Chapter 7
In all his years as a constable, Qiu Chiyan had solved murder cases and mediated family disputes, but this was the first time he had ever witnessed from beginning to end how a baseless dispute had come to fruition.
It was very abrupt and very inexplicable.
He dragged his heavy legs, leaning on the corner of the cabinet, and moved slowly to a closer spot to watch the game.
There weren't many customers in the shop at the moment, and the commotion made by those boatmen was already quite alarming.
The other guests looked at each other with strange expressions, but no one spoke up to stop them. They simply picked up their teacups quietly and watched the spectacle in silence.
Feng Shun was surrounded by several strong boatmen, which made him look even thinner.
"No, it's not...you...?"
Shen Yu returned with a bowl of cornbread and saw this scene. However, she also noticed Qiu Chiyan's slightly amused expression.
She still rushed in and squeezed into the middle.
"It's only been a short while, what happened? Let's talk this out."
"What's there to say! What's there to say! This quack doctor looks down on us!" the boatmen said righteously, as if they were determined to get an explanation.
Seeing that the shopkeeper was a young girl who hadn't even grown up yet, they became even more disdainful and reached out to grab Feng Shun's clothes from under Shen Yu's head.
But Shen Yu insisted on going a step further, and casually picked up the teapot from his sleeve, held it in front of the man, and suddenly let go.
Caught off guard, the boatman was so startled that he instinctively relaxed his grip and shifted his center of gravity slightly as the teapot was about to fall.
With a subtle tap, Shen Yu brought the teapot back into her hand. Using that force, she flicked her wrist slightly, and the boatman stumbled as if he had been gently pushed, forced to take a half-step back.
Her expression remained unchanged. With a slight turn of her wrist, she placed the teapot horizontally between the two sides and said gently, "Gentlemen, the tea is hot. You are welcome to stay here and have a meal. If you would like to do anything else, please go outside. My shop is small and cannot withstand any trouble."
Interrupted by her words, the boatmen exchanged bewildered glances. The man forced to retreat touched his nose, seemingly both embarrassed and angry, yet inexplicably feeling guilty.
Another boatman was about to step forward when Shen Yu lightly touched the stool leg with her toe, seemingly unintentionally, causing it to tilt slightly with a soft "click".
When the boatman looked up, he had already been forced to turn away, and could only look to one side.
What's going on? Is this some kind of ghost? Why can't they exert any force?
Shen Yu's eyebrows and eyes remained gentle as ever, without any hint of strength.
"As autumn approaches and the air grows cooler, our internal heat tends to increase. I'll send you a pot of lotus seed porridge to nourish your heart and calm your mind." She put the table back in its place and pulled out the chairs.
"That's right, you should all try Manager Shen's cooking. It's autumn, so don't get so irritable." A customer nearby chimed in to mediate when the commotion subsided.
Unable to withstand the overwhelming opposition, and knowing they were being unreasonable, they muttered a few words and then gave up.
However, Feng Shun seemed a little scared and ran to a table some distance away with his plate of peanuts.
After that group of people left, he didn't dare to move and stayed in the shop the whole time.
Seeing this, Qiu Chiyan took the wine pot and walked over, sat down at the table, poured the old man a cup of wine, and said gently, "The people in town have been quite restless lately, please bear with us. What is your name?"
"I am... Feng Shun," he replied. He only hesitated to speak after recognizing the man as a waiter at the inn, "These young people nowadays, their tempers are really..."
"You recognize them?"
Feng Shun shook his head, his face full of grievance: "Just bear with it, it'll pass. Anyway, I won't be staying here for long."
"How long have you been in Sanhe Town? What are you going there for?"
“It’s only been a month or so. I’ve been here to treat patients and take on apprentices, but I feel…” Feng Shun hesitated, his brows furrowed with exhaustion, before finally letting out a long sigh, “It’s time to change places and go somewhere else.”
Qiu Chiyan remained calm and asked, "But you haven't taken in enough disciples in Sanhe Town?"
“It’s not because of the amount, I’m not doing this for money. It’s just… now that there are government-run pharmacies for the benefit of the people, I don’t need to go through the trouble.” He seemed somewhat relieved, yet also somewhat helpless. “I’ve been practicing medicine for over thirty years and have been to many places. There are poor people everywhere, but they are rarely seen. Most of the time, when they have some illness or ailment, they just tough it out. Some are healthy and don’t have any major problems, but those who can’t get through it don’t have a chance to say anything.”
Qiu Chiyan raised his glass to him in a toast, his tone solemn: "Sir, you are truly righteous."
Feng Shun waved his hand, not expecting any praise, just expressing his feelings.
Normally, few people would have the patience to listen to him speak.
Qiu Chiyan chatted with him for a few more minutes. After seeing the man off, he turned around and quickly drew a few portraits at the counter. Just then, Xu Dahe returned from outside, so he asked his younger brother to run an errand for him and deliver the boatmen's portraits to Yan Rifu, asking them to check if the boatmen had any problems and who they had been in contact with.
Most importantly, we must not let Feng Shun leave Sanhe Town; we must find a safe reason to secretly protect him.
After giving his instructions, Qiu Chiyan's gaze fell on Shen Yu, who was clearing away the dishes.
Perhaps the boatmen involved felt bewildered by the way things were calmed down, but he could see clearly that it was a skillful technique that only appears in the hands of a true expert.
Its power lies not in appearance, nor in form; it is like a gentle breeze that can turn the tide of a situation.
Shen Yu gathered up the scattered bowls and chopsticks, and when she looked up, she met his gaze: "What are you looking at? Want some snacks? I just saw that Dahe bought some osmanthus and hawthorn."
"Eat up! Thank you for your hard work, shopkeeper."
At first, Qiu Chiyan felt he shouldn't trouble others, but gradually, Gong Er and Yao Liuliu were eager to order food, and Shen Yu also enjoyed it, so he joined in.
Besides, she is really good at it.
Qiu Chiyan's appetite is amplified here.
Shen Yu carried the bowls and plates into the backyard, and Maiya immediately jumped onto her shoulder.
"You can't eat this, it's too oily." She pushed the monkey's little head away, picked up the half-eaten peanut from the millstone, and held it to its mouth.
Maiya is a clever monkey with brownish-white fur and bright, alert eyes that reveal a hint of intelligence. It is not a local macaque, but rather comes from the distant South Pacific. More than two years ago, Shen Yu bought it from a group of mountain herders from Southwest China.
Perhaps because it had been wandering and suffering for so long since it was a baby and was always hungry, even when it grew up, it was still small and agile, unlike the robust and tall monkeys of the common species. Therefore, it could not be released back into the mountains and forests, otherwise it might have been driven away by other monkeys.
However, the young monkeys are exceptionally intelligent. They can distinguish dishes and utensils without much teaching, and can even understand people's eyes and gestures.
If someone is busy in the backyard, it will quietly lie on their shoulder or next to the millstone and reach out to help deliver small items.
Moreover, it is very obedient and never goes to the front hall, so it doesn't cause trouble for itself.
After playing with malt for a while, Shen Yu went into the kitchen to start making desserts for the day.
Autumn is the best time to eat osmanthus flowers.
She first sifted the glutinous rice flour, poured it into a bowl, and slowly added warm water, kneading it into a smooth and delicate dough. The glutinous rice absorbed the water, becoming soft yet chewy.
Then, she divided the kneaded dough into small pieces, flattened them into round cakes, and placed them on a steamer lined with lotus leaves.
In between steaming the cakes, she took the time to tidy up the stove, sorting and storing the remaining glutinous rice flour and sugar, and then picked up the tea set to brew a pot of tea.
Yao Liuliu leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, watching Shen Yu busy at work.
"If I had a husband like that...tsk tsk..."
She murmured to herself, her expression seemingly lost in some kind of longing.
"So many people come and go in Sanhe Town every day, didn't you like any of them?" Shen Yu sipped her tea, responding rather casually.
"Look at what you're saying. Then I should just stand on the street every day and choose a husband. What kind of matchmaking is this?"
"But you just lie around in the inn all day, you can't expect a lover to fall from the sky, can you?"
Yao Liuliu pretended to hit her, her tone coquettish: "Don't expose me. Actually, I just need to look at the guests in the inn. Although there aren't many good-looking ones, there are occasionally some handsome young men."
"Qiu Chiyan is very handsome, but I haven't seen you look at him much."
"He's just a constable, I... forget it."
Yao Liuliu shrugged, looking rather regretful.
But she leaned closer and whispered mysteriously, "Have you heard? There was a murder in Yun Chuan Town next door?"
Shen Yu shook her head: "You even found out about things that happened so far away?"
"If it were anything else, I wouldn't have asked. But the person who died seems to have been stabbed to death with a cone-shaped weapon."
Shen Yu blinked, then belatedly realized, "You think it is..."
Yao Liuliu nodded immediately, looking worried: "It's like a persistent ghost, so annoying."
"But this isn't aimed at you. What are you worried about?"
"I'm a coward. What if someone passes through Sanhe Town and sees me? Whether we fight or not is another matter, I'll have to run! I've finally gotten used to living here."
“That’s true.” Shen Yu also seemed to understand. “If it’s discovered in the shop, my shop will also be in trouble.”
"...What time is it and you're still thinking about your run-down shop!"
"I'm thinking that if you're in trouble, I'll have to fight for you, but not inside the store. I'll have to cleverly lure them outside. That's no easy task."
"Oh, when did you learn to say nice things?" Yao Liuliu teased, but then she thought about it and realized that her words weren't that pleasant.
However, Shen Yu is right; she is being overly suspicious.
She's far away, and it's not necessarily her business.
Besides, she believed she had done a pretty good job of hiding.
After talking to someone about her feelings, Yao Liuliu felt much better; she wasn't the type to suffer from internal conflict.
After talking about herself, she started gossiping about others: "What's wrong with Gong Er? These past few days, when I went shopping with him, he was always in a hurry to come back. Is the person he's afraid of coming here too?"
Yao Liuliu was unaware of Gong Er's past. She came to this place a year after opening the shop, and only knew that Gong Er seemed to be like her, not wanting to see people from the past.
"Ask him yourself."
"He just said that the past is a mess, so he might as well believe whatever others say and hide away just to settle things. Isn't that like saying nothing at all?" Yao Liuli clung to Shen Yu, wrapping her arms around hers. "Tell me, with so many people in town lately, what if I accidentally invite his enemy into the restaurant for a meal? Wouldn't that be awkward?"
"No."
Gong Er's voice came from the next room. He lifted the curtain and looked speechlessly at his two younger sisters, who were more than ten years younger than him: "It's one thing to talk about people behind their backs, but to do it so loudly is another. At least wait until I'm working in the front before you start talking."
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