Chapter 4
Chapter 4
That night, Yan Luoxi did not return at all.
Too excited to sleep, I spent half the night in the pond catching fish.
Strange thing was, the pond was only about five feet across in either direction, yet it was full of plump fish. With barely any effort, I hauled up a whole bamboo basket, each fish as long as my forearm.
As dawn gradually broke, birdsong began to drift in from outside.
I was busying myself inside when a figure passed by the doorway. Seeing me look up, she smiled and greeted me. “Good morning, Sister Yu.”
“Good morning to you too, little sister.”
This girl was the eldest of the nine concubines. Since she seemed polite enough, I generously invited her in to sit.
When she saw the copper pot set over the charcoal brazier, with several large fish heads rolling in the steaming, snow-white fish soup, she could not help swallowing.
“What is this?”
“This is called hot pot.”
“Excellent. Excellent.”
The eldest girl went out for a stroll, and when she came back, a whole string of young ladies had followed behind her, as if drawn in by some irresistible force. One by one, they gathered around the copper pot and stared without blinking.
“Sister Yu, you may call me Wanfang.”
After introducing herself, she pointed to the twins.
“These are Tianqing and Tianyu.”
Then she pointed to the little girl.
“And this is Xiaotang.”
Xiaotang, Xiaotang… Why did that sound like a boy’s name?
I took up a small knife sharp enough to slice through iron like mud and shaved the fish into slices as thin as cicada wings, arranging them neatly on the bamboo plate beside me. Xiaotang’s eyes went round, open admiration shining in them.
Children really were children.
Seeing that Xiaotang was wearing a narrow-sleeved little jacket with a ring of silver fox fur around her neck, and that she was soon sweating from the heat, I was just about to help her take it off when Wanfang smilingly stopped me. From who knew where, she produced a fan and stood behind Xiaotang, gently fanning her instead.
As she fanned, she explained, “The weather has only just begun to warm, and there is still a chill in the air. It is easy to fall ill. Better not to take off clothes so casually.”
“Oh.”
Before I could sense anything odd about that, the twins came carrying in two jars of Nu’er Hong. I counted the people present and felt inexplicably puzzled. “Huh? Where are the other five sisters?”
The two exchanged a glance. “They had something to do. They could not come.”
“That is fine. The few of us can make a table.”
With wine to liven things up, cups were pushed and exchanged, and the mood at the table grew lively. Just then, from outside came the faint sound of a suona, growing louder and clearer by the moment.
It was probably the mourning procession from the palace gates arriving.
Perhaps the wine had gone to my head, but I planted one foot on a chair and declared with boundless boldness, “Sisters, do you hear that? That is the horn of freedom!”
“The what?”
Led by Wanfang, the others all stared at me in confusion.
My mood grew even more triumphant. Slurring, I mocked, “You still do not know, do you? Fortune turns like a wheel, and today it has rolled into the Yan Residence!”
“We are about to eat! A! Feast!”
“Whose feast?”
My tongue was thick, and everything before my eyes had doubled. “Of course we are eating… eating…”
Amid the bright, piercing cry of the suona, a man with ink-black hair and red robes slowly stepped into the side room. Long wedding ribbons were draped over his narrow shoulders, and his voice was soft and sweet.
“My feast?”