The Market

Wang Xingyu squatted outside the dilapidated house, locked in a battle with a pile of grease scraps and plant ash.

On the first try, the ash water was too dilute, and the grease scraps wouldn't dissolve. He ended up with a pot of oily water. He poured it out and started over.

On the second try, he added too much lime, and the soap mixture set into a hard lump he couldn't even break apart. He gritted his teeth and poured it out again.

On the third try, there wasn't enough water. Halfway through, the mixture scorched the bottom of the pot, filling the house with a burnt stench.

Every day, Tang San passed by on his way up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables, and he always stopped to take a look. On the first day, he asked, "What's that?" Wang Xingyu said, "An experiment." When Tang San came by again that afternoon, Wang Xingyu was squatting in front of the second failed batch, staring blankly at it. He came again at dusk, just as the third batch was giving off a burnt smell. Tang San didn't ask again, just tossed him a yam.

That evening, Wang Xingyu tried a fourth batch. He adjusted the concentration of the ash water again and again, added only a tiny bit of lime, and let the grease scraps slowly dissolve over a low fire, stirring constantly with a wooden stick. The soap mixture gradually thickened, its color changing from dark yellow to pale yellow, and a fine sheen appeared on its surface. He held his breath and poured the mixture into a chipped earthenware bowl.

After it cooled for half an hour, a pale yellow lump had set at the bottom of the bowl. He picked off a small piece, wet his hands, and rubbed it between them.

It lathered.

Fine, dense bubbles spread across his palms, bringing an indescribable sense of cleanliness. He turned his hands over and over, looking at them-for the first time since he had transmigrated, they were this clean. Clutching the misshapen lump of soap, Wang Xingyu squatted outside the dilapidated house and suddenly laughed.

"Did it work?"

Tang San had come back at some point. With a bamboo basket on his back and half a bundle of firewood in his hand, he was looking at the lump of soap Wang Xingyu held.

Wang Xingyu stood and handed him the soap. "Try it." Tang San took it and copied him, wetting his hands and rubbing them together. Bubbles spread over his fingertips, gradually washing away the grass stains and grime he hadn't been able to remove.

Tang San looked down at his clean hands, somewhat surprised.

"Can you sell this for money?"

"Absolutely," Wang Xingyu said.

Tang San turned the lump of soap over and over before handing it back. "How do you sell it?"

Wang Xingyu didn't take it. "Come to the market with me. I'll teach you."

Tang San looked at him. Wang Xingyu added, "I'll take you out to make big money."

Tang San paused, then smiled. He had the mind of an adult, after all, so he couldn't help finding it funny to hear a child say he would take him out to make big money.

What Tang San didn't know was that Wang Xingyu also had the mind of an adult.

"When are we going?"

Clutching the lump of soap, Wang Xingyu smiled too. "When are you free?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Then the day after tomorrow."

The next day, Wang Xingyu got up before dawn.

He packed all the soap he had made over the past few days into a bamboo basket. There were a dozen or so lumps, big and small. He wrapped each one in wild vegetable leaves and stacked them neatly.

Old Jack lent him an old copper basin, and Tang San carried a bamboo tube of clean water on his back. The two left the village at first light and followed the villagers heading to market for more than an hour. By the time they reached Nuoding City, the sun had just risen.

The western market was already bustling. Vegetable sellers, firewood sellers, and game sellers called out one after another. Wang Xingyu found an empty spot, set the copper basin on the ground, poured in the water from the bamboo tube, and raised his voice.

"Soap! Soap for washing your hands and face! Free to try-if it doesn't get you clean, you don't pay!"

His shout drew every eye nearby. Free to try? No charge if it didn't get you clean? More and more people gathered around.

Wang Xingyu took a lump of soap from the basket, wet it in the copper basin, and rubbed it into a lather. Then he pulled over the hand of a middle-aged vegetable seller standing nearby. The man's hands were covered in grime, and the spaces beneath his nails were black. Wang Xingyu rubbed the lather onto his hand and rinsed it with clean water-the grime came off, leaving the back of his hand so clean that its natural skin color showed through.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted.

"Let me try!" "Me too!" "Does it really get you clean?"

Wang Xingyu broke the soap into small pieces and handed them out one by one. The water in the copper basin was changed again and again. Those who tried it looked at their clean hands, their expressions changing from doubt to surprise, then from surprise to eagerness.

"How much for a piece?"

Wang Xingyu held up two fingers. "Two Copper Soul Coins."

It wasn't expensive. One Copper Soul Coin could buy two coarse-grain flatbreads, so two Copper Soul Coins were the price of four. Trading the price of four flatbreads for a piece of soap that could get your face and hands perfectly clean was a good deal.

"I'll take one." "Give me two." "Don't push, don't push!"

Tang San squatted beside him, in charge of collecting the money. Copper Soul Coins fell into his palm one after another, clinking as they landed.

In less than an hour, all dozen or so lumps of soap had sold out. People who hadn't managed to buy any held Wang Xingyu back to ask when he would return. Only after he said he would come to the next market did they agree to leave.

Tang San handed him the heavy cloth pouch. "I counted it. Twenty-eight Copper Soul Coins."

Wang Xingyu took the pouch and weighed it in his hand. It was heavy, and the copper coins rattled inside. In this life-no, in both his lives-this was the first time he had ever held so much money.

"Come on, let's go to the Spirit Hall."

"What for?"

"To give someone two pieces."

Tang San asked no more and followed behind with the bamboo tube on his back. Wang Xingyu still had two lumps of soap in his basket, which he had set aside on purpose.

The Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch stood north of the western market. It was a gray-white stone building with the Spirit Hall's emblem hanging over the entrance. When Wang Xingyu walked in, a white-haired old man was dozing behind the counter.

"Grandpa Ma Xiunuo?"

The old man opened his eyes and sized up the child in front of him. "Whose child are you?"

"I'm from Holy Soul Village." Wang Xingyu placed the two lumps of soap on the counter. "My name is Wang Xingyu. I made this soap for washing hands and faces. I'd like to give you a piece."

Ma Xiunuo picked up a lump of soap and brought it close for a sniff, then put it down and looked at Wang Xingyu, a little more interest in his eyes. "You made this?"

"Mm-hm."

"How?"

Wang Xingyu smiled. "Trade secret."

Ma Xiunuo paused, then burst out laughing. "Interesting." He accepted one lump of soap and felt around behind the counter for a Silver Soul Coin, which he held out to Wang Xingyu. Wang Xingyu didn't take it.

"I said it was a gift."

The way Ma Xiunuo looked at him changed. "Little fellow, bribing me like this won't do you any good. Whatever you want, you'll still have to fight for it yourself."

"Don't worry, Grandpa Ma Xiuluo. It's just something for washing your hands, nothing valuable. It's only worth two copper coins."

Wang Xingyu pulled another lump of soap from his pocket. "Is Deacon Su Yuntao here? I'd like to give him one too."

Ma Xiunuo shook his head, indicating that Su Yuntao was out. He could accept it for now and pass it on when Su Yuntao came.

Wang Xingyu nodded and handed him the soap. He didn't stay any longer, turning to leave.

As they walked out the Spirit Hall's doors, Tang San suddenly spoke. "Why did you give them those?"

Wang Xingyu weighed the heavy cloth pouch in his hand. "I want to read books in there. Getting them familiar with my face beforehand can't hurt."

Tang San nodded.

The two walked back along the western market. Passing a meat-pie stall, Wang Xingyu bought four pies and gave two to Tang San. Tang San took them, bit into one, and chewed very slowly.

"Wang Xingyu."

"Mm?"

"Is this what you meant by making big money?"

Wang Xingyu took a bite of his meat pie and mumbled around it, "This is only the beginning."

Tang San looked at him, chewing his meat pie. He found it somewhat funny: Wang Xingyu really had taken him out to make money.