Days spent busy with work always pass quickly.
During this time, Yu Chun tried to find a broker on her own to buy land, but gained nothing. As soon as the broker heard her husband wasn’t present and saw how she was dressed, he refused her outright before she could even speak.
She had no choice but to think of another way. In her situation, without a middleman, it was extremely difficult—others were also afraid of getting into trouble.
With Baochai’s advice and Daiyu’s guidance, she decided to take a long-term approach. She would wait until she had her own network before acting on it.
In just three days, Chang’an had already been surrounded.
On the second day of the siege, thieves appeared in the city. Yu Chun and her mother only dared to stay hidden at home.
By evening, several fires could be seen in the Western Market, and faint sounds of shouting and killing drifted through the air.
The next day, Aunt Zhu—who came to trade meat for her grandson—brought some news.
“They say Dou Xiantong’s hostage son joined forces with the Supreme Emperor’s sixteenth son, Prince Yong, and sixth son, Prince Rong, to open the city gates. But Prince Zhong found out, and the two sides clashed. Shengye Ward and Qinren Ward were burned to the ground! Oh my, it’s terrible! My cousin’s son-in-law, who works night watch there, saw it with his own eyes—at the old prince’s residence in Wuyi Lane, even the threshold was soaked soft with blood!”
“Auntie, tell me more! Your information is always the most reliable.” Yu Chun didn’t need to be told—she knew to bait for more. She shot her mother a glance, but her mother was just eating ginkgo nuts.
Seeing the few scattered shells left on the plate, Yu Chun felt a surge of irritation.
Inhale. Exhale—
Inhale. Exhale—
There was already war—just days ago they had been too frightened to leave the house, and now her mother was back to eating and sleeping without a care. She didn’t help, didn’t cooperate, didn’t even save snacks for the children! No matter how many times she said it, it went in one ear and out the other—or rather, straight out both ears!
It wasn’t like her mother lacked food—she ate the same as the children, and recently, while cleaning pig offal, she ate even more meat than Yu Xiao!
Well, with the city sealed, who knew how long supplies would last? Once it was gone, it would be gone—and her mother wouldn’t even complain then!
Inhale. Exhale—
Inhale. Exhale—
Inhale. Exhale—
Yu Chun almost laughed out of anger. Helpless, she got up and poured out half a bag of ginkgo nuts from the cupboard.
She had deliberately stored them in the kitchen.
“They say those rebels must have accumulated terrible karma—the whole lot of them got wiped out. It’s just a pity for those princes, all royal blood…” Aunt Zhu continued eagerly. “But thanks to all this, business at the butcher shops has been booming these past two days—families don’t even have time to eat.”
“It’s still your family that has it good. With this business, if anyone can afford grain now, it’s you.”
“Well—” Aunt Zhu realized she had misspoken. “What money? Nothing’s settled yet—we’re just busy. When will Da Jie be back?”
“He said it’ll take a few more days. After planting the grain, he has to watch for sprouting. Now one dou of grain costs a thousand coins. In the south of the city, people are even digging up corn directly. Even the dumbest thief would wait until it grows before stealing.”
“That’s true. All black-hearted scoundrels. But you young people are capable—how did you know to buy land? In four months, when the harvest comes, won’t it sell for dozens of taels of gold?”
“How could that be? If the rebels really take Chang’an, it’ll just be for their own use, plus government requisitioning… sigh.” Under Fengjie’s “lessons,” Yu Chun had learned to be more cautious—better safe than sorry.
“True enough. Even the grain they plant is worth several strings of cash,” Aunt Zhu said, sounding a bit more at ease. “At least there’s hope.”
“Exactly. My elder sister and his brother don’t have any real skills—they can only take risks. Your family is better, with a hereditary trade—a golden rice bowl. Quietly making a fortune.”
“Indeed! Haha, you really know how to talk. Being literate is good. I’ll send my grandson to that school too. I should head home to cook—call me if you need anything.”
“Auntie, what school is that?”
“It’s a school opened by the great poet Du Fu. It’s in the eastern part of the city, they say—food and lodging included. The requirements are a bit high, but you have to pass an exam. Still, learning a few characters is good.”
“It’s still open now?” Yu Chun was surprised. Aunt Zhu treated her grandson like a treasure—yet she was willing to send him to school during wartime.
“It’s not far, and there are dozens of children there. We even have one in the Western Market. War won’t last forever. Keeping them at home all day isn’t good—better to send them there. They say government soldiers guard it—it’s safer than home. Who knows how long this war will last?”
“That sounds good. When you go, take me with you—I’ll let A Rong try too. If he gets in, I’ll give you a whole pig’s head.” Without Cao Jie at home, Yu Chun felt completely lost—this was her honest thought.
“No need for a pig’s head. If both children get in, they’ll have company, and it’ll be easier to pick them up together. Just send me two plates of braised pig head meat—I can’t make it as well as you, and my family keeps asking for it!”
“Deal!” Yu Chun agreed with a smile. “I’ll head to the goods street now—come by later.”
Aunt Zhu waved and left.
After seeing her off, Yu Chun looked at the sky—there was still time. Carrying the clothes she had finished, she headed toward Hongyan Workshop. It had taken five days, but she had finally completed the order on time.
“Mother, watch Cao Fang. Don’t let her crawl into the bucket soaking rabbit skins.”
“I know, let her crawl—it helps her get used to the ground,” her mother waved impatiently, sweeping ginkgo shells.
“Mother, I’m here at home!” Cao Rong winked at Yu Chun.
“I’m just reminding you!” Yu Chun rolled her eyes. She spread a mat on the ground—Cao Fang had already crawled out of the courtyard several times, supposedly to “get used to walking.”
Luckily, the neighbors all knew them. Otherwise, she might have been kidnapped—there were people who specialized in abducting pretty little girls. Even a thousand years later, such crimes couldn’t be completely prevented, let alone now, when beauty was a rare resource.
Despite her worries, she still had to collect payment. One set earned twenty coins; five sets made a hundred—enough to buy a month’s coarse grain in the past. Now, with no steady income, having no money was terrifying. Unlike in the future, there was no relief aid—earning money herself was the only way.
Today, she also wanted to ask for ten more sets—who knew if there would be more orders after this?
She hurried along the short road, but in just one li, she was checked three times.
Listening to the soldiers, she learned that the Western Market was a key inspection area—they feared spies.
Aside from the fierce attack three days ago, things had calmed somewhat. With Chang’an’s strong walls—reinforced over the past decade—the rebels had surrounded but not attacked. They were skilled in cavalry, not water warfare, and the waterways were still open.
As long as spies didn’t infiltrate and coordinate from within, the city could hold for a year. Now, all depended on the Anxi army.
But would they really come?
“Today, the tenth group of brave men trying to break through was caught. Their heads were piled into a mound at Shunyi Gate—bloody and horrifying. I’ve never seen so many heads—like mountains. The flies were like black clouds.”
“Does the court still need to send messages?” Yu Chun asked the woman ahead of her in line.
If the court couldn’t even send messages, what was the point of defending the city?
“They’re foreign merchants. The rebels have blocked communication—anyone who comes is detained with their goods. But still, more keep arriving.”
“This is Chang’an!”
The woman looked at Yu Chun with disdain. Her rough, ill-fitting clothes clearly marked her as poor—either cheaply bought or second-hand, perhaps even stripped from the dead.
“Honestly, who knows what this workshop is doing—letting just anyone in.”
Only then did Yu Chun realize she was being looked down upon.
She smiled faintly, though it stung deeply. Since childhood, her parents had taught her to endure—to first look for fault in herself.
She didn’t notice that these women had already marked her as an outsider.
Even with ten thousand sets of work, one fewer worker meant five or six extra sets per day—fifty or sixty in ten days. At twenty coins per set, that was a whole string of cash. Why let a stranger take that share?
“Power on, power on, power on—”
Yu Chun wasn’t thinking about them. At most, she decided to mend her clothes later to make them fit better. To her, comfort and cleanliness mattered more—looking poor might even prevent theft.
What concerned her was something else—
“Chun: Do you think Chang’an can hold? Why didn’t the Anxi army come in history? If it holds, there could still be massacres… The southern waterways are still open—should we leave?”
“Fengjie: In your current state, who can you take? What can you bring?”
“Daiyu: Don’t panic. Dou Xiantong wants to replace the dynasty, not destroy its legitimacy. Chang’an is the heart of the realm—it won’t be massacred. Luoyang has already been slaughtered. If Chang’an were too, he’d become a universally condemned traitor.”
“Baochai: You should focus on the immediate problem—how to earn money and survive.”
Yu Chun froze. She had already signed a contract—what could go wrong?
“The clothes you sewed are substandard! Take them back and redo them. One more mistake and we won’t accept them!”
The steward was the same man who had once given her needles and thread and shown concern—but now his attitude was completely different.
No—perhaps not different at all.
When she had first met him, she had been scolded like this too.