Chapter 7: First Encounter with a Beauty
The bookstore in Changxi County was next to the silver shop on the main street. It was a large shop with two storefronts, but there weren’t many customers. Zhao An went in to look around. Besides the Four Books and Five Classics for the imperial examinations and collections of outstanding exam papers, there were various storybooks. And the prices were generally very high; even a thin volume about a talented scholar and a beautiful lady cost five qian of silver.
The clerk, having been asked several questions by Zhao An, was getting a bit impatient. He had eagerly come to serve Zhao An upon seeing his good looks, but he hadn’t expected this person to be all flash and no substance, asking about everything but buying nothing.
Zhao An also noticed the clerk’s displeasure and asked him if he had the Compendium of Materia Medica.
Seeing Zhao An’s expression, the clerk knew this was the book he was looking for and answered honestly, “We don’t have it in the shop right now. If the Young Master wants it, we can go to the prefectural city to find it for you.” As if questioning Zhao An’s financial ability, he added, “The Compendium of Materia Medica is a major work. The lowest price is five liang of silver. If the Young Master wants it, you’ll need to pay a deposit.”
Zhao An smiled on the surface, but in his mind, he was already thinking about improving papermaking and printing techniques. Out loud, he said, “Since you don’t have it here, I’ll just buy it myself when I go to the prefectural city some other time.”
With that, he walked out of the bookstore. Qin Tong, carrying a basket, had been stopped at the door. Seeing him come out empty-handed, he was quite happy that the copper coins in his basket wouldn’t have to be given away. “Young Master, let’s hurry back. The ox-cart might already be full. If we’re any later, there won’t be any seats left.”
Zhao An nodded, but then he saw the man with martial arts skills from last time. It had to be said, Changxi County was just too small.
The man with martial arts skills was wearing blue brocade today, and beside him was a man in black. When Zhao An’s gaze met his, he couldn’t help but look a second time. With his sharply defined face and a pair of gray-blue eyes, combined with his black hair, he had to be of mixed race. To be precise, he was a handsome, distinguished-looking mixed-race man, comparable to a major celebrity.
Hu Sheng was used to being stared at, so he wasn’t angered by Zhao An’s gaze. Besides, he didn’t see any disgust or contempt in the eyes of this younger brother of Consort Li. There was only a pure appreciation and wonder, without a hint of lewdness.
Just that pair of clear, pure peach-blossom eyes pleased Hu Sheng, making him smile in good humor. The corners of his lips curved up, and his brow softened.
Seeing this beauty smile, Zhao An quickly averted his gaze. He was afraid he would profane the other man by the rapid beating of his heart.
After they passed each other, Zhao An saw the two men walk into the bookstore he had just left. The manager personally came out to greet Feng Shaoping and Hu Sheng, handing a travelogue to Hu Sheng. “This is the latest book from the north.”
Hu Sheng calmly took it and flipped through a few pages. On the back of the title page were a few lines of intelligence about the northern war. After reading it, he naturally pushed the book back to the manager. “It’s not very interesting. I’ll take a look again next time.”
Feng Shaoping stood to the side, seemingly unaware of what Hu Sheng was looking at. He was busy directing the clerk to bring him erotic art books to browse, and in the end, he even bought one.
After they left the bookstore, Feng Shaoping slapped the erotic book into Hu Sheng’s arms. “You don’t have anyone to keep you warm. Why don’t you take this book back and satisfy your cravings?”
Hu Sheng glanced at the properly dressed woman on the cover and smiled coldly. “I practice martial arts for four shichen every day. All my energy is spent. I’m not as idle as Brother Feng.”
Feng Shaoping could already hear the displeasure in Hu Sheng’s words. He immediately took the book back from him and said with a sheepish smile, “I was just making a little joke. Don’t be angry, Brother Hu. How are things in the north now?”
Despite the obvious attempt to change the subject, Hu Sheng still told Feng Shaoping, “It’s developing well. According to my plan, I’ve used salt and tea to buy over small Hu tribes to act as spies, and we’ve already eliminated five small Xiongnu tribes.”
“This time, that dear elder brother of yours is going to be commended by the imperial court again,” Feng Shaoping’s tone was filled with thick disdain and indignation.
But Hu Sheng, as if he weren’t the one being wronged, said calmly, “Being commended isn’t necessarily a good thing. Our emperor’s heart isn’t that broad.”
By this time, Zhao An had already run outside the city gate with Qin Tong and boarded the ox-cart. But his mind was still on the handsome man he had seen earlier. In terms of looks, compared to the man with martial arts skills, the blue-eyed man wasn’t necessarily that far ahead. But he had a righteous and sharp aura, the kind that belonged to a soldier—a confident, battle-hardened soldier.
But how could such a person appear in a small place like Changxi County? Zhao An couldn’t figure it out, but another thought inevitably arose in his mind. In such a small place where you see everyone all the time, maybe they would have a chance to meet again by coincidence. Perhaps they could even develop something further. But he didn’t know if the other party was married.
Humans really are visual creatures. Zhao An berated himself for just seeing a handsome man on the street and already starting to wonder if he was married.
After returning home, Zhao An saw the newly bought wild rice stems and garlic sprouts. The thought of having stir-fried meat for lunch suppressed all other distracting thoughts.
Zhao An told Hai Bo that he had read in a book that adding some egg or starch when stir-frying meat could make it more tender and smooth.
Seeing the money Zhao An had brought back, Hai Bo was just about to go buy more eggs. Hearing that Zhao An needed starch, he also managed to trade for some from a family in the village that grew sweet potatoes. The resulting stir-fried shredded pork with garlic sprouts did not disappoint Zhao An. Along with another dish of stir-fried wild rice stems with pork cracklings, he ate two bowls of rice in one go.
After lunch, Zhao An spread out the not-so-valuable medicinal herbs he had gathered from the mountain yesterday to dry in the courtyard. Qin Tong had to go out to gather firewood, and Hai Bo had to do the laundry. For a time, no one came to disturb Zhao An, and he found himself thinking about the man he had met on the street again.
What’s his name? Where does he live? Will I see him again next time I go to the street to deliver strawberries?
“Young Master, the sky is getting dark. We should hurry and bring the herbs in.” Hai Bo, having finished hanging the laundry, saw the change in the weather and quickly came to remind Zhao An.
Spring rain, unlike the downpours of summer, was not fierce, but it could fall continuously for days and nights. This rain started and lasted for two full days, so that when Zhao An went into the city for the third time to deliver strawberries, the rain still hadn’t stopped.
He had to wear a straw raincoat that Hai Bo had borrowed and went into the city alone. This time, he sold the strawberries for over three hundred wen again, but after putting the basket on his back, he didn’t really want to go back. Being stuck at home for two days because of the rain, even after drawing tic-tac-toe and gomoku boards on paper to play, he felt like he was about to grow mold. He couldn’t imagine that when a person was utterly bored, even the Four Books and Five Classics could seem exceptionally lovely. Of course, the “Guan-guan cry the ospreys, on the islet in the river,” and “The peach tree is young and elegant, brilliant are its flowers,” from the Book of Songs were far more charming to read than the Analects or Mencius.
So, Zhao An decided to grit his teeth and spend three hundred wen on a copy of the Records of the Grand Historian. He had already asked the bookstore clerk; the price of this book was much cheaper than the newly published storybooks, probably because it was printed in large quantities. So he planned to read it like a novel.
However, when he went to the bookstore this time, he didn’t see the person who had been lingering in his mind for the past few days. Although he was a little disappointed, it wasn’t to the point of lovesickness. He had the manager wrap the book carefully in oil paper and placed it at the very bottom of his basket.
In the end, he only had a little over thirty wen left, just enough to buy two jin of lean meat before heading back. Besides, Hai Bo didn’t let him buy vegetables in the city, because they were cheaper in the countryside; you could buy a large pile for one wen.
This time, he returned with no money left over again. Hai Bo seemed quite happy to see that he had bought a book. The rain stopped that afternoon, and when the sun came out, he continued to dry the medicinal herbs. Unfortunately, the herbs, having been left in the rain for two days, had some dark spots and were unusable after being dried.
About ten days passed like this. They not only saved up one liang of silver but also had two new sets of clothes made for each of them. Their lives became more and more comfortable. However, Zhao An didn’t see the blue-eyed man again on his several trips to the city.
On the twentieth of the third month, it wasn’t a strawberry delivery day, but he still went into the city because he wanted to sell the dried medicinal herbs at the raw medicine shop.
In the end, a full seventy-six jin of medicinal herbs only fetched fifty-two wen, giving him a feeling that the labor and reward were disproportionate. Not to mention he had run up the mountain five or six times and had been drying the herbs every day. This time, just to bring this pile of herbs to the city, he had even spent three wen to rent the village’s ox-cart.
After coming out of the medicine shop, Zhao An decided to bring some dry rations and go deeper into the mountains tomorrow. Hai Bo had never let him go too far before, but given the current situation, he wouldn’t have much of a harvest if he didn’t go further.
Even though he now had one liang of silver, he was still far from his goal of buying a copy of the Compendium of Materia Medica. With his mind on going up the mountain, Zhao An sat at the back of the ox-cart with no intention of talking to the driver, Liu Hu.
However, Liu Hu was very curious about Zhao An selling medicinal herbs. After the cart left the city, he finally couldn’t help but ask, “Young Master Zhao, how much money did you get for selling the herbs today?”
Having gone to the city more often, Zhao An was now quite familiar with the driver, Liu Hu, so he answered truthfully, “Fifty-two wen. It took over ten days of work to sell for just this much.”
Liu Hu earned a dozen or so wen a day driving the ox-cart, but he didn’t think fifty-two wen was a small amount. Many people in the village worked from dawn to dusk in the fields all year round and only earned about one liang of silver. After paying taxes and feeding their families, there was nothing left. In comparison, gathering herbs wasn’t as hard, but unfortunately, few people could recognize medicinal herbs.
“Young Master Zhao, why didn’t you bring your Qin Tong with you today?” After satisfying his curiosity, Liu Hu changed the subject.
Zhao An, sitting on the swaying ox-cart with nothing to do, also started chatting with Liu Hu. “He seemed to have found a good place to gather firewood with someone yesterday. He went out early this morning.”
From gathering firewood, they talked about wild fruits on the mountain, and finally to stories of fox spirits and ghosts. By the time they reached Zhao An’s house, Liu Hu was still eagerly asking, “After Nie Xiaoqian was resurrected and married the scholar, how many children did they have?”
“Two,” Zhao An answered casually. He pushed open the gate and called out, “Hai Bo, I’m back.”
However, the house was empty. There was no reply.
