Zhu Yu – Chapter 39

The moon had set in the frosty sky, leaving only scattered stars.

A man in apricot-yellow robes left the lantern festival street, his mood dark as he headed toward the pleasure district. While the festival area was bustling with noise and light, the other streets beyond its glow lay like predators lurking in the darkness, their quietness holding an eerie danger.

Fortunately, it was only one street over to the Red Lantern district, where warm lights once again lit the way.

As the yellow-robed man walked along the inevitable path from the festival, something suddenly dropped over his head, blocking his vision. Just as he was about to cry out in fear, a heavy blow struck his abdomen. The pain was so intense it made him curl up, the scream dying in his throat.

A fierce kick to his rear sent him tumbling into a pitch-black alley, where clubs rained down on him like hailstones.

The yellow-robed man wailed pitifully, curling into a ball inside the sack with his hands protecting his head. “Please stop! I have money—I’ll give you all the silver I’m carrying, just please spare me!”

No one responded. Instead, several more punches landed on his face through the sack.

His cries grew even more miserable. Passersby who heard the screams from the dark alley, fearing trouble, dared not help. Only after running far away did someone shout, “Quick, report to the authorities! Someone’s being beaten in that alley!”

Hearing this, Fan Changyu, worried about leaving evidence, put away her club and carefully yanked off the sack covering the upper half of the yellow-robed man’s body.

However, she pulled too forcefully. The man was dragged face-first into the ground by the momentum, breaking one of his front teeth. His agonized scream was so sharp it could be heard by the pleasure district.

Fan Changyu froze for a moment. Hearing hurried footsteps approaching from the street entrance, she had no time to think further and ran toward the other end of the alley.

She had deliberately chosen an alley with exits on both ends to make escape easier.

Xie Zheng was waiting at the far end with Changningg. They exchanged glances without a word, tacitly agreeing to quickly leave the scene.

After walking two streets away, Xie Zheng finally asked, “What did you do to him?”

The man’s horrific screams suggested more than just a beating.

Fan Changyu said, “I didn’t do anything special—he was just stupid. When I pulled off the sack, he stumbled and fell face-first, breaking a tooth.”

Xie Zheng glanced at her sideways, seemingly doubting her explanation.

Fan Changyu: “…I’m not lying.”

Xie Zheng asked, “Are you going to teach the others a lesson too?”

Fan Changyu wondered what he took her for, and said, “No, beating all of them in one day would point to me as the culprit. This one had a foul mouth, so I taught him a lesson first to vent my anger. I’ll deal with the others when opportunities arise.”

Meanwhile, the yellow-robed man, still wailing in the alley, was finally helped up by the arriving constables.

Both his eyes were bruised, his broken front tooth left his mouth full of blood, and two streams of blood ran from his nose. In the torchlight, he finally saw his broken tooth on the ground and cried out, “My tooth is broken—how can I take the civil service examinations now!”

As the County Magistrate’s nephew, he shouted at the constables, “Hurry up and investigate! Arrest the thugs who beat your young master!”

The duty constable, wiping sweat from his brow, asked, “Young Master, have you made any enemies recently?”

The yellow-robed man thought carefully, wincing in pain as he spoke, “A few days ago, that good-for-nothing Wang tried to compete with me for a courtesan at the brothel. I humiliated him—it could be him! And that Liu fellow, who acts so noble but failed the metropolitan examinations, I mocked him too—could be him as well. Then there’s the Li family…”

The constable’s head spun as he listened to the long list of potential enemies.

Finally, the yellow-robed man remembered the incident at the lantern festival tonight and said, “Tonight I also mocked Song’s former fiancée on his behalf.”

This wasn’t something to be proud of, given how many people had watched their county’s top scholars being rendered speechless by a live-in son-in-law. He stopped mid-sentence to ask, “Was Brother Song Yan hurt by the thugs?”

When the constable shook his head, he immediately said, “A butcher’s daughter and her sickly live-in husband—they wouldn’t dare! You should investigate the families I mentioned earlier!”

As the constables left to investigate, he was helped to a nearby physician’s shop, moaning all the way.

When Fan Changyu arrived at the temporary lodgings arranged by Yixiang Restaurant, the matron was still awake.

She smiled and asked, “Was the lantern festival nice?”

Changningg had already fallen asleep on Xie Zheng’s shoulder on the way back, and Fan Changyu, still feeling guilty about the beating, only vaguely replied, “Yes, it was crowded and lively everywhere.”

The matron led them to a room and opened the door with a smile. “This is the only room left—you’ll have to make do for one night.”

Fan Changyu thanked her and asked for a pot of hot water for washing. After briefly washing Changningg’s face and hands, she put the child to bed.

After washing her face, she noticed there wasn’t much hot water left in the pot. Not wanting to trouble the matron to boil more water so late at night, she poured the face-washing water into a foot basin and made do with that for soaking her feet.

When Xie Zheng finished washing his face with the remaining hot water, she still had both feet in the basin. Seeing him about to take the washing water out to dispose of it, she quickly said, “You can pour it in the foot basin.”

Xie Zheng hesitated for a moment before walking over to the wooden basin.

Fan Changyu lifted her feet and rested them on the basin’s edge to make it easier for him to pour the water.

Perhaps because they rarely saw sunlight, her feet were extremely white, taking on a warm jade-like glow in the candlelight. There was a small black mole at her ankle that caught the eye strangely.

Xie Zheng only glanced once before lowering his gaze to hide his vision.

In the capital, a woman’s bare feet being seen by others was tantamount to losing her virtue. In this frontier town, customs were more relaxed than in the capital—women washing clothes by the river often went barefoot, seemingly unconcerned about bare feet.

She had always been forthright by nature, and this wasn’t improper, but Xie Zheng still felt somewhat unsettled.

Fan Changyu saw him sit far away after pouring the water and asked, “Won’t you soak your feet?”

Xie Zheng said, “You go first. I’ll rinse mine with cold water outside later.”

Fan Changyu glared at him. “In this cold weather, you want to wash with cold water? Won’t you catch a chill tomorrow?”

In their month or so together, she had noticed that Yan Zheng was quite particular about cleanliness. Thinking he didn’t want to use the water she had used, she said, “In our home, we all used to share the foot-soaking water. I forgot about your cleanliness habits. Let me ask the matron to boil you some fresh water from the kitchen.”

Xie Zheng frowned slightly but finally said, “No need, this water is fine.”

The Fan family was very clean, changing shoes and socks frequently. The used water didn’t look dirty.

It was his own heart that was in turmoil.

As he put his feet in the basin, seeing the watermarks on its edge, his mind involuntarily recalled her pair of feet resting there.

Xie Zheng’s frown deepened instantly. His foot had barely touched the water before he hurriedly stood up to dispose of it.

Fan Changyu sat at the table, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. When he returned, she said with complex emotions, “It’s fine if you’re particular about cleanliness. I don’t think you’re looking down on anything—you don’t need to force yourself like this…”

Xie Zheng looked at her sincere and clear eyes in the candlelight, her beautiful brows showing traces of self-loathing, and said only, “It’s not what you think.”

There was only one bed and one blanket. After putting the wooden basin back inside, he walked toward the door. “You should rest early.”

Fan Changyu felt something was odd about him and asked, “What about you?”

He couldn’t sit outside all night, and the matron had just said this was the only room left.

Xie Zheng said, “I’ll ask if I can share space with the restaurant staff for the night.”

Even after he left and the door closed again, Fan Changyu still looked bewildered.

Why did he suddenly treat her like some fearsome beast?

Had the sack incident scared him?

Or was the foot-washing water too traumatic?