After a night of rain, the sun shone brightly.

Du Changqing had rested at home for several days and finally recovered from his cold. He changed into a spring robe early in the morning and arrived at the medical hall with A’Cheng, only to see Yin Zheng arranging many flowers on the table at the entrance.

The flowers were pomegranate blossoms, blooming delicately. Clusters of fiery colors resembled newly ignited red silk, like shredded red paper scattered among the lush green, the deep red and rich green creating a particularly charming display.

Among the pomegranate flowers, many palm-sized white porcelain jars were scattered, each adorned with pink paper labels, like pink jade hidden among the blooming flowers—exquisite and lovely.

Du Changqing casually picked up a jar and asked Yin Zheng: “Why are you displaying so much rouge and powder?”

“It’s not rouge.” Yin Zheng hung a calligraphy painting on the wall. “It’s new medicine our young lady made.”

After the painting behind ‘Spring Water Life’ was torn down by people from the Bureau of Prepared Medicine, the wall had remained bare. With Yin Zheng’s painting hung up, the shop looked more elegant.

Du Changqing leaned forward to read: “The graceful dancing girl of fifteen years, accustomed to trailing long sleeves, never taking dainty steps. With one glance among the crowd, all worldly beauty becomes dust.”

“A tree stands tall with flowers just blooming, except for natural beauty, wanting to give but speechless. Face to face, Lady Wu boasts of her dancing skill, pitifully always misled by her slender waist.”

After reading, Du Changqing looked up in confusion: “What is this?”

Lu Tong lifted the felt curtain and came out from inside, putting the porcelain jar back in his hands: “This is ‘Slender Elegance.'”

“Slender Elegance?”

“The weather is hot now,” Lu Tong said. “Women’s clothing is becoming lighter. Perhaps they hope to appear more graceful in figure. This medicinal tea is used to adjust yin-yang balance, harmonize internal organs, clear meridians, and circulate qi and blood. It has excellent effects for women in lightening the body and strengthening the spleen.”

Yin Zheng smiled: “Anyway, now that summer has arrived, far fewer people are troubled by nasal congestion. Even if the Bureau of Prepared Medicine hadn’t adopted Spring Water Life as an official formula, continued sales wouldn’t match previous levels. Better to take advantage and sell new medicinal tea. I see that the women of the capital are all beautiful—surely they especially treasure their appearance. This medicinal tea should sell very well.”

“Body slimming?” Du Changqing was somewhat skeptical. “Haven’t the pharmacies in the capital sold women’s slimming medicinal teas before? I’ve never heard of any being remarkably effective. Miss Lu, I asked you to make new medicine—why make this?” He glanced at the porcelain jars among the flowers and muttered quietly: “All this fancy decoration must have cost quite a bit of money.”

Yin Zheng said angrily: “Shopkeeper Du, why don’t you trust our young lady? Those willing to buy this ‘Slender Elegance’ must have high demands for beauty. You can’t just put it in any iron jar—who would want to buy it then!”

Just then, the silk shoe shop next door also opened for business. Sister Song called out from inside to Yin Zheng: “Girl Yin Zheng, Dr. Lu, did you try the carp yesterday?”

Yin Zheng couldn’t be bothered arguing with Du Changqing and quickly poked her head out, smiling in response: “We tried it! Very fresh—both my young lady and I ate quite a lot. Thank you, Sister Song.”

Sister Song also smiled, waving her hand: “We’re all on the same street—what’s this talk of being polite?” Turning around, she saw the porcelain jars stacked on the table at Renxin Medical Hall’s entrance and asked in surprise: “Are you selling Spring Water Life again? Why do these jars look different from before?”

Yin Zheng replied: “This isn’t Spring Water Life. This is new medicinal tea called ‘Slender Elegance’ that our young lady made. When women use this medicinal tea, it can supplement qi and slim the body. After drinking for many days, they’ll have faces like peach blossoms and light, graceful figures.” She glanced at Sister Song and casually asked: “Sister, why don’t you buy two jars to try?”

Sister Song touched her own face and laughed first: “What would I buy this for? At my age, being plump at least gives me some substance. If I really got thin, wouldn’t I just add more wrinkles to trouble myself? A bit plump is fine,” she patted her chest, “plump is sturdy—otherwise where would I get the strength to work?” With that, she ducked into her shop to greet customers.

Du Changqing stood behind Yin Zheng, coldly observing this entire exchange between the two women, then let out a cold laugh: “See? I told you so.”

Lu Tong lowered her eyes and continued arranging the jars on the table cabinet.

Du Changqing approached and sincerely suggested: “Dr. Lu, I’m not trying to discourage you, but your medicinal tea won’t sell as well as Spring Water Life. Why not change to something else?”

“I won’t change.”

Du Changqing stared at her for a long while. Lu Tong remained unmoved. After a moment, Du Changqing said angrily: “Stubborn!”

…

Regardless of whether Lu Tong was stubborn, Renxin Medical Hall’s “Slender Elegance” was already on display for sale.

Near lamp-lighting time, the silk shoe shop across the street closed. Sister Song came out of her shop and went to the temple entrance in the east part of the city.

The temple entrance in the east part of the city was next to the fresh fish market. Dai’s meat shop had always done good business. Butcher Dai Sanlang had inherited his father’s trade and had been selling pork here for over ten years. His pork was fresh, fairly priced, never short in weight, and he chopped meat sauce expertly. Nearby women often bought meat from him.

Sister Song arrived at the meat shop. It was already near evening, and only some bone-in scraps remained in the shop. Dai Sanlang was cleaning his cutting board, about to close.

Sister Song loved buying meat at this time—buying near closing time cost nearly half the price of morning purchases.

“Sanlang,” Sister Song spoke familiarly, “the usual.”

Dai Sanlang grunted, gathered the scraps from the wooden board, and wrapped them in oiled cloth.

His brow was tightly furrowed, his figure like a bloated small mountain. Due to the summer heat, sweat rolled down his forehead, soaking his tightly stretched thin shirt with dampness. At a glance, he looked like a huge, freshly steamed brown dumpling.

“Sanlang,” Sister Song couldn’t help saying, “have you gotten even fatter recently?”

Dai Sanlang said nothing.

“This won’t do,” Sister Song said. “You eat meat daily, and your body keeps getting heavier—this isn’t a solution. Speaking of which,” she leaned closer, “when will you be able to marry?”

Dai Sanlang paused in cleaning his cutting board, his face reddening somewhat.

Butcher Dai had long fancied Widow Sun from the rice shop on West Street. Unfortunately, Widow Sun was vain and chose men not by money or ability, but solely by appearance. Dai Sanlang was quite far from the words “handsome and brave,” so until now he hadn’t earned a single glance from Widow Sun and could only suffer in secret.

Seeing this honest man’s dejected appearance, Sister Song wanted to comfort him. Suddenly having an idea, she said: “Speaking of which, Dr. Lu from Renxin Medical Hall just released new medicine today, said to help people slim down and lighten their bodies.”

Dai Sanlang was startled: “New medicine?”

“Yes! That Dr. Lu’s previous nasal congestion medicinal tea was very effective. Why don’t you try it? It’s expensive, but maybe it works.” Sister Song was just speaking casually and didn’t really think Dai Sanlang would actually buy it—first, this new medicine was quite expensive at five taels of silver per jar. Who would buy this just to lose weight? Second, she’d never heard of any man being beauty-conscious.

Sister Song finished selecting the remaining meat and left. Dai Sanlang closed his shop but didn’t immediately go home as usual. He stood at the door thinking for a long while, then headed toward West Street.

West Street wasn’t far from the eastern temple entrance. Summer days were long and darkness came later. When Dai Sanlang reached Renxin Medical Hall, the sky was nearly completely dark. Except for food stalls with their lit lanterns, most small shops had closed.

Du Changqing and A’Cheng were just preparing to leave when they saw a tall, fat man approaching. This person had two oil-stained bone-chopping knives at his waist. When he walked, the flesh on his face shook terrifyingly.

Du Changqing was startled and mustered courage to block the doorway: “What… what do you want?”

Dai Sanlang looked up at him. Du Changqing steadily met his gaze. After a while, Dai Sanlang looked away and spoke furtively: “I want to buy medicine.”

“Buy medicine? What medicine?” Du Changqing was suspicious.

“That… that…” The fat man seemed to have difficulty speaking, stammering: “Something that can slim the body…”

“What? Speak louder!”

Lu Tong walked over from behind Du Changqing, set an oil lamp on the table, and said: “You want to buy ‘Slender Elegance,’ right?”

The flickering lamplight illuminated Dai Sanlang’s face and clearly showed the large beads of nervous sweat on his forehead. He nodded bashfully and quietly hummed agreement.

Du Changqing looked at Lu Tong in astonishment.

Lu Tong took a white porcelain bottle from the medicine cabinet behind her: “One bottle costs five taels of silver, enough for about half a month. How many do you want?”

This price wasn’t cheap for Dai Sanlang, who made his living selling pork, but he just swallowed and said: “I’ll buy two bottles first.”

Lu Tong handed over two bottles of “Slender Elegance”: “Three servings daily, brewed on schedule.” After pausing, she asked Dai Sanlang: “Can you read?”

Dai Sanlang shook his head.

“Then I’ll speak and you listen. There are restrictions when taking this medicine—you cannot take it casually, or the effects will be poor.” Lu Tong carefully explained the medicinal restrictions to him, repeating three times before Dai Sanlang nodded to show he remembered. He wasn’t talkative. After buying the medicine, he took it and left.

Du Changqing watched Dai Sanlang’s solid retreating figure and muttered in confusion: “I really didn’t expect that the buyer of your medicinal tea would be a butcher.”

He had thought the first customer might be a graceful, slender young lady, or perhaps a plump, wealthy noble lady, but never imagined it would be a pig butcher.

Dai Sanlang carefully placed the medicine jars with pink paper labels at his waist. When contrasted with his oil-stained butcher’s knife, the sight was truly indescribable.

Du Changqing murmured: “Why would a butcher want to be slender?”

Yin Zheng followed his gaze and snorted: “Why can’t he? Only women are allowed to have graceful figures, while men get such lenient treatment? I think this butcher is better than most men in the capital—at least he knows his appearance is lacking and understands the need for improvement.”

“If you ask me, all the men in the capital should learn from him and properly tend to themselves, instead of making us women see pot-bellied ugly men while walking the streets—men who are young but still think they’re elegant gentlemen. It’s truly disgusting.”

Du Changqing was speechless: “Where did you hear such twisted logic? Men obviously can’t be judged solely on appearance.”

“If appearance doesn’t matter, Shopkeeper Du, why do you constantly change clothes and apply fragrant powder?” Yin Zheng deliberately undermined him. “Besides, I haven’t seen many talented men on the capital’s streets. You should excel in either good looks or outstanding learning.”

“I can’t argue with you. I won’t discuss this with you.” Du Changqing turned to Lu Tong. “But Dr. Lu, can your medicine really be effective? What if after drinking it for a while he’s still the same, and in anger he takes his knife and chops us both up? I’ll say first—I can’t fight him.”

Lu Tong lowered her eyes: “As long as he wants it, he can achieve his wish.”

“What do you mean?”

Lu Tong didn’t speak. After a while, she said: “For him, it will be very effective.”

…

Days always pass quickly.

Mid-summer climbing heights, with positive yang above—the fifth day of the fifth month was the Dragon Boat Festival.

Every shop on West Street hung fresh wormwood and calamus on their walls to ward off evil. Sister Song’s husband bought realgar wine, and Sister Song’s younger sister gathered bamboo leaves, planning to celebrate the festival together at home.

Sister Song’s younger sister called from the back kitchen: “Mom, we’re out of salted meat.”

Sister Song responded loudly: “Leave it be—I’ll go out and buy some.”

Zongzi also needed salted meat, but pork seller Dai Sanlang had returned to his hometown a month ago, saying his elderly mother had caught a cold and he was going home to care for her. Sister Song could only buy meat from other shops, but after shopping around, she always felt nothing compared to Dai’s pork. Today was still early, so she thought she’d go see if Dai’s shop had reopened.

Just as she stepped out, a woman carrying a bamboo basket approached.

This woman was about thirty years old, wearing a water-green jacket with gold-embroidered blue satin collar and a snow-white pleated skirt below. She had a married woman’s hairstyle, fair skin, and two golden earrings swaying at her ears. Though not beautiful, she had considerable charm.

Sister Song stopped and called out: “Sister Sun!”

This woman was Widow Sun.

Widow Sun was quite a character. Originally the daughter of the rice shop owner on West Street, she married a small official in the capital at eighteen. A few years later, her husband died of illness. Before his death, her husband had doted on her completely, writing all the farmland and shop deeds in her name. Since her in-laws had long passed away, she was left with several houses and boxes of gold and silver jewelry.

Widow Sun returned to West Street with her deceased husband’s money and young daughter. She had money and wasn’t unattractive, so over the years many people had set their sights on her. However, she sent all the matchmakers away because Widow Sun didn’t love wealth or talent—she only loved handsome men.

When matchmakers came to propose, Widow Sun would politely seat them for tea, then say: “I don’t want anything else—just someone with a fine appearance.”

“Fine appearance” sounded simple, but people’s standards varied greatly. Widow Sun’s idea of “fine” was probably quite different from the matchmakers’ “fine.” In the matchmakers’ eyes, “fine” probably meant any man with eyes and a nose, but Widow Sun obviously didn’t think so. Thus several years passed without a single one catching her eye.

As for those young men who came just to live off her, she disliked their powdered, effeminate air—too childish and immature. If she looked for older, seemingly reliable men, she’d say they looked too rough, not even wearing a sachel—clearly not a good match for her.

A few years ago, Widow Sun had taken a fancy to Du Changqing, but Du Changqing wouldn’t become a live-in son-in-law and politely declined, so that match ended.

“Sister Sun, you’re up so early.” Sister Song greeted her warmly.

Widow Sun smiled and nodded at Sister Song, her nail-painted finger pointing delicately forward as she spoke in a sweet, coquettish voice: “Buying some meat to wrap zongzi.”

Sister Song was momentarily dazed. No wonder Widow Sun had convinced her late husband to write all the land deeds in her name—never mind men, even she as a woman felt half her bones go soft hearing that sweet voice.

Sister Song looked at Widow Sun’s carefully coordinated outfit, then thought of Dai Sanlang’s oil-stained, bloated figure. She couldn’t help thinking that although Dai Sanlang was a good person, honestly speaking, it was rather like a toad wanting to eat swan meat.

The two women walked together toward the eastern temple entrance. Sister Song was warm-hearted and quick-tongued, making Widow Sun laugh like trembling flowers all along the way. When they reached the temple entrance area, they could see from far away that the small shop near the alley entrance had its doors wide open, with someone inside chopping bones.

“Oh, Sanlang is back.” Sister Song was delighted to see this—with Dai Sanlang back, she could finally buy good pork today. Remembering Widow Sun beside her, she nudged her arm teasingly: “Why don’t you buy some too? He always gives you more meat than the rest of us.”

“How annoying! What nonsense are you talking?” Widow Sun pushed Sister Song, scolding coquettishly: “Don’t take advantage of his honest nature.”

Sister Song nodded: “Sanlang is indeed honest—a good man.”

“Just a bit rough-looking.” Widow Sun sighed.

“That’s true,” Sister Song agreed. “If only he looked better… Huh? Isn’t this Sanlang?”

They had reached Dai’s shop entrance. It was early morning, and summer sun rose early. In the morning light, at the cutting board stood an unfamiliar man.

This man was tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Due to the heat, he wore only a white cloth jacket, revealing wheat-colored skin. His exposed arms were solid and powerful. Looking up, this person had thick eyebrows and large eyes, regular features with slightly hard contours—not as handsome as young masters and gentlemen, but possessing a wild, rugged appeal.

He wielded a long bone-chopping knife, sweat rolling down his forehead, flowing down his neck into his jacket collar—moist and glistening, inexplicably making one’s heart feel like misty fire was rising.

Sister Song stared at this man, thinking the summer heat must truly be intense—otherwise, despite wearing cool clothing, why would her face and heart feel burning hot?

Widow Sun stared at the man for a long while. Only when his bone-chopping knife stopped and he looked this way did Widow Sun come to her senses.

The blazing sun was silent, distant early cicadas chirped softly. Widow Sun paused, gracefully lifted a strand of hair falling beside her ear, tucked it behind her ear, and walked toward the man with swaying grace. Only when she reached him did she look up and ask with a bright smile: “This handsome fellow looks unfamiliar—I’ve never seen you here before. What relation are you to Brother Dai?”

“I…” The man seemed not to expect Widow Sun to approach him voluntarily. He was momentarily stunned, staring straight at her face without speaking, as if mesmerized.

Widow Sun felt pleased, watching this person’s face grow redder and redder, resembling a cooked shrimp. If she teased him further, he’d probably flee in panic. She suppressed her laughter and said: “I see you have some resemblance to Brother Dai around the eyes. Are you his relative? Brother or nephew? Why haven’t I heard him mention you before?”

The man’s face grew even redder. After holding back for a long time, he finally uttered: “…Miss Sun, I am Dai Sanlang.”

The pretty widow’s smile froze on her face.

Sister Song’s high-pitched voice echoed throughout the entire eastern temple entrance.

“Dai Sanlang? You’re Dai Sanlang?!”