Chapter 5: Prototype

Li Peach Blossom could never bear to trade Qin Huiyin’s clothes for peas, so she took her own oldest garments to see Madam Wang.

Qin Huiyin stood by the wall, listening to the conversation happening just on the other side.

“Thirty jin? This dress of yours couldn’t be more tattered, and you expect me to give you thirty jin of peas? Oh my, your clothes must be worth their weight in gold—far too fine for the likes of us,” Madam Wang said as she hung freshly washed garments in the yard, her words dripping with sarcasm.

“Auntie Wang, there isn’t a single patch on this dress. The material, the style, the stitching—all of it. Ready-made shops sell these for a hundred and fifty cash,” Peach Blossom protested.

“Sure, the ready-made shops ask a hundred and fifty cash, but are their clothes second-hand? Their fabrics have never even touched water. We’re poor folk here; we couldn’t afford something so fine. Huiyin’s mother, you’d best take your dress and go. I’ve work piled up, no time to waste with you.”

Peach Blossom pursed her lips, visibly unwilling. “Then how many jin of peas would you consider fair?”

Madam Wang glanced back, uninterested. “Five jin, at most.”

“Five? That’s barely ten cash!” Peach Blossom’s face darkened in anger. “Do you take my dress for a rag?”

“Huiyin’s mother, your used clothes are worth less than rags! I didn’t want to say this, but since you insist on making a scene, I’ll be frank. Look at your fate—you lost your first husband, fled disaster with your daughter to our village. Your second husband, the hunter Song, was alive and well until you married him; then he was dead within a year. And the third… Well, you know your own story. You bring nothing but misfortune. Who’d dare touch what you’ve used?”

“You—!” Peach Blossom’s beautiful eyes blazed with fury. “Sister-in-law Wang, if you won’t trade, just say so. No need for all this! As if I don’t know what’s in your mind? You wanted to match your widowed sister to Tang Dafu, but he wasn’t interested. Instead, he chose me. You’ve been holding a grudge ever since, always looking to make trouble for me.”

“Ha! Who told you that? My little sister is far too good for Tang Dafu! That unlucky wretch is only fit for the likes of you. See? No sooner did you marry him than calamity struck. Lustful men meet bad ends.”

“Who are you calling a hussy? Who’s the unlucky wretch? I’ll tear that foul mouth off your face!” Peach Blossom lunged at Madam Wang in a rage.

Madam Wang was a sturdy woman, but Peach Blossom tackled her to the ground, and in an instant they were wrestling and clawing at each other.

Qin Huiyin, having sensed trouble as the argument escalated, hurried over to intervene, but she was a moment too late; by the time she arrived, the two women were already locked in a furious struggle.

“Mother, stop fighting…”

“Auntie Wang, if you tear my mother’s clothes any further, you’ll owe us fifty jin of peas in compensation,” Qin Huiyin declared.

“Ha! You must be mad with poverty,” Madam Wang spat.

“Wang, just you dare lay a hand on my daughter, and I’ll fight you to the death!” Peach Blossom, seeing the scratch marks Madam Wang’s nails had left on Qin Huiyin’s neck, yanked at Madam Wang’s hair like a woman possessed.

“What on earth is going on here?” Wang’s husband, Tang Jiang, came home with a hoe over his shoulder and rushed to break up the fight.

He held Madam Wang back and said to Peach Blossom and Qin Huiyin, “You two, go home now.”

Seeing this, Madam Wang shrieked and cursed, “Well, aren’t you a fine husband, siding with outsiders instead of your own wife! Has that fox spirit bewitched you too?”

“Woman, must you make a scene? We’re all of the same clan as Dafu, we live side by side. Why can’t we talk things out without such ugliness?”

“Tang Dafu isn’t even dead and you’re already casting eyes at that fox spirit! Aren’t you afraid I’ll chop you to pieces?” Madam Wang’s tirade grew more vicious with every word.

Back in her own yard, Peach Blossom shouted over the wall, “Wang, are you blind? No matter how desperate I may be, I’d never touch anything that old crone Wang has spat out—disgusting.”

“Li Peach Blossom, set foot in my house again and I’ll douse you in filth!”

“Ha, as if I’d ever want to enter your home! Even if you knelt and begged, I’d never cross your threshold.”

“Thank heaven for that! If a jinx like you set foot in my house, we’d all be doomed.”

Qin Huiyin, seeing Peach Blossom so enraged her chest hurt, quickly took her inside.

She knew her mother’s spirits were low, and that taking her to Tang Dafu now would only bring disaster to Tang Dafu himself. She led Peach Blossom to the room she shared with Tang Luwu.

“It’s my fault, my own uselessness…” Peach Blossom sobbed in Qin Huiyin’s arms. “Daughter, am I truly a jinx? Why does misfortune follow me wherever I marry?”

“If you really had that power, the court should make good use of you. If they named you a princess and married you off to a neighboring country, their kingdom would fall without a fight! With such might, you’d be the greatest hero in the land.”

“You cheeky girl, when did you learn to comfort people like this?” Peach Blossom managed a teary laugh. “Thank goodness I still have you—otherwise, what would make life worthwhile?”

“Mother, things will get better. We’ll live well, and let the whole village see that Li Peach Blossom is no harbinger of disaster,” Qin Huiyin assured her.

“But what about the peas? I wanted to trade for some, whether you wanted to eat them or use them for something else, as your mother I should provide. And after this scene, I doubt anyone in the village will trade with us.”

“Why not go to the pawnshop?” Qin Huiyin suggested. “My clothes are nearly new—at the pawnshop, they should fetch a good price.”

“You’re right.” Peach Blossom nodded, getting up. “Wait here for me, I’ll see what I can find.”

Peach Blossom returned to her own room.

Tang Dafu was sitting on the bed, weaving a bamboo basket. Seeing her enter, he looked at her anxiously. “Peach Blossom, are you all right?”

She rummaged through her things, replying curtly, “If I weren’t, wouldn’t you hear it?”

“It’s my fault for letting you be wronged.” Although Tang Dafu was no longer young, one could still glimpse traces of his former handsomeness. Compared to the other farmers in the village, he was indeed rather good-looking. Otherwise, even with his two silver taels a month, Peach Blossom would never have married him; she was a woman who cared about appearances.

Peach Blossom was about to retort, but remembering her daughter’s words and thinking she’d be living in the Tang family for the long term, she swallowed her sharp reply.

She gathered up three dresses she didn’t like to wear, along with a solid silver hairpin, and said, “There’s nothing left in the house to eat. I’ll pawn these. And don’t ever say that Li Peach Blossom only knows how to live off you, Tang Dafu. I want to make a good life with you, too.”