Chapter 8: The Li Family Rice Shop
“Brother Yu, time for soup~”
No need to guess, this was definitely the voice of his Junior Sister, Gongsun Ruo. Among the few people Du Yu interacted with, only she liked to make a loud racket and usually appeared the most carefree and unconstrained by trifles. Master had been woken up from her lazy sleep several times by her and had even given her the nickname “Gongsun Loudmouth.”
Gongsun Ruo, using a piece of coarse cloth to wrap the handle of the clay pot, practically flew towards the small pavilion where he and Du Yao were sitting, followed by several old maids hurrying to keep up.
Days with Junior Sister were never lacking in vitality and liveliness. Every day she could come up with ideas that made Du Yu and Master’s vision go dark.
Du Yao whispered, “Bringing pots and bowls into the courtyard, what kind of decorum is this?”
Gongsun Ruo didn’t hear her muttering. She placed the clay pot on the stone table in front of Du Yu and subconsciously sat down right next to him. “Senior Brother, your favorite silver ear and jujube kernel soup.”
Silver ear fungus was something Du Yu liked to eat, and jujube kernels were also something he liked, but Du Yu remembered he had never said he loved drinking silver ear and jujube kernel soup. Just as Du Yao said, she was deliberately “showing off.”
Du Yu had never been good at refusing his Junior Sister. Having lived together for many years, she was already like real family to him, so he didn’t expose Gongsun Ruo’s little scheme. He took the spoon and had a sip of the soup.
Gongsun Ruo watched Du Yu happily. “Brother Yu, drink slowly…” She looked exactly like a newlywed little wife.
Du Yao suddenly slammed “The Unofficial Biography of Du Shuzi” shut with a bang, attracting both of their gazes. “Third Brother, have you been to the Li Family Rice Shop since you came down the mountain this time?”
The Li Family Rice Shop… An image floated into Du Yu’s mind: amidst the misty drizzle, an antique-style building stood quietly in the rain. Under the eaves, a woman wearing a bamboo hat that obscured her face held an oil lamp, red on the inside and yellow on the outside, waiting for the rain to stop. He had once glanced at that rice shop from a distance on the street and had a deep memory of that woman with slender and fair jade-like hands. Master’s hands were also beautiful, slender and full, but usually hidden under her long robes, rarely seen; Gongsun Ruo’s hands lacked a bit of aesthetic feeling, after all, she had to practice swordsmanship and do housework all year round, plus he saw them often enough that even beauty became somewhat tiresome.
“No… why?” Du Yu put down the spoon in his hand.
“The young miss of the Li Family Rice Shop has had a difficult problem she can’t solve for a while. The Li family has a close relationship with our family. If you have time, you might as well go and help her.”
What did she mean by “if you have time”? Du Yu’s purpose for coming down the mountain this time was to help the townspeople solve difficult problems; this was actually the main business of their Boundless Sect. He looked down at the steaming soup in the pot, then at the height of the sun, and finally pulled Gongsun Ruo up. “Junior Sister, ask the kitchen to keep the clay pot warm. Let’s finish today’s task first.”
Gongsun Ruo nodded helplessly. She knew that in the eyes of her fake-prude Senior Brother, the tasks assigned by Master always came first. Sometimes she thought that perhaps in her arduous struggle to become Mrs. Du, Master would be the biggest obstacle. She could even imagine a scene where Master gave an order, and Brother Yu, acting all proper, would frown and say, “Junior Sister, we are not suitable…” Gongsun Ruo shuddered; that scene was too terrifying.
The two siblings bid farewell to Du Yao and walked towards the Li Family Rice Shop at the end of the street according to the gatekeeper’s instructions.
Lotus Seed Town wasn’t small; it was much larger than ordinary towns, but still quite a bit smaller than the county seat. Walking on the street, a newsboy came towards them. In this era, there were three types of news selling: the official gazette (Dibao), the tabloid (Xiaobao), and the oral report (Koubao). The Dibao was made of mulberry bark paper and mostly published official news and traffic conditions; the Xiaobao was made of sedge paper and contained the Jianghu affairs everyone loved; the Koubao, as the name suggested, was the news shouted by children, mixed with various unverifiable gossip and advertisements from shopkeepers.
“Extra! Extra! The number one demoness of the Jianghu, Ye Lengxing, has been missing since the battle at Cangshan. Rumor has it she has appeared in Luo County!” This sounded like complete nonsense. Luo County was a remote backwater far from trouble; no matter how confused Ye Lengxing was, she wouldn’t travel thousands of miles to Luo County to heal her wounds.
“Extra! Extra! Multiple cases of rice theft have occurred at the Li Family Granary. Rice stored in the granary disappears for no reason. The Daoist priest of the Boundless Sect claims evil spirits might be at work!” Du Yu raised his eyebrows. When had their Boundless Sect ever said such a thing? Wasn’t rice disappearing from a granary usually due to rats stealing it?
“Extra! Extra! Ma Jindao of the Ma Family Escort Agency revealed after drinking that the agency has secretly taken on the task of transporting the Imperial Jade Seal…” Du Yu was too tired to even roast this. Leaving aside why the Jade Seal would be lost outside when the Great Liang was peaceful and prosperous, even if the Jade Seal grew legs and ran out on its own, how could it be the turn of a small Ma Family Escort Agency to escort it?
“Brother Yu, do you still remember your relatives at home?” Gongsun Ruo had her hands behind her back, the jade bracelet on her wrist gently tapping against the scabbard, making a slight clack-clack sound. “Does it feel a bit strange to suddenly have to call people you don’t know Grandpa and Brother?”
Du Yu nodded slightly. “I really don’t remember much. But they are all quite nice, so the sense of unfamiliarity has been diluted a lot.”
“I used to be like that too, often dragged over to call people I didn’t know Auntie and Uncle, even though I had never even heard of them.” Gongsun Ruo rarely volunteered information about her life before meeting Du Yu. “I have an indescribable feeling, as if the Senior Brother who belonged only to me and Master suddenly has many more ties, becoming someone else’s brother and someone else’s junior.” After saying this, she chuckled first. “Am I very strange?”
Gongsun Ruo had been on the mountain for years and rarely interacted with outsiders, so it was natural to have this feeling of gain and loss. Du Yu just treated it as normal. “Don’t worry, Junior Sister. The Boundless Sect will always be my home, and you will always be my family.”
Gongsun Ruo’s gaze was distant, as if she hadn’t heard Du Yu’s words at all. “Maybe… Senior Brother, I don’t want to go to the county town to play anymore. Can we go back to the mountain early after finishing the tasks? I’ll make roast goose for you every day… Master isn’t there, so we can play to our heart’s content on the mountain, and no one will discipline us…”
Did this lass suddenly change her nature? Before, she kept talking about going down the mountain to the county town or even the provincial capital, but now that she was down, she wanted to go back up?
The Li Family Rice Shop was the two-story building Du Yu saw yesterday, standing out like a crane among chickens in Lotus Seed Town, where most buildings were single-story houses with small courtyards. Du Yu specifically looked at the second-floor window, but it was tightly closed, and the lantern-carrying woman from yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
As soon as they entered the rice shop, they smelled a rich aroma of rice. The shop assistant was stunned when he saw Du Yu, seeming to recall something. After a while, he slapped his forehead. “Little Daoist! It’s you. Why are you alone this year?”
Just as Du Yu was about to correct him that the Boundless Sect wasn’t a Daoist sect and he wasn’t a Daoist priest, he saw a maid stomping down from upstairs. She happened to see Du Yu. “Why is it you? Why are you here?”
Du Yu recognized at a glance that this maid was the one beside the young lady he had bumped into yesterday. Could it be such a coincidence? Du Yu’s heart skipped a beat.
