Chapter 8 Shaking

As the cool night air rose again, strange noises rose and fell, and occasionally one or two stray cats would pass by on the roof, the sound of their paws scratching at the tiles particularly clear in the night.

Aman lay in bed, her heart pounding with fear, but she forced herself not to get up and remained awake until dawn.

After the rooster crowed for the third time, the sky began to lighten. Aman groped his way out of bed, went to the kitchen to boil some water, and warmed his hands and feet.

She spent the whole night in fear, her hands and feet constantly sweating and as cold as stone.

After lighting the stove, Aman first warmed his hands and feet, and after regaining some feeling, he then washed the pot and boiled water.

By the time Mantou got up, Aman had already finished washing up, and the hot water for Fu Yunxiu to wash up was already prepared.

Mantou came in yawning and was startled to see Aman's haggard face. After noticing the obvious dark circles under Aman's eyes, he immediately understood and shook his head disapprovingly, "Miss Aman, why are you doing this to yourself?"

From the night she refused to leave in front of the young master's door, he knew that Aman was stubborn, but he couldn't understand why she insisted on staying in the Wutong Garden.

Even the strongest body couldn't withstand a night without sleep, let alone a woman.

Aman didn't say anything, but calmly took the basin from his hand, filled it with hot water, and handed it back to him.

Seeing that Mantou didn't understand, she urged softly, "Go quickly, I just heard the young master wake up."

Mantou looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. He opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just sighed and left with the basin of water.

In the east wing, Fu Yunxiu was already up.

Mantou placed the basin on the shelf, helped him sit in the wheelchair, and pushed him over to wash up.

The young master read until late last night before going to sleep, and he got up so early this morning.

Mantou felt that ever since Miss Aman came, the young master had been acting strangely. Just like last night, he, who usually didn't like being disturbed while reading, kept looking up at the door and didn't turn a page for a long time. He was obviously distracted.

Mantou dared not guess what the young master was thinking, but she knew it must be related to Aman.

After much deliberation, Mantou decided that she should tell the young master what she had seen.

Seeing that Fu Yunxiu had finished washing his face, Mantou handed him a dry handkerchief and spoke up at the opportune moment, "Young Master, Miss Aman, she..."

Fu Yunxiu paused for a moment as he took the handkerchief, then casually took it back to wipe his face. After a long while, he finally spoke, "How is she? Is she leaving?"

“No, Miss Aman got up very early today, and she even boiled the water, but…” Mantou paused for a moment, “I saw that she was pale and seemed a little dazed, as if she hadn’t slept all night.”

"Hmph." After hearing this, Fu Yunxiu snorted coldly and threw the handkerchief into the basin. "Since she's willing to drag this out, then let her drag it out."

Fu Yunxiu felt somewhat angry.

But he couldn't explain why he was angry.

Was it because Aman refused to leave and remained stubbornly obstinate, or was it because she was playing with her body to spite herself?

He didn't know?

All he knew was that he was in a bad mood all day, ever since he opened his eyes in the morning.

Perhaps it's related to the weather.

Fu Yunxiu glanced out the window. Yesterday the sun was shining brightly, but today it was shrouded in mist. Coupled with the ruins opposite, the scene was so desolate that it was hard to feel happy.

"Never mind, the weather's bad today, so I won't go to the cafeteria."

After Fu Yunxiu finished speaking, he pushed his wheelchair to the study on his own. Mantou watched his retreating figure and continued to sigh helplessly.

After Mantou finished tidying up Fu Yunxiu's room and came out, breakfast from the Marquis's residence was delivered.

The meal was similar to yesterday's: a large bowl of plain porridge, five steamed buns, and a small plate of pickled vegetables.

The steamed buns were still cold, and the rice in the congee hadn't been cooked through; the rice grains were still whole and all sunk to the bottom of the bowl, making the whole bowl of congee look thin and watery.

Seeing that the fire in the stove was not burning, and thinking that the young master would need some time to wash up, Aman simply added some water to the porridge and put it back in the pot to cook. Since she couldn't find a steamer, she made a temporary one out of a few chopsticks and put the steamed buns on it to heat them up.

As for the pickled vegetables, Aman really had no choice but to make do with them.

When Mantou returned to the kitchen, Aman had already heated up the steamed buns and cooked the porridge until it was mushy.

Aman ladled the porridge into a bowl, a thick, large bowl.

When Mantou came in, he saw the porridge that Aman had left to cool and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, did they change the chef in the main courtyard today?"

"It's not that we changed chefs, I just reheated the porridge and steamed buns." Aman said, glancing outside the kitchen but not seeing Fu Yunxiu. "Hasn't the young master gotten up yet? Why isn't he coming out to eat?"

Speaking of this, Mantou felt a little guilty. He always felt that the young master's refusal to come out for dinner must be related to what he had said earlier. As for the excuse that the weather was bad and he didn't want to come out, that was just a pretext.

But Fu Yunxiu wasn't lying. His legs did feel uncomfortable in cold weather, and of course, it was also true that he was avoiding Aman.

Looking at the thick porridge on the table, Aman knew that she had done all this hoping that the young master would see her good qualities and let her stay. But now, it had all been ruined by his loose tongue.

He scratched his head awkwardly, somewhat unable to look Aman in the eye, "Young Master said the weather is bad today and he doesn't want to go out for dinner."

Upon hearing this, Aman paused in his hand as he prepared to serve the porridge.

Mantou quickly tried to smooth things over, "Actually, it's nothing. Young Master has always been like this; he doesn't want to come out when it's cloudy."

But how could Aman not understand? Yesterday she said she didn't need to go and serve her, and today she said she didn't want to come out for dinner.

She knew the young master was avoiding her.

He wanted to force himself to leave using this method.

But clearly, he used the wrong method. In his life, Ah Man was least afraid of other people's cold stares.

Taking a deep breath, Aman instantly revived. "Since the young master isn't coming out, let's send them to his room. I just heated up some steamed buns. At the speed at which the young master eats, the buns will probably get cold before he finishes his meal outside."

As he spoke, Aman quickly ladled out a bowl of porridge, then filled an empty bowl with a steamed bun, urging the bun to be delivered.

Seeing that she seemed completely unaffected, Mantou breathed a slight sigh of relief and hurriedly brought her breakfast inside.

Fu Yunxiu was slightly surprised when he saw the steaming breakfast that he had brought. He looked up at Mantou's "Ask me quickly" expression and immediately understood what was going on.

Turning his gaze away, Fu Yunxiu silently ate the porridge in his bowl.

As the congee enters the mouth, the aroma of rice lingers. The original water has been boiled into rice oil, which, with its smooth texture, dances between the lips and teeth.

I have to admit that I haven't had such delicious porridge since I moved into Wutong Garden.

Fu Yunxiu raised an eyebrow and unconsciously sped up his porridge drinking.

But Mantou wasn't about to give up. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up on her own, "Young master, was this porridge specially prepared by Miss Aman?"

"Mantou, you've been talking too much lately." Fu Yunxiu interrupted him before he could speak. "You don't need to serve me here. Go eat."

Sensing his young master's displeasure, Mantou dared not cause any more trouble and silently closed the door and left.

After the footsteps of the steamed buns had faded into the distance, Fu Yunxiu picked up the steamed buns that were still steaming hot.

After being heated, the large white steamed buns become soft and fluffy, with a subtle sweetness.

Fu Yunxiu was quite unsettled. Aman's arrival stirred up the stagnant life in Wutong Garden and made him realize for the first time that his indifference was not effective at all times or in front of anyone.

Moreover, according to what Mantou said that day, Aman's background does seem to be quite pitiful.

To be honest, Fu Yunxiu was wavering. If Aman could really endure the hardships of Wutong Garden, then he might be willing to keep her.

However, he also understood his mother's temperament. If he really kept Aman, it wouldn't be long before she would find a way to get Aman into her bed.

The second son is gaining momentum, and her mother wants him to give birth to the eldest grandson of the Marquis's family in order to compete with the second son.

He was a man who wouldn't live long, and he didn't want to ruin a woman's life because of his momentary pity.

With a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind, Fu Yunxiu unconsciously tore apart the steamed bun in his hand. When he came to his senses, he had eaten the whole big white steamed bun and even finished the porridge.

When Mantou came in and saw the two clean bowls, his eyes nearly popped out of his head in surprise.

Since they moved into Wutong Garden, he had never seen the young master eat so much. It was a full bowl of porridge and a whole steamed bun.

Mantou was still examining the empty bowl, while Fu Yunxiu, who was pretending to read a book, was so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a hole and bury himself. Noticing Mantou's gaze, he quickly covered himself completely with the book, looking like he was oblivious to everything else and only focused on reading the classics.

Fortunately, Mantou didn't say anything and quickly took away the empty bowl.

In the kitchen, Aman had already washed all the dishes and chopsticks. When she saw Mantou bring in two empty bowls, she was also surprised.

"Has the young master finished eating?" After being at Wutong Garden for more than a day, Aman had a general understanding of Fu Yunxiu's appetite. It was almost always half a bowl of porridge, half a steamed bun, and half a bowl of rice for lunch, which was already his limit.

I originally thought he was just unwell and had a poor appetite, but now it seems that it might just be because the food sent by the Marquis's mansion was too hard to eat.

Aman stared at the empty bowl...

Perhaps she knew how to keep herself here.

Seeing the obvious joy on Mantou's face, Aman casually approached and asked with a malicious grin, "Brother Mantou, do you think it's because I've given these dishes a second treatment, since the young master suddenly seems to be enjoying them so much?"

Mantou noticed the deliberate flattery in her tone, and when he saw the sly smile on her face, he subconsciously distanced himself from her. "What are you doing? You look like you have ill intentions."

"What ill intentions? I'm just telling the truth." After saying that, Aman suddenly stopped smiling, her expression somewhat regretful. "Alas, it's a pity that the young master won't let me stay. Actually, my cooking skills are quite good. The young master is weak, so he needs to eat more to keep his body strong."

Aman didn't reveal the truth, but left it at that. Then she took the bowl from Mantou's hand to wash it, leaving Mantou at the door, lost in thought.

After breakfast, Mantou went to serve Fu Yunxiu while he studied, while Aman wandered around the courtyard to familiarize himself with the surroundings.

During dinner, Mantou casually mentioned that there was a backyard in this courtyard, behind the locked moon gate. The previous family used it to grow vegetables and raise chickens and ducks. After it was transferred to the Fu family, it was only used to tether horses and gradually fell into disrepair. Later, it was said that a concubine liked to eat fresh fruit, and the Marquis, in order to win a smile from his beauty, ordered all kinds of fruit trees to be planted. However, before the fruit trees could ripen and bear fruit, a great fire destroyed everything.

According to Mantou, nowadays, the backyard is laden with fruit in autumn, often attracting neighborhood children to secretly come and pick them.

When Aman arrived at the moon gate, she found that the lock on the gate was not locked, but just hanging loosely. Driven by curiosity, she removed the lock and pushed the gate open to go inside.

What came into view were two low thatched houses, which had collapsed from years of disrepair due to the rain. The beams and pillars inside were leaning and tilting haphazardly. The stable next to it was in no better condition; the thatch on the roof had been blown away by the wind, leaving only an empty frame.

The trees in the vegetable garden have grown very tall, their branches spreading out and almost completely blocking out the sunlight in the yard. No one tends to them; weeds grow wildly beneath them, dense and nearly as tall as a person.

Now that the Awakening of Insects has passed, all kinds of ants, snakes and insects have begun to come out and move around. Aman was afraid that there might be snakes in the grass, so she didn't dare to wander around. She just took a quick look from outside. To her surprise, she saw two wild sunflowers at the base of the wall. Their green color stood out among the weeds.

Although these two sunflowers weren't very useful, Aman couldn't resist picking them and keeping them in water in the kitchen for ornamental purposes.

It was soon noon, and people from the Marquis's residence brought over lunch.

The dishes were the same as before, but today there was an extra bowl of radish soup.

However, the chef clearly lacked patience; the radishes in the radish soup were still hard, as if they had been boiled and served immediately.

Following the same method, Aman reheated the radish soup. Once the radishes were almost soft, he chopped up two fresh wild sunflowers he had found in the backyard and added them in.

Lunch was still delivered to Fu Yunxiu's room. When Mantou went in to collect the bowls, there was still half a bowl of rice left, and quite a lot of vegetables were left, but the radish soup was completely finished.

Because it was soup, Aman used a large bowl when serving it, about the size of two ordinary bowls, so the amount of soup in that bowl was quite substantial.

Looking at the empty bowl again, Mantou began to seriously consider what Aman had said that morning.

He had taken care of the young master for many years, and he knew the young master's appetite better than anyone.

Especially after the master died, they moved into Wutong Garden, and things went from bad to worse.

He had only thought it was because the young master had no appetite, since the young master was not a picky eater.

But now it seems...

Moreover, he remembered that when Aunt Yuxiang brought Aman over, she had said that Aman knew some medical knowledge and was very good at taking care of people. If she stayed, under his care, the young master might be able to live a few more years.