Chapter 16
Chapter 16
She rubbed her eyes, looking around with a dazed expression.
She only regained some clarity after spotting Ji Yan’an. She had just stood up, intending to offer him some support, but her legs had fallen asleep. With a soft thud, she collapsed onto the floor.
Face-first once again.
It hurt so much that her eyes welled up with tears, and she couldn’t scramble back up for a long while.
Ji Yan’an: “…”
“How stupid.”
Jiang Yunsui covered her face as she climbed up, teardrops pitter-pattering down. *Sob… my nose hurts so much.*
“I’m not stupid.”
On such a massive mountain, she was the only little mushroom who had managed to cultivate into a spirit. She wasn’t stupid at all; she was actually quite clever-she just wasn’t as clever as humans, that was all.
Crying while insisting she wasn’t stupid made her look truly pitiful.
Just then, Nanny Zhou entered. Seeing the situation, she looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Ji Yan’an frowned slightly. “Nanny Zhou, what’s with that look? This Young Master didn’t bully her.”
Nanny Zhou replied, “Young Master, Doctor Shen said you should go take your medicinal bath as soon as you wake up.”
Ji Yan’an thought: *So you didn’t believe me at all!*
He shot a glare at Jiang Yunsui.
Jiang Yunsui wondered: *What did I do now?*
“It’s getting late. Go back for now.”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes lit up. “I can leave?”
Upon receiving a positive answer, Jiang Yunsui’s youthful voice chirped a cheerful farewell to Ji Yan’an.
“Then I’ll come back tomorrow. Bye-bye!”
With that, she skipped away happily on her own.
Watching her overly joyful retreating figure, Ji Yan’an felt inexplicably annoyed.
What, was serving him really that miserable?
And was this little thing even acting like a maid? She slept while he was busy handling official business, she ate more than he did, and when he told her to pour tea, she took the first sip herself.
Thinking about it, the little girl had spent the entire day doing nothing but irritating him.
Ji Yan’an flicked his sleeves and went to take his medicinal bath. Nanny Zhou looked bewildered. Why was the Young Master angry again?
He truly had the temperament of a youth; us old folks just couldn’t figure him out.
On the other side, Jiang Yunsui skipped along to find Cook Chen.
While she was asking around earlier about where Ji Yan’an lived, she had already figured out where Cook Chen worked.
The kitchen-a place where she could eat delicious food.
At the thought, her steps grew even lighter.
When she reached the kitchen, she first poked her head in stealthily, a Little Mushroom observing the situation.
It sounded like there was an argument going on inside?
“Cook Chen, I advise you to be sensible. You have no connections in this manor, but my nephew works in the Front Courtyard. If you step down now, you can still stay in this kitchen to do odd jobs. Otherwise, don’t blame me when you’re kicked out.”
Cook Chen retorted, “What, sending Lü Luo to threaten me wasn’t enough, so now you’re bringing up your nephew? Even if I really have to leave, it would take an order from the masters above. Who do you think you are, telling me to give up my position as cook just because you say so?”
“Fine, Cook Chen! I’ll just see how long you can keep guarding this place!”
With a spit, the woman turned to leave.
Jiang Yunsui puffed out her cheeks in anger. As the woman stormed toward the door, she stuck out her little foot to block the way.
“Ouch!”
The woman’s plump body tumbled to the ground, and she wailed in pain.
Jiang Yunsui crouched to the side, covering her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears.
Her foot hurt so much; it had been stepped on.
She couldn’t make a sound. If she were discovered, she would definitely be beaten.
This person was so big and mean; a hit from her would surely hurt terribly.
Nanny Zhou’s relative, Auntie Zhou, scrambled up in a sorry state. She didn’t see Jiang Yunsui and assumed she had been tripped by the threshold. She kicked the doorframe and left, cursing under her breath.
Only after she was far away did Jiang Yunsui huddle over her foot, gasping softly in pain.
“Suisui, why are you here?”
Cook Chen hadn’t come out while Auntie Zhou was falling, otherwise they would have started arguing again, and she didn’t want to waste any more time.
Walking out now, she heard a sound and saw it was Jiang Yunsui.
Jiang Yunsui’s large eyes were red and filled with tears.
“Auntie, my foot hurts.”
Cook Chen picked her up and carried her into the kitchen.
“How did you do this? It’s such a large bruise.”
Cook Chen suddenly remembered how the woman from the Zhou Family had fallen earlier, and the strange way this little girl could make herself go unnoticed.
“That thing with the Zhou Family woman just now… it was you, wasn’t it?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded and whispered, “She was bullying you.”
Cook Chen felt a wave of warmth in her heart.
“Oh, you…”
She knelt down to rub Jiang Yunsui’s foot.
“You’re so small, and she’s so big. What if she had stepped on you?”
Fortunately, she had only tripped her, but it was still painful enough to make the girl ache.
Especially now, as the bruise was being massaged, she let out soft whimpers of pain.
“Bear with it. We have to rub the bruise out, or it won’t heal properly.”
Jiang Yunsui nodded obediently.
Once she finished with the foot, Cook Chen went to find her something to eat.
“Want some roasted sweet potato?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded vigorously and said loudly, “Yes!”
She looked as if she were afraid that if she spoke too slowly, it would disappear.
Cook Chen laughed and pulled two blackened roasted sweet potatoes out of the stove hearth.
She brushed off the ash and peeled back the skin, revealing the steaming, soft, and sweet flesh inside.
“It’s delicious!”
“Isn’t it? This stuff was brought over by a merchant from the Western Regions. After Marquis Ji discovered it, he had the people of Mobei plant it. Who knew it would be so easy to grow? It thrives even in dry, infertile soil, and the yield is high.”
“Though, you shouldn’t eat too much of it. If you do, you’ll be farting all day and get heartburn.”
“But at least people don’t have to go hungry anymore. That’s why Mobei plants it every year in places where wheat doesn’t grow well.”
Jiang Yunsui listened patiently to Cook Chen.
She already knew about this, of course.
Back in her past life, there had been a military camp on the mountain where she lived. As a Little Mushroom, she would sneak over to watch the humans, and they had planted many edible things.
Sometimes at night, she would secretly find things she liked to eat, but she never took them for free; she would always leave some delicious mushrooms behind in exchange.
After they finished the sweet potatoes, Cook Chen wiped the girl’s mouth clean and then crouched down.
“Come on, let Auntie carry you back on her back.”
Jiang Yunsui gave a small hum of agreement and leaned her tiny body against Cook Chen’s modest back.
Along the way, Cook Chen kept asking her how her work was going with the Young Master and if she was being bullied.
“I’m doing a great job,”
she said without a hint of guilt.
“I’m not being bullied.”
Actually, she was; Ji Yan’an liked to pick on her sometimes.
But the Little Mushroom could endure it.
By the time they returned to their quarters, it was already night. Cook Chen borrowed some ointment for the bruise and rubbed it into her foot.
It hurt so much that Jiang Yunsui’s eyes welled with tears.
The moment Cook Chen said she was finished, the girl hopped outside to go moonbathing.
The moon was lovely tonight, large and bright.
Jiang Yunsui sat on the stone steps, her posture prim and proper, tilting her small face slightly toward the moon.
She was absorbing Moonlight Essence.
Cook Chen couldn’t see the Moonlight Essence being drawn into her body, but she was used to the little girl running outside to ‘stare into space’ whenever there was a moon at night.
At the moment, she was sitting by an oil lamp, making a pair of shoes for Jiang Yunsui.
“It’s time for bed, Suisui.”
“I know!”
Jiang Yunsui opened her eyes, a flash of green light vanishing in an instant.
The next morning, Jiang Yunsui sat obediently on a small stool, munching on a cold steamed bun while Cook Chen braided her hair.
“All done. Stand up and let me see.”
Jiang Yunsui stood up and did a little spin in front of her.
“Not bad. Our Suisui is truly beautiful.”
Jiang Yunsui beamed at the praise, her large eyes curving into pretty little crescents.
“We just need to feed you more. You’ll look even better with a bit more meat on your face.”
With small children, after all, they always looked more adorable when they were a bit chubby.