Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was the height of summer, and there was no shortage of rain. With no gardener to tend it, the plants in the courtyard grew wild.

When the grass and trees grew too thick, they easily blocked out the sun, and moss began to spread in the shade.

Back in our village, the houses no one lived in had slowly fallen into ruin just like that.

But the Wei Family estate was so large and so fine. What a pity it would be if it were left to decay.

After asking the Eldest Young Master for permission, I slowly began tending to the flowers and trees in the garden.

There was an extremely tall locust tree in the courtyard, blooming beautifully. In the entire courtyard, this was the only spot I could not bear to sweep clean. A thick layer of fallen blossoms had gathered beneath the tree. Sometimes I would climb up, pluck a leaf, roll it up, and put it to my lips to play. Sunlight threaded through the flowering branches, casting tiny, scattered patches of brightness on the ground. That was the happiest part of my day.

But such was life. Where there was happiness, there was also sorrow.

The saddest part of my day was sitting high up in that locust tree and watching the Eldest Young Master walk from a distance.

He could never walk properly.

As his injuries healed, Jianru no longer supported him.

The Eldest Young Master had Jianru go out and order two crutches, then practiced walking slowly with them.

Anyone with eyes could tell that his right leg could not bear weight. When it touched the ground, it was much lighter than his left.

Every day at noon, a physician came to administer acupuncture for the Eldest Young Master. But as the days passed one after another, it did not seem to help much.

Once, by accident, I saw the physician squeeze the Eldest Young Master’s leg hard and ask him what he felt.

The Eldest Young Master was still as calm and unhurried as ever, smiling at everyone he met, his voice fading lightly into the curtain of rain.

He said, “A little numb.”

Hearing it made my chest feel unbearably tight.

I was only a country girl. Affairs of the imperial court were not something I had any right to discuss. But the more lightly the Eldest Young Master treated it all, the worse I felt.

I truly did not know what His Majesty had been thinking. Was it not enough to strip him of his office? Why did he have to have him beaten too?

His wounds still had not fully healed after two months. How much must it have hurt when he was being beaten?

The physician was from Baoji Hall. I heard he had treated illnesses for the Wei Family for many years. One time, after he finished seeing the Eldest Young Master, I escorted him out of the estate and could not hold back from asking, “Can our young master’s leg still get better?”

The physician said, “It is already an immense blessing that he survived at all.”

Only then did I learn that there were two kinds of court caning. With one, twenty blows could beat a man to death. With the other, forty blows could still leave him with a breath. The Eldest Young Master had received the second kind. The men in charge of carrying out the punishment had already shown mercy.

That night, rain poured down in sheets, with thunder and lightning crashing overhead. Raindrops as large as beans splattered in through the cracks of the window. I woke with a start from my dream and slipped on my shoes, ready to go shut the window tight, when I heard something else mixed in with the roaring rain.

It was the sound of a xiao.

A broken, intermittent melody from a xiao.

I suddenly understood. So the xiao I had heard last time had been played by the Eldest Young Master.

Only this time, the notes sounded like sobs, weak and faltering.

After another clap of thunder, the music stopped completely.

I came back to myself, put on my shoes properly, and ran toward the Eldest Young Master’s side.

Only after I rushed outside did I realize just how heavy the rain was. The trees on both sides of the corridor were being blown this way and that. The fierce wind swept beads of rain against my body, and I could barely stay on my feet.

Jianru had originally slept in the same room as the Eldest Young Master. After the Eldest Young Master’s injuries improved, he had moved out to sleep in the side room next door. When I passed Jianru’s room, his door was shut. Most likely, he had already fallen asleep.

The Eldest Young Master’s door was shut tight as well. I stopped outside, wanting to push it open and go in, but then I hesitated. I was afraid I was overthinking things. Barging into my master’s room in the middle of the night without care or permission would be far too improper.

Outside, the wind and rain were raging. I had stumbled all the way here, drenched so thoroughly that water could be wrung from my clothes. Yet at the Eldest Young Master’s door, I was so afraid of overstepping that I only dared to knock lightly.

I did not know whether he could hear me.

I waited quietly for a while, then knocked again with a bit more force and called, “Eldest Young Master, are you all right?”

The xiao had stopped. There was not the slightest movement inside.

I was still hesitating, unsure whether I should leave, when the door suddenly opened from within.

I had been leaning against the door, listening intently for any sound inside. When it opened without warning, I pitched forward at once and fell into a solid embrace.

The shock nearly scared me out of my wits. I sprang back immediately. I was soaked all over; how could I get the Eldest Young Master wet? But when I looked up again, his face was so pale it was frightening.

Even so, he still maintained his composure, sitting quietly in his wheelchair as he asked me, “What is it?”

“This servant heard the xiao and was afraid something might have happened to you… Are you… all right?”

“I’m fine.”

That was what he said, but his voice sounded as if it had been forced out through clenched teeth, dry and strained. I suddenly remembered the moment just now when the Eldest Young Master had caught me. His body had clearly been even colder than mine.

How could that be called fine?

Something was obviously wrong.

“Wait for me to come back!”

After saying that, I turned and left, plunging headfirst into the curtain of rain. Behind me, the Eldest Young Master seemed to call out something, but the rain was too heavy. I did not hear it.

I returned to the kitchen, lit the fire, started the stove, boiled hot water, filled a bed warmer, and decocted medicine according to the usual prescription, all in one smooth motion. Before leaving, I grabbed a bottle of strong liquor from the shelf.

Only after I ran out of the kitchen did I belatedly realize that it had been so dark just now, and most of the wind lanterns along the corridor had been blown out.

I had even forgotten to be afraid of the dark.

The Eldest Young Master’s door had been left open. He had already gotten down from his wheelchair and was standing in the doorway on a pair of crutches, his expression taut with worry. When he finally saw me arrive, he seemed to let out a silent breath of relief.

The rain was coming down harder and harder, and a hazy mist had risen all around.

I froze, then slapped myself across the face with the back of my hand.

Why had I walked off so fast just now? My master had called for me, and I hadn’t even turned back. Wonderful. Now I’d dragged the Eldest Young Master out into the damp. I was supposed to be helping, but all I ever did was make things worse.

I hurried forward at once, tucked the two hot-water bottles into the Eldest Young Master’s arms, and helped him back inside.

The moment the door closed, the raging wind and rain were shut outside. Two oil lamps burned in the room, making it bright and warm. I was soaked through, and the Eldest Young Master, having stood in the draft for so long, was not much better off. I could see a damp patch already spreading across his shoulder.

Worried, I said, “What should we do? You won’t come down with a high fever, will you? Why don’t I go make you some ginger soup?”

The Eldest Young Master did not answer. He opened the wardrobe and took out a set of clothes.

Seeing that he was going to change, I turned around on my own. To my surprise, someone patted me on the shoulder from behind, and the Eldest Young Master said in a tone that allowed no argument, “Put it on.”

It was for me.

But how could I wear his clothes again?

I was just about to refuse when I caught sight of the bloody mark he’d bitten into his lip. In an instant, I did not dare argue with him anymore. I ran behind the screen, changed in a few quick movements, then took out another set of clothes, helped him change as well, and supported him onto the bed to lie on his stomach.

I dug out everything in the room that could be used as a cover and piled it over him.

But his body was far too cold, like a pool three feet deep-the farther down you went, the more the chill seeped into your bones. The two hot-water bottles seemed so pitifully small, nowhere near enough.

I asked, “Eldest Young Master, are you cold?”

He said, “I’m all right.”

By then, his lips had already gone from white to blue. Truly, how could there be someone this stubborn in the world?

Was there a single honest word in his mouth?

Fortunately, I had brought a bottle of strong liquor with me.

In a fluster, I poured a cup. But before I could hand it over, I remembered that he had just taken medicine, so I had to give up. This bottle of liquor had been brought for nothing.

So I thought for a moment, then said softly, “Eldest Young Master, don’t blame me for this.”

The Eldest Young Master looked bewildered. Clearly, he had not quite figured out what he was supposed to blame me for.

The next second, I reached under the covers and placed my hand on the Eldest Young Master’s backside.

Under my palm, the Eldest Young Master’s body went abruptly stiff. Then, little by little, he tensed all over, because through his clothes, I had already started rubbing downward from his backside.

How should I put it… Back in our village, we had a custom of curing fish in the winter.

You rubbed salt all over the fish, kneaded it back and forth, then hung it up to dry in the wind.

This felt more or less the same.

I rubbed without stopping for half an hour. My hands were aching by the time I finally felt the body beneath my palms grow warm. Looking at the Eldest Young Master lying there, his face was no longer quite so pale. In fact, it was a little red.

That probably meant he had warmed up.

I asked, “Eldest Young Master, besides being cold, does it hurt anywhere? Are you feeling better?”

He said, “Better.”

But as for the Eldest Young Master’s words, I truly did not dare believe them. I reached out and felt his forehead. At least he did not have a fever.

I said, “I should still go out and fetch a doctor to have a look.”

The Eldest Young Master said, “Do you know the way? It’s so late, and it isn’t a life-threatening illness. There’s no need to make a fuss. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine after some sleep.”

With that, the Eldest Young Master gently closed his eyes and stopped looking at me.

Two piles of sopping wet clothes lay scattered on the floor where we had changed in a hurry. I tidied them up as quietly as I could, found a handkerchief, wiped away the water that had pooled on the floor, then finally sat down by the table and dried my wet hair by the lamplight.

The room suddenly grew quiet. I lay my head on the table, and drowsiness gradually welled up in me.

From the other side of the room, the Eldest Young Master, who had his eyes closed, suddenly made a sound.

“Shiliu, the ‘Shiliu’ in your name-which characters is it written with?”

I forced myself awake a little and answered with my eyes half-open, “The shiliu that means sixteen years old. My mother said sixteen is the best age for a woman. But I also quite like eating pomegranates. Back then, there was a pomegranate tree in our courtyard. The fruit it bore was bright red, like gemstones. Later, my father stopped letting me eat them because he wanted to save them to sell for money…”

The next morning, I was woken by Jianru.

I startled awake from a dream. As soon as I opened my eyes, I realized Jianru had received an even bigger fright than I had.

He held a wooden basin of hot water in one hand and pointed at me with the other. Looking as though he had seen a ghost, he stammered, “Y-you-you-you-why are you here?”

His eyes darted all over me. I followed his gaze downward. Mm, I was still wearing the Eldest Young Master’s clothes. But that was not the most important thing. The important thing was that I was sleeping perfectly well on the Eldest Young Master’s couch, covered with his quilt, while the person who should have been sleeping there was fully dressed and sitting at the table, clearly having been awake for a while.

Now I was shocked too. I copied Jianru and started stammering, “I-I-I… I clearly…”

The whole room was full of stutterers. The Eldest Young Master seemed unable to listen any longer. He raised a hand in a stopping gesture and said with a frown, “Enough. Jianru, stay. Shiliu-go rest for now. You don’t need to cook today. Jianru will go out later and buy a table of food back.”