Chapter 38: Wang Ge's Disheartenment

Huan Zhen could not understand how Ren Suozhi could deduce so much just from the murderer’s attempt to bite his tongue and kill himself. The more the bondservant denied, bowing repeatedly and trembling with fear, the more it proved Ren Suozhi was right.

Unable to comprehend, Huan Zhen simply asked.

Ren Suozhi first ordered the other bondservants to be released, instructing them to return to their posts and resume work. Two constables remained nearby—Shan Ying and Cheng Shuang.

Ren Suozhi explained to Huan Zhen and the others, “In the beginning, when I tricked the murderer into revealing himself, his first reaction was to escape. What does this tell us? It means he wants to live. After we captured him, he loudly declared that Hu Fu deserved to die, trying to convince us that Hu Fu was a villain, truly deserving death. In that case, when the county office tries him, he might not necessarily be sentenced to death—so again, he wants to live! Why, then, did he try to kill himself the moment the murder weapon—a bowstring—was mentioned? Unless that bowstring is special, and finding it would reveal something else. The murderer knows he cannot withstand torture, fears he’ll reveal where the bowstring is hidden. Rather than endure that, he’d rather die now!”

What sharp insight! Huan Zhen regarded Ren Suozhi with new respect; when Ren Suozhi met his gaze, Huan Zhen had already looked away, nodding respectfully like Cheng Shuang and Shan Ying.

Cheng Shuang hesitated, “But before the township official arrives, we cannot use torture on him.”

Shan Ying’s face darkened. “Leave him to me, I have my ways!”

Ren Suozhi shook his head. “No. This is a murder case—the culprit will be tried at the county office. If we flog him now, he might accuse us of using torture to force a confession.” He paused, then assigned tasks: “Cheng Shuang, take Huan Zhen to the latrine where the victim was strangled and search it thoroughly for anything we may have missed. Shan Ying, come with me to the murderer’s hut—we will search every inch, even strip the straw mats, until we find that bowstring!”

Following Cheng Shuang, Huan Zhen suddenly remembered something and spoke to him. Cheng Shuang went ahead, while Huan Zhen called Tie Feng and Tie Lei over. “Tell the Wang siblings that by noon the day after tomorrow, I want as many of those rolling bamboo lanterns as they can make—no paper lining, and no sesame oil added.”

Tie Feng agreed, then asked, “What price should we set? At market rate, two coins each, no less. For small farming households, offering too much could bring trouble.”

Tie Lei added, “These aren’t easy to transport, and they’re fragile, bulky. Should I rent an ox cart from a farmer?”

“No need,” Huan Zhen replied. “This is a murder case—the township official will surely come; he can take them when he leaves. Also, I have a letter for my uncle for him to deliver. Find out if Miss Wang passed the artisan apprentice exam—I want to inform the master.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll go at once.”

As Tie Feng headed north through the village, the peddler was just pulling his mule cart to a halt outside the Wang family’s gate. A gaggle of children crowded around the colorful display, laughing, while Old Wang stepped out to greet the peddler and led him into the yard.

Country folk weren’t so particular; doors stood open in broad daylight. None of the children wanted to leave and clustered at the gate, gazing at the goods. Old Wang smiled and made no move to shoo them away. He sent Apeng and Hutou to help Wang Ge move things, entrusted Aiai to Dalang’s care, then invited the peddler to sit on a mat, poured him a bowl of water, and exchanged pleasantries. “We’re repairing the road, so it’s not as easy to travel as before, is it?”

“After passing the Lingshui Pavilion, I saw plenty of donkey carts hauling goods, but it wasn’t too bad. Haven’t seen you for a while, sir—you seem even more sprightly. Your eldest boy too! And this little lady—how old is she? She looks so smart.”

“She’s three.” Old Wang knew the man was simply being polite, but it was still pleasant to hear. Wang Ai, realizing she was being complimented, shyly turned away and nestled into her uncle’s shoulder.

After a few words, Old Wang learned the peddler’s surname was Feng, and that he lived in a nearby town.

Wang Ge showed the peddler a six-sided bamboo fan and two bamboo hairpins. The peddler was knowledgeable. With a click of his tongue, he exclaimed sincerely, “The fan’s weaving is exquisite—the edges are all perfectly even. Remarkable, truly remarkable!”

The whole family beamed at his praise.

The greatest challenge—and proof of skill—in weaving a six-sided bamboo fan lay in its edging. To keep each edge straight, the curves in between had to be perfectly spaced. There was something else the peddler hadn’t noticed: the overlapping “person” patterns at the edge, which made the fan much more durable than those with just a single overlap.

He then examined the bamboo hairpins. “These would sell well, but the price… how about two coins each? At most, I could sell them for three. The fan is excellent, but the better the quality, the harder it is to move. Twenty coins—what do you say?”

Wang Ge looked to her grandfather; such matters were for elders to decide.

Truthfully, Old Wang was pleased at first, but seeing his granddaughter’s forced smile, he realized the price was too low. “The hairpins are simple—two coins is fine. But the fan, could you offer a little more? My granddaughter worked from dawn to dusk for days to make it.”

“I’m not deceiving you, sir. I barely break even—these fans might not sell in the village, so I’d have to take them to the county. The trip alone from Jiasheng Village to the county eats up two coins in travel costs.”

At that moment, Wang Xing and Wang Peng brought over six rolling lanterns, one already fitted with a hemp candle and linen cover.

With her back to Peddler Feng, Wang Ge lit the candle and spun the lantern in the air a few times to demonstrate. “This is a rolling lantern. However it rolls, the candle tray stays steady.”

The peddler was intrigued. “This is quite novel, though the design…”

“I sewed on the linen cover to shield it from the wind when showing it to my uncle. If you want to buy them, I’ll stop at the bamboo frame. Buyers can add their own silk or linen covers as they like. If they’re worried about soiling the outer fabric, they can add another bamboo layer over it.”

“You truly deserve to be called a top artisan apprentice! But though it’s ingenious, it’s easy to imitate—so it’ll only sell well at first.”

“Indeed.” Wang Ge was helpless; the lantern’s flaws were obvious.

“My advice is not to use green bamboo—ordinary yellow bamboo will do. All right, these six—rolling lanterns, you say? I’ll give you nine coins for all six. I’ll order another twenty, made with yellow bamboo, one coin each. My cart can’t hold any more.”

At that moment, it would be false for Wang Ge to say she wasn’t disappointed. The prices for the hairpins and lanterns were rock-bottom, and even the fan was five coins less than she’d hoped. Looking back, it was her experience selling zodiac boxes at the county post and winning prizes at Qinghe Manor that had colored her expectations, making her greedy.

The county post station was a thoroughfare for officials and merchants; perhaps she had just been lucky, meeting travelers who prized curiosities and didn’t care about the price. As for the purchases at Qinghe Manor during the apprentice contest, was it really about skill? No, certainly not! There must have been some arrangement with the authorities, or perhaps they just wanted a good omen and didn’t care about the actual value of the apprentices’ work.

“Are you Miss Wang, the artisan apprentice?” Tie Feng’s voice rang out, interrupting the conversation between the Wang family and the peddler.

He had actually arrived a while ago. Carrying last night’s rolling lantern, he’d walked along the village’s east-west path and overheard children chatting about “Artisan Apprentice Wang” and “top apprentice.” After asking around, he learned that Miss Wang had not only passed the exam, but was ranked first!

“Tsk, the young master’s craftsman wasn’t very discreet—produced a top apprentice right away, too conspicuous. Luckily, Magistrate Huan doesn’t know.” He muttered to himself. Seeing a dozen children crowding the Wang family’s gate, he wondered what was going on. Squeezing inside, he kept silent until he heard the peddler bargaining the lanterns down to a coin apiece before he called out, “Are you Miss Wang, the artisan apprentice?”