The east gate market of Pengcheng County was at its most crowded a time when even the stone platforms had stalls wedged onto every available inch. This was normally peak morning market hour — yet the east gate market was no longer anything like its usual bustle.

A young man wearing a bamboo rain hat had barely approached the archway leading into the market when two men in official uniforms appeared before him, hands on their blades, driving him away with barely concealed impatience. “The east gate market is sealed off — if you want to buy produce, go somewhere else.”

“Brothers, I left something in a shop here before it closed. Would you be able to make an exception?”

“Absolutely not! We’re here on the orders of the magistrate himself. Even the heavenly king couldn’t get an exception. Move along — don’t linger anywhere nearby!”

One of the constables even shoved him with a hand to make clear there was no room for negotiation.

Yan Hui drew two silver ingots from his sleeve and pressed one quietly into each man’s hand.

“It’s something truly important to me. I’ll just step inside for a quick look — whether I find it or not, I’ll come straight back out. I won’t cause any trouble for you two brothers. Please — I’ve come such a long way. Won’t you help me out?”

The two constables felt the solid weight of silver in their palms and exchanged a glance.

One of them said, “……You’re only going in for a look?”

“Just a look.” Yan Hui said. “If it’s genuinely inconvenient, even pointing me somewhere with a clear view would do — that thing of mine might have fallen anywhere along the side roads.”

The two constables pocketed the silver and turned to walk toward the tavern behind the archway.

“……Come with me — and be quick about it.”

One constable stopped at the tavern entrance. Yan Hui followed the other man’s footsteps into the empty tavern.

He was led to the deserted upper floor. The constable kicked open a closed private room and said, “One incense stick’s worth of time. No more.”

“Much obliged, brother.” Yan Hui gave him a cupped-fist salute.

The constable left. Yan Hui stepped into the open room and pushed apart the latticed window that faced the street.

Three bold red characters — “Corrupt Magistrate” — sprawled across the wide main street of the market, aggressive and unapologetic. The characters for “magistrate” had already been half-chiseled away by workmen; only the character for “corrupt” remained mostly intact.

The sound of chipping and hammering rang out from every direction in the market. Bold red characters covered every junction and crossroads that radiated outward from it, forming a manifesto, full of indignant fury.

The writing was crooked and uneven, and not a few characters were purely pictographic — yet the entire text could be summarized by its very first passage:

“Corrupt magistrate pressured me to divorce my wife and take another — dream on! A true man does not take a second wife. I’ve accepted the Wang family’s dowry; the person I return to you. Today’s humiliation, I, the Duck, will repay one hundredfold in the days to come!”

The signature was the character “Li,” followed by a figure that was part phoenix — barely — and part outrageously exaggerated duck, wings spread in a manner that defied any definite interpretation.

Having taken in all the red characters scattered across the various street junctions of the market, Yan Hui turned and left the tavern.

After giving a cupped-fist salute of thanks to the two constables waiting downstairs, Yan Hui made his way alone to the western part of the city and took a seat at a wonton stall set up at the entrance of an alley.

“One bowl of pork wontons.” Yan Hui said.

“Coming right up.”

The young owner responded and moved with practiced efficiency, quickly setting down a bowl of steaming hot wontons.

“Proprietor, I have a small request.” Yan Hui pushed a silver ingot forward and smiled. “I have a peculiar habit — I like to have something to listen to while I eat. You seem like a man of the world. Would you be willing to sit and chat with me for a while?”

The lunch hour had long since passed, and Yan Hui was the only customer in the stall. The owner’s eyes went straight to the silver ingot on the table, and his body sat down almost of its own accord.

“Of course, honored guest — what would you like to talk about?” He smiled ingratiatingly while carefully tucking the silver ingot up his sleeve.

Yan Hui was in no hurry to eat. He picked up the wooden spoon and stirred the thin slick of oil floating on the surface of the broth.

“How long have you been selling wontons on this street?”

“Two years for me, but my father sold them in the same spot for thirty-four years — this is a family business that’s been passed down. My grandfather, my great-grandfather, all of them sold wontons right here.”

“Then you must know a young couple who live in this alley?”

The owner’s expression shifted. His eyes darted quickly around them.

“Which young couple does the honored guest mean? There are quite a few young couples living here——”

“Naturally, the one who managed to infuriate your magistrate.”

“This……” The owner looked deeply uncomfortable.

Yan Hui extended his hand. Another silver ingot rested in his palm.

The owner snatched it up with impressive speed and made it vanish into the apparently bottomless depths of his sleeve.

“I know, of course I know——” He glanced around again, then lowered his voice. “The man’s called Li Wu. He rescued the magistrate’s daughter and climbed right up the ranks — made sixth-rank military officer. The woman is surnamed Shen — I don’t know her given name. She’s bought wontons here a few times.”

“Tell me about her.”

“Now this Li Wu——”

“I asked about the woman surnamed Shen.”

The owner slapped the back of his own head. “Her — right. She looks to be sixteen or seventeen, and I don’t know what kind of background she comes from, but she carries herself with more bearing than most young ladies of good families. Hard to imagine how a rough sort like Li Wu managed to marry someone like her. There’s a rumor going around that she was a palace maid who fled during the coup in the capital — you’re not here to drag her back to the palace, are you?”

Yan Hui smiled. “There are tens of thousands of palace servants who fled after the coup. If it were palace maids we were after, we’d be chasing them until the end of time.”

The owner, unaware of the layers beneath those words, let out a breath of relief. “That’s good, that’s good. Lady Li is a good person — all the neighbors like her. And that Li Wu dotes on her hand and foot. Worried she’d be lonely at home by herself, he even hired a girl not much younger than Lady Li to keep her company.”

“Who was this girl?”

“She’s Zhang the fishmonger’s eldest daughter, Di Niang. If you come to this street when the market’s open, you’d see her helping with the family business. A capable girl, cheerful and quick — before the Li family left, Li Wu had her coming to the house to do the washing, cooking, and looking after Lady Li. Funny thing is, Lady Li doesn’t seem to have the first idea how to manage a household — you’d almost wonder whether palace maids get waited on too.”

Yan Hui deflected the question and pressed on. “Is there anything else?”

“Anything else……I don’t think so. Oh — yes! Last year, the matchmaker Wang said that if Lady Li had been unmarried, the people coming to ask about her would have worn the doorstep flat.”

The owner had wracked his brain and produced nothing but things of little use.

Yan Hui asked, “In your view, how is their marriage?”

“What do you mean, how is it?” The owner looked baffled. “Fine, from what I can see. I never saw them have a cross word.”

“Is it possible they were a couple in name only?”

“What do you mean?” The owner’s mouth fell open.

“In your opinion, how did Lady Li regard Li Wu? Was it genuinely how a wife regards a husband?”

“Could there be any doubt?” The owner said without hesitation. “Back before everything happened, anyone who saw them would say they were a devoted couple — and that’s not even to mention——”

He paused and cast a wary look around before lowering his voice nearly to a murmur:

“That’s not even to mention that Li Wu gave up his official post for his wife’s sake. How many men in this world would do that for a woman? Running off alone would’ve been one thing — but he also took the dowry the magistrate had prepared for his daughter with him.”

“A dowry counted in sedan loads — how did he manage to take that much without anyone noticing?”

“He just had to open his mouth and talk the right people into it — the actual moving was done by someone else.”

The owner’s storytelling instincts kicked in. He paused deliberately until a puzzled look appeared on Yan Hui’s face, then went on:

“I only heard this from others myself. Li Wu has always kept company with all sorts of people outside regular society. He made arrangements with a black market dealer to sell the dowry at a low price, then on the wedding night, he kept the guests entertained at the front of the house while the black market dealer brought his own crew around the back to quietly haul away the dowry that had just been brought in. And here’s another thing I only heard secondhand — by the time Li Wu went into the bridal chamber, the new bride waited quite a while without hearing a single sound. When she finally opened her eyes, Li Wu had long since made his escape! When the magistrate sent people to check, wouldn’t you know it — there was a large hole cut through the back of the wardrobe, opening directly to the outside of the compound!”

The owner delivered this with palpable excitement, as though it had been he himself who had absconded with the funds on the wedding night, not Li Wu.

He seemed to catch himself, cleared his throat, steadied his expression, and went on:

“Miss Wang, still in her wedding dress, immediately tried to throw herself into the well and had to be pulled back — after which she fainted in tears, but no one paid her any attention — because the provocative text at the market had been discovered, and half of Pengcheng County had gone running to look at the spectacle!”

“Everyone now knows the story of the magistrate abusing his authority to force a military officer to divorce his wife and take another. The Wang family has become the laughingstock of all Xuzhou. Our magistrate was so furious he suffered a stroke overnight and is still bedridden right now——”

“I don’t know what Li Wu mixed his paint from, but it can’t be washed off no matter what — they have to pry the stones up along with the paint. Have you been to the east gate market? I heard from a relative who does carpentry work that more than half the market has been left pitted and cratered — all because of Li Wu’s provocative text! The authorities issued a standing order to those workers: clear every last stone with writing on it within ten days, no exceptions!”

“Miss Wang lost her reputation, her entire dowry was taken in one sweep, and the magistrate in charge of it all was driven to a stroke by the whole affair. They say a forced match makes for bitter fruit — but the Wang family got more than bitterness, they had their faces ground in humiliation. This thing has blown up so spectacularly — who knows how it’ll end. When Li Wu was still sitting as the magistrate’s honored guest, who could have imagined how things would turn out today?” The owner sighed. “The ‘Lady Li’ in question — would she be the woman in this portrait?”

Yan Hui drew a painting from inside his robes and unrolled it — a young girl cradling a long-haired cat leapt vividly off the paper.

The owner squinted at it, then said with certainty, “That’s her! That’s the one!”

“Are you sure?” Yan Hui frowned.

“Of course I’m sure — I’m not at the age of failing eyesight yet.” The owner looked again and confirmed, “Go ask Di Niang — she’ll tell you the same thing. That is, without any doubt, Lady Li herself.”

“Do you know where Lady Li has gone?”

“An outsider like me — how would I know those kinds of details……” The owner shook his head. “At first we all thought she’d been sent back to her family, but Li Wu’s disappeared too, so they’ve probably gone somewhere to lie low.”

Yan Hui fell silent.

“Why are you asking after Lady Li, if you don’t mind my asking?” The owner looked at Yan Hui with careful eyes.

“Forget everything I just asked you.”

Yan Hui set down the wooden spoon, picked up the long sword on the table, and left the wonton stall.

The wontons, glistening with oil on the surface, had not been touched.

“……What a strange man.” The owner muttered, picking up the perfectly clean bowl.

Heavy, measured footsteps came from the direction of the main street ahead. The owner looked up and went pale — he hastily flung down the wontons and scrambled to drag his roadside tables and chairs out of the way.

A regiment of soldiers in close formation, surrounding a mounted general in black armor, strode thunderously down the street. Passersby and vendors scattered to clear a path.

The mounted commander reached the junction of the street where the Wang residence stood and swung down from his horse, continuing on foot all the way to the front gate, where he knocked.

It was some time before a visibly anxious elderly man came to open the door.

The commander was led through to the study in the main courtyard. Even before he stepped through the doorway, he caught the thick smell of medicine.

Inside the study, the atmosphere was heavy with gloom. The several maids and manservants standing in attendance all had faces as pale as paper.

The commander walked into the inner bedchamber and, facing the person in the bed, swept into a formal bow.

Wang Wenzhong lay half-propped against two pillows and watched him from the corner of his eye. The hand resting at his side moved weakly.

“The magistrate bids you rise.” The advisor standing at the bedside said quickly.

Only then did the commander straighten and state his business.

“……The irregular forces harassing Huai County have been driven by this subordinate’s troops to the area around Guangping Mountain. While they pose no immediate threat for now, it is difficult to say what changes may occur. To eliminate them completely, this subordinate will need additional manpower.”

Wang Wenzhong closed his eyes. After a moment, he lifted a hand and waved it dismissively.

The advisor spoke at once. “They are nothing but a rabble that the Yan army has already routed and scattered. The commander is making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“These people have committed every kind of atrocity. If left unchecked, they will absorb the displaced refugees in the area and make a resurgence.” The commander pressed his hands together in salute. “Such a hidden threat should be dealt with at the earliest opportunity. This subordinate implores Your Honor to lend me troops!”

Wang Wenzhong lay in the bed, entirely motionless.

The advisor said, “How many are you asking for?”

“Not many — a thousand men would suffice. This subordinate also wishes to request that Your Honor allocate ten thousand taels of silver to construct defensive fortifications against incursions from displaced refugees——”

Both the advisor and the commander kept their eyes fixed on Wang Wenzhong in the bed.

The stroke had altered his appearance. The downward pull at the corner of his mouth and the slant of one eye made his formerly refined face appear sinister and menacing. When Wang Wenzhong looked toward the commander from the side, even the commander — who had taken more than his share of lives — felt compelled to look away.

The commander lowered his head, and thus missed Wang Wenzhong first tapping his fingers on the bed, then waving his hand — he only heard the advisor say, “You may have the troops. As for funding, you will need to find that yourself.”

“Why?” The commander looked up sharply.

“Two consecutive years of disasters have left the prefectural treasury with no surplus funds. Constructing defensive fortifications is a worthy endeavor, but the commander will need to raise the ten thousand taels himself. Should you succeed, the commander will surely have his name recorded in the county annals for generations to come.”

“But I——” The commander’s face fell with urgency.

Wang Wenzhong closed his eyes again. A flicker of impatience crossed the sinister planes of his face.

“There is no need to rush the matter of constructing fortifications — waiting another year would not cause any harm. Besides, the Wuying Army is about to be stationed in Xuzhou, and after that, who would dare cause trouble for our people here?” The advisor’s manner was mild, but his words were stern. “Since the matter has been settled, the commander may return for now. The magistrate still needs his rest — you will be summoned again when needed.”

The advisor’s dismissal left the commander dissatisfied, yet with no choice but to bow and withdraw.

The commander stepped out of the Wang residence and looked back at the imposing compound behind him. He understood quite clearly why the treasury had no funds.

To avenge a personal grievance, the magistrate had used government silver. If things remained quiet, it might pass without consequence — but if something were to go wrong, how would Xuzhou withstand it?

In the inner chambers of the Wang residence, Wang Shiyong lay motionless in her bed, in exactly the same posture as her father.

Within a matter of days, she had wasted away to skin and bone, her face as white as paper.

Her tears had long since run dry, and only the traces of them remained on her face.

“Chunguо……am I finished for the rest of my life?”

No one answered her.

Chunguo, standing watch at the door, had heard — but she acted as though she hadn’t, and went on eating the preserved apricots she had tucked inside her sleeve.