Ji Gang hastily said: “That won’t do. Lord Mao didn’t assign you to go to Hangzhou. Besides, today your maternal uncles’ households – Duke Ying’s mansion and Duke Song’s mansion – have jointly prepared a celebration banquet for you. The invitations have already been sent. If you don’t go, wouldn’t that be disrespectful to the Feng family?”
At the mention of his tangled family affairs, Mu Chun wished he could jump into the Qinhuai River and drown, then reincarnate to find peace. He pointed at his face, swollen like a pig’s head from mosquito bites: “Do you think appearing at the celebration banquet looking like this would bring honor to my uncles’ family?”
Ji Gang took a closer look at Mu Chun’s “distinguished appearance” and felt his point was quite reasonable.
Mu Chun and Ji Gang shared one horse, with Mu Chun in front and Ji Gang behind. Hu Shanwei in the carriage heard the commotion and pushed open the window to look. The two men were right outside escorting the carriage, and both turned to greet her: “Good morning.”
Hu Shanwei was startled. Mu Chun’s face was swollen like a pig’s head, his clothes dirty and wrinkled like five-year-old pickled vegetables. He was barefoot without even shoes or socks, while Ji Gang had rosy lips and white teeth with neat clothing. The two sitting one behind the other on the horse looked exactly like the theatrical scene of Zhu Bajie carrying his bride.
Mu Chun had clearly returned triumphant – how had he ended up in such a state?
Hu Shanwei was puzzled but couldn’t ask about personal matters on the busy street. When they passed an apothecary, she had her attendant Mei Xiang buy ointment for insect bites and handed it to Mu Chun.
“Thank you, Sister Shanwei.” Receiving the ointment immediately lifted Mu Chun’s spirits. He scooped out a large glob – his face, neck, hands, and feet, all exposed skin were disaster zones of mosquito welts. He simply smeared the medicinal paste everywhere. Cool and refreshing, it killed the itch as soon as applied, making Mu Chun hum contentedly like a well-fed piglet.
The humming could be heard from inside the carriage, causing Mei Xiang and the two female scholars to smile silently.
Hu Shanwei didn’t smile.
She empathized with Mu Chun’s suffering. This spring her hands had been covered with strawberry-like chilblains – just as red, swollen, and ugly. She had felt inferior, always pulling her sleeves down to hide the chilblains, which made her appear servile and timid.
When her hands itched, it felt like countless little insects burrowing through the skin underneath, making her want to dig out the rotting flesh to stop the itching.
Mu Chun, bitten by insects like this, must be suffering similarly from the itching.
The moment the ointment touched the skin was indeed comfortable enough to make one hum.
From Nanjing to Hangzhou, the most convenient and fastest route was by boat along the Yangtze River waterway. The Qinhuai River in Nanjing’s inner city flowed directly into the Yangtze. Everyone boarded the official boat at Taoye Ferry in the western city. When boarding, Ji Gang asked Hu Shanwei: “Dianzheng Hu, you’re in charge of everything on this Hangzhou trip. Lord Mao didn’t assign Mu Chun to accompany and protect you. Do you really want to take him to Hangzhou?”
This reminder actually came from good intentions, involving the tangled family feuds between the Mu and Feng families and the father-son relationship between Mu Ying and Mu Chun that seemed like enemies from a past life. A minor palace Dianzheng like Hu Shanwei couldn’t afford to provoke such troubles.
Hu Shanwei hesitated somewhat.
Mu Chun said: “Sister Shanwei, my father insists I fight him. As his son, no matter how much I want to hit him, I can’t actually strike. If I did, I’d be unfilial and my life would be over – forget about becoming heir. If I don’t fight, I have to take his beatings for nothing. I’m an adult now – being chased around the city for beatings, don’t I need face?”
Hu Shanwei felt the same way. Just like when her stepmother Chen Shi abused her, nearly freezing her hands rotten – how she had wanted to resist! But with the weight of filial piety pressing down, if she dared touch even one hair on Chen Shi’s head, the magistrate would sentence her to one hundred strokes of the rod, leaving her disgraced and ruined.
Children were just one piece of their parents’ property. Even if beaten, injured, or killed, it was merely the parents’ loss – no one cared about the “property’s” feelings.
Hu Shanwei asked him: “If you go to Hangzhou, will your father stop beating you?”
Mu Chun desperately wanted to leave this place immediately: “He’s at the peak of his anger now. If I don’t attend my uncles’ celebration banquet today, they’ll probably confront him about it. If the Feng and Mu families start fighting, whose side do I take? Better to just leave and return when things calm down.”
Mu Chun had been caught in the middle suffering from both sides for more than just a day or two – he had rich experience in this.
At this moment, Mu Chun was covered from head to toe in dark brown ointment, only showing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth when he spoke, looking very much like the Kunlun slaves who unloaded cargo from large ships at Taoye Ferry.
Just then, someone on a neighboring merchant vessel took notice of Mu Chun and pointed at him asking: “Hey, how much does it cost to rent that Kunlun slave for a day?”
Ji Gang and the others all laughed.
Hu Shanwei didn’t laugh. She only felt desolate, as if she herself were being mocked.
“Board the ship, let’s go.” Hu Shanwei said.
“Thank you, Sister Shanwei.” Mu Chun was overjoyed and leaped onto the official boat. With his naturally lively disposition, he happily did somersaults on the deck, instantly transforming from sorrow to joy.
Others said he lacked sense, but growing up in such an environment, having too much sense would make life too exhausting. Mu Chun preferred to live for today – being happy for one day was better than nothing.
The official boat set sail. After passing Dragon River Station, they entered the Yangtze. By late summer, the river breeze was refreshing. The man-high reeds on both banks had all matured and flowered, their white catkins tangling with the river wind.
“Kunlun slave” Mu Chun and Hu Shanwei stood at the stern. “…That’s how it happened.” Mu Chun helplessly spread his hands. “Whatever I do is wrong. I returned from a narrow escape from death, thinking I’d achieved great merit and that from now on father would look at me with new respect. But he immediately tried to intimidate me and even questioned whether my military achievements were fake, claiming I killed bandits, not Hu Mei rebels. What kind of father is this? When his son succeeds, he’s unhappy instead and insists on pouring dirty water on his own son’s head – only then is he satisfied?”
“Why does he treat me this way?” Mu Chun punched the railing. “Am I not his biological son?”
This statement even made Hu Shanwei wonder about Mu Chun’s parentage. But she quickly dismissed this terrible thought. Emperor Hongwu had arranged the marriage between two prestigious families – there couldn’t be a mistake. Feng Shi’s unfortunate marriage and early death from difficult childbirth was already tragic enough; one shouldn’t question her reputation further.
Hu Shanwei said: “Don’t always speak so carelessly. If your maternal uncles heard such words, you’d get beaten for that too.”
Because of his mother’s death, Mu Chun was unloved by his father and uncared for by his uncles.
Mu Chun said: “He doesn’t like my mother or the Feng family. The more the Feng family pressures him to request my appointment as heir, the more deliberately he delays. Before, his excuse was that I had no achievements and couldn’t request the appointment. Now that I’ve achieved great merit, he slanders my accomplishments as fake. Bah! I don’t care about being heir. From now on, I’ll forge my own future. He can give the heir position to whoever he wants – I still have three younger brothers, let them fight over it!”
Having spoken these words, Mu Chun suddenly felt completely unburdened. He had ability and the great backing of the Emperor and Empress – why worry about his future?
Hearing this, Hu Shanwei deeply resonated and said: “Yes, once you break free from conventional thinking, everything becomes clear. When I worked as a copyist at home, I thought one Yinglingfang, one Chengxian Street, one Hu family bookshop was the entire world. Back then, I thought my lifelong support would be my dowry and the man I would marry in the future. Looking back now, my vision was truly shallow – even sesame and mung bean-sized trivial matters could make me sorrowful to tears.”
“After taking the female official examination and entering the palace, I discovered how vast the world is. I realized that besides copying books and being someone’s wife, I could do many other things. In the palace I saw female officials like Fan Gongzheng, Cao Shanggong, and Ru Siyao – I learned that women could also accomplish things, hold office like men, get promoted, and wield power.”
Hu Shanwei’s eyes shone brilliantly: “After entering the palace, though I’ve faced various setbacks and am busy every day, I feel fulfilled and happy. I even…”
Hu Shanwei took a deep breath, as if bolstering her courage, then mustered the strength to speak that person’s name: “I even rarely think of Wang Ning anymore. Previously, I would joyfully await his return, then spend lonely, desolate time alone in my chamber, my whole life passing in self-pity and sorrow. Looking back now, without my stepmother’s abuse and father’s indifference forcing me to flee home and steal the household registration to take the female official exam, I would have spent my entire life with tear-filled eyes and worried brows, worthless and without prospects.”
Hu Shanwei encouraged Mu Chun while seeming to encourage herself: “You see, life gives us difficulties, but we turn suffering into wealth. Don’t waste energy on resentment – we’ll live better than before, with broader horizons and greater happiness. If I can do it, you certainly can too.”
Though they differed in background, gender, status, and especially temperament, they were kindred spirits.
Mu Chun was deeply moved. They were both people abandoned by their relatives, yet they had so coincidentally met each other, gaining a kindred spirit – clearly Heaven was still fair.
After comforting Mu Chun, Hu Shanwei returned to the cabin to teach Mei Xiang. Mu Chun watched her retreating figure – wearing official robes and hat, her spine straight as an arrow. Just from her silhouette, one could sense confidence and vitality.
It was hard to imagine she was the same person as the weak, timid copyist from the Treasury five months ago, who had hunched and cowered with withdrawn hands and feet.
Without Wang Ning, without a fiancé, she was actually living better and preferred her current state.
Mu Chun suddenly remembered that Wang Ning was still alive, having become Ming’s undercover agent in Northern Yuan. He had followed them onto the ship to Hangzhou not only to escape family disputes but also to tell Hu Shanwei about her fiancé’s whereabouts.
But seeing Hu Shanwei so satisfied with her current situation, having developed lofty aspirations and determined to fight for her future, the words reached his lips but Mu Chun hesitated.
Mu Chun first tested her thoughts: “Sister Shanwei!”
Hu Shanwei turned back: “What is it?”
Mu Chun: “You’re determined to hold office and get promoted, but as a female official in the palace, unless you retire and leave, you can’t marry. What if you encountered Wang Ning… or an even better man?”
Hu Shanwei smiled: “A woman obeys her father at home and her husband after marriage. How my life goes depends on how my father and husband choose to treat me. If they treat me well, I’m well. If they change their minds and treat me poorly, like my father did, or like Wang Ning, who simply died and could no longer protect me, then I’m like a snail stripped of its shell, crawling and wriggling on the ground with difficulty. Anyone can step on me, and I have no ability to protect myself, much less resist.”
Hu Shanwei spread her robes wide, facing the eastward-flowing great river and the reed flowers on both banks, and declared loudly: “From now on, I, Hu Shanwei, will learn to grow my own shell.”