TBTTSP - Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Xu Wanqing Tells a Story (8)
When she woke again, the sky was as dark as an old bamboo curtain. Through a gap in the curtains, Xu Wanqing glimpsed a sliver of moonlight, casting a cold, lonely glow upon the kang bed.
She was cocooned in her blanket. The pile of books to her left was as usual, but to her right was another bundle of blankets, with a few strands of hair peeking out.
The person was still wrapped up tightly, making it impossible to see who it was.
There was soft sobbing near her ear. Xu Wanqing lifted a corner of the blanket slightly and saw a pair of thin shoulders. She wondered to herself why Zhang Xu would bring someone home without a word. The notebook the three of them used for communication was lying brazenly on the pillow. Xu Wanqing quickly opened it. By the moonlight, she saw Zhang Xu's frantic and fierce handwriting: "Li Zhaodi's mom is making her drop out of school to work. I brought her home to hide."
She lifted the oilcloth on the kang, stuffed the notebook underneath, then gently patted the small, curled-up girl and offered her a handkerchief.
The little girl sat up, kneeling before Xu Wanqing. Xu Wanqing felt the posture was not quite proper, but she said nothing. She took the unused handkerchief from the girl's clenched fist and wiped away her tears, remaining silent, afraid she might say or do the wrong thing.
She was accustomed to girls not attending school and working to support their families, but even Zhang Xu had reacted strongly, so it must not be a good thing in this place.
She had no sisters and no experience communicating with girls this age. With few points of reference, she still managed to think of a way to comfort her. She found Zhang Xu's private stash of cookies in the cabinet and offered them. Li Zhaodi slowly ate one, her cheeks puffed out as she chewed deliberately. She didn't speak, but tears streamed endlessly down her face.
After finally managing to eat two cookies, Li Zhaodi finally said, "My mom will definitely be angry that I ran away like this."
"What will you do then?" she asked softly.
"I don't want to go back."
"Then stay." She opened the curtain and saw it was still early. Feeling a bit drowsy herself, she pulled the blanket over and invited Li Zhaodi to lie down again, then curled up and closed her eyes.
"Are you cold?"
It was summer vacation and the weather was hot; how could she possibly be cold? Xu Wanqing didn't understand. She opened her eyes and looked. After a moment, the little girl added, "I see your hands and feet are ice-cold. I'll be merciful and warm them for you for a bit."
Her hand was taken. Xu Wanqing instinctively wanted to pull away, but then she remembered that she was now Zhang Xu.
The little girl trusted Zhang Xu very much now.
Reserved and restrained, Xu Wanqing squeezed back. The girl moved closer. Xu Wanqing felt hot but didn't dare push her away, and so she drifted into a drowsy sleep amidst the warmth.
In the morning, Xu Wanqing was taciturn, speaking little and doing more. She figured giving Li Zhaodi a book to read couldn't be a bad thing. As for everything else, she couldn't make a decision herself and would wait for Shang Yi to arrive in the afternoon to decide.
At a square table, the little girl sat opposite the fake Zhang Xu, the real Xu Wanqing. Xu Wanqing looked at Li Zhaodi with the steady gaze of an elder. Though she was only a few years older, she considered herself a senior and worried about what to do.
The woman arrived.
The woman stood in the doorway like a compass, her legs splayed, shouting and banging on the door. But the door was a large iron one, and the woman couldn't get in. She could only make a racket, spewing vulgarities. The words were so foul Xu Wanqing felt they sullied her ears. Li Zhaodi, however, seemed used to it. She kept her eyes downcast and said nothing, as if waiting for Xu Wanqing to make a decision.
She gently opened the inner door and saw the main gate was indeed holding firm, which set her mind at ease.
The woman yelled, "You damn kid, where have you hidden our Zhaodi? Believe it or not, I'll report you! Oh, that thousand-cuts-deserving little hussy has sold our girl…"
The rumors flowed effortlessly from her mouth.
Xu Wanqing had never encountered such a situation and had no idea how to handle it.
Zhang Xu… it seemed she had an uncle?
Xu Wanqing's mind worked quickly. She remembered the way to her uncle's house. She told Li Zhaodi not to make a sound, opened the cabinet, and said she could hide inside. Explaining that she was going to get an adult, she tiptoed out, locked the door, and went around to the back of the house.
The woman's incessant shouting was tireless, drawing a crowd of other women like a wave, all waiting at the main gate to watch the show. Xu Wanqing's small feet were light. Even in Zhang Xu's body, she could move silently to scout the situation.
Behind the house was a stack of discarded bamboo baskets and a handcart. Piled up, one could step on a recess in the wall and flip over.
Xu Wanqing was composed and self-possessed. She considered herself, if not a daughter from a great house, at least a gem from a respectable family. Taking large strides was improper, so climbing a wall was truly a difficult task for her.
But now, staring at Zhang Xu's large feet in their sneakers, a surge of courage rose from nowhere.
Zhang Xu's body was agile and strong, so even though it was her first time climbing a wall, it didn't stump her. Xu Wanqing flipped over the wall and fell to the ground. She rubbed her ankle, and seeing that no one had noticed, she hurried off to Zhang Xu's uncle's house.
When she got there, she just cried and complained that a woman was slandering her, blocking her door and screaming curses, and that she hadn't done anything.
Although the uncle was sharp and shrewd, he had some affection for Zhang Xu. Hearing that someone was shouting curses at her door, he knew he was no match for women and sent his wife, the aunt. The couple then went back with Xu Wanqing.
It was unclear what skill Li Zhaodi's mother possessed, but she had somehow opened the double-locked main gate, probably by prying it open. A group of women were gathered in the courtyard, chattering away.
One said, "Zhaodi's mom, you're already inside, and there's no one hidden here. The kid's not home. What's the use of all your shouting?"
Another said, "Zhaodi's mom, Zhang Xu seems a bit wild, but I don't think she's got the guts to abduct your Zhaodi, right? Maybe your Zhaodi ran off on her own?"
Amidst the noisy chatter, the consensus was that Zhaodi's mom was in the wrong. Xu Wanqing followed behind Zhang Xu's uncle and aunt, insisting she hadn't hidden anyone. They opened the door to the house and looked—sure enough, no one was there. Xu Wanqing glanced over and saw the blankets were neatly folded. Li Zhaodi was indeed meticulous; she had hidden the other set of bedding.
Zhang Xu's aunt was steady, precise, and vicious with her curses. Xu Wanqing didn't want to recall the details. In short, the two women started spraying insults at each other. Xu Wanqing watched in awe, lamenting that she would probably never master such a skill in her lifetime.
But when it came to spinning lies, her skills were already perfected.
Once the uncle and aunt left, they told her that if something like this happened again, she should just call them directly.
Although she had learned what a "telephone" was during her studies, she didn't know how to use one. After everyone left, she opened the cabinet. Li Zhaodi was curled up inside, small and thin, as if crumpled by hardship. Even after being helped out, she couldn't seem to stretch out fully.
For the first time, she truly looked at Zhaodi. Zhaodi's posture wasn't straight, and her eyes were a bit nearsighted, so she occasionally squinted. She was too young, and though a bit dark-skinned, her skin was good. Her clothes were always ill-fitting, like a child secretly wearing adult clothes. Her hands and feet were very small, reminding Xu Wanqing of the little servant girls she used to have, and a sense of affection grew in her heart.
After the morning's turmoil, Xu Wanqing had wanted to secretly take out the notebook to write some instructions for Shang Yi, but now it seemed impossible. She didn't know if she had handled the morning's events well enough. She could only wait for Shang Yi to arrive and make a decision; she was completely out of ideas.
Things had happened so suddenly. She was, after all, just a person from ancient times.
She wondered if this was how things always were in the world—misfortunes never come singly, and accidents pile up like beads on a string, one after another.
She had only just woken up in the afternoon when the Squire rushed in, dismissed the servants, and said joyfully, "Wanqing, the Emperor is dead!"
The Emperor was dead, and the Squire was beaming with joy. He looked every bit the traitorous rebel.
Her feelings were complicated. She didn't dare respond much, only lowered her head in silence.
She lowered her head, and suddenly it was night.
The night was pitch-black and deep. The house was filled with celebration. More scholars than usual had come, raising their cups in cheer. They played games on the other side of the screen—composing poetry, guessing riddles, and playing pitch-pot. She knelt behind the screen, continuing to write her novel.
The candlelight spilled everywhere, flooding the area behind the screen. It flickered violently, as if blown by the wind.
Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps rang out without warning, followed by the clash of weapons and shouts.
"Run! Run!"
"Kill the traitors! Kill all the men, take the women alive."
Xu Wanqing grabbed a handful of manuscripts and stood up, about to flee to the back courtyard.
The screen behind her fell with a clatter and shattered. Three or four arms lay scattered on the floor. Not far away were two complete corpses. The maids and old servants were like scattered pearls on the ground, then quickly rounded up by several men in armor and herded into the middle of the courtyard, able to do nothing but scream in terror.
Xu Wanqing had no intention of looking closely, but as the screen shattered, someone had already twisted her arms behind her back and shoved her into the middle of the courtyard.
The cool moonlight poured into the courtyard, like a vast, pale shadow covering everyone's heads.
Those who screamed were beaten fiercely. After being berated, the women all fell silent.
In a corner, a man who had tried to escape was dragged back and stabbed in the stomach. Xu Wanqing didn't see the Squire himself, but she heard someone say he had died behind the house, run through with a single blade.
The maids and old servants saw her and wanted to ask something in low voices, but she remained silent.
She didn't know what was happening, nor who had sent these people. She had long known this day might come, but she never thought it would be so soon.
The new emperor was enthroned today. Either the crown prince was silencing witnesses, or remnants of the old emperor's faction still remained.
She suddenly thought of the seven Immortality Pills she had hidden. She had hidden them away.
She wondered if the tall, thin man who looked like a bamboo pole, the one who gave her the pills, was safe. Would she still be able to return the pills to him?
The men began searching the entire courtyard for something. A chill went down her spine. She guessed that if the Squire hadn't hidden anything else, then they were probably here for the pills.
She shouldn't have taken that box—but the man had thrust it at her so quickly she'd had no time to refuse.
While she was still weighing the ultimate cause and effect among her many thoughts, the search ended. Judging by the defeated looks on their faces, they must not have found it.
She let out a breath of relief for some reason, folded the manuscript she was clutching, and tucked it into her robes.
The female family members were herded out the door like cattle.
Where were they going? She didn't know. Her heart was heavy, but she was thankful that she wouldn't fall into a deep sleep tomorrow and could still endure another day.
Once she fell into that deep sleep, she feared she would truly die in her dreams.
If she died in her dreams, that would still be a good ending.
She was only afraid of dying here, without even a chance to say goodbye to Shang Yi.
Facing death, she found herself thinking of saying goodbye to a woman. She felt a flustered panic in her heart, realizing that Shang Yi was truly her pillar of support. As long as Shang Yi didn't fall, she probably wouldn't lose her composure.
What was Shang Yi's status? Where was she from? Was she married? Did Shang Yi want to be close to her, just as she liked being close to Shang Yi?
She knew nothing at all. Xu Wanqing closed her eyes, thinking that if she were a man, she probably wouldn't be able to approach Shang Yi so casually.
Being a woman was not entirely without its uses.
Comments
Post a Comment