The old hunter’s family sent eggs, so today’s breakfast was settled. Shen Yuntan boiled all five and ate three in one go.
“Huh, still warm?”
After eating, when she took the pheasant and hares out of the space, Shen Yuntan noticed with sharp surprise that their temperature was the same as when she had hunted them yesterday. A whole night had passed, and the hares were still warm to the touch.
She understood in an instant, the corner of her mouth curving. “Truly remarkable.”
Then she looked at the herb seedlings planted in the space. They had all grown a little, not obviously, but their leaves and vines were greener and more vital than they had been in the forest.
“I’ll figure it out slowly. Time to go sell the goods first.”
Shen Yuntan locked the door and set out with the heavy basket on her back.
At the intersection ahead, she ran into Uncle Zhao, the old hunter. He wore a coarse short jacket and trousers rolled up to the knee, straw sandals on bare feet, and carried a fish in his hand, clearly just caught from the river.
It was his wife who had sent the eggs. Shen Yuntan greeted him politely. “Uncle Zhao.”
“Chouya, are you headed to the county town?”
Uncle Zhao saw the pheasant feathers poking from her basket, and his eyes lit up slightly.
Shen Yuntan nodded and opened the basket to show him. “I gathered some herbs, plus a pheasant and two hares. Taking them to the county to trade for some oil and salt.”
Uncle Zhao set traps in the mountains and often went to the county town to sell goods. After one glance, he said, “Take the game to Sifang Restaurant. The owner’s surname is Wang. He’s a decent man, pays a fair and honest price, doesn’t cheat poor folk.”
“Plenty of shops buy herbs. Renji Tang gives a more generous price. Try not to sell to the medicine peddlers who tout for business on the street. They not only lowball you, they pull dirty tricks too.”
Shen Yuntan had gathered herbs in the mountains before, but only common ones from the outskirts, not worth much, all sold to peddlers who came to the village to buy goods. Each time she traded for a dozen or so coppers.
She didn’t know much about the pharmacies in the county town. Uncle Zhao’s recommendation saved her the trouble of comparing.
“I understand. Thank you, Uncle Zhao.”
Seeing that she was polite, Uncle Zhao hesitated, then added a warning. “Liu Sandong is a petty, grudge-holding man. He took a loss from you today, and he looks obedient on the surface, but he’s definitely brewing something nasty inside. The rest of the Liu family won’t let it go either.”
“Liu Sandong has a wide circle of friends in the county town, plenty of disreputable cronies, many of them with rank. If he wants to play dirty, all he has to do is spend a little money to hire someone.”
“Now that your Grandmother is gone, you’re a girl alone, going out to sell goods by yourself. You must be careful.”
His warnings were all valid. Shen Yuntan thanked him. “Uncle Zhao, I know what I’m doing.”
Seeing the clarity in her eyes, the sharp, clever look about her, Uncle Zhao didn’t press further. He took half a step, then added one more thing. “About your Grandmother’s matter, everyone in the village knows what really happened. If it really comes to the courthouse, we can all testify for you.”
“But if you can avoid it, better not to make a fuss. You’re a young girl, you’ll marry someday. Don’t ruin your reputation.”
She had an ugly birthmark on her face. The villagers gossiped about it plenty behind her back, and no matchmaker ever came calling. The occasional loose-tongued, ill-intentioned one only wanted to sell her to some widower deep in the mountains.
Madam Qian had once had that idea, even bringing a matchmaker to the door to propose it. Grandmother Liu had chased them off with a broom.
“Thank you, Uncle Zhao.”
Shen Yuntan watched his retreating figure, a warm current rising in her heart.
In twenty-eight years of the apocalypse, she had seen the darkness of the world and encountered every kind of human evil. But here, in this small mountain village called Qingshan Village, the simple kindness of an ordinary hunter reminded her that there was another thing in the world called goodness.
From Qingshan Village to Changshan County town was seven or eight li. Taking the main road took about half an hour. Taking the mountain shortcut could save nearly half an hour.
Shen Yuntan took the rougher shortcut. Though it was a winding mountain path, many villagers nearby used it too. There were plenty of people on the road, many of them familiar faces.
Perhaps because word of the Liu family affair had spread, the way they looked at her today was complicated. The ones who used to call her ugly now gave her a wide berth.
“The kind get bullied, the gentle horse gets ridden.”
She had gone to the county town with Grandmother plenty of times before, but the two of them always went and returned quickly. Their range of activity was limited to the embroidery shop and the grain and general stores. Her understanding of the county town’s layout was limited. Every time, they finished their business and went straight back to the village.
Past the mountain path, she reached the main road. Two more li straight ahead and she would reach the county town.
The main road was an official highway, rammed earth, much wider than the mountain path, enough for two or three carriages side by side.
There were plenty of poor folk going into the city to trade goods or make a living, and occasionally traders passed by driving donkey carts or horse carriages. A plainly dressed poor village girl like her didn’t even merit a glance from them, and no one bothered her along the way.
Shen Yuntan walked with her head down, silent, but she was also using her psychic power to probe her surroundings. Her right hand was doing something wood spirit root users often did. In her palm she held a wild fruit she had picked by the mountain path, using her thin wood spiritual power to ripen it.
She was a pure wood spirit root ability user. Accelerating plant growth was her signature skill. At her peak, a wave of her hand could turn a patch of wasteland into a forest. Now her wood spiritual power was still weak, but she could still ripen a fruit.
She kept slowly channeling spiritual power into the wild fruit in her palm, and once she was sure it was fully ripe, she leisurely broke it open and ate it.
“Sifang Restaurant is in the east. I’ll go to Renji Tang first.”
Changshan County town wasn’t large, but it was a necessary stop for merchants traveling north and south. Every walk of life was represented, and it was lively enough.
Shen Yuntan passed through the city gate and walked along the main street for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before she saw the sign for Renji Tang. Seeing quite a few farmers selling herbs at the side entrance, she immediately hurried over with her basket.
This was a pharmacy of no small scale, with four storefronts. A black plaque with gold lettering hung above the door, looking like it had seen some years.
“Those who came later, line up. Everyone follows the rules, one at a time. No shoving.”
A tall, thin man with a goatee stepped out from behind the counter. He looked about fifty, wearing an indigo long robe with the cuffs rolled back twice, revealing a pair of lean wrists.
This was the owner of Renji Tang. His manner was fairly amiable. He pointed to a board hung by the entrance. “These are today’s herb purchase prices. Our Renji Tang does honest business, buying at the listed price. Look at the prices yourselves first. If they suit you, line up to sell. If not, go sell elsewhere. We don’t haggle here.”
“Owner Wang, we haven’t studied, we can’t read. Please have one of your clerks read it out for us.” A familiar herb seller spoke up.
“Liu Zi, read it out for everyone. Have them sort their goods in advance. Saves time and effort for everyone.”
Shen Yuntan also belonged to the “illiterate” category. Her eyes fixed on the traditional characters on the board, while on the surface she pretended to listen carefully as Liu Zi called out the prices.