The Fish Seller and the Prodigal Lord - Chapter 6

I came out of the ancestral hall happily carrying a hundred taels and ran straight into Rong Ruo.

I didn’t know why he was there. His cheeks were flushed, his long eyes even brighter in the moonlight. A passing breeze brought the smell of wine.

Wine had warmed that lovely face to peach blossom; there he stood, as elegant as an orchid or a jade tree.

With looks like those, I thought, his mother might have agreed even if I’d asked for two hundred.

He swayed a little, pushed away Chang Bai’s supporting hand, and strode up to me. “You have some nerve, Yu Yu. You sold me?”

I put on a shameless smile. “It hardly counts as selling when the money came from your mother, does it? Besides, it’s going right back to you to repay my debt.”

“I’m only worth a hundred taels?”

His finger nearly touched my nose. This was awkward. “No, I’m worth a hundred taels. You, Second Master, are worth a fortune.”

He pushed aside the tray I held up, his expression growing darker. “I won’t allow it.”

His aunt was still standing behind us. Seeming to have found the root of the trouble, he stepped past me. “What did you say to her?”

He glanced aside and saw, through the open door behind his aunt, the thin cushion I’d been kneeling on. His temper flared.

“You made her kneel in the ancestral hall? She belongs to my courtyard. Who gave you leave to punish her?”

“Ruo, don’t misunderstand. The girl asked Madam for a hundred taels.”

His aunt looked at me. I nodded furiously.

“You must understand,” she went on, “a fish seller can never be your lawful wife. Your mother let her stay intending to make her your concubine. But the girl thinks of nothing but money. She told Madam herself she’d leave for a hundred taels.”

Rong Ruo turned to look at me. He stood as tall and imposing as a pine, with the heart of a demon and the face of Guanyin. Before him, I was reduced to guilt and embarrassment.

“Did you say that?”

My voice trembled. “Well… I owe you money.”

“Money?”

The word floated down so softly I thought I’d misheard. Just as I started to look up, a hand caught the back of my neck. Then sweetness touched my mouth, and my mind went blank.

That scoundrel Rong Ruo had kissed me in front of the entire courtyard.

He seemed particularly amused by my stupefied expression. With a wicked smile, he slipped an arm under my waist and bent to kiss me again. This time, he wasn’t content with a taste. He seemed determined to explore every part of my mouth.

The silver ingots in my hands clattered to the ground. If he hadn’t kept his arm around my waist, I might have crumpled after them.

“Can a hundred taels settle what’s between us?”

He seemed to be speaking to me, yet deliberately letting his aunt hear.

At her age, how could she stomach such shameless behavior? Her face went red, then white. She ground her teeth but couldn’t force out a word.

“Yu Yu, your husband is drunk. Help me home.”

Half his weight came crashing onto me. Rather than my supporting him, it was more like him sweeping me along as we staggered back to Purple Bamboo Court.

“I look back on lovely Chang’an;
Thirty years ago, what a dashing rake I was.
In pleasure houses I seek the traces of old days;
Where the blossoms have thinned, my name remains.”

Reciting his rakish verses, he dropped onto the couch. Tiger flew to his shoulder, and between drunken hiccups he began to scold it.

“You feathered beast cost me five hundred taels. Today someone sold me for a hundred. I’m worth less than an animal!”

I slipped quietly out of the room. Chunjing arrived with sobering soup and asked what had happened. I told her the whole story. Thinking of those silver ingots scattered on the ground made my heart ache.

“However angry he is, he shouldn’t take it out on the silver. Don’t you think? Besides, I only owe him a hundred taels, so that’s all I asked his aunt for. He thinks I sold him too cheaply. How was that selling him?”

Chunjing listened intently, nodding again and again. At least she agreed with me.

After long consideration, she slapped her forehead. “Interest! You broke the rules of borrowing, that’s what he’s angry about. How could you leave out the interest?”

It all became clear. I took the soup from her and carried it carefully inside. Rong the Second was reclining in his chair, smoothing Tiger’s feathers. He didn’t even lift his eyes.

“Don’t want it.”

“Second Master, what’s wrong?” I asked, knowing perfectly well.

“Too full of anger.”

Afraid he’d raise the interest, I hurriedly lowered my head. “I know I was wrong. You’re a generous man. Please let me off.”

“What did you do wrong?”

It was only interest, wasn’t it? I nodded. “I’ll give it to you. Isn’t that enough?”

“Give it to me?”

“Yes! If you want it, you shall have it.” Head lowered, I twisted the hem of my clothes and inched closer.

He’d visited the House of Ten Thousand Flowers often enough. Surely he liked delicate, coquettish women. I’d seen that sort while selling fish. All it took was tucking in your chin, looking up sideways, and pouting a little.

“I can give it to you. But could you ask for a little less?”

“Hm?” His eyes narrowed, his expression turning peculiar. He waved Tiger away. As though afraid I’d steal its master’s affection, the feathered brute flew to the windowsill and watched me suspiciously.

My little mouth was sweet as honey. “You’re so strong and magnificent, a true hero among men. I’m only a weak woman. If you demand too much of me, I won’t be able to bear it.”

He choked on his own saliva and coughed several times, until both his face and neck turned red.

I quickly offered him the soup. He glanced at me. Those eyes were lovely enough already; when they softened, they seemed capable of drawing out a person’s soul.

He took the bowl, set it aside, and lightly caught my fingertips in his warm palm, rubbing and playing with them.

“Yu Yu, do you know what you’re saying?”

His hand was giving off a damp heat. His gaze burned as though asking for confirmation. I wasn’t one to go back on a debt, so I nodded vigorously.

“It’s only interest, isn’t it? I’ll pay.”

“…”

I kicked Chunjing out from under the covers. “Chunjing, are you asleep? I can’t sleep.”

“Mistress Yu, how did it go? What did Second Master say?”

“He told me to get out.”