Chapter 48: An Unexpected Reprieve

Madam Liang, Zuo Gui and Shaoyang had brought out their bundles.

“We have taken only our clothes,” Zuo Gui told Madam Zhao sadly. “Everything else stays against the rent. Thank you for looking after us all these years. I am ashamed to leave so much unpaid. We still owe you four thousand one hundred wen. I will find some way to raise it and repay you.”

He turned to look at the shop he had worked so hard to build, sighed deeply and lowered his head to leave.

“Wait!”

Madam Zhao looked at the family, their little bundles, then round the dim shop. She too gave a long sigh.

“You have rented from me for so many years. To be fair, you have tried your best to pay. And I really don’t want an oil-and-salt shop or something of that sort in here. Filthy places. I like the smell of your medicines.

“You do look pitiful, all of a sudden. Ah, that’s the trouble with me—I’m too soft-hearted. I’ll make one more concession. Pay the remaining four thousand one hundred in full on the fifteenth of the first month. How’s that?”

The family could hardly bear to leave Guizhi Hall. Their years of work were bound up in it; they had tried everything to save it, only to face eviction after all. Without medicines or even their signboard, they could not open another shop elsewhere. Travelling from village to village was a last resort. Zuo Gui had been utterly despondent about the life ahead.

Now, just as they were leaving, Madam Zhao offered another half-month. It was like a patch of clear sky breaking through a downpour. They cried out in joy. Fifteen days was not long, but hope was better than none.

Zuo Gui’s grey beard shook with emotion as he bowed again and again.

“Thank you, Madam Zhao! Thank you! We will raise the money as soon as we can.”

Madam Liang and Huixiang were equally moved. Madam Zhao had brought a man with her; she had plainly intended to drive them out, not merely frighten them. They could not understand her sudden change of heart, but were deeply grateful.

Shaoyang was overjoyed. With time came opportunity. Given half a month to think and work, earning five taels should still be possible.

“Thank you, Auntie!” he said with a broad grin. “And melon seeds are a good choice. Unlike hawthorn, however many you crack, they won’t hurt your stomach.”

She smiled at him, then waved away the family’s repeated bows.

“Enough. But let us settle the unpleasant part now. Debts aren’t supposed to cross the New Year. I’ve already waited until the last day, and I cannot wait for ever. Before the fifteenth, have all four thousand one hundred ready. Not a single wen may be delayed. Otherwise we’ll fall out again that day.”

“You’ve given us so much time,” Zuo Gui said with an embarrassed chuckle. “If we still cannot raise it, we will have nothing to say. You needn’t ask us to go. We will leave ourselves.”

“Good. Remember that. I’m off. Get on with your New Year preparations, and may you make plenty of money!”

She dipped in a parting courtesy and went out, cracking melon seeds and swaying as she walked.

The heavy-jowled man could not understand her transformation. After a glance at the Zuos, he hurried after her.

“We agreed you’d turn them out today, no matter what,” he asked with an ingratiating smile. “Why change your mind?”

Madam Zhao shot him a sideways look. She put a seed between her teeth, cracked it, caught the kernel on her tongue and spat out the shell.

“What do you know? Tell me, what did Huimin Hall’s deputy manager come for?”

“To buy Guizhi Hall’s prescription.”

“There you are! Think about it. Huimin Hall—what an establishment! Their physician has treated princes in Chang’an. In all Hezhou Prefecture, if they call themselves second, no one dares claim first. When have you ever heard of them buying someone else’s prescription?

“Yet today they came here asking for one. Never mind the deputy manager’s airs. He was asking them to sell, only trying to force the price down because they were in trouble. Then he spewed so much filth that he offended them and the deal broke down.”

The man slapped his forehead.

“So Guizhi Hall really has an important secret prescription?”

“Of course! Would Huimin Hall lower itself to ask, risking the reputation of the leading clinic, unless it mattered?”

“But they didn’t sell it. They still haven’t made any money.”

“You know nothing but money!”

She spat a seed shell into his face.

“Sell a prescription and it’s gone. How much can that bring? Earn from using it, and the money keeps coming!”

The man was her maternal cousin, surnamed Tu. He had learned a little fighting and was said to practise an iron-head technique, earning the nickname Tu Ironhead. A thug by occupation, he collected debts and guarded gambling dens. Madam Zhao had paid him to help today. Since he was taking her money, he dared not presume on being her elder cousin.

He did not even remove the shell stuck to his cheek.

“Now you’ve explained it, I see. That Zuo Gui is a crafty one. He deliberately drew Huimin Hall into buying, so everyone would know he had a valuable prescription. Fine advertising!”

“Exactly. In just these few days they’ve paid me five thousand wen. I asked around quietly: they also saved a woman whose dead baby wouldn’t come out, after even Huimin Hall had failed her. And now Huimin Hall’s deputy comes to buy a formula. Isn’t it obvious? Guizhi Hall has been hiding its talents!”

“Then why couldn’t they pay their rent all these years?”

“Call you a fool and you prove it at once!”

She spat again.

“People have good spells and bad. When luck goes against you, all the skill in the world may not help. Once fortune turns, even a salted fish can come back to life. Understand? Watch them. They’ll have the rent by the fifteenth, and their business will improve from now on. I shan’t have to worry about my rent.”

“You certainly know best. They seem honest enough. They really have struggled to pay, unlike some people who do nothing but scheme.”

“Precisely.”

She glanced around and lowered her voice.

“Go and spread the news. Say Guizhi Hall has cured all the illnesses Huimin Hall couldn’t. Say the deputy manager rushed over, offering a high price and begging for their prescription, but they refused to sell and he had to slink away.”

“But the offer wasn’t high, and he was very rude…”

“You idiot!”

She kicked his ample backside.

“What have you got a mouth for? Can’t you make things up?”

“Yes, yes!”

Rubbing his backside, Tu Ironhead grinned.

“Leave it to me. That’s something I’m good at.”

* * *

Back in Guizhi Hall, the family excitedly debated why Madam Zhao had changed her mind. After talking for a good while, they were none the wiser.

“Whatever the reason, we have fifteen more days,” Madam Liang said with a smile. “Let’s get through the New Year first.”

“Yes!” Huixiang agreed. “Mother, how much can we spend?”

Madam Liang glanced at her husband. “Your father must decide.”

“We still have two hundred-odd wen,” Zuo Gui said. “We promised to find the rent by the fifteenth. We cannot touch that money.”

At their disappointed faces, he considered further.

“But we must celebrate somehow. Very well, a hundred wen for the New Year. Will that do?”

“What can a hundred buy?” Huixiang pouted. “Food is so expensive now. A pig’s head alone costs a hundred. What would be left for anything else?”

“We’ll save where we can,” Madam Liang sighed. “The peachwood charms must be changed. There’s red paper at home; we can cut some window decorations for a little festivity. We must buy a few firecrackers to drive away evil and bring wealth on New Year’s Day.

“You two are grown, so we’ll do without new clothes and gift money. Just rice and flour, a few cuts of meat and a flask of wine. We’ll offer them to the ancestors first, use part for the reunion dinner and keep the rest for the visiting in-laws on the second day, to feed them and send back as return gifts.”

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