Chapter Eighteen: Thoughts on Coming of Age
The first snow arrived quietly, the fine snowflakes tapping against the windowpanes of the Datong Pawnshop. Liu Bao'er had just finished reviewing the accounts for the past three months with Cui Jiulang. Since the pawnshop opened, its turnover had exceeded 500,000 guan. Even Cui Jiulang, who was used to seeing the world, saw a sudden shock at this figure.
"Madam Dou is now the most Midas touch person in Chang'an." Cui Jiulang closed the ledger, his tone tinged with inquiry.
Just as Liu Bao'er was about to reply, a commotion downstairs caught her attention. It turned out that the owner of the silk shop on the next street was holding a coming-of-age ceremony for his daughter. Guests were arriving through the light snow, their laughter faintly carried across the street. The young woman, dressed in colorful clothes, was being helped by her mother to greet the guests in the snow, the newly adorned jade comb in her hair particularly striking in the snowy light.
Her hand holding the teacup paused almost imperceptibly.
"What's wrong?" Cui Jiulang keenly noticed her absent-mindedness.
"It's nothing." Liu Bao'er lowered her eyes, the steam from the tea blurring her vision. "I just suddenly remembered that in half a month it will be the twelfth lunar month, and I'll be turning fifteen."
Coming of age (or marriage)
The two words rolled across her tongue, carrying an unfamiliar, bittersweet taste. In her previous life, fifteen was merely the age of graduating from junior high school; but here, it signified a woman's true adulthood.
Cui Jiulang was clearly stunned as well. He looked at the shrewd and mature young woman in front of him, who was far beyond her years, and realized for the first time that she had not yet undergone the coming-of-age ceremony.
"The Dou family..." he began hesitantly, "...do they have any arrangements?"
Liu Bao'er didn't answer. Her gaze swept across the snow-covered streets, as if she saw that same snowy winter day years ago, the moment she opened her eyes in this world. If her mother were still alive, how content she would be as she dressed her, how carefully she would choose hairpins for her...
The knuckles turned slightly white from the force applied.
"Madam Dou?" Cui Jiulang's voice startled her from her reverie.
She set down her teacup, a perfect smile curving her lips: "These empty formalities are nothing to mention. But what Jiulang mentioned earlier about the currency exchange at the Hexi Horse Market—I think that's worth discussing further..."
However, once this topic is started, it is difficult to suppress it easily.
That night, Liu Bao'er returned to the Danfeng Gate residence, and unusually, she didn't immediately bury herself in the account books. She stood in the courtyard, gazing at the swirling snowflakes. Her coming-of-age ceremony should have been an insignificant formality. Why, then, did witnessing that scene today stir her emotions?
"Young lady." The mute old servant appeared behind her unnoticed, handing her a note. It was from the Dou family's matriarch, the handwriting still strong and vigorous: "Your coming-of-age ceremony is approaching; the Dou family can arrange it for you."
She stood in the snow for a long time, clutching the note. Her grandmother's suggestion was expected—an opportunity to more deeply bind her status to the Dou family, a performance to showcase the Dou family's "benevolence." But she sensed a faint, almost imperceptible...concern within it?
That's ridiculous.
She shook her head, dismissing the absurd thought. Neither her mother's absence nor the Dou family's scheming made her interested in the ceremony.
However, the next day, when she went to the brothel to make arrangements, she encountered an unexpected person at the back gate—Cui Jiulang.
"What's wrong with Jiulang?"
"Just happened to be passing by." Cui Jiulang said calmly, handing over a brocade box. "A coming-of-age gift, prepared in advance."
Inside the box is a mutton-fat jade hairpin, its jade warm and lustrous, its carving simple yet of considerable value.
"This is too valuable."
"Madam Dou is worth it." He looked at her, his gaze deep. "A jade hairpin in exchange for a ten-year partnership—it's a very good deal."
Liu Bao'er suddenly understood. In the eyes of these shrewd people, her coming-of-age ceremony was no longer a simple ritual, but an opportunity to make a statement and a chance to re-align herself with another side.
Even Hu Liu quietly asked her, "Master, who should we invite to the coming-of-age ceremony? The brothers need to prepare early."
Looking at Hu Liuzhen's sincere face, she suddenly felt a little tired.
That night, she climbed alone to the highest pavilion in the house. The myriad lights of Chang'an flickered hazily in the fine snow, and the golden signboard of Datong Pawnshop stood out starkly in the snowy night. All of this was earned by her own hands.
If that's the case, why be bound by these worldly rules?
A thought gradually became clear—she didn't want anyone to preside over this ceremony for her. She didn't want an absent mother, a scheming Dou family, or a transactional Cui Jiulang.
She wanted to have her hair tied up herself.
This decision brought her an unprecedented sense of relief. It was as if the last shackle had been removed, and from then on, the sky's the limit, and no one could define her life anymore.
Yet beneath the ease, a lingering, indescribable melancholy remained in her heart. She took out an old wooden hairpin, a keepsake left by her mother, and gently traced its rough engravings with her fingertips.
"Mother," she whispered to the swirling snowflakes, "can you see? Bao'er has grown up."
The night was deep, and the snowflakes fell silently, gently enveloping the girl's thoughts.
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