Chapter 50: Clear Sky Days Chapter 29: The Widow Who Dragged Her Family and Ox Along

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Shaowei hadn't expected Jiang Fu to actually agree so readily; that very day the group found an inn in the nearest county town to settle in, and early the next morning they went to the county office to handle the household registration paperwork.

Great Qian implements the system of commanderies and kingdoms existing in parallel — over a hundred commanderies, plus eighteen vassal kingdoms — each vassal kingdom's fief varies in size, the smallest commanding one or two commanderies, the largest five or six commanderies and over a dozen connected cities; in the case of the latter, such powerful vassal kings were mostly kings of different surnames enfeoffed at the founding of the dynasty, a compromise the founding emperor had no choice but to make when he first ascended the throne. By now all those great different-surname vassal kings have long turned to dust, and the eighteen vassal kingdoms have all become fiefs of the Liu imperial clan.

The lord of a vassal kingdom enjoys extensive autonomy within his fief, holds the power to appoint and dismiss all officials below the rank of a commandery Grand Administrator, and also enjoys the poll tax and land tax of his domain; therefore every vassal kingdom places great importance on population growth, and most welcome outsiders who come to register.

Take Wu Kingdom, the most prosperous thanks to copper mining — if a fugitive criminal comes seeking refuge, they are even willing to pay to redeem the offender's sentence and keep him as corvée labor; as for those with a special skill, all manner of preferential treatment and protection goes without saying.

At this time the place Shaowei's party threw themselves upon lay at the southernmost end of Dongting Lake — it was the fief of the Prince of Changsha.

Under the kingdom the seat of administration is the commandery, below the commandery is the county; Shaowei followed Jiang Fu into the county office to see the clerk in charge of population and household registers.

Shaowei stood behind Jiang Fu, looking at the Taishi Bi in the hall; the wall depicted a portrait of a clerk, and from the inscription Shaowei half-guessed, half-inferred that it was probably the portrait of the first Grand Administrator of this commandery.

Currently it is fashionable in every commandery and county to paint the portrait of the previous chief official on the Taishi Bi of the government yamen, and write his name along with his integrity or corruption, advances and retreats, merits and faults, for later comers to gaze upon or take as a warning.

Besides the figure portraits, the wall also depicted miscellaneous strange things — mountain gods, sea spirits — Shaowei found these even more interesting; she curiously examined those bizarre murals while listening to Jiang Fu spout nonsense with that clerk.

Out on the road, identity and background are whatever you give them.

The persona Jiang Fu crafted for herself was a widow; her parents had died early, she had no brothers at home, only a green ox, a manservant, and a younger sister.

From the identity token she handed up proving her identity and native place, it could be seen that she and her younger sister "Jiang Shaowei" were natives of Donghai Commandery.

The clerk exclaimed: "Donghai Commandery must be a good two thousand li from here..."

Jiang Fu also sighed gloomily: "Indeed, if not forced by dire necessity, why would we migrate a thousand li to this place..."

The clerk happened to be at leisure; seeing this beautiful widow hesitate to speak, he couldn't help probing further to get to the bottom of it.

The clerk's attitude was extremely amiable and concerned; adding population benefited his official duties, and besides that, seeing Jiang Fu's exceptional looks and her frame and bones not at all slight, he couldn't help harboring some thoughts — their county magistrate's second son was still unmarried.

In the current world there is no prejudice against widows; on the contrary, a widow who has borne children is even more valued, her childbearing experience proving her more suited to continuing the family line.

Take the birth mother of the current Fifth Prince Liu Cheng, Lady Rui Ji — before entering the palace she had also been married.

As for having caused her husbands' deaths? That is because a widow's fate is hard; a hard fate means nobility — one can only blame the dead husbands for having too weak a fate to suppress their noble wives.

Their county magistrate is from an official family — he is perfectly suited to marry a noble-fated widow to guard the household!

However the more he listened to this widow's deep words, the more off they tasted...

She was a widow all right, but a thrice-married widow... in other words, she alone had buried three husbands.

This migration from her hometown was because her last husband's brothers had developed improper designs on her — this sentence paired with her appearance sounded entirely credible.

The clerk was already sweating at the temples, and could only force himself to reply soothingly: "Coveting a brother's wife — that is not the act of a gentleman..."

Jiang Fu: "Right, perhaps Heaven couldn't bear to watch either, and took his life."

The clerk stared in shock: "He... he died too?"

Jiang Fu nodded lightly: "At night he fell from the top of the wall, struck his head and died. The household could no longer tolerate me."

The clerk sweated through his clothes.

Causing the death of one or two husbands is nothing, but things don't go past three... to curse to this extent is ultimately going too far.

Their county magistrate's household isn't noble enough to withstand this level... better be cautious.

Better believe it exists than risk one's fate.

The clerk dared not ask any more entangling questions; after Jiang Fu and her party left, he even had a runner sweep the hall again and brought in a peach-wood branch.

Peach groves are common here, and peach trees are planted along both sides of the official road.

The place where Jiang Fu's party registered residence is called Taoxi Township.

The registration qualification didn't require money, but the expense of buying a house and land was unavoidable; Shaowei guessed Jiang Fu didn't want to reveal her wealth, or perhaps to avoid enemies, so she chose to settle in this countryside rather than buy a mansion in a bustling commandery or county.

In short Shaowei didn't believe for a moment that Jiang Fu could be short of funds; on the journey Shaowei did worry about this — even with her lack of travel experience, one day she clearly saw Jiang Fu's money pouch nearly bottomed out, so the next day she only dared eat a single flatbread.

Yet Jiang Fu ordered her a bowl of meat soup, smiling: "Little ghost, don't be thrifty for Master; I said you'd eat meat every day, how could I go back on my word?"

When Jiang Fu paid, Shaowei discovered to her astonishment that the money pouch had become stuffed full again.

Expenses on this journey were high; heading south involved many water routes, and even ordinary small boats couldn't meet the need — because Jiang Fu insisted on bringing her green ox instead of selling it and buying a new mount at the next leg.

This green ox even fell ill from the water journey, costing several thousand cash, yet Jiang Fu still refused to abandon it.

Consequently the journey was very slow.

And during this long journey, no fewer than ten times Shaowei saw Jiang Fu's money pouch go from flat to full, cycling repeatedly.

Shaowei suspected Mo Li went out at night to steal, but found not a shred of evidence.

So Shaowei could only be forced to suspect the pouch contained some kind of qiankun; one night while Jiang Fu slept soundly, Shaowei, who had feigned sleep and endured until midnight, quietly crawled over, felt the money pouch, repeatedly examined and tugged it, even held it to her nose and sniffed carefully — no anomaly was discovered, but it attracted Mo Li to crawl over too, asking what she was sneaking to eat.

Jiang Fu seemed to sense her disciple's burning curiosity; early the next morning she mysteriously shook the money pouch in her hand, blinked, and asked her disciple: "Master is proficient in the art of turning stone into gold; want to learn?"

Shaowei wasn't buying it: "If you have such heaven-reaching ability, why not become a National Preceptor and cultivate merit to become an immortal?"

At that time along the road people often discussed the rumors of the Baili National Preceptor's feather-shedding ascension to immortality.

As for that twelve-character prophecy, because it concerned the state it was not permitted by the emperor to spread widely, but such things are destined to be impossible to completely ban, and still reached a few people's ears.

Hearing Shaowei mention that Baili National Preceptor, Jiang Fu raised her fine eyebrows: "If I become National Preceptor, who would pick up you, this little ghost?"

Turning away, she added in a joking tone: "Just wait until I survive past thirty, then becoming National Preceptor won't be late... this point I still have to trouble you with, little ghost."

In short the mystery of the money pouch remained unsolved; Shaowei stared at her back, feeling this person dropped a ground full of riddles with every step.

Shaowei followed behind her, treading on this ground full of riddles, her feet slipping at every step, her mind swirling with guesses, even suspecting Jiang Fu might be that Baili National Preceptor who ostensibly "ascended" but actually fled; but later Shaowei happened to hear that the Baili National Preceptor was a young man.

Additionally, Shaowei loved running to look at the wanted criminal posters posted everywhere, but found no clues there either.

Jiang Fu could bury three traps in a single sentence; every time Shaowei stepped into one she got teased, so to this day Shaowei still hasn't learned her origins; as for that widow-who-cursed-a-whole-crowd-to-death identity, it was obviously just a cover story.

The county office's runners delivered this widow dragging her family and cow to Taoxi Township, handing her over to the local Village Head before hurrying away.

The house Jiang Fu bought was at the far end of the village—a few mud houses, with a small river behind them, and across the river a gentle, verdant hill with a mild slope.

The mud houses needed repairs, and more than half the courtyard wall had collapsed; Jiang Fu asked the Village Head to hire some villagers to help fix them, and after several days of work, he paid them their wages.

Before long, news that an outsider widow had moved behind the village spread among dozens of nearby households, along with the wondrous tale that she had jinxed four, five, or six husbands to death.

Some men felt self-pityingly anxious out of misplaced affection, while the village women felt a measure of sympathy and sighing.

A fence was erected around the mud house first; Jiang Fu said that after summer passed, once they had enjoyed the spring and summer scenery beyond the fence, they would build the walls for winter, which was more economical.

Shaowei had her own small house now; after cleaning it, she put the luggage she had accumulated along the way inside. The bed and small table were very simple, newly made, and gave off a crisp, woody scent.

Mo Li dug in the yard; Jiang Fu said he wanted to plant something.

Two urns filled with water stood at the wall corner; though meant for fire prevention, they became the drinking troughs for the Green Ox and Zhan Zhan. Zhan Zhan was strict and orderly, absolutely forbidding the Green Ox from drinking from its urn; whenever the Green Ox drank the wrong one, it would get a round of pecking.

After drinking its fill, the Green Ox lay under the tree shade, lazily chewing fodder, while Zhan Zhan flew back and forth, chirping nonsense, trying to teach the only mute person in this household—the cow—to speak human words.

The cow got sleepy and dozed off while chewing grass.

Zhan Zhan was tired too, and rested standing on the cow's back.

Drowsiness is contagious; Jiang Fu yawned and went back to the house, not forgetting to tell Shaowei, who was sweeping the yard, to work hard.

As soon as Jiang Fu left, Shaowei grabbed a bamboo broom, left the fenced courtyard, and ran toward the back of the house.

Zhan Zhan hurriedly flapped its wings to follow.

Behind the house, vegetation was lush, bordering the river behind the village, a place few people stepped on normally.

Clear mountains and beautiful waters, flowers and grass everywhere; the afternoon sunlight already carried two parts of early summer heat.

Shaowei did something she had secretly thought about for several days.

She threw down the broom, kicked off her square-toed tiger shoes, and ran barefoot into the grassy patch, rolling over once.

Like a small animal arriving at a new habitat, wanting to cover this new territory with its own scent—a process that brings much security and a sense of belonging.

Shaowei rolled several times, lay on her back in the grass with her limbs spread wide, and breathing in the air, felt very at ease.

Though she had been forced to come here to save her life, there was none of the torment and anxiety of Tianlang Zhai here, no need to worry about Mother every moment. Nor were there the many proper rules of Lu Hou Fu; she did not have to live under others' strange scrutiny.

Jiang Fu was very good at making Shaowei angry, but this anger was different from the anger she felt on Tianlang Mountain and in Lu Hou Fu.

Zhan Zhan flew back and forth, its pure white feathers occasionally shaking off fine feather dust, which sparkled and floated in the afternoon sunlight, falling onto Shaowei.

In a daze, Shaowei thought: if Jiang Fu could truly cure her, and after five years they owed each other nothing and parted ways, she would take Zhan Zhan and travel across mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, becoming a mysterious knight-errant like Zhao Qie'an—carefree and unrestrained, coming and going without a trace.

The breeze stirred the grass; blades of grass brushed against Shaowei's face and nose, tickling her so she shrank her neck and let out a loud sneeze, returning from her fantasy.

Shaowei sat up, grabbed the broom, and with Zhan Zhan made a circuit to familiarize herself with the surrounding environment.

Taoxi Township was more than ten li from the prefecture/county seat, and travel was fairly convenient.

Newly arrived, there were many things to procure: today jars and urns, bowls and basins; tomorrow a nest of chicks on credit for eggs, and a large goose to guard the house; the day after, two thin quilts and several cool mats, not to mention occasionally cutting two jin of meat and drawing a pot of wine.

After running several such trips, Shaowei already knew the road between county and township very well and no longer needed to follow the villagers. That day at dawn, Shaowei and Mo Li drove the ox cart out the door.

Mo Li wanted to eat everything he saw; though he wouldn't clamor to buy, he would stand motionless before a food stall for a long time. Shaowei, who carried the money, couldn't pull him away, so she had to buy him a few things.

After such shopping and delay, by the time they got on the ox cart, it was already noon.

The noon air already showed the first heat of summer; the Green Ox's hide was much thicker than that of ordinary water buffalo or yellow ox. Pulling the cart carrying people and goods, its breathing grew faster as it ran, and its black cow nose sweated, the sweat running down from its large nostrils.

Shaowei told Mo Li to stop the cart, jumped down herself, picked up the two somewhat heavy wine jugs, and asked Mo Li: "Do you know the way?"

Mo Li, chewing half a piece of pork-skin cake in his mouth, nodded.

"Then you drive the cart back yourself; I'll take the mountain shortcut." Shaowei held a wine jug in one hand and turned to leave.

The shortcut Shaowei spoke of was the mountain across the small river behind the house. Crossing the mountain indeed saved some time, and was perfectly suited to someone as bold and solitary as Shaowei, full of bovine strength with nowhere to use it.

Since there was a road not far away to detour on, this mountain had few footprints; the mountain path was narrow, with chaotic branches on both sides, but fortunately it was not steep. Zhan Zhan scouted ahead, and soon one person and one bird reached the mountaintop.

For no reason, Shaowei thought of the last time she was at death's door, when Zhan Zhan had likewise led the way through the mountain forest, acting as her scout.

Watching the small birds flying to the treetops to catch insects, Shaowei sat on a rock at the mountaintop to rest a while, and secretly strengthened her determination to live a little longer.

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly rolled up from below the mountain.

Shaowei instinctively crouched down at once, hid among the plants and trees, and looked down the mountain.

The horse hooves drew nearer, but the speed slowed. A procession of men and horses passed by here; from the light cavalry at the head, to the canopy carriages in the middle, and the attendants running alongside, they all stopped one after another to drink water and rest in the tree shade.

With this mountain body providing shade and a cool breeze naturally at the mountain mouth, this stretch of road was indeed very suitable as a resting place.

The mountain was not high, and Shaowei's five senses far exceeded those of ordinary people; her eyesight was excellent. Looking roughly, she saw that this group actually numbered over a hundred, with guards wearing blades, as well as officials and eunuchs, and a strangely dressed man without hair.

The hairless man came before a canopy carriage draped with gauze, put his palms together, and said something unknown.

Shaowei had no intention of investigating further and was about to turn and leave when a refreshing mountain wind swept by, lifting the gauze on one side of the canopy carriage. The side profile and bodily outline of the person inside the carriage rushed into Shaowei's gaze, which she was about to withdraw, just like the cool breeze.