Chapter 3

Chapter 3

More than ten days later, the Second Young Master returned.

That day, after I finished sorting the vegetables, I had a bit of free time and was washing clothes in the rear courtyard when I suddenly heard a horse neighing in the front courtyard, followed by a whole string of noises.

Ever since disaster had befallen the Wei Family, the vast residence had been deathly still. Now that so much commotion had suddenly broken out, my heart lurched, and I wondered in secret if someone had come to confiscate the estate.

I mustered my courage and went out to take a look, only to nearly crash headfirst into a wall of a man.

That person had no attention to spare for me. He took three steps in the space of two and ran straight toward Madam’s courtyard. All I managed to catch was a glimpse of his travel-worn sleeve.

Following behind him at a jog was Steward Uncle Wu.

Uncle Wu was panting. When he passed me, he paused briefly and said, “Hurry and boil some hot water for the Second Young Master.”

Uncle Wu’s eyes were bright, filled with a vigor I had not seen in a very long time. I answered on instinct, then carefully turned his words over in my mind-Huh? The Second Young Master?

Just then, from Madam’s courtyard came a cry thick with tears. “Mother-your son has returned too late-”

For some reason, my heart trembled with it. Then a slow ache welled up inside me. The Second Young Master had come back. At last, the Wei Family’s people were all here.

The Second Young Master had rushed back over a long road, so of course he needed a proper hot bath. I set the water to boil, then added more dishes to the meal on my own initiative.

I thought Madam probably would not want the Second Young Master to know how poorly the Wei Family was eating now.

With the Second Young Master’s return, the residence finally gained a little life. The steward must have watched the Second Young Master grow up; when he gave us instructions over the next two days, there was even the occasional hint of a smile on his face.

The first thing the Second Young Master did after returning was to invite the most famous physician in Shangjing City to come and take Madam’s pulse and the Eldest Young Master’s. Then he personally went out and bought some ginseng to stew into soup.

Now that the Second Young Master was back, there had to be someone to attend to him. Cui Jiu was transferred to his courtyard. As for the sweeping and cleaning, Uncle Wu said each courtyard would clean its own grounds, while the remaining front hall and corridors were assigned to me.

For the first time, I had a chance to walk out of the tiny kitchen and look around elsewhere.

The gardens of the Wei Family residence were beautifully laid out, understated and elegant. I heard that back then, because the Crown Prince valued the Eldest Young Master, he had specially invited a renowned master to design them.

But I could only take a quick, passing look.

I already had a great deal of work to do, and now sweeping had been added on top of it. I was almost never idle for even a moment. There was little human traffic along the covered corridors, and all I needed to sweep away were some fallen leaves. Fortunately, autumn had not yet arrived, so sweeping once in the morning and once at night was enough.

One evening, after I had tidied up the stove and set the bowls and chopsticks on the rack to drain, I picked up the broom as usual and went to sweep the front hall. When I reached the corridor, I suddenly heard the sound of a flute drifting over from afar, flowing through the moonlight with an indescribable desolation and loneliness.

Looking north from the corridor, I could see Madam’s courtyard. If the wind blew, I could make out the distant flower branches swaying in it. Looking south, there was the Eldest Young Master’s courtyard, half-hidden behind a cluster of verdant bamboo. Farther south lived the Second Young Master, though his courtyard was even farther away, and I could only see one corner of its gray-green bricks.

The flute came from the south. I did not know whether it was the Eldest Young Master or the Second Young Master playing. I listened until I was entranced, unconsciously hugging the broom as I leaned against the long corridor. In the end, I did not even know how I made it back. I only remembered that even in my dreams, some nameless melody seemed to echo faintly.

Later, when I went to sweep the courtyard again, I never heard the flute again, as if the swaying lanterns in the wind that night had been nothing more than a dream.

On the fifth day after the Second Young Master returned, Madam came to me.

She stood in front of the stove, simmering a bowl of mung bean soup to cool the summer heat. Then she crushed some osmanthus flowers that had been dried in previous years. From the look of it, she seemed to be making osmanthus cakes.

This was Madam’s first time coming to the kitchen, and she did not even have Sister Zhu’er at her side.

She did not speak, and I did not dare start a conversation. I only silently pulled out a few pieces of firewood that were burning too fiercely to make the flame gentler. When I looked up again, I saw tears on Madam’s face.

Those tears slid silently down her cheeks, but her body did not tremble at all. Every part of her was held taut. I did not know how much pain was in her heart.

On my first day at the Wei Family, I had also been brought to Madam’s courtyard so she could see my face. At the time, I only felt she was a very dignified and virtuous person. Now, after barely a dozen days, white hairs had appeared at her temples, and she had grown noticeably thinner.

I knew Madam was here to make food for the Second Young Master.

Cui Jiu told me that Madam had driven the Second Young Master back to the academy to study. He would leave tomorrow. Given the Wei Family’s current situation, the Second Young Master’s return could not solve much. If the Wei Family wanted to rise again, someone had to enter court once more, so the Second Young Master still had to take the path of officialdom.

This mung bean soup and these osmanthus cakes must have been things the Second Young Master used to love.

I took the handkerchief from inside my clothes, folded it neatly, and handed it over, placing it somewhere Madam could reach with a simple stretch of her hand. Then I turned, gently pulled the door shut, and sat down against the wall with my knees hugged to my chest.

Seeing Madam like this made me think of my mother.

Back when I still had my mother, she would also cook noodle soup for me.

Later, when her health failed, she taught me how to cook. I used that skill to scrape out a living under my stepmother’s hand, and now I had come to the Wei Family to make a living as well.

No matter how fallen the Wei Family was, they still had a home.

But I no longer had one.

Madam cried inside, and I sat outside in a daze.

The dying sun on the horizon was as red as blood. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, I stood up, patted the dust from my clothes, leaned close to listen to the sounds inside, and only then pushed the door open and went in.

Madam had already composed herself and was fiddling with the basin for kneading dough. Only the corners of her eyes were still a little red. I went over and asked if there was anything I could help with.

Madam told me to scoop her a bowl of water.

Once the conversation had begun, Madam asked me why I had stayed back then.

Of the few people left in the residence, I was the only one she was not familiar with.

I told her the truth. Apart from the Wei Family, I had nowhere else to go.

Madam sighed and said, “The Wei Family as it is now cannot really be called a good place to go.”

Cui Jiu had said the same thing before.

But to me, where could I go where I would not have to work? At the Wei Family, there was a roof over my head when it rained, noodles could be cooked in the pot when I was hungry, and I was even paid wages every month. There was no better life than this.