Having someone else beside her, Shen Zhuxi found sleep elusive at first. But Li Wu seemed unbothered at all — within moments, his breathing settled into a slow, even rhythm.

Listening to the sound of his breathing, Shen Zhuxi fell asleep far sooner than she had expected.

Soundly. Without a single dream.

The next morning, when Shen Zhuxi opened her eyes, Li Wu was already gone from the bed. She dressed, and while Li Wu was still absent, she climbed up on a chair and hid the phoenix medallion she had been carrying with her all this time up in the rafters.

She had only just jumped back down from the chair when Li Wu came walking in through the outer gate.

After washing up, Shen Zhuxi sat down at the table and watched as Li Wu unwrapped a lotus leaf bundle, then handed her the plumpest and most generously stuffed steamed bun.

She took a bite. Savory juices flooded her mouth, and the fragrance of mutton mingled with anise spread instantly through her entire palate.

“Where are these buns from?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“Didn’t buy them. Old Wang butchered a sheep yesterday, and this morning he brought these buns specially to the door.”

“Why did he bring you buns?”

“His home was robbed not long ago. I helped him get his stolen things back.”

Shen Zhuxi nodded, understanding somewhat, and took another bite of the fragrant bun.

“I need to go to Yongtian County for a while this morning — I probably won’t be back until noon.” Li Wu dispatched the first bun in short order and picked up the second. “There will be the four of us for the midday meal, so I’m leaving the grocery shopping to you. We’re also running low on salt, so remember to pick some up.”

Shen Zhuxi nodded. Still not satisfied he had made himself clear, he added: “I’ll have Li Kun stay behind to keep you company.”

“There’s no need — take him with you,” Shen Zhuxi said. “He’s strong, and he can help you.” She wasn’t sure what kind of errand Li Wu was running, but her instinct told her it was not entirely above board. Having Li Kun with him should keep him safer. As for herself — as long as she didn’t venture into deserted places, she would be fine. In broad daylight, even those beggars would likely not dare act too brazenly.

Li Wu was silent for a moment, then said, “You don’t need to worry about those beggars. They’re no longer in Yutou Town.”

Shen Zhuxi started. “Where did they go?”

Li Wu did not answer. The second bun vanished from his hand just as quickly as the first.

“Head home early. Don’t go wandering about out there,” he said, brushing off his hands as he stood.

After breakfast, Li Que and Li Kun appeared at the outer gate. Li Wu reminded her several more times not to go running off, and only then, reluctantly, did he head out.

Shen Zhuxi saw them to the door. Li Que, bursting with energy so early in the morning, waved at her repeatedly. “Good morning, sister-in-law! Goodbye, sister-in-law!”

Li Kun watched Li Que grinning and laughing, and mimicking him, he waved at Shen Zhuxi too — then called out, “Little piggy, goodbye!”

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Li Wu’s foot had already landed on his backside.

“Call her sister-in-law,” Li Wu said, his expression dark.

Li Kun rubbed his backside and said, aggrieved, “Sister-in-law.”

Shen Zhuxi’s face went bright red. She gave a small, restrained wave. When her eyes met Li Wu’s — waiting, as though for something — she hesitated for a moment before saying:

“…Come home early.”

Li Wu broke into a grin. “All right.”

After Li Wu left, Shen Zhuxi went back inside and tidied up. Taking on an errand for the first time filled her with enthusiasm. She checked the door lock and every window three times over before finally shutting the outer gate behind her.

The path from the Li household to the town market had grown more and more familiar to her. When she occasionally encountered a heap of horse or cattle dung in the middle of the road, she could navigate around it or step over it without so much as a change of expression.

In the distance, farmhouses sent up thin wisps of cooking smoke. Somewhere, someone was steaming mantou buns, and a faint, clean fragrance drifted through the air.

On both sides of the field paths, farmers bent at work. When they spotted Shen Zhuxi, they called out cheerfully to her whether she knew them or not.

“Madam Li, off to the market?”

“Madam Li, the food and wine last night were wonderful!”

“Madam Li…”

Shen Zhuxi was overwhelmed by the warmth, smiling back at everyone in turn.

In her mind’s eye, peasants had always been the people who had stormed the imperial palace — brutal and fierce, illiterate, without the faintest understanding of loyalty to the throne. They had seemed to her like wild beasts, savage and bloodthirsty. But the farmers she saw now were hardworking, unpretentious, and kind — like the patient old oxen in the fields — entirely unlike the peasants she had once imagined.

By now, Shen Zhuxi was no longer surprised.

Since leaving the palace, she had come to realize how many prejudices she held. A great deal of what she had once believed to be true had turned out to be wrong.

Perhaps this was what the ancient sages had meant when they spoke of reading ten thousand books alongside travelling ten thousand miles.

Shen Zhuxi arrived at the market to find it as bustling and lively as ever.

The people coming and going all seemed to radiate a vigorous, teeming energy — and they reminded her of the weeds that grew in the fields. They did not blossom into beautiful flowers, but when it came to the will to live, nothing could surpass them.

Shen Zhuxi made her way along the street, her heart an entirely different thing from what it had been on her previous visits. She looked around with curiosity, taking note of every shop and landmark she passed.

At the pastry stall, she bought Li Kun’s favourite taro cakes, and on the shopkeeper’s recommendation, she also picked up two pieces of rose cake, fragrant with floral sweetness.

After paying, she turned around and nearly walked straight into a cart delivering goods from the butcher’s shop.

Three pig heads with eyes wide open stared at her face to face.

Shen Zhuxi stepped back to avoid being grazed by the cart. The woman driving it caught sight of her and smiled. “Not frightened of pig heads anymore, are you, young lady?”

She now recognized the woman as the butcher’s wife she had encountered during her very first visit to the market.

Shen Zhuxi smiled sheepishly. “Not anymore.”

“Everything is frightening the first time. Once you’ve seen enough of something, the fear goes away on its own.” The woman chuckled. “The first time I killed a pig, I was so scared I couldn’t sleep that night.”

A middle-aged man sitting nearby having tea laughed at that. “You, Madam Pan? You’re afraid of something?”

“Oh, you!” Madam Pan laughed and scolded him back. “You dare joke with me? Be careful I don’t make you regret it!”

A burst of laughter rose from the teahouse.

The cart rumbled on. Shen Zhuxi continued toward the next stall.

The market had everything under the sun. Shen Zhuxi stopped at a stall selling washing powder.

Bowls of it were laid out in colourful abundance, each one bearing a symbol painted in bright red that Shen Zhuxi couldn’t read. The woman selling them noticed her pause and immediately called out with enthusiasm: “What kind of washing powder does the young lady need?”

“What kinds do you have?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“There’s peach blossom washing powder, bean washing powder, there’s this one…” The woman listed off seven or eight varieties in one breath. Shen Zhuxi smelled the contents of several bowls and rubbed a pinch between her fingers, and in the end selected one variety suited for the face. “How much is this one?”

The woman’s eyes moved quickly. “Two taels of silver a bowl.”

Shen Zhuxi had developed a reasonably good sense of prices in Yutou County by now. Her brow furrowed. “That’s so expensive?”

“It’s not expensive at all!” The woman’s expression was theatrical. “Young lady, you have excellent taste — you’ve chosen the finest washing powder I carry. The better the quality, the higher the price, naturally. I also have cheaper varieties — look at this one, soap bean washing powder. Only fifteen wen a bowl. But a young lady like yourself surely wouldn’t settle for that.”

“Is that so? I would,” Shen Zhuxi said. “Give me three bowls of that one.”

The woman’s expression stiffened. “But this is for washing clothes — a young lady with such smooth skin using soap bean powder on your face would ruin it——”

“Why would it ruin my skin?”

“Because soap bean is harsh on the skin…”

“And you dare to sell something that harms the skin?” Shen Zhuxi said. “Does the county magistrate know you’re selling something like this?”

“The magistrate — well — it’s not that it harms the skin, it’s more that…” the woman fumbled. “It’s just that other varieties have better beautifying effects. Take this rose washing powder, for instance — use it twice a day, and I guarantee your skin will be white and smooth as a freshly peeled egg.”

“If that’s true, then why don’t you use it yourself?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“I do use it,” the woman said.

“Then why does your face look nothing like a freshly peeled egg?” Shen Zhuxi peered at the woman’s face, which was covered in brown spots.

“That’s just a figure of speech — it doesn’t mean you’ll literally turn into a peeled egg. You understand, don’t you?”

“I don’t.”

“…”

“First you said your washing powder would harm my skin, then you said it would beautify my skin — but every time you said something, you ended up contradicting yourself. It neither harms the skin nor beautifies it.” Shen Zhuxi said, frowning. “So this washing powder that does absolutely nothing — and you want to charge me two taels of silver for it?”

“How can you say it does nothing? At the very least, it cleans!”

“If the only thing it does is clean, what’s the difference between it and the soap bean powder?”

“Young lady, you’re too much — all right, I’ll give it to you for one tael of silver!”

“The effect is the same, so why is the price different?”

“Five hundred wen!”

“I’m going to tell everyone that your washing powder only has one use but you charge completely different prices for it…”

“Thirty wen! That’s my final offer!”

“You deceived me earlier — on top of that, you’re going to give me a free bowl of the soap bean powder as well.”

“…Fine!” The woman clenched her teeth and bent down to fill the bowl. “Young lady, next time you want to bargain, just come out and say so directly — don’t go through all this back and forth.”

“When did I bargain?” Shen Zhuxi looked genuinely puzzled. “I was simply telling you that it’s wrong to deceive people.”

Shen Zhuxi took her washing powder and made her way toward the denser part of the crowd, where farmers who had come to sell their vegetables were calling out loudly. The sheer variety had her head spinning — everything was a deep, lush green, and she couldn’t name a single one.

Shen Zhuxi stopped in front of one stall. “How much for the spring onions?”

The farmer looked up at her. “Young lady, those are garlic shoots.”

“…That’s what I was asking about.” Shen Zhuxi’s face turned red.

Having bought the garlic shoots, Shen Zhuxi also purchased a piece of pork from a nearby butcher. All of the traders here knew she was Li Wu’s wife; they greeted her with smiles and quoted her fair, reasonable prices.

Under the pretext of buying groceries, Shen Zhuxi kept asking “What is this?” at every stall she passed through, and without noticing, both hands were full to the point she couldn’t carry anything more.

She left the market, still wanting more.

Back home, she stored all the vegetables and pork in the kitchen. Worried the greens would wilt before Li Wu returned, she found a clay jar, filled it with water, and stood the garlic shoots and other vegetables upright in it. From a distance, it was a little cluster of lush, cheerful green — a sight she found quite pleasing in its own small way.

With that done, she went around to the backyard and collected the dried laundry from the line.

After that, with nothing left to do, she watered the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.

Shen Zhuxi crouched in front of the trunk and murmured to it softly: “How old are you, that you’re still this small… I once saw a tree that was your kin — it was three times your size…”

After watering the osmanthus tree, Shen Zhuxi went back to her room and spent some time reading a newly bought poetry collection.

All the poems in it were old verses she had seen before, yet she read them with genuine interest. Time slipped by unnoticed. When Shen Zhuxi began to feel the faint stirrings of hunger, she heard the sound of Li Wu and Li Que talking outside the bamboo fence.

Shen Zhuxi leapt to her feet, grabbed the brand-new feather duster from the main hall, and hurried out to meet them.