Chapter 3: The Clever Little Girl

After a few days of hardship, Chu Chaoyun finally figured out the routine of this Flower Boat.

Although the Flower Boat officially started business at noon, they had to get up to prepare at the end of the early morning hour (about 3–5 am). They first cleaned the three upper floors of private rooms one corner at a time, and only then was breakfast time.

Because Ruizhou did not implement a curfew, basically every night the customers would drink freely until midnight.

Chu Chaoyun woke up before dawn. It wasn’t because she had the spirit of “rising at cockcrow to practice,” but rather because the cold made it hard to sleep soundly. She thought it better to get up early and move around a bit to warm up her body.

A benefit of waking early was also that she didn’t have to compete for the use of the washroom and restroom.

Since many workers were on the boat, the supervisor had arranged one restroom at both the bow and the stern of the boat. The restroom in the small hidden cabin at the bow was for customers, while the boatmen all used the one at the stern.

Next to the stern restroom, a simple washroom was fenced off with wooden slats.

However, what troubled Chu Chaoyun was quite a lot: there was no facial cleanser for washing her face, no toothbrush for brushing her teeth, no toilet paper when using the restroom, and she couldn’t even take a bath in the washroom!

Every time she needed to do these things, Chu Chaoyun’s emotions went back and forth between “feeling wronged,” “powerless rage,” “on the verge of collapsing and wanting to cry,” and “gradually calming down,” until she finally completely gave in.

Coming out of the washroom, Chu Chaoyun wrapped her hair with a coarse cloth. A few sleepyheads rubbing their eyes greeted her in soft voices while yawning: “Chaoyun, you’re up so early again?”

“Mm, today it’s my turn to tidy the private rooms. I’ll start on the third floor. The Aunts can split the first and second floors themselves,” Chu Chaoyun said with a smile, lowering her head to pick up a wooden bucket, and swinging a coarse cloth over her arm as she went to get water alone.

Those two behind her looked surprised at first, and only when Chu Chaoyun was already climbing the wooden ladder carrying over half a bucket of water did they swallow the “thank you” they were about to say.

There were strict rules on the boat forbidding them from talking loudly.

Since the highest private rooms required climbing two extra flights of stairs, when the work was being divided, some of the elderly boatwomen usually tried their best to avoid this task.

It wasn’t that they wanted to shirk duties, but because of their old age and rheumatism caught from living in the dark, damp cabins for years, moving more than a few steps caused pain in their arms and legs. Carrying water buckets up wooden stairs was out of the question.

Cleaning the private rooms was divided so that each person was responsible for one floor, with a dozen or so boatwomen taking turns. Each turn came once every five days, and today happened to be Chu Chaoyun’s second turn since boarding.

Chu Chaoyun didn’t fill her bucket too full so she could walk faster and not spill water easily.

Reaching the third floor, she set down the bucket by the side without rushing inside to clean; instead, she stood at an inconspicuous corner of the boat looking out toward the dock.

In the past few days, Chu Chaoyun hadn’t once seen Chu Yu on the boat. Still, with a sweet mouth and industrious spirit, she had gradually grown familiar with the boatwomen she worked with.

From them, Chu Chaoyun learned about the whereabouts of Chu Yu and Chu Xilan.

The daily supplies needed on the Flower Boat — fruits, drinks, cooking ingredients, the girls’ clothes and jewelry, as well as games like liubo (sixbo) and touhu (pitch-pot), and musical instruments like drums and zheng (zither) — all had to be purchased in the city and replenished.

Chu Yu and those men were responsible for carrying these goods as laborers.

Early morning was time to work, and Chu Chaoyun tried hard to get a clearer look but still couldn’t spot Chu Yu among the laborers wearing cloth headbands.

But she knew Chu Yu was there.

And thinking of Chu Xilan…

Chu Chaoyun sighed slightly. Since her cousin didn’t come that day, she presumed Chu Xilan lacked the courage to harm herself and thus could only stay in that courtyard to learn skills.

Just as Old Lady Li had said, “She is in charge of teaching.”

According to Chu Chaoyun’s understanding, the girls in the private rooms probably just learned some simple things, and Old Lady Li’s “accelerated classes” wouldn’t last too long.

Chu Chaoyun dipped her cloth in the water bucket and went into the nearest private room to start wiping tables and chairs. The leftover fruit peels were cleaned every night after closing, so now just dusting off was enough.

Of course, Chu Chaoyun didn’t volunteer to clean the third floor just to be saintlike. Besides wanting to get a look at the activity on the dock and in the courtyard, she also wanted to understand the waterway surrounding Ruizhou — the Rui River.

After all, standing higher meant seeing further.

At the dock, on the side where the boats connected to the ground via planks, people from Big Zhao’s group kept watch. Even if they got monthly silver, they couldn’t go to the market to buy food.

But now, not eating enough and not dressing warmly enough, with a mountain of daily labor, Chu Chaoyun felt that if she didn’t die from exhaustion, she would starve or freeze to death.

After finishing work, Chu Chaoyun left the dock area and went around to the stern to look down.

The river in Ruizhou wasn’t clear; near the shore, one could vaguely see the muddy bottom. The season wasn’t cold enough yet, and large patches of lotus leaves floated on the surface.

Chu Chaoyun licked her dry lips and went to the wooden ladder to pick up the bucket, descending step by step.

When she reached the first floor, she heard Manager Zhong calling out: “Miss Chunye drank a few glasses too many last night and her stomach is burning now. Later, please make her some light food to send up. If she wants anything else to eat, pick whatever you can make and cook a few more dishes.”

Manager Zhong’s words were not directed at Chu Chaoyun but ordered to Mrs. Diao, who was responsible for cleaning the first floor.

Chu Chaoyun had been here only a short time; Manager Zhong didn’t ask her to go near the kitchen yet.

Mrs. Diao was in her forties, quite skilled in cooking among the boatwomen. She was one of the few who willingly came to work on the boat and had stayed a long time, so Manager Zhong didn’t fear she would run away halfway.

The girls in the private rooms usually had their own courtyards and did not live on the Flower Boat. So at first, Chu Chaoyun was a bit curious.

Right next to the courtyards was the market, yet they couldn’t go eat what they wanted. Even if Old Lady Li forbade them from going into town, couldn’t they send someone to buy things?

Thinking this, once Manager Zhong left, Chu Chaoyun asked Mrs. Diao quietly.

Seeing Chu Chaoyun willingly come to the third floor, Mrs. Diao’s impression of her was better than others’, so she lowered her voice to explain: “Originally, they let someone buy food for them, but once one girl was greedy and ate oily food even when she was sick. She ended up fainting with stomach pain. Since then, Old Lady Li forbade it.”

Chu Chaoyun thought for a moment and smiled: “I see, coming and going here is quite hard. If I can help with anything, just tell me.”

Mrs. Diao sighed: “There isn’t anything to help with now. It’s nearly mealtime. You should go eat first; you must be starving after working all morning.”

“Alright, I’ll bring you some too, so you don’t miss a meal with all this busy work.”

Chu Chaoyun lightly patted Mrs. Diao’s shoulder and walked away briskly.

Mrs. Diao understood Chu Chaoyun’s intentions and saw she was clever, but if she took Chu Chaoyun outside and she ran off halfway, Mrs. Diao would truly be left with nothing.

But thinking of Chu Chaoyun’s bright smile, Mrs. Diao wondered if maybe she was too narrow-minded.

After all, except for her being somewhat special, who working here didn’t want to leave?

Although Chu Chaoyun was kind, people’s hearts were hidden behind layers no one could see through. Mrs. Diao didn’t trust Chu Chaoyun, nor dared take the risk.

Chu Chaoyun went to the corner to get a bowl and quietly took two pieces of dry bread and a bowl of soup. She said she absolutely could not swallow the soup, but she couldn’t refuse to serve Mrs. Diao.

Returning to her dark cabin to rest, she placed the soup bowl and one piece of bread on the step outside Mrs. Diao’s room, then bent down and went straight back to her own room to lie down.

The low ceiling made her stoop for a long time, causing her back to ache faintly.

She did have her own small thoughts, but she wasn’t that cunning.

Chu Chaoyun wanted to help Mrs. Diao not because she naively thought Mrs. Diao would take her out, but so she could legitimately enter the kitchen. That way, if she ran into anyone in the kitchen later, she would have a reasonable excuse.

Learning from Chu Xilan’s example, Chu Chaoyun tore the dry bread open and ate only the softer part inside. The hard crust was too difficult to swallow and could hurt her throat and stomach, and if she got sick, things would be even tougher.

So far, among the three supervisors she had encountered, she didn’t think any of them would kindly treat them if they fell ill. If she really got sick, she guessed the end would likely be being tossed into some random graveyard and that would be the end of her.

Chu Chaoyun chewed and swallowed the dry bread, preparing to close her eyes and rest for a while.

About fifteen minutes later, two old women came carrying a large wooden basin filled with clothes and called her. Chu Chaoyun smelled the fragrance inside, knowing these were clothes of the girls upstairs. It wasn’t so bad to wash them.

The girls’ clothes were at least not torn, and were clean and fragrant.

In contrast, Mrs. Diao was less lucky. She was assigned to wash the dirty, stinky clothes worn by Big Zhao’s group. Besides the terrible smell, after washing and drying, she still had to patch the worn-out places.

Chu Chaoyun silently glanced at Mrs. Diao and efficiently went to work.

Chu Chaoyun didn’t eat dinner but did bring back a piece of bread. After working so much today, she had more free time to rest now.

She lay in her room until the Flower Boat closed for the night. All the lights were out; the quiet riverbank had only two guards; everyone else was busy dreaming of the Zhou King (= sleeping).

Chu Chaoyun got up intending to go out, paused after a few steps, then took off her straw sandals and stepped barefoot onto the boat’s planks.

In the darkness, a thin figure walked along the narrow path toward the stern, lifting the hem of her clothes and tying it into a net-like pouch at her waist. Then, stepping lightly, she held onto the ladder and quietly slipped into the water.

At the Flower Boat’s location, there was only one dock nearby, the rest were built with pillar-shaped fences. The distance between shore and water surface was wide, so escape was impossible from other places. That was why Big Zhao’s group only guarded the dock side, feeling at ease.

Chu Chaoyun sneaked into the water, both excited and timid. The moment her foot touched the water, it was so cold that she gasped sharply.

She steadied herself on the ladder and didn’t jump in immediately but sloshed the water back and forth with her feet until she gradually adjusted to the temperature. Then she dove headfirst into the water and quickly swam toward the muddy bank.

Indeed, skills never go to waste. Chu Chaoyun was especially thankful for having earned her diving certificate long ago.

Like a fish, she moved underwater, stealthily approaching the patch of lotus leaves. After several days without water contact, she was beginning to despise herself.

After swimming for a while and cleaning the dirt from her body, face, and hair, Chu Chaoyun felt a bit better.

Now in a better mood, she reached her hand into the mud to dig around. The lotus pods previously visible on the surface had all been picked. She could only look for other ways underwater.

Chu Chaoyun carefully searched along the mud, missing several spots in a row but didn’t get annoyed. Years of working had worn out the impulsiveness in her character; what remained was patience.

After failing to find a small patch, Chu Chaoyun slowly swam away from the dock.

After another half incense stick’s length of searching time (about 15–20 minutes), the result was still the same. Just as she was about to give up digging in the mud and try to find some edible water plants to fill her stomach, she felt a sharp sting in her palm from something buried in the mud.