Chapter 23: Human Life

After returning to the yard, Chen Shiyi asked Wen Zhirou in a low voice while cooking.

"Miss, can you embroider?"

Wen Zhirou heard this and said very proudly.

"Embroidery, of course I can. My embroidery is one of the best in Kyoto. Moreover, I can also do the extremely difficult double-sided embroidery."

"Wow, that's amazing."

Chen Shiyi thought, if he is so powerful, is he afraid of not making money?

I heard from the shopkeeper that a piece of fine embroidery could be sold for over a hundred taels of silver.

One hundred taels, that would be equivalent to so many copper plates that I can’t even count them.

Wouldn't that mean he could live in a big house, use thick bedding, and not even look down on coarse cotton cloth, but directly ask for fine cotton cloth, and eat big, white steamed buns three times a day, two for each meal.

"Miss, the shops in town are selling some good embroidery. One piece can be sold for a lot of silver. This way we don't have to worry about money."

"What did you say?"

Wen Zhirou's face turned black at this moment and she was very angry.

Chen Shiyi thought, did he say anything wrong?

“Can’t you embroider?”

Wen Zhirou said in a sharp voice.

"Of course I can't embroider. How can my embroidery be circulated in the market for the scoundrels to appreciate and play with? I once embroidered a painting of a thousand miles of rivers and mountains, which was framed on a folding screen by the emperor himself and presented to the current empress dowager. Now, it is displayed in the empress dowager's bedroom. How noble is this? People like you are so mean and calculating, and now you want to humiliate my honor. I tell you, don't even think about it."

Chen Shiyi naturally didn’t understand these things. As a person living at the bottom of society, she really didn’t know what glory was.

Hearing the young lady so excited and angry, I thought that this was something more important than her life.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

Wen Zhirou shouted loudly.

"Stay away from me..."

Chen Shiyi thought, what a pity! I thought I could live a good life.

She thought, why not learn from others and dig traps in the mountains, maybe she can get some prey, which is very valuable.

However, this requires being very familiar with the habits of the prey and learning from others, but who would teach this eating skill to others for no reason?

Faraway water cannot quench near thirst. No.

She can cook, so why not hire a cook from the restaurant?

But after she left, there was no one to cook and serve these masters.

Besides, they won't agree to it.

She knew how to make delicious jam-filled pancakes, but it required an oven and she didn’t have many copper plates left to eat on.

It’s really difficult!

Otherwise, we'll all starve to death together.

The next day, she carried a few fish and headed towards the town.

Before leaving, she told Mrs. Wen that she might be back late tonight, and they would wash their own clothes and prepare their own dinner.

Mrs. Wen nodded in agreement.

"Go ahead and do your work. We can do this ourselves."

After being sunny for a few days, the sky gradually darkened again. Perhaps the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching.

She remembered from childhood that around the Dragon Boat Festival, there were more rains than sunny days.

In the busy market, her fish sold for the low price of twelve copper plates.

In the end, I hope to sell it as soon as possible and see if I can find a job in town. No matter what, at least I can have some income.

She walked slowly to the flower street again, and suddenly remembered that she hadn't visited Nanzhi for a long time.

Nanzhi leaned against the railing of the stairs boredly, shaking the red beard in his palm again and again, seeming to be very impatient.

She glanced around and found Chen Shiyi hiding in the corner of Wanhua Tower, smiling at her quietly.

Nanzhi twisted her soft waist and walked towards Chen Shiyi in a charming and graceful manner.

"Girl, you are more diligent than those men."

Chen Shiyi laughed quietly.

Nanzhi looked at Chen Shiyi carefully.

"Your eyes are beautiful."

She then impatiently shook her red handkerchief embroidered with roses. Her jade-white hands, with nails dyed red with orange, looked even more slender and translucent, like emeralds.

"It's not easy for women in this world. If you have a bit of charm, your life will be very hard. You are good like this."

Suddenly, a group of guests came up the stairs of Wanhua Tower. The one leading them was wearing a black robe and had a high bun. Judging from his accent, he seemed to be from Beijing.

They all had stern and fierce expressions and seemed like they were not easy to mess with.

When Nanzhi saw someone coming to the door, he hurried forward to greet the guest.

She smiled sweetly and covered the corner of her lips with her red fingers.

"Dear guests, is this your first time to have fun in Wanhua Tower?"

Before she could finish her words, two bright rays of light flashed across the sky like lightning, and the warm, rusty red satin poured down onto Chen Shiyi, who was standing not far away.

She stood there in a daze, only to hear someone in the group speaking coldly.

"What are you laughing at? Can't you see that the master is unhappy?"

Just as she closed her eyes, a head rolled down from the stairs. The face was smiling sweetly at her just now.

There was also the arm that fell to the ground, with the bright red rose flower handkerchief still clenched in the palm.

In a moment, the people around started screaming and fled in all directions.

The only people left on the street were a group of strange people, the trembling brothel madam, and Chen Shiyi.

The bright red blood on his forehead flowed into the corners of his mouth, tasting fishy-sweet.

Her eyes were bloodshot, frighteningly red, and she raised them slightly, trying to keep the master's appearance firmly in her mind.

One day, one day...

"Here are twenty copper coins. Someone come and drag the body away so as not to offend our master."

Chen Shiyi rolled over, crawled, knelt, and took the copper money with both hands.

"I, I'll do it..."

As the sounds of copper plates rang out one after another, she immediately hugged Nanzhi's headless body, picked up her head, picked up her remaining limbs, wrapped them tightly around her chest, and walked out of the town.

The blood in front of her body was still flowing, and Chen Shiyi's clothes were all soaked with blood. She walked forward numbly, and when she passed the door of the clothing store, she said something quietly to the shopkeeper.

"Please give me a needle and thread, and a piece of white cloth, and I'll pay you later."

The shopkeeper had dealt with Chen Shiyi several times before, and she quickly threw her what she needed and said.

"Go quickly, don't bring bad luck to me."

Along the way, there were too many people watching, and if something like this happened, the news would spread to thousands of households in an instant.

Every time I pass by a door, a basin of cold water is poured behind me.

Gradually, the water melted with blood and formed a cold stream.

She just sat there holding Nanzhi's broken body and went to the mass grave.

She found a cooler place and slowly put down the Nanzhi.

Nanzhi's face still retains the smile she had when she was alive.

Fortunately, she left with a smile.

Chen Shiyi picked up the needle and tried to thread the thread through the needle, but his hands were shaking so badly that he failed after trying several times.

She tried to calm herself down and rested for a while. She choked with sobs and finally threaded the thread into the needle.

After straightening the head and body, she threaded the needle and carefully sewed Nanzhi's head and arms onto her.

"Nanzhi, I'm not very good at sewing, so I'll try to be more meticulous and dress you up beautifully, okay?"

"Nanzhi, I'm so scared..."