Lu Zhidao originally had no intention of dealing with her, but the page boy by Miss Shen’s side kept shouting on her behalf, actively running back and forth to summon her.
Left with no choice, Lu Zhidao walked up to her, one hand resting on her sword, looking up to wait for her questions.
Miss Shen said nothing at first. She stepped down from her carriage and walked up to Lu Zhidao. Tilting her head, she snapped open the folding fan in her hand, looking first at the painting on the fan and then at Lu Zhidao, carefully comparing the two.
“I haven’t seen you before. Are you a permanent laborer of our household?”
“She’s new, just a day laborer,” the foreman answered with a smile, explaining, “Though she’s a girl, she has quite a lot of strength.”
“Draw your sword,” Miss Shen said, closing her fan. Using the fan as a makeshift blade, she mimicked a martial arts move, her eyes full of excitement. “Perform a few moves for me to see.”
“On what grounds?” Lu Zhidao asked in a flat tone.
Before Miss Shen could speak, the page boy nearby grew agitated. “If she tells you to show a few moves, you show them! Where do all these questions come from?”
Lu Zhidao remained unmoved, staring only at Miss Shen. Seeing this, the page boy stepped forward quickly, raising his palm as if to strike her.
Lu Zhidao was lightning-fast. She grabbed his wrist and deftly wrenched it backward. The page boy let out an uncontrollable wail of pain, frozen in place.
The foreman panicked and hurried over to mediate. Lu Zhidao didn’t want to cause real trouble, so she didn’t use her full strength; she simply shoved the boy a good distance away.
“Fine! You dare lay hands on me!” The page boy rubbed his wrist, preparing to lung again, but Miss Shen blocked him with her fan.
“What is your name?” Miss Shen asked with great interest.
“Is there a reason?” Lu Zhidao countered.
Miss Shen smiled, showing an uncharacteristic amount of patience. She slowly unfurled her fan and sighed, “I thought a beauty dancing with a sword existed only in paintings.”
Lu Zhidao didn’t understand the sentiment. She stood ramrod straight, her only thought being that she wanted to carry a few more loads of cargo.
“You seem to have quite the skill. It’s a waste to do this kind of work. Stay by my side.”
“No,” Lu Zhidao refused bluntly.
“Hey… giving you face and you don’t want it, eh!” The page boy rolled up his sleeves to step forward again.
“Shut up!” Miss Shen interrupted him impatiently. She turned back to Lu Zhidao with a calm expression. “Carrying a bag here earns you only one wen. Follow me, and you can name your price.”
Lu Zhidao pondered this. She felt a slight flutter of interest. She figured that the daughter of the local richest man certainly wouldn’t lack money. Earning from her would be much easier than carrying sacks at the docks; if this worked, Chu Ning wouldn’t have to paint anymore, and they might be able to leave by boat very soon.
So, she opened her mouth and named a lion’s price: “One hundred taels.”
The surrounding porters let out soft gasps of shock. They wouldn’t earn that much in a lifetime of carrying bags. However, Lu Zhidao watched Miss Shen’s expression closely; seeing the woman chuckle without changing her expression, Lu realized that Miss Shen didn’t care about a hundred taels at all.
Lu realized she had likely aimed too low. She quickly added, “Per day.”
Lu Zhidao didn’t actually want to follow this strange young lady, but if the money was right, she could consider it. She thought to herself: If she accepts, I do it; if not, I go back to carrying sacks.
The murmuring around them grew louder, mostly accusing Lu Zhidao of being ungrateful. If Miss Shen were willing to keep them by her side, they would have run over instantly without daring to bargain.
“One hundred taels a day?” Miss Shen pressed the folded fan against her chin, asking with a smile.
“Yes.”
Miss Shen opened the fan to look at the painting, then at Lu Zhidao. She laughed. “You are worth that price. How about we start with a month?”
Lu Zhidao was secretly shocked. She hadn’t expected the woman to agree without even thinking, and she began to suspect she had still quoted too low.
Then, a thought occurred she worried the woman might have illegal or improper intentions. Recalling that Chu Ning wouldn’t even use stolen money, and wanting to avoid her displeasure, Lu added, “I won’t do anything illegal.”
Lu Zhidao looked the picture of integrity, as if she had lived her whole life with absolute honor and had never done anything shameful. Thinking about it, she almost wanted to laugh at herself.
“My family does legitimate business; what illegal things could there be? Just stay and keep me company.”
“Fine,” Lu Zhidao agreed decisively. “But I’m only doing one day.”
One hundred taels was enough for their travel expenses and then some.
“That won’t do. What can one do in a single day? At least three days. And for these three days, you must listen to me.”
Lu Zhidao thought for a moment and agreed. She figured that no matter what, it was only three days; she could endure it.
With the deal struck, Lu Zhidao stopped carrying bags. She immediately exchanged her tallies for cash—counting out fifty-some wen.
“When do we start?” Lu Zhidao asked, returning to Miss Shen with copper coins in one hand and her other hand on her sword hilt.
“Right now,” Miss Shen said, flicking her fan open and then snapping it shut with a flourish. “What is your—”
As she spoke, Chu Ning arrived at the docks, holding a brown paper parcel of xing candy.
To backtrack slightly: Chu Ning had spent the day at the inn painting fan surfaces. She was becoming more proficient, finishing five by the end of the day.
Seeing that Lu Zhidao hadn’t returned, she took the finished fans to the market stall. She happily exchanged them for a hundred wen and told the owner she would come back for more blank fans later.
Her mind was on the candy Lu Zhidao had been longing for. She had promised it last night and was determined to find it.
However, the candy vendor wandered the streets with his shoulder pole; finding him was a matter of luck. Chu Ning waited on the street for a long time but didn’t see him or hear his gong.
Left with no choice, she found a grain and oil shop that sold some candy. They didn’t have the liquid yi candy from yesterday, but they did have malt sugar made into blocks, called xing candy. Chu Ning figured they were both malt sugar and close enough, so she bought some.
She took the candy to the docks, intending to give it to Lu Zhidao and head back with her. But as she arrived, she saw Lu Zhidao and Miss Shen deep in conversation. Miss Shen was smiling brightly, looking at Lu Zhidao with shimmering eyes as she listened to her speak.
Seeing Chu Ning approach, Lu Zhidao left Miss Shen and walked quickly to her side.
Chu Ning felt an inexplicable pang of displeasure. She pursed her lips and teased, “I don’t usually see you talking so much.”
Lu Zhidao rubbed her sword hilt and explained honestly, “She asked, and I answered.”
“And who is she?”
Lu Zhidao leaned into Chu Ning’s ear and whispered, “Miss Shen. Her family owns all these merchant ships.”
Chu Ning suddenly realized her tone sounded a bit petty and sarcastic. What right do I have to interfere? she thought, cautiously reigning in her emotions.
But the strange sense of loss was hard to hide. She lowered her eyes and handed the paper-wrapped candy to Lu Zhidao.
Lu Zhidao took the parcel and opened it to find many square blocks of yellowish-white candy, filled with tiny, uneven holes. It was exactly the kind of candy she had once longed for but could never have.
“This much?” Lu Zhidao was overwhelmed. she couldn’t believe Chu Ning had actually brought it to her.
She had been certain she’d offended her the night before and hadn’t dared to hope for anything, let alone mention it this morning. She hadn’t expected Chu Ning to remember and bring it to her.
A warm current flowed through Lu Zhidao’s chest. She held the parcel with extreme care, feeling an immense sense of gratitude. But seeing Chu Ning staring blankly at the ground instead of looking at her with that dimpled smile, Lu Zhidao didn’t know how to start a conversation. She just stood there, holding the candy and staring at her.
It was Chu Ning who spoke first. “Are you finished? It’s getting late.”
“Finished,” Lu Zhidao answered without thinking, nodding blankly.
As the two prepared to leave, Miss Shen walked over. She pointed her fan at Lu Zhidao. “You are my person now. Don’t just wander off.”
Chu Ning finally took notice of her. Miss Shen wore a pale silk dress woven with gold thread, decked out in gold and jade, but her expression was overbearing.
Not understanding the meaning of the words and not wanting to start a conflict, Chu Ning looked at Lu Zhidao in confusion. “What’s going on?”
Before Lu Zhidao could speak, Miss Shen glanced at the candy in Lu’s hand and laughed. “You like candy? You should have said so. I can give you as much as you want.”
Lu Zhidao usually wouldn’t bother responding to such things, but seeing that Chu Ning was already a bit downcast, she worried these words would make her feel worse. She carefully tucked the candy away and said:
“I only want this portion.”
“Let me see what’s so special about it,” Miss Shen said, reaching out for the candy without being asked.
Lu Zhidao raised her arm to block her hand, then pulled Chu Ning aside. She wanted to explain the deal with Miss Shen and her plan—that in just three days, they could leave with a large sum of money.
But Miss Shen didn’t give her the chance. She stepped in front of them and pressed her fan against Lu Zhidao’s chest, blocking their path.
“You have to listen to me now.”
Seeing her bossy behavior, Chu Ning didn’t want to engage further. She took a half-step forward to shield Lu Zhidao, gently pushing the fan away. “Why should she listen to you? Miss Shen, you’re being quite unreasonable.”
To avoid her fan being touched, Miss Shen flicked the handle and stepped back. In doing so, she unintentionally opened half the fan. Only then did Lu Zhidao see the painting on it. It was the very first fan Chu Ning had painted. The person dancing with the sword was herself.
Somehow, the fan had ended up in Miss Shen’s hands.
Lu Zhidao finally understood why the woman was willing to pay a high price to keep her. It was all because of that painting. Realizing this, she actually relaxed. Miss Shen just wanted the novelty of having the “person from the painting” become real. This meant there was no need to worry about ulterior motives; she would be easy to handle.
But Chu Ning didn’t see it that way. The moment she saw the fan, her emotions became a tangled mess. The displeasure she had fought to hide surged back, though she couldn’t articulate exactly why.
A small voice in her heart kept protesting: Whether it’s the fan or the person, they should both be mine. But with a little thought, she realized there was no “proof” that either belonged to her.
She felt a strange, small sense of loss, but having no standing to vent her petty emotions, she hid them away. She turned to Lu Zhidao and asked flatly, “So it was for this. Is there something you couldn’t tell me?”
“It’s not for this… I did it for the money,” Lu Zhidao explained hurriedly. She had only just seen the fan surface herself.
Chu Ning forced a smile and reached out, taking the bag of candy back from Lu Zhidao’s hand.
“I’m going back. Let her buy candy for you.”
Lu Zhidao stared at her empty palm, frozen on the spot. It took a long time for her to snap out of it and chase after her.