Zhou Sao opened the door, and Sui Rui walked in carrying a bulging lotus-leaf parcel.

“This roast chicken is still hot — where’s the kitchen? Get a bowl and dish it out; it’s best eaten while it’s warm.”

“I’ll take you to the kitchen.” Zhou Sao smiled. “You’re too polite — you didn’t have to bring a roast chicken just to visit.”

A woman sitting on the bamboo mat laughed loudly: “Who doesn’t know that our Miss Sui has the best manners? She’d never show up empty-handed!”

Jiu Niang called out: “Roast chicken goes best with wine — hurry and open that jar of Wannian Chun I brought!”

“I brought freshly picked cucumbers — Niang Chen, come to the kitchen with me, your cold dishes are always the best…”

“My sugar-preserved tomatoes should be ready — let me go check…”

The women got up one after another, each bustling about with the gifts they had brought — mostly snacks and nibbles. Before long the kitchen was a lively commotion, one person shouting that someone had stepped on her foot, another telling those who weren’t helping to get out of the way.

Only a few remained on the bamboo mat, Shen Zhuxi and Jiu Niang among them.

Jiu Niang looked her over once, then again, and said: “Have you heard anything about me and Li Wu?”

Shen Zhuxi feigned ignorance and asked with a puzzled expression: “What about?”

“I won’t hide it from you — sooner or later you’ll hear it from someone else anyway.” Jiu Niang said: “Although I’m a bit older, I have a small amount of property to my name, and I thought I was quite a suitable match for Li Wu. A pity that I had feelings for him but he had none for me — your Li Wu avoided me so thoroughly that he stopped coming to buy wine altogether.”

Jiu Niang said indignantly: “Yes, I’m a bit older, but I still have my looks and a livelihood besides. What exactly does he find unsatisfactory about me?”

Being questioned so directly by her husband’s former pursuer, Shen Zhuxi felt not the slightest offense. After all, she was not Li Wu’s true wife.

Shen Zhuxi had never encountered a woman like Jiu Niang before. A woman bold enough to pursue who she loved had no place in the Virtuous Women’s Canon, and naturally, no such boldly candid woman could exist in the palace either. Toward Jiu Niang, Shen Zhuxi felt not the least bit of dislike — on the contrary, she found herself with a touch of admiration for her.

The one who suffered was Sang Niang, sitting nearby: a woman who had once pursued Li Wu without success was now complaining to Li Wu’s current wife about her husband’s stony-heartedness — one dared say it, the other dared listen, and neither felt the least bit awkward.

“I’ll go check if they need help in the kitchen.” Sang Niang smiled as though nothing were amiss and stood up, hastening off toward the kitchen. Left behind was Sui Rui, who was cracking melon seeds with great enthusiasm. She cracked one, then said sardonically:

“You’re in your mid-thirties. What normal man would choose you?”

“He wouldn’t choose you either! You tomboy — any man who married you would have to worry about being beaten afterward.” Jiu Niang raised her willow-leaf brows and shot back with a sharp tongue.

“Being the one who does the hitting is always better than being the one who gets hit.” Sui Rui said coldly. “Why should only men be allowed to hit women and not the other way around?”

“I can’t be bothered to argue with you.”

Jiu Niang rolled her eyes and let her gaze drift back to Shen Zhuxi. After a moment, she let out a sigh, as though already conceding defeat:

“…Oh well. You marrying Li Wu is better than certain other people marrying Li Wu. I find you fairly pleasing to look at, at least. If that Li woman had married Li Wu, there’s no telling how high her fox’s tail would’ve been held.”

“Li Qingman didn’t come?” Sui Rui asked.

“The county magistrate’s son invited her out for a spring outing.” Jiu Niang said with pointed sarcasm: “It’s almost the Dragon Boat Festival and she’s still going on spring outings. I’d say she has a calculating mind and is already looking for her next prospect.”

Jiu Niang suddenly turned her attention toward Shen Zhuxi.

“Do you know Li Qingman?”

“No.” Shen Zhuxi shook her head honestly.

“Then why were you listening so intently with your ears pricked up!” Jiu Niang said: “She’s the type who looks simple and honest but is actually crafty as anything — I quite like her. Let me give you a word of advice: this Li Qingman is not simple. She’s a renowned beauty throughout Jinzhou and the surrounding area. She appears aloof, but her methods for attracting men are not to be underestimated. That said, in my view, now that you’ve arrived, she ought to yield that title of Jinzhou’s first beauty.”

As she spoke, Jiu Niang reached out and grabbed a handful of melon seeds and began cracking them one by one. Even the way she cracked melon seeds was meticulously refined and alluring: she would first give the tip of a seed a light bite with her pearly teeth, then gently pry it open, extract the kernel, carefully avoid her lip rouge, and set it delicately into her mouth. Those seductive phoenix eyes of hers never stilled for a single moment as she ate, flickering and flowing with life.

Jiu Niang’s refined way of eating formed a vivid contrast with Sui Rui beside her. In the time it took Jiu Niang to finish one seed, Sui Rui had cracked a dozen or more — like a nimble and practiced little squirrel. The tip of a seed had barely reached her lips before, without any visible movement of her mouth, only the husk remained, which she tossed onto the lotus leaf set aside for the discards.

Zhou Sao and several other women returned from the kitchen carrying dishes of food. Jiu Niang and the others naturally dropped the subject of Li Qingman and stood up to help arrange the dishes.

Shen Zhuxi could not sit alone and rose to help as well.

Zhou Sao smiled: “I could see you were all deep in conversation — have you already gotten acquainted?”

Shen Zhuxi smiled: “Thanks to Zhou Sao, everyone has been very welcoming to me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure — Jiu Niang’s tongue spares no one.” Zhou Sao said, half-joking, half-serious.

“Zhou Sao, you’re wronging me!” Jiu Niang drew out the words: “I’ve been treating Li Niang like my own little sister!”

“All the better, then — if you bully her, I won’t stand for it.” Zhou Sao smiled.

Jiu Niang put her arm around Shen Zhuxi, and a fragrance of wine drifted from her.

“I haven’t done any such thing — isn’t that right, little sister?”

Shen Zhuxi smiled and said: “Don’t worry, Zhou Sao — Jiu Niang has been very kind to me.”

Only then was Zhou Sao reassured.

Before long, the bamboo mat was laden with food: the richly crimson, wonderfully fragrant roast chicken; the palate-cleansing sugar-preserved tomatoes and cold-dressed cucumbers; someone had also brought a few eggs, which had since been made into egg custard, each person served a small dish.

Seven or eight dried osmanthus blossoms were scattered over the egg custard, and with the warmth of the steam, a faint and clean osmanthus fragrance drifted through the entire little courtyard.

Jiu Niang uncovered her jar of Wannian Chun and poured a bowl for each of the women who drank. Shen Zhuxi wanted to try it, so she asked for half a bowl.

“Half a bowl indeed — a woman who can’t hold her drink will get pushed around out in the world!” Without ceremony, Jiu Niang filled her bowl to the brim. “Drink — drink freely — and if you get drunk, your older sister will carry you back to your room.”

Among the women, someone called out a teasing remark:

“You just want to take advantage of her while she’s drunk and fill in where you missed your chance, don’t you?”

Jiu Niang’s willow-brows shot up in fury. “Nonsense! I may be a widow, but I would never lay a hand on a man who belongs to someone else!”

The woman who had spoken carelessly — the same one Jiu Niang had beaten several rounds at cards — saw Jiu Niang’s anger and said nothing more, sheepish and silent. Zhou Sao quickly urged everyone to eat and drink, smoothing things over once again.

Everyone drank wine and ate food while chatting about household matters. Shen Zhuxi listened, captivated — she had not expected that even a small place like Yutou County could harbor such remarkable people and extraordinary tales.

She drank bowl after bowl of Wannian Chun as she listened, and without noticing, her cup had only dregs remaining. In the palace, Shen Zhuxi occasionally drank, but it was the refined ladies’ wine fashionable among noble women — fragrant without being intoxicating, something men regarded with contempt. Wannian Chun was entirely unlike anything she had drunk before. At first, finishing a bowl seemed to have no effect at all, but gradually, the world before her eyes began to sway.

She touched her own face. It was burning.

Meanwhile Jiu Niang drank bowl after bowl without the faintest flush of intoxication, and even Sui Rui drank wine as though it were water. Shen Zhuxi was full of admiration — the look she gave them was the same reverent awe she felt when secretly reading story books and encountering the heroines within.

Having drunk to the point of dizziness, Shen Zhuxi gradually forgot where she was, and forgot that the sun was steadily sinking toward the horizon.

On the other side of town, Li Wu had turned down a rich merchant’s invitation to stay for dinner and set off home together with the brothers Li Kun and Li Que.

“The boss’s house — good food.” Li Kun muttered: “Meat without limit — why didn’t we stay?”

Li Que tossed a newly acquired silver ingot up and down in his hand and said: “Elder Brother is missing his sister-in-law.”

“Zhuxi… Zhuxi wouldn’t starve without us there…”

“Are you the one who gets to call her Zhuxi?” Li Wu turned to look at him.

“…Hmph.” Li Kun turned his head away.

Li Wu said: “Your sister-in-law has been home alone all day, and you’d have her eat dinner alone too — do you have any conscience at all? She even made you taro cakes—”

“…Hmph.” Li Kun’s voice grew small. He lowered his head, kicked a stone off the path, and said quietly: “Fine, Diao’er was wrong…”

Li Que tucked the silver ingot into his clothes and quickened his pace to walk alongside Li Wu. “Old Boss Zhang is a decent man,” he said. “We helped him recover four hundred taels in debts, and he gave us fifty taels. If all the bosses were as generous as Old Boss Zhang, we’d save ourselves a lot of arguing at settlement time. That Old Boss Chen the other time — I’ve never seen anyone so stingy. The fermented tofu shop owed him money, we helped him strip that shop bare, and he thanked us with a cartload of fermented tofu—”

“A gift is a gift — the fermented tofu shop had already done him a great wrong, and if they couldn’t produce cash, that’s just how it was.” Li Wu said: “A good flock of sheep needs to be tended.”

“Elder Brother always sees further.” Li Que said with a pleased smile. “By the way — does sister-in-law know what we actually do?”

“…She doesn’t.” Li Wu said.

Li Que was taken aback. “Elder Brother still hasn’t told her?”

“She only knows I’m in business.”

“Why keep it from her?” Li Que said, puzzled.

Li Wu said: “Debt collection, collecting payment to handle trouble — these are all lowly trades. If she knew, she might chatter on about it — and the chattering itself wouldn’t be the problem. What I’m afraid of is that she’ll keep her thoughts hidden inside without saying a word. And then the next moment she’ll turn around and run off on me again.”

“—Then Elder Brother would have suffered a true loss.” Li Que laughed.

“Better to keep it hidden for now.” Li Wu said: “It won’t go on much longer anyway — I’ll switch to something else eventually.”

“I believe Elder Brother will make something of himself.” Li Que said.

Li Wu patted him on the shoulder. “All three of us will make something of ourselves.”

When they arrived home, Li Wu pushed open the door and walked in to find the house empty. There were fresh words scratched into the ground beneath the osmanthus tree.

He walked over to read them. Li Kun, as usual, made straight for the kitchen in search of food. Li Que walked up beside Li Wu. “Has sister-in-law gone out?”

“Zhou Sao invited her next door.” Li Wu said: “I’ll go bring her back.”

Li Que said helpfully: “I’ll start washing and preparing the vegetables.”

Li Wu nodded and walked out through the gate.

Walking in the fading light of the setting sun, Li Wu thought of Shen Zhuxi and could not help but feel a pang of guilt. He had been running about outside these past few days, leaving her alone at home. There was nothing to occupy her time indoors, no one to talk to. How on earth had she gotten through the day?

Was she lonely? Would she be missing her family, perhaps slipping away somewhere to cry in secret?

Should he go to the matchmaker and buy a maidservant to wait on her — someone who could keep her company and help the time pass?

Li Wu gradually quickened his pace, and without quite realizing it, he arrived outside Zhou Sao’s courtyard gate.

A woman happened to be coming out just then. Seeing Li Wu, she gave him a smile, left the gate for him, and went on her way.

Zhou Sao, standing at the entrance, saw Li Wu and, for some reason, her expression was rather complicated — as though she wanted to laugh but could not quite manage it.

Li Wu was puzzled. He walked over to her and cast his gaze past her shoulder.

“Where is Shen Zhuxi?”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, a gust of wind gently pushed open the half-latched bamboo gate.

At the same moment, a voice full of triumphant energy rang out from inside the courtyard.

“Nine points to the Worthy! Half a coin! I win!”

Shen Zhuxi flung down her mahjong tiles with a clatter and, cheeks flushed crimson, sprang up from the bamboo mat.

The women around her erupted in congratulations.

Li Wu’s gaze and Shen Zhuxi’s bright, excited eyes collided in an instant. The Shen Zhuxi who had just been hollering and jumping froze where she stood as if someone had struck her mute, and Li Wu, looking at her, likewise went completely still.

Lonely?

Ha. He had worried for nothing.