Qiu Yue stared at the fox for long seconds without blinking. "If you're lying," she said, "I will not forgive you. And I might only be human, but you'll come to fear me, if you're crossing me."
"I would never," the fox said. She got to her feet again and trotted to the front door. Though it had been latched shut, it swung open when the fox set a paw against it, just enough for a small sleek creature to push her way through. She looked back over her shoulder at Qiu Yue. "You were kind to me. I won't forget that. Take your brother his breakfast and remember, the merchant will be here in a week. If you can convince him to take you back to the city with you, then all the rest of it will fall into place."
The fox slipped out. Qiu Yue frowned deeper after that, but she did not try to call the fox back. She brought her brother his breakfast and helped him to eat, even as he growled about it. Qiu Yue held her tongue and tended to him as patiently as she could. In her heart, there was some degree of relief at how he fought her.
Good. Good. Fight this with everything you have. Don't give up the way Mother did. She left us behind and you never forgave her for that, did you? I won't forgive you either. If you leave me, I will let the leaves gather on your grave. I will call out your name in disappointment before our ancestors. Fight that.
"Qiu Yue," Xiao Dan said, after his exhaustion had finally gotten the better of him and he had been pushed back to lie on his back again. There was the tiniest bit of color in his cheeks and an echo of brightness in his eyes. Both things made Qiu Yue's heart beat a little faster. "You've grown patient, haven't you?"
"I've had to." She folded her hands in her lap and watched as Xiao Dan closed his eyes and took slow careful breaths. "I was thinking about how, if you gave up on this, I would unleash all of my fury on you."
Xiao Dan's eyes snapped open at that. A laugh burst from him, startled and inadvertent, a bright ha! of sound. His thin lips curled into a smile, quiet on his pale face. "Of course you would. I'm sure that if I did in fact go on without you this early, you'd drag me down in front of all our relatives when you caught up."
Qiu Yue smiled back at that, though she knew from the tension on her face that it was not quite as steady as she would have liked. She leaned forward to put her hand on his forehead; he was quite warm to the touch. "I would. I would hunt you down, in all the halls of the afterlife, and I would not stop until I had discovered where you were hiding from me. I wouldn't let you get away from me, my brother, if you were so foolish."
"I'm not," Xiao Dan said, and his laughter turned to coughing a few moments later. He waved off Qiu Yue's fussing and turned his head away. There was still a smile on his face, though it was quiet and more tired than before. Looking at it made Qiu Yue's chest tighten. "Dear sister, I'm not so foolish at all."
*~*~*
A week later, as promised by the fox, a merchant's cart rolled into their small, isolated village.
It was the wrong season for merchants: too deep into autumn, with the first nippings of winter appearing in the morning. One had already come through early in the autumn season, laden with clothes and spices and stories. She had stayed for nearly two weeks, trading generously and laughing on her way out again.
The cart that arrived this fall morning had lean pickings. The merchant at the head was a thin man with sunken features; everything about him seemed tired and drooping. Looking at him put Qiu Yue in the mind of a plant wilting as the summer sun faded. It also reminded her of her brother, and that left her in a sour mood as she went out to meet the merchant. The fox had promised, and while she was dubious, she was growing concerned enough to grasp at even that thin straw.
"You're here at a bad time," she said, by way of greeting. She crossed her arms and watched as he slid off his seat and moved around to check on his horses.
At first he didn't respond to her, and she wondered if perhaps she would have to speak again when he said, in a voice that was as slow and dragging as the rest of him, "I've brought news from the other side of the mountain."
On the other side of the mountain was the town where the magistrate lived. Qiu Yue's village was part of his jurisdiction, though it—like that town—had no official name. The people of the village simply referred to the village as Home, and the other side of the mountain as the Magistrate's Home.
Qiu Yue pressed her lips hard against her teeth for a moment, then forced herself to simply tilt her head, still watching the man with as much casual indifference as she could muster.
"That's rare," she said. "They are usually willing to wait until the spring before they send anything our way."
The merchant snorted. He looked up, and he finally seemed to see Qiu Yue. His eyes went wide, and then his lips pursed into a sharp bow.
"There's important news," he said, without looking away from her—he didn't even blink, as long seconds ticked past. It was growing uncanny. "The magistrate is looking for a wife."
"A wife?" Qiu Yue echoed, before she could stop herself. She had never seen the magistrate herself, though she knew that the same man had been in power when her parents had both been alive, and he had been in place for some amount of time before even Xiao Dan's birth. The idea of him looking for a wife now seemed almost laughable. "Why, all of a sudden?"
The merchant hesitated. He looked around with an exaggerated show of caution, then beckoned Qiu Yue closer. She knew that there were others watching from their homes, and this sort of gossip would likely have some good weight to it. She still waited a moment before she took a step towards the merchant and ducked. He cupped a hand around his mouth and said to her, his voice barely above a stage whisper, "The magistrate has been ill lately. He has the best of doctors caring for him, but it's made him realize his mortality. He'd like a son to carry on his name, but he's related to the emperor, you know. He must choose carefully."
Qiu Yue put a hand to her lips. She could play that role well, at least, the wide-eyed and astonished young village girl. Some merchants saw through that and laughed; others took it entirely seriously.
It seemed that this particular merchant was of the latter category. He nodded at the expression on Qiu Yue's face, though she said nothing on the matter. "It's true," he said. "I don't know what it was, but it certainly put the fear of the end into him. He wants to have his wife, and he wants a son, and he's willing to search diligently everywhere for one."
"Everywhere?" Qiu Yue said. She kept her voice a demure sort of murmur—the kind that would have made Xiao Dan laugh to hear, if he'd had the energy for it—and her eyes downcast. "Even in a little village like this?"
"Well," said the merchant. He leaned in even closer, and Qiu Yue could smell his breath, sour and sharp, and felt it as a cool damp puff against her cheek. He looked her up and down with a deliberate sort of intent, and it made her skin crawl. When his thin lips curled into a smile, she had to fold her hands behind her back to keep from just throttling the look from his face. City men had occasional odd ideas about what a woman's position should be. "The magistrate wants a wide range of possible wives to pull from. There are women coming in from the capitol. He's related to the emperor, you know."
Twice in less than five minutes! It was strange, what city men held in high esteem. Qiu Yue nearly laughed in his face. Instead, she bit the inside of her cheek and demurred.
"He is," the merchant said. There was an odd pride in his voice, as if he'd picked up some of that auspicious bloodline just from speaking with the man. "So he deserves the pick of his domain. He knows there's healthier stock out there."
As he said this, his eyes drifted down to Qiu Yue's breasts—small and strapped smaller still for the sort of work she was doing, but still prominent enough to get a leer. She flexed her hands in and out of fists, out of the merchant's sight, and said, "Is he really looking for anyone at all?"
"He wants a good strong young wife," the merchant said, and it took him a few words before he could tear his eyes away from her, looking up at her face. He was even closer now, and Qiu Yue had to press her na
ils into her palms to keep from stepping away. "He's put out the word that anyone may come to petition for the honor. And the person who sponsors her, well." He chuckled at that, tugging at the corner of his long drooping mustache. It was like something out of a children's story. "The person who finds the woman who becomes the magistrate's wife will also be handsomely compensated."
Qiu Yue bowed her head. Ostensibly it was to show her awe at the idea, but in reality, she was lost in thought.
Convince the merchant to take you, the fox had said, and I will take care of the rest. Qiu Yue did not particularly want to be a magistrate's bride—if she were honest, she did not want to be anyone's bride, but especially not any man's—but if what the fox had said was even remotely true...
In the village, there were three other young women about her age. One was Dai Yu, who was thin and reedy, with delicately fine hair and a tremendous brown birthmark across her thin face. One was Lien, who spoke in whispers and flinched at any sudden voice, no matter how comfortable she was with the person. The last was Li Hua, whose father had come from the other side of the forest, and who often made it quite clear that she wanted the attention of Xiao Dan more than any other man.
Qiu Yue thought about each of these women in turn, and then she stepped away from the merchant. Before he could be roused to indignation, she bowed low to him, with her hands still folded behind her back. Even though she could not hear anything, she could imagine the murmur of voices that rose from the village behind her. They would know the story soon enough.
"Then take me," she said. "I am the fairest and the strongest of women my age in this village. I am your best bet. Wouldn't it be better to put all of your effort into one, rather than spreading your net too wide?"
The merchant was silent for a moment. Qiu Yue watched him shift from one foot to the other in a nervous-looking fidget. When she glanced a little further up, through her bangs, she could see him looking at her with a speculative eye. It dragged at her skin—it felt oily, for all that he did not touch her—but Qiu Yue refused to budge.
Finally, he said, "You might be right, but I would still like to see what there is available. I can't just rush back. It'd make me look bad."
You already look bad, Qiu Yue thought, but did not say. Instead she gave her best closed-lipped smile and nodded.
"I would offer you shelter," she said, "but my house is very small. However," and here she raised her voice enough to carry, so that all the people hiding in their homes would be able to hear her, "there are others, perhaps, who would be interested in housing a man who has come from the magistrate's home."
And like that was the proper cue, the doors opened. The elders of the village came first, followed by their anxious children and grandchildren, and Qiu Yue pulled back and stood aside with her hands folded behind herself, still smiling. The merchant looked disappointed for a moment before he was surrounded, and then his pride got the better of him and he began to preen under the interest of the crowd. Even if it was the wrong season for merchants, that didn't mean that the people of the village were not hungry for his news. Qiu Yue waited until he had looked away from her entirely, distracted, before she slipped away and back to her house.
The fox sat on her doorstep, with her long thick tail curled around her legs. When she saw Qiu Yue, her tongue unfolded from her mouth, long and pink. Qiu Yue glanced back, just in case, but the procession following the merchant had already moved on. They were going to Grandfather Fa's house, which meant that it would be some time yet before the merchant would be able to escape. When she was certain of that, she turned back to the fox and crossed her arms.
"Did you know about that?" she asked.
"I knew that there was a smell in the air," the fox said. She lifted her foot and made a few idle scratching motions in the air near to her ear. "It smelled like perhaps there was an opportunity. But I did not know the specific details. It has been a long time since I have been to the city of the human magistrate."
"Oh, that is one way to say it, isn't it," said Qiu Yue, as she opened the door. The fox stood and slipped in ahead of her. "The 'human magistrate'. I imagine you don't concern yourself about these things very often."
The fox glanced back over her shoulder. Her tongue continued to hang from her mouth, and she both looked and sounded very much like she was laughing. "Not very often," she said. "On the other hand, humans don't very often concern themselves with the ways of the mountain."
"That's not true," Qiu Yue said, but before she could say anything else, she heard Xiao Dan's voice:
"What isn't true? What's all that noise out there?"
The fox turned a corner and vanished from sight. Qiu Yue had watched her do so many times, and still she could not quite figure out the trick of her disappearances. She forced herself not to trace the action this time, straightening up and frowning as Xiao Dan stepped into the doorway. His knees trembled and his face was so pale it looked like the first fresh coat of untouched snow. He kept one hand on the wall, mock casual, but she could see the faint tremor in his fingers.
"What are you doing out of bed?" she asked. Her voice came out sharper than she would have liked, but she did not bite it back. "You should be resting."
"I have rested plenty enough," he said. There were beads of sweat across his forehead and gathering on his upper lip. He licked them away. His dark eyes were shimmering a little. Qiu Yue stared back. Neither of them blinked.
"At least tell me what the commotion outside was," he said at last.
"Sit down first, and I will," she said.
He scowled at her, but she refused to budge until he pulled his hand away from the door and began to make his slow, careful way to his bed. He'd dressed for the most part, she saw; he'd put on a coat over his sleeping clothes, as if he'd genuinely meant to go out and confront all the noise himself. Qiu Yue rolled her eyes at his back, but kept silent until he was lying down again. She knelt beside him.
"The magistrate is looking for a wife," she said.
"Oh, what, finally?" he said. He snorted faintly. "I suppose there are women who will be enticed enough by the money to want to apply."
"I'm thinking about it," Qiu Yue said.
"Quite honestly, he'll be lucky if anyone at all takes him seriously—you're what?" He turned to stare at her, his eyes wide and unblinking. "You are?"
"It's an opportunity," she said, and she tried to sound as casual as possible. Xiao Dan's eyes were utterly fixed on her.
"Is it because of this illness?" he said. "Little sister, you're more clever than that."
"And I still am," Qiu Yue said, with a confidence she did not entirely feel. "Trust me on this, my brother. I have something more in mind."
Xiao Dan's eyes narrowed at that, and his mouth pulled into a far sterner frown than before. He even went as far as to push himself up onto his elbows, and it took a surprising amount of effort to not push him down again. They stared at each other for long seconds, into a full minute. Qiu Yue's knees ached from being in that position for so long.
Eventually, though, Xiao Dan sighed and laid back down. He closed his eyes and turned his head away.
"I will trust you, because I know you're clever," he said, though his voice was heavy. It was not quite sorrow, and it was not quite a blessing. He sounded more resigned than anything else. "But little sister, if you find yourself in over your head, there is nothing I will be able to do to help you. At this point, I cannot even help myself."
Qiu Yue's breath caught in her throat. He sounded so tired, saying that, and it was so very close to an admission that neither of them wanted to make. She started to reach out, with the vague thought of taking her brother's hand in hers, and refrained at the last moment. From the corner of one eye, she could see the fox slip into the bedroom, though she only sat there, just barely visible, quiet and unobtrusive. The sight brought some measure of calm to Qiu Yue's heart. My fox will see me through.
In the end, rather than reach out to Xiao Dan, she bowed her head low
, the picture of obedience, even if both knew she would have her will over his.
"I know," she said. "I promise you, my brother, I will do everything I can to do you proud."
*~*~*
In the end, the merchant rejected all the other possibilities among the young women of the village. He did so with a sneer and a sniff, and Qiu Yue made terrible faces behind his back as he explained his reasoning. Only Lien caught her doing it, but the antics brought a brief smile to her pale features, and that in turn made her quite beautiful. If the merchant—who had introduced himself several times over, and whose name Qiu Yue forgot every single time—could not see that, then that was only his loss.
Li Hua herself had rejected the idea before the merchant had even been able to ask her, and Qiu Yue was certain that was what had inspired his animosity towards her in turn. She'd been almost too eager to agree to look after Xiao Dan in Qiu Yue's absence. If they were not married by the time she returned, Qiu Yue thought, it would only be because her brother was too weak to stand properly for the ceremony.
And as for poor Dai Yu, the merchant not been able to look past the birthmark on her face. He'd said some very unkind things about it, only to wither at the look that Qiu Yue had given him for it, unblinking. At least he had been wise enough to not say those things to Dai Yu's face, and really, Dai Yu had seemed more relieved than anything to be passed over for the choice.
So, one week after he had arrived in the village, he left again, with his rickety carriage lighter of material goods and heavier one young woman with a fox. The merchant had looked askance at the fox that had leapt into his cart alongside Qiu Yue, his thin lips pulling into a disapproving sort of frown.
"This is my pet," Qiu Yue had told him, putting a hand on the fox's back. She had smiled at the look the merchant had given her. "She will be my comfort as I leave home. It's best if I am not nervous when I meet my future husband, isn't it?"
The confidence with her declaration seemed to have won him over, and he had not argued. Sometimes he glanced back from his driver's seat, and if his eyes lingered too long over the bend of Qiu Yue's knees, or the curve of her breasts, she could at least pretend to ignore that. The fox curled against her side and kept her head against her hip and spoke to her in a low voice.
Fairytales Slashed: Volume 8 Page 8
