Chapter Four: Discussion

"Mother, let's have a little chat," Qin Huiyin said, clinging to Li Peach Blossom's arm with a playful pout.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," Li Peach Blossom replied as she folded her clothes neatly.

When she saw the two sets of altered garments, she poked Qin Huiyin on the forehead and muttered under her breath, "You're always so generous."

"Mother, do you really want to live with the Tang family for the long term?"

"Is it just up to what I want?"

"Uncle Tang owes fifty taels of silver in debt. That sum will weigh down the entire family. Are you still willing to stay with him?"

"My girl, I understand what you're getting at. By rights, someone as practical as me should pack up and leave as soon as possible, but we've already signed the marriage contract. Even if I wanted to run, there's no way out!"

She could make a scene and demand a separation, but what then? Who would marry her after that? Her reputation for bringing misfortune to husbands had already spread.

Even if there were someone willing to marry her, it would likely be some wretched or unseemly fellow. Li Peach Blossom wanted to rely on a man, but she was not without her standards.

Qin Huiyin had expected such an answer, which was why she brought the matter into the open for discussion. In truth, Li Peach Blossom was not a particularly clever woman. She had once been a courtesan in Yangzhou and later a wet nurse in a wealthy household; if she had been smart, she would never have ended up in her current predicament given her looks. She had only one goal: to survive with her daughter, and if possible, to let her daughter live well within her own means.

To say she was wicked would be wrong; she had her own bottom line. But to call her good was also a stretch, for the sake of her own interests she had never treated the children of her second and third husbands well.

But there was one thing Qin Huiyin knew for certain: Li Peach Blossom would listen to her.

"Mother, since we're planning to stay with the Tang family for a long time, we can't go on making a scene every day. Uncle Tang's leg is injured, but it's not as if he's bedridden. Once he's recovered, he can still do some farm work. We can get by. And you know, Eldest Brother Tang is good at his studies; perhaps one day he'll earn a name for himself. If we treat the siblings well, even if they don't remember our kindness, at least they won't hold grudges against us, right? I just think, since we're already one family, we should live in harmony. Don't you agree?"

Qin Huiyin, with her silver tongue, patiently tried to persuade Li Peach Blossom, hoping to make this beautiful but muddleheaded woman see the benefits of getting along with the Tang family. If she kept making life difficult for the Tang children, what would happen when they grew up and she herself grew old? There was no telling if they might seek revenge. After all, the Tang siblings had each other, but Qin Huiyin had no brothers or sisters—she would be the one at a disadvantage.

All her heartfelt words were wasted; Li Peach Blossom didn't listen to a single one. In her mind, she was Tang Yichen's mother; if he ever achieved scholarly honors, he would naturally be filial to her. If not, she could always take him to court—no official's hat was big enough to withstand that.

But when Qin Huiyin mentioned having no siblings and being easily bullied, that was the one point Li Peach Blossom took to heart.

"Mother, I really like Sister Greenmist. Don't give her a hard time anymore. Let us all get along! If I can be close to Sister Greenmist, won't Brother Yichen and Little Brother Yixiao be good to me too? Then I'll have three siblings as my support, won't I? Let's try to get along as a family. I'll help you earn money, and we'll pay off those fifty taels of silver."

Li Peach Blossom didn't believe for a moment that Qin Huiyin could really pay back the debt. Still, if her daughter wanted to get along with the Tang siblings, that was what mattered most.

"All right, I get it," Li Peach Blossom said. "Lunch is ready, let's eat!"

Lunch was a wild vegetable and corn porridge. The bitterness of the greens overwhelmed the sweet taste of the corn, and Li Peach Blossom spent the entire meal with a furrowed brow.

Qin Huiyin, a connoisseur of good food, found the meal nearly unbearable. This wouldn't do; she had to find a way to change their circumstances.

After quickly finishing her meal, she quietly asked Li Peach Blossom if there was any spare money left in the house. If there was, they ought to use it to buy some grain.

Li Peach Blossom blushed and stammered that all their money was gone. Under Qin Huiyin's disapproving gaze, she weakly complained, "Tang Dafu promised two taels of silver a month, said I’d never be short of food or clothes, but who’d have thought he’d break his leg after just one month’s allowance?"

"After Uncle Song died, didn’t you sell his land and have some silver left?"

"I took that silver to town to buy rouge, but who would have guessed I’d run into a pickpocket on the street? Lost the whole purse," Li Peach Blossom said, her eyes filling with tears. "Those heartless wretches, preying on a widow like me—let’s see if that money buys them a coffin!"

Qin Huiyin pressed her fingers to her temples.

Impossible.

She really couldn’t rely on this pig-headed teammate.

Better to rely on herself than others—it seemed she would have to find her own solution.

Li Peach Blossom loved beautiful things; not only did she often get new clothes for herself, but she was generous with her daughter as well, so there should still be something valuable left in her possession.

"Mother, we can’t just sit around and watch our resources run dry. Let’s earn some money!"

"How? All I know is performing songs. Do you expect me to go back to my old ways? But now I’m a married woman—it wouldn’t be proper."

"Let’s make food to sell! Aunt Wang seems to have peas. How about I trade one of my dresses for twenty jin of peas?"

Peas sold for only two coins a jin at the market. Her dresses were nearly new, originally worth a hundred coins each; exchanging one for twenty jin of peas was hardly taking advantage.

Aunt Wang had a daughter about Qin Huiyin’s size, whose clothes were patched upon patches. Just a few days ago, the girl had thrown a fit, demanding Aunt Wang use the egg money to buy her something decent to wear.

Li Peach Blossom was baffled. "You want to make pea cakes? That won’t work. No matter how tasty, nobody eats cakes as a meal."

This was a small town; few people had spare money to spend. Frankly, even if she went back to singing, there would be more onlookers than paying patrons.

Pastries were luxuries for the wealthy. Those who could afford them had plenty of choices and wouldn’t eat pea cakes every day—so it wasn’t a good idea.

"Not pea cakes—a different dish," Qin Huiyin explained. "When you worked as a wet nurse, I used to play in the kitchen and learned from the cooks there."

Li Peach Blossom never doubted Qin Huiyin’s words. Over the years, she had tried everything to support them, and while she was working, Qin Huiyin often mixed with the kitchen staff in the back courtyard.

Seeing Li Peach Blossom’s interest, Qin Huiyin clung to her arm and shook it, pleading, "Mother, let me try! I want to help you. You’re so beautiful, but lately you’ve started to get wrinkles."

"Wrinkles?" At that, Li Peach Blossom touched her own cheeks in alarm. "Is that true?"

"Of course not," Qin Huiyin burst out laughing, "but I really do want to help you. We can’t go on like this. Men are unreliable—better to rely on ourselves. I want a stable home too, so let’s settle down with the Tang family and live well together!"

The phrase "men are unreliable" resonated deeply with Li Peach Blossom. Since her daughter wanted to try, why not? Her daughter had seen the world—maybe she really had a good idea.