Thinking about drawing talismans, Gu Qingyun made an excuse to separate from Bai Fan. She walked along the street lined with funeral shops and entered the most ordinary-looking store. It was not as refined as the others, so she assumed the items would not be as expensive.
Gu Qingyun stepped inside. There were no customers in the shop at the moment, only a dry, gaunt shopkeeper in his forties standing there clicking an abacus. Gu Qingyun walked straight over.
“Shopkeeper, I'd like to buy some cinnabar and yellow talisman paper. High quality, please.”
Hearing her request, the shopkeeper stopped what he was doing.
“Ordinary cinnabar powder is three mace of silver per tael. Cinnabar mixed with black dog blood is one tael of silver per tael.”
“Yellow talisman paper is one hundred wen per bundle. Seeing as you know your stuff, since you're buying cinnabar and yellow paper, you'll probably need a talisman brush too. My talisman brushes are made from hundred-year-old peach wood and aren't expensive at all—five taels of silver each.”
Gu Qingyun: ...This was way too expensive. Not only would she have to spend all the silver she had earned at the Zhang family today, but she would also have to dig into her own pocket. Maybe she shouldn't bother drawing talismans after all. She didn't even know if she could succeed.
Gu Qingyun began to have second thoughts.
As if reading her mind, the shopkeeper pointed to the items he had mentioned and said, “Don't go thinking this is expensive! Look at this talisman brush—made from hundred-year-old peach wood, packed with rich Yang energy. The power of a talisman drawn with this is far greater than one made with ordinary peach wood.”
“And look at this cinnabar powder mixed with black dog blood. That black dog blood came from a pure black dog without a single stray hair. It was sun-baked at noon on a clear day, slowly dried over a low flame under the moonlight, then ground into a fine powder and sifted. Only then was this black dog blood powder created.”
“Do you know how hard that is to make? If you were just playing house like a child, I wouldn't even sell it to you. If I didn't find you agreeable, little girl, I wouldn't have brought this out.”
Gu Qingyun looked at the items on the table and struggled for a moment.
“Shopkeeper, could you make it a bit cheaper? It's really too expensive.”
The shopkeeper set the items out, clicked his abacus, and smiled warmly.
“How about this: five taels of silver for all three. I'll knock off one tael and three mace for you. I can't go any lower than that.”
Gu Qingyun painfully produced five taels of silver, regretting her big mouth immensely. Why did she have to run her mouth? Why did she buy this?
She had originally intended to give the talismans to the Zhang family for free. Now that she realized how expensive these materials were, Gu Qingyun decided that aside from her own family, she would charge everyone for the talismans she drew. Even if she didn't make a profit, she had to at least break even.
It was already the Shen hour when Gu Qingyun walked out of the shop with her purchases. With only one hour left to cultivate, she didn't waste any time and ran quickly back toward the yamen.
...
“Mommy, I'm hungry.”
A sallow, emaciated four- or five-year-old girl, covered only by a tattered piece of cloth, tightly hugged the thigh of a haggard woman with dry, yellowing hair. Her stomach rumbled so loudly it could be heard several meters away.
Beside her, the woman's eyes were filled with dead silence. Her body was covered in black-and-blue bruises. She squatted down, looked at the child before her, and coaxed softly, “Xiao Guai, Mommy will fetch you some water to drink. You won't be hungry after you drink it.”
“Mommy, I don't want water. I want to go to Grandma's house. Didn't you say Grandma's house has several uncles, a young aunt, and Great-Grandparents? I want to go there. I want to eat rice, and I want relatives who are nice to me. I don't want to stay here anymore.”
The woman's lips quivered, but she couldn't make a sound. She hugged the child in her arms tightly and said in a hoarse voice, “Mommy will find you food in a bit. You won't be hungry once you eat.”
Back then, she had insisted on marrying this man, He Hua, even falling out with her family over it. How could she have the face to return to her parents' home now?
She wondered if her second brother had gotten married, and how her grandmother, mother, aunt, and younger brothers and sisters were doing. Had new children been born into the family? Since she had married so far away and hadn't returned home in the past two years, were they angry with her?
Looking at Xiao Guai's frail appearance, her heart ached so much that tears fell from her eyes. Should she put aside her pride and beg her family for help? If this continued, she was terrified Xiao Guai wouldn't make it to adulthood.
“You eggless hen, hurry up and cook dinner for me! If Jiaojiao gets hungry, I'll beat you to death!”
A fair-skinned man came out of the house. Without another word, he stepped over and slapped Gu Qingyu twice across the face, making her see stars.
Beside her, Xiao Guai stepped in front of Gu Qingyu. Her tiny body trembled, yet she bravely spread her arms to protect her mother.
“Don't hit Mommy!”
Just as the man was about to strike Xiao Guai, Gu Qingyu burst with sudden strength, pushing him back and glaring at him with eyes full of hatred.
“He Hua, are you even human?! It's fine if you hit me, but you even hit your own daughter! She's only five years old!”
The man named He Hua sneered.
“What's the use of a money-loser? After raising her, she'll belong to someone else's family anyway. We've been married for years, and you only gave birth to a girl and couldn't produce anything else since.”
“If Jiaojiao weren't pregnant with my child—and the doctor said it's a boy—I wouldn't have the face to meet my ancestors after I die. My branch almost died out with me! Gu Qingyu, tell me, can you bear that responsibility?”
“My son is right!” He Hua's mother chimed in directly from inside. “Gu, once Jiaojiao gives birth, you must serve her well. Our family's incense and lineage will depend on her from now on. I'm going to have her bear several grandsons for us so our family flourishes.”
“As for that girl you bore, she's an unlucky thing too. Once you start taking care of Jiaojiao, hand all the laundry in the house over to her. She's five years old—she's big enough to work.”
With that, she dragged He Hua into the house and showered warmth and concern on the woman named Jiaojiao inside.
“Jiaojiao, tomorrow I'll buy some cloth to make you a new outfit, and get some cotton cloth to make a few undergarments for the baby in your belly.”
“Mother is right. We should also buy some meat to nourish Jiaojiao—she's carrying my son, after all.”
Gu Qingyu listened to the voices from inside, then looked at her timid daughter. She bit her lip tightly. After a long moment, she let out a breath and led Xiao Guai into the kitchen.
Just as she entered the kitchen, the people inside the house happened to be talking about her.
He Hua's mother said with some worry, “Son, if we mistreat this woman like this, what if her family finds out? Her family are all martial artists. If they come to demand justice, we can't afford to mess with them.”
He Hua said with disgust, “Mother, you're worrying for nothing. Have you seen anyone from her family visit even once in the past two years? Besides, she only bore a single girl in five years. It's already good enough that I haven't divorced her. Even if her family comes, they'll have to bow their heads to me.”
...
A few days later, while Gu Qingyun was practicing in her room, Bai Fan's voice came from outside.
“Sister Yun, there's a letter for you from home. I brought it over for you.”
Gu Qingyun found it rather strange. If her family needed her for anything, they wouldn't need to write a letter. Aside from her family and villagers, she couldn't think of anyone who knew she was working at the yamen.
She took the letter from Bai Fan's hand, and her pupils shrank at the name on it. She stroked the words “Gu He” with nostalgia. Though her father had passed away several months ago, the memory of his face and voice was gradually blurring in her mind.
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