Yu and Jing - Chapter 2

Ah-Jing’s surname was Lu. He said it belonged to the woman who had found him.

He told me little about his past. All I knew was that he had been raised as a girl in a brothel, then bought by a prince when he grew older and kept as a plaything. He did not say how he had escaped, where the wound on his abdomen had come from, or what the prince might do when he discovered he was gone. I did not ask.

The capital was a little over ten li from Chen Family Town. If soldiers were coming after him, they ought to have arrived by now. I asked people who went into the city to sell their wares to watch for wanted notices or soldiers conducting searches. There were none. All was quiet in the capital.

Only then did I relax a little and urge Lu Jing to stay and recover properly.

He seemed embarrassed, particularly when I offered to buy him more clothes. He pressed his lips together without speaking.

“Didn’t you say you’re used to wearing women’s clothes?” I stopped grinding herbs and looked at him where he sat nearby. Then it dawned on me. “If you’re worried about money, don’t be. I always want to help whenever I can. I chose to do everything I’ve done for you, starting with saving your life.”

My father used to scold me for being too softhearted. I would stop to help even a wounded stray cat. He said it made me well suited to medicine, and ill suited to it at the same time.

Whatever the truth of that, I was a physician now.

Lu Jing persisted. “I’ll pay you back one day. But apart from that…” He paused, plainly puzzled. “Don’t you think I’m strange?”

He meant the dresses.

For a moment, I did not know how to explain. By ordinary standards, he was strange. Yet I found it easy to accept. I had lived in this town dressed as a man for over twenty years. I was an oddity myself.

At last I said, “It doesn’t matter. What you wear is your own choice. Besides, you said you feel more comfortable in skirts, didn’t you?”

He stared at me, then nodded faintly.

“You shouldn’t go out while your circumstances are so delicate. Tell me roughly what sort of dress you want, and I’ll buy it for you. If anyone sees you someday, we’ll say you’re a distant younger cousin visiting for a while. As for the money, if you truly can’t bear to leave it unpaid, you can repay me when you’ve healed and have the chance.”

Lu Jing listened, then gave a quiet murmur of assent.

He really was reserved.

To buy his clothes, I returned to Second Aunt Chen’s shop. I often went there, chiefly because she was the only woman in Chen Family Town who owned a business.

In Great Chu, people frowned on women appearing freely in public, much less going into trade. Second Aunt Chen was an exception. She had married a merchant in town when she was young. Her luck had been poor: first her husband died, then her child. Seeing a woman alone, her husband’s relatives sold off every one of her shops, took the money, and fled, leaving her only an empty house.

Many urged her to remarry while she was still young enough to have children. She chased every suitor out with a broom, then stood in her doorway, hands on hips, and shouted, “I’m not marrying anyone! Get lost! The next one who comes here gets a beating!”

Less than half a month later, she opened a clothing shop at the end of my street.

No one knew how she had done it.

Neither did I. What I did know was how incurably nosy she was. The moment I came in, she peppered me with questions about my mysterious cousin. After my last visit, she had apparently spent half the night thinking it over. She had known my father and me for years, yet she had never heard of any distant relations coming to visit.

Cold sweat prickled down my back. I made something up. “I only learned about her a few months ago myself. My father never visited people much when he was alive, so we must have lost touch. Anyway, I’ve come to buy clothes. My cousin loved the dress I bought from you last time.”

At last she let me be. Her face creased into a smile as she told me to choose whatever I liked. “You’ve looked after us through all our little aches and serious illnesses, Young Doctor Jiang. I’ll give you twenty percent off.”

I shook my head, laughing, and searched through the gaudy clothes. Once I had chosen a few pieces matching what Lu Jing had described, I caught sight of a pale blue dress with wide sleeves. It was simple and fresh. Against the peach blossoms in the back courtyard, it would be beautiful.

The thought startled me.

I had not worn a dress in twenty years. What use would I have for one now?

Even as I thought it, I could not take my eyes off it. Then I remembered the red dress Lu Jing had worn when I first saw him. It had suited the spring colors, too.

Perhaps I should buy it after all. Perhaps he would like it.

With that excuse to myself, I took down the wide-sleeved dress. I felt oddly guilty as I paid, afraid sharp-eyed Second Aunt Chen would notice something. Thankfully, she said nothing beyond complimenting my taste.

As I left, I heard her chatting with another customer. “She was wailing for half the night! What terrible luck, marrying a man like that. A perfectly good girl, and look what he’s done to her. If he were my son…”

I sighed without meaning to and headed home.