"Sister, let him cheat, it'll only make it fair" - Lin Si, 11, during a weiqi match with her younger brother
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The men in front, excitedly jumped to their feet, and the first of them entered, steps brimming with pride, tossing the worn wooden plaque into the basket to the side.
Within less than 5 minutes, he had already exited the side, in defeat, glancing at her cart in regret. It seemed him passing on the meal earlier had weakened him from hunger, and he regretted it a little, but he sighed, continuing down the hill in defeat. Lin Si considered the battle might not change with an extra meal, but whatever.
"You…" as the next entered, the man next to her finally asked. "Are you a well-known martial artist?" she figured he'd ask eventually. Afterall, it was rare to find a woman martial artist, especially one who was going to fight the no. 1 strongest martial artist in the world. She shrugged. "No, I'm not well known here." In fact, she didn't even really know anyone in line here, including this man, but she didn't dare ask, lest she be taken as a fool, but whatever, she couldn't really say she wasn't a very social martial artist, just hadn't been in the central plains for very long time, but she had liked fighting since young. "I'm just here to meet the sovereign, and, maybe see how far I still have to go in my martial arts, after all, I've recently hit a bottle neck." He nodded appreciatively. She carried a sword, in a simple wooden sheath wherever she went, slung over her shoulder with simple twine, its handle wrapped in old cloth, so he had considered she was a warrior, but it was still a somewhat rare sight. She saw his eyes tracking her blade. She didn't care to show him it tho. No one had been strong enough for her to really show it off in the last couple years, so she didn't really feel like showing it off here for no real reason. She sat down again, yawning. "Alright, so, what else is there to do here?"
He shrugged. "Nothing, we just sit here till nightfall, and everyone takes out their mats to sleep."
"Ah." she didn't have a mat. She glanced over. It might be a bit much to ask him to hold the line again today. He was a quick thinker, understanding her current dilemma, maybe her worn out commoner clothing also hinted at it.
"It's alright, I have an extra mat you can borrow."
She nodded gratefully. "Thanks."
4 men went in that day
The next morning, she woke up early, to the sounds of birds of the forest, and the cold wind that brushed over her. There were no blankets, and even with her martial arts, she was a little susceptible to it. She ignored it for a while, before giving up and sitting up. The man next to her was already up as well. The sun had yet to peak at all, and it was still incredibly dark, but the wind was cold and strong enough to remind everyone of the time.
She yawned. "Could you hold my place in line again?"
He nodded, lazily, still absorbed in a small, torn book he was reading, while huddled under a worn-out blanket. She considered he might not be able to afford cotton.
She took it as a yes, and headed back down the mountain with her donkey, stopping at a simple brook, and making it to town before the sun met the horizon.
Walking around, she quickly found the earliest opened shops, getting some congee, baozi and jianbing with several toppings. She then grabbed a lot of tea, buying a large tea brewing set, with several pots, water, and heated coal again, she had more money and bought extravagantly.
With that, in the eyes of the confused merchants, she once again headed back up the mountain. She began brewing the tea in the cart before she reached the top, letting the donkey go at its own pace. It was a good donkey.
As they crested over the path, everyone was instantly enraptured by the scent of tea.
"30 coppers of a glass of tea!" she called. "1 tael for 2 jin's of food!" 2 jins, easily enough for two meals, -although being martial artists raised their appetite- some would buy it, considering there would be some left over for their lunch, but those that had eaten well the previous night, who were more hesitant to spend another tael, only 30 coppers wasn't bad for a glass of hot tea.
Several came forward right away, anxiously spending their coppers to warm their hands and chests from the cold with a glass of tea, as she went around, she also stopped at Long Wen's booth. He only went home after the sun set, and he was here by the time the sun rose again, she noticed him a little blue-lipped and red-nosed from the cold, and in a foul mood, pushed her cart over, she even heard his stomach growl. She considered he may have awoken late, and been unable to sufficiently dine before he was sent here. It was the second day of the week after all.
"Would you like a glass of tea?" she asked before he could send her away.
He grunted, finally pulling out 30 coppers, to take the tea. She didn't push for him to have more. And went on her way. If he decided to stop her small business she'd started, he could try, but the rules for the line were clearly pasted above his booth, and they didn't have any mention of sales of items to those in line.
Of course, he could claim that she broke the loose law of staying in line, and thus losing her place, but then she'd just say she was in company with the one behind her, and since they were together, he was still holding the line. Which was fair. Plus, those in line had to leave it to relieve themselves occasionally, as long as it didn't exceed too long a time, it was always allowed.
By the time noon came around, all her wares were once again sold. She patted the large sash wrapped around her waist in self-satisfaction. It was quite full of silver ready. Could she fit much more?
"Hmm." The man she sat next to, as she enjoyed her late breakfast, had already finished his and was considering her. "Thanks for the meals." She nodded, waving her hand, too busy eating to respond. "I'm just scared…"
He stopped.
"..it might take longer for you to reach the front of the line?" she understood immediately. "Don't worry."
He glanced at her with perplexed intellect.
She smiled. "I'll make your wait as comfortable as possible."
"..." he had no words.
The sovereign called for matches earlier that day, the young man asked them in again. However, to everyone's disappointment, only 2 went in and out. No one had victory yet, all leaving with defeated faces. She suddenly picked up an idea.
That evening, she once again came up the mountain with food, but this time she also brought a little water and some blankets and sleeping mats for the five that she noticed hadn't brought any up. Everything got sold, even with her exuberant prices. And she once again slept early, getting up early, and heading back down the mountain. By now, the merchants had begun to realize what was going on, and a couple small peddlers followed her curiously. She didn't mind it. She was only trying to fill time, and fill her wallet while she waited to talk with the guy Li Junlong. She didn't care what would happen from her actions.
She made it up the hill, people appreciated it a lot, much more ready to hand over money than before. Finding it not all that troublesome, the peddlers, seeing the exorbitant prices, immediately rushed back down.
By noon, they had made it back up. She had already sold all the food in her cart, watched relaxing, as they went up and down the lines, selling their own wares for cheaper than she had. The man next to her glanced at her untroubled expression. "you…"
She reached her hand over to flicked the long braid, reaching near his ankles when standing, to the side, glancing at the movement of the rest of his hair, shortened, not even reaching his shoulders compared to the braid on the side, as she leaned back on the ground, napping and counting leaves above her. "No need to worry," she brought a finger to her lips. "Only those without creativity will struggle when others copy them."
He glanced away in confusion. Today, a total of 7 were able to enter in, to her excitement. She was already nearing only twenty in front of her in line already and only one had left the line, getting tired of waiting, since she had joined.
Each of the 7 that exited, exited with dejected expressions, she quickly jumped up to offer them some alcohol, pulling out kegs of wine. They took her bid, to drown their sorrows as they went down the path again. The peddlers saw it, eyes lighting up, she came back to sit down, the man with the rat tail, behind her in line, glanced at her, a little impressed. She winked, and after it got later, she headed back down, coming back up, again with more wine and blankets, but also some weiqi boards, cards, dice and even perfume. Afterall, those who had sat there since last week (he didn't challenge anyone on weekends) all stunk profusely. These were more pricey, but the stores she bought them from took note of it, seeing others following her, also sent assistants to follow her.
She came up, sold her batch and didn't bother with the other wares that were coming up. Long Wen was beginning to get annoyed though. She quickly strode over.
He glanced at her, unreadable except the slight annoyance.
"Yo, are they an eyesore?" she asked plaintively.
He glanced at her, why did she ask the obvious, if they didn't have a law against it, how was he to stop them? Already, several strange curios had been brought up, including sandal sellers, many small-time peddlers had seen the opportunity to come up the mountain to sell wares at an up-marked price. Especially the food.
She leaned closer. "Actually, there's a good way to deal with this, so that it's more organized."
He nodded for her to continue, raising an eyebrow, definitely doubtful.
"Just make a fee."
"What?" He wasn't the bribe type, and his job didn't include taking extra fees for people who were laundering.
"It's not like what you think, I'm suggesting starting up your own separate business, besides this one, take it as a…part time." He glanced at her, confused. "Make it so that to sell wares here, there is a small fee, say, 100 coppers for a shichen, or 1 tael for a day."
It would definitely decrease the quantity… "...details."
She smiled in excitement. "Yes, just set up a second sign, for your new business, afterall, who owns this property?"
"Perhaps…you could say Jingsheng but…." but then again, Jingsheng, had never claimed it, it was just too close to his house, and near a steep hill, for anyone to really put their house on it. Plus, who would want to live close to the temperamental Jingsheng?
"Exactly, so you buy it."
"?!" he hadn't even considered it…and it was true his current job didn't make very much, and most of the time he was sitting here doing absolutely nothing, adding a second job would just make sense.
"You put taxes on this land, to bring their wares in, this fee will also decrease traffic and keep out launderers."
He nodded, "And how much do you want to go down the mountain to buy it?"
She'd have to go down and buy it tonight before government offices closed, so he could set up the system in the morning. He'd only have to buy a small path.
She grinned. "20 taels."
He glanced at her, and then, for the first time, she saw him grin widely, and then he began to chuckle, then shaking so hard, he was laughing so hard, tears formed in his eyes. "You, hahahaha. You are such a woman, hahahaha."
"So?" she held out a hand, he was still giggling, as he forked over 20 taels along with the approximate cost of the path.
She went to the government, and after greeting the gate keeper, friendly-like, and handing over a small bribe, she finally got an audience with a small official. He happily wrote up the deed for her, and she brought it back by the evening…along with a pipa and erhu.
The man behind her in line, glanced at her in confusion when she returned, as she hadn't used her donkey that day.
After handing over the deed, Long Wen headed back home, he even almost ruffed her hair as he left.
She waved him off, and sat down by her rat tail man, ordering some rice wine from a peddler, bargaining harshly, until she got it around market value.
The man finally widened his eyes. "Wait, you didn't do this so.."
He glanced around. Wait, not only did she make some money, she'd made sitting in the line for days be bearable, there were wares for sale everywhere.