authority of an official.
Those eyes, resting on Jiang Mo, were serious and calm, inexplicably instilling trust.
“I will take her place. Use me as your hostage, and I will accompany you out of the city,” Shen Zhengze said in an unhurried tone.
The outlaw hesitated. He realized this man was likely an official, and having an official in his hands was certainly more significant than a young girl. He didn’t speak, which was a tacit agreement.
Shen Zhengze stepped forward, slowly exerting pressure. The surrounding area fell silent as everyone watched the tense standoff. Jiang Mo couldn’t help but feel nervous.
As the man approached, the dagger left Jiang Mo’s neck, and she was suddenly pushed from behind. She stumbled forward, falling into a warm embrace filled with a faint scent of pine.
Just as Jiang Mo was about to look up, her head was suddenly protected by a large hand, firmly pressing her into his chest. She could sense the man’s movements, as well as the tense muscles in his chest and arms. Her ears felt blocked, as if by something, and she could only hear the surprised gasps of the onlookers and her own racing heartbeat.
As the pressure on her head eased, Jiang Mo finally poked her head out from the embrace.
Her ears flushed red as she stepped back, only to find the outlaw in the water, struggling.
“Many thanks to my Lord for saving my life,” Jiang Mo said with a bow.
Shen Zhengze nodded casually, taking the handkerchief handed to him by Bai Qiao to wipe the blood from his palms.
“Ting’an, should you see a doctor? I remember there is a medical clinic nearby,” Bai Qiao urged anxiously.
Jiang Mo’s ears twitched. He’s injured? She quietly lifted her gaze to look, only to be caught red-handed by the man.
The man seemed to pause for a moment, as if no one had ever peeked at him like this before.
He hadn’t scrutinized her earlier while anxious to save her, but now he took a closer look. Although the girl was veiled, the visible upper half of her forehead and her eyes were extremely delicate. Her eyes were shaped like peach blossoms, holding a hazy watery shimmer, the corners of her eyes tinted with a charming, intoxicating red. Under the reflection of the lanterns, her pupils were as bright as ink-colored glaze. The small mole between her brows was no less beautiful than a floral huadian (forehead decoration), possessing a unique, moving charm.
Being caught, the peach-blossom eyes filled with a fleeting sense of shock, retracting quickly like a startled small animal. When he looked again, Jiang Mo had lowered her eyes, showing only compliance.
Bai Qiao noticed Shen Zhengze’s gaze lingering too long and raised his eyebrows with a smile. “Miss, our Lord saved you. Are you still going to keep your veil on while thanking him?”
The laws of the Great Yong Dynasty stipulated that commoners were not allowed to cover their faces when meeting officials.
Jiang Mo was silent for a few seconds. These two men clearly held high positions in the prefecture; they were just out on an inspection in casual clothes, so they must know Shen Zhengze. However, they shouldn’t know her, so the chance of exposure wasn’t too high.
She raised her hand, intending to remove her veil.
Shen Zhengze, however, said, “Bai Qiao, let’s go.” He had no intention of forcing her to remove the veil. With that, he turned and walked away first.
Bai Qiao shook his head with regret. The group faded away like receding water; Han You even waved at Jiang Mo.
Iris finally had the chance to run over, her eyes wide, holding her chest with one hand like an elderly person having an asthma attack.
Jiang Mo: “?”
She was the one kidnapped by an outlaw, so why was this girl more terrified than she was?
“Miss, I just heard a constable next to me call him ‘Lord Shen’!”
Iris had been holding it in for a long time and finally blurted it out, excitedly, “Was the one who saved you Lord Shen?!”
Jiang Mo pondered for a moment before letting her down. “No.”
She had heard others call him ‘Ting’an,’ so even if his surname was Shen, it should be ‘Shen Ting’an,’ not ‘Shen Zhengze.’ Moreover, as the Prefect of the state, Shen Zhengze had constables and subordinates for small matters like patrolling the streets; he wouldn’t need to patrol in person.
Iris was visibly disappointed.
“Let’s go, time to go home and count money,” Jiang Mo said nonchalantly.
Iris: “!!!”
What could be more healing than counting money?
With a shallow wound on her neck, Jiang Mo took a day off as a symbolic gesture. Although the hawthorns wouldn’t spoil if left for a day, she still processed the remaining ones into hawthorn jam.
There were twenty-six small, beautiful celadon jars, each palm-sized. She sealed them and stuck on red paper with “Hawthorn Jam” written in elegant calligraphy. The two-plus taels of silver earned from the candied hawthorn had all been poured into buying the jars and sugar.
It just so happened that the hawker who sold hawthorns delivered another ten catties. Jiang Mo made them into candied hawthorns with Iris while simmering chicken soup in the early hours, and together they drove the donkey cart to the Jiangzhou wharf.
The table and benches were set, and the iron pot was mounted. Before long, two familiar faces arrived: Xu Chuanhua and her ten-year-old son.
This time, Xu Chuanhua didn’t haggle and said crisply, “Two bowls of chicken soup mini wontons!” She sat down with her son.
Smelling the familiar fragrance of chicken soup, Xu Chuanhua finally felt at ease. She finally got to eat them.
Last time, she had asked this brat to bring her some wontons, but he ate them all himself and didn’t leave a single leaf of wonton for her, his mother. It had made her so angry she didn’t have an appetite all day. She thought of chicken soup wontons at lunch, at dinner, and even when she caught a fish, all she could think of was the wontons. It was bizarre. Wasn’t fish soup just as fragrant as chicken soup?
When she arrived at Jiangzhou the next morning, she looked at the shore, only to find the wonton stall gone?? Fortunately, she didn’t give up and came back today, and she finally caught them.
Jiang Mo brought over the steaming bowl of wontons. Xu Chuanhua’s gaze fell on the clean white porcelain bowl, and she felt a bit better. This bowl seemed cleaner and tidier than those at other stalls.
She tasted one small wonton first. It was fresh, slippery, and delicious; the fragrance was overflowing. It glided over her tongue like silk, and the aftertaste was endless. This flavor was actually even better than the wontons she had eaten at large restaurants.
Xu Chuanhua suddenly understood why Jiang Mo wouldn’t lower the price. If she had such a skillful pair of hands to make wontons, she wouldn’t want to sell them cheaply either. These wontons were so delicious! The skin was thin, the filling large, the meat tender, and the juice abundant; they were wrapped beautifully. The soup base had ingredients she had never seen before—crispy and chewy—with minced coriander swirling in the bowl. What a bowl of chicken soup mini wontons, complete in color, fragrance, and taste!
But thinking of her wasted trip yesterday, Xu Chuanhua still felt a lump in her throat. She said earnestly to Jiang Mo, “When I was your age, I lacked perseverance in doing things. It was only after learning some lessons that I understood the logic. You must not ‘fish for three days and dry nets for two’ (be inconsistent).”
Xu Chuanhua didn’t want to come back one day and not find the wonton stall again. That would be too frustrating.
Jiang Mo looked at her with a blank expression.
Xu Xiaobao was wolfing down his wontons with a spoon. “Mom, if you want the pretty sister to set up the stall every day, just say so. You keep hiding what you mean, and even I don’t understand, let alone the pretty sister.”
Xu Chuanhua’s face darkened. “Can’t this big bowl of wontons plug your mouth!”
Jiang Mo understood. She smiled, her brows curving. “I went to the night market to sell candied hawthorn the night before last. I ran into some trouble and got hurt, so I rested for a day.”
Xu Chuanhua was startled and couldn’t help but look at Jiang Mo’s neck. Indeed, it was wrapped with a layer of gauze. Originally, she had thought it was just because of the cold weather. So she was injured. It was not easy for her to go out and sell things in such cold weather.
Before Xu Chuanhua could finish her musings, Xu Xiaobao finished his soup with a slurp, slammed the bowl down, and shouted, “Mom! I want to eat candied hawthorn!”
Xu Chuanhua: ###