Chaos and Chiens had homes of any size to speak of, while the rest of the villagers had only what might be called women's corners. But women do have a world of their own and it was strange that Ah Q's fame should have penetrated therein. Whenever women met, they all talked about the blue silk shirt which Sister Tsou had bought from Ah Q. It was secondhand, to be sure, but then she paid only nine dimes for it. Another fortunate woman was the mother of Chao the white-eyed—one report had it as the mother of Chao the watchman, a matter that needs further investigation—who bought from him a boy's red muslin gown, seventy percent new, for only three hundred cash, ninety-two to the hundred.[1] As a consequence, the women of Wei were all eager to see Ah Q. Instead of hiding from him as they had done for a while, they ran after him, and stopped him to ask:
"Ah Q, have you got any more silk shirts? No? How about a muslin gown? Surely you have a few more things to sell, haven't you?"
His fame was carried from the women's corners to the deeper inner apartments, largely through Sister Tsou, who had displayed her proud acquisition to Chao tai-tai and the latter had in turn remarked about it to His Honor. At supper that evening His Honor discussed the matter with his heir the licentiate, suggesting that there was something suspicious about Ah Q and that they had better look after their doors and windows. But the things that Ah Q had to sell were all right and he might have a few more good bar-
- ↑ It was customary to allow a certain percentage for the cost of the string with which the cash coins were strung together. The custom persisted even after the ten-cash copper supplanted the cash, though the new coin has no holes and is not strung together with strings.
