Wei Caiwei pushed Wang Daxia away with one swift motion.
Wang Daxia only felt a soft, gentle little fist pummeling his chest—it didn’t hurt at all.
This wasn’t their first physical contact.
Last night when he slipped and fell from the ladder, Wei Caiwei had caught him by the head and waist, preventing him from hitting the ground and injuring his face. A widow, disregarding her reputation to save him.
From this, Wang Daxia concluded: The little widow still thinks of me as a substitute for the dead ghost husband Wang Erlang on the memorial tablet. Last night when she offered herself and was rejected, hearing that I was going to find Miss Yingying, she got jealous, so she pushed me.
But since I’m Wang Erlang’s substitute, the little widow loves the house and its crow, so she couldn’t bear to push hard—her soft, gentle touch was like scratching an itch.
This was actually good.
Let the little widow recognize the reality that I’m unwilling to be a substitute for her dead ghost husband, and give up early.
So Wang Daxia pretended to be pushed down by Wei Caiwei, lying on the ground clutching his chest, striking a pose like Xi Shi holding her heart: “Doctor Wei, if you won’t sell, that’s fine, but why did you have to hit me?”
“Stop pretending. This kind of behavior is called insurance fraud in the capital,” Wei Caiwei said. “You people from the capital just know how to bully us outsiders who come to the city from the countryside. Your expression right now is exactly the same as the innkeeper who extorted two nights’ room fees from me. I don’t have time to waste with you. I’m leaving.”
Wang Daxia continued his shameless act, using the opportunity to break ties with Wei Caiwei by becoming a medical troublemaker, shouting loudly: “Come and see! A doctor pushed down a patient and won’t even apologize—where’s the medical ethics!”
Wei Caiwei became increasingly annoyed and quickly left the Imperial Guard headquarters—if she stayed any longer, she might lose control and actually murder her own husband.
The commotion here was quickly reported to Lu Ying by his surveillance team: “…Your subordinate was afraid of being exposed, so didn’t dare follow too closely. It seemed like Wang Daxia chased after and harassed Wei Caiwei. We don’t know what he said, but Wei Caiwei got angry and pushed Wang Daxia to the ground.”
“Oh?” Lu Ying hadn’t expected the surveillance to yield results so quickly. “Wang Daxia is tall and strong—when a group of you tried to beat him up, you couldn’t gain much advantage. I might not be able to pin him down with both hands, yet Doctor Wei knocked him over with just one hand? It seems this Doctor Wei is not simple—she may have martial arts training. Deploy more personnel, rotate the surveillance team, don’t let her discover us.”
“Yes!”
His subordinate left to carry out orders.
Meanwhile, Wang Daxia had become a medical troublemaker, but since this was Imperial Guard territory, no one paid attention to him. They knew he was prone to exaggeration—when the Imperial Guards merely kicked down his door, he claimed they were trying to murder him.
Wang Daxia had zero credibility. Seeing him knocked down by the little widow, the Imperial Guards not only didn’t intervene but were delighted to see him suffer.
Lu Ying wanted to see just how capable Wei Caiwei was, so he ordered someone to summon Wang Daxia.
As soon as Wang Daxia entered the room, he felt the cool air. The room had its doors and windows tightly shut, with a large blue and white porcelain water jar filled with ice blocks piled like a small mountain. Lu Ying had changed into fresh clothes—still the swelteringly hot upright-collar robe, with his honey-colored chrysanthemum buttons fastened tightly at the neck.
“Using ice already at the start of summer—how extravagant,” Wang Daxia said, while wrapping a piece of ice in a handkerchief and rolling it across his face to cool down. “What does Commander Lu want with me?”
Lu Ying said: “I heard Doctor Wei knocked you down. Let me examine your injuries.”
“You want me to undress?” Wang Daxia crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re both men, what I have you have too—looking is fine—but I’m hungry. Feed me first.”
It was already noon. The morning’s tofu pudding and three fried dough sticks were long gone. Wang Daxia was at the age where he was still growing, and now he was so hungry his insides felt like they were burning. But if he left the Imperial Guard headquarters to eat, he’d be captured by Mu Baihu and others waiting outside and dragged home for house arrest.
Choosing the lesser of two evils, Wang Daxia decided to stay and freeload at the Imperial Guard headquarters while figuring out how to get through this.
Lu Ying’s understanding of Wang Daxia’s shamelessness reached new heights. “Bring a meal.”
After Wang Daxia had eaten his fill, he actually kept his word for once and stripped on the spot. Summer clothing being thin, he undid the ties under his arms, pulled his garment open to both sides, exposing his pale upper body all the way down to his navel.
“Commander Lu, examine as you please.” Wang Daxia stood up from the dining table and walked toward Lu Ying.
Lu Ying immediately felt as if chili peppers had gotten in his eyes. He covered his face and turned away: “Go back and sit properly! I haven’t summoned the coroner yet!”
Wang Daxia clicked his tongue: “Commander Lu is making too big a fuss. There’s not even a scratch—why would you need a coroner to examine injuries?”
Lu Ying still wouldn’t look at him: “Improperly dressed—what kind of behavior is this! Put your clothes back on! Otherwise I’ll have you thrown out!”
Wang Daxia put his clothes back on.
Lu Ying turned around and asked: “Since you’re not injured, why were you shouting so loudly?”
Wang Daxia was very honest: “I was pretending. Doctor Wei and I have some misunderstanding. She pushed me, but I’m a grown man—I couldn’t very well push her back, so I simply fell down and played dead. Once she saw me on the ground, she wouldn’t hit me anymore.”
Lu Ying said sarcastically: “You certainly have rich experience.”
Wang Daxia felt no shame, only pride: “Of course! I, Wang Daxia, have my own methods for dealing with women.”
Lu Ying deeply despised Wang Daxia in his heart, then asked: “What misunderstanding do you have with her? Doctor Wei seemed like such a gentle widow, yet you managed to anger her.”
Wang Daxia certainly couldn’t mention last night’s cohabitation with the little widow or her attempts to seduce his handsome body, so lies came readily: “I complimented Doctor Wei on her beauty, saying she was no less lovely than Miss Yingying. She immediately changed her expression and called me a lecher. Isn’t that a misunderstanding?”
Lu Ying said: “You deserved it. Comparing a young widow to a courtesan—anyone would hit you for that.”
Wang Daxia replied: “Miss Yingying has already bought out her contract. She’s not a courtesan anymore, she’s a commoner.”
Having cleared everything up, Wang Daxia no longer had any use, so Lu Ying waved him away like shooing a fly: “Get lost. The Imperial Guard headquarters doesn’t welcome you.”
Wang Daxia said: “I can’t leave right now. The moment I step outside, I’ll be dragged home.”
Lu Ying said: “That’s not my concern.”
“Of course it concerns you.” Wang Daxia moved closer: “Aren’t you Imperial Guards busy solving the double murder case of Qianhu Chen and his son? I can provide a clue, on the condition that you lend me your carriage and have your driver take me out.”
Lu Ying didn’t believe him: “You just conned a meal out of me, and now you want to trick me into helping you escape? Guards! Throw him out!”
Seeing the situation turning bad, Wang Daxia realized the same trick couldn’t be used twice, so he opened the window and ran out through it!
No one knew where he was hiding in the compound. Like a stone dropped in the ocean, Lu Ying’s men searched all afternoon without finding him.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Wei Caiwei started from the southern city, swinging her tiger-shaped medical sign as she practiced medicine along the way. Stopping and starting, she conducted several transactions and arrived home at Sweet Water Lane by dusk.
Broker Chen had spent the day showing various clients houses. Hearing that the Imperial Guards had taken away his regular client Wei Caiwei for questioning, he hurried over to check on her, even buying a large watermelon as a gift to calm her nerves.
Wei Caiwei thanked him: “I’m fine. The Imperial Guards just asked routine questions and released me afterward. Thank you for your concern, Broker. Let me treat you to a meal.”
Chen Jingji had brought her a watermelon, and she didn’t want to owe anyone favors.
Broker Chen bowed his hands: “Such generosity fills me with gratitude, but my grandmother is still waiting for me to have dinner. Perhaps another day I can come and trouble you again.”
Hearing this, Wei Caiwei guessed that Broker Chen had probably lost both parents and was raised by his grandmother. She made a mental note to be mindful of this in future conversations.
Broker Chen had recently earned five taels in commission fees thanks to Wei Caiwei, so his finances were more comfortable. Humming northern tunes, he went to the prepared foods shop and bought a fan-sized sauced pig’s face to take home.
The Chen family lived in Machang Alley on Drum Tower West Slanted Street, where all the residents were common folk from small households. In the hot weather, every family set their meals out in the alley lanes—it was cooler and more sociable.
Indeed, just as Wei Caiwei had guessed, Broker Chen had lost both parents and the family had fallen on hard times. Grandmother and grandson depended on each other. Old Lady Chen had also set up dinner in the alley, covering the table with a bamboo food cover to keep away flies and moths, waiting for her grandson to come home for dinner.
When Broker Chen returned with the sauced pig’s face, Old Lady Chen was sitting at the dinner table making shoes.
Seeing her grandson carrying such a large pig’s face, Old Lady Chen said: “Our family only has two mouths to feed—we can’t eat all this, and it’s too hot to keep overnight. Divide it up and take portions to the neighbors.”
In these market neighborhoods, eating alone behind closed doors would earn you criticism behind your back.
Broker Chen kept a small portion for his own family and divided the rest into seven bowls to distribute to the neighbors.
When cutting the pig’s face, he had an ulterior motive—he pressed the meat tightly into one bowl with a spoon. On the surface, all five bowls looked the same with little mounds on top, but that one bowl had at least half again as much meat.
Broker Chen went door to door delivering pig’s face meat, earning much praise:
“Oh my, Broker Chen must have made a big deal! Congratulations on your fortune!”
“Reviving the Chen family business is just around the corner!”
When he reached the neighboring Li the Tile-maker’s house, Broker Chen deliberately straightened his clothes and, carrying the bowl with the most meat, knocked on the door frame: “I’m here to add a dish to your table.”
In the hot weather, all doors and windows were open, with bamboo curtains hanging over doorways to keep out insects. A delicate hand pushed aside the bamboo curtain, revealing a lotus-like face—it was Li the Tile-maker’s daughter, Li Jiubao.
Li Jiubao was the flower of Machang Alley. However, in Broker Chen’s opinion, among all the girls in the alley neighborhoods around Drum Tower West Slanted Street, Li Jiubao was the most beautiful.
When she was born, her father Li the Tile-maker was still at the gambling table playing pai gow, having just drawn the highest combination in pai gow—the Supreme Treasure, a three-dot and two-four combination adding up to nine points.
Li the Tile-maker already had a son. Having won the whole table with Supreme Treasure while a neighbor ran to the gambling house to tell him he’d gained a daughter, Li the Tile-maker experienced double happiness. Feeling his daughter had brought him the good luck of Supreme Treasure’s nine points, he named his daughter Li Jiubao.
Li Jiubao was not only beautiful but had the forthright spirit of capital women—she wasn’t timid or withdrawn. She generously invited Broker Chen inside.
Broker Chen placed the tightly packed bowl of pig’s face meat on the dinner table, which held a bowl of millet porridge, two mixed-grain flatbreads, and a small dish of pickled cucumber.
This was Li Jiubao’s dinner—rather meager indeed, without a drop of oil, which is why it wasn’t set out in the alley.
Broker Chen pretended not to notice and made small talk: “Li the Tile-maker and Big Brother Li haven’t come home yet?”
Li Jiubao said: “They took on a new job in Sanli Village outside the city and will be busy for several months. They can only come home when they have time off.”
Sanli Village again? What a coincidence. That’s where Young Master Wang went to sell his mother’s dowry estate to save the courtesan.
Broker Chen nervously rubbed the back of his head: “Having work is good. Well then… you eat first, I’m leaving.”
“Thank you, Big Brother Chen.” Li Jiubao saw Broker Chen to the door.
When Broker Chen returned to eat with his grandmother, several new dishes had appeared on their table—dumplings from the eastern neighbor, flatbread from the western neighbor, and home-brewed rice wine from Wang the Pockmarked’s house, all gifts in return for the sauced pig’s face.
Broker Chen ate this sumptuous dinner while thinking that with Li the Tile-maker and his son both working away, Li Jiubao could enjoy that bowl of meat all to herself, making his thoughtfulness worthwhile—Li Jiubao loved eating sauced pig’s face most, and he had bought it especially for her.
Having money was wonderful! When would he encounter another deal that could easily earn him five taels of silver?
Sauced pig’s face was easy to buy, but money for a wife was hard to earn.
To marry Li Jiubao, the betrothal gifts couldn’t be modest.
Tomorrow would be another day of working hard to earn money to marry the flower of Machang Alley.