Page 20 of A Song to Drown Rivers
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“The task is simple. Find the most difficult-to-please man here, and preoccupy him for the amount of time it takes for his tea to go completely cold.”
I contemplated this for a moment. “Just that?”
The faint ghost of a smile. “You are so confident?”
Admittedly, I had my own doubts. All this time we’d been training in the cottage, I had yet to try to charm a real flesh-and-blood man, to observe their reaction. But Fanli could not know this. “All the customers here look fairly easy to distract,” I said, shrugging.
“What about that man over there?” Zhengdan nodded subtly to the customer sitting alone two tables away. Aside from Fanli, he was easily the most attractive man here; so young his face was smooth, with a pleasant-shaped nose and full lips. He had not glanced up once the entire time we observed him.
But Fanli shook his head. “I said difficult to please, not handsome. The two are not always the same.”
We were interrupted when the server came back with our orders, then disappeared again just as fast. The tea leaves were pressed smooth and flat, a beautiful jade-green color, with a warm, mellow aroma. I watched them sink slowly inside my teacup, my hands braced around the porcelain. Beyond the windows, the rain poured harder, intensified into a loud beating.
“Who do you propose, then?” I asked Fanli.
He tipped his head toward another man. This customer sat closest to the railings, with the best view of the performers below. Everything about him was plain, nondescript. If Fanli had not pointed him out, I never would’ve even noticed him.
“Him?” Zhengdan said with a frown, not hiding her incredulity. “I’ve seen plenty of men just like him in my village.”
“Don’t be fooled by appearances. Notice how the servers did not even ask him for his order before bringing him his meal? It means that he must come here often enough to be a regular, and that he sticks to the same order every time. So he enjoys his routine. Not only that, but the tea here is horribly overpriced; so he must not be lacking in fortune. And the rich are always picky, with higher standards for everything.” Fanli’s voice remained calm, muted, yet here he was, dissecting a complete stranger from head to toe. “Notice also that he has been pretending to read the same scroll for the length of an incense now. His eyes have not so much as moved. It means he cares for appearances, but lacks the patience or culture to actually study. And finally—see what’s hanging from his belt?”
I squinted. There was a pink pouch attached to his belt with an image of two mandarin ducks sewn into it. The embroidery was clumsy, done by an untrained hand.
“A gift from another woman. Perhaps a lover. He is not afraid to display it in clear view, even if it means potentially turning off those who might take an interest to him. There is already someoneelse who has his heart,” Fanli concluded. “It will not be easy to hold his attention.”
“Well, let me try,” I said, rising.
My pulse began thrumming as I approached the man. I could feel keenly the eyes trained on the back of my head, imagine the assessing look on Fanli’s face even without turning. My steps quickened, my spine righting itself. I wanted to prove to him—what? That I had learned even more than he’d thought? That others desired me? That I was no longer the girl he first found by the riverbank, so new and tender to the world, so defenseless I could not even use the weapon I’d been born with?
I slowed deliberately beside the man’s table.
He glanced up. He really was plain, so plain as to be forgettable. My eyes kept slipping past his face, that broad jaw and bulbous nose, but I forced myself to gaze straight at him, calm and level.
“Is… there something you want, miss?” he asked after a beat, frowning. He spoke with a polished accent, his vowels smooth.
I feigned a blush. “Sorry. I don’t mean to intrude—I was just…” My words felt incredibly clumsy and too sweet, like my lips were swollen with pollen. He was barely looking at me. “The music,” I tried. “It’s lovely, don’t you agree?”
Now he did look at me, but it was with an irritable expression. “I don’t know. I can’t hear it very well, what with you talking.”
My face stung. It did not help that I knew Fanli was observing me. “Sorry,” I said again. “I—I only—”
“What is your point here, miss?” he cut in. Even the wordmisswas tacked on with great insincerity, his tone increasingly impatient. “Are you trying to sell me something?”
“No. Nothing.” The heat in my cheeks rose. “You just seemed so captivated by the performance—”
“Which you are still interrupting. If there’s really nothing else, then please stop bothering me. I’m busy.” With that, he snappedhis head back to the show below, denying me even his side profile. The dismissal could not have been more clear.
I backed up a step, humiliation burning down my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Fanli and the others. Zhengdan looked concerned, and Luyi greatly amused. Only Fanli’s expression revealed little outward emotion, his eyes pitch-black in the dim light. Yet, after so many sessions together, I could almost hear him:Have you learned nothing? Are you going to give up after a single attempt? Think about what he wants, Xishi. Appeal to his ego, not his heart.
Steeling myself, I studied the man more closely, taking in every detail. So he did not wish to talk about the music, and he would not be charmed by another’s attention alone. What else? My eyes trailed finally to the scroll in his hands. This whole time, he had not let it go.
“Why are you back?” the man asked.
Because the king’s famous military advisor sent me over here with a task, and he is even more difficult to please than you.“I was just… curious about what you were reading.”
“This?” He held up the scroll, his brows raised. At least he was not shooing me away.
