……
The relay station’s main hall was once again packed full, but unlike the earlier atmosphere when Supervisor Qi and his group of officials were there, it was quiet and oppressive.
Footsteps outside broke the suffocating silence as a station worker timidly entered with someone.
“We found that cart driver.”
The driver hired by that woman was from a nearby village and frequently came to the relay station, so the workers all knew him, making him easy to find.
“Let me ask you,” Deng Yi looked directly at the driver. “That woman Yang who hired your cart—do you still remember the route to her home?”
The driver’s expression showed some hesitation, as if wanting to both nod and shake his head.
Be careful or you’ll get whipped, the Station Master cursed inwardly, urging him: “Speak quickly! Don’t you even know whether you remember or not?”
The driver said frantically: “No, it’s not that I don’t remember. It’s that the lady didn’t have me take her home. I only took her to the county seat, then she left.”
The county seat?
That woman Yang said she was from Yang Village. From the county seat to Yang Village was still quite a distance.
The Station Master stood dumbfounded.
Deng Yi looked at the driver: “How did she leave?”
The driver looked somewhat confused by the question: “She just… walked away.”
He couldn’t help but mime a walking gesture.
That woman wore ragged, tattered clothes and walked with a swaying, twisting gait that made him unable to resist watching her for a few extra glances.
Deng Yi’s gaze turned toward the Station Master. The Station Master saw the half-smile at the corner of his mouth, that smile lashing out like a whip.
“Station Master Xu, a person nearly dead walked away on foot, and walked rather attractively at that.”
……
……
Though the county seat wasn’t large, it was bustling and lively.
In the bitter cold, wine shops and teahouses were packed with people. Even the pleasure houses had quite a few customers in broad daylight.
In the exquisitely decorated, sweetly fragrant hall, customers embraced women around braziers, drinking wine—truly a celestial paradise.
A woman carrying a qin swayed gracefully through the hall toward a private room when a regular customer in the hall spotted her and called out, “Li Niang, Li Niang.”
Li Niang turned her head, giving him a flirtatious glance and calling out “Master.”
“Li Niang,” that customer caught hold of her skirt corner. “I haven’t seen you for several days. You’ve abandoned this devoted admirer of yours. Which gentleman have you been accompanying?”
As if this was something very amusing, Li Niang couldn’t help giggling: “I haven’t been accompanying any customers. I’ve been playing mother to someone.”
The customer didn’t understand: “Could it be you had a very young customer? Those tender fledglings aren’t easy to serve.”
Li Niang pulled her skirt corner from his hand, avoiding the topic, coquettishly scolding: “I’ll tell you all about it in detail next time.”
She had just pinched her skirt corner to leave when commotion erupted at the main entrance. Many people burst in, accompanied by the panicked voices of the proprietor and servers.
“Officers?”
“Constables?”
“What’s happening?”
The customers and women in the hall were also startled, turning to look. Before they could see clearly who had come, they heard a thud—Li Niang had dropped the qin she’d been holding.
That frightened?
Li Niang’s face showed not so much fear as something bizarre. Looking at the fat man walking steadily closer, she squeezed out a smile: “This… Master—”
The Station Master ground out each word through clenched teeth: “Madam Yang, seeing you’ve recovered from your grave illness, I’m truly delighted!”