Chapter 31

Chapter 31: I’ll Get It Back for You

“At a time like this, you are not talking about how I will leave sooner or later,” Huo Zheng said.

Chun Zhi laughed and said: “You beat them today, so I do not think they will dare come back.”

“Do not expect the best,” Huo Zheng replied. He remembered how Wu Xin had not been afraid at all of her reporting to the county yamen. That was not normal. “Last time, that Su family of three pretended to be your kin. As soon as they heard you would report it, they turned pale. But this Wu Xin is not afraid in the least. There must be something behind this.”

“We cannot always think the worst,” Chun Zhi said.

She added in a soft voice: “People are born to taste every flavor in the world. We taste sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. We may suffer for many years, but the sweet part is only a moment. I am the kind of person who just lives one day at a time and does not think about all those other things.”

Hearing this, Huo Zheng felt she made some sense. But when he thought more, he felt it was not right either. He asked: “Do you know how to write a complaint?”

“Ah?” Chun Zhi blinked, then admitted in a small voice: “I really do not.”

“Lay out paper and grind ink,” Huo Zheng said. “I will write it for you.”

Chun Zhi still hesitated.

Seeing that, Huo Zheng almost said that if anyone at the county yamen dared to take her money, he would make that official lose his hat. He swallowed the words. Chun Zhi asked, curious: “What were you going to do?”

He changed his words and said: “I will get it back for you.”

“You have that kind of nerve?” she teased.

“Stop talking nonsense,” Huo Zheng said. “Hurry and get the paper and ink.”

Chun Zhi kept grinding beans and said with a worried look: “But…”

“What is it?” Huo Zheng frowned. Why was it so hard to have this young miss report the case and let the magistrate’s office handle it?

“When I bought this tofu workshop, the house deed and the land deed were not written in my name,” she said.

Huo Zheng’s handsome face cooled: “If not yours, then whose?”

“Lu Jing Yun,” Chun Zhi answered in a small voice.

Huo Zheng let out a laugh that held no warmth and said: “You spent the silver. You bought the place. And the name on the deeds is Lu Jing Yun?”

He was smiling, but his eyes had no warmth at all. Anger simmered there. Chun Zhi did not dare answer. Huo Zheng said nothing more, turned on his heel, and left. If the deeds were in Lu Jing Yun’s name, there was no need to report anything. Even if they went to court, the tofu workshop would not end up with Chun Zhi.

“Huo Zheng,” Chun Zhi called softly. “What do you want for lunch?”

He did not answer. After he went into the room, it went quiet. Chun Zhi finished grinding beans and started making tofu. Under the Linshui Tofu sign, she sold a second basket. When it was time to cook lunch, Huo Zheng still did not come out to help. She knocked on the door and called: “Huo Zheng, come out and light the fire.”

He did not reply. Chun Zhi pushed open the door and asked: “What are you doing in here? Come out.”

Huo Zheng was studying the situation in Nanzhou and thinking how long it would take to break out of it. There was not even a chessboard in the tiny house, so he set out soybeans as pieces and lined them up like armies.

Seeing him shut in the room playing with beans, Chun Zhi knew he was truly angry. She said softly: “It is almost noon. Let us make something to eat first.”

He ignored her. So Chun Zhi lit the fire herself, cut the pork into chunks for braising, and then boiled two bowls of noodles. She laid the braised pork on top. The color was bright and the smell was mouthwatering. She set the bowls on the Eight Immortals Table and stood by the doorway fanning so the scent drifted into his room.

Before long, Huo Zheng came out on his cane. Chun Zhi set down the fan, handed him chopsticks, and said with relief: “Finally, you came out. Eat while it is still good. The noodles will get sticky if we wait.”

Sometimes, Huo Zheng did not know whether to call this young miss clever or silly. Maybe she was clever with other people and silly only with Lu Jing Yun. Anger or not, the braised pork smelled too good, and the noodles were chewy. He ate without a word.

Sitting across from him, Chun Zhi ate slowly and explained: “When I bought the tofu workshop, everything happened too fast. I was young, and I was an outsider. The magistrate’s office would not process the transfer.”

Huo Zheng did not answer.

She went on: “At the time I lived with the Lu Clan. I ate their food and stayed under their roof, so I thought I should repay them more.”

“Since you thought that way, why did you leave the Lu Clan?” Huo Zheng asked coolly. He even suspected that if he were not here, Chun Zhi would already be back to become Lu Jing Yun’s concubine.

“The past is the past. Now is now,” Chun Zhi said. “Besides, I already repaid the Lu Clan. Now the Lu Clan owes me.”

“Do you truly think so?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said.

Huo Zheng picked up the last piece of braised pork from his bowl, ate it slowly, and asked: “Is there more?”

“There is more in the pot. I will get you some.”

She took his bowl to the stove and brought him another full serving. As he ate, the lines between his brows slowly eased.

In the afternoon, business was quieter. Chun Zhi used the time to sew clothes for Huo Zheng. Near dusk, a yamen constable arrived to deliver a message, saying: “Wu Xin went to the county yamen to file a case. He says you illegally took over his tofu workshop. The case has been submitted. Court will be in session three days from now. You must attend on time.”

“What?” Chun Zhi was stunned. “I have not even accused Wu Xin yet, and he already accused me first?”

“That is how it is,” the constable said. “Three days from now, come early to the county yamen and wait for the magistrate’s summons.”

Chun Zhi answered “yes,” sent the constable off, and still felt it was hard to believe. The wicked man had gone first and dragged her to court.

Seeing she had not recovered, Huo Zheng asked: “Court will open in three days. What do you plan to do?”

After thinking a moment, Chun Zhi said: “I have to go to the Lu Clan and ask Lu Jing Yun for the house deed and land deed.”

“How will you ask?” Huo Zheng said.

“How else? I will ask directly,” Chun Zhi said. “He is the Top Scholar now and riding high. He will not care about a small tofu workshop like mine.”

“And if Lu Jing Yun refuses?” Huo Zheng asked.

“Do not jinx it,” Chun Zhi could not help saying.

Huo Zheng pressed his lips together and looked at her with dark eyes.

“If he will not give them,” Chun Zhi said, “then I will cry, make a scene, and threaten to hang myself at the Lu Residence until he gives them to me.”

“I will go with you,” Huo Zheng said.

“No need,” Chun Zhi said. “It is a small matter. You do not need to step in.”

“Do not worry. I will not step in,” Huo Zheng said. “I mainly want to see how you cry, make a scene, and threaten to hang yourself in front of Lu Jing Yun.”

Chun Zhi fell silent at once: “…”