In the biting wind, Lin Wu walked down the street, holding Lin Jing by the hand. Perhaps because the weather had turned colder, there were far fewer people out and about. The bustle that usually filled the streets seemed to have frozen solid, leaving the forms normally concealed by the crowds starkly visible.
Beneath walls, in the sheltered corners of alleyways, a few figures lay huddled beneath straw mats or covered with torn hemp cloth. Their clothes were ragged, and they had curled themselves into tight balls, making it impossible to tell their ages—or even whether they were men or women.
Lin Jing held Lin Wu’s hand tightly with one hand, while the other rested on the warm ceramic hand warmer in the cloth sling bag at his side. He tilted his little head and let his gaze pass over the hunched figures in the corners before settling beside an earthen wall.
A small figure sat directly on the icy ground. The child looked to be about his age. Filthy and disheveled, with no hair tie or topknot, strands of hair hung down in clumps, nearly covering the whole face. The thin little cheeks made the eyes look unnaturally large, though they stared ahead without a trace of life. The child’s clothes were absurdly oversized, merely thrown over the body, leaving the hands and feet exposed. They were swollen, red, and cracked from the cold.
Perhaps sensing someone’s gaze, the child slowly turned their eyes toward Lin Jing. Without changing expression, they held out a swollen, frostbitten hand and nudged forward the chipped earthen bowl resting in front of them.
Lin Jing felt a heaviness in his chest. He lowered his head and looked away.
Suddenly, he remembered the days they had spent in the mountains. They had huddled in caves just like this, gray and grimy, tying vines around their wrists, ankles, and sleeve openings. Every morning, the moment they opened their eyes, they would think about digging up wild yams, catching fish in the river, and searching for wild mugwort and he shou wu. They used roof tiles to roast yams and fish, and chipped clay jars to hold water.
He quietly tightened his grip on Lin Wu’s hand and looked up at her. She walked with such steady purpose, her eyes fixed ahead, one step following another—just as she had in the mountains.
Lin Wu made her way along the street. After turning past two intersections, she suddenly spotted the familiar “Zhiyun” shop banner fluttering in the wind. Looking more closely, she realized it belonged to a silk and cloth shop operated by Zhiyun Trading House. The shop was spacious, and the figures moving inside made it look far busier than the other stores.
She led Lin Jing over the threshold.
The shop was quite bright and roomy. A long wooden counter divided the front into two sections. Behind it stood shelves that reached all the way to the ceiling, neatly stacked with bolts of cloth in every color. Several broad wooden tables had been set up near the entrance, each covered with open wooden compartments filled with fluffy white cotton. Quite a few customers stood around the tables, picking up handfuls and kneading them between their fingers.
The pair looked rather out of place amid the shop’s fine fabrics, especially with the large bamboo basket on Lin Wu’s back.
A young shop assistant came over with an ingratiating smile. “What can I show you, customers? You can leave your basket over in the corner. I’ll keep an eye on it for you.”
Seeing that Lin Wu was holding a child’s hand in one hand and carrying a folded folding stool in the other, he thoughtfully led them to an empty spot against the wall.
Lin Wu thanked him, set down the basket, and carefully tucked the stool inside. Only then did she have both hands free to straighten her own headscarf and Lin Jing’s, both of which had come loose in the wind.
“Are you looking to buy fabric, or would you like to see some ready-to-use cotton filling? The weather’s turned cold, and our shop has just received a shipment of Hejiang cotton. It’s soft, warm, and perfect for padding winter coats or quilts,” the assistant said.
“Thank you. I’d like to look at the filling first.” Lin Wu led Lin Jing over to the tables covered with wooden compartments.
Beside them, a stout older woman in a thick padded jacket was pinching a clump of cotton and examining it carefully in the light from the doorway. She asked the shopkeeper behind the counter, “Is this cotton tightly packed? I bought some from another shop last year, and it clumped up before winter was over. It was no use at all.”
The shopkeeper replied with a smile, “You can rest assured, ma’am. Ours is genuine Hejiang cotton, thoroughly cleaned. Just look at it—snow-white and fluffy. It’s nothing like that inferior scrap material. Turn it into clothes or quilts, and it’ll keep you warm while staying soft and light.”
By then, the assistant had followed Lin Wu over and began explaining the goods briskly. “Take a look, customer. This here is first-grade Hejiang cotton—long fibers and pure white in color—one hundred wen per liang. The cotton beside it is second grade. The fibers are shorter and there’s a bit of discoloration, but it’s just as warm. Seventy wen per liang. The cotton in the back is third grade, fifty wen per liang. It’s economical, though it hasn’t been cleaned quite as carefully. It’ll do well enough as the bottom layer of a mattress.”
The prices were exactly what Lin Wu had heard when she made inquiries earlier.
At that, the older woman beside them suddenly lowered her voice. “I heard the government has been buying cotton recently, and they’re paying no more than fifty-five wen per liang. Aren’t you making an outrageous profit on the resale?”
“You certainly have good sources, ma’am,” the shopkeeper said without taking offense. “But the government buys in bulk, so naturally they can force the price down. We small shops have to pay people to sort, sun-dry, and dust the cotton after bringing it in. None of that is free. Our prices are already quite fair.”
The older woman did not press the matter. Instead, she followed the topic into gossip. “Why is the government buying so much cotton this year?”
Someone nearby suddenly turned and joined in. “I heard the emperor is benevolent and wants to provide the soldiers stationed in the north with new winter clothes. Apparently, some of it will also be distributed to the elderly, orphans, and other people without families.”
“Oh? They’re even giving new clothes to the poor and helpless? There are countless people throughout the realm who don’t even have a scrap of cloth to wrap around themselves.”
“That’s not all. I hear they’re going to establish Warmth Charity Homes in the prefectural and provincial capitals. They’ll keep coal fires burning inside and take in elderly people, women, and children who have nowhere to go and nothing to wear during the winter.”
“A Warmth Charity Home? That’s a first. Is the emperor truly showing mercy this time? In past years, didn’t several people freeze to death on the streets every winter?”
“But aren’t there already residential relief homes in the city? Why establish Warmth Charity Homes as well? Building them will cost a fortune. Won’t they just add another new tax afterward?”
The shop erupted into a chorus of overlapping voices. Lin Wu listened, equally puzzled. What exactly were these newly established Warmth Charity Homes?
When the current dynasty was first founded, four residential relief homes had been established in the capital, one in each direction—east, west, south, and north. They were essentially government-run charities, intended mainly to house impoverished elderly people. It was said that each could accommodate more than a thousand residents. Later, some of the wealthier prefectures and county towns had gradually followed suit. The homes reportedly provided not only food but also clothing and bedding. The older the resident, the greater the daily allowance. Those over ninety, for instance, received an additional twenty wen each day.
As for abandoned infants and orphans, there were separate charitable orphanages devoted to caring for them. Every winter, the residential relief homes also opened their doors to people with no work or means of support, the disabled and helpless, and even beggars wandering the streets. At the very least, they could help them survive the harshest part of winter before sending them out to make their own living when spring arrived.
Lin Wu did not know how well the residential relief homes and charitable orphanages operated outside the capital. Every winter, after all, plenty of impoverished people still starved or froze to death in the streets and alleyways. Perhaps things were better beneath the emperor’s own eyes. In places far from the capital, where the mountains were high and the emperor was distant, it was impossible to say.
“Haven’t any of you been out to the eastern suburbs to see for yourselves?” A woman carrying a basket of vegetables had just entered the shop. After listening for a moment, she joined the conversation. “That plot of land has already been fenced off. They’re building a huge compound! I hear several wealthy families in the city took the lead in donating money, and the government contributed funds as well.”
“Shopkeeper, your master must be taking quite a beating this time!” someone teased.
The shopkeeper just smiled, not having interrupted the conversation earlier. His fingers moved over the abacus as he replied, "Our employer has always done kind deeds, so we as staff have no business speaking out of turn. But every past winter, our employer would instruct us to distribute hot porridge and flatbread as usual. Whether it's the Ciyuan Shelter or the warm porridge stations, it's all to help the destitute suffer less in the cold."
Lin Wu listened to the others' chatter without giving it much deep thought, since the matter had little to do with her. She pulled her focus back and turned to the waiting clerk beside her, "If I buy a large quantity of cotton wadding, could you knock a few pennies off the price?"
The clerk immediately became attentive. "Of course we can work out a deal. Right this way, please." He led them toward a slightly quieter corner of the shop.
"To be honest, young man," Lin Wu explained simply, "we just settled down in Huzhou, and we need to buy all new winter clothes and bedding. I need to make two sets of winter clothes, one for an adult and one for a child, plus a thick quilt, all stuffed with cotton wadding. That should add up to quite a lot."
The clerk's eyes lit up. Two sets of winter clothes plus a quilt would take at least five or six catties of cotton wadding even if they used it frugally—this was no small transaction. Most ordinary families would just take apart their old jackets, wash and refurbish them, and add a little new wadding to get through the winter. Few people bought entirely new supplies like this.
"Ma'am, please take a seat. I'll go get the shopkeeper to discuss the details with you." He had the two of them sit on a bench, then quickly walked back to the counter.
Before long, the shopkeeper who had been talking to other customers earlier came over, holding a register in his hand. He was around forty years old, with a kind, amiable face.
"I heard you're looking to buy supplies for winter clothes and bedding?" The shopkeeper sat down across from her and spread the register open on his lap. "Would you like to use only top-grade Hejiang cotton, or mix in some lower grade? For clothes worn close to the skin, the good cotton is naturally softer, but quilts can be perfectly warm with second or even third grade wadding, and you'd save a lot of money."
Lin Wu shook her head. "The clothes will have inner layers, and the padded jackets are worn on the outside, so using lower grade wadding for those makes sense. But the quilt is used every day for a long time, so I don't want to skimp on that— I plan to use second grade wadding for it too. As for the mattress, I was thinking of laying a layer of hemp wadding at the bottom, then topping it with a layer of cotton wadding."
The shopkeeper could tell at a glance that she had planned everything out carefully, so he nodded in approval. "What you say makes perfect sense. That arrangement is very sensible. For the winter clothes, you need wadding for the jackets and long trousers. With two sets, one adult and one child, plus the quilt, you'll need quite a lot of material..."
The shopkeeper moved his abacus beads as he slowly called out the numbers. "All together, the cotton wadding will come to nearly 68 taels. Since it's all second grade, and you're buying in bulk, I'll knock two wen off every tael. That adds up to four strings, six hundred and twenty-four wen. I'll wipe out the extra change, so it's four strings and six hundred wen. As for the hemp wadding for the mattress, that's cheap. It's ten wen a tael, and you'll need about twenty taels, so that's only two hundred wen."
Lin Wu did the math silently in her head. The total was almost exactly what she had estimated. Nearly five strings of copper coins—what a huge expense. If she paid all at once, her purse would be completely empty. She even half-wanted to pull out the silver medal engraved with the words "Zhiyun" that Shen Guanting had given her, and ask the shopkeeper if he could give her all the wadding for free.
Then she realized that she couldn't possibly sew all those winter clothes and the quilt by herself in a short time, so she asked, "Shopkeeper, if I buy all this wadding now, it'll just pile up at my place. Could I buy part of it first, enough to make the padded jackets, and come back for the rest later?"
"You've thought of everything," the shopkeeper said gently. "But if you trust our shop, you can just pay for all the material first, and we can store the wadding in our warehouse. Whenever you need more, I can send someone to deliver it to you. And as you've probably heard, the government has been purchasing cotton wadding recently, and all the grain transport boats are being requisitioned to carry official goods to the capital. The price of cotton wadding... I'm afraid it's going to keep going up."
Lin Wu listened, not believing him entirely. This was probably at least partly a sales pitch to get her to buy more.
"Besides," the shopkeeper added, lowering his voice, "the Huzhou prefecture has just set up a new Ciyuan Shelter. The shelter is meant to take in people with no one to depend on, so they need to stock up on winter clothes and bedding too. Right now, the local ward officers are going door to door in the neighborhoods, counting the heads of all the widowed, orphaned, elderly and infirm people."
Lin Wu's heart skipped a beat. She suddenly remembered that their status was technically that of a widowed mother with a young child, with no other family to rely on. But she quickly calmed herself down. She had a proper lease for their small courtyard, and a regular business running her street stall. No matter how carefully they did the counting, they wouldn't end up on that list.
As for whether the price of cotton wadding would really go up, that might just be the shopkeeper's sales talk, but winter clothes were something they had to get sooner or later. And it did sound nice that the shop could store the extra wadding for her.
After thinking it over carefully and haggling a little more, they finally settled on a price of four strings and five hundred wen. The shopkeeper even threw in the twenty taels of hemp wadding as a free gift.
That day, they rode the shop's ox cart back to their courtyard, bringing two catties of wadding with them. The shop promised to deliver the rest of the material whenever they needed it later.
As soon as they unloaded the two big sacks of wadding from the cart and carried them through the doorway, Fourth Sister He next door heard the noise and came out.
"Lin Wu, you're finally back!" Fourth Sister He hurried over, lowering her voice. "The ward officers came by today. They said that since you're a mother with a little boy and no man in the house, and the city's new Ciyuan Shelter is almost finished, they can move you there to stay for the winter."
She let out a helpless little laugh. "It's so strange—they even asked me, saying that since I'm home alone most days, I'd be better off moving there too. But my husband travels for trade, and my son goes to the prefectural school. This... this is just labeling people randomly, isn't it?"
As she talked, she helped Lin Wu carry the wadding sacks into the house. Her hand felt the soft wadding through the bag. "Look at this, such good quality wadding. We all have our own homes and our own work, why would we ever need to go to some Ciyuan Shelter? I have no idea what those officers are thinking."
Little Lin Jing had been taking their things off the cart one by one. He carefully took out his hand warmer, held it to his chest like a treasure, and set it down to the side. Then he trotted over, standing on tiptoe to try to help. The sack was almost as tall as he was, and his two small hands couldn't even wrap around the opening. Curious, he pressed his palm to the surface of the sack. The soft, fluffy feeling came right through the fabric.
He blinked, then pressed down gently again. The sack caved in a little hollow, then slowly puffed back up when he took his hand away. His eyes lit up, and he started pressing it again and again, little by little.
Fourth Sister He turned around and spotted the hand warmer. She smiled and said, "That hand warmer looks really solidly made, but what's that dent on the side?"
Lin Jing heard that and immediately turned to hug the hand warmer tight to his chest, pressing his little cheek to it. He corrected her very seriously, "That's not a dent."
He rested his chin perfectly in the little indentation, then looked up. "This is a little nest for my chin. It fits just right."
Fourth Sister He burst out laughing. "Oh my, so it's a chin nest!" She bent down and patted Lin Jing gently on the shoulder. "Look at you, you even have a hand warmer with a custom chin nest. You don't look like someone who needs to go squeeze into the Ciyuan Shelter at all, do you?"
Lin Jing puffed out his little chest proudly.
Standing to the side, Lin Wu had heard every word Fourth Sister He said, and she felt a sinking feeling that her worst fear had come true. Their status as a widowed mother and a fatherless child had ended up drawing attention after all. But fortunately, they had bought all the wadding and the hand warmer today. When other people saw that, they would never think that they needed handouts from the Ciyuan Shelter.
She had no idea exactly what Cinuang Yuan was, but she knew it was a crowded, heavily supervised place where every move was watched. She and Lin Jing had finally managed to put down a small, stable root in Huzhou city, and there was no way she was going to squeeze into that mysterious, untested Cinuang Yuan.
"How bizarre that they even came to ask us about this," Lin Wu said, echoing Fourth Sister He's words, half amused and half exasperated. "Our courtyard may not be large, but we live here on a proper, signed lease, and we never miss a single copper of the monthly rent. We have our own rooms and our own kitchen. Why on earth would we go crowd into Cinuang Yuan with strangers? Even if I was shameless enough to agree to such a thing, the neighbors would start gossiping the second they saw it. A place like that should be prioritized for people who truly have nowhere else to go, shouldn't it?"
Fourth Sister He nodded vigorously. "Exactly, that's the whole point! They ignore all those people sleeping on the streets and in the alley corners who really don't have a roof over their heads, and instead come pester us? What a total absurdity. If the neighborhood ward officials come back tomorrow, we'll have a proper talk with them."
But Lin Wu had a faint idea of why they had been targeted first. When she and her son first settled in Huzhou, they had registered their information with the ward officials, with their names, native places, and current addresses all clearly recorded. For the local authorities, households with clear, traceable backgrounds like theirs were far easier to count and account for than the nameless, rootless vagrants sleeping on the streets, and made for a far more convenient report to their superiors.
As for those huddled under bridge arches and at the ends of alleys, many of whom could not even state their proper full names, how could they possibly be entered into official registers to be included in this so-called benevolent policy? It was just like putting together a publicity story: you needed to write a full, touching backstory for the relief recipient to make the charitable act feel complete and satisfying.
Sorry for the late update today [poor thing]
