However, what troubled Old Madam Gao deeply was her grandson’s moral decline. Without the guidance of parents, he gradually went astray. As he grew up, he refused to find proper work, instead mixing with idle loafers, stealing, doing dirty jobs as a thug for gambling houses, or collecting debts for others—earning money through dishonest means.
She had beaten him, scolded him, and even begged him with tears, but nothing worked. She couldn’t pull him back onto the right path.
As she grew older and her mobility declined, she could no longer control him. Old Madam Gao had reached the point of despair.
It wouldn’t even surprise her if she one day heard that her grandson had died a violent death somewhere.
Until recently, Gao Sheng had returned home covered in injuries. But then, to her astonishment, he started turning over a new leaf. He even found himself a legitimate job. Although the pay was meager, it was honest money, not the dirty money he used to bring home.
Old Madam Gao couldn’t have been happier.
Initially, when she saw him injured, she had worried that he had caused trouble outside and provoked someone he shouldn’t have, which led to his beating.
But to her surprise, before his wounds had even healed, he went out to find work and secured a proper job.
Old Madam Gao hoped that her grandson would stop living recklessly, work diligently, save some silver, and eventually settle down to marry, have children, and live a peaceful life.
A plain and simple life is a blessing.
Hearing Old Madam Gao’s words, Gao Sheng paused mid-bite.
“Are you sure it was forty-eight wen?” he asked.
Old Madam Gao nodded. “Yes, forty-eight wen. I counted it several times.”
Gao Sheng sat there in a daze, forgetting to continue eating.
After a long while, he looked at the confusion on the old lady’s face and said, “It’s money I earned. I asked someone to help send it back. Maybe they didn’t want to disturb you, so they just threw it inside.”
Old Madam Gao was momentarily stunned. Then she gently patted him, laughing as she said, “You silly boy! If you’re bringing money home, just bring it home. Why have someone toss it like that? I almost thought it was some stranger giving us money for no reason.” She added happily, “It’s rare for you to bring money home. Tomorrow, I’ll go buy some meat and stew it for you. You’ve been working too hard lately—look how much weight you’ve lost…”
Gao Sheng silently listened to her rambling.
In the past, he would’ve been impatient with her chatter, letting it go in one ear and out the other. Sometimes, when he was especially annoyed, he’d leave the house and head to the brothel with Skinny Wu and the others to spend the night with a girl.
But after being violently beaten by Yu Li and enduring the fearful and mocking gazes of everyone around him, he had dragged his exhausted body home. The only one there for him had been this old lady, fretting over him, calling a doctor, and brewing medicine for him.
At this point, Gao Sheng’s heart hadn’t yet turned so black as to extinguish all conscience.
Perhaps, in the future, as he committed more and more misdeeds, he might become a person without any moral bottom line—a complete scoundrel.
But before that could happen, someone had severed his path of wrongdoing, forcing him to find legitimate work. If he didn’t, they’d beat him into submission. They had pushed him, step by step, onto the right path.
Seeing this old lady now, Gao Sheng felt a difficult-to-describe emotion well up in his heart.
This life, though exhausting and without much income, wasn’t as unbearable as he had imagined.
—
After delivering the silver, Yu Li finally headed to the Jinxian Bookstore.
Upon arriving, she noticed that the bookstore was surprisingly crowded. Despite it being nearly lunchtime, many people were still inside, seemingly waiting for someone rather than buying books. They kept glancing toward the door, as if expecting someone to arrive.
Yu Li walked in.
As she entered, many people turned to look at her before quickly averting their gazes.
Yu Li ignored them and walked toward the shop assistant, asking, “Is your shopkeeper here?”
The shop assistant gave her a once-over, feeling that this young woman looked familiar, though he couldn’t immediately recall where he had seen her before. Finally, he dismissed the thought, assuming that pretty people all seemed somewhat alike and that perhaps he had seen her by chance on the street.
“He is. What business do you have with our shopkeeper?” the shop assistant asked.
Just as Yu Li was about to reply, she noticed that many of the people in the bookstore were glancing at her, their eyes scanning her face as if trying to confirm something.
Soon after, they looked away, their expressions tinged with disappointment.
Their actions were so conspicuous that Yu Li couldn’t ignore them.
The shop assistant, noticing her gaze and somewhat puzzled expression, gave an awkward smile and vaguely explained, “Please don’t take offense, miss. They’re waiting for someone…”
He didn’t want to tell her that, for the past few days, people had been coming to the bookstore daily, lingering around in wait.
It wasn’t for anything else—they were hoping to meet the young woman who was supposed to collect money.
More than half a month ago, the news had spread that Master Songhe had sent over a hand-copied manuscript, attracting many literary enthusiasts and scholars eager to purchase it.
Although none managed to buy the manuscript in the end, they were still intent on using this opportunity to make Master Songhe’s acquaintance.
After all, it had been a year since Master Songhe had last sent a manuscript, and now he had sent another one, naturally drawing significant attention.
Word of Yu Li’s agreement with the shopkeeper had also spread. Upon learning that Master Songhe would send someone to collect payment in half a month, their interest was piqued.
When they heard that the hand-copied manuscript had already been auctioned in the provincial capital and that someone would soon come to collect the silver, they began waiting at the bookstore daily, hoping to intercept the person sent by Master Songhe and thereby get closer to him.
Scholars Yan and Fang had personally seen Yu Li that day and interacted with her.
From them, everyone learned about her appearance—that she was very thin and, reportedly, quite dark-skinned.
Such distinctive features made her easy to recognize. According to Scholar Yan, he had never seen anyone so thin before; one glance would be enough to identify her.
The shop assistant thought to himself that the young woman who had delivered the manuscript indeed fit that description—extremely thin, with a clear look of someone struggling to make a living.
Everyone assumed that she was merely a courier entrusted by Master Songhe to deliver the manuscript and had no real connection to him personally.
As for the young woman before them now, her fair complexion and taller stature set her apart. Most notably, though she was also slender, she wasn’t as alarmingly thin as the woman from that day.
Her demeanor was uniquely composed, making her stand out in a crowd. She couldn’t be mistaken for someone from the impoverished lower class struggling to make ends meet.
Even dressed in a simple green skirt, she exuded an air of calmness that was impossible to overlook.
She couldn’t possibly be the one they were waiting for.
Yu Li had no idea what the shop assistant was thinking, nor did she pay attention to the people waiting for someone. She simply said, “I have business with the shopkeeper. Could you let him know?”
The shop assistant was about to respond when he noticed the scholars waiting in the bookstore. Instead, he said, “Why don’t you come with me? The shopkeeper is in the back courtyard.”
Recently, the shopkeeper had been quite troubled. Running a business meant treating everyone as a guest, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to drive them away. However, having these people show up every day and wait like this was becoming a problem.
The shopkeeper was reluctant to appear in the shop because whenever he did, these individuals would crowd around him, bombarding him with questions—mostly about whether Master Songhe’s representative had come to collect the money and asking him to arrange an introduction.
The shopkeeper was helpless.
Master Songhe had chosen to send the handwritten manuscript to Jinxian Bookstore for sale, but that didn’t mean there was any personal connection between them. The shopkeeper had no idea who Master Songhe was, where he lived, or how to arrange an introduction for these people.
The shop assistant was clever. Seeing that this young woman wanted to speak with the shopkeeper, and given the many eyes in the store watching, it wasn’t appropriate to have her wait here. It was better to take her directly to the shopkeeper.
People tend to judge by appearances, and the shop assistant was no exception.
Mostly, it was because Yu Li was pretty and looked thin and delicate. He was worried she might be intimidated by those scholars.
The shop assistant led Yu Li to a room at the back of the bookstore.
This was a quiet study filled with various books. The shopkeeper was there, busy doing accounts.
When he saw the shop assistant bring in a young, beautiful woman, he looked a little puzzled and asked, “And this young lady is…?”
Yu Li didn’t speak. Instead, she pulled out the written agreement from her sleeve.
When the shopkeeper saw the document, his expression changed slightly, and he glanced at Yu Li in surprise.
He waved for the shop assistant to leave, took the agreement, and examined it. It was indeed the same one he had personally written more than half a month ago. The handwriting, signature, stamp, and handprints were all his. Yu Li’s handprint was also there—it was unmistakable.
The shopkeeper smiled and asked, “Why didn’t the young woman who delivered the manuscript last time come this time?”
To be honest, for someone he had only met briefly, the shopkeeper’s memory wasn’t perfect. After more than half a month, he could barely recall what that young woman looked like.
His impression of her was similar to that of Scholar Yan—she was very thin, but that was about it. He hadn’t looked at her closely.
In the end, it was the written agreement that mattered when collecting the money. If he couldn’t remember her face, it wasn’t a big deal.
Yu Li was silent for a moment before saying, “Shopkeeper, I was the one who delivered the manuscript that day.”
The shopkeeper: “…”
He fell silent as well.
He couldn’t help but scrutinize Yu Li, taking several long looks. Gradually, he began to find her face familiar.
Indeed, it seemed that the young woman who had delivered the manuscript was her. But back then, she didn’t look like this, did she?
It was as if she had undergone a transformation, suddenly blossoming into a stunning beauty. She looked so different that he could barely recognize her. And this had only been a little over half a month—at most twenty days.
Could someone change so dramatically in such a short time?
Was it just because she wasn’t as thin anymore?