The Fish Seller and the Prodigal Lord - Chapter 7

After that night, Rong Ruo behaved as though I were his sworn enemy. He’d rarely come home to begin with. Now, whenever he did see me, his face was never pleasant.

As he passed me, he’d fling his sleeves so high it was as if he wished one would slap me.

Once, he came home drunk at night, his shadow falling across my window. Chang Bai asked, “Second Master, shall I fetch Mistress Yu to attend to you?”

“Mistress Yu? A complete fool. The sight of her shortens my life.”

Since everyone had seen him parading me about town not long before, the household now said I’d fallen from favor. The nastier version was that he’d tired of playing with me and thrown me aside.

Chunjing sighed for me all day. I was secretly delighted. I worked harder than ever, carefully recording my wages at two taels a month.

One day, an invitation arrived to a gathering of gentlemen and their female relatives. The character for Zhuang was stamped on it. That was the magistrate’s surname. I assumed it had come to the wrong address and sent Chunjing to decline.

But she soon returned. “Mistress Yu, the messenger says it really is for you. Magistrate Zhuang is holding a birthday banquet for his mother. Second Master is a friend of his son’s and went over yesterday. Today is the main feast, so they’ve sent for you.”

Even with my scant education, I knew you didn’t invite guests on the day of a banquet. Besides, birthday feasts were usually at midday, and the invitation hadn’t arrived until early afternoon. Still, I couldn’t very well blame the Zhuangs. It seemed far more like Rong Ruo’s doing.

If I embarrassed him this time, things between us might grow even worse. Having reasoned it out, I asked Chunjing to dress my hair and set out for the Zhuang residence without another moment’s delay.

A servant led me to a waterside pavilion in the rear garden. I heard the bright laughter of young women long before we reached it. Pale curtains hung around the pavilion in the middle of the lake. Tea, ink, and sandalwood mingled in the air. Everything was elegant.

A woman’s voice came from behind the curtains. “Is that Sister Yu? Come in.”

The gauze curtain lifted. Several luminous, moonlike faces turned toward me. Their clothes marked them all as daughters of fine families.

Rong Ruo was nowhere in sight, but it was too late to retreat.

I curtsied as Nanny Wang had taught me. A few women tittered. The one seated in the middle of the tea table spoke first.

“We heard our Second Master Rong was hiding a beauty at home. Whenever we teased him and asked him to bring you out to enjoy tea and poetry, he said Sister Yu couldn’t read a word and had no taste for such elegant pleasures. I refused to believe him. I simply had to meet you.”

“You’re so lovely, Sister Yu. Anyone can tell you’re a girl from a good family. Surely you can’t really be illiterate, as he says. He must have been afraid we’d lead you astray and made it up to fool us.”

“I hear Madam Rong has worried about the young lord’s marriage for ages, afraid he was still pining for Sister Liu Xing’er, who’s already married. Now he’s finally willing to welcome someone new. Never mind Madam Rong, even we ladies who know him so well are happy for him.”

Ladies who knew him so well. I laughed coldly to myself. Each was prettier than the last, and each had a sharper tongue.

Their words sounded so sweet. Every one cut into me.

I tugged at the corners of my mouth. “He didn’t lie. I really can’t read. I know nothing of appreciating tea or writing, much less composing poems under the moon. If Second Master sent for me, I’ll wait for him. If he didn’t, then excuse me.”

“Don’t go, Sister Yu.”

The woman at the head of the table, presumably Miss Zhuang, stopped me.

“The servants caught a few white fish in this pond. Sister Dong would like some, but the kitchen has already closed, and we’re at a loss. I hear your mother sold fish. Do you happen to know how to kill and cook them?”

“You…”

I stopped Chunjing and turned back with a little smile. “Of course. Killing and cooking fish is my trade. Before I came to the Rongs, I was the famous beauty of the south market’s fish stalls. If you’d like fish, ladies, I’ll kill some for you right now.”

My ready agreement left those waiting to laugh at me rather taken aback.

At this point, whoever lost her nerve first would be the coward.

Two servants carried in a wooden basin of fish. Chunjing tried to stop me. “Mistress Yu, you don’t have to pay them any attention. Second Master will deal with it when he hears.”

Whether he’d help me was another matter. I always kept my word. Besides, after more than half a year cooped up in the Rong household, gutting a fish was just the release I needed.

I rolled up my sleeves, grabbed two fish, and went over to Miss Zhuang, pointing at the tea table in front of her.

“Would you move aside?”

I pushed away the tea things. My knife rose and fell. Scales off. Bellies open. Flesh scored.

By the time I’d finished, the thick smell of fish and blood filled the curtained pavilion. Some of the delicate young ladies clutched their chests and retched. Others simply fled.

I carried the gutted fish over to Miss Zhuang. “Miss, how would you like them cooked?”

Their dead white eyes swung before her. Pale with disgust, she backed away two steps. “However you please.”

Then she swept off.

Blood spattered my face. Holding the two fish, their flesh cut through but their bodies still whole, I looked innocently at Chunjing. She came to wipe my face with a silk handkerchief, distressed for me.

“My poor Mistress Yu. They’ve treated you so badly.”

I smiled. “We’ll stew fish when we get home. My fish stew is delicious.”

As I lowered my head to check my clothes for blood, I heard her call toward the entrance.

“Second Master.”