Half a month later, Shen Zhuxi arrived at the entrance of the River Willow Hall at the appointed time, her heart full of anticipation.

She lingered outside the door for quite a while before she finally steeled herself and walked in.

“Proprietor, my decorated paper…” She stopped halfway through the sentence and waited for the proprietor to announce the result.

“You’ve come at just the right time!” The proprietor said with a delighted expression. “One hour ago, the last remaining set of decorated paper was purchased by the county magistrate’s son! When can you bring in another ten sets?”

“They sold?!” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t keep the excitement from her voice.

Had she not still remembered she was in public, Shen Zhuxi would have been hard pressed not to jump for joy.

Her decorated paper had sold! She had been anxious about it, had been sighing over it for days — and yet — Li Wu had been right all along. She was exactly the sort of person who frightened herself!

“I’ll paint them and deliver them in a few days,” Shen Zhuxi said, barely containing her excitement.

“Don’t wait a few days — bring two or three sets first as soon as they’re done. Paint the rest gradually after that,” the proprietor said.

Shen Zhuxi agreed and said, “What about the money from the sales?”

The proprietor brought out his abacus, leaned half his body against the counter in a languid posture, and gently flicked the beads with two fingers. “Your eight and my two — one set priced at six…”

Shen Zhuxi said: “Whatever the selling price was, my husband will find out soon enough. Proprietor, you just calculate the account accurately and give me the money directly.”

The proprietor’s hand stiffened. He coughed with some awkwardness and slowly straightened up from the counter.

“One set at eight taels — your eight portions comes to six taels of silver and half a string of copper coins.” The proprietor asked: “Would you like to collect the money now, or settle at the end of the month?”

“Settle at the end of the month,” Shen Zhuxi said. “My husband will come to collect at month’s end.”

The proprietor’s gaze dropped to his abacus, and his thin lips opened and closed, his voice barely above a whisper: “Once Li the Fleecer shows up, I won’t be able to hide a single copper coin…”

Shen Zhuxi pretended not to hear his muttered words.

Someone this fond of taking small advantages was exactly the kind of person who needed a forceful character like Li Wu to keep in line.

She walked out of the River Willow Hall in high spirits, and as she passed by Jiu Niang’s wine shop, she turned and stepped inside again.

At this hour, it was still before midday, and there was not a single customer in the main hall. Jiu Niang, with nothing to do, was leaning against the counter and standing in the doorway. The moment Shen Zhuxi stepped in, Jiu Niang said: “Look at that radiant face — glowing like someone just rolling in silver. Since it’s your grand opening day, I’ll treat you to a jin of wine.”

“Make it four — actually, six trotters,” Shen Zhuxi said, unable to suppress the smile spreading across her face. “And another three jin of wine.”

“Wait here.”

It wasn’t long before Jiu Niang had everything ready. Shen Zhuxi made a point of asking her to wrap two of the trotters separately.

Jiu Niang stood behind the counter, wrapping the trotters in lotus leaves while asking casually: “No customers in the shop today — tell me something. You’re a woman with a husband. Why are you out here making money on your own?”

“I eat and live at Li Wu’s expense without contributing anything. I feel unsettled on the inside,” Shen Zhuxi said with embarrassment.

“I know why you feel unsettled,” Jiu Niang said with a smile. “Men — if they could truly be relied upon, there wouldn’t be so many women in this world leading hard lives.”

She pushed the wrapped trotters and the wine jar across the counter to Shen Zhuxi.

“When you have the means to rely on yourself, it’s best to rely on yourself,” Jiu Niang said.

Shen Zhuxi, though she found this somewhat puzzling to parse, felt that what she had said made a great deal of sense.

Wasn’t this exactly what “better safe than sorry” meant!

Shen Zhuxi set off home with a full load, her steps light and buoyant with the joy of having found a means of livelihood, and even the familiar scenery around her seemed lovelier than usual.

When she arrived home, Li Wu had not yet returned. She put away the wine and food, then carried the two separately wrapped braised trotters over to Zhou Sao’s place next door. She stood at the familiar bamboo gate and called into the courtyard: “Zhou Sao, are you home?”

Zhou Sao, who ordinarily opened the door very quickly, was strangely slow to respond this time.

Shen Zhuxi had just started to feel puzzled when the bamboo gate was suddenly pushed open from within.

Zhou Zhuang’s nearly ashen face appeared from behind the gate, and Shen Zhuxi instinctively took a step back.

“…What do you want?” His gaze, filled with hostility, landed on Shen Zhuxi, then shifted to the area behind her, as if confirming that she had come alone.

“I came to see Zhou Sao… I brought braised pig’s trotters, Zhou…”

Zhou Zhuang snatched the lotus leaf parcel from her hands without ceremony. “She’s gone back to her mother’s home. I’ll take the trotters. You can go.”

“Zhou Sao has gone back to her mother’s home?” Shen Zhuxi said, surprised.

“Gone back to her mother’s home,” Zhou Zhuang said, stiff and mechanical, as though reciting from a text. “She and my father had a quarrel. She left a few days ago — no telling when she’ll be back. When she comes back, she’ll naturally come find you herself. Stop bothering me.”

Shen Zhuxi hadn’t even had a chance to say another word before the bamboo gate was shut in her face.

She walked away in utter confusion, with no choice but to head home.

Zhou Sao had gone back to her mother’s home? Why hadn’t she said a single word about it? When they had last parted, Zhou Sao had even said she would teach her how to cook!

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t make sense of it — and the more she thought, the stranger it seemed.

When she arrived at the entrance of her home, she happened to meet the three Li brothers coming along the small path toward her. Li Que had been calling out “Sister-in-law” from a distance, Li Kun was looking around in all directions with that restless energy of his, and Li Wu?

He was looking straight at her — as though waiting for something, yet saying nothing.

She had come to know the habits of this rotten fellow fairly well by now. She spoke up first: “You’re back? I bought braised pig’s trotters and strong sorghum liquor — come in and rest a while and eat.”

Li Kun was already cheering with excitement, going on about Piggy-piggy this and Piggy-piggy that. Li Que laughed and said: “Sister-in-law is so good to us. We’ll go and wash our hands right away.”

Li Que pulled Li Kun along and went ahead into the courtyard. Shen Zhuxi and Li Wu walked behind together. Li Wu said, “The decorated paper sold?”

“It sold — one set for eight taels of silver, no less.” A note of pride crept into Shen Zhuxi’s voice. “For every set I sell, I get six taels of silver and half a string of copper coins.”

“Not bad,” Li Wu said, reaching out and pressing his hand briefly to the top of her head.

Shen Zhuxi was in good spirits and didn’t take issue with it, letting him do as he pleased.

“I’ve agreed with the proprietor to settle accounts at month’s end. I’m worried he might try to cheat me, so at month’s end, would you go and collect on my behalf?” Shen Zhuxi said. “The silver I earn — I’ll put it in the small earthen jar in the kitchen, and it’ll go toward…”

“The small jar belongs to the household. Any silver that’s yours goes in your own dowry box,” Li Wu said. “And if I hear any more talk about not wanting to eat and live here without contributing, I’ll make pork innards every single day for a month. You can eat them or starve.”

The prospect of a full month of pork innards was a threat of devastating magnitude. Not wishing to sit before food and starve, Shen Zhuxi wisely shut her mouth.

But this was a problem — her most important point still hadn’t been said…

“Now that I’m earning money, you don’t need to sell yourself to support me anymore.”

Another opportunity to guide Li Wu back to the right path had slipped through her fingers. Shen Zhuxi furrowed her brow with worry.

Even through the midday meal, she was still turning over in her mind how to tactfully and courteously suggest a change of profession and bring Li Wu back to the right path.

“Sister-in-law, why are you frowning like that? Something weighing on your mind?” Li Que said from across the square table.

“Ah… I was just thinking about what designs to paint on the next set of decorated paper,” Shen Zhuxi replied vaguely.

How could she possibly say she was pondering how to convince a kept man to go straight and give it all up?

“Sister-in-law has earned her first bit of money today — that calls for a celebration. How about a bowl of wine to mark the occasion?”

“Absolutely not!” Li Wu flatly refused without a moment’s hesitation.

Shen Zhuxi watched the wine that had sloshed out of his hand and looked at him with puzzlement.

Li Que was surprised as well. “Big Brother?”

“She can’t drink wine,” Li Wu said without hesitation.

“On such a happy occasion, why not ask Sister-in-law what she thinks?” Li Que looked at Shen Zhuxi. “Sister-in-law, do you want to drink?”

Shen Zhuxi’s gaze moved to the wine bowl in front of Li Que. To be honest, she had never tasted the strong sorghum liquor before.

“I’d like to…”

“You don’t want to,” Li Wu said, cutting her off without even a pause for thought.

Shen Zhuxi hadn’t particularly cared either way, but Li Wu’s attitude fired up her fighting spirit. She glared at him indignantly: “Why? This is wine I bought!”

“Because I say no, that’s why.” Li Wu hugged the wine jar to his chest and stood up from the table.

Li Wu’s high-handedness left Shen Zhuxi speechless.

He had already turned and was walking toward the kitchen, while she was still glaring daggers at his back, wishing with all her heart that he would trip on something at any moment and fall flat on his face.

Li Duck! Li Rotten Man! Ruffian! Scoundrel! Bully!

She mentally ran through every insult she knew, when a wine bowl carrying the fragrance of liquor was suddenly placed in front of her.

Li Que lowered his voice and said: “Big Brother’s wine bowl, Sister-in-law — try a sip. The liquor is strong, so just a little—”

The rest of Li Que’s words caught in his throat.

He stared in wide-eyed astonishment as Shen Zhuxi picked up the wine bowl, tilted her head back, and drained the entire thing in several gulps.

“Sister-in-law—” Li Que was so alarmed his voice came out wrong. “This is strong sorghum liquor — you can’t—”

“I’m not leaving him any!” Shen Zhuxi slammed the wine bowl back onto Li Wu’s spot with a thud and wiped the liquor from her lips with the back of her hand.

One full bowl of strong sorghum liquor — it hadn’t felt like anything going down, just a little more pungent than plain water. Compared to tea, wine was genuinely unpleasant to drink, and Shen Zhuxi could not fathom why Li Wu was so attached to something that scorched the throat so fiercely.

But once the whole bowl was gone and she was sitting properly in her chair, Shen Zhuxi understood — it was more than a little pungent.

When Li Wu came back, he found Shen Zhuxi with tears streaming down her face, while Li Que was fussing in a panic beside her trying to say something. The moment Li Que saw Li Wu arrive, he sat bolt upright and assumed an expression of complete innocence.

“Big Brother, look at how upset you’ve made Sister-in-law,” Li Que said.

Li Wu saw that Shen Zhuxi was sobbing with gasping breaths, her face redder than the evening clouds at sunset, and his brows drew together sharply.

“Shen Zhuxi, are you trying to drive me to an early grave and become a widow?!” Li Wu said.

“I’m… not…” Every word Shen Zhuxi spoke came out in broken, hitching sobs. Even to her own ears, it sounded like the most heartbroken misery imaginable.

“Over one mouthful of wine — what is there to cry about? Do you know what you get like when you’re drunk? Shen Zhuxi, you — you’ll be the end of me one of these days… This man will bring the wine jar right over, and you can cry and drink at the same time!”

Li Wu made good on his word and went straight to the kitchen, then came back carrying the small wine jar, which he set down on the table with a thud.

Distracted by Shen Zhuxi crying so hard she could barely breathe, he didn’t notice that his own wine bowl, which he hadn’t yet had a chance to drink from, had somehow come up empty. He poured a full bowl of liquor from the jar and set it in front of Shen Zhuxi. “Drink! Let’s see if you can finish this whole jar—”

Shen Zhuxi’s throat was burning from the sorghum liquor, which was not only scorching her throat but roiling around in her stomach as well, making her tear up uncontrollably.

At the sight of the very cause of all her suffering, her stomach churned even more violently.

“I don’t want any more… no more… take it away…” she wept, pushing Li Wu’s bowl aside.

Weeping and saying it carried no weight whatsoever, and Li Wu assumed she was still throwing a temper tantrum. He held the wine bowl up to her lips a second time.

“I’m not joking with you! If you want to drink, then drink, but stop crying!” Li Wu said irritably.

“I’m not joking either!” Shen Zhuxi said, weeping. “I genuinely don’t want any more!”

“Fine, then stop crying.” Li Wu moved the wine bowl a little further away and fixed his gaze steadily on her eyes.

Shen Zhuxi made a desperate effort to hold back her tears, not blinking once.

Li Wu’s expression shifted from suspicion to cautious uncertainty. Just as he was about to turn away and take the wine bowl with him, Shen Zhuxi’s aching eyes blinked — and all her effort was undone.

Tears poured forth.

“Shen Zhuxi!” Li Wu said, exasperated and at the end of his patience. “What on earth do you want?!”

The burning heat of the sorghum liquor had slowly risen from her throat all the way up to the top of her head, and Shen Zhuxi felt her vision swimming. Li Wu’s shouting only made her feel more flustered and irritable.

She pushed aside the ceramic bowl of pig’s trotters in front of her, raised her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and tugged the corners of her mouth downward with great force—

“Oh no—”

Li Wu’s expression changed.

This wild woman let out a wail and burst into full, heaving sobs.