“Did you change my clothes?”
Feng nodded, looking ill at ease. “You were gravely wounded that day, covered in blood, and I couldn’t find anyone else to help. I had no choice but to—”
Song Zhi cut her off. “There was a hundred-tael banknote[1]A tael was a traditional unit of weight commonly used to reckon silver currency; its exact weight and value varied by time and place. Here the banknote is denominated in taels. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); hidden in the lining of those clothes. Please fetch it for me.”
Feng’s eyes instantly turned into hooks slicked with oil.
Someone who could casually produce a hundred taels… What a fat sheep!
Contestant Number Twelve… was strong!
“Please wait a moment, Young Master. I’ll go look.”
In no time, Zhao Jinfeng returned with the clothes and personal belongings Number Twelve had had that day. She took the hundred-tael banknote from the lining and looked it over again and again, barely managing to resist the urge to knock the man unconscious and make off with the hundred taels and Caihuan—
But she had read the legal code soon after arriving in this world.
The Household Register Statutes of the Great Zhou Code[2]This is the legal code named in the novel’s setting. The passage describes its rules, but the chapter does not establish that it is a verbatim text of an identifiable historical dynasty. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); stated: “All households of soldiers, civilians, post-station workers, salt workers, physicians, diviners, artisans, musicians, and others shall be registered according to their original household records.”
A woman’s marriage had to be entered in the yellow registers[3]Household registers were official records used to track households for administration, taxes, and obligations. The exact register system in this fictional Great Zhou setting is not specified. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Without a travel permit[4]Travel documents were used in various Chinese dynasties to regulate movement and identify travelers. The chapter sets out the consequences of lacking one in this story’s legal system. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); or official documents, anyone stopped at a city gate could be arrested. Those deemed “vagrants without household registration” would be sent to the authorities and beaten with eighty strokes.
Without a travel permit, she’d be an unregistered person wherever she fled. If she were caught in an inspection, she’d be sent to the authorities.
Feng wrenched her gaze away from the hundred-tael banknote. Song Zhi, however, didn’t take it back. “Miss Zhao, please keep this money—”
Feng was overjoyed, but demurred aloud. “These are Young Master Song’s traveling funds. I can’t accept them.”
“If it weren’t for Miss Zhao, I would have died beneath the bandits’ blades. I can hardly repay you for saving my life.”
What an act.
Number Twelve, you’re really good at pretending.
Gang Leader Cao was more wronged than Dou E herself[5]Dou E is the heroine of the famous Yuan-dynasty play The Injustice to Dou E, who is wrongfully condemned. Her name is a byword for someone treated unjustly. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
The man hadn’t laid a finger on you!
“Not to mention the clothes, medicine, and daily necessities—all of them cost money. This courtyard is drafty on every side, so I imagine you have a hard enough time as it is, Miss Zhao. If I made you spend even more on my account, my guilt would be beyond measure.”
Song Zhi’s words were exceedingly considerate.
Feng listened, her eyes narrowing slightly.
This was something else.
Number Twelve was something else.
Handsome, rich, and, most importantly… generous.
He really was a 24-karat golden son-in-law!
“It’s just… I’ve ended up here far from home, and my servants are probably searching everywhere for me. Please take this jade tablet[6]Jade tablets and tokens can serve as symbols of status or identification in Chinese historical fiction. This story specifies that the object is known to his household servants. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); to the authorities and register it, so my household servants can find me as soon as possible.”
He wanted to leave already?
If her golden son-in-law left, she really would end up as that Miss Su’s stepmother.
Feng was hardly the sort to let a chance pass her by.
“But…” Zhao Jinfeng began calculating excuses. “The bandits were after you that day, Young Master Song. If your identity is revealed, might it lead them here?”
Third Brother considered this briefly. “This jade tablet is a private possession. Only my household servants know about it.”
Besides, he used false identities whenever he traveled.
There was no chance it would lead his enemies to him.
Zhao Jinfeng naturally took the banknote and the jade tablet. “There’s no convenient transport in the village. The only option is to wait for Uncle Zhang[7]Uncle can be a familiar, respectful address for an older man who is not a blood relative. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); next door to take his ox cart into town, but he usually goes only once every few days. I’ll go find out when he’ll be going next.”
Zhao Jinfeng turned to leave, then saw Caihuan in the kitchen making a shuttlecock[8]A feathered toy used in traditional Chinese shuttlecock-kicking games, often called jianzi. Players try to keep it aloft with their feet. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717504_1_8').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717504_1_8', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Caihuan said the chicken had died an undeserved death, so she ought to make a few more shuttlecocks and put it to good use.
Zhao Jinfeng lowered her voice. “Caihuan, go remove the wheels from Uncle Zhang’s ox cart and hide them somewhere far away. Make sure he can’t get into town for ten days or half a month.”
“Huh?” Caihuan asked, a few chicken feathers tucked into her hair. She looked even more guileless than usual.
What was her mistress planning to do now, out of the blue?
“Don’t ask. Just go. Oh, and hide the wheels in the room of Auntie Niu’s eldest grandson, up ahead.”
Hah! That would teach him to take liberties with her last time.
Then his wife caught him and he claimed Zhao Jinfeng had seduced him!
Zhao Jinfeng had been waiting for a chance to teach that brat a lesson.
But Caihuan shook her head like a rattle, wearing the face of a chaste martyr. “Miss, Uncle Zhang’s family got a dog a few days ago. It’s vicious and bites everyone. I don’t dare go.”
Zhao Jinfeng didn’t force her. She decided to brave the tiger herself. Before leaving, she picked up the chicken leg bone—the one she’d gnawed clean beneath the stove yesterday.
“Keep an eye on Number Twelve. Don’t let that boy run off.”
Caihuan was very worried. She called after her, “Miss, Uncle Zhang’s dog really does bite!”
Zhao Jinfeng wasn’t stupid.
She naturally went to chat with Uncle Zhang, then got on friendly terms with his big yellow dog. After that, just as night was falling and Uncle Zhang’s family sat down to eat, she had only just laid a hand on one of the cart wheels when she met Dahuang’s eyes.
Zhao Jinfeng wasn’t stupid.
But Dahuang was.
After eating her chicken-leg bones, Dahuang didn’t know friend from foe. He barked furiously and chased her all the way home. Honest Caihuan heard the barking from far away and realized something was wrong. She swiftly opened the door, then slammed it shut the moment Zhao Jinfeng slipped inside—
Zhao Jinfeng came tumbling in, stumbling and scrambling, rolling and crawling. She braced her hands on her knees and panted like a dog, snarling, “Dahuang really is a dog! I fed him my chicken leg and he still bit me!”
Suddenly, she heard footsteps rustling nearby.
Zhao Jinfeng looked up and saw Third Brother standing at the threshold.
In the moonlight.
Beneath the shadows of the locust tree.
Zhao Jinfeng’s breath caught.
Even in coarse homespun, his luminous beauty was impossible to conceal.
Frost gathered on the moonlit steps, his reflection standing alone.
He stood on the stone steps, his plain robes flowing like water, his dark hair half-tied with a jade hairpin, ethereal as a visitor from beyond the heavens.
The man’s eyes were lowered. His unfocused gaze slowly found the figure in the courtyard. “Miss Zhao… what happened?”
What happened?
All because of you, you brat—
Zhao Jinfeng made her voice tremble slightly and put on a frightened expression. As she spoke, she panted softly. “Young Master Song, I went to Uncle Zhang’s to ask when he’d be going into town, but his dog chased me all the way home. I… I… I was so scared.”
Scared?
But Song Zhi had clearly heard the young woman running at full speed, her steps steady and powerful, her stance sure. She’d run such a long distance without even sounding out of breath—
Perhaps country women were strong.
That was the only explanation Song Zhi could think of.
Caihuan belatedly looked at the wooden stick in her hand. “Miss, did you steal firewood from Uncle Zhang’s? No wonder Dahuang chased you!”
“Oh, this?” Song Zhi noticed the figure drawing closer. The young woman carried a pleasant osmanthus fragrance, delicate as mist. Then his hand suddenly grew warm.
Zhao Jinfeng took his hand and pressed a wooden stick into it. “I saw this at Uncle Zhang’s and thought it would make a good walking stick for the blind, so I brought it back for you. Try it—see if it works.”
She offered it eagerly, though her voice was shy. “There’s nothing much out here in the country, so you’ll have to make do with this for now, Young Master Song. I’ll bring you a proper walking stick from town another day.”
The moment Song Zhi touched it, he knew it was nothing more than an ordinary piece of firewood from a farmer’s home.
The tip was slightly damp with Miss Zhao’s palm sweat.
The stick itself was nothing precious.
What was precious was the pure kindness Miss Zhao had shown him.
Song Zhi had seen the deceptions of human nature all his life, yet had long since forgotten that people as simple and sincere as Miss Zhao existed.
Something stirred in Song Zhi’s heart. His smile was faint. “You’re very thoughtful, Miss Zhao.”
References[+]