After tiptoeing to get a clear look at the figures in the painting, Changning’s grape-bright eyes filled with delight. She pointed at the little figure of herself in the painting with her chubby finger, “There’s Ningniang! Ningniang likes this!”

Before Fan Changyu could say anything, Xie Zheng asked the scholar, “How much for the painting?”

The scholar froze for a moment before realizing that this strikingly handsome man who looked so difficult to approach was asking him the price. He hurriedly said, “No charge, no charge. Consider it a gift from Xiaosheng to Gongzi and Furen.”

Fan Changyu was still embarrassed by what the scholar had said earlier, though she had to admit the painting was quite good. Seeing that he absolutely refused to name a price, she thought for a moment, then took one of the two smaller pieces of cured meat she had originally intended to give Head Constable Wang and handed it to the scholar. “This piece of cured meat is for you. Consider it a New Year’s gift as well.”

Then, with a stern expression, she pointed at Changning, “This is my younger sister.”

Receiving an entire piece of cured meat was an unexpected delight for the scholar, and naturally, the pretty words came pouring out, “It was Xiaosheng who was simply too blind to recognize her. Then allow me to wish Gongzi and Furen a prosperous new year, may you be blessed with a pair of dragon-and-phoenix twins, and enjoy the happiness of having both sons and daughters gathered around your knees.”

Fan Changyu: “……”

She had half a mind to explain things to the scholar, but there seemed little point in telling an unrelated stranger that she and Yan Zheng were only pretending to be husband and wife.

Even after they had left the scholar’s stall with the painting tucked into a roll, Fan Changyu still felt awkward about the whole thing. Every now and then, she glanced sideways at Xie Zheng walking beside her with the rolled-up painting in hand.

Seeing that his expression remained perfectly normal, the awkwardness in her heart eased a little.

They returned to the spot where they had been selling their wares earlier. After packing everything up, they planned to go to the bookshop to buy some paper and ink. The owner of a nearby New Year goods stall had presumably noticed that Fan Changyu had sold more than twenty pieces of cured meat in less than an hour. Envious of such brisk business, he waddled after them on his portly frame, “Xiao Niangzi, wait!”

小娘子 (xiǎo niángzi) — Literally, it means “young lady.” A polite but familiar way of addressing a young woman, particularly one who is unmarried or of relatively modest social standing.

Fan Changyu turned at the sound of the voice and saw the fat shopkeeper from the New Year goods stall approaching with a smile plastered across his face, “Will Xiao Niangzi be coming back here tomorrow to sell cured meat?”

Tomorrow would be the second day of the New Year. Fan Changyu not only had to open her own pork shop, but also supply the braised meats for Yixiang Restaurant. She probably wouldn’t have time to come back here and sell cured meat, so she shook her head, “I don’t think I’ll have time to come back for the next few days.”

The fat shopkeeper beamed. “Then Xiao Lao’er would like to do a little business with Xiao Niangzi. If Xiao Niangzi still have cured meat at home, just bring it all over and sell it here at my New Year goods stall. Once it’s sold, we’ll split the proceeds sixty-forty—you take six, and Xiao Lao’er takes four. What does Xiao Niangzi say?”

Fan Changyu thought about it. Wasn’t this exactly what Proprietor Yu had called catching a white wolf empty-handed? He didn’t have to put up a single copper, yet she would have to bring over her own cured meat, and once it sold, he would still get a share.

空手套白狼 (kōngshǒu tào báiláng) — Literally, “to catch a white wolf with bare hands.” It means obtaining something valuable without putting in any capital or effort of one’s own—in other words, making a profit at someone else’s expense.

Unlike fresh meat, cured meat could be hung somewhere cool and well-ventilated at home and kept for a year or even longer without any trouble. Naturally, it also sold for considerably more than fresh meat.

During the New Year holiday, Fan Changyu was asking sixty-five wen per jin. Even if customers haggled, the price could only be brought down to somewhere between sixty and sixty-five wen.

Under the fat shopkeeper’s proposed sixty-forty split, even if every jin sold for sixty-five wen, Fan Changyu would only get thirty-nine wen per jin. She’d be better off selling it herself at her own shop.

Fan Changyu replied, “I don’t want to split the proceeds. If you really intend to buy my cured meat, we can settle the accounts directly and sell it by the jin.”

The fat shopkeeper chuckled. “Xiao Niangzi, one look at you and I can tell you’re not much of a businesswoman.”

Fan Changyu was about to respond when Xie Zheng suddenly spoke from beside her, “We can sell it on commission.”

Both Fan Changyu and the fat shopkeeper turned to look at him. Fan Changyu wore a thoroughly bewildered expression, while the fat shopkeeper’s eyes narrowed into slits with delight. “This young brother looks like he knows how to do business, certainly know how to think ahead—”

Before he could finish, Xie Zheng gave him a cool glance, “Twenty-eighty.”

The smile froze on the fat shopkeeper’s face, “Xiao Xiongdi, that’s a bit too much of a lion’s share.”

Fan Changyu calculated in her head how much she would actually get from an eighty-twenty split.

At sixty-five wen a jin, she would get fifty-two wen. Even at sixty wen a jin, she would still get forty-eight wen.

But Fan Changyu truly had no intention of taking the deal, “What’s there to split? We can just sell it by the jin and make a clean, one-time transaction. The wholesale price for cured meat on the market is around fifty wen a jin anyway. I’d have to deliver all the meat before seeing a single copper, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that. Come on, let’s go to the bookshop first and buy your paper and ink. After that, we still have to go to Head Constable Wang’s house to pay our New Year respects.”

She took Changning by the hand and was about to leave when the fat shopkeeper hurriedly called after them, “Eighty-twenty it is, then.”

He gave a somewhat helpless smile, “Xiao Niangzi and Xiao Xiongdi really know how to singing the red and white faces. I only wanted to make this deal with you because I saw how beautifully smoked the cured meat you sold today was. It’s clearly top-quality stuff.”

红白脸 (chàng hóng bái liǎn) — Literally, “singing the red and white faces.” Singing the red face means to play the hero, while singing the white face means to play the villain. This is equiavlent of english's playing the “good cop and bad cop”: one person takes the accommodating, friendly role while another takes the hard-line role during negotiations.

As he spoke, he ushered the three of them into the New Year goods shop, “Let’s draw up a contract. Once that’s done, Xiao Niangzi can bring the meat over to me.”

When Fan Changyu exchanged a look with Xie Zheng, she still seemed a little dazed, as though she hadn’t expected the deal to actually go through just like that.

Xie Zheng’s expression remained as calm as ever, “Go sign the contract.”

The fat shopkeeper was clearly no stranger to this sort of catching a white wolf with bare hands business. He quickly drafted the contract himself, then handed it to Fan Changyu to inspect.

Fan Changyu still didn’t dare take such a thing lightly. She read through it word for word before handing it to Xie Zheng for a second look, “See if it’s all right.”

Only after Xie Zheng nodded did she take up the brush and sign her name in one bold stroke.

The fat shopkeeper paid her one tael of silver as a deposit, then cheerfully saw the three of them out.

As Fan Changyu walked along the road, she muttered to Xie Zheng, “I have to get the meat shop opened tomorrow morning, and I also have to deliver the braised meat to Yixiang Restaurant. I’m afraid I won’t be able to bring the cured meat over until the afternoon.”

“If you’re too busy to spare the time, I can hire a cart and have it delivered for you.”

Fan Changyu felt a little awkward, “Then should I pay you for the work?”

Xie Zheng glanced at her.

Fan Changyu didn’t think she was imagining it—he seemed to be displeased again.

Changning, meanwhile, was utterly carefree. She bounced along at the very front, and whenever she spotted some little trinket she wanted but didn’t dare ask Fan Changyu to buy, she would simply gaze at Xie Zheng with hopeful eyes.

Xie Zheng bought her a few things here and there, until Changning was clutching a whole armful of things, her two chubby little hands barely able to hold everything.

Fan Changyu warned her, “Ningniang, if you keep wanting to buy everything you see, I’m not bringing you to the county fair next time.”

Changning lowered her head and stared at her toes as she was scolded.

Then came the man’s cool, detached voice from beside them, “I was the one who wanted to buy them for her.”

Fan Changyu felt as though he were deliberately arguing with her over this. She pressed her lips together, “Children don’t know any better. You can’t indulge them in everything. She likes every little thing she sees along this whole street—are we supposed to buy it all and take it home? Some things have to be taught to her, or she’ll never learn.”

Xie Zheng said nothing more.

As the three of them continued walking, even Changning could sense that something was strange about the atmosphere between Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng.

She looked at the two of them, then at the pile of little things in her arms. Suddenly, she stopped, turned around, and shoved the whole lot into Xie Zheng’s arms. Clutching the hem of her clothes in her chubby little hands, she said, “Ningniang doesn’t want them anymore. Jiefu, take them back and return them.”

Fan Changyu saw that Changning’s grape-black eyes had already filled with tears. She sighed, crouched down, and stroked the top of her head. “We already bought them this time, so let’s keep them. But you can’t do this again, all right?”

Changning nodded with tears glistening in her eyes, then held out her chubby little arms for Fan Changyu to carry her.

Fan Changyu gathered the child into her arms and gently patted her back, her tone half indulgent, half helpless, “Why are you crying? I haven’t even scolded you.”

With a sniffle, Changning said, “Ah Jie, don’t be angry with Jiefu. Ningniang knows I was wrong.”

Fan Changyu looked at Xie Zheng, who stood nearby holding the pile of little things, and her tone turned even more helpless, “I’m not angry with him.”

Changning said, “You’re ignoring Jiefu.”

Fan Changyu asked with a hint of laughter, “When did I ever ignore him?”

Tears still glimmering in her eyes, Changning said, “You stopped talking to Jiefu.”

Fan Changyu thought to herself that she didn’t usually talk to Yan Zheng all that much anyway. But seeing her little sister on the verge of crying again, she still coaxed her, “Weren’t we just talking a moment ago? We just haven’t been talking this moment, that’s all.”

That tear, as big as a bean, finally spilled from Changning’s grape-black eyes and went “plop” as it hit the ground, “Ah Jie really is angry.”

Fan Changyu surrendered, “What do I have to do for you to believe I’m not angry?”

Changning thought about it, “Hold hands. Holding hands means we’ve made up!”

Fan Changyu was silent for a beat, “How about I talk to him the whole way from here?”

Changning stubbornly stuck to the logic of little children, “Only holding hands means you’ve made up.”

Fan Changyu exchanged a look with Xie Zheng. His expression gave nothing away, but she herself felt rather awkward.

She coaxed the child, “Look at how much your Jiefu is carrying. And Ah Jie has things in my hands too. We’d each only have one hand free. Wouldn’t that be terribly heavy?”

Only then did Changning let it go. Even so, as she walked ahead, she still turned around every now and then to check on them.

Afraid that Changning might come up with some other strange demand, Fan Changyu started talking to Xie Zheng, “Children are just troublesome sometimes. Don’t take it to heart.”

Xie Zheng said, “I don’t find her troublesome. I’ll probably be leaving after the New Year, so I thought I’d buy her a few more little things while I could.”

Fan Changyu hadn’t expected there to be a reason behind how many things he had bought for Changning.

Hearing him say he was leaving, she felt a strange twinge in her chest. “I’m sorry. I misunderstood you just now.”

Xie Zheng turned his head toward her. “What are you apologizing for?”

Fan Changyu replied, “I misunderstood you and spoke harshly to you. Of course I should apologize.”

She pressed her lips together before asking, “You’re leaving so soon? Aren’t you going to wait until your injuries have healed completely before setting out?”

Xie Zheng was just about to answer when a group of mounted soldiers came charging down the road toward them, recklessly barreling through the street and knocking over pedestrians and vendors’ stalls along the way.

As the warhorses bore down on them, Fan Changyu instinctively crouched down to shield Changning. Xie Zheng, meanwhile, raised his arm and used his cloak to shield the two of them from the mud kicked up by the horses’ hooves.

After the group of soldiers galloped away, quite a few pedestrians who had been knocked aside or splattered with mud began cursing furiously.

Fan Changyu looked up and saw that half of Xie Zheng’s cloak was covered in mud. “Are you hurt?”

Xie Zheng shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the soldiers disappearing into the distance, a dark chill lurking in his eyes.

A peddler whose stall had been knocked over spat viciously in their direction. “Those damn officials! Even during the New Year, they won’t give us a moment’s peace!”

Fan Changyu asked, “Why are soldiers in Qingping County again? Are they here to suppress bandits?”

“Suppress bandits?” the peddler said. “They’re a bunch of debt-collecting Yama kings, here to seize grain! Haven’t you heard about what happened in Taizhou Prefecture? The troops at the front are short on provisions, and when the army can’t requisition enough grain, they just take it by force from the common people. Refuse to give it up, and they’ll beat people to death.”

An older man beside them said, “Looking at things, it won’t be long before they start conscripting soldiers too.”