In the freezing cold season, there were few pedestrians on the street, and people in the courtyard were probably feeling lazy too, mostly gathered around the fireplace warming themselves.

But as soon as the mail carrier’s voice rang out, footsteps came from all directions. Lin Yuchan could distinguish familiar voices.

“A letter from Mr. Rong!”

“Don’t leave—hey, our boss isn’t here, we’ll accept it for her…”

“Paul, stop writing poetry, there’s a letter…”

The courtyard gate opened a crack, followed by several horrified gasps.

Bang! The gate slammed shut again.

Lin Yuchan was baffled. Looking back, she doubled over with laughter.

“It’s me!” she shouted. “The one behind me is an American black person who came with me! Not a ghost! Not a kidnapper!”

Only then did the courtyard gate slowly open again, revealing a row of suspicious faces.

“Freeman, come in.”

Lin Yuchan smiled as she pushed open the door, bringing Christmas Freeman into the shop and briefly explaining her background to everyone.

There were quite a few people in the shop. Everyone sat around, secretly sizing up this peculiar-looking, unexpected guest.

“Female,” Aunt Hong said with certainty.

“Male,” Aunt Nian said hesitantly.

But no one dared approach for a conversation.

Fortunately, the Boya staff were all rather open-minded. They’d seen colorful foreigners of all kinds—one more tanned person wasn’t much different.

After everyone surrounded Christmas and sighed with amazement for a while, Old Zhao laughingly asked, “Could we hire her in our shop? As a door god to ward off troublemakers, one could handle ten.”

Christmas couldn’t understand Chinese, but seeing their expressions, she knew they were praising her martial prowess and felt embarrassed.

A few weeks ago, she had used force to intimidate, pinning this frail Chinese girl against a wall and viciously threatening her to “mind her own business.” Thinking back now, she’d been thoroughly fierce.

Who knew this girl would not only meddle but also achieve an unexpected outcome? Throughout this journey, Christmas was physically in China, but her heart had already flown back to America. Even in dreams, she planned escape routes from Smith’s plantation.

Christmas carefully asked: “Madam…”

She called Lin Yuchan “Madam,” the usual term of respect black slaves used for white women.

Of course, she no longer considered herself a slave, but years of linguistic habits couldn’t be changed, and she didn’t know any better form of address.

This “Madam” gave Lin Yuchan goosebumps, and she immediately corrected: “More normal, dear. Call me Miss Lin. You can also call me Luna.”

Christmas’s face showed black tinged with red as she struggled to repeat it once, asking: “Miss Lin, when… when can I return to Alabama?”

Lin Yuchan didn’t forget her promise, telling Christmas, “Ocean liner tickets are hard to buy. Fortunately, my former employer, Mr. Rong, is currently also en route to America. The middleman he used when purchasing tickets is fairly reliable. If I remember the price correctly, third-class steerage costs four hundred dollars. If you’re willing to do some hauling and cleaning work on the ship, I can help negotiate half price—two hundred dollars, including food and lodging…”

“Yes, I can work!”

Christmas immediately exclaimed.

For the first time as a free person, she’d taken a ship back to Shanghai. All her time belonged to herself, with endless time along the way to view scenery. Then she was suddenly pulled into a Chinese-owned shop and filled with a bustling commercial atmosphere—she’d never had opportunities to visit such places when following Smith. Only now did Christmas fully believe that all the strange events of this past month weren’t her imagination. Free life was truly before her eyes—everything was real.

Not human traffickers, not swindlers, not scheming speculators.

An ordinary Chinese girl had brought her to the end and the beginning of her journey.

She smiled with thick lips, then suddenly felt ashamed again. She pulled Lin Yuchan to the counter, saying seriously, “Listen, Miss Lin, I have nothing to repay you with. I can’t even produce two dollars right now. But I won’t forget the help you gave me in a foreign land. If I can safely return to America and successfully escape to live in the North, I’ll slowly work and save money. I’ll also have my two children start working as soon as possible. Every time I save twenty dollars, I’ll have someone wire it until the ship ticket is fully repaid… If I have another girl, I’ll name her Luna…”

Lin Yuchan smiled silently, patiently listening to Christmas weave beautiful plans.

She was clear in her heart that her reasons for spending money and effort helping Christmas gain freedom weren’t purely altruistic—besides some idle charitable impulse, it was also to use Christmas’s testimony to teach Smith a lesson.

It wasn’t one hundred percent self-sacrifice.

She also knew that even if Christmas could safely escape to the North, she might not immediately live like ordinary Americans. Discrimination and prejudice remained deep-rooted. White people would still consider blacks stupid, lazy, and incompetent, would still practice racial segregation, and would still curse and despise them.

So seeing Christmas too optimistically envisioning the future, her excited sentences like wind before rain, slightly stirred a small stone called “guilt” in Lin Yuchan’s heart.

But she reconsidered—Christmas surely had psychological preparation for this. At least she’d climbed out of the fire pit and stepped onto thorny ground, already taking a great step in life. Why pour cold water on her enthusiasm?

Lin Yuchan made her decision. She checked the newspaper timetable and told Christmas, “The earliest ship departs in ten days. During these ten days, stay with me. I don’t have extra guest rooms, only an empty attic that’s a bit cold at night. Please make do…”

Christmas nearly cried. An attic was called “making do”? She used to sleep in kitchens on the floor.

Lin Yuchan: “During these days, prepare some long-journey clothing and supplies. No need to work or help—consider it a vacation for your twenty-plus years of hard labor.”

After settling Christmas, Lin Yuchan treated the staff to a meal, thanking everyone for working hard minding the shop. She shared some exciting highlights from this month’s experiences.

Though her journey was hurried, she’d been thoughtful, asking Yixing crew members to buy local specialties at various ports along the way, mainly snacks and treats. She had Christmas help carry them back to distribute to everyone.

Everyone was delighted. Some immediately unwrapped and ate.

Only Chang Baoluo hid some local products, embarrassedly saying: “Taking them home for my wife.”

Everyone booed him in unison.

Today was truly a day of harvest. Lin Yuchan moved Rong Hong’s package to the coffee table and took out a small knife.

Boya Company’s “letter-opening ceremony” had become corporate culture. Whenever Rong Hong’s letters arrived, everyone automatically took an hour off to mentally travel the world with their former employer.

Lin Yuchan first pulled out a postcard.

Since last changing ships in Ceylon, Rong Hong had crossed the Indian Ocean, entered the Red Sea, and reached Egypt’s capital, Cairo. In the photo, he wore a headwrap, rode a camel, and struck a classic tourist pose before the pyramids.

The back of the photo was densely packed with a dozen lines, all lamenting ancient Egyptian culture’s longevity and grandeur, plus complaints about being cheated and fooled in local bazaar markets.

Then he took a train across the Suez Isthmus to Alexandria, shipped across the Mediterranean to Marseille, France.

Judging by dates, landing in Europe was a month ago.

That huge package came from the Marseille port. There was finally a proper post office locally, and he’d coincidentally caught a weekly farmers’ market. So instead of developing photos, Rong Hong went shopping in the local market, packed a large bundle of specialties, and had the Qing court pay to send them thousands of miles back.

Marseille specialty handmade soap, a large block weighing five or six kilograms, dark green in color with a fine layer of white sea salt on the surface, bearing the classic trademark “Savon de Marseille.”

Several bottles of purple lavender essential oil—then called “French flower water”—were said to have insect-repelling and sleep-inducing effects, a popular European aromatic product selling well in royal courts of Western nations. Opening the cap filled the entire building with a lasting fragrance.

Additionally, there was a local specialty, anise-flavored absinthe and farmhouse blue-veined sheep cheese (Roquefort), layer upon layer wrapped, surviving long-distance shipping intact.

Chang Baoluo and Zhao Huaisheng fondly remembered their former employer: “Following him, except for lower wages, life was good.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

They cut the soap, saving a portion for Rong Hong and keeping one bottle of essential oil for him. Everyone divided up the rest.

The absinthe was called “green fairy” in French, glowing with ethereal green light in glasses, very much like some magical potion.

Everyone carefully opened it. After just one sip, they frowned and guessed: “It’s gone bad.”

Lin Yuchan insisted: “This might be the actual taste.”

She’d seen it on travel programs before—this liquor, popular in southern Europe, had a strong medicinal flavor, like Beijing soy milk. Those who liked it became addicted, while those who didn’t avoided it completely.

So everyone took a cup and forced themselves to drink it down.

But that blue-veined cheese might have truly spoiled—a large round cake like a millstone with a ring of green mold around the edges, resembling a long-distance migrating sea turtle. After unwrapping, it emitted an incredibly foul livestock smell mixed with intense lavender and soap scents, like a herd of African wildebeest running through flower fields, creating a wild, untamed, irresistible aroma.

Chang Baoluo pondered: “Palace Manchu cheese also has a smell—not strange.”

Aunt Hong pinched her nose and said: “I’ve heard foreign cheese all stinks. This piece smells unbearable—might be especially expensive.”

Lin Yuchan had never eaten authentic French cheese in two lifetimes and didn’t know if this cheese had spoiled. The packaging showed no expiration date.

With anise liquor as a base, everyone was somewhat intoxicated. They discussed each taking a small spoonful to taste simultaneously.

“Ugh—”

Several people rushed out of the room together.

Finally, everyone decided to wrap the cheese back up and save it for Rong Hong to enjoy when he returned.

Whether from travel fatigue or that cheese’s blessing, Lin Yuchan felt dizzy the next day and was ordered by everyone to rest.

She had to give herself a day off. In the evening, feeling slightly better, she lit a lamp and organized this trip’s experiences and expenses.

The next day, Lin Yuchan fully recovered. She roughly checked business and ledgers, then inspected both Xuhui Tea Shop and the orphanage factory.

Boya continued operating normally, with cotton and tea keeping everyone busy. But according to Chang Baoluo, cotton prices could no longer match those soaring five taels of silver after news of India’s floods spread. In the recent month, they fluctuated between two to three taels. Boya’s costs for harvesting and processing cotton weren’t low, so these prices only yielded modest profits.

As for tea…

“Miss Lin!” Old Zhao was slacking at work, lying on the counter grading his child’s homework. Seeing her arrive, he quickly dropped his red brush, stood up to greet her. “You’re well! You came without giving notice.”

Lin Yuchan smiled slightly and lowered her head to check the work log.

Old Zhao multitasked but hadn’t neglected business. The tea production line stably produced profits across all quality grades, completely fulfilling the work tasks Lin Yuchan had assigned before leaving.

These veteran Boya employees were content with little and unambitious by nature. Lin Yuchan didn’t demand too much from them. As long as they didn’t fail, minor distractions were understandable.

However, Old Zhao’s unusually attentive behavior still raised Lin Yuchan’s alert.

She smiled and asked: “About the customs tea procurement bidding…”

This sentence hit the nail on the head. Old Zhao’s smile immediately collapsed.

“This… this… when you weren’t here, I went several times. Everything seemed to go well… brought sample tea, they were satisfied with all aspects… but…”

He resolved to lie flat and accept punishment, pulling out a business card from his drawer with disappointment written all over his face.

“There’s always someone better. Miss Lin, our order was snatched away. You can dock my bonus—I have nothing to say.”

Lin Yuchan picked up the business card and glanced at it calmly.

Oh my.

Defeng Trading House.

It wasn’t a devastating disaster. Boya’s main tea sales channel was no longer customs but export to Europe and America.

With Defeng Trading House participating in this bidding, Lin Yuchan never expected to win first place. This failure was within expectations.

She smiled slightly and said lightly, “I’ve heard of this tea house. Their products indeed have outstanding qualities. I don’t blame you—your bonus will be paid as usual. But…”

Old Zhao stroked his beard and shook his head repeatedly: “I don’t know about quality, but I quietly asked Mr. Yin Mei—their quoted price was thirty percent lower than ours! That’s how they won the bid!”

Lin Yuchan was shocked: “Thirty percent lower? With Defeng Trading House’s processes? Impossible…”

Zhao Huaisheng swore and vowed he hadn’t reached the age of forgetfulness and remembered correctly.

Had Defeng Trading House improved its formula again, dramatically reduced costs, and risen from the ashes?

Lin Yuchan suddenly remembered something and asked: “I allocated experimental funds for Shopkeeper Mau’s daughter to try replicating Defeng Trading House’s processes…”

“No progress—the money was wasted.” Zhao Huaisheng didn’t think much of that fifteen-year-old girl, waving his hand. “She didn’t figure anything out.”

Lin Yuchan nodded. How could scientific research be rushed?

However, having just returned to work only to have two setbacks hit her immediately was still somewhat unpleasant.

Old Zhao didn’t dare disturb her and went to audit accounts himself.

Lin Yuchan pondered for a while, put on her outer coat, and went out, planning to visit customs for clarification.

Ideally, she could obtain Defeng Trading House samples to analyze exactly where Boya had lost this time.

“Freeman, come with me.”

She took Christmas along incidentally. She didn’t even have decent clothes and would need to take a long sea voyage in deep winter. Lin Yuchan planned to have two extra-large cotton coats custom-made for her, plus buy a thick quilt.

There happened to be a tailor shop behind the customs building with a copper coin painted outside. Lin Yuchan led Christmas inside and explained to the boss that this was a harmless foreigner, asking the master to take care of her.

While measuring for clothes, Lin Yuchan circled to the Maritime Customs side entrance.

No checkerboard flag flew atop the customs building. Hede hadn’t returned yet.

When the cat’s away, the mice will play. Cui Yin Mei didn’t require appointment letters according to regulations and directly let Lin Yuchan into his office.

“Miss Lin,” he asked about her purpose and rubbed his hands with a guilty expression. “Your tea is very good—stores well and fragrant too. Considering last year’s smooth cooperation, I originally didn’t want to change. But there’s no choice—Defeng Trading House’s quality matches yours while their price is thirty percent lower. If I don’t choose them, it would be unconscionable, and I won’t get excellent ratings in year-end evaluations. Little miss, don’t you think so?”

Lin Yuchan naturally couldn’t pester relentlessly. She just blinked, showing appropriate confusion: “Thirty percent lower—don’t they lose money?”

Cui Yin Mei smiled: “I wouldn’t know that. I just handle purchasing. With year-end evaluations, if I choose expensive over cheap, wouldn’t I be docking my bonus?”

Lin Yuchan nodded. Cui Yin Mei’s hint was obvious. Defeng Trading House, new to Shanghai, was selling at a loss to gain a market foothold.

The question was… where did they get so much money?

She’d entered with a belly full of questions. Now she had even more.

Just as she considered how to trick him out of some samples, Cui Yin Mei suddenly beamed, looked up, and greeted another person with cupped hands.

“Oh my, Shopkeeper Wang, why did you come personally? Haven’t congratulated you yet—haha, well-deserved. Guangzhou’s established tea houses truly live up to their reputation…”

Lin Yuchan’s heart sank.

Enemies inevitably meet.

Wang Quan was much thinner than two years ago, but his face remained as oily as ever. Even his glasses were smeared with grease. Standing against the light, his eyes reflected rainbow colors, making him look like a big dragonfly with a pigtail.

Moreover, having somehow made a fortune, Wang Quan wore foreign cloth robes, wire gauze jacket and vest, glasses with tortoiseshell frames, a silver water pipe at his waist, and an amber top on his hat—actually more ostentatious than in Guangzhou.

His face showed a triumphant spring breeze as he warmly bowed to Cui Yin Mei, skillfully saying proper social phrases.

“…Hahaha, all thanks to Mr. Yin Mei’s support… just wondering if the deposit could be sent earlier, since New Year is approaching, hahaha…”

Lin Yuchan’s heart skipped slightly. Her former employer didn’t recognize her.

He probably took her for a maid, cook, or some foreigner’s mistress. Never thought of “colleague.”

Lin Yuchan retreated imperceptibly and quietly waved farewell to Cui Yin Mei.

But Cui Yin Mei was meddlesome, or perhaps felt guilty toward Lin Yuchan. As she stepped out the door, he smiled and said to Wang Quan: “Shopkeeper Wang! You haven’t seen a young lady doing business, have you? Please take care of Miss Lin in the future. Don’t bully her too harshly.”

Wang Quan unconsciously frowned, the words “bad luck” flashing through his mind. He momentarily wanted to walk away.

Mr. Yin Mei was being ridiculous. Take care? A woman doing business—he’d avoid her in the future.

But to curry favor with Cui Yin Mei, he forced himself to agree.

“Yes, certainly…”

Halfway through speaking, he unconsciously glanced at the girl’s appearance and froze.

Familiar!

Seeing no escape, Lin Yuchan simply smiled graciously and curtsied to Wang Quan: “Are you Shopkeeper Wang? First meeting—please take care of me.”

She deliberately spoke Shanghai dialect, gambling that Wang Quan wouldn’t clearly remember this humble servant girl’s appearance after such changes.

Wang Quan stammered, somewhat doubting his memory: “You, you…”

Lin Yuchan calmly took her leave.

But Cui Yin Mei was overly enthusiastic. Seeing Wang Quan’s strange expression, he quickly called out: “…Hey, Shopkeeper Wang, don’t frighten the little miss—she’s your fellow townsperson!”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Next time, Cui Yin Mei posed math problems, she wouldn’t answer any!

She quickly left.

“Wait!” Wang Quan suddenly understood and shouted sternly: “Miss, do you live in Guangzhou?”

Among the vast Qi family’s scattered servants, Wang Quan didn’t recognize or remember most. But there was one servant girl who refused a comfortable position as the young master’s concubine, stubbornly staying under his nose as manual labor. When obedient, she was truly obedient, but occasionally infuriated him enough to want murder. Yet he couldn’t bear to lose such clever labor and spared her life.

Who knew that when the human trafficking incident was exposed, this servant girl escaped in the chaos and vanished without a trace.

Sure enough, women entering shops ruined all feng shui!

He shouldn’t have bought her! Wang Quan wished he could chop off the hand that had pressed his thumbprint on her indenture contract!

Later, when Defeng Trading House scrambled for huge fines, Old Master Qi died from exhaustion, Young Master Qi was a wastrel who carelessly sold the shop cheap and moved in with his brothel mistress. Wang Quan saw his chance—reluctant to hand over the business he’d managed for years to others, he used half a lifetime’s savings plus borrowed money to take over this old-established tea house. Defeng Trading House changed surnames and was moved by him to Shanghai for a fresh start.

Wang Quan lost twenty pounds from exhaustion and had no time to track down one escaped slave.

Starting over wasn’t easy. With the Qi family’s downfall, most tea house employees sought other employment. Newly hired low-wage apprentices were stupid and lazy, creating daily frustrations. Sometimes when Wang Quan was extremely angry, he’d occasionally think: if that diligent servant girl were still around, he’d overlook past grievances and treat her respectfully. He wouldn’t mind her bringing bad luck as a girl and would even give her extra money monthly to help at his side.

Harboring this resentment, that servant girl’s appearance remained vivid in his otherwise unremarkable memory.

“Lin Ba Mei,” Wang Quan gritted his teeth, saying word by word through clenched teeth: “You rebelled against your master, embezzled money, and fled. So you escaped here!”

Cui Yin Mei was still smiling and trying to connect them when he heard this. His smile froze as he stared at Lin Yuchan.

Lin Yuchan momentarily admired Shopkeeper Wang’s sharp tongue. Having survived great difficulties, his mind remained so keen. She had only “fled privately,” but Wang Quan added an “embezzlement” charge, making her crime more serious.

She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, and made an amused expression, saying quietly to Cui Yin Mei: “Mr. Yin Mei, this person has mistaken me for someone else.”

Cui Yin Mei quickly smoothed things over: “The shopkeeper must have confused people. This young lady is…”

While speaking, he made eye signals at Lin Yuchan, urging her to quickly state her family background and give some ancestral names and native places to clear up the misunderstanding.

“…is the daughter of Lin Guangfu from Guangzhou,” Wang Quan interrupted angrily. “It’s written clearly on the indenture contract—how could I not know? This girl is an escaped slave. Mr. Cui, please witness as I take her to see the magistrate!”

Saying this, he grabbed Lin Yuchan’s arm.