The Opera House, Master's Wife

"Brother Lu, I'm terribly sorry, but there's an urgent matter I need your help with."

Liu Qi rubbed his hands together, looking troubled. "Master is in a hurry to go to the opera house and specifically named me to attend him. But Madam just told me to go to Exquisite Studio and pick up the newly arrived rouge. I really can't split myself in two."

Lu Chen finished his stance and wiped away his sweat.

"Such a small matter—couldn't you handle it on your way back from the opera house?"

"Ah."

Liu Qi sighed. "Yuan Xiangxiang is performing at the opera house tonight. Master is one of her most devoted patrons, and once he goes, he'll likely stay until the third watch. But Madam... Master specifically told me to keep it from her. This errand has me caught between two fires."

After hearing this, Lu Chen immediately agreed. "Brother Liu, don't worry. Leave fetching the rouge to me."

"Heh, thank you for lending a hand, Brother Lu."

Liu Qi hurriedly pulled a piece of broken silver and a slip of paper from his robes.

"This is the payment and the collection voucher. Much obliged."

Lu Chen accepted the slip and asked casually,

"By the way, Brother Liu, since you'll be accompanying Master to the opera house, will anyone take over the brewing of the hall's Secret Medicine?"

"Ah, don't mention it. Master is stingy and refuses to hire more servants. There are only two maids and one old woman in the inner residence. At the martial hall, it's just me and a cook. The cook is an outsider and hard to get along with; he only handles the meals. All the rough work and odd jobs in the hall fall on my head. Today I have to serve at the opera house and brew medicine too. I really can't manage it all..."

Lu Chen smoothly took up the thread.

"If you trust me, I can help brew the medicine. In the future, I can also conveniently hand out the prepared medicinal soup to the disciples. It's more important that Brother Liu focuses on serving Master."

Liu Qi's eyes lit up. This was truly charcoal in snowy weather.

There were only a few miscellaneous chores at the martial hall, not that many.

But Master Deng had a playful temperament and often went out, naming Liu Qi to accompany him every time.

He had to drive the carriage as the coachman, then serve as an attendant all the way. And at the end, Deng Yan would always darkly warn him, "If Madam finds out, watch your hide!"

Because of this, Liu Qi had often delayed the hall's duties.

Once, he had missed the proper heat while brewing medicine and been caught red-handed by Master's Wife. No matter how he explained himself, she had taken it as an excuse.

From then on, Master's Wife had plainly regarded him as someone who shirked work and played tricks.

Thinking of this, Liu Qi hurriedly clasped his hands. "Brother Lu, you're righteous indeed. I was just worrying about what to do today, and you've sent charcoal in snowy weather. Liu is endlessly grateful!"

As he spoke, he untied the key to the medicine room from his waist and stuffed it into Lu Chen's hand.

"All the medicinal ingredients are in the medicine cabinet of the west wing. Every packet has already been measured out. The clay pot for brewing is in the north corner of the kitchen. I'll have to trouble you, brother!"

After Liu Qi repeatedly thanked him and departed with clasped hands,

Lu Chen tucked the slip and broken silver away, then headed to Exquisite Pavilion in East Market, East City.

The storefront was not large, but the scent of cosmetics assailed the nose.

The clerk behind the counter raised his eyelids. "Are you collecting an order, sir, or choosing something now?"

Lu Chen pushed the slip and broken silver over.

The clerk unfolded the slip and glanced at it, then turned to take a brocade box from the shelf. He pinched the broken silver Lu Chen had handed over, took out a small scale and silver shears from beneath the counter, deftly snipped off a piece, and carefully weighed it against the scale marks.

Seeing that it was slightly over, he clipped off another corner before pushing the remaining silver and the brocade box back to Lu Chen.

"Madam Deng's order: Jasmine Hair Oil, Pear Red Rouge, and Begonia Lip Balm. Three qian exactly. Here is one qian in change."

Lu Chen pinched the returned silver to confirm the amount was correct, then picked up the brocade box and left Exquisite Pavilion.

The cold wind was bleak.

The earth was frozen and the sky bitterly cold.

Lu Chen spotted seven or eight sun-dried yellow gourds piled in a winnowing basket at a sundries stall on the street corner. An idea stirred in his mind, and he stepped forward to ask,

"Old sir, how much are the gourds?"

"Three coins." The stall owner breathed out white vapor and stamped his feet. "They're autumn gourds dried through and through. They won't leak when filled with water—tight as can be."

Lu Chen selected a well-proportioned one, pulled out the wooden stopper, and examined its dry inner walls in the daylight. Then he counted out three copper coins, took the gourd, and left.

The Deng Residence lay in the alley behind the martial hall.

It was separated from the noisy training courtyard in front by only a single wall.

Lu Chen passed through a narrow alley and saw a black-lacquered wooden gate, its lintel carved with several sparse plum blossoms stretching in slanting shadows.

Lu Chen raised his hand and knocked the door knocker. After a moment, the door opened a crack, revealing a young maid with twin buns. She blinked as she inspected Lu Chen's coarse cotton-padded jacket. "Who are you?"

"Martial hall disciple Lu Chen. I've come to deliver rouge to Master's Wife."

"Where is Liu Qi? He always comes." The maid stood on tiptoe and looked behind him.

"Liu Qi was summoned by Master to handle something." Lu Chen handed the brocade box and broken silver to the maid.

The maid accepted them and was about to close the door when a woman's voice suddenly sounded from within the residence. "Who is outside?"

The maid quickly turned sideways to answer. "Replying to Madam, it is a martial hall disciple here to deliver rouge."

"Let him in."

The maid turned to Lu Chen. "Did you hear that? Madam wants to see you."

Lu Chen hesitated slightly, but still stepped into the residence. Following the maid through the corridor, he arrived at a side room.

A strikingly beautiful woman sat upright in a rosewood grandmaster's chair, wrapped in a silver fox fur cloak.

She looked to be around thirty. Her brows and eyes were dignified, and her hair was arranged with meticulous precision.

Yet her brocade robe could not conceal the figure beneath it. Her full breasts strained the fabric at her chest, her waist was soft and slender, and the hem of her skirt wrapped around two even, long legs like jade.

"A new face? Has that slippery Liu Qi gone off to shirk work again?"

As Master's Wife spoke, she leaned forward slightly. The two abundant mounds beneath her collar trembled with the motion, swaying heavily like ripe fruit.

Yet her expression remained dignified, her gaze clear and untouched by the slightest frivolity.

Lu Chen lowered his eyes and glimpsed the hand resting on her armrest, the knuckles bearing the thin calluses of a martial artist.

He felt that Master's Wife carried herself with an air of command.

She seemed far more like the master of the martial hall than Deng Yan, who put on airs in the front courtyard.

He bowed and answered, "Replying to Master's Wife, Brother Liu Qi was summoned by Master to handle something and specifically entrusted this disciple with delivering the rouge in his place."

Master's Wife lightly tapped the armrest with her fingertips. "What is your name? When did you enter the martial hall?"

"This disciple is Lu Chen. I entered the martial hall three days ago."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Master's Wife nodded slightly. Her gaze swept over Lu Chen's shabby clothes, and a hint of inquiry appeared in her lovely eyes.

Entering Plum Blossom Hall required ten taels of silver, and another tael had to be paid every month afterward as tuition.

For a child of Lu Chen's background, such expenses were no small sum.

Most would choose cheaper martial halls and learn crude outer-school methods that required hard collisions and clumsy training, such as Iron Sand Palm or Iron Cloth Shirt.

She asked gently, "Why did you come to Plum Blossom Martial Hall?"

"Though South City is remote, I had still heard of Plum Blossom Hall's reputation," Lu Chen answered frankly. "They say that Old Hall Master Mei Guanlan once fought thirty-six bandits alone on Blood Pillar Mountain and won a great victory. I came for that reputation."

He had heard this from Liu Qi a few days ago.

Mei Guanlan, the former hall master of Plum Blossom Martial Hall, had indeed made a name for himself in the Northern Lands' martial world in his day.

But so many years had passed that there were likely few people who still remembered.

The martial world was like an autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves: newcomers replaced the old, and new legends rose every day.

After hearing this, Master's Wife's lips curved into a faint smile. She asked again, "Then why do you practice martial arts?"

"To grow stronger and avoid being bullied," Lu Chen answered.

Master's Wife's willow brows drew together slightly. "Has someone been giving you trouble?"

"This disciple is an orphan, without father or mother. I huddle together with several friends for warmth. In this world, without anyone to rely on, being bullied is common." Lu Chen spoke calmly.

A trace of pity surfaced between Master's Wife's brows. After a long moment, she sighed softly. "Another child with a bitter fate."

When she rose, the silver fox cloak fell with a soft rustle.

Lu Chen looked up, startled inwardly.

Master's Wife was tall and slender. Standing there, she was actually half a head taller than he was.

She walked gracefully to an Eight Immortals table and picked up a plate of date-paste cakes. As she stepped forward, the hem of her robe trailed across the floor, inadvertently revealing a pair of fair, straight, beautiful legs. Lower down, her jade feet wore soft satin shoes embroidered with white magnolias. With every step, her toes appeared and vanished amid the waves of her skirt.

"Take these. They've just been steamed in the kitchen. Boys your age get hungry easily when practicing."

Lu Chen accepted the plate with both hands and thanked Master's Wife.

A faint smile appeared on Master's Wife's bright and beautiful face. She nodded lightly.

"Go. Practice well."

Lu Chen carried the cakes out of the hall.

The date-paste cakes were sweet, fragrant, soft, and glutinous. Lu Chen ate less than half of one, leaving plenty behind. He found a sheet of rough paper and wrapped up the rest, tucking it into his clothes as he thought of taking them back for his brothers to try as well.