Fresh Fish

"Your protection?" Suzhen repeated questioningly. She frowned. "Truth be told, I am not sure if I am safer with the bandits or with you. It could be an even toss."

There were a few muffled snickers from the crowd of villagers watching on. Song Gongzi was well known for his playboy ways, but his prestige and station were enough to intimidate--or tempt--most women to give in to his advances.

Indignant, Song Gongzi spluttered. "You think too uncharitably of me, Madame Xu! My devotion to you is pure, I swear." Seizing the moment, he lunged forward and grabbed the basket of fish, since he dared not grab her arm. "How can I let you leave thinking so lowly of me? Hear me out."

Suzhen was losing her patience. Glancing around swiftly, she withdrew her hand into her sleeve so they would not see her fingers. Song Gongzi gave a yelp as the dead fish suddenly seemed to come alive, thrashing in the basket wildly. As he let go of the basket the fish leaped into the air and slapped him generously across the face before falling limply to the ground.

He gave a cry of disgust and wiped his face desperately on his sleeve. "It stinks," he gasped. "It's slimy and wet."

There was a chorus of excited chatter and even some claps from the onlookers. Suzhen bent to pick up the fish from the floor, unperturbed. She examined it with interest. "This fish is indeed fresher than I thought," she said approvingly. "Despite what Madame Liang says."

She retrieved her basket calmly and put the fish back inside. "What an unfortunate thing to happen, Song Gongzi. You really should not have grabbed my basket so rudely," she said in mild reproof. "Now this perfectly good fish is all dirty from--" She delicately stopped, leaving it unclear whether she meant the ground, or his face. "I had no idea it still had so much life in it."

As she walked into the crowd without looking back, Madame Liang smiled with a flash of real enjoyment from the corner she was watching on from. She nodded thoughtfully to herself. Well, that Madame Xu was certainly not a fool, or a coward. Whatever the reason for her strange behaviour, however, she couldn't help but feel herself warming to her. At the very least, she seemed to genuinely care for her husband. Perhaps she really did just want to live in the village like everyone else.

Madame Liang chuckled as she replayed the scene of Song Gongzi getting slapped in the face by the fish. "If I'd known what it would be used for, I wouldn't have made a fuss about it not being fresh!"

She was not the only one watching.

Another pair of eyes watched Bai Suzhen's back disappearing in the distance, long after the rest of the crowd had dispersed.

It was a small man, stocky with broad, bowed shoulders that made him look stooped. He had a patchy complexion and round, somewhat glassy eyes. His mouth was a narrow line with barely any lips. Slowly, he drew back behind the wall, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Pulling a half-eaten dried fish from his tunic, he gnawed on it, grunting whenever the bones got stuck in his teeth. He blended into the crowd, strolling down the street with the fish tail sticking out of his mouth.

Song Gongzi had haughtily departed, still grimacing at the smell of fish that clung to him and his clothes. His cheeks were burning but he kept his head high, loftily ignoring all the muffled giggled and whispers behind him. Flicking his robe back grandly he entered the carriage. "Back to town, and be quick!" he barked sharply at the driver.

Chewing his lip moodily, he stared unseeingly out of the window as the carriage lurched into motion. Never had any woman dared to turn him down so flatly and directly, and never had his attempts at seducing someone ended in him getting a raw fish in his face.

He rubbed his hands together thoughtfully. He could give up now, and retreat with dignity, writing her off as a bad-tempered shrew to save some face. But his pride did not like the idea. A poor village physician's wife! What was more, he had not yet found another face more striking than hers.

Song Gongzi prided himself on being irresistible. He liked to think that he knew how to please women, how to flatter them and make them weaken towards him. As the second son of a rich official, he was unpleasantly aware that as far as power and status went, no matter how respected he was outside of his home, within his own family he was nothing compared to his older brother, a successful scholar who excelled in the six arts and was the heir of their father's estate.

Instead, he consoled himself with making a reputation for himself as a man no woman could resist. Looking at him, he seemed disarmingly young and boyish. The full lips especially seemed to hint at a sensitive, tender temperament, making his smile especially appealing. His good looks were of the genteel, almost feminine kind, and he dressed faultlessly. He had always been good with words--he had to be, to impress his father, since he lacked in other areas.

He sniffed. He would try again. He would make her smile self-consciously at him, and be fluttered by his presence.

As Suzhen made her way back, she turned over the events in her head. Was Song Gongzi really the one following her, then? Seeing how he had actually appeared in the village, Xuxian's guess seemed to be correct. She tried to remember the footsteps outside the window. Had they been the same?

Shaking her head, she went on her way, making a mental note to wash the fish thoroughly in three waters before steaming it for dinner so it would be free of any bad aura from its contact with Song Gongzi's face.