Dog enthusiasts knew that in Beijing, those who kept Greyhounds were not ordinary families. Unlike Pekingese, which were lap dogs for wealthy ladies, Greyhounds were not. These dogs were wild and energetic, capable of killing any cat they encountered. Banner lords who carried hawks on their shoulders and went hunting on horseback would have such dogs running ahead of them, so one couldn’t act recklessly—it would cause trouble.
Ding Yi felt this was too risky. Unable to stop him in time, she still tried to persuade him, “Let the meat be wasted, at worst the dog will just take a nap. If we carry it away and get caught, that would be terrible! This isn’t a mongrel—how many families have you seen keeping Greyhounds? If the owners trace it back to us, we’ll cause trouble for Master.”
Xia Zhi was entirely focused on catching badgers. How could he let such a fat piece of meat escape? He paid no attention to her words, “What’s there to fear? At this point, if we don’t take it, someone else will spot it and take it, and we’d lose out! You’re always like this, worrying too much to accomplish anything… Oho! It’s fallen. Old Qian’s drug works!” He rubbed his hands together, and turned to look at her, “Scared? If you’re scared, stay here as a lookout, and I’ll go.”
Men have more courage and daring—that’s exactly this situation. Ding Yi was timid and ultimately didn’t dare move, staring wide-eyed as he crept over. The noisy restaurant patrons didn’t notice him as he hid by the doorstop, reached for the dog, grabbed its fur, and pulled it over.
The Greyhound was large. He held two legs in each hand, wrapped his arms around it, and carried the dog on the back of his neck. He came quietly and left quietly, moving quickly like a stage clown, hunching and darting forward. Passing by her, he called out, “What are you staring at? Let’s go!”
Ding Yi quickly followed, head down and running, entering Tongfu Lane just as the night watchman’s clappers sounded from Dengshikou Avenue—dong—it was already the second watch.
Xia Zhi had already connected with the two brothers in the west room, bringing them two jugs of wine and asking for help with the dog. Qian looked at it and grimaced, “Where did this come from?”
Xia Zhi gulped some tea and said, “Caught it near Fragrant Grass Ground. No one was watching it, just roaming free. I was afraid it wouldn’t take the pork bait, but surprisingly, this one isn’t picky. After sniffing for a while, it took the bait.”
Old Qian looked troubled, “This dog… isn’t easy to handle. Could it be from some mansion? A mansion would be bad enough, but what if it’s from an official’s household? Our heads wouldn’t be enough to pay for it!”
Xia Zhi clicked his tongue, “We can’t just let it go now. I went to such trouble to get it.”
Ding Yi persuaded from the side, “Don’t get into trouble over a dog. Just release it.”
“That won’t do. I can’t have wasted all this effort.” Xia Zhi handed a knife to Qian Er, “It’s too late to regret now. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility, alright?”
Qian Er hesitated, muttering, “It’s a good dog. Ordinary mongrels can at most catch five or six badgers in one night, but if this one works, the number would double.”
Calculating the profit, it was too lucrative to resist—ten oxen couldn’t pull them back. Ding Yi wanted to tell them not to “remove the cap,” why mistreat a perfectly good dog? But no one listened to her. As the knife fell, she turned away, unable to watch, and returned dejectedly to her room.
What happened afterward, she didn’t know. The dog must have been hidden somewhere, but she didn’t know where. Fearing Master’s blame upon his return, they had moved it elsewhere. Xia Zhi had lost out this time—they had brought home a “dog lord” who would rather starve than eat non-meat food. With no choice, they had to serve it beef and corn flour. Once its ears and tail healed, it might be willing to work for them, and they would gradually recoup their investment.
The government office had its busy and slow seasons. In favorable weather, crimes were more frequent; in extreme heat, when taking a few steps left one breathless, there was little energy for burglary or robbery. So compared to spring and autumn, winter and summer were better. The magistrate wouldn’t hold court, and the yamen runners would sit under the corridor drinking tea and chatting idly about neighbors’ affairs, and so the day would pass.
Summer was particularly difficult for Ding Yi. Unlike men, she couldn’t go bare-chested and had to wear full clothing. She bound her chest with strips of cloth, and when she removed them at night, a heat rash covered her chest and back. Everyone knows how uncomfortable heat rash is. The itching is terrible, and you can’t scratch properly through the cloth—truly miserable. All summer she was a regular at the medicine shop, buying honeysuckle and toxic-clearing herbs, chewing them like candy, one a day. She also washed with purslane decoction, which slightly alleviated the symptoms. Once the heat rash dried up, it would improve.
That day, having finished her shift early, she hitched a ride to Tongren Hall to buy medicine. On her way back, passing through Cypress Alley, she saw someone selling apricots in the shade. A large lotus leaf covered the sieve, with bright yellow apricots arranged on top—just looking made her mouth water. Being a young girl, she enjoyed such treats, though usually pretending to be a man and maintaining composure, occasionally she could relax. When Master was around, she would buy treats first as a sign of respect, but he would glance and say, “Eat, eat, you have it,” refusing to accept. It seemed improper for apprentices to enjoy while the master watched, so eventually she became sensible and simply stopped buying. This time, with him at Miaofeng Mountain returning only tomorrow, she could buy some to share with Xia Zhi. Though he was a real man, he also enjoyed these small snacks.
After asking the price, she bent over to pick through them, but the vendor objected, “My price is for the whole batch—no picking allowed.”
If no picking, then so be it. Ding Yi said, “Fine, you decide.” The vendor began filling her pouch. Despite saying no picking, he selected what to give her. Looking at the final selection, they were either worm-eaten or rotten—this was a scam. Ding Yi frowned and said, “Why are you giving me only the bad ones? I’m paying money, not to buy worms. Your business practices are dishonest.”
The vendor rolled his eyes, “If everyone chooses only the good ones, who will buy the bad ones?”
“How dare you speak like that?” She was furious and emptied the rotten apricots from her pocket, “Fine, keep them yourself. I don’t want them anymore.”
The vendor grabbed her, “That won’t do! Are you playing games with me? I picked them one by one for you, and now you don’t want them?”
“You gave me only the bad ones, not a single good one.” She pointed at his hand, “Let go! Do you think you can force sales in the imperial capital?”
The argument escalated. In the heat of summer, everyone was irritable, voices rising higher and higher. Neighbors came out to watch, saying, “Let it go, it’s such a small matter.” The apricot seller was stubborn, ignoring advice. Seeing Ding Yi’s small stature, he deliberately bullied her, insisting she pay, “I used to be a butcher, slaughtering cattle and sheep like nothing. You’re messing with me? I’ll finish you off.”
This comment stirred up the crowd, “Perfect! The other one is trained in execution, a disciple of Wu Datou from the Prefecture. You two should compete—see whether the butcher is more fearsome or the executioner!”
Mentioning “executioner” might not intimidate everyone, but Wu Changgeng’s reputation did. At the mention of Wu Datou, few in the city didn’t know him—in his younger days, he had connections with all sorts of people. Hearing this, the vendor had to back down. His hand moved away. Though not going so far as to greet her with a smile, at least the argument couldn’t continue.
Ding Yi brushed off her arms, feeling quite unlucky—no apricots and all this trouble. Before she could argue further, the vendor had picked up his carrying pole and fled. With nowhere to direct her anger, she went home to wash up and wait for Xia Zhi to prepare dinner.
As the sun set and no longer shone into the courtyard, people came alive. Some prepared to set up stalls, others lit fires to cook, carrying firewood and coal briquettes. The life energy of the shared courtyard drifted with the cooking smoke into Ding Yi’s room.
Having lived here for five or six years, Ding Yi had forgotten what life in a mansion was like. Only in midnight dreams did fragments of that former wealthy life remain in her deep memories. Her father was an official who was rarely home, and her impression of him wasn’t strong. She only remembered her mother being very fair-skinned, wearing a short green gold-threaded jacket with a skirt trimmed with two-inch-wide knee-high borders, embroidered with silver-thread magpies on branches. In winter, she would hold a small enamel hand warmer, standing outside the hanging flower gate directing servants to move flower pots… Looking in the mirror, Ding Yi had inherited her mother’s fair skin that didn’t tan. The people at the yamen had given her the nickname “Little White Face.” A needle hung on the mosquito net—how many times had she taken it down to prick her earlobes, but they had always healed. Sighing, she put it back. What a waste of childhood suffering—pinching the earlobe between two rapeseed seeds and rubbing them together. How long would it take to pierce the ear? Now it was all for nothing.
Just as she was looking for a comb to do her hair, someone pounded on the door—bang bang! “Little Shu, come quick! Something terrible has happened!”
Startled, she opened the door to find the Qian brothers from the west room, pointing outside, “Your fellow apprentice Xia Zhi has been caught by the Seventh Prince’s men! They’re taking him to the prince’s mansion right now. Quickly think of a way to save him!”
Ding Yi’s mind immediately became chaotic, “The Seventh Prince’s men? Why?”
“Why? Because of that dog! I told him such dogs shouldn’t be touched, but he wouldn’t listen. Now he’s in trouble… We agreed beforehand that if anything happened, he would take responsibility. Don’t drag us into it.”
Zhao Da repeatedly said it was bad luck, “This dog is the Seventh Prince’s beloved pet. Usually, it’s not kept leashed—if tied up, it would bang its head against the wall. That day it was out with the Fifth Beile, and that’s when it encountered you two…”
Ding Yi was extremely anxious—regret was useless now. Seeing the Qian brothers’ attitude, which was extremely unhelpful, she drew back her hand and snapped, “Enough with this ‘you two’ and ‘they two.’ Didn’t you drink Xia Zhi’s wine? Didn’t you accept his opium seeds? Since he said he would take responsibility, he certainly won’t implicate you, but can you stand by and watch him die? Everyone gets moving, finds connections outside, and thinks of solutions. My master isn’t here, and I have no ideas…”
The Zhao brothers planned to stay uninvolved, “We’re just common folk with no connections to officials. Who could we possibly approach?”
Hearing this inflamed her, “That’s nonsense! Even beggars have well-off relatives. If you don’t think of something, I’ll report you! You cut the dog’s ears, you chopped off its tail—where can you run?”
Ha! She was trying to drag them down too! Qian Er looked embarrassed and thought for a long time, “My aunt’s family are third-class yamen runners. Why don’t we ask them to help smooth things over? But let’s be clear—we can’t guarantee it will work, after all, we’ve offended a prince. We’ll help as much as we can, but if we can’t rescue him, you can’t blame us.”
“That depends on how much effort you put in.” Ding Yi turned and closed her door, walking away while saying, “I need to go find a solution. Don’t just sit around—don’t wait until tomorrow, there’s no time. Who knows what torture Xia Zhi is enduring inside? If he can’t withstand it and implicates you, your tears will come too late.”
With this mix of persuasion and intimidation, the Zhao brothers quickly left the alley heading east. She stood at the street entrance to clear her mind, her heart pounding with panic. Last time, she had nearly been killed by the Seventh Prince, and now Xia Zhi had fallen into his hands. If the Seventh Prince suspected that Wu Changgeng had taken these two apprentices to challenge him, their master would inevitably be implicated.
What to do now? For such a messy affair, the Prefect wouldn’t pay attention! Perhaps find the legal advisors below him and ask for help. The prince’s mansion was heavily guarded—even to enter and kowtow required connections.