An Jiu hid within the government office, waiting until all the guards' attention was drawn by Hua Rongjian before quietly slipping out from the other side.
She still hadn't decided whether to hand over the Mei family head's jade pendant, so for the time being, she avoided seeking out Mei Zhengjing. Instead, she disguised herself and wandered around the city.
The banks of the Bianjing River were lined with willow trees. In spring, painted boats glided along the waterway, accompanied by the melodious sounds of music, creating a lively atmosphere. After wandering for a while, An Jiu discovered that some families in the impoverished downstream area of the main river had set up stalls along the shore, catering to the patrons on the boats. Most of them sold fresh flowers. Since it was still early spring, not many blossoms had emerged, making these early blooms a rare commodity—often used by young gentlemen to court the favor of courtesans in the pleasure houses.
After watching the bustling scene for a while, An Jiu turned and followed a smaller tributary.
This area was too narrow for the larger painted boats to enter. The houses on either side were dilapidated, and there was no scenery worth admiring, making it much quieter.
After walking a short distance, An Jiu spotted a stall ahead selling wontons. The vendor, dressed in a faded robe, sat beneath a willow tree, fishing. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled light on his face, making it difficult to discern his features at first glance. The man's serene composure in such harsh conditions made An Jiu pause.
She stood at a distance for a moment before approaching and sitting on a low stool.
Hearing the movement, the man tilted his head slightly, as if testing the air. "A customer for a meal?"
An Jiu casually picked up a book lying on the table. "A bowl of wontons."
The man smiled brightly. "Please wait a moment, honored guest."
He set down his makeshift fishing rod, securing it with a stone, then slowly turned and walked to the stove.
An Jiu flipped through a few pages of the book but found the contents incomprehensible, so she set it aside and studied the young man instead. When she met his gaze, she realized his eyes lacked focus—he was blind. Upon closer inspection, she saw that he was only in his early twenties, with a plain but clean and fair complexion. His scholarly demeanor made him pleasant to look at.
The blind youth washed his hands, then lifted a clean cloth to reveal about twenty pre-made wontons. The light fell on his face, accentuating his tranquil expression.
Once the wontons were in the pot, their aroma quickly filled the air.
Before long, the young man brought a bowl over and placed it on the table in front of An Jiu. "Please enjoy, honored guest."
An Jiu scooped up a wonton and took a bite. The fragrance of wild greens mixed with pork instantly filled her mouth. Though the flavor wasn't particularly rich, the light and refreshing taste was satisfying.
As she ate, she heard the young man's stomach growl from across the table.
He smiled sheepishly, embarrassed.
An Jiu paused for a moment, then devoured the rest of the bowl like a whirlwind. "How much?"
"Seven coppers," the young man replied, then added earnestly, as if afraid she might find it expensive, "There's quite a bit of pork in them."
An Jiu rummaged in her pouch, pulled out a small silver ingot, and pressed it into his hand before standing to leave.
She went to the market, bought a bag of flour and a slab of pork, then returned to the riverside wonton stall and placed the items on the table. "These are for you. I'll come back to eat again in a few days."
The blind youth was still stunned that a single bowl of wontons had earned him a silver ingot and didn't react immediately.
After a moment of silence, he called out urgently, "May I ask your name, kind benefactor?"
Only the rustling of willow leaves in the river breeze answered him.He groped his way to the table, feeling the noodles and meat, murmuring, "Actually, the wontons only had lard in them..."
The wontons were worth at most two or three coins. If he hadn't been truly desperate, he wouldn't have been so unscrupulous as to charge seven coins. The first time he did something dishonest, he ended up receiving a generous tip from a kind-hearted person, which filled him with guilt.
"I know."
An Jiu suddenly spoke, startling the young man. "Benefactor, you're still here?"
"Mm." After holding her breath, even eighth or ninth-rank martial arts masters would find it hard to detect her presence, let alone a blind man with no martial arts skills.
"I deceived you, Benefactor. I truly don't deserve these gifts." The young man took out the silver and placed it on the table, standing up to bow respectfully.
"Keep it," An Jiu said. "It's fine if you're foolish yourself, but don't assume others are as foolish as you. Do you think no one else has ever eaten pork? Or that your lies were flawless?"
The young man's face flushed with shame, his empty gaze seeming to look past An Jiu into the distance. "Then why did you still..."
"I felt like it." An Jiu had actually just wanted a quiet place to think things through, not out of any particular generosity. "What's your name?"
"My surname is Wu, styled Lingyuan," the blind young man replied.
"You've studied?" An Jiu was trying to act more normal, so she attempted to chat with him.
Her former psychologist had said she needed to interact with people, to be exposed to more positive, sunny individuals and things. She thought Hua Rongjian was sunny, but ninety-nine out of a hundred things he said were nonsense, making this unfamiliar blind man before her a better conversation partner.
An Jiu was beginning to understand why Chu Dingjiang often sought her out to share his thoughts. When negative emotions built up inside a person for too long, they needed release. People like them would naturally choose someone or something easy to handle to confide in or vent to.
"I studied from childhood and even took the imperial exams once, but I failed," Wu Lingyuan said, feeling for the scripture on the table and opening it on his lap. "After failing, my family suffered misfortune after misfortune, and my eyes became ill. Now I can't even read anymore. I once considered becoming a monk, but the abbot said my worldly ties weren't severed. He gave me this scripture, telling me to reflect on the Buddhist verses when I had nothing to do. He said that though my eyes are blind, my heart can still be clear."
"But you're clearly starving," An Jiu said, her gaze falling on the open scripture. "Why do you seem so at ease? Because of this book?"
Wu Lingyuan replied calmly, "I tried to find work, but without any scholarly rank or a strong physique, no one would hire me. Now, the only thing I have in abundance—that I can freely squander—is time. Why not be at ease?"
"Being this at ease—do you feel happy every day?" An Jiu asked.
Wu Lingyuan shook his head. "Benefactor, you jest. I'm still young, with the potential to fulfill my ambitions. Yet my life ended before it even began. Being at ease is merely a choice born of helplessness."
Listening to his words, An Jiu fell into deep thought. The first thing that occurred to her was—she hadn't wasted her money on the noodles and meat.
She felt her first attempt at initiating a conversation with someone had been quite successful.
An ordinary girl wouldn't come to such a secluded place for no reason, giving away money and food. Wu Lingyuan didn't pry, only asking, "Benefactor, are you troubled by something?"
An Jiu thought Wu Lingyuan was quite good at reflecting on life, so she said, "For some reason, I rarely encounter happy things.""It must be due to one's state of mind." Wu Lingyuan indeed didn't disappoint her. "After failing the imperial examinations and becoming blind, one could say my entire life changed because of it. If I let this become a mental knot, there would be no more happiness from then on."
An Jiu thought about how the course of her own life had also been altered by one person and one event. She knew this was her own mental knot, yet didn't know how to untie it. "Can you forget?" (To be continued...)
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