Chen Jingji had brought her a watermelon, and she didn’t want to owe anyone favors.
Broker Chen bowed his hands: “Such generosity fills me with gratitude, but my grandmother is still waiting for me to have dinner. Perhaps another day I can come and trouble you again.”
Hearing this, Wei Caiwei guessed that Broker Chen had probably lost both parents and was raised by his grandmother. She made a mental note to be mindful of this in future conversations.
Broker Chen had recently earned five taels in commission fees thanks to Wei Caiwei, so his finances were more comfortable. Humming northern tunes, he went to the prepared foods shop and bought a fan-sized sauced pig’s face to take home.
The Chen family lived in Machang Alley on Drum Tower West Slanted Street, where all the residents were common folk from small households. In the hot weather, every family set their meals out in the alley lanes—it was cooler and more sociable.
Indeed, just as Wei Caiwei had guessed, Broker Chen had lost both parents and the family had fallen on hard times. Grandmother and grandson depended on each other. Old Lady Chen had also set up dinner in the alley, covering the table with a bamboo food cover to keep away flies and moths, waiting for her grandson to come home for dinner.
When Broker Chen returned with the sauced pig’s face, Old Lady Chen was sitting at the dinner table making shoes.
Seeing her grandson carrying such a large pig’s face, Old Lady Chen said: “Our family only has two mouths to feed—we can’t eat all this, and it’s too hot to keep overnight. Divide it up and take portions to the neighbors.”
In these market neighborhoods, eating alone behind closed doors would earn you criticism behind your back.
Broker Chen kept a small portion for his own family and divided the rest into seven bowls to distribute to the neighbors.
When cutting the pig’s face, he had an ulterior motive—he pressed the meat tightly into one bowl with a spoon. On the surface, all five bowls looked the same with little mounds on top, but that one bowl had at least half again as much meat.
Broker Chen went door to door delivering pig’s face meat, earning much praise:
“Oh my, Broker Chen must have made a big deal! Congratulations on your fortune!”
“Reviving the Chen family business is just around the corner!”
When he reached the neighboring Li the Tile-maker’s house, Broker Chen deliberately straightened his clothes and, carrying the bowl with the most meat, knocked on the door frame: “I’m here to add a dish to your table.”
In the hot weather, all doors and windows were open, with bamboo curtains hanging over doorways to keep out insects. A delicate hand pushed aside the bamboo curtain, revealing a lotus-like face—it was Li the Tile-maker’s daughter, Li Jiubao.
Li Jiubao was the flower of Machang Alley. However, in Broker Chen’s opinion, among all the girls in the alley neighborhoods around Drum Tower West Slanted Street, Li Jiubao was the most beautiful.
When she was born, her father Li the Tile-maker was still at the gambling table playing pai gow, having just drawn the highest combination in pai gow—the Supreme Treasure, a three-dot and two-four combination adding up to nine points.
Li the Tile-maker already had a son. Having won the whole table with Supreme Treasure while a neighbor ran to the gambling house to tell him he’d gained a daughter, Li the Tile-maker experienced double happiness. Feeling his daughter had brought him the good luck of Supreme Treasure’s nine points, he named his daughter Li Jiubao.
Li Jiubao was not only beautiful but had the forthright spirit of capital women—she wasn’t timid or withdrawn. She generously invited Broker Chen inside.
Broker Chen placed the tightly packed bowl of pig’s face meat on the dinner table, which held a bowl of millet porridge, two mixed-grain flatbreads, and a small dish of pickled cucumber.
This was Li Jiubao’s dinner—rather meager indeed, without a drop of oil, which is why it wasn’t set out in the alley.
Broker Chen pretended not to notice and made small talk: “Li the Tile-maker and Big Brother Li haven’t come home yet?”
Li Jiubao said: “They took on a new job in Sanli Village outside the city and will be busy for several months. They can only come home when they have time off.”
Sanli Village again? What a coincidence. That’s where Young Master Wang went to sell his mother’s dowry estate to save the courtesan.
Broker Chen nervously rubbed the back of his head: “Having work is good. Well then… you eat first, I’m leaving.”
“Thank you, Big Brother Chen.” Li Jiubao saw Broker Chen to the door.
When Broker Chen returned to eat with his grandmother, several new dishes had appeared on their table—dumplings from the eastern neighbor, flatbread from the western neighbor, and home-brewed rice wine from Wang the Pockmarked’s house, all gifts in return for the sauced pig’s face.
Broker Chen ate this sumptuous dinner while thinking that with Li the Tile-maker and his son both working away, Li Jiubao could enjoy that bowl of meat all to herself, making his thoughtfulness worthwhile—Li Jiubao loved eating sauced pig’s face most, and he had bought it especially for her.
Having money was wonderful! When would he encounter another deal that could easily earn him five taels of silver?
Sauced pig’s face was easy to buy, but money for a wife was hard to earn.
To marry Li Jiubao, the betrothal gifts couldn’t be modest.
Tomorrow would be another day of working hard to earn money to marry the flower of Machang Alley.