I asked her what she wanted to do.
She told me to share the precious fish we’d caught that day with our neighbors.
She said,
“When you’re out doing business, you have to value loyalty.”
I didn’t understand.
But I guessed she meant that
if others treat us well, we should treat them well in return.
Just before we left, Vũ Huyên suddenly called us back.
“And another thing: we’re even now. I saved you two, and you two saved me.”
Even now?
I was afraid we’d never be even in this lifetime.
Vũ Huyên spent half a month in bed and couldn’t go fishing anymore.
I meant to stay home and take care of her, but she got so angry she kept coughing.
I didn’t dare disobey, so I had no choice but to go to school.
I still didn’t understand why it was so important for a girl to go to school and learn to read.
But if Vũ Huyên said it mattered, then it must matter.
With the income from selling fish gone for the time being, our lives immediately grew strained.
My younger brother and I decided to earn a little money in the evenings.
Evenings were the only time we had free.
Whenever Vũ Huyên fell asleep, I did needlework by the moonlight in the courtyard.
I didn’t dare light a lamp.
For one thing, lamp oil was too expensive—we couldn’t afford it.
For another, I was afraid Vũ Huyên would get angry if she found out.
The moonlight was dim, and I pricked my fingers until they were covered in tiny bloody holes.
But it didn’t hurt. I felt grown-up, carrying part of the family’s burden.
My younger brother was much more capable than I was.
Over the past few years, he’d grown taller and sturdier, and he’d shot a deer up in the mountains.
Vũ Huyên still found out about our secret.
For the first time, she didn’t hit us. She only said,
“Just this once. Don’t let it happen again.”
17.
At the time, I didn’t know Vũ Huyên was upset because we were working so hard.
I only thought she’d given us her tacit permission.
So I embroidered all night long.
On my way home from school, I took my work to the tailor shop to sell.
The shopkeeper was very kind and gradually paid me more.
I hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in half a month.
As I walked down the road, I nearly nodded off.
A tall man on horseback charged straight at me.
By the time I tried to dodge, it was too late.
A bolt of pain shot through me. I rolled across the ground several times and passed out.
When I woke, I was lying in bed at home.
Vũ Huyên’s face was ashen.
“Did you get a good look at who did it?”
I shook my head like a child who’d done something wrong.
Vũ Huyên angrily snapped, “Useless,” then walked away.
Afterward, I asked the physician how much longer it would be before I could get out of bed.
The physician said my leg was broken and I’d need at least half a year.
Sigh.
The rope always breaks at its weakest point, and bad luck always finds those already down.
Life had just started getting better. We’d only just begun to have enough to eat.
And then I had to go and fall ill.
Since I couldn’t go to school, my younger brother told me every day what the teacher had taught when he came home.
But what I cared about was what Vũ Huyên did each day, and whether it was wearing her out.
My younger brother hesitated, but eventually told me the truth.
Vũ Huyên went to the place where I’d been struck to sell fish.
While selling fish, she asked around to find out who had hit me.
I asked my younger brother if he’d found out.
He said he had.
It was the prefect’s brother-in-law—the man who had caused Father’s death all those years ago.
His family’s business was vast, with shops stretching from a county near the capital all the way to the south.
18.
I knew that, given Vũ Huyên’s temperament, she would surely seek revenge.
But I was relieved that Vũ Huyên didn’t leave before my leg healed.
That was for the best.
For a fallen family like ours, simply staying alive was already a blessing.
Revenge would have to wait.
Four months passed quietly like that.
I’d fallen behind in my studies, but my needlework had grown ever more skillful.
I could sew an entire outfit.
If a customer gave me a rough description of a style, I could make an outfit that was exactly right.
The tailor shop owner valued me all the more for it.
He started commissioning clothes from me, paying twice what he had before.
Both pleased and worried, I told Vũ Huyên.
But Vũ Huyên frowned and said,
“Don’t let this distract you from your studies. Once your leg heals, you must go back to school and catch up.”
I didn’t understand.
But she said I didn’t need to understand.
I only needed to know that an educated woman could be discerning.
And only if she was discerning could she know what she truly wanted.
19.
Spring gave way to fall, and another year passed.
But a momentous event shook the court.
A new emperor took the throne.
By the time the news reached a coastal county like ours, it was usually already three months old.
They said the new emperor was a gifted young ruler.
He established the Office of Oversight to monitor officials.
Any official caught embezzling faced prison at best and beheading at worst.
He instituted “rule by both civil and military officials” and restored the system of imperial military examinations.
From the eager look in my younger brother’s eyes, I could tell he seemed to have found his direction.
But what about me?
Open a tailor shop and be my own boss?
No, that wasn’t enough.
The young should have great ambitions.
When I finished writing that line, I startled myself.
Was this the benefit of reading so many books?
At thirteen, I set myself an ambition.
How about becoming the greatest imperial merchant in the world?
But on the very night I made that resolve,
Matchmaker Granny Wang arrived at our door with betrothal gifts.
She rattled off two marriage proposals.
A wealthy landowner named Li, from the south side of the city, had taken a fancy to Vũ Huyên, while his son had his eye on me.
“Sister Lâm, the Li family is incredibly wealthy. If you and Triệu Mẫn both marry into their family, it’ll be a double blessing!”
Granny Wang kept trying to persuade Vũ Huyên, undeterred by her refusals.
Vũ Huyên snorted.
“If I were still the person I used to be, I’d have thrown you out long ago. I’m not marrying anyone.”
Granny Wang still wouldn’t give up.
“It’s a fortune beyond your wildest dreams! Why are you so foolish? A life free of worry about food and clothes—so many people would give anything for that.”
“Be careful not to offend the Li family. Your whole family wouldn’t be able to withstand it.”
Vũ Huyên was so angry she laughed.
“Then you marry into the family, Granny Wang!”
20.
Granny Wang stormed off, cursing us as “ungrateful wretches.”
I tentatively sounded out Vũ Huyên.
“Actually, my younger brother and I can support ourselves now. If you…”
Vũ Huyên glared at me.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That pig isn’t good enough for me! The man who is worthy of me hasn’t even been born yet!”
“And don’t you get any ideas either. Marriage isn’t the only path open to a woman!”
“What happened to your grand ambitions?”
My younger brother stood nearby and watched the whole thing unfold, though he didn’t say a word.
But I could see his expression growing worse by the minute.
After Vũ Huyên fell asleep, my younger brother came to find me.
“Big Sister, I want to compete for the title of Martial Champion.”
I nearly cried out.
“You’re so young! The fighting ring is no place for a child. I won’t allow it.”
My younger brother took my hand.
“Once I become a great general, you and Mother won’t have to marry just because we’re poor. I’ll earn lots of money for you to spend every day. You can do whatever you want.”
“Big Sister, I’m truly not afraid of dying. I’m only afraid that you and Mother will marry and be mistreated!”
I laughed.
Looking at my younger brother, who was taller than me, I laughed and cried at the same time.
My younger brother had really grown up.
Like a true young man, he’d learned how to protect us.
21.
Afraid Vũ Huyên would worry, my younger brother and I kept the Martial Champion competition a secret from her.
The Martial Champion competition was held in front of the county yamen.
Before long, thousands upon thousands of people had gathered.
At a glance, I spotted the prefect’s brother-in-law—the man who’d stabbed me last year.
He was sitting in the front row, chatting with his arm around the wealthy landowner Li.
But they didn’t recognize us.
Once the competition began, my younger brother didn’t disappoint us.
Against him, hardly any opponent could last a single round.
Three days later came the final day of the competition.
To our surprise, my younger brother’s opponent was Li Tian, the wealthy landowner Li’s son.
As soon as he stepped out, he mocked my younger brother.
“A family of fishmongers dares to compete with me for first place?”
My younger brother said nothing, only clenching his fists until his knuckles turned purple.
As soon as the match began, my younger brother charged at Li Tian like a tiger descending a mountain.
Fourteen-year-old Li Tian hadn’t expected my younger brother to be so nimble, and was beaten until he could barely defend himself.
He tried to provoke my younger brother.
“Shameless! Your sister and your wretched stepmother could beg to marry into my family now, and we still wouldn’t take them. We wouldn’t even let them clean our chamber pots!”
Seeing my younger brother lose his composure, Li Tian flicked a hidden weapon from his sleeve.
My younger brother couldn’t dodge in time. The hidden weapon struck his left arm, and blood streamed from the wound.
My younger brother stopped holding back and punched Li Tian hard in the face, knocking out several of his front teeth.
Just then, the chief examiner suddenly ordered the match stopped.
He ruled that my younger brother lacked good character and had deliberately tried to injure someone.
The crowd erupted.
Vegetables flew through the air as if they were free, pelting the chief examiner’s platform.
The county magistrate announced, “Triệu Tranh is disqualified from the competition and must pay the wealthy landowner Li’s family one hundred taels in compensation.”
22.
The other side had clearly shot my younger brother with a hidden weapon. How could they rule that he’d deliberately tried to hurt someone?
How could a poor student ever hope to get ahead? It was harder than reaching the heavens!
I was so furious I jumped to my feet, ready to join the crowd in making a scene at the competition.
But just as I took a step, Vũ Huyên quietly came up and pulled me back.
She glared at me, her eyes bloodshot.
“Don’t go.”
Was she going to just swallow this injustice?
How could she possibly do that?
Before, she would pick a fight with someone over a single hostile look.
She had changed.