Looking for her?

After thinking briefly in her room, Wen Yu found a handkerchief that had just been cut but not yet embroidered with patterns to cover her face before walking out the door.

The embroidered handkerchief with the hidden insignia had only been sold this morning. Even if her personal guards were in Yong City, they would need to make inquiries before learning her address—it couldn’t possibly happen this quickly.

So those who had come looking for her now were most likely people from that noble lady.

When Hou Xiao’an at the courtyard gate heard footsteps behind him, he turned to look and his eyes immediately widened.

The girl with a face full of rash marks seemed like two different people with and without her face covered.

When the veil covered half her face, she immediately became distant and inscrutable. Even though she still wore the same worn gray padded jacket, no one dared harbor the slightest trace of contempt.

Even this courtyard with few furnishings seemed less dilapidated simply because she stood there gracefully.

Hou Xiao’an’s eyes were still wide as saucers when Wen Yu had already looked toward the gate.

Outside stood a round-faced maid and two young manservants, all dressed in quite respectable materials. The maid stood on the steps with her hands tucked in her sleeves, while the two manservants stood below holding items.

Seeing this maid was a stranger and not the one from this morning, Wen Yu asked, “Are you from the Xu household?”

The maid had looked down on the shabby place with some superiority in her eyes, but when she replied and her gaze met Wen Yu’s, she felt that though the woman’s eyes were clearly very gentle, she unconsciously weakened in presence. “That’s right. Are you the embroiderer who is making the fan for my mistress?”

Wen Yu nodded and said, “Thank you for making the trip.”

The maid repeatedly said it was nothing, merely doing business for her master’s house. Seeing Wen Yu’s extraordinary bearing and especially refined temperament, she no longer dared show any disrespect in her words. She had the two young manservants who came with her step forward with trays, saying, “This is silk gauze material. The embroidery pattern is underneath the fabric. The thread was specially brought back by the mistress from Suzhou—all genuine silk dyed thread that can’t be bought in Yong City. The mistress says that if you make a mistake in embroidering, there’s extra silk gauze material, but no extra thread. So she hopes you will be meticulous in your needlework.”

Wen Yu only nodded slightly and said, “Naturally.”

The maid then signaled the two young manservants to carry the trays inside. Hou Xiao’an, who had been standing by the door, quickly slipped out saying, “Just give them to me! Would big sister and the two young brothers like to come in for some tea?”

The maid glanced at the courtyard, still messy from just processing pork, and chose not to enter, only saying her master’s house still had matters to attend to and she wouldn’t disturb them further.

As the group turned to leave, Hou Xiao’an held both stacked trays in one hand and enthusiastically waved at their retreating backs with the other.

After closing the courtyard gate, Hou Xiao’an leaned his back against the door, lifted the trays to admire them repeatedly, and when he looked at Wen Yu again, both his eyes shone with the brilliance of gold ingots:

“My goddess of wealth, big sister! How did you manage to connect with a distinguished noble household like the Xu family? You should know that twenty years earlier, all the shops in this entire Yong City bore the Xu surname! Though they’ve declined somewhat now, letting our boss and the He family who took over Yong City’s canal transport business take quite a bit of the pie. But still, as they say, a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Did you see? When the Xu household sends servants out on errands, they dispatch carriages! That carriage stopped at the alley entrance and drew the attention of everyone in the entire alley craning their necks to look!”

Wen Yu said, “I was just selling embroidered handkerchiefs at the market this morning and happened to take on a business deal.”

In her heart, however, she couldn’t help thinking that if things were as Hou Xiao’an said and the Xu family already held such power in Yong City, then whoever could make that Madam Xu put such effort into preparing gifts must have even greater influence.

Hou Xiao’an followed closely behind her with the two trays, pressing further, “Big sister, how much can you earn from this job? Those wealthy households always spend generously—at least seven or eight hundred wen, right?”

Xiao Huiniang knew this child always couldn’t walk straight when he saw money and said with amusement, “The deposit they gave your Sister A’Yu was a full tael of silver!”

Hou Xiao’an nearly stumbled while holding the trays, his eyes round as he looked at Xiao Huiniang. “How… how much?”

Wen Yu said calmly, “One tael deposit. The fee for embroidering a single-sided piece is five taels. If I embroider double-sided, the fee is fifty taels.”

Hearing the last number, Hou Xiao’an felt the silver he was hearing about was no longer silver.

Wen Yu was about to step toward the room when she felt a shadow flash before her eyes. Hou Xiao’an had knelt down blocking her path while holding the trays. With two streams of tears flowing from his eyes, he said with utmost sincerity and earnestness, “Big sister, teach me embroidery!”

Wen Yu was quite at a loss and said, “Get up first.”

Xiao Li had somehow emerged from the kitchen. Seeing Hou Xiao’an like this, he only felt it was embarrassing. He raised his hand to cover his face. “From now on, don’t tell people outside that I’m your brother.”

Hou Xiao’an scrambled up swiftly. He looked up at the sky with a long sigh, anguished and grief-stricken. “Fifty taels—that’s fifty taels!”

Xiao Huiniang knew this child was always clowning around. She was washing the vegetables she’d picked by the water vat and said with amusement, “You think these fifty taels are easy to earn? Your Sister A’Yu does Suzhou embroidery. Without at least ten years of foundational skill, you can’t embroider to her level. Moreover, the client wants it urgently—only gave one month’s time. At most, she can only do single-sided embroidery. Double-sided embroidery is extremely time-consuming and hard on the eyes. Who knows how many embroiderers have strained their eyes blind over it.”

Hou Xiao’an let the scattered fine snow flakes fall on his face, his expression so serious it didn’t seem like he was joking. “If someone could give me fifty taels, so what if I went blind…”

Xiao Li suddenly said coldly, “Got your head stuck in money?”

Only then did Hou Xiao’an break into a brilliant smile. He turned to look at him, showing his two small canine teeth. “Don’t be so fierce, Second Brother. It’s just a joke!”

He turned around and said to Wen Yu with utmost servility, “Sister A’Yu, if there’s anything you need Xiao An for in the future, just give your orders!”

Wen Yu only felt this youth’s familiarity was somewhat overwhelming for her. Moreover, in front of that scoundrel, she absolutely didn’t dare openly poach his people. She furrowed her brows and looked toward the scoundrel.

Xiao Li consciously couldn’t afford this embarrassment and decisively drew a clear line with Hou Xiao’an, saying, “He’s always been money-grubbing. If you have errands for him, give him a copper coin and he’ll guaranteed run harder than a mule grinding grain.”

Hou Xiao’an immediately protested indignantly, “Second Brother, how can you talk like that…”

Xiao Huiniang had long grown accustomed to these two brothers bickering. She helped Wen Yu pick up one of the trays, and only after entering the room said, “Don’t mind them. These two brothers are always like this. You’ll see in time.”

Wen Yu didn’t yet know the youth’s background. Hearing this, she only said, “I see Second Master and that young brother are quite close—no less than blood brothers.”

Hearing this, Xiao Huiniang smiled, then sighed and said, “Xiao An is also a pitiful child. His father died serving corvée labor. His family was left with his mother and a long-ill grandmother. His mother maintained their livelihood by washing clothes for others. That year, also on a snowy day, when his mother was washing clothes by the river, whether she fell into the water from being frozen stiff or sought death by her own will—no one knows. By the time others discovered her, she had long since frozen together with the ice in the river…”

As Xiao Huiniang recounted these events, her face was full of compassion.

When Wen Yu heard that Hou Xiao’an’s father had died serving corvée labor, her heart grew heavy.

Corvée labor and taxes were the foundation of the state, yet they were also a great mountain pressing down on ordinary people.

She listened as Xiao Huiniang continued, “Without his mother, only he and his severely ill grandmother remained. On that snowy day, the child knelt along the street begging, but if he wasn’t chased away by merchants doing business, he was beaten by beggars who occupied that territory. When he was desperately hungry, he stole steamed buns fresh from the steamer and was caught and beaten nearly to death. Huan’er saw him and brought him back. I cooked a bowl of noodles for him to eat while hot. Though his stomach was growling like thunder from hunger, he still shook his head saying he wasn’t hungry and asked if he could take it back for his grandmother to eat. I said there was more in the pot, and only then did he hold the bowl and wolf it down.”

Recalling those events, Xiao Huiniang still shook her head. “Poor child—he ran through the snow carrying that bowl of noodles back, but still couldn’t let his grandmother have one last bite…”

“All these years, I’ve told him several times to come live at our house, but the child refuses. He just treats the gambling house as his home. Only during festivals does he come over for a meal.”

Listening to Xiao Huiniang’s rambling words, Wen Yu only felt her heart growing heavier and heavier.

She hadn’t expected that the seemingly carefree youth had such a background.

His smoothness, cleverness, and ability to read situations—it wasn’t hard to guess these had been honed during these years of making a living.

How many such children existed throughout the entire Liang Dynasty?

Even though Wen Yu was unwilling to think about it, she had to admit that the century-old dynasty of Great Liang had indeed been plagued with chronic illness for a long time.

Even though her father the Prince and her elder brother had always advocated clean governance and reform, for Great Liang—this behemoth whose entire body seemed covered in festering, oozing sores—the effect was still negligible.

She knew her father had always been waiting—waiting to ascend to that highest position before boldly abolishing old systems and establishing new laws, prescribing strong medicine for this behemoth that was Great Liang.

But once the military rebellion began, all the aspirations and plans of her father and brother became difficult to implement.

Yet this did nothing to lessen the guilt that arose in Wen Yu’s heart at this moment.

The people of the realm provided corvée and taxes to support the Wen imperial clan and the court’s hundred officials. The people suffered greatly. As one of the supported Wen imperial clan, how could she not feel ashamed?

Because of Xiao Huiniang’s unintentional words, Wen Yu remained distracted even during the meal.

Xiao Huiniang saw her merely poking at her rice the entire time, eating barely a bite here and there. She picked up some stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat for her and said, “Not to your taste? Why haven’t you touched your chopsticks?”

Wen Yu casually said, “Thinking about how to earn more money.”

Xiao Huiniang laughed. “Money can never be fully earned. You girl—how have you also become like Xiao An, single-mindedly fixated on money?”

Hearing this, Hou Xiao’an shoveled rice while his eyes gleamed. “I’m willing to serve Sister A’Yu as her mount and saddle, at her beck and call!”

Xiao Li tapped his head once with his chopstick ends, disdainfully saying, “It’s ‘saddle and mount’ (idiom for devoted service).”

Hou Xiao’an covered his head and laughed heartily, saying, “It’s all the same—as long as the meaning is right!”

Since the conversation had reached this point, Wen Yu brought the small morsel of rice she’d picked up with her chopsticks to her mouth. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Then I’ll trouble Young Brother Hou to gather some news from the market about Luodu and Fengyang for me. For each piece of news you bring back, I’ll pay you… two copper coins.”

Xiao Li suddenly looked up at her.

Though Hou Xiao’an was happy to hear there was money to be made, he still asked in confusion, “Big sister, how does this relate to making money?”

Wen Yu only wanted to know the current political situation and how the war was progressing. Being alone and to avoid falling into the hands of villains again, she couldn’t recklessly set out alone. She could only wait for her personal guards to come receive her before departing for Southern Chen.

But after the rebels captured Luodu, in order to suppress Great Liang’s morale again, they would certainly be determined to take Fengyang where her father and brother had retreated to defend.

She was somewhat worried about the war situation at Fengyang.

Now being stared at by both of them, she could only first provide a reason: “With frequent warfare, the tea and horse markets in various regions are naturally affected. Once trade routes are cut off, many goods from the south cannot be transported north. When the north lacks goods, won’t prices rise? Similarly, when goods accumulate in the south and can’t be stored long-term, they must be sold at reduced prices. Though we don’t have those connections to take goods stockpiled in the south and sell them in the north, by knowing the movements of war, we can predict which goods will soon be in short supply and rise in price.”

The way Xiao Li looked at her suddenly changed again to that hawk-hunting scrutiny.