At the edge of Qingniu Town, the alleyways were cramped and decrepit, the narrow paths riddled with puddles, excrement visible everywhere.
The people who lived here were the town's down-and-out families and common farmers who scraped by working the land.
Jinyuan had been gone only a single day, yet returning to this once-familiar place, she found herself strangely out of step with it all.
She came to the gate of her small courtyard and pushed it open — a gate so riddled with holes it could barely block the view — and a wave of bleakness and ruin washed over her.
"Big Sister, it's Big Sister!" Her five-year-old second brother was tidying firewood in the yard. The moment he spotted her, he came running with a cry of delight and flung his arms around her waist.
Jinyuan felt both happy and exasperated.
Her clean clothes would get dirty. Sister Jinyi would surely scold her when she got back.
But seeing her little brother — she really was happy.
"Big Sister." Her three-year-old third brother came toddling over from the doorway and launched himself at her, his small hands black with grime, which only deepened Jinyuan's dismay.
"Da Ya, what are you doing back here?" Jinyuan's mother came out at the sound of the commotion. Her first instinct at the sight of her daughter was pure joy — but in the very next instant, her eyes filled with fear.
"You reckless girl, how dare you sneak back home like this?" Her mother rushed forward and grabbed her daughter by the arm, shoving the two boys clinging to their sister roughly aside. Even when one of them tumbled over and began to cry, she had no time to spare — she seized Jinyuan and made to send her straight back.
Things at home were already hard enough. If the other household reported Da Ya to the authorities for running away —
The consequences would be too terrible to imagine!
"Mother, I didn't sneak away. I asked for leave."
"Asked for leave? You only arrived yesterday — and they gave you a day off after one day? Do you take your mother for a fool?"
"Mother, believe it or not, I did ask for leave. I came back because I have something to do. I'll look in on Father for a moment and then I have to hurry back."
"You mean that?"
A frail voice drifted from inside the room. "Is that Da Ya? Has Da Ya come home?"
"Father!" Jinyuan's eyes stung, and she rushed into the house.
The room was barely ten square metres, roofed with thatch. Inside stood a single bed. To call it four bare walls would almost have been a compliment — the walls were gaping with holes, each one stuffed with handfuls of straw. The single bed went to whoever needed it most; everyone else slept on thatch.
A gaunt, thin middle-aged man lay on the bed, straining to sit up.
The moment he set eyes on Jinyuan, tears streamed down the man's face. "Da Ya," he said, his voice broken, "Father has wronged you."
"Father, don't say that." Jinyuan's own eyes reddened and she wept too, gently easing him back down.
"Father, I'm doing well. The house doesn't let in the wind or the rain. There are quilts to sleep under at night. The food is much better than at home."
"Yesterday the Master had good news, and today he gave out reward money. I've brought it back. You must use it to get well."
"Good news? …The beast! The beast!" Her father stared for a moment, then a look of boundless grief crossed his face. He raised his fist and slammed it against the bed board.
Jinyuan was baffled. What had come over Father? Wasn't this supposed to be a good thing?
Her mother, who had followed her in, also froze, the same sorrow flickering across her face. She desperately wanted to pull her daughter into her arms and sob — but she could see that the girl walked normally, and perhaps things were not what she had feared.
So she drew Jinyuan behind a half-crumbled wall. "Girl, take off your trousers. Let me have a look."
Jinyuan flushed scarlet. "Mother, what are you saying?"
"Take them off!"
A moment later, Jinyuan's mother asked in a bewildered voice, "What exactly was the Master's good news?"
"I don't know. He only said there was good news. He didn't tell us what it was."
Jinyuan's mother let out a long, slow breath. She went to her husband and whispered an explanation in his ear.
The husband and wife looked as though an enormous weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
Only then did they remember what their daughter had said about money, and they quickly asked for details.
Jinyuan took out two small coin pouches and handed them to her mother. "This is two hundred wen. Use it to buy medicine for Father."
"One hundred is mine. The other hundred belongs to a fellow servant girl — she seems to have no family, so she lent it to me. When I receive more reward money, I'll pay her back."
"What good people — truly good people. Who would have thought our girl was so blessed, ending up in such a fine household."
"When the time comes, your father and I will set up a longevity tablet in Master Zhao's honor."
"Mother, I've been here a while now. I should head back. Next time I receive reward money or anything like it, I'll bring it home again."
Jinyuan's mother opened her mouth as if to protest, but she hadn't the heart to say the words.
She could only urge her daughter to work hard when she returned — to serve Master Zhao like a beast of burden, and repay his great kindness.
Jinyuan was too embarrassed even to nod. She could hardly say that there was barely any work and she was free to idle about all day.
She walked out through the gate and glanced back at her crumbling home.
Things were bad now — but the future was bright. The Master had said there would be reward money every month: a hundred wen a month, one tael and two qian of silver a year.
That alone was worth half the family's yearly expenses.
She was only eight years old, and already she could help support her family.
The pride she felt was almost overwhelming.
And so her footsteps grew lighter and lighter with every stride.
The only unfortunate thing was that her clothes had gotten dirty. She worried Sister Jinyi would give her an earful when she got back. It seemed she would have to teach her brothers to keep themselves clean from now on whenever she visited.
The Master, after all, was a man who prized cleanliness above all else.
Sure enough, all three girls who had asked for leave returned without incident — just as Jinwen had said: only a complete fool would run away. Good food, good lodgings, barely any work, a kind master — and a monthly wage on top of it all. A young lady born to a landlord's family could hardly do better than this.
*Xiaoshuo House provides all book lovers with free full-text online reading of wonderful web novels. If you enjoy this site, please share it with more fellow readers!*
*If you find the novel* Legend of Baihui *entertaining, please share the following URL with your friends. Thank you for your support!*
*(This novel's URL: https://xszj.org/b/364297)*