Xie Yu opened her eyes. The pot containing fish and tofu in front of her was nearly burned dry.
She had entered the dream again.
She shook her head, shaking off that drifting sensation of being half-asleep, and quickly added some bone broth to the pot.
The broth boiled again, bubbling on the surface. Compared to the earlier mellow fragrance, it now carried an additional roasted aroma that made the appetite stir.
In this parallel-universe dream of hers, there was no fast-forward. Every minute and second in the dream had to be lived through personally. The interpersonal relationships in the dream were completely separate from those in reality. Many people would collapse because of that.
But Xie Yu adapted extremely well.
She used her chopsticks to pick up tofu, but after trying for a long time, she couldn't lift it. The tender tofu kept slipping from between the chopsticks. Growing impatient, she grabbed a small dish and a spoon and scooped the tofu up instead.
It was hot. She blew on it and ate it in small bites.
Eating hot pot in summer was like eating barbecue fresh off the fire—there was a special sense of satisfaction.
She took a sip of iced mung bean soup and sighed comfortably, humming an off-key little tune.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm…"
The rest of the day passed in an atmosphere of laziness and idleness, seeking only ease and pleasure.
On the second morning in the dream, she opened her eyes and found that Shen Changyin was still not beside her. She was still in the dream, not awake in reality.
She accepted this easily. The flow of time in dreams differed from reality.
Previously, she had tried training a militia in the dream to oppose Shen Changyin. A whole month had passed in the dream, while in reality only one night had gone by.
She climbed out of bed and got dressed. What should she do today?
Yesterday she hadn't caught a single fish, and she had used up all her bait. She might as well buy a new batch of bait and try fishing again.
After breakfast, she quickly put on her straw hat, slung her fishing rod over her back, and headed to the bait shop.
Passing the teahouse on the way, she noticed that a large crowd still surrounded the policy essay bulletin board. Curious how many people agreed or disagreed with what she had written, she squeezed into the crowd to look.
Her sheet was covered with rose-red circles. She immediately folded her arms and let out a smug little laugh.
But beside her essay was a new one, written by that woman surnamed Shen to refute her.
"The Pros and Cons of Torture."
"Under severe interrogation, the information obtained may not be true; without severe punishment, the information obtained must be false—such is human nature. Consider a young child who breaks a bowl and hides from her mother…"
Xie Yu read it slowly from beginning to end.
This Shen Gengxu insisted on the usefulness of torture, arguing that although torture might yield false intelligence, without torture the intelligence obtained would certainly be false. This was determined by human nature.
She cited extensively, made numerous deductions, and concluded that the overall benefits of torture outweighed its flaws.
She even devoted a section to mocking students who possessed what she called "the benevolence of fools," claiming that if such people governed the country, it would soon perish under the iron hooves of foreign enemies.
After finishing, Xie Yu didn't even go buy bait. She let out a cold laugh and turned straight into the teahouse.
The proprietress had long prepared paper and ink, waiting for the straw-hatted odd woman to arrive.
Yesterday, the two opposing policy essays had already spread throughout the capital, drawing many curious onlookers. Her teahouse had suddenly become famous.
She wished they would argue more—argue even more brilliantly.
Xie Yu took the paper and brush and sat down, writing fluently.
She mainly argued that nonviolent interrogation could also obtain truthful information. If an interrogator only knew how to use torture, it meant she was incompetent and a danger to the state.
As she wrote passionately, her temper rose. In the essay she declared that users of torture possessed neither talent nor conscience, nor loyalty to the country.
Under torture, if intelligence was obtained, it would count as the interrogator's merit. If a prisoner of war remained stubborn and died during interrogation, it could not be counted as the interrogator's incompetence.
She sat in the first-floor main hall for half an hour, writing while drinking tea and slowly cracking sunflower seeds.
She did not notice that someone upstairs was watching her intently.
When the tea was finished and the seeds eaten, Xie Yu had filled an entire large page. She stood, went outside, and pasted it onto the bulletin board.
Many people in front of the board were already reading her essay. Seeing her post a new response, they burst into cheers.
Xie Yu waved, squeezed out of the crowd, and went to a nearby fishing supply shop to buy a large box of bait.
Upstairs in the teahouse, a young woman watched the enormous pale straw hat leave, then followed downstairs. She skimmed the newly posted essay, hurried back to her inn, took up paper and brush, and wrote a brief note.
"Help me paste this outside." She casually pointed to a student beside her.
The student took the note and her eyes lit up. "Elder Sister Shen is truly talented! This time she will surely make that straw-hatted odd woman concede defeat."
She proudly squeezed into the crowd and pasted the slip.
After a while, Xie Yu finally came out of the fishing supply shop, holding the most expensive and highly recommended bait the shopkeeper had enthusiastically sold her.
Seeing her, someone by the bulletin board waved vigorously. "Sister! Come quickly! Shen Gengxu has refuted you!"
"Short and sharp, straight to the core. Shen Gengxu truly deserves to be recognized as this year's top candidate. I'm sure she'll pass the examinations."
Xie Yu pushed to the front and read the short slip of only a few sentences.
This Shen Gengxu had seized upon a logical loophole in her argument and mocked her sharply.
Could Xie Yu tolerate that?
She asked the crowd and learned that Shen Gengxu had not appeared in person at all—she had merely sent someone to post the note.
That made her even angrier.
She felt slighted. Why did the other woman get to be so aloof, not even needing to appear in person?
Her eyes rolled. She randomly pointed at a young student and asked, "Are you on the pro-torture side or against torture?"
The student had round eyes and looked excited. "I'm against torture. I think your essay yesterday was extremely, extremely good…"
Xie Yu nodded. "Would you be willing to help me with something?"
A moment later, she brought the student into the teahouse and chose a seat right in the center of the first-floor hall.
"Proprietress, make sure the paper and ink don't run out today. And keep the tea coming."
The proprietress immediately nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! We have excellent jasmine tea. I'll bring you a pot right away."
Xie Yu nodded. "Also, send someone to the eastern part of the city and buy me two packages of Lü Family hawthorn cakes."
She knew that in this round of debate, the teahouse's profits would only increase, so she felt completely justified in ordering the proprietress around.
Sure enough, the proprietress immediately instructed a server, "Didn't you hear the talented lady? Hawthorn cakes. Go quickly!"
After dismissing the server, the proprietress silently tilted her head upward, glancing toward the second floor.
Xie Yu also looked toward the private rooms upstairs, where figures were faintly visible.
She understood. Shen Gengxu was inside.
But she did not go up to speak to her. This was a contest. Whoever took the initiative to approach would lose momentum.
She quickly finished writing another rebuttal slip and had the white-robed student post it on the bulletin board. As soon as the student went out, another student in a pale purple dress came downstairs from upstairs—clearly Shen Gengxu's assistant.
The assistant read what Xie Yu had written and hurried back upstairs.
Xie Yu took in everything calmly, lowered her eyes, and sipped her jasmine tea. Soon she heard muffled voices from upstairs.
After about fifteen minutes, the assistant came down again with another small slip of paper. She glanced at Xie Yu before hurrying out to post it.
Xie Yu tapped the table and said to the white-robed student at her table, "Do me a favor. Go see what she wrote, memorize it, and tell me."
The student in white agreed and went to carry out the task.
After listening to her report, Xie Yu once again picked up her brush.
The two of them went back and forth like this, debating seven or eight rounds. The two assistants ran up and down, in and out. The crowd in front of the bulletin board grew larger and larger until the street before the teahouse was completely blocked.
More and more scholars who had heard the news were rushing over.
From ancient times to the present, from petty theft to generals who massacred entire cities, their discussion ranged wider and wider. The more they argued, the hotter their tempers became. With no one stopping them, their language grew increasingly fierce.
Many people also crowded into the teahouse. At times they looked upstairs toward the private room, watching the faint figure inside. At other times they looked toward the center of the main hall, at the strange woman wearing a straw hat and carrying a fishing rod.
Near noon, Xie Yu felt hungry. She shouted upstairs, "I'm hungry. Can we pause for a bit?"
Before long, the assistant came out and stood at the second-floor railing, looking down. "Elder Sister Shen asked me to pass along a message. She said you ate two packs of hawthorn cakes, a plate of sunflower seeds, and a plate of peanuts this morning. How could you possibly be hungry?"
Xie Yu flew into a rage and slammed the table. "It's exactly because I ate two packs of hawthorn cakes that I'm hungry! Doesn't she understand they aid digestion?"
The assistant sneered. "Sister, I admit your scholarship is not poor, and everyone here has seen that. But if you cannot win the debate, you may as well concede. Why use hunger as an excuse?"
Xie Yu was furious.
What's wrong with getting hungry easily? Did I eat your rice?
You can endure hunger—what's so impressive about that? With physiques like yours, I could take on five of you in one breath.
She was fired up now, determined to settle the score with the woman upstairs. She took out money and slapped it onto the table. "Who will help me buy a few roast chickens? I'll eat while I write."
Immediately someone stood up enthusiastically. "I know which shop has the best roast chicken. They even serve it with thin white-flour pancakes. Wrap the juicy, glistening chicken meat in the pancake and take one bite—that flavor…"
Xie Yu was practically drooling. "Then hurry!"
"Buy me four roast chickens and eight pancakes." She set aside some silver. "This is to thank you for your help."
The enthusiastic scholar laughed. She too was a student. Though her family was not wealthy, they were of ordinary means.
She had only meant to help; receiving silver was an unexpected bonus. She felt thoroughly pleased.
Soon she returned with the roast chickens and pancakes. The chickens were wrapped layer upon layer in lotus leaves, each one tied securely with twine.
"Thank you." Xie Yu kept two chickens and four pancakes, then pushed the rest toward her. "Since you've already helped once, please deliver these upstairs as well. They must be hungry too."
The helpful scholar did not take them, looking puzzled. "You two have been clashing fiercely all morning—why send them food?"
Xie Yu replied gently but loudly, "This is a debate of scholarship only. It concerns ideas, not personal matters. Even if our views differ, I should still respect my opponent."
As soon as her words fell, loud applause erupted throughout the teahouse.
"This is what a true scholar of Great Yong looks like!"
"Who says scholars are petty? This sister is clearly magnanimous and generous!"
"Exactly!"
The helpful scholar said no more and delivered the roast chicken and pancakes upstairs.
Left amid waves of praise, Xie Yu concealed a satisfied smile.
She had done it on purpose—to win goodwill and put pressure on the woman upstairs.
After spending day and night with Shen Changyin, she had long learned a few of Shen Changyin's subtle tactics—hiding blades behind smiles, needles within silk. Now that she used them, the effect was outstanding.
With a cold smile, she tore off a chicken leg.
Ha. Compete with me?
—
Upstairs at that very moment, the young woman surnamed Shen stared silently at the two roast chickens faintly emitting fragrance through the lotus leaves.
Her assistant—merely a scholar who admired her learning—was also hungry and swallowed.
"Elder Sister Shen, let's eat. She paid for it. No reason not to."
Shen Gengxu's stomach had already tightened painfully from hunger, as if scorched by cold fire. Yet she gazed at the fragrant roast chicken without moving.
"Do you enjoy eating food handed to you in pity? Then suit yourself," she said coldly.
She had long seen through the straw-hatted woman's little trick downstairs.
She knew that whatever she did now, she could not ruin the reputation the other had already won.
And yet she still refused to eat the chicken.
Instead, she spread out paper and brush again. "You eat. When you're done, help me paste this outside."
They continued debating back and forth until the sun gradually tilted westward.
The teahouse was packed to the brim. People read their sentences aloud, arguing over who was more reasonable, placing bets on who would take first place in this year's imperial examinations.
Suddenly they saw the straw-hatted woman at the center of the crowd turn pale with shock and slap the box holding her fishing bait.
Xie Yu straightened abruptly.
Disaster! I forgot to go fishing!
That bait had been expensive. The shopkeeper had warned her that it worked well but had to be used fresh the same day, or it would be useless by tomorrow.
She glanced at the sky outside, immediately stood up, tossed the slip she had just written onto the table, and said to the student helping her, "Please post this for me. I have to go."
The entire teahouse burst out in disappointment. "What???"
Even the silhouette in the upstairs private room shifted.
Xie Yu packed up her things and left, saying as she went, "What do you mean 'what'? If I don't use my bait, it'll go to waste."
Someone immediately offered to buy her fresh bait tomorrow, but she waved it off.
"I already bought it. It can't be wasted."
Standing at the teahouse entrance, wearing her straw hat, she tilted her head slightly upward and called toward the second floor, "You up there."
Behind the paper-covered window of the private room, the figure stirred. Finally, a cup of clear tea was raised in acknowledgment.
"If you have more to say, write it and paste it on the board. If I see it, I'll reply."
With that, she turned and left the capital.
Off to fish!
Half an hour later, she angrily flung her fishing rod.
The fishing shop owner had been lying!
This bait was terrible. It dissolved as soon as it hit the water. The fish were willing to eat—but only the scattered bits of bait. They never bit the hook.
She was furious.
She packed up and stormed home, vowing never to trust those shopkeepers again.
Soon she set up a large workspace in the courtyard. On the table she placed flour, chicken meat, syrup, and other ingredients from the kitchen.
She would make the perfect bait herself!
Her momentum lasted until deep into the night. At three or four in the morning she was still awake, wearing a protective apron and pounding at a sticky mass.
Only when the sky began to pale did she drag herself to bed.
When she opened her eyes again, it was already noon. She shot upright, grabbed the different batches of bait she had made yesterday, and rushed out of the city.
Today she would definitely catch a fish.
Two hours later, she returned to the Princess's residence utterly exhausted.
The steward hurried to greet her, her gaze discreetly flicking toward the wooden bucket in Xie Yu's hand.
Empty. Only water sloshed inside.
The steward's heart sank, though she was not surprised. She carefully withdrew her gaze and met Xie Yu's eyes.
Xie Yu's expression was hard to describe—perhaps a weariness with the mortal world. She said lightly, "Ask nothing."
That evening she ate three fish out of spite before regaining her spirits, deciding to fight again tomorrow.
For three consecutive days, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the grand enterprise of fishing, yet felt as though she had forgotten something.
Forgotten what?
Shen Gengxu stood before the bulletin board. Her latest essay was covered in rose-red circles, yet she still had not received a reply from the straw-hatted woman.
Her assistant cheered beside her. "She must have conceded—too afraid to return."
But Shen Gengxu could not smile. She knew the other had not conceded—only become busy with something else, perhaps even disdaining to respond to her essay.
A dark ember began to glow faintly in her heart.
—
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