Lin Wu’s expression remained unchanged as she patted his little head and said softly, “Jing-niang had a weak stomach when she was little. The physician specifically warned her to chew slowly and thoroughly, or she would easily suffer from indigestion. I’ve gotten used to it over the years. Please don’t make fun of me.”
“What’s there to laugh at? Chewing slowly is good for you. You lot of little monkeys should all learn from her! Every one of you eats like you’re starving to death—you’re wasting food and harming yourselves!” one of the older guards teased with a laugh.
“Exactly! Xiao Zhao, you’ve got some nerve, making snide remarks about the young mistress! If the manager hears you, he definitely won’t let you off!” another guard chimed in playfully.
The conversation was smoothly diverted, and everyone began laughing and joking.
Lin Jing let out a sigh of relief, then lowered his head and continued eating the braised rice from his small bowl, one little bite at a time.
Still, a faint unease lingered in his heart. He had never truly seen how children from ordinary families behaved, and he did not know what their manners were supposed to be like.
With his eyes lowered, he secretly glanced at the guards and workers from the corner of his eye.
They ate so quickly, shoveling rice into their mouths while chatting and laughing. When they finished, they casually set down their bowls and chopsticks. Now and then, when a grain of rice stuck to their cheeks, they paid it no mind and simply wiped it away.
He reached out a finger and nudged his small wooden bowl and spoon, which had originally been arranged perfectly straight, slightly askew. Tilting his head, he wondered: Did he look a little more like them now?
Then he couldn’t help wondering if he was simply too different from everyone else.
A little troubled, he propped his chin in his hand and stared at his crookedly arranged bowl and spoon.
There were few children his age among the nearby merchant caravans. He turned his head and looked toward the small caravan trailing behind them.
Auntie Pockmark’s caravan did have two children. They were shoving and yelling at each other as they chased one another around, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
So noisy and rowdy. Little Lin Jing pursed his lips.
His gaze slowly shifted and came to rest on the young married woman who was speaking with Auntie Pockmark. That was the woman who had brought her child to ask them to trade for some flatbread earlier—the one who had coveted their food.
At the thought, Lin Jing pressed his lips together and let his gaze slide toward the quiet little girl standing beside her.
The girl looked half a head shorter than him. She was like a small blade of grass in the garden that had not received enough sunlight—wilted and listless. She kept her head lowered, almost shrinking into the woman’s shadow.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, the girl lifted her head, revealing a sallow little face. Her lips were pale, and there was hardly any color in her cheeks. Her small eyes gazed heavily in his direction, though she was not looking at his face.
Her eyes rested on the bustling kitchen at the rear of Jincheng Caravan, taking in the steaming pots and stoves, as well as the spacious, well-appointed carriage not far away. Then her gaze slowly shifted back and landed on the now-empty bowl before Lin Jing.
She abruptly turned her head and buried her face in Zhao Sanniang’s arms.
The movement interrupted Zhao Sanniang, who had been speaking. Following her daughter’s earlier gaze, she saw Lin Jing. Her expression softened, and she curved her lips into a friendly smile before nodding at him.
Lin Jing expressionlessly withdrew his gaze.
The woman’s friendliness and the little girl’s dark appraisal—a combination of outward kindness and inner hostility—felt somewhat familiar to him.
It reminded him of his hypocritical royal uncle and aunt, and his aloof cousins back in the palace.
Lin Jing was merely puzzled. His royal uncle had always been at odds with his father. Though Lin Jing himself was young, he was his royal father’s only son, and thus an obstacle in many people’s eyes. His cousins had never liked him, as though he should never have been born—as though he had come out of nowhere to seize what had originally belonged to them.
But what about this mother and daughter? He had never met them before, and he had no enmity with them. Why were they acting this way toward him? Was it because he had not traded them any flatbread earlier?
Lin Jing suddenly and vaguely realized that, whether inside or outside the palace walls, people were not all that different.
There were all sorts of people both in and out of the palace. If one looked closely, everyone had their own thoughts and their own circumstances. Yet wherever he went, as long as there were people, he could see familiar expressions on unfamiliar faces. In that sense, there was nothing particularly special about anywhere.
Except for Lin Wu, who seemed incapable of doing anything perfectly, and his wise and benevolent royal father and his gentle, dignified, and clever mother consort.
At that thought, his lashes trembled, and he lowered his eyes.
He reached out and straightened the crooked little spoon.
After the afternoon meal, Lin Wu carried the pots, bowls, and utensils to a nearby stream with everyone else to wash them.
The streamside was quite lively at that moment. Many people from the various merchant caravans had gathered there, some rinsing their belongings and others letting their horses drink.
Lin Wu found an empty spot and crouched down. She rolled up her sleeves, submerged a bowl in the stream, and began washing.
Perhaps because she was carrying a secret, she had grown much more alert to people’s gazes. Throughout the process, she repeatedly felt furtive glances falling upon her. Her heart tightened, but her face betrayed nothing. She pretended not to notice and continued washing the bowls briskly.
Before long, a neatly dressed woman came over and crouched down beside her. A sturdy, broad-built man stood not far away, his gaze sweeping over from time to time.
As the woman scrubbed several small bowls, she lowered her voice and said, “May I ask, are you Cook Lin of Jincheng Caravan?”
Lin Wu did not pause in her work or raise her head. She merely gave a soft “Mm” in response.
Yet inwardly, she wondered how the name of an insignificant nobody like her had spread. Could it be because the caravan’s meals had improved over the past few days, and the workers, satisfied with the food, had mentioned her in their idle chatter?
Seeing her distant attitude, the woman did not take offense. With a smile plastered across her face, she continued speaking on her own. “Please don’t take offense, Sister. My surname is Wang, and I’m an embroiderer. I studied my craft at an embroidery workshop in the capital for several years, and I daresay my needlework is quite respectable. My husband is a cart driver, and he knows a bit of carpentry as well. We’re traveling with another caravan to Lingzhou to visit relatives this time. We never expected to travel alongside Jincheng Caravan. It truly is fate that brought us together.”
After introducing herself and her husband in one breath, she changed the subject. “We do have skills, my husband and I, but we’ve never had the right connections. I heard that Jincheng Caravan treats its people generously. Do you think you might put in a good word for us with the manager and recommend us?”
Lin Wu understood at once. The woman had come seeking an introduction.
As she placed the washed bowls into a mesh bag, she replied with some apprehension, “Sister Wang, you’re putting me in a difficult position. I’m only a temporary kitchen helper, someone of no consequence. How could I possibly recommend anyone? Matters concerning the managers are hardly something I can interfere in.”
Embroiderer Wang acted as though they were old acquaintances. She reached out to help tidy up and lowered her voice even further. “Sister, you’re being too modest. Who doesn’t know that you carry considerable weight with Manager Zhang? It’s only a matter of saying a word. We’re not the sort of people who don’t understand proper etiquette—we certainly wouldn’t ask you to do this for free.”
The moment she finished speaking, she took advantage of placing the bowls into the mesh bag and swiftly slipped a piece of broken silver toward Lin Wu.
Lin Wu was horrified. Her wrist jerked back as though she had been burned, and the piece of silver fell into one of the bowls with a clear clink.
“Sister, I can’t accept this!” Her voice trembled slightly. “If Jincheng Caravan is hiring, it has its own rules and notices. I applied by following the notice, as did the other cook in the kitchen. Please don’t put me in such a difficult position.”
She could feel the probing gazes around her growing more focused, but she forced herself to remain calm. She picked up the broken piece of silver and pushed it back into the woman’s hand, then quickened her movements, stuffing all the clean bowls and plates into the net bag. She rose, intending to leave this trouble behind.
“Oh, don’t be so modest,” Embroiderer Wang said, following close behind. “An ordinary cook wouldn’t have the good fortune to enter the manager’s carriage alone to give a report.”
At those words, Lin Wu came to an abrupt halt. She turned to face Embroiderer Wang, her expression darkening.
“Everything I discussed with the manager concerned proper matters of meal arrangements, and the workers and the accountant were all present.” Her gaze was clear and steady as she looked straight at the woman, her voice ringing out. “I would very much like to know who’s been spreading such gossip behind my back. Do you think that because my son and I are orphans with no one to rely on, we’re easy targets? Insulting me is one thing, but now you’re dragging the manager’s good name into it as well. I’d like to see exactly who’s been spreading such filthy rumors!”
As she spoke, she gripped the net bag tightly in one hand and seized Embroiderer Wang’s wrist with the other. Her eyes swept hurriedly over the crowd. The moment she spotted a familiar figure, she called out loudly, “Brother Zhao!”
Xiao Zhao had been wandering nearby, and the commotion here had already drawn everyone’s attention. At her call, he immediately jogged over.
“Sister Lin, what’s going on?”
Lin Wu released the woman and pointed at Embroiderer Wang. “This lady claims that I once went to the manager’s carriage alone to give a report, and that I’m acquainted with him, so she wants me to pull some strings for her. Brother Zhao, could you please explain to everyone what actually happened?”
“Alone?” The trace of amusement on Xiao Zhao’s face vanished at once, and his voice rose. “Are you talking about the manager asking about breakfast the day before yesterday? I, Xiao Zhao, was standing right there the whole time—a man that big! Did I turn into a wooden post or something? How was she alone?”
Embroiderer Wang had already been startled by Lin Wu’s unexpected ferocity. Seeing that Xiao Zhao was merely a young worker, she tried to brush the matter aside.
“Brother, please don’t be angry. I was only anxious to find work and happened to believe what someone else told me. But everyone around here knows that Cook Lin and the manager are close. Several nearby merchant caravans all know about it.”
“Oh? How come I didn’t know?” Xiao Zhao’s gaze swept over the man standing not far behind the woman, then moved across the crowd of onlookers. His voice rang out clearly. “You’d be better off asking me for help. I can put in a good word with the manager too. Tsk, how come no one’s been spreading rumors about me? Is my standing not important enough?”
“This… Brother, that’s not what I meant,” Embroiderer Wang stammered, suddenly at a loss for words.
“Don’t you want to see the manager? Come on, I’ll take you there right now!” Xiao Zhao’s voice grew even louder. “But let me make one thing clear first: slandering someone’s reputation and damaging their good name will earn you bad karma. Watch out, or one night Lord Impermanence will come with an iron hook and pull your tongue right out.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept through the crowd again. “Anyone else want to come along? Then follow us! The manager isn’t the Jade Emperor sitting in the Hall of the Golden Clouds. What’s so difficult about seeing him? Our manager has always conducted himself honorably and uprightly. Let him judge this matter himself.”
The crowd exchanged glances and shrank back one after another. Not a single person dared to respond.
Only Embroiderer Wang’s husband, his face grim, stepped forward and followed after giving her a meaningful look.
“What… what is all this about?” Li Sanniang watched the commotion uneasily, afraid to step forward rashly.
The kitchen helpers and laborers who were packing up their equipment seemed to have seen this sort of thing many times before. Carrying their belongings as they walked, they curled their lips.
“What else could it be? Someone had too much time on their hands, went around wagging their tongue, and the gossip reached the person involved. Don’t worry about it. That Xiao Zhao is as sly as a monkey—he won’t be the one getting the worst of this.”
A nearby guard nodded and added, “Cook Lin handled that well. Those filthy whispers behind people’s backs should be dragged out into the sunlight and exposed for what they are.”
The crowd of onlookers surged toward Jincheng Caravan’s camp.
