Chapter 45: Wang Rouhua, Ready to Tear Off All Pretense

Chapter Forty-Five: Wang Rouhua, Ready to Burn Bridges

Early the next morning, Wang Rouhua prepared breakfast, and after she, her son, and the fox had all eaten their fill, she set about dressing up her son and the fox.

Tie Xinyuan needed no embellishment—once he donned a scholar’s sky-blue robe and fastened his hair with a silver ring, a bright, clever youth with ruddy lips, white teeth, and sparkling eyes stood vividly before her. The sight made Wang Rouhua’s heart tremble; she pulled her son into her arms and kissed him fiercely before tending to the fox.

The fox had never been fond of baths since childhood, but this time Wang Rouhua forced it into a warm wooden tub filled with who knows how much scented powder. The fox crouched in the water, sneezing pitifully from the overpowering fragrance. When the brush scrubbed its vital spots, its cries were so loud that the guards atop the imperial wall could hear clearly. They were already accustomed to this; every few days, the fox would howl like this, though today’s outcry was particularly piercing.

Only after Wang Rouhua had rubbed the fox down thoroughly with a towel did she let go. The fox staggered around, its whole body exuding fragrance, and after shaking out its fur, it looked as fluffy as a fat bear. The Shoushan stone pendant on its neck gleamed with a lustrous polish, shining gently like jade.

Once her son and the fox were sent outside, Wang Rouhua retreated into her room to dress herself.

The guards on the city wall, sneezing in the rising sun, had enough presence of mind to give Tie Xinyuan a thumbs-up when they saw him. Somehow, word spread quickly, and soon the ramparts were crowded with little heads adorned with pearls and jade, staring wide-eyed at Tie Xinyuan. None of them could believe that this elegant, noble young man was the same Tie Xinyuan who usually tricked them out of their treasures.

Imitating his teacher’s manner, Tie Xinyuan walked with hands behind his back, then bowed toward the crowd of young palace ladies atop the wall. “Ah, young ladies, this humble scholar greets you all.”

“Hey, trickster! All dressed up—who are you planning to fool today?” one big-eyed palace maid asked with a grin.

“Aha, so you’re the little thief! What, not out stealing fruit today? Oh, that’s right—my fruit’s all been stolen by you lot.”

“Hmph, a dog’s mouth can’t speak ivory. We traded for those fruits with rattan balls!”

“That’s your claim! No take-backs allowed!” Tie Xinyuan declared, then dragged out a basket of rattan balls, proudly picked one up, and laughed. “Rattan balls from the Qiqiao Workshop—each sells for six hundred coins! Selling this basket will feed me pears for ten years, and the best fragrant ones, too!”

A palace maid’s monthly wage was only five hundred coins, and living in the palace, they had no idea of the outside world’s prices. They’d thought rattan balls were worthless, but now realized they’d been badly cheated. They all pointed at Tie Xinyuan, scolding him and demanding their balls back.

The big-eyed girl, employing some coquetry she must have learned from somewhere, blinked tearfully at Tie Xinyuan, biting her lip as he laughed.

Tie Xinyuan, hard-hearted as ever, was unmoved. He showed off by kicking the rattan balls around, not intending to return them at all.

Just as he was basking in his triumph, Tie Xinyuan felt his ear sharply twisted—his mother had come outside. The palace girls immediately complained to Wang Rouhua about his trickery.

Wang Rouhua, beaming, grabbed a rattan ball and tossed it onto the city wall, causing a chorus of delighted cheers. After throwing a few, her arm grew sore, so she ordered Tie Xinyuan to throw up the rest one by one.

Grimacing, Tie Xinyuan obeyed, each toss cutting into his heart. The big-eyed girl untied a delicate incense ball from her waist, tied a handkerchief to it, and tossed it down. The handkerchief billowed like a parachute, drifting gently to the ground.

Tie Xinyuan picked up the incense ball, puzzled—it was made of gilt silver and far more valuable than the rattan balls. Wang Rouhua snatched it, then carefully sent the girl’s handkerchief back up with a long bamboo pole, and for some reason, gave Tie Xinyuan a firm smack on the forehead.

Someone on the street was loudly calling Tie Xinyuan’s name. After bidding the palace girls farewell, Wang Rouhua dragged her son and the fox out the door; the hired carriage had arrived.

Tongzi was sitting barefoot on the doorstep. When he saw Tie Xinyuan, he wanted to speak, but seeing Wang Rouhua, he closed his mouth again.

Tie Xinyuan noticed the bruises on Tongzi’s legs and knew he’d been beaten again—by his own father.

In recent years, Copper Coin had been obsessed with outdoing Wang Rouhua in business, working so hard that he forgot everything else. His wife, pregnant, was still working at the printing shop, and as a result, suffered a miscarriage. Even then, Copper Coin only let her rest ten days before forcing her to work again.

People are not beasts of burden; even mules and horses need rest. Years of toil ruined his wife’s health, and at the start of the year, she passed away. Since then, Copper Coin’s temper had grown more violent. Perhaps jealous of the Tie family’s improving fortunes, he worked ceaselessly and forced Tongzi to labor alongside him, beating him ruthlessly for the slightest error.

When Copper Coin saw Wang Rouhua dressed like a lady of wealth, he snapped. Her pearl and jade hairpieces alone exceeded all his worldly possessions.

Red-eyed and furious, Copper Coin caught sight of Tongzi on the doorstep, grabbed a club as thick as his arm, and stormed out to beat him.

“Brother Copper Coin, what do you think you’re doing!” Wang Rouhua’s voice was like thunder. Tie Xinyuan had never seen his mother so formidable. While Copper Coin hesitated, she put herself between father and son, shielding Tongzi and shouting, “What are you doing? Are you trying to beat him to death?”

Copper Coin’s face was livid. “This is family business! No need for an outsider like you to interfere. He’s my son—it’s my right to beat him if I want!”

Tongzi, suddenly overcome, darted out from behind Wang Rouhua, crouched before his father, and roared, “Auntie, don’t interfere—let him beat me! I haven’t wanted to live for a long time. If not for thinking of the treats Brother Yuan gives me, I’d have left already.

Mother’s dead, my baby sister didn’t even reach full term. All you do is work for money, but we never see a coin of it. You hoard it all in jars. We toil like beasts, eat like animals—what’s the point of living? Go ahead, beat me to death! I’ll go find Mother. With her, I won’t have to wake before dawn and sleep after midnight. Hurry up—beat me to death!”

Copper Coin’s face turned from blue to red, veins bulging on his forehead. He kicked Tongzi in the shoulder, roaring, “Get out of my sight!”

Tongzi, instead of anger, rose slowly, dusted himself off, and looked at his father. “You said it.” With that, he walked away barefoot down the street.

Copper Coin’s eyes nearly bulged out as his lips trembled. He pounded his chest twice, turned, and slammed the door shut.

Wang Rouhua stood frozen, clutching the carriage for support as she steadied her breath, shaken by the quarrel between father and son.

She had come today with her son and the fox, determined to seek justice from her own family. She knew full well that after causing an uproar at the Wang household, she would be burning her last bridge, that any remaining ties with her kin would be severed.

She didn’t care about the relationship anymore. When she left home all those years ago, she’d never planned to return. Marrying Tie Aqi, who cherished and loved her, she devoted herself to being a farmer’s wife. As a young lady, she’d been afraid even of candlelight; but after marrying Tie Aqi, she dared to help him hold red-hot iron, watching her strong husband hammer it soft as noodles, never flinching from the flying sparks.

In the forge, everything was hard except her husband’s gaze upon her—tender and gentle. That was enough.

Wang Rouhua came to herself to find her son standing beside her, grasping her hand tightly.

“If we refuse to move or close our business, there isn’t much they can do to us, is there?” she asked her son in a low, uncertain voice.

Tie Xinyuan smiled. “If you wish, Mother, we can make them be the ones to move. The only question is, are you interested in that whole big plot of land?”

Wang Rouhua burst out laughing. “Don’t talk nonsense. I don’t have enough money to buy all that land.”

Tie Xinyuan grinned, flashing his white teeth. “Mother, in this world, anything is possible.”

Wang Rouhua teased him, “Then give it a try! If you can buy it for five hundred strings of cash, I’ll raise pigs on it!”

Tie Xinyuan laughed aloud. “Mother, wise as ever!”

After the Copper Coin family’s drama, Wang Rouhua’s hard-won courage faded again. Turning her back on her parents and kin was no easy thing. If Copper Coin had beaten his son to death just now, it would have been thirty strokes and exile for five hundred miles; but if the son had killed his father—even by accident—it was the gravest crime, unforgivable under Song law.

“You and Tongzi are such good friends. Why don’t you go find him and persuade him to come home? Copper Coin may be harsh and stingy, but he is still his father. The hardest, dirtiest work is always done by Copper Coin himself…”