Bab 22: Chapter 22: Plague, part 1

The roads were wet. The roofs were glistening in the morning sun. The air smelled crisp, and Nikola entertained the thought of going down to the beach to spend the day lazing away on the sand.

Soon he was by the stand and granny Nuo Nuying was greeting him enthusiastically.

"Nikola of Troy! You have been in your house for four days! I have begun to worry. Come sit. Everyone, the oracle is back! Come and get your fortune for a copper!"

Excited women began to crowd the stall, and Nikola was soon talking about babies and marriages. He was broken out of his work during lunch when granny Nuo Nuying handed him a steamed bun.

"This is the last one. I saved it just for you. You eat up now. You look as pale as a ghost."

Nikola happily began to munch on the delicacy. His tongue found the hidden pork within. He ate the bun quickly and wiped his fingers on a rag that granny gave him.

"How is life with your lover? Is he treating you well?"

Nikola shook his head. Granny Nuo Nuying furrowed her brows.

"I told you he was nothing but trouble! Did he steal your house? You can come live with me again., in exchange for spending your day here with the customers!"

Nikola was touched by the offer. He knew that the elderly woman cared for him. She reminded him of his chief advisor during his first years of ruling. Elder Ivana.

The elder had been against him keeping Penemue for a lover, telling him to trade gold with the angels in exchange for the secrets of cultivating the earth.

But he hadn't listened to her and when Azazel had asked him to banish her to the outskirts of the island, he had done so, fearful that the angels would leave otherwise. He missed her wisdom now more than ever.

"I'll come by as often as I can," Nikola assured her, placing a hand over the woman's shoulder. "And he didn't steal my house. He admitted to lying to me… I am simply not ready to forgive him."

Granny Nuo Nuying grinned at him and placed a hand over Nikola's.

"I've seen how you look at him, child. If he merely lied and didn't do anything drastic, then you will forgive. You two make a lovely picture together. But then again, all young people in love do."

The granny began to pick up her stall, her movements deft despite her age. Nikola mulled over her words. He had known Wei Caihong for only two months. This was nothing compared to his love affair with Penemue.

And yet people told him he was in love.

Was he? He didn't feel any hatred towards Wei Caihong for the lies, as he should. Maybe it was the addiction to the blood talking, but this morning, Nikola had enjoyed being wrapped up in his lover's arms. Safe in the knowledge that the other wouldn't hurt him intentionally.

Truly hurt him. The little chewing of Nikola's hand yesterday didn't count at all. Wei Caihong had stopped when Nikola had begged him to. Perhaps he was too harsh on the man?

Nikola picked the heavy bun pot and carried it towards granny Nuo Nuying's wagon.

"Are you sure you want to close shop this early, granny?" He asked, as he placed it in the back.

Nuo Nuying huffed and jumped in the wagon, taking the reins, and giving Nikola her best stern face.

"I sold all the buns, didn't I? If I keep earning extra, I will need to pay more taxes. I already hid away all the extra coins you earned me, but the new magistrate is coming. I can explain to him that you traded fortune-telling so that people will buy my buns, but if he finds out, I made something extra on the side, he will scream tax evasion and confiscate all the money to line his pockets."

The granny huffed, looking at him expectantly.

Nikola sighed and got in the wagon, relaxing on the bench. He would spend the day with the granny and help her around the house. Her garden must need weeding again, and her stalls would surely be in need of mucking.

"You are a good boy, Nikola of Troy," the old woman drove the wagon through the streets, urging on the oxen every so often. "Wei Caihong is very lucky. When are you opening your shop?"

Nikola had cleaned the shop top to bottom and had put all the new knickknacks on display. But his little withdrawal period had dispersed all thoughts of opening the shop from his mind.

Now that he was better, he only needed to put an open sign in front of the buildings and then attract customers with fortune-telling or something.

"Maybe tomorrow, granny. Everything is ready. I just had a lot on my mind lately."

Even as he said it, he knew that the next day wouldn't be the day he opened the shop, either. Penemue was a breath's away from him.

It was high time he put in the work to make his dream come true. Oh, how sweet would it be, to have Penemue's black wings wrapped around him once more…

"You open the shop bright and early in the morning, and I'll bring my stall in front of it! A steam bun for every customer who enters your shop! Nicely packed, so they don't get your store dirty with grease, and for the fair price of a copper. I'll make extra buns too! When we get home, you will have to help me knit the dough!"

Nikola chuckled at the woman's excitement. She needed to pay rent to have her stall on the market. And she knew that he wouldn't ask it of her if she opened shop in front of his store. How could he say no to his favorite person in the village?

"Fine, fine! We'll make dough for the rest of the day. But do you have enough pork for it all?" Nikola asked, for he doubted it. After all, it was not like he had warned granny Nuo Nuying he would be visiting.

The granny slapped her forehead and stopped the wagon, motioning for Nikola to get off. She dug out a gold piece from her pocket, one of the two that Wei Caihong had given them on the first day he had visited them, and gave it to Nikola.

"You go tell the butcher to get me two, no, three pigs! Everyone has been talking about your shop since they found out you bought it from handler Hua. And ask him to make the meat into mincemeat and quickly! Keep the rest, you are the one who earned this, after all."

Then the granny speeded away before Nikola could protest. He shook his head. There was something charming about people who were so driven their work ethic bordered on pure obsession, Nikola could not help but think, as he walked towards the butcher's.