The continuous plum rain finally eased its breath this morning. The sky was no longer misty and hazy, allowing faint light to sprinkle upon the damp, wet dock of Gaochun Town.
A half-worn black-canopied passenger boat was moored nearby.
Wang Qiulan carried a bundle on her back, containing some spare clothes. In the bamboo basket held in Wei Jinyun’s left hand were red bean paste steamed buns that Wang Qiulan had made early in the morning. The remaining oil, rice, flour, and dried goods from home were all packed into the carrying basket, leaving nothing behind.
“Ling-jie, Qu-jie, hold on to your sister.”
Wei Jinyun’s voice was gentle as she extended her hand.
Wei Fuling grasped Wei Jinyun’s hand and then tightly wrapped her arm around hers. Her large, dark eyes kept glancing left and right, watching the passing pedestrians.
In previous years, she had only ridden boats on the small river near her home with her grandmother, catching small fish and chasing ducks. Now, it was her first time traveling far on a passenger boat. Even though she was born in a water town, she couldn’t help but feel a bit timid.
Wei Fuqu kept her gaze lowered. She steadily jumped onto the boat’s plank, avoiding Wei Jinyun’s arm as she tried to help her, and said softly, “I can manage on my own.”
Once on board, she looked up and saw the large carrying basket on Wei Jinyun’s back. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly. “Give me that basket in your hand. I’ll carry it.”
Beside them, bare-chested foot porters carried loads onto the boat, an old woman was hawking freshly picked lotus seedpods and water caltrops, and a few well-dressed traveling merchants were haggling with the boat captain.
The boat captain was a silent, dark-skinned, and lean man, simply focused on untying the rope fastened to an old tree stump.
The boat woman, on the other hand, was a woman in her forties, wearing a faded blue cloth dotted vest, tied with a matching armband. Her posture was straight and upright, giving off an air of competence.
Her face was rosy, and her voice was loud. “Granny Wang, taking your granddaughters to Pingjiang Fu? Come in quickly! There’s a small compartment at the cabin stern. It’s a bit cramped, but it’s quiet!”
The so-called compartment was merely a small space partitioned off with wooden planks at the stern of the boat, barely enough for four people to sit.
It was low, stuffy, and filled with the damp, musty smell of old wood soaked in river water.
Wei Jinyun helped her grandmother and made sure her younger sisters were seated safely before settling herself against the boat wall. She lifted the black canopy curtain and gazed out at the gradually widening river surface.
The boat oar parted the water as the boat slowly moved forward.
“Freshly picked water caltrops for sale! First harvest, tender and sweet!”
“Gardenia flowers, jasmine flowers, fragrant pearl orchid flowers! Buy them to brew tea, and you’ll smell wonderful all over!”
“Straw sandals! Palm fans!”
Naturally, there were all kinds of hawking voices near the dock, drifting into the cabin from near and far.
Wei Fuqu leaned close to Wei Jinyun, poked her head out from under the curtain, bent down, and reached out to pluck a lotus flower.
Her sudden move startled Wei Jinyun, who quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back. “Qu-jie, be careful not to fall in.”
“I can swim.”
Wei Fuqu clutched the plucked lotus flower and muttered softly.
“So what? Could Qu-jie catch up to the boat?”
Wei Fuling, sitting nearby, retorted. The two of them were twins. Although Wei Fuqu was born first, Wei Fuling refused to call her “elder sister,” instead addressing her daily as “Qu-jie, Qu-jie.”
Wei Jinyun understood the child’s thoughts—likely wanting to take a lotus flower as a keepsake before leaving Jiangning Prefecture, where she had grown up.
As the boat sailed away from Gaochun Town, melodious music began to sound around them, piercing through the noisy chatter and the sound of water, drifting clearly into the cabin.
Wei Jinyun followed the sound and saw a merchant ship, much larger and more elaborately decorated than their own black-canopied boat, approaching from the side and rear. This merchant vessel had several cabins, each carefully partitioned, clean and tidy.
Naturally, they could not afford such an expensive boat—a single trip on it would cost as much as several round trips on their black-canopied boat.
For their safety, Grandmother had gritted her teeth and decided to return to Pingjiang Fu, though it was unclear how the shop there was faring. How they would settle there, what business they could run from the shop, and every expense they would incur—all these required careful thought.
At the bow of the merchant ship, a woman dressed in a plain silk skirt cradled a pipa, her head bowed as her fingers danced lightly over the strings.
The soft, lingering melody of the Wu Nong dialect flowed from the pipa’s plucked notes, tender and sorrowful.
Wang Qiulan also heard the pipa music.
She had been resting with her eyes closed, but now her brows furrowed slightly, and her hands tightened around the blue cloth bundle on her lap. She opened her eyes, seemingly nostalgic, and said, “It’s a little different from Jiangning Prefecture—this is the tune of Pingjiang Fu. It’s been so long since I last heard it.”
In the cabin, the idle chatter of other passengers drifted to their ears.
“I heard the price of silk in Pingjiang Fu has risen again this year. If I can sell this batch of goods smoothly, I’ll finally be able to afford a wife.”
“The pastry shop ‘Xu Ji’ on Shantang Street is incredibly popular. The queue stretches all the way to the end of the street early in the morning. Just thinking about their date paste sesame cakes makes my mouth water.”
“I’m heading to listen to the pipa. In the northwest corner of Zi Cheng, sipping tea and enjoying the music—that’s the life.”
Wei Jinyun listened to the passengers’ chatter about life in Pingjiang Fu, picking out useful information while quickly calculating in her mind. She, too, was from Pingjiang Fu—just a thousand years later.
Her grandparents had found her when they were already elderly. By the time she had arranged their funerals, she was only in her third year of university.
She had originally intended to study medicine like her grandfather, but he would always argue with her about whether traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine was better. “No need to study too much,” he’d say. “Just watch and practice with me.” While she bickered with her grandfather daily, her grandmother would brew a pot of tea and pick out a few freshly made pastries.
As her grandfather ate the pastries, her grandmother would scold him, “And you call yourself a seasoned traditional doctor! Don’t you know your blood sugar and blood pressure are high? Give some to our girl!”
Her grandfather would quickly stuff a piece of mung bean cake into his mouth, picking crumbs from his beard as he retorted, “Not high, not high! I’ve taken my own pulse. I’ve been eating your pastries all my life—how could you stop me now in my old age?”
In the end, Wei Jinyun learned the four diagnostic methods of observation, listening, inquiry, and palpation, as well as her grandmother’s pastry-making skills.
The Great Song Dynasty was bustling and prosperous. In Pingjiang Fu, people likely wouldn’t trust or value the pulse-taking skills of a young girl like her. Given the prime location, it would be better to open a pastry shop instead.
It would suit the tastes of the people in Pingjiang Fu, and she was skilled at it—a good way to earn money.
As for Wei Jinyun’s original major in law, being a litigation master in these times was no easy task. Saying the wrong thing could easily lead to revenge or even exile.
She wanted to live a long and good life with her grandmother and sisters.
At noon, the boat woman came in with a clay pot to refill the water and struck up a conversation. “Granny Wang, are you heading to Pingjiang Fu to stay with relatives? From your accent, you sound like a local of Pingjiang Fu?”
Her eyes casually glanced at the blue cloth bundle tightly held by the grandmother, which contained the deed to the shop and their travel permits.
Grandmother didn’t even lift her eyelids, merely uttering a faint “hmm” in response, clearly unwilling to engage further.
The boat woman, having met this gentle rebuff, wasn’t offended. Instead, she turned her gaze to Wei Jinyun and her sisters, smiling as she said, “Oh my, these little girls are so lovely, just like the children in New Year paintings. But they seem a bit listless—are they seasick? Or perhaps the food on my boat doesn’t suit their taste?”
The passenger boat provided meals, but nothing of quality was offered.
The rice was steamed dry and hard, with a faint sour smell as if it had been left overnight. The vegetables were bland and tasteless, while a small dish of pickled mustard melon was overly salty. The only hint of oil was a few solidified specks of lard, leaving the sisters feeling utterly dispirited.
Gaochun Town belonged to Jiangning Prefecture. Although Wang Qiulan hadn’t raised her granddaughters in luxury, their meals had always included both meat and vegetables. She often took the girls to buy candy sweets and listen to operas, doting on them as if they were precious treasures.
Thus, it was only natural that the sisters were struggling to adapt now.
Passenger boats were prohibited from traveling at night, and the journey from Jiangning Prefecture south to Pingjiang Fu would take several days. As early summer grew warmer, the red bean paste steamed buns Grandmother had prepared and the fruits the sisters loved wouldn’t last more than two days.
Seeing her sisters’ pale little faces, Wei Jinyun worried that the sour rice might upset their stomachs, making matters worse. She thought to herself that she would need to prepare some meals for them over the next couple of days.
“Granny,” Wei Jinyun looked up, wearing a gentle smile, her voice clear and bright. “May I borrow your small clay stove and earthenware pot? I noticed my sisters aren’t feeling well and wanted to make them something more comforting.”
The boat woman was somewhat surprised but, seeing the sincerity in Wei Jinyun’s eyes, readily agreed. “Go ahead, go ahead. The fire beneath the stove is still warm.”
Wei Jinyun thanked her and stood up.
She fetched the clay stove and earthenware pot, washed her hands upon returning, poured the cold water set aside into the pot, and took two pieces of the candy sweets her sisters enjoyed for a sweet treat, dropping them into the water.
The water soon warmed, and the candy melted. She took a few mint leaves, rubbed them vigorously in her palm to extract the juice, and tossed them into the sweetened water.
Once the sugar water began to simmer slightly, she immediately removed it from the heat.
“Qu’er, Ling’er, have some water.”
Wei Jinyun carefully poured the mint sugar water into two porcelain bowls, let it cool for a while, and then handed it to her sisters.
“Sister, it’s delicious! So sweet!”
Wei Fuling eagerly took a big sip. Wei Fuqu also drank in small sips, her previously listless little face gradually relaxing.
Knowing the journey would take several days and that discomfort on the boat was inevitable, Wei Jinyun had already picked several clusters of mint leaves from the yard in preparation.
In her previous life, she had no siblings. Looking at these two little green glutinous rice dumplings, her heart melted.
How could there be such adorable sisters?
And two of them, no less.
By nightfall, the boat had already entered the canal.
Rain began to patter down again. The night rain did nothing to dispel the heat; instead, it made the cabin even more humid and stifling, like a steamer.
Wei Fuling lay sound asleep on Grandmother’s lap, breathing evenly.
Curled up in a corner, Wei Fuqu’s little face flushed in the dim cabin, her breath hot and labored. Her small body trembled uncontrollably, her lips pressed tightly together as she endured the discomfort.
Wei Jinyun noticed the faint sounds and moved closer, reaching out to touch Wei Fuqu’s forehead—it felt warm.
She guessed it was from exposure to the river wind, with damp evil entering the body, cold and heat alternating—a case of hot wind-cold. With no medicine or doctors on the boat, illnesses during the rainy season were the most troublesome to deal with.
Wei Fuqu was burning with fever, somewhat dazed, yet her eyes remained stubbornly open, holding a trace of defiance and wariness as she stared fixedly at Wei Jinyun. She wanted to push Wei Jinyun’s hand away but lacked even the strength to lift her arm.
“Auntie.”
Wei Jinyun stepped out of the cabin to ask, “Do you have any ginger on board? Is the old lady who sells lotus seedpods asleep now?”
The boat woman was dozing in a rattan chair at the bow. She got up and helped rummage out a few shriveled pieces of old ginger and a small handful of fresh green lotus seedpods. “There’s ginger, and some fresh lotus seeds from this morning’s purchase, still a bit left.”
She wouldn’t let others haggle; with a twist and a turn of the lotus seedpods, she managed to charge Wei Jinyun two extra coins.
“Thank you.”
Wei Jinyun paid and brought the small clay stove out of the cabin to avoid disturbing the others who were asleep.
On the deck, she washed the old ginger, smashed it with the back of a knife, and squeezed out the pungent ginger juice for later use. Then, with great patience, she peeled the lotus seeds and picked out the lotus seed hearts.
She placed the lotus seed flesh into a porcelain bowl, carefully mashed it repeatedly, and mixed in some rice flour, sugar lumps, and the ginger juice. Wei Fuqu disliked the taste of ginger; if she simply boiled ginger water, Wei Fuqu wouldn’t drink more than a few sips.
The boat woman’s small clay stove was lit once again.
Wei Jinyun washed the earthenware pot, poured in water, and brought it to a boil. Fresh lotus leaves were carefully washed and placed beneath the bowl of lotus ginger rice paste. Then, she placed the bowl into the pot, covered it with a lid, and steamed it over water.
Gradually, a warm fragrance spread through the small passenger boat. The originally pungent and sharp scent of ginger was enveloped in a gentle sweetness.
“Sister Qu.”
Wei Jinyun reached out and gently patted the shoulder of Wei Fuqu, who was bowing her head in the dim light, coaxing softly, “Have something to eat.”
The warm aroma of rice drifted into Wei Fuqu’s nostrils. Her body trembled slightly, and she couldn’t help but wipe the corner of her eye, her voice filled with an indescribable amount of grievance, “…I won’t eat. You’re not my sister.”
Author’s Note: