Hua Rongjian flicked the servant's forehead with his fingers, tossed the wine jar into the river, and strolled along the bank with his hands clasped behind his back.
After leaving, An Jiu didn’t hurry back to the palace. Instead, she wandered the streets alone for a while.
The lanterns had just been lit.
The Song Dynasty had a curfew, but shops on two streets were allowed to stay open until midnight. These streets were mostly lined with courtesans and private brothels, while other shops thrived on the spillover business.
The private brothels that could operate on these streets were backed by powerful forces, and the girls inside were all bought from impoverished families.
An Jiu watched the gaudily dressed girls standing upstairs, sweetly calling out to customers, her thoughts drifting far away. When she first arrived, the body she now inhabited had just escaped from a brothel and was still evading capture. Now, nearly three years had passed without her realizing it, and her hands were stained with more blood. Yet she could clearly feel that her life was different from before. In her long-sealed world, she was no longer alone.
Even walking the streets by herself now, her heart felt fuller, no longer burdened by the sense of being abandoned by the world.
Dark clouds obscured the moon, and within half an hour, raindrops began to fall sporadically from the sky.
Many people on the street quickly opened their folding umbrellas. An Jiu, who had initially quickened her pace, slowed down again and strolled leisurely under her umbrella.
Though there were many umbrellas, only the one in her hand was deadly.
With the cover of the rain, An Jiu moved even more calmly. Noticing a bustling crowd in front of a shop not far ahead, she curiously approached.
It turned out the shopkeeper, seeing the rain, had placed their portable folding umbrellas under the eaves for sale at the usual price, as if not trying to profit from the rain but genuinely offering convenience.
An Jiu looked up and saw the signboard reading "Zhu’s House of Ingenuity." A faint smile touched her lips as she closed her umbrella and stepped inside.
The shop assistant was sharp-eyed. Noticing that An Jiu’s folding umbrella was far more exquisite than those sold in the shop, he assumed she was a friend of the proprietor and greeted her with extra enthusiasm. "What might the young master be looking for today?"
An Jiu wasted no words. "I’m looking for Zhu Pianxian."
Seeing her icy expression, the assistant didn’t dare to chat further and hurriedly said, "Please wait here for a moment, sir. I’ll have someone inform her right away."
An Jiu didn’t sit as suggested but stood rigidly in the middle of the room, exuding a faint, chilling aura. The water dripping from her umbrella onto the wooden floor went unmentioned by anyone.
Soon, a voluptuous woman came out to greet her.
The first time Zhu Pianxian saw An Jiu, she had been wearing this Human Skin Mask, so she recognized her at a glance and approached with familiarity. "Ah, dear brother, what brings you to visit your sister? Look at you, all damp. Come with me to the back for some tea."
An Jiu followed her into the backyard without a word. Only then did she speak. "Staying on this street, you’ve picked up the habits of those girls."
Listening to that earlier greeting, anyone would think they’d walked into the wrong place!
Zhu Pianxian spat out, "We haven’t seen each other in so long, and you skip the pleasantries entirely. Damn it, I was born to clash with you!"
Hearing this, An Jiu couldn’t help but study her more closely. She hadn’t been like this before—always putting on a delicate act, addressing herself as "this humble one."
Zhu Pianxian had been so startled by An Jiu’s sudden appearance that she forgot her act. Hurriedly recovering, she raised her sleeve to half-cover her mouth and nose, simpering, "This humble one was simply overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing an old friend."Since she wanted to exchange pleasantries, An Jiu obliged with a casual remark, "You've gained weight."
Zhu Pianxian's eye twitched. Forgetting to cover her face, she nervously touched her plump cheeks, "Where exactly?"
An Jiu slowly pointed to her face, neck, chest, and waist, "The good news is, you've gained in all the right places."
The literati of the Song Dynasty didn't appreciate Zhu Pianxian's voluptuous figure. They believed a woman's form should be as slender as an orchid, her face as delicate and pure as a pear blossom, with the ethereal grace of a lotus rising from the mud.
"Your very presence makes life feel less beautiful!" Zhu Pianxian fluttered her wide sleeves. With Chu Dingjiang not around to watch, she couldn't be bothered to maintain her facade in front of An Jiu.
An Jiu actually had some fondness for people like Zhu Pianxian. Though occasionally affected and insincere, she was generally straightforward and positive.
"Lord Chu sent me out to make money for him—for others, I mean. Just thinking about all that silver flowing into someone else's pockets makes my heart ache." Seeing An Jiu's silence, Zhu Pianxian began rambling, "But then again, doing business is far more interesting than being cooped up inside. Besides, someone was willing to provide the capital to secure this building in the capital."
Small-scale ventures didn't interest Zhu Pianxian, though she didn't harbor any grand ambitions either. She simply found immense satisfaction in seeing large sums of money rolling in.
The room was heavy with fragrance, exuding an air of opulence. While An Jiu's aesthetic sense was average at best, she couldn't bring herself to admire Zhu Pianxian's taste.
Zhu Pianxian invited her to sit and had tea served. "What brings you here today?"
Originally, Chu Dingjiang had brought Zhu Pianxian to the capital mainly to keep An Jiu company. She assumed An Jiu had come to seek amusement, hence her initial tone. Zhu Pianxian was a woman with a strong sense of self-deprecation and remarkable boldness. Regardless of societal expectations, she lived as she pleased in private. While she put on superficial airs, she did so quite halfheartedly.
"Just passing by." The overpowering scent in the room made it impossible for An Jiu to drink the tea. "You managed to convince Lou Xiaowu to partner with you?"
In another life, Lou Xiaowu would have been the quintessential academic—someone who wished all mundane matters in the world would leave her alone so she could immerse herself in her research. She considered even eating a waste of time, let alone venturing into business to make money.
"It was both difficult and surprisingly easy," Zhu Pianxian said sagely, sipping her tea. "Her experiments aren't cheap, and the Lou family's savings could never sustain her extravagance. After partnering with me, she only needs to ask, and I'll scour the ends of the earth to get what she wants. I handle all the trivialities for her, and I'm no skinflint merchant. Why wouldn't she agree?"
Zhu Pianxian was indeed resourceful. She attended to Lou Xiaowu's needs more diligently than one would worship a bodhisattva, even considering what foods were both delicious and time-saving. Moreover, Lou Xiaowu didn't make frequent requests. Beyond the custom-made intricate mechanisms, for ordinary gadgets, Zhu Pianxian could exploit every possible revenue stream from just one item, ensuring she wouldn't bother Lou Xiaowu again until the profits were nearly exhausted.Beyond that, the things Zhu Pianxian requested were so peculiar and intricate that Lou Xiaowu found them quite challenging. Sometimes when clients made demands that Lou Xiaowu found uninteresting, she would provoke them with words.
Lou Xiaowu, whose emotional intelligence was even lower than An Jiu's, was clearly outmatched. After just half a month of working with Zhu Pianxian, she already felt she couldn't do without her.
In short, ever since Zhu Pianxian came along, Lou Xiaowu ate with more appetite, lived without worries, and worked with greater enthusiasm.
Seeing Zhu Pianxian's capabilities, An Jiu thought to herself, "My judgment was indeed spot-on."
Zhu Pianxian set down her teacup, leaned forward slightly, and adopted a serious expression.
An Jiu thought she was about to say something extremely important, but instead heard her ask, "Have I really gotten fat?"
An Jiu paused briefly, then nodded firmly. To ensure Zhu Pianxian believed her, she elaborated, "Your facial features were already small to begin with, and your face was big. Before, you could just barely pass as a Tang dynasty beauty. Now your face is a whole size bigger than before—it looks like a pile of flesh has squeezed your eyes, mouth, and nose all together."
Zhu Pianxian stared at her blankly.
An Jiu added insult to injury, "Look, you used to have a double chin—now it's a triple chin..."
"Xiao Wu is much more likable than you!" Zhu Pianxian rolled her eyes and leaned back worriedly. Sheng Changying, being the epitome of a scholarly gentleman, would probably dislike fat women, wouldn't he?
After dwelling on this thought, Zhu Pianxian shot An Jiu a sidelong glance.
An Jiu and Lou Xiaowu were of the same type—both specialized in one area while being practically idiots in all others. However, their personalities were completely different. When Lou Xiaowu got angry, she would just glare with her big, watery almond eyes, but the one before her now was far more troublesome!
Zhu Pianxian truly didn't know how to handle An Jiu. Flattering her wouldn't elicit any pleasant words, but not flattering her seemed risky too—she wasn't someone Zhu Pianxian could afford to offend.
"Aren't you close with Mo Sigui?" An Jiu said, noticing Zhu Pianxian's troubled expression. "Why not ask him to prepare some weight-loss Medicine for you?"
Zhu Pianxian's eyes lit up with joy. "Well, well—it's rare for you to say something likable for once!" (To be continued...)
PS: I think the more unfortunate events we encounter, the more we shouldn't indulge in sorrow. There are too many unpleasant things in life—those who abandon themselves to grief and wallow in it are fools. Enough is enough. Pick yourself up, tidy up, and start anew. We must cultivate the ability to cheer ourselves up. Relying on others for comfort will never be as reliable as relying on ourselves, after all, no one understands us better than we do. To truly cherish ourselves, the first lesson is to learn resilience. Just some random thoughts to share with you all.
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