Chapter 17
"Don’t tell Second Brother about this, Sister A Yu…"
Before Wen Yu could speak, Xiao Li, standing nearby, interjected, "Of course it’s useless. I asked you to gather information on troop movements and war updates, but you came back with nonsense about whether that governor Pei Song is looking for beauties. What does that have to do with our merchant work?"
Hou Xiao’an scratched his head sheepishly upon hearing this. "Well, it does seem pretty useless—unless Yongzhou also submits to Pei Song. Then at least we could warn Sister A Yu not to wear her veil when going out anymore."
He thought he was making a joke, but Wen Yu’s fingers, hidden in her sleeves, had clenched until they turned white.
Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, she forced a gentle smile onto her face, as if her earlier pallor had been a mere illusion, and said, "Then it’s still useful. Thank you for your trouble, Little Brother Hou."
As she spoke, she reached to take out two coins to give him.
Hou Xiao’an hastily waved his hands. "I was just joking! This isn’t news that can bring any profit—no need to pay me, Sister A Yu."
Xiao Li, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, had clearly observed the fleeting changes in Wen Yu’s expression. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Xiao Huiniang, upon hearing that other prefectures were inspecting veiled women, said, "A Yu, remember to apply the medicine I gave you morning and night. Once the rash marks on your face fade, you won’t need to cover up when you go out."
Wen Yu agreed, but inwardly she knew she absolutely could not restore her appearance anytime soon—it would only invite disaster.
Pei Song commanded 200,000 troops and was among the first governors to rebel. As the most powerful rebel force at present, it was inevitable that some prefectures would yield to his influence and pledge allegiance.
She and her loyal followers had disguised themselves as a merchant caravan heading to Southern Chen, both to avoid detection and evade pursuers, and to prevent falling into the hands of rebellious officials who might use her as a bargaining chip to defect to Pei Song.
Her loyal followers had yet to find her, and it was uncertain how long Yongzhou could hold out.
If Yongzhou also fell under Pei Song’s control, morale in Fengyang would plummet further, and her journey to Southern Chen would become even more perilous.
She needed to contact her followers as soon as possible—but she had no idea how to get a message out…
As she pondered this, she suddenly heard Hou Xiao’an exclaim, "Huh?" He then picked up a volume of the Romance from the bench by the fire pit and looked at Xiao Li. "Second Brother, why did you dig out this Chronicles of the States?"
Xiao Li glanced over and said, "To use as kindling."
Hou Xiao’an quickly brushed off the dust and hugged it protectively. "If you don’t want it, give it to me! I thought you were dealing with some trouble!"
Wen Yu was puzzled, unable to see how this volume of stories could be connected to that rogue having troubles.
But that rogue did seem to be in a bad mood last night, didn’t he?
Xiao Li distributed the buns Hou Xiao’an had bought among them, cutting off further chatter.
After a simple breakfast, Xiao Huiniang, who had arranged for several widows to come over for embroidery work, stayed home.
As Wen Yu followed Hou Xiao’an out, she asked him, "Does your Second Brother enjoy reading?"
Hou Xiao’an let out an "Ah," scratching his head as he replied, "You could say that. But Second Brother can’t read—he always has me read to him."
A flicker of surprise crossed Wen Yu’s eyes. "You can read?"Hou Xiao'an grinned and said, "Not at all. I noticed Second Brother really enjoys listening to 'Tales of the States,' but he's usually too busy to visit Old Ge. So whenever I have free time, I go listen to Old Ge's storytelling and memorize all the stories from 'Tales of the States.' Then when Second Brother wants to hear them, I can retell them for him! That book of his was obtained earlier when collecting debts from a scholar who had a gambling habit."
Wen Yu now realized the rogue actually had a hobby of listening to storytelling. So when he asked her to read aloud last night, was it because he wanted to hear some storytelling?
She asked in confusion, "Then why did you say your Second Brother was troubled by something?"
Hou Xiao'an, who had now let down his guard around Wen Yu, answered truthfully, "Whenever Second Brother is in a bad mood, he likes to listen to people narrate 'Tales of the States.'"
A strange expression crossed Wen Yu's face. "He has such refined tastes?"
Hou Xiao'an interlocked his fingers behind his head as they walked. "Second Brother says listening to these stories when he's upset helps calm his mind."
Wen Yu truly hadn't expected that the rogue, who appeared rough and uncouth, would possess such insight and temperament.
She murmured softly, "What a pity."
With such understanding, if he had been taught poetry and literature from childhood like the sons of aristocratic families, he might have become a pillar of the state.
But now, that rogue could only flaunt his fists in these common streets.
Hou Xiao'an didn't catch her words. "What?"
Wen Yu lowered her long lashes. "Nothing."
She changed the subject. "After we sell the writing brushes and ink, take me to see the storytelling stall too."
Since Yongzhou was very close to those prefectures that had surrendered to Pei Song, they couldn't stay long. If she couldn't contact her trusted followers through the hidden emblem on the embroidered handkerchief for now, she needed to try whether she could convey messages to them through storybooks and storytelling.
Hou Xiao'an thought she had developed an interest in storytelling too and said happily, "Great! If we're lucky, we might even catch a segment before heading home!"
When they reached the stationery shop, since the embroidery pattern given by the Xu family was indeed intricate, Wen Yu bought an extremely fine wolf-hair brush for outlining. The shopkeeper, seeing her purchase that brush, guessed she intended it for painting and enthusiastically brought out a goat-hair brush as well, saying if she bought the set, he'd throw in some xuan paper.
Wen Yu initially meant to decline politely, but then reconsidered—if she found time to paint a few orchid or ink bamboo paintings to sell for money, it would at least provide some income.
That rogue had already guessed she was literate. If she could paint too, she should be able to explain it away. At most, he might suspect her former family was fairly well-off.
She had previously hidden her talents for fear of attracting unwanted attention and trouble. But after these past few days with Mother Xiao and her son, she realized neither of them were malicious people, so she wasn't as guarded as before.
Currently, unable to contact her trusted followers, her top priority was naturally to find ways to earn more silver for security.
She bought both brushes. When the shopkeeper cheerfully wrapped the paper and ink together and handed it to them, Hou Xiao'an asked with evident pain, "These wooden sticks as thick as chopsticks with some hair attached cost over a hundred coppers? If I knew how to make brushes, I'd set up a stall and sell them myself!"
The shopkeeper laughed. "Young man, that's not the way to see it. All trades are worthless except scholarship. Since it's one of the Four Treasures of the Study, its price reflects its value."
Hou Xiao'an said quite indifferently, "Well, it's not something ordinary families like ours can afford anyway."The shopkeeper laughed again: "If a family manages to produce a scholar who passes the imperial exams and enters officialdom, wouldn't that bring blessings for three generations?"
Wen Yu's hand paused slightly as she received the brush case, suppressing the ripples of emotion rising in her heart.
She had always heard people say that common folks were crude and ignorant, unfamiliar with poetry and literature, unable to distinguish great principles—like summer insects, mediocre and busy, living their entire lives without knowing what they were striving for.
But after truly experiencing life among the people, she realized: when even basic food and clothing are hard to secure, how can one speak of knowing poetry or discerning great principles?
Writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones are luxuries for ordinary families, let alone school tuition.
The people's illiteracy shouldn't be their shame—it should be the shame of those sitting high in court halls.
Never before had Wen Yu so urgently wished for the rebels to be swiftly executed.
Only when the world was stabilized and her father ascended the throne could benevolent governance be widely implemented among the people.
Without massive military expenditures, the national treasury might not be so strained. Then taxes and corvée labor could be reduced, giving common folks a chance to catch their breath and live their lives properly.
When the national treasury became more sufficient, if the court allocated funds to establish county schools everywhere, waiving tuition and vigorously promoting imperial examinations, couldn't this carve out a path to success for impoverished scholars?
But thinking about this while the nation remained fragmented felt impossibly distant.
Nowadays, even mountain bandits could raise flags and declare themselves kings or emperors, with various powerful figures fighting over territories. The Great Liang's realm was already shattered—what ordinary people sought was simply survival.
Carrying these heavy thoughts, Wen Yu followed Hou Xiao'an to Old Ge's storytelling stall, where they saw a large crowd gathered from afar.
Hou Xiao'an wondered aloud: "What did Old Ge talk about today to attract such a crowd?"
Using his small stature to advantage, he pushed forward vigorously: "Make way! Make way!"
As Wen Yu followed Hou Xiao'an through the crowd, she discovered the storyteller wasn't Old Ge, but a shifty-eyed rogue dressed in coarse short clothing.
The rogue had one foot on a long bench and the other on the table, proclaiming loudly to the audience: "Everyone knows Lan Hui, the top courtesan from Drunken Red Chamber who was famous throughout Yongzhou City twenty years ago, right?"
"Desperate to latch onto a wealthy merchant—hey, she even bore him a son, but still couldn't secure her position!"
Spreading his hands, his expression full of contempt and schadenfreude: "Later, relying on her fading charms, she tried to become a concubine in the He family. Who in Yongzhou City didn't know Old Master He was henpecked? When the news reached Madame He's ears, she stormed into Drunken Red Chamber with her servants, slapped the whore back and forth until her face swelled like a pig's head, then ordered her clothes torn off to humiliate her publicly with the servants!"
The rogue's rat-like eyes gleamed with excitement at this point: "The whore's son protected his mother, grabbed a fruit-cutting knife, and stabbed a servant in the chest. A murder case ensued—he got seven years of hard labor. After release, with nowhere to go, he started collecting debts at the gambling house to survive. Now he's made it big, putting on airs, bought property in your South Third Lane, trying to play the rich master..."
The crowd buzzed with discussion.
"Hey, served seven years, works at the gambling house, lives in our South Third Lane—that must be that Xiao fellow, right?""The Xiao family mother and son have lived on this street for several years. Apart from her son not engaging in a proper livelihood—collecting debts for the gambling house and mingling with ruffians and idlers—the woman usually keeps to herself and rarely appears in public. She doesn’t seem like someone who came from a place of ill repute..."
"Isn’t it precisely those who keep to themselves who are suspicious? With the courtyard gate closed, who knows what goes on inside?"
...
Wen Yu frowned upon hearing these discussions.
It was only after piecing together what that girl had said the other day that she realized the "son of a whore" the ruffian mentioned seemed to refer to Xiao Li.
But Xiao Huiniang... had she really once been the top courtesan at the Drunken Red Chamber?
She had heard Chen Lai Zi curse Xiao Li before, calling him a "bastard born of a whore." At the time, she had dismissed it as foul language, never imagining that Xiao Huiniang truly had a background in the world of pleasure.
No wonder Xiao Huiniang had relented and agreed to take her in when Chen Lai Zi threatened to sell her into a brothel if she didn’t stay.
Wen Yu felt deeply grateful for Xiao Huiniang’s kindness. After spending many days with her, she knew well that Xiao Huiniang was nothing like the mercenary person the ruffians made her out to be.
These troublemakers were deliberately spreading this past story, reopening old wounds, clearly targeting Xiao Huiniang and her son with the intent to smear their reputation.
At this thought, Wen Yu was about to shout at them to stop.
"Go fuck your mother!"
Unexpectedly, Hou Xiao'an suddenly roared, hurled a basket to cover the ruffian’s head, then charged over and kicked him hard in the abdomen, sending him tumbling off the bench.
His eyes red with rage, he pinned the ruffian down and began throwing punches wildly. "You damned bastard! How dare you slander my aunt and second brother? I’ll kill you!"
But the ruffian clearly hadn’t come alone to stir trouble. Several accomplices hidden in the crowd rushed forward to restrain Hou Xiao'an.
Seeing they were outnumbered, Wen Yu urgently called out, "Xiao'an, run! They have backup!"
But it was too late.
One of the ruffians grabbed Hou Xiao'an by the arm, flung him backward, and landed a punch on his face.
His lip split and bleeding, Hou Xiao'an didn’t hesitate to strike back with a punch of his own. Spitting out blood, he snarled, "Come on! I’m not afraid of you even if there are more of you!"
He fought with a desperate, life-risking ferocity, but he was just a scrawny youth, and it was impossible to fend off so many attackers. Soon, he was pinned to the ground, beaten and kicked mercilessly.
Wen Yu’s heart felt as if scalded with boiling oil. "Stop! What kind of skill is it to gang up on a child?" she shouted.
But no one listened.
She turned to the onlookers for help. "Everyone, please help pull them apart! If this continues, someone will die!"
Though the crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle, they kept their distance, afraid of getting caught up in the ruffians’ violence. None stepped forward to intervene.
Wen Yu watched in horror as blood streamed from Hou Xiao'an’s nose and mouth. Desperate, she yelled, "The constables are coming! Run!"
The area was packed with onlookers, and at the sudden cry of "constables," everyone feared getting into trouble and scattered like frightened birds.
Hearing the commotion and seeing the crowd disperse, the ruffians believed the authorities had arrived and hastily abandoned Hou Xiao'an to flee.
Only then did Wen Yu rush over to help Hou Xiao'an. "Xiao'an, how are you?" she asked anxiously.
Hou Xiao'an lay sprawled on the ground, his face smeared with blood, barely able to move. Yet his eyes still burned with ferocity. "...Dare to speak ill of Second Brother... I’ll kill them..."Wen Yu couldn't understand why the young man was being so stubborn. "There were too many of them," she said. "You shouldn't have charged in like that..."
She slung one of Hou Xiao'an's arms over her shoulder and helped him up, her voice filled with pity. "You're badly hurt. Let me take you to see a doctor first."
Leaning entirely on Wen Yu for support, Hou Xiao'an coughed weakly from his thin chest. Wiping away the nosebleed that still flowed, he muttered, "Sister A Yu, please don't tell Second Brother about this."
Author's Note:
Dinner was served late today, so I'm sending red packets to all my dear readers for this chapter~
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