Chapter 16: Household Slave

"Who the hell is that, daring to humiliate a bailiff like this — is there no law left?"

Heart pounding with fear, Pang Yu peeked out from behind the corner gate and asked He Xianya, who had also ducked inside for cover.

The purple-robed man's group lingered at the entrance for a while but in the end did not pursue the bailiffs into the county yamen to seize them, which at least left the Ming dynasty's grassroots government a shred of face.

"Their law is a bit bigger," He Xianya said, touching his own red and swollen cheek. "The one in purple is called Old Zheng, a household slave of the retired Country Squire Wu Yingqi. Another one is called Kang Jin, a household slave of the Country Squire Ye Can. I don't know the other few."

"Household slave?" Pang Yu turned his head in surprise and looked at He Xianya. "Is a household slave the same as a hired servant? My family has those too — who indulges him to be so arrogant?"

"Second Brother, are you joking? What your family has is called a hired servant. Only the gentry households have household slaves. The masters of those houses all hold examination degrees, and their clan power is great — the yamen dares not interfere with them."

"Even the County Magistrate can't control them?"

He Xianya patiently said, "They are all officials who retired from service, rank three or rank four, with former disciples and old associates all over the realm. The County Magistrate is only rank seven. If he offends these people, and one of their old associates happens to be a Censor who sends an impeachment memorial straight to the Cabinet, or files a slanderous complaint with the Grand Coordinator or the Regional Inspector — what do you think the County Magistrate's fate would be?"

Pang Yu rubbed his nose. Every era is pretty much the same — these gentry are the local power brokers, and the household slaves are basically their enforcers. Relying on their masters' influence, the authorities dare not control them, so they grow more and more brazen.

But as Pang Yu stayed hidden and observed, he noticed that those household slaves were extremely cordial with some of the clerks and runners nearby — they had not come to target all the official underlings.

He Xianya touched his swollen cheek. "Old Zheng, Kang Jin, and their whole crew can be considered a local bully force in Tongcheng — normally no one dares provoke them. They are numerous, mostly household slaves from various families. Relying on the influence of each family's master, they've all made a fortune in silver. Before, there were two or three such crews in Tongcheng, some made up of household slaves from lesser families. Now they've all been suppressed by Old Zheng's crew. With less silver coming in, their influence is even weaker — they all have to defer to Old Zheng and his people."

"What do they all rely on to earn silver?"

"They have many channels, but the key ones are three: first, gambling dens; second, pawnbroking; and then brokerages. These few can also be mixed together."

Pang Yu nodded. There was no need to explain how gambling dens made money. The pawnbroking trade was never just about pawning items — most of it involved lending, and it was invariably usury. But the tricks inside the brokerage business were still not entirely clear to him. Old Zheng's crew was similar to a later-era criminal syndicate, monopolizing Tongcheng's high-profit industries.

He Xianya pointed at two clerks chatting with the purple-robed men. "See those few? They're all from the Household Office. Half the people beaten today were people who had offended the Household Office in the past."

Pang Yu said, puzzled, "Our eldest brother is on duty in the Fast Squad — how did he offend the Household Office too?"

"Jiao Guo… Eldest Brother wouldn't listen to my advice. Just because the Punishment Office was cheaper by a few mace of silver, he switched to buying his license tickets from the Punishment Office. That alone would have been bad enough, but he also took nearly half the Fast Squad with him, cutting off the Household Office's path to wealth. Tell me, who would the Household Office hate if not him? Old Zheng and his crew usually have the closest ties with the Household Office — of course they came to take the chance to humiliate people."

"How do household slaves have ties with the Household Office?"

"That path can't be explained in just a few words." He Xianya spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. "If you, Second Brother, have the good fortune to be assigned to the Household Office someday, you'll naturally understand. Ah, if only you could go to the Household Office — then I, your little brother, would have someone to lean on. What a pity…"

Hearing He Xianya's tone, Pang Yu realized he was still being looked down upon. He had been about to curse He Xianya a couple of times, but then he reflected that in just these short two days, not only had he failed to gain any real benefit, he had also offended his direct superior, and today he had inexplicably provoked a crew of household slaves. He really ought to do some proper self-reflection.

"Can't be too high-profile, damn it."

After saying this to himself, Pang Yu poked his head out again to observe outside. By now, family members of the various victims had gotten word and arrived, carrying the men away one after another. Some who had no one to pick them up paid out of their own pockets to hire people. As it happened, there were many onlookers, who one after another took the jobs. Only a few men remained on the ground, and the crowd of spectators was gradually dispersing.

Old Zheng's crew had finally had their fill of amusement and were laughing and joking as they headed toward the east gate. Pang Yu breathed a sigh of relief. The two of them walked out the main gate and saw Jiao Guozha still lying prone in the open. Pang Yu did not dare go help him up, lest he provoke the County Vice-Magistrate and the Household Office faction again.

"Third Brother, go to Qingfeng Market and hire two porters to come carry Eldest Brother back."

He Xianya dodged two steps away. "Second Brother, spare me. I don't dare get involved any further. The Jiao family will have gotten word — they'll naturally come to move him. Let's leave it at that for today. I, your little brother, still have matters to attend to."

Without waiting for Pang Yu to call him back, He Xianya fled as if for his life. Pang Yu knew He Xianya was afraid of drawing disaster onto himself, but leaving Jiao Guozha abandoned was not an option either. Just as he was at a loss, he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. He turned his head and saw it was actually the Female Aide Zhou Yueru. So much had happened today, he had nearly forgotten about this female aide.

Zhou Yueru said with a red face, "I, well, the people being carried out from inside had no pants on… it's shameful. I didn't dare stay at the gate."

"So now you dare come over."

"Just now I heard them say it was bailiffs who got beaten. This humble one… came over to see if you were among them."

Pang Yu tilted his head, looked at Zhou Yueru, and grinned. "Seeing that this young master didn't get beaten — aren't you just delighted in your heart?"

Zhou Yueru's face reddened. "A villain like you — I'd only be delighted if you got beaten."

Pang Yu beckoned with his hand, led Zhou Yueru out of the crowd, then fished out a few bits of broken silver and gave them to her.

Seeing the silver, Zhou Yueru asked in pleasant surprise, "For me? That whatchamacallit — bonus?"

"What did you do to earn a bonus? You think bonuses are that easy to get?" Pang Yu stealthily pointed at Jiao Guozha on the ground. "This young master is doing a good deed for once. Go somewhere farther off and find two porters. Have them carry Jiao Guozha home. Don't come back together with the porters. You absolutely must not let anyone know it was this young master who sent for them. Just say you're Jiao Guozha's younger sister or his wife or whatever — in short, just tell them to carry Jiao Guozha, and that's it."

Hearing that the silver was not for her, Zhou Yueru's smiling face instantly fell. She gave a snort and headed toward Qingfeng Market. Pang Yu watched her stride away with large steps, her gait completely different from all the other women he usually saw. He recalled that Aunt Liu and those others had bound feet and always walked with tiny steps — could it be that this Zhou girl had never bound her feet?

Pang Yu paid no mind to her mood. Lowering his head, he noticed that Jiang Guoyong from earlier was not far from his feet. No family member had come to take him away. Without a word, he was crawling outward on his own. People came and went all around him, yet no one lent him a hand.

This man, though a bit rigid in his thinking, had acted with a sense of duty earlier — at least more righteous than any of the bailiffs present. But however righteous he was, Pang Yu did not dare help him.

After all, everyone in the yamen knew Jiao Guozha was his sworn brother — even if the matter leaked, there was still room to maneuver. But Jiang Guoyong was the public enemy of the yamen. Helping him would be tantamount to cutting himself off from the yamen entirely. The risk and the reward were grossly disproportionate.

And so Pang Yu simply stood where he was, watching Jiang Guoyong's lonely figure slowly crawl into the distance along County Front Street, amid the constant flow of people.

Just as Jiang Guoyong was about to vanish at the end of the street, two men came over and loudly asked who Jiao Guozha was. Jiao Guozha answered in a wailing voice and was carried away by those two. Zhou Yueru followed behind them and only came over after Jiao Guozha was far away.

Pang Yu casually praised her, "Got things done pretty fast. Was the silver enough?"

Zhou Yueru looked at Pang Yu with dissatisfaction. "How much silver did you even give? I gave it all to those two men, and they were still unwilling. Only after a great deal of pleading did they agree."

"Is that so. I'll give you a bit more next time. Off work now." Pang Yu scratched his head and headed home.

Seeing Pang Yu walking on ahead, Zhou Yueru secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She felt the two leftover bits of broken silver in her palm and murmured softly, "Good thing that fool doesn't even know how to use silver. The money for meals these next few days is covered again."

Zhou Yueru had been doing business at home for a long time. Petty profiteering was something small merchants did, but she had truly never embezzled someone else's silver before. Even though she felt that embezzling the silver of a scoundrel like Pang Yu couldn't be considered wrong, in her heart she genuinely could not get past this threshold. Watching Pang Yu's carefree, swaggering figure ahead, Zhou Yueru's face alternated between red and pale. The two small bits of broken silver in her hand grew damp with sweat.

Pang Yu was completely unaware of all this. Today was his first day on the job in the ancient world, and he had happened to run into the rare occasion of the County Vice-Magistrate holding court. There was a lot he needed to digest. Fortunately, with his complex experiences from his previous life, he did not regard offending a few household slaves as a big deal. He merely kept running an after-action review of today's encounters in his mind. Recalling the scene of the County Vice-Magistrate throwing his weight around, Pang Yu threw a couple of punches with a strong sense of vicarious identification, utterly oblivious to the fierce internal struggle going on behind him in his female secretary.

When they were finally almost at Pang Yu's front door, Zhou Yueru bit her lip and called out in a low voice, "Hey, you of the Pang family…"

Pang Yu snapped out of his thoughts, stopped, and turned around. "What is it?"

"Well, that thing." Zhou Yueru opened her hand to reveal the two bits of broken silver. "Just now I put it in the wrong money pouch. These two pieces are what's left over. Returning… returning them to you."

Pang Yu gave an "Oh," and in one motion snatched the silver back, adding, "You think this young master doesn't know how much silver it costs to hire people? This young master was specifically testing you. Tell me, just now were you planning to embezzle my silver or not?"

Zhou Yueru stood there, both ashamed and furious, her face completely red. Had she known this would be the outcome, she would never have returned the money to Pang Yu.

Seeing her face like a peach blossom, Pang Yu's lustful heart inevitably began to stir. "Seeing as you're fairly honest, I'm satisfied with your work performance. Your probation period is considered passed. I can continue to employ you."

"Employed or not, my family's situation is still the same. If there's nothing else today, I need to go back early. There's only Old Liang at the shop. This humble one has to go back and look after my father."

Pang Yu thought of Shopkeeper Zhou and couldn't help asking, "Right, how is your old man doing after going back?"

Zhou Yueru's expression fell. As she walked, she said in a low voice, "Father was frightened in jail. After coming home, he hasn't gotten out of bed. Whenever he hears any noise, he cries out. He eats and drinks very little."

"That's called post-traumatic stress disorder. Guide and comfort him more in daily life. Don't stimulate him over nothing. He'll be better after a while."

"How could I ever stimulate him? But life is so hard, it's not up to him not to be distressed. Look, I have to come serve as your aide every day. The shop relies entirely on Old Liang. Many of our former regular customers, after hearing about this matter, don't dare come to our place to buy anymore. There's only a bit of copper coin left in the shop. We're about to be unable to even put food in the pot. How can we possibly repay that two taels of silver to you every month?"

"What does that have to do with me, this young master? Who told your father to hit someone? The meaning behind your words — are you hinting that I should stop collecting that two taels of monthly payment from you?"

Seeing Zhou Yueru start crying again, Pang Yu said with utter indifference, "If you want to blame someone, blame your father first for hitting so hard. What kind of taking advantage is a few touches? You ancient people just have to make a big deal out of it. If everything were handled that way, back when I used to squeeze onto the subway, I'd have died several hundred times per trip."

Zhou Yueru naturally did not understand, but she knew Pang Yu was unwilling to grant leniency on the repayment. She lowered her head and simply wiped away tears.

Pang Yu's heart itched as he glanced at Zhou Yueru, and his tone softened. "Playing pitiful with me is useless. We'll handle this strictly by the contract. If you want to clear the debt, you have to show some ability. If you really have the skill, this young master isn't afraid to give you silver. That said, this young master is a good man after all, and I can't just watch you go hungry."

Zhou Yueru froze for a moment, looking at Pang Yu doubtfully. "Really?"

As they spoke, the two had already reached the entrance of the Pang house. Suddenly, Pang Yu added, "However!"

Zhou Yueru's heart lurched again. She watched Pang Yu cautiously as he raised a finger and said, "However, there's no love without reason in this world, and no pie falls from the sky. This young master has one simple principle: everything in the world is a transaction. If I give you a benefit, you must also give this young master a little benefit in return. Only then can business last."

Zhou Yueru clutched her hands to her chest in alarm. "What do you want?"

Seeing this, Pang Yu said angrily, "You think this young master would take advantage of you? I was only going to have you give me a massage. Now I've changed my mind. Go to my family's shop and cut and sort medicine."

"You!"

"You what, you. Go do chores for my mother. You don't leave until she says you can."

Zhou Yueru panted heavily a few times and said, "But if your mother finds out it was my father who beat you, she'll beat me half to death. I don't dare go."

Pang Yu gave a snort and walked toward the inner rooms. "A petty mind. My mother is the most broad-minded, and her heart is good… Huh, how come no one's home? Where did my mother run off to?"

……

"Sister Zhang, come look at Aunt Xu's satin. She says it's from Yusheng Nanhuo Store in the east city. I've never seen this color before."

"Oh my, it's true. This color fades from white to red, just like peach blossoms."

"I heard it's also Xi-style. Tomorrow let's go have a look too."

"Sister Zhang must be longing for a little peach-blossom luck, dressing herself up like a peach blossom first."

"Go on, go on, nonsense talk. At this age, what peach-blossom luck is there left? That's all for the young ones."

Inside Cheng Gen Lane by Tongcheng's Zhenyang Gate, in a two-courtyard residence, two pots of tea were brewing in the middle of the courtyard, with pine kernels and large jujubes floating on the water. A group of women sat in several clusters, chattering away in twos and threes. They were holding the once-every-ten-days Tea Gathering here, which was a social activity for common women in the Ming dynasty. Tea at this time could be steeped or boiled, but when women gathered to while away more time, they usually added dried fruits and the like to boil together, then ate everything along with the tea, so it was also called Eating Tea.

In the Ming dynasty, the southern economy was developed, and women participated in many economic activities, though social activities were still somewhat restricted. Yet women still had a need for socializing, so these Tea Gatherings were often held in the neighborhoods. The participants were all womenfolk, making it a perfect destination for gossip and idle chatter about domestic matters.

Aunt Xu took up the thread, lowering her voice mysteriously. "Hey, speaking of the young ones' affairs, the engagement between the Pang and Liu families has been broken off. Aunt Liu's face has been as black as a pot bottom these past Two Days. Do you all know why it was broken off?"

"I heard that the Pang family's Rain boy got his head bashed in and caught a yin evil. He's terribly strange now. My husband went to visit a few days ago and said he'd shaved his beard clean off and was asking everyone if they were some kind of 'extra actor.' Who knows what an 'extra actor' even means. Two out of every three sentences he says are nonsense. The Liu family naturally couldn't push their own daughter into a fire pit."

"How old is your news? What we heard is that the Pang family was in the wrong. Rain boy secretly found an outside woman, and even brought her to the Liu family's door Yesterday. I saw this with my own eyes. Tell me, before the main wife has even crossed the threshold, he dares bring an outside woman to provoke his father-in-law. How could the Liu family swallow that?"

"No, it seems the Pang family's medicine storehouse collapsed, and they could barely keep the pot boiling. The Liu family were snobs to begin with, so they made a scene and forced their way in to break off the engagement. That's when Rain boy found the outside woman."

"In any case, the Pang Family Medicine Shop is truly going to be ruined in Rain boy's hands. Just this morning, I even saw Sister-in-law Pang buying Incense Offerings, and she was talking quite loudly. Could it be she's going to invite a wandering monk or Daoist to perform an Exorcism for Rain boy…"

"We're talking about the Liu and Pang families' marriage, how did you drag Exorcism into it? Did the two families break it off or not?"

Several women were discussing in low voices while secretly sizing up Aunt Liu, who stood in another group. They were immersed in the joy of seeking truth, completely unaware of the sudden voice behind them.

"It's broken off."

The women started and turned their heads to see it was Pang Yu's mother, who had appeared behind them at some unknown moment. Awkward smiles appeared on all their faces at once. Aunt Xu took Pang Yu's mother's hand and said, "Oh my, Sister Pang, please don't take it to heart. We're just concerned about the neighborhood, all hoping the younger generation does well, aren't we."

"I know you're all hoping for the best, so I'll just tell you everything to spare you the worry." Pang Yu's mother raised her voice, and every woman in the courtyard Turned Around to listen attentively, Aunt Liu included.

Pang Yu's mother brushed the Powder residue from her apron and declared with full vigor, "As for our old Pang family, the medicine storehouse did collapse. Seventy percent of the medicine was soaked and ruined. The remaining thirty percent can only be sold at a discount. Rain's head was also struck. Some people said the Pang family was going to be ruined and looked down on our family. We granted her wish, and it was an amicable parting to dissolve the engagement. We're just waiting for the middleman to come witness it. Throughout all this, our Pang family never spoke a single harsh word."

Everyone sighed upon hearing this. Some offered a few words of comfort to Sister-in-law Pang, while others secretly glanced at Aunt Liu. Aunt Liu was holding a porcelain bowl Eating Tea. Upon hearing this, she spat a jujube pit onto the ground with a 'pei,' worked her tongue around in her mouth a few times, and didn't even look at Pang Yu's mother, wearing an expression of utter Disdain.

Once the crowd quieted down a little, Pang Yu's mother twisted her head and continued, "However, what some people couldn't guess is that our Rain has turned misfortune into a blessing and undergone a Spirit Awakening. Now he can read and write. The order and logic in his speech and actions — not even a Xiucai or Juren could match it."

As she spoke, her mouth crumpled and her eyes reddened. Sobbing, she said, "Our Rain is well now. Our old Pang family fears nothing now. If the medicine is gone, we'll buy more. If the silver is gone, we'll earn more. We'll fight with everything we have to hold this family together. The Pang Family Medicine Shop has been open for three generations…"

At this point, Pang Yu's mother's legs went weak. The people beside her quickly caught hold of her. The Zhang family's daughter-in-law brought over a cup of tea. "Sister Pang, rest a moment before you go on. It's freshly boiled Pine Kernel Tea. Have a sip of tea first to soothe your heart. There's nothing that can't be overcome."

Pang Yu's mother pushed the teacup aside with one hand and wailed toward the sky, "The old Pang family's three-generation medicine shop has never sold fake or waste medicine, never done anything against conscience. Heaven, have pity… You sent down a White-Bearded Immortal… Rain has received a great blessing. He's capable and kind-hearted, even forgiving the Zhou Family who injured him. Where can you find such a good man? If you don't want him, plenty of others do…"

All the grievances suppressed in her heart over the years were released in this wailing. In her emotional agitation, the old mother actually fainted. The courtyard fell into chaos. A perfectly good Tea Gathering was thrown into utter confusion. Everyone rushed to help, only Aunt Liu stood to one side, her face ashen, ignored by all.

"So that's how that Pang family whelp became so eloquent. Turns out he met an immortal. He really did have a Spirit Awakening. Pity my family's twenty-plus taels of silver, earned by rising early and toiling late into the dark."

The more Aunt Liu thought, the angrier she became. A surge of Anger choked in her chest with nowhere to go. With a thud, she too collapsed in the courtyard.