Ye Qiuniang soon finished cooking all the banana pancakes. Only then did she carry the plate over and sit down at the small wooden table.
Watching Ming Rou chew delicately like a little hamster, her mouth never stopping, a deep sense of satisfaction welled up within her.
“You really like them?”
“I love them. Jiujiu should make banana pancakes often.” Ming Rou looked up, her eyes crinkling in a smile, completely forgetting her earlier grudge.
“Alright, I’ll make them for you from now on.”
“Jiujiu is the best.”
“Did the laundry go smoothly this morning?”
When Ye Qiuniang returned, she had seen the clothes hanging outside to dry, washed perfectly clean. But at noon, when A Tao came back to the estate, he had told her about Ming Rou’s water-drawing ordeal in the morning. Hearing that the young girl hadn’t managed well and nearly cried, Ye Qiuniang’s heart clenched with worry, aching terribly.
Ming Rou had long forgotten the morning’s events. But when Ye Qiuniang mentioned it, it all rushed back. Her eyes instantly reddened. She just wanted to curl up in her arms, to be comforted as she always used to be.
Just as the heat reached her eyes, however, she noticed the white flour still on Ye Qiuniang’s hands, the faint sweat at the nape of her neck beneath her long hair, and the trace of weariness between her brows. Seeing this, the grievance that had been building up in her chest instantly dissolved and vanished in her throat.
“Smoothly. Laundry is a piece of cake for me. How could it possibly stump me?”
Her chin was raised high, yet paired with the lingering redness at the corners of her eyes, she looked both pitiful and endearing.
If A Tao hadn’t told her about the morning’s events beforehand, and if she hadn’t spent all these years by her side, she might have actually been fooled by her act.
Ye Qiuniang smiled as she watched her, saying nothing, instead offering a string of compliments that sent the young girl into such elation she couldn’t find her bearings.
After their meal, they both bathed and tidied up. Sitting in the courtyard, taking advantage of the sun’s last rays before it set, Ming Rou brought out her day’s labor of love—a small square box—and said to Ye Qiuniang, “Jiujiu, let me apply some rouge for you.”
Ye Qiuniang leaned back against the wooden board wall beneath the eaves, letting the evening breeze lift the ends of her hair, and lazily hummed an “Mhm.”
Usually, Ye Qiuniang was patient and gentle, or in certain situations, could become very sharp and decisive. But such a languid, laid-back state was rare for Ming Rou to see. She found this side of her indescribably captivating.
Ming Rou enjoyed tinkering with rouge and cosmetics, so her aesthetic sense naturally differed from most. She felt the Jiujiu before her now looked like a figure stepped right out of an ancient painting of palace ladies, yet without the stiffness and aloofness of those painted figures. She was warm, soft, and vividly alive. The more one looked, the more beautiful she seemed, making it impossible to tear one’s eyes away.
Watching Ye Qiuniang’s attitude of apparent total compliance, Ming Rou swallowed the saliva in her mouth and managed to pull her thoughts back. She opened the small box. Inside was a paste-like, brilliant red, freshly extracted earlier that day and not yet dry.
Without a brush, Ming Rou used her finger directly. Her slender index finger lightly dotted the color onto the tip. Then she draped herself over Ye Qiuniang’s knees, steadying her chin with her left hand.
“Jiujiu, no moving allowed now.”
Hearing this, Ye Qiuniang held her head still against the plank wall behind her, saying nothing, her gaze soft as she looked at her, as if extending a silent invitation.
Under that gaze, Ming Rou felt a sudden shyness, for reasons unknown. Biting her lower lip gently, she carefully smeared the safflower sap on her fingertip onto Ye Qiuniang’s full lips.
Ye Qiuniang’s lips were exquisitely shaped. The upper lip followed its contour in a three-dimensional curve, with a relatively plump cupid’s bow at the center. The brilliant red staining the delicate flesh of her lips was like a wash of color transforming an elegant ink-wash landscape into a vibrant watercolor masterpiece.
Ming Rou’s entire focus was on Ye Qiuniang’s lips. Using her fingertip, she carefully spread that dab of color, evening it out over the lips—thicker in the center, thinner at the edges—covering everything evenly yet with distinct layers.
Ye Qiuniang had initially let her mind drift into space, until Ming Rou draped herself over her knees. The fresh scent of a young girl wafted into her nostrils, making it impossible to ignore. Especially with her chin held steady by those slender fingers, unable to turn her head, she could only lower her eyes and fix her gaze on the young girl before her, who was busy wreaking havoc upon her lips.
The breath from her nose was very light, yet when Ming Rou’s hand passed by, she could still feel the warmth in it, making her fingertips burn slightly. Still, she suppressed the strange feeling and finished her task.
“Are you very hot?”
The voice suddenly coming from above made Ming Rou jump. She hurriedly withdrew her hand.
“No… no.” Ming Rou felt inexplicably flustered, and her words stumbled a little.
But just then, a shadow was cast before her. Looking up, she found Jiujiu had leaned in toward her. The next instant, a cool sensation brushed beneath her nose. The fine beads of sweat that had formed under her nose were gently wiped away by Ye Qiuniang’s thumb.
“You’re sweating, yet you say you’re not hot. Sit up here, and I’ll fan you a bit.”
Ming Rou’s mind was a dizzy blur. She wasn’t quite sure how to describe her feelings, except that Jiujiu was so incredibly good to her. She rested her cheek on Ye Qiuniang’s knees in a somewhat coquettish manner, tilting her little face up with a grin. “No, I’ll just lie here.”
Ye Qiuniang was helpless. She picked up the thin fan nearby and began to gently wave it. A refreshing coolness swept over her, making Ming Rou feel utterly soothed.
“Jiujiu, you’re so beautiful.”
Hearing this, the corners of Ye Qiuniang’s lips lifted slightly. A hint of embarrassment seemed to cross her face, and she shot her a mock glare.
“Who taught you to be so glib?”
“I’m not! I’m telling the truth.”
After joking back and forth with her a few more times, Ye Qiuniang asked, “Are you going to Tiantian’s house again tomorrow to work on the rouge?”
“Yes, I will. But this flower sap is so hard to preserve. It’s not sticky at all. It looks nice when applied to the lips, but it dries quickly and flakes off. In cold weather, it’d probably scatter completely not long after applying.”
Hearing Ming Rou’s words, Ye Qiuniang took her small box and turned it over in her hands a few times. Then, as if casually, she said, “Mix in some beeswax. It’ll be both moist and sticky, and won’t dry out so easily.”
Ming Rou’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Jiujiu, how do you know to add beeswax?”
“When we were studying and practicing calligraphy with the Teacher, there was a travelogue in the Teacher’s study. I flipped through it once and happened to read an entry about beeswax from the Wei Kingdom. It was described as fine, sticky, and extremely fragrant. People used it for preservation and to enhance color, and it was almost edible. I imagine it could be used to adjust your lip rouge. Whether it works or not, you might as well give it a try.”
Hearing Ye Qiuniang say this, Ming Rou’s eyes sparkled. “Jiujiu, you’re amazing. Why didn’t I ever see that travelogue? Never mind—tomorrow, I’ll go talk to Tiantian about it.”
Ye Qiuniang assumed the two young girls were just momentarily excited to tinker with these things, so she didn’t dwell on it further afterward.
But after her excitement, Ming Rou couldn’t help thinking about the Hanlin scholar whom the Ming Residence had hired as a tutor. Now that she had left, had her Teacher also been dismissed? Thinking this, she voiced her question.
Ye Qiuniang said, “The Teacher was specifically hired for Eldest Miss. Now that Eldest Miss is no longer there, naturally there was no reason for the Teacher to stay.”
Ming Rou felt a pang of regret. After all these years, she had always followed the Teacher’s guidance, learning etiquette and understanding honor and shame. She didn’t know if they would ever meet again.
“Eldest Miss need not feel excessive regret. What bonds do people have that are truly unbreakable? Parting is always inevitable someday.”
Hearing this, Ming Rou immediately disagreed, her unhappiness evident. “At least the bond between us is for a lifetime. I won’t let you go, Jiujiu. You won’t abandon me, will you?”
Toward the end, a hint of panic crept in, and she clung tightly to Ye Qiuniang’s knees.
Sensing her unease, Ye Qiuniang quickly sat up and pulled her into an embrace, patting her back. “Earlier, I told you to take back the indenture contract, but you wouldn’t listen. Now you’re all anxious and restless. What am I supposed to say to you?”
Ming Rou buried her face in her embrace, rubbing against her shoulder, and mumbled sullenly, “What use is keeping the indenture contract? If you wanted to leave, you’d still leave.”
“Unless I was fleeing into the deep mountains, how could the indenture contract be useless?”
“You’re so capable, you could always earn money to redeem yourself. Besides, I don’t want our relationship to be maintained by a piece of indenture contract.” Ming Rou said this with a look of utter displeasure.
Hearing this, Ye Qiuniang laughed. She wrapped her arm around Ming Rou’s thin shoulders and stroked her hair. “There’s no need for such fear. I’ve said it: in this life, I will always stay with you. Unless you don’t want me anymore and drive me away, I’ll be clinging to you.”
Only after receiving this assurance did Ming Rou’s tears finally turn to laughter.
The next day, Ye Qiuniang woke at the same time as the day before. Before leaving, she remembered to prepare breakfast for Ming Rou.
The porridge was cooked and left warming on the stove. The leftover banana pancakes from the day before were placed on the lid of the small black pot, kept warm by the heat rising from below.
By the time Ming Rou woke up, Ye Qiuniang had been gone for a while. After finishing her breakfast, Ming Rou began doing the laundry. With the previous day’s experience, everything became much easier. Even drawing water went smoothly. By the time A Tao arrived, she had already hung the clothes out to dry.
The night before, Ye Qiuniang had brought back two more sets of clothes from the estate: one pink, one blue. Though they were old, Ming Rou, naturally lively and cute, now looked even more delicate and pretty in the pink old clothes.
Seeing A Tao arrive, Ming Rou sweetly called out, “Brother A Tao,” which startled him so much he waved his hands in bafflement, making Ming Rou silently laugh at him as a fool again inside.
After A Tao helped fill the water vat next to the house, the two of them then headed toward Zhong Tiantian’s home.
But just as Ming Rou stepped into the courtyard, a long-necked bird suddenly rushed out from somewhere, honking loudly as it charged straight at her, pecking at anyone in sight.
Terrified, Ming Rou turned and fled. Seeing her run, the long-necked bird became even more spirited, flapping its wings as it pursued her relentlessly. Ming Rou got pecked several times, screaming, “Brother A Tao, save me! The giant chicken wants to eat me!”
A Tao hurried after them to catch the sprinting goose, but the goose dodged left and right, surprisingly agile, and A Tao couldn’t grab it for a while.
Chased into fleeing and rolling by the goose, Ming Rou even lost a shoe. She was so frightened tears nearly streamed down her face.
Just then, a young man burst out from the house. Facing the goose head-on, he grabbed it by the neck and lifted it high. The goose flapped its wings a few more times before finally calming down. The young man carried the struggling goose and tossed it back into the shed.
After that, he dusted the grass off his hands and said, “Don’t be afraid. This goose has been like this since it was small—a terrible temper. It’s made my second sister cry from pecking her before. Usually, we keep it locked up at home. It probably just got loose today.”
The commotion outside had drawn several people from the house. Zhong Tiantian, who had been scared witless and dared not come out, now rushed out like a cat on fire the moment she saw her big brother subdue the fierce creature. She grabbed Ming Rou’s hand and looked her over from head to toe.
“Rourou, are you alright? This goose is fierce! I don’t even dare go near it. Did it peck you anywhere?”
Ming Rou had been frightened out of her wits but wasn’t actually bitten. Still, her heart was pounding.
She shook her head and said, “I’m fine. It didn’t peck me, but it really is fierce.”
At that moment, the young man who had caught the goose came over. In his large palm lay one of Ming Rou’s embroidered shoes that she had kicked off while fleeing. The delicate shoe looked even more dainty and exquisite in his rough hand. Realizing everyone was staring at his hand, his dark face flushed crimson. He said, “So you’re my little sister’s friend. I’m terribly sorry our goose scared you just now.”
After speaking, he bent down and placed the shoe at her feet.
Ming Rou was now thirteen, soon to be fourteen, just two years from her Hairpin Ceremony—a young lady of proper age. Having her dainty foot exposed like this, and with the longstanding concept of separation between men and women, Zhong Lin couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward.
Ming Rou shook her head. “So it’s a goose! I thought it was a long-necked giant rooster. It’s fine, it’s fine.”
So saying, she took the shoe and slipped it back on, but her little head kept turning toward the grass shed where the goose was kept.
So this was a goose? Such fighting prowess. If she got familiar with it, could she keep one at home to guard the house? If any bad people truly came, a goose this alert would surely detect them early. And with its violent temper, it would probably chase the villains for miles.
The more she thought about this, the more she couldn’t stop thinking about the Zhong family’s goose.
But then, as a thought struck her, she turned around and fixed her gaze firmly on Zhong Lin.
So this was Tiantian’s brother—the one with feelings for Jiujiu.
Once she confirmed this fact, the goodwill Ming Rou had briefly held for Zhong Lin’s rescue instantly plummeted. Without a second thought, she declared to Zhong Lin, “My sister is already betrothed. Don’t harbor any more ideas about her.”
