In less than a month, Shen Zhuxi stepped through the door of Du Yanlong’s pawnshop in Xiangyang County for the second time.

Du Yanlong saw her enter the shop. Beneath the businesslike smile he had already put on, a flicker of surprise showed through.

“Has Madam come to redeem the jewelry and accessories you pawned previously?”

Shen Zhuxi said with a touch of embarrassment, keeping her voice low: “I wanted to ask — the things I pawned with you, where did you sell them?”

Du Yanlong paused briefly, then said: “For the sake of the Prefectural Governor’s face, I won’t give you the runaround. Things that come into a pawnshop often have questionable origins — a gambler sneaking out a family heirloom from home, a thief’s pickings from someone else’s person. When thieves sell stolen goods, they often make a round of pawnshops in different locations. So your question, Madam, is really one I cannot answer. Whatever is sold to me I pass on to people from all corners — some are legitimate open businesses, some are black market traders. It all depends on where a given item came from.”

“If someone had obtained something you sold on, would they be able to trace it back to whoever sold it to you?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

Du Yanlong immediately grasped what she was getting at.

“On that point, Madam may set her mind at ease. We who work in this trade do have professional ethics to uphold. If a client wishes, we sell far away — out to the steppes or to neighboring countries, or directly to whichever city a client specifies. Other things I cannot boast of,” Du Yanlong said with a pleased smile, a look of pride spreading across his face, “but when it comes to connections — I dare say there is no one in Xiangyang County who knows as many people from all walks of life as Du Yanlong.”

Only then did Shen Zhuxi hesitantly gesture for Tiniang behind her to step forward with a bundle wrapped in a piece of silk, which she placed on the counter.

When the silk was unfolded, Du Yanlong’s eyes went straight.

“This is —” He reached out his hand to touch it, but at the last moment drew back and instead lifted the contents by wrapping them in the silk cloth.

The jade hairpin and earrings that Shen Zhuxi had worn in her hair on the day she descended into marriage lay quietly within the silk.

Even an absolute layman with no knowledge of the craft could see, just from the extraordinary luster and quality, that these few pieces were unquestionably of exceptional value.

“How much… do you think these can be pawned for?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“These… these are fine things,” Du Yanlong said, his gaze fixed on the ornaments in the silk cloth with keen, undisguised interest. He examined the precious stones set all over the earrings carefully in the lamplight. After a moment, he asked: “Is this a permanent pawn or a temporary one for Madam?”

A permanent pawn could not be redeemed — the price was higher. A temporary pawn could be redeemed — the price was very low.

Shen Zhuxi had visited the pawnshop several times already and knew the rules inside and out.

She looked at the ornaments in the silk cloth with reluctance in her heart, but when she thought of the resolve she had already made — to leave the imperial court behind — and of the matter of the embankment reconstruction that concerned the lives of countless people, she steeled herself and said:

“Permanent pawn.”

“Done!” Du Yanlong immediately picked up her words. “In light of our past dealings, I’ll give you this number —”

Shen Zhuxi looked at the two hands he held up and said: “A hundred thousand taels of gold?”

“Gold?” Du Yanlong nearly choked on his own saliva. “Who goes straight to gold — do you think money falls from the sky?”

…It seemed she had indeed roared like a lion. She had frightened Du Yanlong so badly he had even dropped the “Madam.”

A sigh. Money really was not easy to earn.

If she had known, she should have demanded a higher price when she sold off Fu Xuanmiao.

Shen Zhuxi groaned inwardly in regret, then asked with disappointment: “A hundred thousand taels of silver, then?”

“What hundred thousand? Ten thousand taels of silver!” Du Yanlong blew at his nonexistent mustache.

“Ten thousand taels?” Shen Zhuxi was stunned. “You… I’m telling Li Wu about this!”

Shen Zhuxi rolled up her silk cloth and turned to walk out. Du Yanlong, who had just been saying he wouldn’t take advantage of her given their past dealings, immediately slapped a hand on the bundle and called after her with a new offer: “Twenty thousand! Twenty thousand!”

“Sixty thousand!”

“Twenty-five thousand!”

“Sixty thousand!”

“Twenty-eight thousand!”

Shen Zhuxi held firm: “Sixty thousand!”

“Li Madam! This is a pawnshop, not a charity! You can’t just sell them to me at the same price you paid!” Du Yanlong cried out in anguish. “Forty thousand! That’s my absolute limit!”

Shen Zhuxi looked at his expression of helpless suffering and felt that he had indeed reached the ceiling, and reluctantly agreed to the price Du Yanlong had offered.

A mere forty thousand taels was a drop in the ocean when it came to repairing an embankment.

Was there any other way to raise silver quickly?

Shen Zhuxi wracked her brains and still could not think of one. She let out a long, heavy sigh.

Du Yanlong, who was carefully examining the jade hairpin with gloved hands, looked up and casually asked: “What is Madam worrying about?”

“I’m thinking that money is so terribly hard to come by.”

“Forty thousand taels isn’t enough?” Du Yanlong said, astonished.

Shen Zhuxi explained the matter of raising funds to repair the Shang River Weir, then looked at Du Yanlong expectantly: “You are well traveled and widely experienced. Do you know any quick ways to bring in money?”

“The quickest way to bring in money,” Du Yanlong said, “is naturally to have the people who have money give it to you.”

Shen Zhuxi made a helpless face. “But… the wealthy merchants in Xiangzhou are unwilling to put up a single coin for the embankment repairs.”

“That’s not my area of expertise,” Du Yanlong said. “But I know someone whose greatest specialty is making people willingly hand over their money to her.”

“Who?” Shen Zhuxi asked immediately.

Instead of answering directly, Du Yanlong posed a question in return: “Do you know where Li Qingman and her brother get their income from?”

Shen Zhuxi paused.

The Li family had once been a minor official clan of some note in Xiangzhou. Li Qingman’s father had risen to the rank of sixth grade official. Later, the father died of illness and the mother passed away from grief. The paternal grandparents also departed one after another within the three years that followed, and the Li family fell completely from their former standing. Whatever reserves they had once held were exhausted in years of seeking medical treatment. By the time only the two siblings — Li Qingman and her younger brother — remained, the Li family was left with nothing but a pile of outstanding debts.

Li Qingman’s brother was a well-known idler in Yutou County — he spent his days drifting about, eating, drinking, carousing, and gambling. He was plainly not the sort who could earn money and provide for a household. Li Qingman herself, by appearances, had nothing to do with anything so crude as work, and no one had ever heard of her doing any kind of labor. Yet every time Shen Zhuxi had seen her, there had been no sign of financial hardship.

During the great relocation from Yutou County, the Li Qingman siblings had come along as well.

Shen Zhuxi had never paid it much thought before, but now it struck her with sudden surprise: what were these two living on?

“I don’t know — can you tell me?” Shen Zhuxi asked with sincere curiosity.

“Better to let the person herself tell you.” Du Yanlong said. “Perhaps you’ll find some inspiration at her place as well.”

Shen Zhuxi took her four banknotes and walked out of the pawnshop. Tiniang helped her into the carriage and asked: “Madam, shall we head back to the residence, or are we going somewhere?”

“…Li Qingman’s house,” Shen Zhuxi said with resolve.

“Madam is truly going to call on Li Qingman?” Tiniang said in surprise.

“We don’t have any better ideas right now, so let’s go and see.” Shen Zhuxi paused, then added: “Besides…”

“But…” Tiniang hesitated. “Li Qingman is a seductive fox spirit. If Madam goes looking for her, won’t people talk…”

“Nonsense!” Shen Zhuxi said sternly. “Who has been saying such things?”

“I heard it from the women in the neighborhood…” Tiniang said timidly. “A few days ago a schoolteacher got drunk and said he’d want Li Qingman for a wife, and his wife overheard… His wife made such a scene the next day that everyone knew. She cried and wailed that Li Qingman was a fox spirit who ensnares men!”

“What kind of reasoning is that?” Shen Zhuxi could not stop herself. “It was that man who spoke carelessly while drunk, whose eye had wandered to another — so why is it the woman who ends up being condemned?”

Tiniang thought it over seriously and gave a firm nod: “Madam is right! I’ve heard the men chasing after Li Qingman are all wealthy young masters. A schoolteacher — Li Qingman probably wouldn’t even spare him a glance! It was plainly that schoolteacher who was being faithless all on his own. Yet the only one the neighbors condemned was the woman. That really is outrageous!”

The carriage arrived at its destination amid Tiniang’s indignant pronouncements.

Shen Zhuxi stepped down from the carriage, and looked at the simple, elegant little courtyard before her with surprised admiration.

A blue-green climbing vine wound its way from the courtyard wall all the way to the gate. Beneath the neat eaves, small water-purple flowers hung in clusters. A faint, elusive fragrance drifted on the air. When a breeze came through, the little flowers under the eaves swayed like wind chimes.

Shen Zhuxi suppressed her surprised delight and gestured for Tiniang to go forward and knock on the door.

Tiniang knocked, and for quite some time no one came to answer. Shen Zhuxi was just beginning to think she would be turned away empty-handed when the wooden door was suddenly pulled open from within.

“You persistent old woman, are you never going to —”

Li Hong stared with suspicion at the unexpected person standing outside the door:

“…Who are you?”

Shen Zhuxi lifted the white veil of her hat, smiled at him politely, and let her gaze drift past him into the courtyard: “Is Miss Li Qingman in?”

“You’re looking for my sister?” Li Hong’s expression shifted entirely, becoming all smiles. “She’s here, she’s here — come in and sit!”

Li Hong stepped aside to clear the way, then turned and bellowed into the house: “Sister! The Prefectural Governor’s wife is here!”

He turned back around and gave Shen Zhuxi an apologetic grin: “Madam, please excuse us — for the past few days there’s been some mad woman coming around to harass us. My sister’s had such a headache from the racket she hasn’t slept well for several nights. She’s lying down at the moment —”

“If it’s inconvenient, we can come back a bit later…” Shen Zhuxi said.

“It’s perfectly convenient!” Li Hong said at once. “Come in and sit first — I’ll go brew some tea for you!”

Shen Zhuxi was shown into the main room. Li Hong busied himself making a pot of tea — though the water temperature was not quite right, and the brewing left something to be desired — but the tea itself was genuine premium Biluochun.

Shen Zhuxi quietly took in the paintings, calligraphy, and furnishings in the room. All were works by notable masters, and quite plainly original pieces, not imitations.

Li Hong’s own clothing was fresh new brocade as well, his accessories a mix of gold and jade, giving him the appearance of an idle young noble from the capital.

The Li Qingman siblings had no proper employment of any kind. How were they maintaining such a lifestyle?

Shen Zhuxi had not long to wait. A graceful figure in water-blue stepped in from outside the door.

When it came to how much a woman’s reputation mattered, there was no need for Shen Zhuxi to belabor the point. The previous person crushed by her reputation — Wang Shiyong — had already tumbled from the branch into the mud. Before meeting Li Qingman, Shen Zhuxi had felt some measure of concern. But the moment Li Qingman appeared, she knew at once — Li Qingman was a woman who had no need for such concerns.

Her makeup was natural yet carefully considered. Her dress was understated and appropriate, yet everywhere revealed small, deliberate touches of intention. Even her steps were light and graceful. In her eyes, Shen Zhuxi could see no trace of weariness from the storms of outside opinion.

“This commoner pays her respects to Li Madam —”

Li Qingman walked up to Shen Zhuxi and made to kneel in formal greeting.

Shen Zhuxi hurried forward a step and stopped her before she could go down.

The grand gesture was unnecessary, but it fully conveyed her intentions.

Li Qingman stood before her with her head respectfully lowered, and said softly: “I did not know Madam would honor us with a visit. Qingman failed to welcome you at the gate — please do not take it amiss, Madam.”

After Shen Zhuxi exchanged a few polite words with her, Li Qingman invited her once again to be seated by the tea table.

“I heard you haven’t been resting well these past few days. If we’re intruding, I can come back at a later time,” Shen Zhuxi said considerately.

“You are not intruding at all.” Li Qingman smiled slightly, like a spray of lovely rain-washed pear blossoms. “Madam is the only visitor who has come to call in these past few days. I am grateful beyond words — how could your visit possibly be an intrusion?”

The last time Shen Zhuxi and Li Qingman had had any dealings was over the secret recipe for a fragrant body preparation. In truth, they were not well acquainted. If this were Jiu Niang or Sui Rui, she would have come straight to the point. But this was Li Qingman — so Shen Zhuxi could only sit there, hesitating, unable to find a way to open the topic.

Li Qingman seemed to sense her difficulty, and took the initiative:

“I heard that Madam paid a visit to the Chen family yesterday?”

“How did you know?” Shen Zhuxi said, startled.

“Before Madam had even left the Chen residence, word had already been sent by the Chen Madam’s servants to every wealthy household in the county.” Li Qingman smiled. “When it comes to resisting the prefecture’s calls for donations, the wealthy households all breathe through the same nostril.”

“Rebuilding the Shang River Weir is clearly a matter that benefits them as well. Why are they so unwilling to contribute?” Shen Zhuxi said helplessly.

“If the sky falls, there are taller people to hold it up.” Li Qingman said, utterly at ease. “That is their thinking. If Madam only reasons with them about where their interest lies, they will not part with a single copper coin.”

“What would it take to get them to donate?” Shen Zhuxi pressed.

Li Qingman only smiled at her.

Wanting the horse to run, one must first feed the horse well.

The meaning came to Shen Zhuxi, and she said: “This matter is of benefit to the nation and the people. If we can successfully raise the funds for the embankment repairs, I will certainly inform the Prefectural Governor and see that you are richly rewarded.”

“Qingman has no need of a rich reward.”

“Then what do you want?”

Li Qingman said: “Qingman wishes to enter Madam of Xiangzhou’s service.”