That afternoon, Shen Yujiao learned much about Xie Wuling from Aunt Liu.
For instance, his birth mother was a prostitute on the Qinhuai River named Xie Xiangniang. His father was unknown. Xiangniang gave birth to Xie Wuling and soon after died of illness.
The brothel madam had wanted to drown him, but the other courtesans on the flower boat couldn’t bear it, and all pleaded for him. Each feeding him a little, saving a little, they managed to raise him until the age of eight.
At eight, for helping a young courtesan who had been trafficked to escape, he was beaten bloody by the madam and then sold off to a gambling house.
“What’s a gambling house? Nothing but a den of crazed dogs who’ve lost their humanity,” Aunt Liu shook her head as she spoke. “Luckily, Ah Ling’s will was firm, he knew gambling was poison and never touched it.”
He didn’t pick up gambling, but he did learn a great many tricks and shady skills.
From eight to thirteen, he clawed and crawled his way in the gambling den. Tall for his age, quick-witted, he was promoted by the boss, from laborer to enforcer. Later still, he became the boss’s right-hand man.
“They say when Ah Ling fights, he’s ferocious, with a reckless edge like he doesn’t care about his life. Once he fought ten men alone, beaten black and blue from head to toe. Folks outside called him a wolf cub. And it was exactly that ferocity, when Sixth Master Chang was ambushed, Ah Ling rushed in without blinking, took the blade head-on. The wound was this big, ”
Aunt Liu held out her hands to show the size. Seeing Shen Yujiao’s eyes widen in shock, she hastened to add: “I didn’t see it myself, only heard people talk. Once you’re married, you’ll see the scar with your own eyes… But it’s thanks to that wound that he made a name for himself, managed to save up money, buy a house, and prepare to take a wife.”
Shen Yujiao’s lashes lowered faintly.
She had guessed Xie Wuling might have come from a poor family, but hadn’t expected his life to have been this bitter.
As though from the very moment he was born, he had never had a good day.
“But that’s all in the past. Now he’s got a band of brothers under him. He rarely does the fighting and killing himself. Sixth Master Chang cares for him too, the jobs he gives are just debt collecting and account settling. Recently I even heard him say Sixth Master Chang means to groom him for shipping and escorting goods. That’s a proper business.”
Aunt Liu watched Shen Yujiao’s face as she spoke, and saw how attentively she listened. Inwardly she thought: so this girl is indeed considering a future with Ah Ling, she’s already worrying about his livelihood. And rightly so. If you’re to be husband and wife for long, what woman wants her man constantly fighting and bleeding, living at the edge of death?
“Don’t look at how Ah Ling has no father or mother, no learning. He’s a man who takes responsibility, and his heart is good, whoever treats him with three parts kindness, he’ll return five.”
Looking at the tender, tofu-white face before her, Aunt Liu spoke gently: “Jiaoniang, listen to your auntie’s advice. Marrying a man means clothing on your back and food in your mouth. Here you’ll have a house to live in, full meals to eat, and a young, strong man who knows how to cherish you. Isn’t that far better than wandering homeless with a child? Outside now, there’s war and disaster, I hear there are water bandits by the coast, it’s chaos everywhere…”
By now Shen Yujiao also understood, Aunt Liu was clearly sent by Xie Wuling as a persuader.
Had it been yesterday, she would never have wanted to hear this.
But today…
Thinking of her current circumstances, and of the hardships of fleeing famine, well, people are like this: it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to return from luxury to frugality.
After tasting fragrant white steamed buns and chicken legs, who would willingly go back to gnawing bark, eating sour leftovers, and fighting stray dogs for food?
Hungry, hungry to the point her eyes went blank, calves cramping, that kind of hunger was bone-deep, unforgettable. Just the thought of it left her chest tight. She never wanted to taste it again.
She didn’t stop Aunt Liu. Once the woman opened her mouth, words poured out like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, praising Xie Wuling to the skies, as if missing out on him would make her the number one fool under heaven.
Just as Aunt Liu’s lips were drying from all the talk, a familiar voice sounded from outside the door: “Open up, I’m back!”
Aunt Liu started to rise, but Shen Yujiao held her back. “Auntie, I’ll go.”
Aunt Liu froze, then seemed to realize something. Her eyes curved. “Alright, alright.”
Steadying herself, Shen Yujiao went to the door.
When she pushed it open and saw the man outside, arms full of big and small parcels, even biting down on one, she couldn’t help being stunned.
What kind of… look was this?
Xie Wuling hadn’t expected her to be the one opening the door. Instinctively, he wanted to spit out the parcel from his mouth, but then thought of how hard it had been to line up for Cui Ji’s plum-blossom cakes. He bit the string tighter instead, his narrow eyes locking onto the girl in the doorway, words muffled: “What are you dawdling for?”
She snapped back, quickly stepping aside.
Huffing and puffing, Xie Wuling carried the load into the courtyard.
“My goodness!” Aunt Liu exclaimed. “Ah Ling, did you pick up a gold ingot? How’d you buy so much?”
“Just daily necessities,” he said, dropping the pile on the main hall’s table. Coming back out, he rubbed his aching jaw, clenching that string all the way home had been sour.
Aunt Liu’s sharp eyes spotted a bundle with brightly colored fabric peeking out. She cast Shen Yujiao a teasing glance. “Didn’t I tell you? Ah Ling spoils his wife the most. Already bought cloth for you to make new clothes.”
Shen Yujiao, however, said nothing. She only stood in the courtyard, those clear black eyes quietly fixed on the young man in dark robes inside the hall.
Meeting her gaze, Xie Wuling instantly knew she had words for him.
“Auntie, thank you again for today.” He turned, pulling a handful of candies from a paper bag. “Take these for Gouwazi and the kids.”
“If you keep being so polite, I won’t come anymore!” Aunt Liu waved her hands. “Today your girl helped me pick vegetables. It’s me who troubled her.”
The phrase “your girl” sank into both their ears. One broke into a wide grin, the other froze, flustered.
In the end, he still stuffed the candies into Aunt Liu’s hand. She picked up her basket and left, smiling. “Alright, I won’t disturb you two then.”
After sending her off and bolting the gate from inside, Xie Wuling turned to see Shen Yujiao lifting the child to head into the house. Leisurely, he strolled over, his tone drawling: “Little Jiaoniang.”
Even knowing he was a bottom-rung rascal, hearing him call her that so lightly still made her cheeks flush. “Don’t call me that.”
But Xie Wuling loved watching her blush, the pale skin tinged with red, a beauty hard to describe, stirring heat in his chest.
“Why not? Don’t tell me that’s another fake name.”
“It isn’t.”
She lifted her face. “This time it’s real.”
Looking into those clear dark eyes, he tugged at his lips but said nothing more. Instead, he stretched out a hand. “Here.”
In his broad palm lay a pale yellow candy.
“This one tastes the best,” he said, lowering his gaze to her. He didn’t add anything, but his eyes, staring straight at her, plainly waited for her to take it.
She meant to say she’d eat it later, but under that heated gaze she couldn’t resist. She reached out, took it, and under his watchful eyes, put it into her mouth.
The glutinous rice paper melted instantly, sweetness spreading across her tongue, faint with pear fragrance. It did taste good.
But in Chang’an, in Luoyang, even in Wenxi, she had eaten candies far more delicate and exquisite than this. By comparison, this one was nothing special.
Yet the man before her looked at her, eyes bright as flame. “How is it?”
Her lips moved, and suddenly she thought of what Aunt Liu had said, his childhood, his past.
Perhaps this piece of candy, so ordinary to her, was the best he had ever eaten.
“It’s tasty,” she said softly.
Her long lashes fluttered, her gaze meeting his. “Thank you.”
Hearing her say it was good, Xie Wuling smiled, then glanced at the child in her arms. “Take him inside first. Then come out and see what else I bought you.”
Bought her things?
She looked toward the pile on the hall table. Her eyelids flickered, but she said nothing, only carried the child inside.
He leaned against the doorway, waiting.
When she came out again, he reached for her. “Come on.”
She instinctively avoided his hand.
That long, slender hand froze midair.
Her expression faltered too, heart tightening with unease.
He had clearly seen the fear in her dark eyes. His brows drew together. Why was she afraid of him? Did he look that fierce?
Silence hung in the air. Without pressing her, he withdrew his hand, striding forward. “Enough. Don’t just stand there. Come.”
Watching his broad, upright back, she hesitated, then followed.
On the square table lay two opened bundles, inside, a mirror, rouge and powder, handkerchiefs and combs, pillows and bedding, embroidered shoes and skirts…
There were even two small garments: one water-red embroidered with peonies, the other bright red with mandarin ducks playing in water.
Her eyes widened. He even bought these? And such gaudy colors and patterns!
She turned her face aside, unable to look.
But Xie Wuling, like a man showing off treasure, took them out one by one. “This box is the latest rouge from Biyutang. These two bottles are Liu’s floral water, I didn’t know which you’d like, so I got rose and gardenia. This here is clove cream, for the face. Makes the skin whiter. Not that you need it, your face is already white enough. But keep it, use it if you want…”
Though Shen Yujiao did not know the price of goods in Jinling City, looking at the table piled high, she guessed it must have cost a common household no small amount.
After two beats of silence, she looked hesitantly at the man beside the table. “Why… did you buy all this?”
Xie Wuling answered as if it were obvious. “For you to use, of course.”
She faltered, then after a pause, whispered, “If I insist on not marrying you, won’t all this money be wasted?”
“That’s impossible. You will be my wife. Think about it, so many earth god temples in Jinling, and yet of all places, you walked into the very one where I’d made offerings. That proves the Earth God himself sent you to me as my wife. It’s fate.”
“In truth, that day, it was just the steamed bun shop owner who gave me directions…”
“Doesn’t matter. You ate from my offering, so you’re my woman. And besides, a persistent man wins a fierce woman. You may not want to marry me now, but that doesn’t mean you won’t later. I’ve got all the time in the world, I’ll wear you down, even if it takes a lifetime.”
He said it with such righteousness that Shen Yujiao was dumbstruck. “You… you’re just being shameless!”
“Exactly.”
Propping one hand on the table, Xie Wuling leaned his tall frame toward her, black eyes still smiling. “I am shameless. I’m best at pestering and pulling tricks. Little Jiaoniang, falling into my hands is like a meat bun thrown to a dog, once gone, there’s no coming back.”
Shen Yujiao: “……?”
Who threatened someone by calling himself a dog?
Grumbling inside, she nonetheless shrank back instinctively from the heat radiating off his approaching body. But after just half a step, her waist bumped the table. Flustered, she turned her face aside. “…Back up a little, I need to tell you something serious.”
Seeing her discomfort, he didn’t retreat. Instead his lips curved higher, his smile growing more roguish. “Say it. I’m listening.”
He loomed as if caging her in his arms. Her cheeks burned, unable to withstand his searing gaze. At last, she pressed both hands against his solid chest. “I really mean it!”
At the touch, his body stiffened.
She snatched her hands back at once, her voice rising in flustered indignation. “Do you actually want me to agree to marry you or not?”
At those words, his tall figure froze. “You’ve thought it through?”
She gave a vague hum, slipping out from under his arm.
Only once she had put distance between them did she summon the courage to meet the blaze of his narrow eyes. Biting her lip, she said softly, “But you must promise me three things.”
