Chapter 9: Human Blood Buns

“Are you hungry? I’ve got some rice and stew simmering in the pot. Fetch a bit of hot water to wash up first, and eat your breakfast.”

“Now that you mention it, I really am hungry. You stay cozy on the kang. I’ll take care of it myself.”

Wu Wei stepped into the main room and lifted the pot lid for a look. Inside sat a bowl of stewed vegetables and a bowl of mixed-grain rice—at least a third of it fine white rice. It was clear at a glance that Embroider Maiden had prepared this specially for her.

“Embroider Maiden~”

“What is it?”

“What did you have for breakfast?”

“. . . The same as you. I . . . steamed two bowls of rice.”

“Oh.”

Wu Wei said no more. She ladled out hot water to wash up, then carried the rice and stew back into the room. She set up the low table on the kang, scooped out half a bowl of the mixed grains—chopsticks included—and placed it right in front of Embroider Maiden. “From now on, we’ll eat all three meals together every day. No more going solo on the food!”

“I’ve already eaten. You go ahead.”

“Eat up, eat up. Someone’s bound to send grain our way soon. Just eat without worry!”

“Send us grain?”

Wu Wei grinned mysteriously, arching a brow. “Dig in~”

Embroider Maiden hesitated for a moment. Seeing how enjoyably Wu Wei was tucking in, she couldn’t resist and picked up her bowl . . .

Earlier, peeking from inside the door, Embroider Maiden had overheard Wu Wei recounting her own history. Now the room held only the two of them. Questions bubbled to her lips several times, only for Embroider Maiden to swallow them back down.

She didn’t want to prod at Wu Wei’s old wounds, just as she herself shrank from sharing her heartaches with others. All the same, it was hard for her to believe . . . that Wu Wei, who seemed so cheerfully content every day, had endured such hardships in her past.

In that moment, Embroider Maiden suddenly felt she was no longer so utterly alone. There was no reason to keep grieving in secret.

“After we finish eating, I’ll clear the dishes. How about we take a catch-up nap together?” Wu Wei invited warmly.

“A catch-up nap?”

“You know, when you get up too early in the morning and haven’t slept enough—another snooze to make up for it.”

Embroider Maiden shook her head like a rattle drum. The very idea of a “catch-up nap” sounded like pure luxury. Who slept in broad daylight?

“You nap by yourself. I’ll . . .”

“It’s not cold when it snows, but it sure chills you when the snow melts~ It’ll be freezing out there soon. If you’re not sleeping, what else is there to do? Back in your day—what did you do in winter?”

“Cook, chop wood, fetch water, feed the pigs, feed the chickens, muck out the cowshed, do needlework . . . There were plenty of chores.” Embroider Maiden counted them off on her fingers.

Wu Wei caught a hint of something off in Embroider Maiden’s words. While clearing the bowls and chopsticks, she pondered it over, then returned to sit cross-legged beside her. “Does your family have a cow? Pigs? Chickens?”

“Two spotted pigs, one big rooster that crows, six hens, and a cow.”

Wu Wei frowned and pressed on. “I remember you telling me before—your family had seven people total: your parents and you, your second sister, your eldest sister, her husband, and their kid. Your second sister married young, and your father passed not long ago, right?”

“Mm.”

“So you did all those chores. What did everyone else do?”

“Back then . . . Father, Eldest Sister, and Second Sister worked the fields. Mother and I handled the home. After Second Sister married, Father and Eldest Sister managed the fields. Later, when Eldest Sister brought in her husband as a son-in-law, the three of them tended the crops. Mother had to go to the market now and then—over ten li of mountain road, a whole morning’s trek there and back. So I took on more at home, and at midday I’d bring lunch to the fields.”

“Tsk . . . When did your eldest and second sisters marry? Roughly what age?”

“Eldest Sister at sixteen, Second Sister at fifteen.” Embroider Maiden answered truthfully.

“So . . . your second sister was working the fields from a really young age too. Did you ever work them?”

“For a bit, but Mother doted on me and stopped letting me after that. She just had me stick to housework.”

“You mentioned earlier . . . you did needlework too. What kind, exactly?”

“Mother took in tailoring and embroidery jobs from the neighbors and passed them to me. She’d sell the clothes, shoes, and embroidered pieces I made at the market to help make ends meet.”

Hearing this, Wu Wei dimly understood. To confirm her suspicions, she asked a few more questions.

“Do you remember when your family left the old house? And when you started raising those pigs and the cow?”

Embroider Maiden thought back carefully. “The year Eldest Sister brought her husband home, I was ten . . . One day Mother was thrilled and told me we finally had some strong labor, so we could borrow money now. Father borrowed five taels of silver from a cousin to build the house. They even sent men to help, and that year we moved into the new place.”

“What about the pigs and cow? When did those come?”

“After my coming-of-age rite, we started with the pigs. The first year, we didn’t bear to slaughter them and sold them at market instead. The second year, we butchered for New Year’s pork. That spring after eating meat, we bought the cow.” A smile lit Embroider Maiden’s face.

“Where did your second sister marry to? How’s her husband’s family?”

“The next village over—or so Mother said, thirty li away. Second Brother-in-Law’s folks are farmers too.”

“And the money from your needlework?”

“Those things aren’t worth much. Mother said neighbors pay just a few coppers.”

Wu Wei heard no doubt or resentment in Embroider Maiden’s words. Gazing into her clear eyes, Wu Wei fell silent.

“What’s wrong? Why all these questions out of nowhere?” Embroider Maiden asked, puzzled.

Wu Wei smiled. “Nothing. Your memory’s sharp—you remember it all so clearly after all this time.”

Embroider Maiden sighed softly too. “Those . . . were all big family matters.”

“Come on, catch-up nap time~” Wu Wei fluffed the pillow and patted the spot beside her.

Seeing Embroider Maiden still hesitate, Wu Wei grabbed her wrist and tugged. With a startled yelp, Embroider Maiden tumbled down beside her.

Wu Wei grinned like a cat with cream, pulling the quilt over them both. As if afraid she’d bolt, she hooked a leg over Embroider Maiden’s. Then she shut her eyes. “I’m off to sleep. Don’t wake me. And no moving.”

. . .

Embroider Maiden had no choice but to give in. She closed her eyes too. Her illness wasn’t fully mended yet, and after all the morning’s fuss, she was worn out. Even breaths soon filled the room. But Wu Wei opened her eyes, gazing at the Embroider Maiden so near at hand. Her heart swelled with feeling and pity.

Poor Embroider Maiden . . . Squeezed dry of her last drop of worth by her own family, then tossed out like an unwanted bundle.

If she hadn’t run into me by chance, she might’ve frozen to death without ever realizing just how much she’d poured into that so-called “home” over the years.

Wu Wei had wandered the markets and knew local prices well enough. She’d been to the tailor shops too. A plain but finely made garment could fetch two or three hundred coppers, good shoes even more, and embroidered finery . . . Wu Wei hadn’t asked prices, but she could guess—a dress with exquisite stitching wouldn’t come cheap.

Three daughters in the family, the first two married at marrying age. Yet Embroider Maiden, whose beauty no rags could hide, only got betrothed at nineteen. What logic was that?

Household work could’ve rotated among the three girls. Why, after a stint in the fields, was Embroider Maiden barred from fieldwork forever? Wu Wei had seen old peasants’ hands—too gnarled to hold an embroidery needle.

A household of seven, farming all those years, still dirt-poor. That proved the fields alone couldn’t lift them out of want—before Embroider Maiden’s coming-of-age, they hadn’t even scraped together five taels!

So how, in just five or six years after, did they pay off the house debt, buy pigs and a cow, and climb to near-comfort?

Wu Wei silently cursed her own slowness. She’d had clues all along, hadn’t she?

A girl without even a proper name, whom everyone called “Embroider Maiden” to her face—that said it all.

Wu Wei sighed inwardly. She had to clear Embroider Maiden’s sullied name. She deserved better—at the very least, better than those human blood bun eaters who kicked her when she was down!

. . .

Meanwhile, in a spacious farmyard nearby, wails echoed through the air.

Eldest Brother-in-Law, shirtless, was pinned to a bench by two burly men. Another lashed his back with a switch, leaving a dozen swollen welts. Old Lady Liu had fainted in fright and been carried inside. Eldest Sister—Liu Cuicui—was twisted and held down by several women, unable to budge. Her son Liu Dahu dangled by the collar from a big man’s grip, bawling his heart out, snot and tears frozen on his face.

Chickens flapped and squawked in their coop. The two spotted pigs grunted uneasily. Even the old cow in the shed behind woke from its doze with a start.

“Fifty!” the flogger bellowed, then stopped.

The two holding Eldest Brother-in-Law let go, shoving him roughly to the ground and stowing the bench.

Eldest Brother-in-Law groaned on the dirt. Liu Cuicui broke free like a madwoman, shrugging off her padded jacket to drape over her husband as she burst into sobs.

The Village Head snorted coldly and barked, “Try flapping your gums again, and it won’t be just fifty! We’re done here!”

One of the bruisers flung Liu Dahu aside like trash. He hit the ground with a splat, facedown in the muck, and wailed even louder . . .

The crowd dispersed, leaving just the family of three in the courtyard. Liu Cuicui helped her husband to his feet and led their son back to the west room. Once she had settled both her husband and son, she ground out a vicious remark through clenched teeth. “That little harlot won’t rest until she’s dragged our whole family down with her—cursed us all to death! Tomorrow…”

“That’s enough!” Li Tieniu suddenly barked from where he lay on the kang.

Liu Cuicui’s bull-like eyes bulged wide, her face—a black, platter-round expanse—etched with utter disbelief. “You dare yell at me?”

Li Tieniu slapped the hot surface of the kang, wincing through the pain. “If you go tomorrow, won’t that put you at odds with the Village Head? Do you want me beaten to death first?”

“And we just let this whole thing drop? Who knows what kind of bewitching potion that little harlot slipped the Village Head… She’s even fooling around with that pretty boy!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, shut your mouth already! I’m begging you—will that do? I told you back then not to rush her out the door, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Well… wasn’t I afraid she’d curse Liu Dahu to death? Look at the scar on Liu Dahu’s head. If it weren’t for that Broom Star, would he have fallen into the dry well? And besides… the Wu Family already called off the betrothal. Everyone in Qinglu County knows she’s a Broom Star by now. All those ready-made clothes and embroidery samples she made afterward got sent back too. What’s the point of keeping her around the house? Just to freeload? Waiting around for her to curse you and your son to death, leaving me a helpless widow with no one to rely on? Didn’t you hear what the Fortune Teller said? She’s the reincarnation of a seductive fox spirit—one that preys on men!”

“So what? Since when does a woman get to split off from the family? Your father died and left you in charge. Whatever you decide to do with her is up to you. If you’d just listened to me from the start, wouldn’t Liu Dahu’s tuition silver already be taken care of?”

Liu Cuicui fell abruptly silent. After a long moment, she muttered in a low voice, “Splitting the family wasn’t my idea at all. It was Father’s dying wish… and he was my own father! Besides… Mother heard about this too, and didn’t you swear an oath yourself? I don’t want to end up frying in boiling oil down in hell. She’s brought in plenty of money for us over the years—Liu Dahu’s tuition silver was set aside long ago. Just like Second Sis said when she came back last time… sure, she’s dim-witted and foolish, but our neighbors have sharp eyes, and so do the bosses at the market. If we pushed things that far, folks wouldn’t just gossip behind our backs? Liu Dahu’s going to be a great official someday. As his mother, I have to think of our boy’s future.”

“Fine, fine, fine. You’ve got a heart of pure compassion—turning down perfectly good silver and even handing over the old house to her. Well, don’t come crying later. Why bother going to make a scene at all? You just dragged me into this pointless beating. Hurry up and fetch a doctor!”