Zhao Jinfeng wiped the sweat from her brow. “I’ll ask around about going into town again tomorrow. Young Master Song, get some rest.”
Song Sanlang[1]Sanlang is a family-style designation for a third son or third-ranked young man; it is not necessarily his personal given name. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717505_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717505_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); inclined his head slightly to her, then tapped his way back to his room with his blind cane.
Caihuan went to fetch water for her young lady to wash up. While she was at it, she didn’t forget to praise her. “Miss, Number Twelve smiled! I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn’t that creepy smile from yesterday. It was more like…”
Caihuan couldn’t find the words.
She couldn’t read and was utterly uncultured, so Zhao Jinfeng slowly supplied them for her. “It was the kind of smile he hasn’t worn in a long time—”
Caihuan admitted she didn’t understand. “Miss got chased by a dog and still remembered to bring him his blind cane. It must have touched him—”
Her young lady really knew what she was doing.
No wonder the first eleven were so devoted to her.
Every one of them had said he’d come back to take her away from this godforsaken place within a year at most.
Zhao Jinfeng shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned. “I just picked it up by the roadside. I was going to use it to beat the dog.”
Caihuan: Impressive.
Truly impressive.
When she heard that Song Sanlang was eager to meet up with his household servants, Zhao Jinfeng grew anxious.
Once the servants arrived to bring him tea and water, what chance would she have to get in there?
There were still forty-five days until her mourning period[2]Traditional filial mourning following a parent’s death could delay marriage and limit social activity. The duration and practical restrictions depended on the time and setting. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717505_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717505_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); ended. After that, her wedding might well be scheduled.
Zhao Jinfeng couldn’t afford not to worry. She had already tried to find someone who could make her a fake travel permit[3]Travel permits were documents that authorities could require for movement between places. The chapter depicts traveling without valid papers as a legal risk in this fictional setting. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717505_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717505_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, but had found no way in.
Even when she did find a contact, they saw a young woman and quoted her an outrageous price.
If not for that, she wouldn’t have pinned her hopes on marriage.
Run away?
Never mind that soldiers inspected travelers everywhere; beyond Niujia Village lay nothing but endless mountains, with tigers and wild boars in them. Farther still were bandits and floods. For a woman traveling alone, it would be no different from walking straight into a tiger’s den.
Zhao Jinfeng was in a bind.
Unable to sleep, she climbed out of bed, wrapped a coat around herself, and hunched over the bedside to work by lamplight, writing furiously.
She was using a reed pen, its tip rasping across the yellow paper. Wrapped in her quilt, Caihuan opened her bleary eyes and asked, “Miss, what are you doing?”
In the flickering lamplight, the young woman’s profile was soft and graceful, but her eyes shone with fierce determination, as though she were about to go into battle the next day.
“I’m writing a plan to win a man over within a month.”
Caihuan squinted and counted on her fingers. “Miss, you still have forty-five days left in mourning.”
“Mm.” Zhao Jinfeng didn’t look up. “I’ll spend the last half a month preparing an escape route.”
Caihuan understood. When there was nowhere left to retreat, running away was the only option.
She paused, then said hoarsely, “Then remember to take me with you when you run. Wherever we go, we’ll stay together!”
Zhao Jinfeng began pulling at her hair in anguish. “I saved twelve men, and Number Twelve is the most trouble of them all!”
Caihuan tried to comfort her. “Miss, there’s always a way out. Maybe one of the first eleven you saved will keep his promise and come back to marry you. Let’s see… the timing…”
With practiced ease, Caihuan pulled the booklet from beneath the pillow and opened it to the first page. “Number One was saved half a year ago. He said he was going to seek help from a wealthy relative in the capital. Perhaps he’ll be back soon—”
“My dear Caihuan…” Zhao Jinfeng turned to her, speaking earnestly. “You can listen to what men say, but never take it to heart. They’re attracted to my youth and beauty, and to how gentle and accommodating I am. But the moment they leave this little courtyard, they’ll come to their senses and start calculating my family value, my childbearing value, and my economic value. By the time they reach their destination, they may have already forgotten what I look like.”
“This world is never short of beautiful women as lovely as hibiscus flowers, nor clever, charming women. But if you went somewhere like the imperial capital and looked around, how many of those who stand at the very top of the halls and decide people’s fates with a single word got there on looks alone?”
“Look at me. Apart from this face, what else do I have? Do I have a powerful family behind me? Capable parents? Influential elder brothers? Exceptional skills? Endless gold to spend?” Zhao Jinfeng beat her chest and wailed, “No! I have none of those!”
Caihuan furrowed her brow slightly.
She had the sense that her young lady was warm on the outside, cold on the inside.
Especially when it came to love.
There had been so many young masters before, and though Zhao Jinfeng seemed to devote herself to each one, Caihuan knew she hadn’t truly cared for any of them.
Her young lady had once said, “Playing along is not a privilege reserved for men.”
Since power in this world was concentrated in men’s hands, women who wanted power had no choice but to obtain it through men.
Zhao Jinfeng turned away and looked at the “Plan” she had written. Her voice drifted out in a murmur. “Beauty is springtime; blossoms flourish in every field. How can the tender embrace of a lover’s arms rival the weight of power? The longings of a woman’s boudoir are ultimately flowers reflected in water, moons reflected in a mirror[4]An image used in Chinese literary expression for something beautiful but illusory or impossible to grasp. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717505_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717505_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. What is truly precious? A step on the ladder to establish oneself, and power enough to shake the heavens.”
Caihuan squinted, then fell asleep again, the words going over her head.
Zhao Jinfeng wrote furiously for half the night. In the latter half, she slept like the dead, until the sun was already high in the sky. Outside, chickens crowed and dogs barked, and she heard Uncle Zhang and Song Sanlang’s voices—
Uncle Zhang?!
Zhao Jinfeng jolted upright from her near-death sleep, snatched up the plan and hid it underneath, then threw on her clothes and rushed outside.
But she was too late.
Song Zhi stood by the steps, leaning on his cane. Seeing Zhao Jinfeng, Uncle Zhang smiled and said, “I heard yesterday that you’d picked up another young man from the main road… You’re the only girl I know who isn’t afraid of trouble…”
The more Uncle Zhang said, the wilder his story became. “Oh, I don’t know what’s got into this place. A few months ago, a band of bandits appeared around here. They’re always burning, killing, and robbing people along the main road—”
Zhao Jinfeng: Danger! Danger! Danger!
There had been no burning, killing, or robbing!
They had only helped chase her prospective rich husband onto the main road!
“Uncle, have some water.” Caihuan calmly poured Uncle Zhang a bowl. He gulped down several mouthfuls, and Zhao Jinfeng hurried forward with a smile. “Uncle Zhang, you’ve come all the way here yourself today… Was there something you needed?”
Uncle Zhang was old and had a poor memory. In an instant, he forgot all about the bandits. “Oh, right! I saw you at my house last night, then you ran off, so I wanted to ask if you were hoping to go into town. As it happens, I’m heading into town this afternoon. If you’re going, come along with me.”
Zhao Jinfeng was furious.
She hadn’t even stolen the cart’s wheels yet, and Uncle Zhang had come right to her door.
It was all that wretched Dahuang’s fault!
Song Zhi asked, “Uncle Zhang, how many people can that ox cart carry?”
Zhao Jinfeng had no time to stop him. Song Zhi had already struck up a conversation with Uncle Zhang. “I’m willing to pay to hire your ox cart. You only need to take me to the county yamen.”
Zhao Jinfeng: Danger! Danger! Danger!
The duck was slipping right out of her hands!
“Your eyes are injured, Young Master Song. Going into town may be difficult. Why not rest here at home? Caihuan and I can go by ourselves.”
Song Zhi had already made up his mind. “Madam Zhao, a woman’s reputation is precious. You’re here alone in mourning, and if an unrelated man like me stays too long, it could invite gossip. Besides, I have other things to attend to in town. I really shouldn’t trouble you.”
Zhao Jinfeng was numb with frustration.
Why was Number Twelve acting like a chaste widow[5]Widow chastity was a celebrated ideal in some historical Chinese moral traditions. Here the comparison humorously casts the unmarried man as excessively guarded. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3717505_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3717505_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });? She, a seasoned player, had no idea how to get through to him.
Caihuan hurriedly added, “There are so many people in town, and you can’t see. What if you get hurt?”
Song Zhi smiled. “I’m not made of porcelain. Why should I be afraid of getting bumped or knocked around?”
Zhao Jinfeng spoke with concern, but her words made her disapproval clear. “But the wound on your back hasn’t healed yet…”
“It’s fine. We’ll just go slowly.”
As soon as Uncle Zhang heard that someone was paying to go into town, his face lit up. He clapped his decision through at once. “All right, then. I’ll come get you this afternoon!”
References[+]