The sky had just begun to brighten when Huang Shu arrived at the East Sheep River carrying his iron bucket, preparing to take a proper bath. Last night he had tossed and turned in bed unable to sleep well, flipping like a pancake until dawn, his entire body covered in sweat.
He wasn’t the first, but the third—two people ahead of him were already pouring buckets of water over their heads. Huang Shu prepared to walk downstream a bit, not wanting to disturb the nobles. By now he had finally figured out that everyone in the academy was a noble, which made him feel all the more lowly.
“Old Huang, come here! Where are you running off to? Just wash here, unless you want to get dragged off by wolves.” Yun Ye had already spotted Huang Shu and was preparing to chat with him, but when the fellow silently headed downstream without a word, he called out to stop him.
Beside him, Li Ke wore only his shorts, pouring water over his head in silence.
“Little Ke, I’m the one with great ambitions but no means to fulfill them—a heart like a roc but a body like a sparrow. You were born to be a tyrannosaurus rex, so what are you moping about?” This little brat had been acting strange these past few days, and Yun Ye was somewhat curious.
“Am I very stupid?”
“Who said that? You’re much better than Huang Shu.” Yun Ye spoke casually, and Huang Shu nodded his head like a pecking chicken.
Li Ke went berserk, lunging forward to grab Yun Ye. Everyone knew that in the academy, Huang Shu was synonymous with stupidity—nowadays when someone did something foolish, people didn’t even call them an idiot anymore, they just renamed them Huang Shu. Yun Ye ran off, and Li Ke grabbed the accomplice Huang Shu and kicked him twice before his anger subsided.
“Little Ke, I know what you’re upset about. In the academy’s midterm exam, you lost to A Tai again. Seeing him arrogantly boasting on the podium made you uncomfortable—this is the most normal psychology for a young person. When I studied under my master, I was the only student, so there was no comparison, making me naturally first place, and my master always praised me. You know why the Shu elite lost to the major aristocratic families?”
Yun Ye felt this was an excellent opportunity to correct Li Ke’s worldview. As long as he could channel his pride and use his own strength to reach the peak in some particular field, the attraction of imperial power would greatly diminish for him. After all, this world had all kinds of peaks to climb, and people were always most confident in achievements they had fought for themselves.
“They were inferior in skill. The Five Surname families are too powerful.”
“Wrong. The Shu elite chose the wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong target, and even the wrong purpose. They had no preparation beforehand and no reflection afterward. If there’s a next time, they’ll still lose, and even more miserably.”
“You’re making the same mistake. Knowing that A Tai is a prodigy when it comes to scholarship, you insist on competing with him in his strongest area—isn’t that just asking for trouble? You have your strengths, strengths that A Tai can’t even hope to match. Using your weaknesses to compare with others’ strengths—calling you Huang Shu would be letting you off easy!”
Li Ke fell silent, lying in the water with only his head exposed, lost in thought. Yun Ye didn’t care—as long as young people learned to think, it was a good thing.
Huang Shu clearly knew that three people had heard the conversation, but what hurt him was that only two of them understood what was being said.
“How are things going for you at the academy now? Still thinking about tomb raiding?” Yun Ye asked Huang Shu, who sat in the river splashing water on himself.
“This humble one doesn’t have those thoughts anymore. If not for the nobles showing mercy and not holding it against this lowly one, I would have been beheaded long ago.” Huang Shu felt somewhat embarrassed.
“Your line of work won’t work anymore. Getting caught is only a matter of time, and getting beheaded is only a matter of time. You’re not young anymore—take this opportunity to crawl out of that muddy pit and become a person again, not a ghost. Your skills are being used in the wrong place. Work hard at the academy, and you’ll have a place to use them.”
“This humble one understands. Today is my day off. I plan to wash up and go to the Xinfeng market to see someone.”
“A woman, right? Even someone who looks like you has a sweetheart? You’d better hold on to this one. Go to the stables and take a horse—go early and come back early.” Yun Ye casually made the arrangement. He was fairly confident in Huang Shu now. Since ancient times, those who learned martial and literary arts sold them to the imperial family—this was a universal principle. Huang Shu’s reputation was too foul; being able to sell himself to the academy, which had connections with the imperial family, was already thanks to his ancestors’ accumulated virtue.
When the sun was high in the sky, Huang Shu rode a jujube-red horse galloping along the highway. His sky-blue narrow-sleeved robe occasionally billowed in the wind. Though he was ugly, dressed in the academy’s attire, he had a somewhat noble air, especially with the jujube-red horse beneath him—clearly a one-in-a-hundred fine steed that ordinary families couldn’t possess.
Days of lovesickness were like a small knife constantly cutting his passionate heart. He paid no attention to the disaster victims traveling along both sides of the road. I am now a person of status who spends every day with nobles—how could I disguise myself as a refugee and do those dirty deeds like before?
His absolute psychological superiority made him even more eager to see that woman who sold fermented rice wine.
Riding a fine horse in fine clothes through Xinfeng—I, Huang Shu, only want to drink a bowl of fermented rice wine. Isn’t that easily within reach?
The willow trees at Xiliu Camp were annoyingly abundant, their thousand threads obstructing his vision. The horse beneath him seemed to understand his thoughts and kept quickening its pace. Xinfeng market finally arrived.
The marketplace was much more desolate than before, with sparse and scattered vendor calls. Under the big tree, the third stall was empty—he didn’t see that voluptuous woman, only a few sparrows pecking for food on the ground.
“Shopkeeper, where did that fermented rice wine stall go?” Huang Shu inquired of the general store owner beside him.
“Hit by the disaster. Ying Niang is a widow—without business, she had no choice but to take her daughter to seek refuge with her maternal family. Do you have history with Ying Niang?” The white-haired shop owner was quite talkative.
“Yes, I used to come often to drink fermented rice wine. I didn’t expect it to be gone today—what a disappointment. I particularly enjoy this drink, and not having it makes me feel uncomfortable. I was planning to hire Ying Niang to be a cook at my home. What do you think, shopkeeper?” Huang Shu, long experienced in the ways of the world, knew he couldn’t ask directly and had to take a roundabout approach. As for whether Ying Niang would be a wife or a cook—that was his own business.
“Such good fortune! Ying Niang’s maternal family is right at the market entrance—they’re not wealthy people either. Wait a moment, I’ll send my boy to call for her. The mother and daughter are nearly at their wits’ end—they’ll surely agree to come work as a cook at your home.” The shop owner chattered on endlessly, calling his son to find Ying Niang.
Huang Shu’s joy was about to burst from the top of his head. Things were exactly as he had imagined—Ying Niang was a widow. As for her having a child, that wasn’t an issue at all. Upon entering the door, he’d become a father—what was wrong with that? He’d always dreamed of having a daughter, just feared his looks would curse the child. Now Ying Niang came with one—Heaven was blessing him!
“Customer, customer.” The shop owner called twice before pulling Huang Shu back from his daydream.
Wiping away his drool, Huang Shu gave the shopkeeper a deep bow, causing the shopkeeper to fluster about.
“Customer, why such ceremony?” The shopkeeper was puzzled, never having seen such a strange person.
“I bow here not for any other reason, but because I just deceived you, elder. My surname is Huang, given name Shu—Shu as in the character for tree. I currently work at Yushan Academy with a monthly stipend of one string of cash. I wouldn’t call myself a wealthy household, but I don’t worry about food and clothing. I’ve never married. Earlier this year, I came to this place by chance and, I’m not ashamed to tell you, elder, when I saw Ying Niang I couldn’t move another step. I want to propose marriage. My earlier words were an excuse—please forgive me.” Huang Shu had never spoken so literately in his entire life. After finishing this long speech, he was drenched in nervous sweat.
The old shopkeeper, seeing Huang Shu covered in sweat, burst into hearty laughter that he couldn’t stop. Huang Shu laughed foolishly along with him, drawing sidelong glances from passersby.
“I saw you long ago! You drank fermented rice wine at Ying Niang’s stall for several months, drinking several bowls each time and sitting for an hour or two. You ask around this marketplace—which merchant doesn’t know you have feelings for Ying Niang? You think I’d tell just anyone where Ying Niang went? You didn’t come for two months, and I felt sorry for Ying Niang, thinking she’d missed a good match. Today when you came, I wanted to ask you about it, but you spoke up yourself first. Ha ha ha, you’ll be the death of me laughing!”
The old shopkeeper, having finished teasing him, apparently felt he should tell the neighbors about this to let everyone enjoy it together. In a year of disaster, it was rare to have something happy. So a large crowd gathered, including quite a few uncles and aunts, and those with quick legs had already run to Ying Niang’s brother’s house.
The more people there were, the more nervous Huang Shu became. Sweat poured continuously, leaving him in an awkward state. He felt these neighbors were more frightening than red-haired demon corpses.
This one said Huang Shu’s outfit was acceptable, that one said the horse was beautiful, but no one praised Huang Shu’s appearance.
“What do you know! A hero has no good wife, while a scoundrel marries a delicate beauty—that’s an old saying! Brother Huang may not be handsome, but look at his build—he’s strong and can support a family. Just his monthly stipend alone is one string of cash—can you poor wretches compare? And he works at the academy! What’s wrong with that? In the future, Ying Niang’s daughter might even marry an educated husband—what tremendous good fortune! You gossips are babbling about what? Ying Niang’s husband died early and she has no brothers—she’s suffered for nearly six years. Now Brother Huang doesn’t mind that Ying Niang has a child and wants to properly marry her with full ceremony. Tell me, whose good fortune is this? Do men get judged by their looks?”
The old shop owner’s domineering spirit erupted as he opened fire on the roomful of neighbors, leaving everyone speechless and quiet.
Hearing the old man say this, Huang Shu deeply agreed. His bent back straightened again. That’s right—I’m an academy man now. Why should I bow my head? I’m not a tomb raider. At the academy I serve important people. I see imperial princes every day. What are you poor wretches babbling about?
Money is a man’s courage. Touching the several large silver ingots at his waist, he pulled out a money pouch from his chest and handed it to the old shop owner.
“You are a reasonable person. This pouch contains broken silver and five hundred cash. Please buy some gifts so this junior can go propose marriage.”
With a clatter, the old shop owner poured all the money from the pouch. A glittering pile, with broken silver worth one or two strings of cash in the middle—enough to make the small vendors in the marketplace gasp.
Before coming, Huang Shu had withdrawn all the money from under the willow tree—this was the family fortune he’d accumulated from over a decade as a tomb raider. For convenient carrying, he’d long since exchanged it for silver. Now he could just wrap it in a bundle and carry it on his back.
Before the old shop owner could gather it up, a small hand with pockmarks on the back reached over, quickly gathered the money into the pouch, and tied a knot.
Ying Niang! Her face covered in tears, she said: “I waited for you over a month without seeing you come. I thought you were just amusing yourself for a moment, teasing this unfortunate woman. I really couldn’t hold on anymore, so I closed the stall and went to my brother’s house to beg for food. Why are you only coming now?”
When Ying Niang cried, Huang Shu’s heart ached. At a loss, he rubbed his hands saying: “You know I have duties. This time I went into Lan Mountain for two full months. As soon as I came out, I headed straight here. Don’t cry—I’ll take you mother and daughter to Yushan right now. Everyone at the academy is very kind, and your daughter will surely like it.”
“Where’s the ox cart?” Ying Niang asked.
“No ox cart—I rode a horse here.” Huang Shu was confused.
“Men have no foresight. You rode a horse—can we mother and daughter ride horses?”
Hearing this, Huang Shu’s eyes reddened. He pulled out a ten-tael silver ingot and held it high: “Who has a horse cart? Sell it to me!” His domineering spirit stretched across heaven and earth.
Before anyone could answer, another plump little hand reached over, snatched the silver ingot from his hand, tucked it away, and dragged Huang Shu out of the room.
Outside the door, a thin, small eight-year-old girl sat on a pile of luggage, timidly looking at Huang Shu—both delighted and afraid.
Huang Shu rushed back into the general store, grabbed a huge pile of various pastries, loaded them into a basket, ran to the little girl’s side, squatted down, and stuffed the basket into the girl’s arms. The neighbors just stood there enviously watching Ying Niang bustle about, watching the little girl eat hard-as-stone pastries in big bites, with Huang Shu sitting beside her occasionally giving her sips of water.
After treating the neighbors to a big meal at a restaurant, receiving countless blessings, taking several baskets of black flatbread, and giving Ying Niang’s brother five strings of cash, the sun had only just reached its zenith.
The horse cart ran swiftly. Huang Shu proudly cracked the whip, occasionally teasing Xiu Niang—his daughter now—who stuck her head out the window, while receiving Ying Niang’s eye rolls. Everything was harmonious. As for whether all this happened too quickly—that was completely outside Huang Shu’s consideration.
They arrived at Yushan. Hearing that Huang Shu had brought his family, everyone was somewhat curious. The students watched as the usually timid and shrinking Huang Shu strutted about today. The mischievous ones wanted to teach him a lesson, but for the sake of that timid little girl, they temporarily forgave him.
The bad-tempered steward threw a large bundle of wedding chamber items at him and told him he had a small courtyard beside the academy where he could live, adding that this was specially arranged by the Marquis.
Huang Shu knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily. Ying Niang didn’t understand, but since her man was doing this, she quickly knelt and kowtowed as well. The disdainful expression on the steward’s face gradually disappeared after Huang Shu’s forehead turned red.
The little girl, however, was drooling while looking at the kitchen. She had seen someone earlier carry out a large plate of red meat from that room—it looked very delicious. Huang Shu told the girl that whenever she wanted to eat, she could use the paper slips from the box to claim it. With those paper slips, she could get that delicious braised pork. Watching her daughter carry the plate back step by step toward the kitchen, Ying Niang suddenly shed tears.
The moon rose halfway into the sky, frogs chirped in chorus. In the outer room of Huang Shu’s house, the little girl had long since fallen asleep. Looking at the voluptuous and gentle woman, Huang Shu could wait no longer. He blew out the candle and pounced like a hungry wolf.