Early summer.
The spring blossoms had faded from the trees, and willow catkins roamed everywhere. The sky was filled with these fine, snow-like fluffs, flaunting themselves arrogantly in the morning light and breeze, omnipresent and unrestrained.
In the northern part of Shuntian Prefecture of the Great Ming, within Rizhong Ward, on West Diagonal Street by the Drum Tower, in Sweetwater Alley, stood a residential house at the lane's end.
The house faced east, with a two-story brick-and-wood building fronting Sweetwater Alley and a small courtyard in the back.
Chen the Agent was showing the property to a female client.
The Chen family had been in the brokerage business for generations, acting as intermediaries in property and various goods transactions, earning their living through commissions. Three generations had made their living from this trade, and others called him Chen the Agent, his real name rarely known.
The house had been stuck in his hands for nearly half a year. If it couldn't be rented out soon, the owner would surely switch to another agent, and he'd lose this source of income.
Success or failure hinged on this one effort.
Chen the Agent cleared his throat softly, ready to deploy all his rhetorical skills to portray the house as a floral paradise, determined to persuade the client to rent it.
Just as he was about to speak, a willow catkin drifted into his left nostril. A wave of sour sensation surged from his nose, and he hastily covered his face with his sleeve, sneezing.
The female client seemed somewhat fastidious. Upon hearing the sneeze, she immediately stepped back three paces, using a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth, her delicate brows furrowed. They had just entered, and with this retreat, she ended up right at the threshold.
Disaster!
A setback before even beginning!
Chen the Agent inwardly groaned at his misfortune, quickly bowing in apology. "My apologies for my impropriety."
"No matter," the client said, though her actions spoke louder than her words as she continued to hold the handkerchief over her nose and mouth, her voice muffled. "Show me the house."
At this point, he had to try every desperate remedy.
Chen the Agent gave a thorough tour of both floors. "...The bed, wardrobe, dining table, stools, and other furniture are all ready. Madam, see for yourself—they're all made of good wood. You could move in with your luggage and stay tonight..."
The client appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen, her face still bearing a youthful innocence, but she wore her hair in a married woman's style, with a white silk cloth wrapped into a Mourning Bun atop her chignon. It was clear she was a young widow still in mourning.
Hence, Chen the Agent addressed her as Madam.
Yet, no matter how fervently Chen the Agent extolled the virtues of the house, the young widow remained expressionless, not even offering a simple "oh" in response.
However, she showed no signs of impatience or any intention to leave.
So, clinging to a sliver of hope, Chen the Agent led the young widow downstairs to the small backyard. The courtyard was paved with blue bricks, but after half a year of vacancy, spring weeds had sprouted from the cracks. To expedite the rental, Chen had personally pulled them all out, leaving the space looking tidy and refreshing.
"...Madam, look—the kitchen, woodshed, and privy are all here. In summer, you could set up a canopy in the yard, hang bamboo blinds and gauze curtains, enjoy melons to beat the heat, and relax in the cool breeze. It'd be a heavenly life!"
The brokerage trade relied on eloquence and reading people, but after viewing the entire house, the young widow remained inscrutable, seeming profoundly reserved.
Did she like it or not?
Chen the Agent was baffled. He produced a set of keys. "When does Madam plan to move in?"Those in the brokerage business most despise putting all their eggs in one basket. Chen the Agent was indirectly urging the young widow to make a decision—if she wasn't interested, they could part ways without wasting his time, as he had other business to attend to.
The young widow paid no heed and strolled casually to the backyard. She opened the gate to find a narrow alley, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side—a dead end, with a high wall facing them.
The wall stretched as far as the eye could see, clearly part of a wealthy family's estate.
The young widow pointed at the high wall and asked, "What kind of family lives here?"
Oh no!
Chen the Agent's heart sank, though he maintained a calm and cheerful demeanor. "This is Commander Wang's residence. His ancestors were great meritorious officials who followed Emperor Chengzu south to quell the Jingnan Rebellion and were granted a hereditary commander title. It has now been passed down to the fifth generation—a century-old noble family."
The young widow gazed silently at the ivy-covered wall, lost in thought.
Thinking she was worried about being bullied by a powerful neighbor, Chen the Agent quickly added, "Though the Wang family is an aristocratic lineage, they have excellent family traditions and are kind-hearted. The neighbors in Tianshui Alley are also honest and simple. From major incidents like thefts or fires to minor quarrels, nothing has ever happened here. You could say people don't bother locking their doors at night, and no one picks up lost items on the road."
A widow's doorstep often attracts trouble.
For a young and beautiful widow, safety was naturally the top priority.
The young widow finally responded, "So, Tianshui Alley is a quiet place?"
Chen the Agent sensed an opportunity. "Exactly so. I don't usually bring just anyone to see this house—only someone with a temperament as refined as yours, Madam, is suited to live here."
"Quiet is good, but..." The young widow pondered for a moment before saying, "I make my living by running a medical clinic, healing the sick and aiding the world."
So far, aside from a few peddlers carrying shoulder poles, not a single passerby had appeared at the alley's entrance.
With no customers in sight, how could one possibly do business?
He had fallen into a trap! Chen the Agent's mind raced, and relying on his inherited gift for smooth-talking, he said, "Well... good wine needs no bush. With your exceptional healing skills, word will spread from ten to a hundred people, and your business is sure to thrive in the future."
By now, Chen the Agent had nearly given up hope.
But the young widow said, "Alright, I'll take this house. I'll rent it for a year."
Chen the Agent was overjoyed. "Before coming to see the house, I mentioned the price to you, Madam. The rent is fifty taels per year, plus a ten-tael deposit. If the house and furniture remain undamaged by the end of the lease, the ten taels will be fully refunded to you. That makes a total of sixty taels—where are you currently staying? We can go to your residence to sign the contract and exchange the silver and keys in person."
The young widow was straightforward. She immediately produced a fifty-tael banknote and a ten-tael silver ingot, saying, "Let's sign it right here."
According to industry practice, Chen the Agent would receive one-tenth of the rent—a five-tael brokerage fee.
Chen the Agent was both thrilled and regretful: This young widow was clearly in a hurry to find a place to stay. Otherwise, she wouldn't carry such a large sum of money with her and wouldn't have skipped haggling. Perhaps she would have even agreed to a rent of seventy taels!
But what was done was done, and it was too late for regrets. He opened his brush case, took out a brush, and moistened the tip with his tongue. The two signed the contract, and when it came to signing and stamping, the young widow wrote her name: "Wei Caiwei."
This troublesome house had finally been rented out.Chen Jingji, having made a profit, was in high spirits. Flattering the young widow, he swayed his head and recited, "'Gathering the vetch, gathering the vetch, the vetch is sprouting. Saying return, saying return, the year is ending.' This is a famous poem from the Book of Songs. Doctor Wei, you have a fine name."
Wei Caiwei smiled slightly and picked up the keys on the table. "Since I’ve already troubled you, I’ll ask for another favor. My luggage is still at the Three Thoroughfares Inn on West Slanting Street near the Drum Tower. As I’m new here and don’t know where to find a carriage service, I’ll have to trouble you to hire a cart to transport my belongings to—" Wei Caiwei glanced around the house, "home."
This meant she had decided to settle here.
Seeing how generous she was—sixty taels of silver at once—and how young she was to dare open a medical practice on her own, Chen Jingji figured she must be a skilled female physician. Thinking she might become a long-term client, he patted his chest and declared, "Such a small matter, leave it to me. My shop has a mule cart. I’ll help Doctor Wei move her luggage—free of charge."
When Chen Jingji drove the mule cart to the Three Thoroughfares Inn, Wei Caiwei was already waiting by the main road. She held a long object wrapped in red cloth with both hands, surrounded by three large trunks.
Chen Jingji and the inn assistant loaded the trunks onto the cart, while Wei Caiwei continued to hold the red cloth bundle, clearly her most treasured possession.
Arriving at the new residence in Sweetwater Lane, Wei Caiwei unwrapped the red cloth and placed the spirit tablet inside on the incense altar. She took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away nearly nonexistent dust from the tablet.
She lit a glazed lamp, took three incense sticks, and held them to the flame. Murmuring silently, she prayed with devotion.
As Chen Jingji, panting, carried in the first trunk, he noticed the spirit tablet on the altar inscribed with "Spirit of the Deceased Wang Erlang."
When Chen Jingji took his leave, Wei Caiwei opened a trunk and retrieved a small wooden box. "These are heat-relief pills I made myself. As the weather grows hotter, dissolve them in water and drink it like tea—it’s most effective for relieving summer heat."
Chen Jingji accepted the box with repeated thanks.
After seeing off the agent, Wei Caiwei opened a trunk and took out a double-strapped cloth bag to carry on her back. Two small flags were inserted on either side of the bag, one reading "Gynecological Master" and the other "Healing Hands Restoring Health."
She put on a bamboo hat with black gauze hanging from the brim to shield against the sun and the drifting willow catkins. She fastened a copper lock on the door latch and took out an iron ring shaped like a hollow baked cake, with a center that could fit three fingers and three iron beads inside.
She slipped the ring onto her thumb and gently rotated it. The beads inside clattered against each other, the rolling sound instantly filling Sweetwater Lane.
This iron ring was called a Tiger Crutch, a unique noisemaker used by itinerant physicians.
Among street vendors, eight trades—including physicians, charcoal sellers, sesame oil vendors, and fortune-tellers—were forbidden to loudly solicit business. They could only shake their distinctive noisemakers to attract customers, a practice known as the "Eight Silences."
Charcoal sellers used rattle-drums; fortune-tellers struck gongs with wooden sticks, called "informing the gentleman"; sesame oil vendors used wooden clappers; and physicians used the Tiger Crutch.
Wei Caiwei rotated the Tiger Crutch and disappeared into Sweetwater Lane on an early summer morning filled with willow catkins.
The day passed quickly, with willow catkins layering the road like snowfall.
As dusk approached, the iron shoe of a horse’s hoof stepped into Sweetwater Lane. The galloping steed stirred up the catkins on the ground, like a thousand piles of snow.A young man galloped on horseback, with a man lying face-down across the saddle. The man's legs dangled on the opposite side of the horse, his body flopping like a ragged cloth with the horse's movements, nearly thrown off several times before the rider secured him with one hand.
In the Great Ming dynasty, both boys and girls had their heads shaved in childhood, leaving only a lock of hair on the crown tied into a braid, with the forehead and back of the head completely shaved. Hair was only grown out around the age of ten.
This youth had only recently begun growing his hair. His topknot was fastened with a blindingly golden hairpin, while his short bangs and the too-short hairs at the nape of his neck—still unable to be tied into the bun—fluttered freely in the willow-catkin-filled air.
Amid the rhythmic clatter of hooves came the screams of the man sprawled over the horse, "Daxia! Wang Daxia! Second Young Master Wang! Ancestor! You're my ancestor, alright?! I beg you, Ancestor, let me go! I'm so jostled I'm about to vomit up last night's meal!"
The voice belonged to none other than Chen Jingji, who had rented the house to Wei Caiwei that very morning.
Wang Daxia remained unmoved, even giving Chen Jingji's buttocks a sharp slap. "Return the money and evict the tenant!"
Chen Jingji, already emptied of vomit, could only retch dryly. "The contract is signed, and the rent has been paid to your mother. The rice is already cooked—how can it be undone?"
Arriving at the house, they found the lock on the door, realizing the new tenant was not home.
But this did not deter Wang Daxia. Dismounting, he lifted Chen Jingji from the horse with one hand and flung him before the building, cursing, "You wretched agent! You knew full well this building is my mother's dowry, yet you handed the rent to my stepmother. You deserve this beating!"
Chen Jingji tumbled three times on the ground. His brand-new sapphire-blue round-collared robe, worn specially to seal the rental deal that day, was now smeared with dust, willow catkins, and creases—resembling a crumpled pickled mustard green pulled straight from a jar. He groaned, clutching his waist as he stood, and eyed the lock on the brass door ring, deciding to buy time.
"My dear ancestor, the tenant is a traveling physician, out treating patients. Who knows when she'll return? We can't just wait here idle. Let's come back first thing tomorrow."
Though he said this, Chen Jingji had already resolved to report to Wang Commander that evening, hoping the commander would discipline this young profligate and prevent him from harassing the tenant.
Wang Daxia snorted coldly, produced a new lock, fastened it to the door ring, and snapped it shut. "I have matters to attend to—no time to wait around. I, Wang Daxia, have always been the one waited for, never the one waiting."
Now two locks hung from the door ring. The female tenant would be unable to enter upon her return and would have no choice but to seek him out.
Chen Jingji scrambled over and clung to Wang Daxia's leg. "This must not happen! If the tenant can't return home, she'll surely be furious."
If the tenant demanded a refund and cancellation, Chen Jingji would have to disgorge the five taels of commission he'd already pocketed, rendering all his efforts vain.
Wang Daxia kicked him away, tucked the key into his robe, remounted, and cracked his whip. "Precisely so she'll be discouraged and quickly vacate the place."
Sprawled on the catkin-covered ground, Chen Jingji cried out, "I've already given the rent to your mo—stepmother! How can the lease be canceled now?"
Wang Daxia urged his horse forward, whip in hand, not once looking back. "None of my damn business!"
OpenNovel