chapter 3

# chapter 3

The noble lady’s face went pale, and her hand tightened around the peace lock. “Madam, this peace lock has a deep connection to my child who met with misfortune.”

“I truly cannot give it to you.”

My aunt by marriage spat. “One moment you say you want to repay kindness, the next you go back on your word.”

“I can tell you just can’t bear to part with this gold lock.”

“If you don’t hand it over today, our whole family isn’t leaving.”

“Lin girl spent silver to save you. If my son can’t find a wife, it’ll all be your fault.”

The noble lady’s face went paler and paler. She looked at me, then at my uncle’s family, who were throwing a fit like wolves and tigers.

Her hand wavered.

She’d already shed tears when she woke, and now her eyes grew even redder.

“Ah Nian, Ah Nian…”

“So be it. In the end, heaven and the mortal world are forever parted. All that’s left is a keepsake.”

“Ah Nian, Mother has let you down.”

The hand clutching the peace lock loosened a little.

Seeing this, my aunt by marriage moved to snatch it.

I let out a great shout, unable to bear it any longer. “You dare?”

With that, I grabbed the butcher knife from the chopping block and blocked my aunt’s way.

“She said she doesn’t want to give it. What are you grabbing for?”

“And what’s it to me if your son can’t get a wife? You lot are lazy gluttons who keep coming to borrow money from me. Now that it’s time to find him a bride, you’re in a hurry?”

“It serves your son right if he can’t get a wife. He’s stouter than the pigs I slaughter-which girl would take a fancy to him?”

My aunt’s face flushed crimson. She stared at the butcher knife laid across the table but didn’t dare step forward.

She could only wail loudly: “Our family raised an ungrateful wretch!”

“We brought you up from a child, and now you’re this heartless and ungrateful.”

I gave a cold laugh. “Brought me up? You swallowed up all the property my parents left behind, and you act like your family took some huge loss.”

“If you’re going to scram, then scram fast.”

With that, I brandished the butcher knife and advanced on my uncle’s family.

“You… you… you!”

My aunt was both furious and vexed, but because of the butcher knife, she kept retreating step by step.

And my uncle, too lazy to do any farm work, and my cousin, fat as a ball and harder to kill than a pig, were naturally too weak to truss a chicken.

They could only be forced back out the door in bitter resentment and slink away.

I shut the door again and put the butcher knife back in its place.

Turning around, I saw the noble lady looking at me in amazement.

She blinked, then burst out laughing.

“Miss Lin, I never imagined that beneath that thin, frail look, you’d be so…”

She couldn’t find the right word for a moment.

I scratched my head, a little embarrassed.

I walked over to her and tucked the peace lock further under the quilt.

“You came here after falling on hard times, right? The people in these parts are poor and haven’t seen many fine things.”

“Be careful. Don’t let anyone with ill intentions spot it again.”

The noble lady nodded gratefully. Looking at the peace lock in her hand, she couldn’t help reddening around the eyes again.

“Such a pity, my child.”

I brought a bowl of brewed herbal medicine over to her. “Madam, if your child has a spirit in heaven, she surely wouldn’t want to see you suffer.”

“You have to live well to be worthy of those beneath the ground.”

The noble lady’s lashes trembled. She nodded slowly.

And began to drink the medicine little by little.

I also started the fire to cook rice at the side.

This noble lady’s limbs were all slender, and her face still held a sickly pallor.

She wasn’t too healthy, all in all.

After thinking it over, I gritted my teeth and poured a bit of lard into the pot.

Once the rice was cooked through and soaked with lard, the fragrance of firewood mingled with the rich, mellow aroma of fat, filling the whole house.

I sprinkled on a little chopped scallion for flavor and laid a fried egg on top, golden and crisp.

Finally, I drizzled some soy sauce I’d brewed myself over the rice, paired it with a few leftover spare ribs from this morning, steamed them, and mixed everything together.

I filled a big bowl and handed it to the noble lady, unable to stop myself from swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

The noble lady looked at this bowl of lard-mixed rice but hesitated. “Miss Lin, this…”

I gave a hearty laugh. “If it’s not enough, there’s more in the pot.”

I figured someone like this noble lady, raised in comfort and luxury, naturally never lacked for food at home, so a single bowl of this size might not impress her.

The noble lady was amused again, then pushed the rice toward me. “Miss Lin, I’m not hungry. You eat it.”

“How can that be?” I frowned, looking at her thin face.

The noble lady finally said hesitantly, “This food is too greasy. I’ve never eaten like this before.”

Lard-mixed rice! Soy-braised steamed spare ribs!

Such precious things, and the noble lady had never eaten them?

Can’t wealthy households afford meat either?

I couldn’t help asking, “What do you usually eat, then?”

“Poria cream, pure powder plum-blossom snowflake sugar, jade-green rice congee…”

The noble lady softly listed a few dish names.

Some I’d never heard of, some I had, but nearly all of them sounded like they contained no meat or fat.

Even crabs that cost a tael of silver each-they’d only pick the most delicate little section of the leg to eat.

I clapped my hands together. “No wonder you’re so thin and frail, Madam, as if a gust of wind could blow you over.”

“How can eating those things long-term be any good? You’ve got to have lard-mixed rice, big meaty, fishy fare, to build up your health.”

With that, I pushed the bowl back in front of the noble lady and looked at her expectantly.

The noble lady looked at me, and at last, tentatively, took a bite.

Then, another bite.

In the end, under my delighted gaze, she ate a small bowlful.

Though she kept drinking water, her complexion had grown much rosier.