Zhen Jing stared at He Danggui from head to toe as if she knew her for the first time. After a long time, she said, "It turns out that you are a heroine!"
He Danggui was also surprised and looked at the small hole in the trunk. Only she knew that she just kicked it casually!
Zhen Jing s.n.a.t.c.hed the wine jar and medicine package from He Danggui"s hands and said excitedly, "Heroine, I"m responsible for depositing things, and you"re responsible for protecting me! Drive all the bad guys away!"
He Danggui shook her wrists and chuckled, "It"s unnecessary to hit them. I guess they have seen what happened just now. Now the three men have run away with great speed." One of them seemed to knock over a fruit stand at the roadside. He Danggui listened to the sound attentively. She could faintly hear a woman"s voice shouting, "You got my pears dirty! Pay for my pears. You can"t leave! Pay for my pears!"
Zhen Jing went around in circles for four or five times. There were only a few people on this street, and no one was running. She asked confusedly, "Where are the three people that you said? Why can"t I see them?"
He Danggui pointed at the alley on the corner of the street and explained, "They stared at us in that alley just now. Now they have run far away. Well, don"t mind them. Let"s deposit things first and then deposit the money." Then she bypa.s.sed Dahong Money Shop and walked into Qibao Money Shop.
Zhen Jing was puzzled and asked in a low voice, "I see Dahong Money Shop is bigger. Don"t we deposit money in it?"
He Danggui explained, "Although Dahong Money Shop is big, it"s just a local money shop in Tu"er Town. Anyway, I haven"t seen the chain shop of Dahong Money Shop in Yangzhou City. It"s very troublesome to come back to Tu"er Town when I withdraw the money. However, even if the branch of Qibao Money Shop here is small, its main shop in Yangzhou City is quite large and has good reputation. In addition, the most important thing is that all the money we deposit is Fei Qian (a bill used for remittance in ancient China). We can withdraw the money in Yangzhou City and even the capital with an ident.i.ty doc.u.ment."
Zhen Jing was shocked and asked, "Why do you know so much? You are more outstanding than "Zhuang Yan, the Female Prince Consort" in the play! I can"t know so much even when I"m 50 years old."
He Danggui shook her head and chuckled, "It"s not a big deal. People who deposit money in the money shop all know that. Well, you deposit things, and I deposit the money. Then we meet at the willow in the doorway." Then she went to the counter and handled the depositing business. But because she was too young, it took a lot of time to check her ident.i.ty doc.u.ment.
Finally, she deposited 240 liang silver in her account, and changed the rest of the cheques and silver ingots into small change. Then she changed 2 liang silver into 4 strings of 1,000 qian copper cash. With this money as the capital, she could plan to do business slowly after she returned Yangzhou. Money could never sleep. She knew that greed was not a good word, but it was useful to her. As the saying goes, "No matter where you are, if you can"t be a real player, you will only be a n.o.body."
When He Danggui got out of the money shop, there was no one under the willow tree. Zhen Jing should have arrived there earlier than her. She was a little anxious since Zhen Jing was always obedient and would wait for her.
She went to the place where Zhen Jing deposited things and saw her 2 bolts of black cloth put in the distance. Then she glanced at the money shop, but Zhen Jing was not there too. When she tried to run around to look for Zhen Jing, she suddenly seemed to hear Zhen Jing"s laugh and voice, "She is so powerful, just like the Female Prince Consort Zhuang Yan... She kicked a little stone just now. You guess what happened to the little stone..."
He Danggui focused on the direction that the sound was coming from and ran toward the northeast. After running through two blocks, she saw Zhen Jing"s thin and little figure standing next to a middle-aged woman.
When Zhen Jing was talking with great joy, she saw He Danggui at a distance and then raised her arms to wave at He Danggui. She called, "Xiaoyi, this is my mom!" When He Danggui came near, Zhen Jing said apologetically, "I"m sorry for not waiting for you outside of the money shop. I just saw a figure that looked like my mother, so I caught up with her and found that she was really my mother!"
He Danggui looked at this middle-aged woman whom Zhen Jing looked like. Then she smiled, "Hi, Auntie, I"m Xiaoyi, Zhen Jing"s good friend. I live in the Taoist temple too. My family will come to pick me up in a couple of days. I want to bring Zhen Jing to my house to live with me and let her be a maid with a revocable t.i.tle deed. Master Tai Xi of Shui Shang Temple also has agreed. What do you think of this, Auntie?"
The woman had heard this from Zhen Jing. She replied hurriedly, "My family owed Shui Shang Temple farmland rent with high interest, and it is 30 liang now. How could I let you buy her freedom back! I will go home and ask my friends and relatives to borrow some money. Then I buy her freedom back, and send her to your home..."
He Danggui interrupted, "Auntie, don"t worry. Master Tai Xi is very kind and agreed that the rent owed by your family would only be calculated according to the common loan interest. And Tai Shan"s usury receipts were burned. Now it only needs 5 liang silver to buy Zhen Jing"s freedom back, and I will pay the money up front and take it from her salary later. My family has the rule that a new maid will be paid one year"s salaries in advance." She told a lie and took out about 10 liang silver from her purse, then thrusting it into the woman"s rough hand. She smiled, "Zhen Jing doesn"t need to spend money in my family. Keep the money for her. We were going to see you in Micu Village but now we meet you in the town. So, we don"t need to make another trip."
The woman hastened to return the money to He Danggui and shook her head, "Miss He, you helped us pay the usury money, so we can"t get any more of your money! We cannot earn 2 liang sliver when doing the farm work even for a whole year. How can a maid like my daughter Niu earn 10 liang sliver a year! I know that you want to help us, but when you redeem Niu from the temple, you are our benefactor. If I take your money, her father will blame me!"
He Danggui took a blue cloth from her sleeve, rolled up the money, tied a knot, and thrust it back to the woman. She smiled, "Auntie, there"s something you don"t know about Yangzhou City. The prices in Yangzhou are very high, so workers" salaries are also higher. 10 liang silver a year is the standard wage of a third-cla.s.s maid in my family, so I don"t give you too much money. If Zhen Jing does her job well in the future, her salary can raise more. Besides, if I take her to Yangzhou City, you can only see her just a few times a year. If you refuse to accept the money, how can she go with me at ease? You should take it even for rea.s.suring her. And we are pus.h.i.+ng money around in the open street. It"s easy to attract the attention from the thieves. Auntie, take this money please!"
The woman took it vacillatingly and looked at Zhen Jing worriedly, "Miss He, Niu was sent to the Taoist temple at the age of six and a half to pay our debts. I have no chance to teach her embroidery and cooking that a girl should learn, so please do not dislike her. She used to wet her bed every night before she went to the temple and I don"t know now she..."
Zhen Jing was so embarra.s.sed that she tiptoed to cover her mother"s mouth. Then He Danggui persuaded Zhen Jing"s mother and told her to be at ease since she would treat Zhen Jing well. He Danggui sweat on her forehead and suddenly realized her words made her feel that Zhen Jing would marry her.
Zhen Jing"s mother had come to the morning market to sell the melon vines. Now the melon vines had been sold and she got "a stupendous sum of money". So, she parted from Zhen Jing and He Danggui, and hurriedly went home to tell her family members the good news.
He Danggui and Zhen Jing continued to hang out in the market and bought some useful things. Pa.s.sing the sliver shop, He Danggui paused for a moment but did not enter. Originally, she intended to buy some sliver needles to channel the Zhenqi. But thanks to Gao Jue, her Zhenqi had been collected into the Dantian and condensed into her own internal force. Therefore, she didn"t need the sliver needles now and could go to Qian Chui Ren Jia to order the most delicate Yuhua Needles after they arrived in Yangzhou.
After pa.s.sing through a half of the street, Zhen Jing glanced at He Danggui and noticed that He Danggui was calm. So, she was relieved since He Danggui had not cared about the embarra.s.sment of bed-wetting. Zhen Jing was very grateful because He Danggui not only paid off the debt for her family but insisted on giving her mother 10 liang silver. She thought, "Although Xiaoyi was an exalted miss, she was very poor before and could only eat wild vegetables and rice to satisfy her hunger. Now she had earned more than 200 liang sliver with her hard work, but she had spent a lot on me."
"Why was she so good to me? Why did I always feel familiar with her? Why was she so confident as if everything was under her control?" Zhen Jing thought.
Looking at He Danggui"s beautiful face, Zhen Jing thanked her sincerely and said, "Xiaoyi, thanks for your meticulous care. I will learn to comb and help you comb your hair every day to repay you..."
"No!" He Danggui refused firmly. She thought for a moment and said, "Zhen Jing is your religious name. Although this name is good, in order to show that you have resumed secular life, the former religious name can no longer be used. When I heard that your mother called you Niu, it occurred to me that the Luo"s Family also had a few maids called Hong Niu, Lan Niu and so on. If you are also called Niu, your names are the same. So, I give you a new name. How about "Chan Yi"?"
"Chan Yi, Chan Yi, Chan Yi," Zhen Jing said with a smile, "This name is really nice. What"s the meaning of Chan Yi?"
"Chan Yi is the name of an herb," He Danggui explained, "You have probably heard that Luo"s Family is the first medical family of the Ming Dynasty. San Qing Tang is a medicine pharmacy opened by Luo"s Family, which has a history of 80 years. The practice of medicine of Luo"s Family dated back to the Southern Song Dynasty. The ancestors of Luo"s Family decided to make the knowledge transmit from father to son, and hoped that future generations could inherit medical skills. So, they started a tradition of letting the generations of Luo"s Family take the name of herb medicines as their name. Until now, most people in Luo"s Family still follow the custom of naming their kids and their close maids and servants with names of herb medicines."
Zhen Jing asked amazedly, "If so, are your family members all named by those names of herb medicines?"
He Danggui nodded, "The six branches of the East Yard and West Yard of Luo"s Family mostly follow this tradition. Luo"s Family in the capital has more than ten branches and they haven"t followed this tradition. In my grandfather"s generation, their names are Duzhong, Dusong, Duheng, etc.; my mother"s generation, their names are Chuanbai, Chuan"gu, Chuanpu, Chuanxiong, Chuanwu, Chuanjiao, etc.; and the next generation, their names are Baiqian, Baiji, Baikou, Baizhi, etc. Because the Second Miss didn"t like her previous name, the Second Mistress Luo managed to persuade the Second Lord to change her name to Baiqiong."
Zhen Jing suddenly understood, "Well, your last name "Danggui" is also the name of an herb medicine!"
He Danggui was in a daze for a while and thought it was clear that angelica (Danggui) was the name of an herb medicine, but it was said that there was another meaning when her mother named her this…
Zhen Jing asked again, "What effect does Chan Yi have?"
He Danggui rolled her eyes and answered, "The periostrac.u.m cicada (Chan Yi) can clean the channels in lung and kidney. It can also ease the heart fire and reduce the dampness-heat. Additionally, it has a significant effect on children enuresis."
Zhen Jing screamed and asked He Danggui to change her name. Then they laughed out loudly, attracting the attention from pa.s.sers-by frequently.
When pa.s.sing the store, He Danggui let Zhen Jing wait outside. She went in for a while and came out with a paper bag. Zhen Jing asked curiously, "What did you buy?"
He Danggui smiled, "You"ll know when we get back. Look, there is a tailor"s shop over there. Let"s go in and look for two suits of men"s clothes to change. After a while, we will go to Qunxianlou Restaurant to eat Stewed Pork Ball in Brown Sauce. Your Taoist robe is too conspicuous and people will gossip."
So, they went in and changed into men"s wear. When they got to the tailor"s shop, they saw all kinds of facial masks hanging on the inside door, which were very beautiful and colorful. Then they came forward to watch and comment on the masks.
Seeing that He Danggui wanted to buy four or five facial masks, Zhen Jing dissuaded, "They look nice but they are useless. How c.u.mbersome they are. Don"t buy them. They cannot be contained in our cart."
He Danggui put one of facial masks on her face and said wittily, "I buy these as a gift because someone shows a serious face all day and he would have a better life with a facial mask. What do you think, Mater Gao?" Then Zhen Jing saw a tall and black shadow with a serious face appearing at the door. She was scared and hid behind He Danggui.
Gao Jue thought He Danggui was really different from other people...
When he first saw He Danggui on the mountain road, she pointed to the roadside gra.s.s one by one with her clever and lively eyes and told which one could be used as medicine or cure diseases. Gao Jue and other eight people listened to her carefully.
Then when they came forward to greet her, her eyelids drooped. Even after hearing Duan Xiaolou said that they were officials, she did not lift her eyelids or trembled. At that time, he suspected that she was not an ordinary girl.
The next time he met her was when he cut a table in pieces and Tai Shan came to apologize. Duan Xiaolou wanted to see the Miss He who was reborn. Later, they just knew that the little Taoist nun who was familiar with the herbs was Miss He. This time, she still replied respectfully and distantly. Her fan-like eyelashes sealed her watery eyes.
Then, they caught Tai Chen who refined and sold banned drugs. They went to the Medicine Room for evidence, but they got nothing. Suddenly, a series of knocks appeared. When he opened the door, he saw her cold eyes again. In that cold night, her eyes looked silent as he expected, with thousands of secrets hidden in them.
When she spoke out his body weakness; when she spoke with fervor and a.s.surance after she found out the place where Tai Shan hid medicines; when she took out two embroidery needles to suppress the medicine"s effect for him and Lu Jiangbei; when she leisurely exercised the Five Mimic-animal Boxing in the morning; when she got up lazily and asked him to leave; and when she lied to the shopkeeper, her eyes often glistened with s.h.i.+ning lights.
Gradually, he couldn"t help falling in love with that pair of eyes.