Chapter 23

Chapter 23: They Came Looking

After Huo Zheng washed the dishes once, Chun Zhi handed the job to him from then on. At first he did not like it much, but Chun Zhi’s cooking was too good, and while he was healing he had nothing else to do. Washing dishes was simple; after the first time, the second time felt normal.

To get married, Chun Zhi had taken two days off from her stall. On the third day, she got up before dawn to grind beans, made tofu, and hurried out early to set up.

Auntie Zhang and the others saw Chun Zhi back at her stall and asked her: “Newly married, why not rest a few more days?”

Chun Zhi said: “I can rest after I pack up. I’ve done this every day for years. If I don’t work for a day, I feel restless.”

The vendors all laughed that Chun Zhi did not know how to enjoy life. But Chun Zhi was not ignorant of comfort; she just loved to earn money. Missing even one day’s income felt awful. Also, staying home and facing Huo Qi all day felt awkward.

Because Chun Zhi had skipped two days, another tofu seller, Sister Zheng, had done very well. As soon as Chun Zhi returned, the old customers came back to her. People lined up at her stall, while over at Sister Zheng’s there was not even a shadow.

Sister Zheng said sourly: “I thought Chun Zhi married a fine young gentleman and would never have to get up early and run a small stall with us again. Who knew your husband is useless, and only two days after the wedding you have to sell tofu to support your home!”

Sister Zheng and Chun Zhi both sold tofu and usually did not get along. She had not gone to the wedding and did not know the groom was so handsome he took one’s breath away. With nothing better to do now, she dragged the top scholar into it again, saying loudly: “If you knew it would be like this, you should have become the top scholar’s concubine. You would at least be half an official lady…”

“Enough!” Auntie Zhang and the others could not stand it and kept telling Sister Zheng to stop. But Sister Zheng was set on embarrassing Chun Zhi. She did not stop; she only raised her voice.

Chun Zhi ignored her, kept smiling for customers, cut tofu, and weighed tofu. As usual, she sold out before noon. In contrast, Sister Zheng’s tofu had barely moved.

Chun Zhi had saved one piece especially for Auntie Zhang. After she packed her stall, she finally answered Sister Zheng with one line: “If you think being a concubine is so good, go be one yourself. Why say so much to me?”

Sister Zheng almost choked on the spot, and the neighbors could not help laughing.

Chun Zhi was always kind and did not pick fights for no reason, but she was not afraid of trouble either. Sister Zheng was a widow whose husband had died years ago. When she sold tofu she would flirt on the side. Her tofu was not great, but her affairs were many. The housewives stood together and refused to support her business. A while back, a squire had been interested in her and wanted to take her as a concubine, but when he heard her reputation for bringing bad luck to husbands, he backed away. Sister Zheng dreamed of joining a rich family as a second wife or a concubine, but after flirting left and right for years, nothing came of it. Meanwhile, Chun Zhi, who also sold tofu, had first fallen out with the top scholar because she refused to be his concubine, then turned down Gentryman Zhou, and whenever she set up, there was no money left for Sister Zheng to make. It was enough to drive her mad.

Chun Zhi thought of the injured man at home who needed more meat. After she packed up, she stopped by Brother Zhao’s stall, bought two jin of pork (about two pounds), and also a pigeon to stew soup for Huo Qi. The butcher, Zhao Da, teased her: “Getting married really changes things. You buy pork two jin at a time now.”

When she lived alone, Chun Zhi hardly bought meat, but it was different now. Huo Qi’s appetite spoke for itself.

Smiling, Chun Zhi put the pork and the pigeon on her handcart, bought a bunch of greens, and unhurriedly headed back to Peach Blossom Lane in the north of the city.

At the mouth of the lane, she ran into Auntie Li hurrying out.

Auntie Li called: “Chun Zhi! You’re back!” She had come out to find Chun Zhi: “Your birth parents are here. Go home and take a look.”

“Birth parents?” Chun Zhi froze. She had been kidnapped to Linshui Town ten years ago. At first she had wanted to find her birth parents. Later, after Lu Jing Yun took her around the county yamen in nearby prefectures and counties and none had a missing girl of her age, she gave up. Now Auntie Li was saying her birth parents had come back for her.

Chun Zhi pushed the cart and walked quickly.

Auntie Li hurried after her, saying: “They’re well dressed, look like they don’t lack money. If only they had come two days earlier, you wouldn’t have had to marry a man in a wheelchair…”

Chun Zhi walked fast. Auntie Li’s words buzzed in her ears, but she hardly heard them.

When she reached the tofu workshop, she saw a well-dressed couple in their forties and a young man in his twenties standing at the door. Just as Auntie Li had said, the three were neatly dressed and looked like they had money.

Chun Zhi set down the cart and stepped forward, saying: “You are…?”

“My daughter!” The woman in her forties rushed over the moment she saw Chun Zhi, hugged her tightly, and cried: “My poor daughter!”

Chun Zhi stiffened a little. She was not used to being hugged like this. The woman cried loudly: “It was all your older brother’s fault for insisting on taking you to the lantern festival, and that’s how the kidnappers snatched you away! These ten years… our whole family has searched for you for ten full years! At last we found you!”

“Auntie… please let me go,” Chun Zhi said. She tried to pry the woman’s hands off, but the woman held on too tightly, so she could only speak up and ask her to release her.

A middle-aged man stepped forward and said: “Stop crying, you’ll scare our daughter.”

“Chun Zhi,” the young man in his twenties came up and said: “I’m your older brother. My name is Chun Fu.”

Long ago, Chun Zhi had been very ill and forgot everything before the age of nine. She did not remember her birth parents or whether she had an older brother. These people came calling her Chun Zhi and said they were her parents and her brother. The middle-aged woman in particular cried about how hard it had been to search for her for ten years, and how much she had missed her.

After a brief pause, Chun Zhi forced the woman’s hands apart, stepped back, and watched the three of them with caution. She said: “You say you are my family. Do you have any proof?”

While wiping her tears, the woman said: “You have a pink birthmark on your lower back shaped like a peach blossom. Chun Zhi… Mother knows you’ve had a hard time all these years. It’s fine to be careful with strangers. From now on, your father and mother will protect you, and you won’t have to suffer anymore!” As she spoke, she reached to take Chun Zhi’s hand.

Chun Zhi stepped back again.

At that moment, the courtyard door opened from the inside and Huo Zheng came out, leaning on a crutch. With him standing behind her, Chun Zhi felt much more at ease. She looked at the three who claimed to be her family and said coolly: “But my name was not Chun Zhi before.”

The three people’s faces changed at once.