Jiugao City was quite lively this afternoon.
As winter faded into spring, the old made way for the new. Families emerged from their winter hovels to stock up on fresh grain, and business was booming at the Fengnian Rice Shop on Fourth Street.
Qin Jiuye watched from across the street for a while. Choosing a moment when the crowd had thinned slightly, she stepped inside.
Several rice vats near the entrance were already empty, and a few shop hands were hauling up sacks to refill them. The sight of the translucent, pearly white grains cascading down sounded like clashing jade to her ears.
"Do you have any old rice? Or perhaps some with more bran?" She paused, then added, "It’s for the chickens."
The shop hand shot her a glance, his voice loud and clear.
"Customer, the rains have been heavy this spring, making it hard enough to store new rice, let alone stuff that’s been sitting for over half a year. Rice isn't like other things; if it goes moldy and you eat it, you'll die. We are a respectable establishment; we don't do such unscrupulous business."
He spoke with such righteous indignation that one might forget his shop was the very same one that used to mix sand into their grain.
Qin Jiuye was too hungry to have the energy to expose him. She paced slowly, hands behind her back.
"I'll look around a bit more. Just looking."
The shop hand didn't linger for a second, turning away to busy himself elsewhere.
Last year had been a harvest year, so rice prices should have been low. Yet, for some reason, they had remained stubbornly high for the past six months. Qin Jiuye had heard Old Tang mention that river pirates were causing trouble on the lower reaches of the Feng River, suggesting that war might be brewing again. With river transport blocked, grain from Lou County was difficult to bring in. There was little new rice in all of Jiugao, and many shops were secretly pulling old stock from their warehouses to sell at inflated prices, hoping to earn enough to cover next year’s rent in one go.
Thinking of Old Tang—though he was stingy and a bit of a coward, his shop never sold stale tea. Even if the tea was poor, he would simply charge less; he would never pass off inferior goods as high quality.
That was why Old Tang was as penniless as she was, still solitary in his forties.
Perhaps in twenty years, she would be the next Old Tang.
In the blink of an eye, several bags of rice at the door were swept up by customers. As the shop hand replenished them, Qin Jiuye leaned in, carefully cupping a handful and bringing it to her nose. A faint, sweet aroma wafted into her nostrils, leaving her in a momentary, wistful daze.
*Sigh. Even if it isn't the freshest harvest, this rice is a world apart from what I eat.* The husks and bran at Guoran Pavilion were things even a chicken with an ounce of self-respect would refuse to touch.
The shop hand was sharp-eyed. Seeing her clutching the rice, he hurried over.
"Would you like some of this, customer? The price isn't bad—less than three hundred coins per dou."
Qin Jiuye felt a sharp pang of "heart-ache" for her wallet.
She was well-acquainted with recent rice prices. The price he quoted was indeed not the highest on this street, but when had she ever eaten such expensive rice? The definition of "not bad" for others and for her were on two entirely different scales.
"This is rice from south of the Elü River, harvested last year. This is all that's left. You know how hard it is to get rice from that region these days. If it hadn't gotten a bit damp during transport, it wouldn't be this cheap..."
South of the Elü River—that meant the area around Yu County.
Longshu Prefecture, where Jiugao was located, belonged to Jiaozhou and bordered Yuzhou. The two provinces were separated by the Elü River. North of the river was Lou County of Jiaozhou, while the south was Yu County of Yuzhou. Since the Battle of Juchao in Yuzhou, the once fertile and productive Yu County had suffered, becoming desolate. Few ships passed through there now, and the translucent, plump Yu County rice had become a rare sight in the markets.
Nowadays, nine out of ten bags of "Yu County rice" on the market were fakes, mostly Lou County rice in disguise.
As the shop hand continued his enthusiastic pitch, Qin Jiuye opened her hand. The small pile of rounded, shimmering grains fell back into the sack, one by one.
She dusted off her hands and gave him a small smile, saying nothing more before turning to leave the shop.
In the second block behind the Fengnian Rice Shop, there was another rice vendor. This one had no name, and from the outside, it didn't look like a shop at all. Few of the city's wealthy families knew of it; only the poor who couldn't scrape together enough silver were familiar with the way there.
This was Jiugao's "underground rice market." They specialized in buying damp or insect-infested rice from other shops at low prices, then mixing it with bran and husks to resell to poultry farmers and the destitute.
In the glittering city of Jiugao, the poor sometimes ate worse than the livestock.
Qin Jiuye lifted the tattered cotton curtain that had hung there all winter and looked toward the middle-aged man dozing in the dim warehouse.
"Uncle Chen, the sun hasn't even set yet. Why are you napping?"
Old Chen, a rice trader with a face full of stubble, jolted awake. After a shiver, he looked toward the door. Seeing it was Qin Jiuye, he curled back up.
"Hurry up and drop the curtain. It's freezing."
Qin Jiuye let the curtain fall. She pulled out the small bit of silver she had been clutching the whole way and carefully placed it on a hemp sack. Then, she pulled a packet of prepared medicine from behind her and set it aside.
"Is Auntie's bloating any better? She came for this medicine last time, and I figured she was about out, so I brought another dose."
Old Chen finally rolled over, reluctantly showing his face.
"What's this for? I'm not one to take advantage of people."
Qin Jiuye smiled.
"It's not about taking advantage. It's just a little something, hardly worth anything. Consider it thanks for looking out for me, Uncle Chen. This silver is the full weight, covering what I owed for the previous rice. I'd like to pick up some more this time. I'll have to trouble you for your help."
Old Chen stared at her for a while. After a long pause, he slowly took the medicine and weighed the silver in his hand.
"You've got a good heart. Those families east of the bridge sent people several times asking for this, but I didn't give it to them." He let out a wine-scented hiccup and patted a large cloth bag under a haystack behind him. "There. I kept it for you."
Qin Jiuye hurried forward to lift the bag of old rice mixed with bran. She tied the opening tight and secured it firmly to her back.
"Thank you, thank you so much."
The sun dipped low, trailing its last bit of warmth and casting long shadows behind the hurried travelers on the street.
Qin Jiuye walked through the four main streets, occasionally patting the rice bag on her back. Her feet instinctively led her toward a quiet alley in the backstreets.
Passing the solitary stone lion in front of a dilapidated gate, she approached a familiar section of the wall. Finding the inconspicuous footholds she knew so well, she stepped into the cracks and climbed toward the top of the wall.
These little pits were becoming easier and easier to use. The way they had been worn down over time was a testament to how often Qin Jiuye had come to this wall to daydream.
Dusting off her hands, she sat atop the wall and looked into the courtyard by the light of the setting sun.
The courtyard wasn't large, but it had two tiers. The inner courtyard had only three or four rooms. The roof tiles were of poor quality, and half the eaves-tiles had fallen off, suggesting the interior wasn't in great shape either. The only striking features were the old camphor tree in the courtyard and the small pavilion beside it.
That tree had to be at least a hundred years old. It offered shade in summer and shelter from the wind in winter. Its trunk was tall and thick, yet it didn't block the sunlight from the rooms behind it. The leaves and twigs could be harvested for medicine. If she planted herbs under the tree, they would be protected from the scorching sun and grow strong. She could grow vegetables in the corners to be self-sufficient, and if she raised a few chickens, she'd have a ready supply of fertilizer...
But usually, by the time Qin Jiuye saved enough silver to buy such a courtyard, it would already belong to someone else.
However, this one was different.
Someone had died here—hanged themselves, or so the story went. Because it was a "haunted house," and because its condition was mediocre and its location wasn't prime, it had sat empty for three or four years.
But from the first moment she saw it, Qin Jiuye felt it was *her* courtyard.
She would buy this place, fill the area under the camphor tree with herbs, and move Guoran Pavilion here. Then she would have her grandfather sell that broken boat and bring him to live in the city. If Jinbao was still willing to work for her, she could give him a side room. She'd get a clever yellow dog, and she would have a home.
Yes, she wanted a home of her own.
For that, she was willing to keep eating the tooth-cracking, stomach-grinding rice bran until she had saved enough silver.
The gloom from buying the rice vanished, replaced by a surge of excitement. She rubbed her hands together, preparing to jump down, when she suddenly heard a noise at the courtyard gate.
Startled, her first instinct was to leave. But then, a thought struck her, and she stayed. She shifted her position on the wall, hiding behind a thick branch of the camphor tree.
Just as she hid, the gate was pushed open.
The person leading the way held a lantern, bowing slightly in a fawning manner as he led the guests in—it was the property agent responsible for this house. Behind him were two young men. One was dressed as a scholar, leaning on a cane. His face was somewhat pale, and he had a frail, refined air about him, like a teacher from an academy. The other man walked beside him, supporting him, appearing to be a servant boy.
Both were covered in the dust of travel; they clearly weren't locals.
Qin Jiuye understood instantly.
That damned agent! He hadn't been nearly this enthusiastic when he brought her to see the place. Seeing her dressed in rags, he hadn't even let her step inside the rooms. Now, seeing that she couldn't save enough money, he was trying to swindle these clueless outsiders.
She wasn't one to meddle in others' business, but this couldn't be considered "others' business."
This was *her* courtyard. No one else was taking it.
A rush of blood went to her head. Qin Jiuye yanked off her hair tie, letting her hair fall loose. She pulled out a handkerchief, took a deep breath, and stepped onto a protruding branch.
"My lord... my lord, you've finally returned... your servant has waited so long for you in this tree..."
She hadn't had a drop of water for half the day, so her voice was dry and raspy. By intentionally squeezing her throat, she made it sound absolutely ghastly.
The three men in the courtyard were visibly startled. They turned toward the source of the sound and saw a head with disheveled hair swaying in the old camphor tree, waving a handkerchief as it beckoned them.
The agent, naturally knowing the "history" of the house, was the first to realize what was happening. He let out a blood-curdling scream, followed immediately by a startled "Ah!" from the scholar.
"A ghost! A ghost! There's a ghost!"
The more miserable the agent's scream, the more delighted Jiuye felt.
But in the next moment, a sharp *crack* sounded beneath her. The camphor branch couldn't withstand her antics and snapped. She plummeted from the wall along with her bag of rice, landing in the courtyard with a heavy *thud*.
The agent's screaming stopped instantly.
There was no ghost in this world that landed with such a solid, resounding thud. Unless it wasn't a ghost at all, but someone playing tricks.
Qin Jiuye knew she was in trouble. Although she dealt in "unconventional" business, under Qin Sanyou's strict supervision, she rarely committed actual mischief in public.
Her heart had never hammered so fast. Ignoring everything else, she shoved past the agent and bolted for the gate, nearly twisting her ankle. Hearing his furious shouts behind her, her racing heart felt a strange surge of adrenaline. Lugging the bag of rice, she managed to sprint through two whole streets in one breath, diving into the back alleys of the Red Pheasant Ward.
But the agent was no pushover. Knowing someone had intentionally sabotaged his deal, he actually chased her for two blocks.
Qin Jiuye began to panic. In a fair race, he might not have caught her. But with the bag of rice on her back, her steps were growing heavier. The area around the Red Pheasant Ward was full of brothels and willow-lined alleys; there was nowhere to hide, and she couldn't bring herself to drop the rice just to escape.
She smiled bitterly at the irony—she was the classic "honest person" trying to do something bad, only to get caught red-handed on her first try in eight hundred years.
Seeing her pursuer closing in, she looked left and right in a panic. In her distraction, she collided with a carriage parked at the mouth of an alley.
Because of her weight and momentum, the collision caused the carriage to rock.
A moment later, an exaggerated cry of surprise rang out from inside.
This alley was close to the pleasure district. If she had run into some arrogant, overbearing rich heir, she would be caught between a wolf and a tiger, with no way out.
Qin Jiuye looked back. After the sound of rustling fabric, the curtain of the carriage window—embroidered with colorful cloud patterns—was pulled back slightly. Behind the curtain appeared a pair of hazy, phoenix eyes. It was, as expected, a drunkard.
Those eyes lingered on her disheveled face for a moment. Then, with a thick tongue, he blurted out:
"My lady... have we met somewhere before?"
Qin Jiuye froze, then began nodding her head like a woodpecker.
"Yes, yes! We've met!"
The sound of pursuing footsteps at the alley entrance drew closer. Ignoring the smell of alcohol wafting from the curtain, she scrambled and crawled her way into the carriage.
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
九皋城 | Jiugao City | The setting of the story.
丰年米行 | Fengnian Rice Shop | A prominent rice shop in the city.
斗 | Dou | A traditional Chinese unit of dry measure for grain (approx. 10 liters).
娥绿江 | Elü River | A river separating Jiaozhou and Yuzhou.
焦州 | Jiaozhou | A province.
郁州 | Yuzhou | A province.
龙枢郡 | Longshu Prefecture | A prefecture within Jiaozhou.
娄县 | Lou County | A county in Jiaozhou, north of the Elü River.
雩县 | Yu County | A county in Yuzhou, south of the Elü River, known for high-quality rice.
房牙子 | Property agent | A middleman or broker for real estate.
红雉坊 | Red Pheasant Ward | A district in the city, likely a pleasure district or red-light district.
丹凤眼 | Phoenix eyes | A specific eye shape characterized by an upward tilt at the outer corners, often considered beautiful in Chinese culture.
