Chapter 2

The autumn wind rattled the window lattice. Zhou Zhixu looked at me, his hand slowly tightening at his side.

He said nothing. Aunt Xing drew her brows together as though about to scold me.

Zhou Zhixu stopped her with a look.

I made no sound, but my tears fell thick and fast.

“I’m… I’m very useful, and I do as I’m told. I won’t cause trouble for you or Aunt Xing. I can earn back the money you paid for me, too. I can cook and feed chickens. Could you…” I choked. “Could you please not send me away?”

After my parents died, I had lived rough with my uncle’s family, enduring their contempt and mistreatment, frightened every day.

That was not my home.

I never wanted to live like that again.

I wanted to eat the chestnut cakes I had just tasted every single day.

I don’t know how long it was before I heard a very soft cough.

Zhou Zhixu briefly closed his eyes. “Come here,” he said quietly.

I went over as instructed.

“What is your name? Do you have any family?”

I hesitated, then said softly, “My name is Luhua. My mother and father are dead.”

Zhou Zhixu faltered. Then he smiled gently, avoiding the latter part of my answer.

“Luhua, as in ‘a lone boat moored deep among the reed blossoms’? Were the reed blossoms drifting when your mother gave birth to you?”

I glanced at Aunt Xing and gave a cautious little hum of assent.

Zhou Zhixu suppressed another few coughs, then slowly let out a long breath. “Do you… know why you’ve been brought here to me?”

I answered honestly. “Uncle said you’d give me food.”

Zhou Zhixu fell silent.

After a long time, he said, “He lied to you.”

“You won’t give me food?”

“That’s not what I mean…” He looked a little helpless. “In any case… this isn’t right. You might be trapped here for the rest of your life.”

I didn’t understand.

Wasn’t being trapped somewhere with food better than going out and starving to death?

How much worse could things possibly get?

He was simply finding reasons to send me away.

At that thought, my tears began to spill again.

Zhou Zhixu coughed with his eyes lowered, looking very tired.

Aunt Xing rubbed his back to ease his breathing. Suddenly he looked at me, and his tightly curled fingers slowly loosened.

“Please… stop crying,” he said hoarsely. “I won’t send you away.”

With Zhou Zhixu’s permission, I was allowed to stay in the Zhou household.

Though it seemed I was only staying for the time being.

Before I left his room, he told me cryptically that one day I would regret it and want to leave, and that he would not stop me.

I wanted to ask what he meant. But remembering Aunt Xing’s warning, and afraid it would seem like talking back, I obediently held my tongue.

Life in the Zhou household was so much better than before.

I had a room of my own. I no longer had to go hungry. I didn’t even have to work.

Aunt Xing and the household servants took care of everyday chores. All I needed to do was keep Zhou Zhixu company.

He was quiet and very patient with me—so patient that little by little I relaxed and began to take liberties.

Sitting beside him, I could never help falling asleep, but I couldn’t bear to leave him alone, either.

Winter came. As the weather grew colder, I grew more bored.

Zhou Zhixu noticed.

He was reading, propped against the head of his bed. Seeing me gaze out the window, he gave a weak smile.

“I told you that you would regret it.”

Aunt Xing was away. Looking at his leg, I couldn’t resist asking, “Can you really not walk at all?”

He went still for a moment, then smiled gently and answered with good humor. “Not entirely. It’s just very difficult. I need a crutch.”

My eyes lit up.

“Then could you come outside and play with me? We won’t go far. Just into the courtyard. Please?”

Zhou Zhixu looked very uncertain.

I caught his thin hand and begged as sweetly as I could. “Brother Xu, just for a little while.”

His fingertips trembled. He tried to pull his hand away as though he had been shocked, but I held on so tightly he couldn’t free himself.

Soon his ears turned red.

“All right… let go of me first.”