The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 38

Apart from the appraiser at the front counter, the pawnshop employed a manager and, naturally, guards.

Hearing the commotion out front, the manager assumed that some troublesome commoner or wandering martial artist had come to cause trouble. He hurried in from the rear courtyard with the guards.

The moment he entered the front hall, he found the old appraiser holding out a gold bracelet and a badge in both hands, bowing and scraping as he apologized to a young woman.

The distinctive black Flying Fish Robe she wore made the manager’s eyelid twitch.

*But I already paid this month’s tribute.*

Only when he drew closer did he understand what had happened. The old appraiser had reverted to his bad habits, judging a person by appearance and carelessly throwing a customer’s property.

This time, he had picked on someone he could not afford to offend.

The manager hurried forward. “You old fool! Did your old ailment act up again and make you drop a customer’s property?”

After scolding the man, the manager turned to Zhao Li and bent from the waist in a full ninety-degree bow.

“This old wretch is half-blind and lost his grip. Please forgive him.”

Two old men with deeply wrinkled faces bowed and apologized before her. Zhao Li could hardly order a beating or an execution over such a minor matter.

Having vented some of her anger, she took her badge and bracelet from the appraiser.

She turned to leave, only for the manager to stop her.

“My lord, please wait. That old wretch dented your bracelet when he dropped it. How could we let you leave like this?”

The manager had noticed the words *Hundred-Household Commander* on Zhao Li’s badge. His thoughts raced.

A Hundred-Household Commander this young had to possess some extraordinary background. If she left angry, there was no telling how much trouble the pawnshop might face later.

He frantically summoned the vault clerk. Soon, five small silver ingots, each weighing ten taels, were arranged on a tray and presented to Zhao Li.

“Please accept this compensation.”

Zhao Li’s heart lurched at the dazzling spread of silver. Her monthly salary was only seven taels.

But the education she had received in her previous life reminded her that she could not take this money.

She turned her head away from the tray and walked toward the door.

What she did not know was that her refusal only made the manager more anxious.

If she accepted the money, the matter was over. They were all people of consequence and would not normally seek an opportunity for revenge afterward.

If she refused, it meant she had not let the matter go. The pawnshop might not even know why it was being suppressed when the retaliation came.

The thought sent the manager hurrying after Zhao Li.

“My lord, please don’t go! This humble one failed to consider the matter properly. It truly is too little. I’ll add more, I’ll add more.”

He was already calling for someone to fetch additional silver.

*Please stop testing a public servant’s integrity,* Zhao Li thought, striding toward the exit.

The manager tried to block her again. At that moment, someone stepped through the door.

“A-Li, why are you taking so long?”

It was Lu Zhao. He stared at the scene before him. “Is someone causing trouble?”

Lu Zhao had once been responsible for this district and knew the manager.

The manager had no time to be relieved by his arrival before he noticed Lu Zhao’s unfriendly expression. His heart thumped.

He hastily explained, “Lord Lu, please judge this fairly. This lord came to pawn an item and suffered an offense. This humble one was just offering a little tea money by way of apology, but the lord refuses to accept it.”

One glance at the appraiser’s sweat-soaked head told Lu Zhao everything.

“Can’t your appraiser correct this foul habit of his?”

“You bully powerless commoners on ordinary days, knowing they can only swallow their tears. Then, when you meet someone you cannot offend, you bow and scrape in apology. At your age, can’t you learn how to be a decent man?”

The manager promptly answered, “We will never let this old appraiser sit behind the counter again.”

After delivering his rebuke, Lu Zhao looked at Zhao Li. “A-Li, accept it. If you don’t, they won’t feel at ease.”

Zhao Li stared. After a moment’s silence, she picked a single silver ingot from the tray.

“Accepted.”

Lu Zhao paused, then laughed.

She might have suffered in her former home, but she still had a young girl’s temper.

“All right, let’s go.” Lu Zhao nodded. “The fried flatbreads are nearly cold.”

“Mm!”

Escorted out with every courtesy by the entire pawnshop staff, Zhao Li followed him outside.

She rubbed the silver ingot in her hand, feeling a little rueful.

The rules of this world were far darker and crueler than those of her former one.

When they returned to the table at Wang’s Mutton Shop, five enormous bowls had already been set out. Several fried flatbreads were stacked on a plate in the center, alongside a small dish of chili paste made with mutton fat.

Lu Jianxing and the other two men sat at the table, waiting for Zhao Li and Lu Zhao.

“You should have started eating.” Zhao Li put the bracelet and small silver ingot back into her purse. “It won’t taste as good once it’s cold.”

“We’ll eat together.” Zheng Lian picked up a bundle of bamboo chopsticks and began handing them around.

Zhao Li accepted a pair with thanks, then looked down at the great bowl of coarse white porcelain before her.

Slices of mutton rose in a mound from milky-white broth, topped with chopped scallions and cilantro.

The portion was astonishing.

“Eat, eat.” Zhao Li grabbed her chopsticks and waved everyone on. “Eat as much as you like. We’ll order more if it’s not enough.”

Someone else was paying today, after all.

Zhao Li stirred a little mutton-fat chili paste into her bowl.

The mutton at Wang’s truly deserved Lu Zhao’s recommendation. The broth was fresh and intensely savory.

She could not stop eating. By the time she finally put down her chopsticks, five enormous bowls had been stacked in front of her.

It was Lu Jianxing and the others’ first time eating with Zhao Li. They stared, dumbfounded.

They could not understand where that tiny body had put several vast bowls of meat and broth, along with an enormous stack of flatbreads.

Even the proprietor stood nearby and watched. He had eaten enough of his own mutton over the years to be thoroughly sick of it, yet this was the first time he had felt so tempted by the sight.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, Zhao Li rose to pay.

A bowl of mutton soup cost twenty copper coins, and a fried flatbread cost one. Their total came to two hundred and thirty coins.

Zhao Li produced her newly acquired silver ingot. The proprietor turned back into the shop to fetch silver shears and a steelyard so he could cut it and make change.

The group waited beside the street.

“How is your Mind’s Eye practice going?” Zhao Li asked.

Lu Zhao had never said so directly, but Zhao Li knew that Lu Jianxing and the other two had been selected as assistants for her.

She therefore took a special interest in their progress.

Li Qing and Zheng Lian looked all right at the question, but Lu Jianxing and Lu Zhao both pulled miserable faces.

Zhao Li understood at once. She was about to say something when Zheng Lian suddenly barked, “Who’s there?”

He dashed into an alley and soon emerged with a trembling young woman in his grip.

Her clothes looked vaguely familiar to Zhao Li. She recognized her as the woman she had passed outside the pawnshop.

Before anyone could question her, the moment Zheng Lian brought her close, she dropped to her knees before Zhao Li.

“Young Mistress, please help me.”

Confusion crossed Zhao Li’s face.

Who was this?

Only after studying the tear-streaked face for a long moment did recognition dawn.

The young woman had been a second-rank maid in the original Zhao Li’s courtyard at the Zhao residence.

Unlike the personal maids constantly hovering before their mistress, she had rarely appeared in front of Zhao Li, which was why Zhao Li had not recognized her immediately.

The maid now shuffled forward on her knees and prostrated herself at Zhao Li’s feet.

“Young Mistress, my little brother is missing. Please help me. He is my only brother.”

Zhao Li thought, *If your brother is missing, report it to the Five Cities Military Patrol Office. Why come to me?*

Before she could speak, Zheng Lian stepped forward and dragged the maid away.

“If your brother has disappeared, go to the Five Cities Military Patrol Office.”

No one present was susceptible to moral blackmail. Their collective moral standards were not particularly high to begin with, so Zheng Lian’s action provoked no disapproval.

The maid wailed, “Four children have disappeared from our village, but no one from the Five Cities Military Patrol Office will investigate!”

Zhao Li froze.

She had only just emerged from the hide-and-seek incident in Xingping Ward. For a long moment, she stood there in a daze.

Then she sighed.