Chapter 11 We Stand United Against a Common Enemy "He is vindictive, and she is no less so..."

Banban was stunned and panicked. She pitifully snuggled into her cousin's arms, her little hands wrapped around his neck and she refused to let go.

He carried her to the bedside and put her down. "You trust me now?"

She mumbled in a strained voice, "Mmm!"

After cuddling for a while, Banban made room for her cousin to lie down. The two didn't speak again for the rest of the night. Time ticked by, and the two little ones on the bed were sleeping soundly in each other's arms.

Because she hadn't slept well in the first half of the night, she woke up several times and only felt at ease when she snuggled up to Ying Zheng. In her half-awake state, she seemed to see Zhu Shi sitting by the bed, touching her little face, and pulling the blanket up for her.

The sun was high in the sky when Banban woke up and sat there in a daze, his mind a complete mess.

"You're awake?"

"Um."

She rubbed her eyes. It turned out her cousin was reading by the window. She said softly, "I dreamt of my mother."

"What did you dream about?" Ying Zheng asked.

"I dreamt that she came to see me and gently touched my face."

He could hear the melancholy in her voice. "Oh." He hadn't slept much last night either; he was still awake when Madam Zhu came over.

Unaware that he was awake, Madam Zhu was preoccupied with tucking a strand of hair behind her daughter's ear.

He stared at her profile for a long time. In his memory, although Ji Changyue loved him and the two of them had depended on each other for many years, she rarely had such a gentle, melancholy, and selfless expression as Zhu Shi.

He couldn't tell whether he felt more resentful that Ji Changyue wasn't like Zhu Shi, or that Zhu Shi was having another child, which saddened Banban, and that she had to come to see him more often in the middle of the night. Afraid that Banban might suddenly wake up, he immediately threw himself into her arms, forgetting what he had said the night before.

But he also knew that it was a child's nature to love his parents. He couldn't control that Banban didn't love Zhu Shi or Ji Xiu. Just as Ji Changyue was strict with him, controlling, domineering, and uncompromising, he also loved her.

And so, two different kinds of resentment tormented him all night.

Thinking this, a small body wrapped around his arm, "Cousin."

"Hmm?" Ying Zheng came to his senses and noticed that she was barefoot. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?" He lifted her up by her armpits and placed her on a chair. He then went to the bedside to get her shoes and put them on for her.

As soon as he looked up, a wet kiss unexpectedly landed on his forehead, right between his eyebrows.

He subconsciously reached out and wiped his hand, only to be met with her playful eyes. "I haven't washed up yet, do I smell bad?" he said, breathing on his palm to smell it.

"It doesn't smell." He pursed his lips, his negative emotions vanishing instantly. "Feeling better now?"

"Um!"

"Why is my cousin so good to me?" Banban jumped off the chair and followed him out.

"If you feel I'm good to you, then you should be good to me too." That's all he said.

Banban was unhappy. "Am I not good to my cousin? I have never bullied him. On the contrary, he often teases me."

He loved to pretend to be her aunt to scare her, and every time she was frightened, she could see the corners of his mouth curling up in a relaxed manner.

"I won't tease you anymore."

"real?"

Yeah, right.

After some time, with Zhu Shi's caring concern and daily pampering, and Ying Zheng's company, Banban stopped crying about not wanting her younger siblings. However, she became more dependent on Ying Zheng and wanted to be with him almost every moment.

She remained lazy, but she put more effort into learning needlework. It took her a full year to finish embroidering the purse she had promised to give to Ying Zheng. In addition to dried flowers, she also added some red beans, cypress wood, and sandalwood, which not only smelled good but also repelled mosquitoes.

Ying Zheng liked black and red, so she used black thread and edged it with gold thread. She originally wanted to embroider a tiger with red thread, but her needlework skills were really bad.

From the initial "Oh no, there's no way to embroider the whole tiger," to "Embroidering just a single line will do," and then to "Embroidering just the tiger's head will be enough"...

Now:

"Is this a tiger?" Ying Zheng asked suspiciously.

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a cat's head. The lines are extremely simple, and the mouth is curved. It not only looks like a cat, but also like a greedy cat.

Banban earnestly explained, pointing to the cat's head, "This is a tiger when it was young. My cousin is still young, so a small tiger is enough. I'll embroider a big tiger for you when you grow up."

Ying Zheng was speechless. He smiled and hung it up. "Oh, okay, then I'll thank you in advance, cousin. I know you'll keep your word."

She scratched her cheek and nodded casually, "Yes, it counts."

We'll talk about the future later.

January 27th is Ying Zheng's birthday.

Last year, Banban missed his longevity noodles because she was asleep, and they had a big argument. This year, she started preparing two days in advance and kept it a secret, forbidding him from asking.

On the twenty-seventh day, it snowed again, a rare occurrence. When Ying Zheng got up, he found a snowman in the courtyard.

The snowman was built crookedly, with a sharpened piece of wood for its nose, charcoal for its eyes and mouth, and tree branches for its arms. It was truly uniquely ugly.

He was stunned and stood there for a long time, appreciating it.

"Cousin!!"

Suddenly, someone peeked out from behind the snowman, startling him so much that he immediately drew his sword: "Who goes there?!"

Yes, yes. She wrinkled her nose at him, as if blaming him for not recognizing her, but since it was his birthday, she didn't hold it against him. "A new year, new clothes! Cousin, change your clothes!"

Ying Zheng paused for a moment, then slowly closed the sword sheath. "Oh."

He has turned eight years old. After today, the elders will say that he is nine years old.

He was very wary, and the slightest disturbance would trigger his alertness. However, since this was at home, his overreaction only made him look bad in front of his cousin.

Coming to his senses, an unease filled his heart.

Banban nudged him to change his clothes, then noticed something and exclaimed in surprise, "Cousin, why are your ears so red? And why is your face suddenly red too!"

"..." Ying Zheng snatched the robe from her hand and hurriedly shut the door on her outside. "It's just cold outside. Let me change and see."

Banban stared blankly at the screen, scratching his head in confusion.

His new clothes were custom-made at a tailor shop; the black robe with a wide red belt made his snow-white skin look even more beautiful than the snow falling on the window.

Banban nodded firmly. Yes, handsome. Although his cousin was very tall, he was indeed a handsome young man.

Walking down the street, no one would imagine that such a handsome and delicate-looking young man could take on three people at once.

For the festive occasion, she was also wearing a dark black robe today, with a matching red waist belt, and bright red hair ornaments tied on both sides of her soft head.

The two stood together, looking like a perfect couple.

When it was time for lunch, she took the initiative to sing a song under the happy gaze of her family.

"As constant as the moon, as rising as the sun."

May you live as long as the Southern Mountain, never waning or collapsing!

"May your virtue be as enduring as that of pine and cypress, and may you inherit all that is good!"

...

Her voice was youthful, sweet, and crisp, like a melon in June; one bite and it was fragrant and refreshing, leaving one mesmerized for a long time.

Ji Xiu led the applause, his face beaming with joy. "It's the poem 'Tianbao' from the Book of Songs." He was extremely proud.

Ying Zheng had certainly read it. The general meaning was that you are like the waxing crescent moon, rising in the east, like the Southern Mountain, eternally long-lived, never diminishing or collapsing, and like the ever-flourishing pine and cypress, passed down from generation to generation.

In wealthy and educated families, this song is usually sung when someone has a birthday.

Ji Hao clapped his hands and laughed, shouting several times, "Bravo!!"

Ying Zheng was pleased, and his tone rose more than one notch as he spoke, "Very good, cousin's singing voice has improved again."

"And there's more." Banban jumped off the platform triumphantly, pulling something from his sleeve. "This is my birthday gift for my cousin!"

Mrs. Zhu patted her belly and laughed heartily.

"What is this?" Ying Zheng took it and looked at it; it was actually a sword tassel.

A pale yellow crescent moon, adorned with flowing tassels.

"Do you like it?" Banban smiled sweetly, holding up her finger in a coquettish manner, "You're not allowed to dislike it, my finger has two needle marks on it."

"I like it." Ying Zheng didn't hesitate at all. He immediately hung the sword tassel on his sword, and tenderly held her fingers to check them. "Does it hurt?"

Banban said coquettishly, "Now that I see my cousin smiling and saying he likes me, I don't feel any pain anymore."

Zhu gently stroked her belly and whispered to Ji Xiu, "Your daughter has no sense of modesty at all; she doesn't know what shyness is."

Ji Xiu felt a mix of bitterness and emotion, and immediately retorted, "She's still young and doesn't understand love at all, so she just says whatever comes to mind."

She finished speaking, and said in a sour tone, "She has never made any sword tassels for me."

"Why would I embroider for you?" Zhu rolled her eyes at him.

Ji Xiu smiled apologetically and reached out to touch his wife's belly. "How is the baby?"

"...It's only been a few months, it's not even fully formed yet, are you crazy?" Madam Zhu slapped his hand away, glanced at her childhood sweetheart who was sitting down hand in hand with her, and lowered her voice, "Recently, with Zheng'er by her side, Banban is much better, and she no longer mentions not wanting younger brothers and sisters. Did he say something to Banban?"

Ji Xiu didn't care at all. "Zheng'er is smart and sensible. As his older brother, it's only normal for him to comfort him."

"I saw her touching your belly yesterday, so she must be quite generous."

Instead, Mrs. Zhu felt sad, saying, "If I could, I would rather my daughter not be sensible, and what's wrong with her being a little stingy?"

Ji Xiu tapped her nose. "Alright, why are you saying all this? Banban will be fine. She's my eldest daughter. No matter what happens in the future, whether it's a boy or a girl, I will always value her the most."

Zhu's mood improved slightly. It was precisely because her husband was so understanding and knew that she did not want to have another child, that he would rather withstand the pressure from his mother-in-law than say a word against it. That made her willing to have another child for him.

After the birthday banquet, Banban was taught calligraphy by Ying Zheng. After nearly a year of 'studying', her calligraphy was already presentable.

She wrote the characters for "politics" and "sound," which he folded up and put into his purse.

Ji Hao gave him a sharp halberd. Banban leaned closer to examine it and asked, "Is this a military treatise?"

Ying Zheng browsed JianShu and said, "Hmm, it records detailed dash techniques. The master said he would teach me in detail tomorrow."

"He really does have some skills." Banban muttered to himself, not sitting still, the golden bells on his ankles ringing incessantly, making a terrible fuss.

Ying Zheng didn't find the sound noisy; on the contrary, he found it pleasant. "You hate him?" He glanced at her.

In fact, he could guess why his cousin disliked Ji Hao. He explained briefly, "My teacher once traveled to various states and made friends with many important figures. One of them introduced him to the royal family of Zhao. Unfortunately, my teacher didn't think much of Zhao Yan and declined the position of Grand Tutor. As a result, he had some dealings with the Crown Prince and the Prince of Zhao. When they heard that the teacher who had rejected them had taught me, they were dissatisfied. On the day my teacher's wife finished her confinement, Zhao You found an excuse to transfer my teacher and deliberately came to my door to cause trouble."

Banban found the explanation quite reasonable: "Whether I like him or hate him is a decision between you and him."

Ying Zheng found this explanation novel and had never heard of it before, so he frowned in surprise, "Why?"

“Because it’s my cousin who’s with him, not me.” Banban tilted her head and blinked. “His kindness is for you, and has nothing to do with me, but if he’s not nice to you, I’ll get angry too, because you’re my cousin.”

There were no grand theories or obscure words; she spoke simply and directly, innocently and naively, expressing from beginning to end that he was her cousin and that she shared his hatred for the enemy.

This wasn't the first time Ying Zheng had seen the phrase "shared hatred against a common enemy" applied to his cousin.

It seemed that regardless of right or wrong, she and he were always on the same side, and even their attitudes toward people they disliked and enemies were surprisingly consistent.

Is this what the book means by 'a soulmate is something you can only meet by chance and not seek'?

He holds grudges, and so does she.

He was vindictive, and she was no less so.

Ying Zheng suddenly smiled, a smile that was indifferent.

He lowered his voice to almost inaudible, then abruptly asked:

"Do you want to see Li Xie suffer?"

Banban took two seconds to react.

Her mind quickly recalled that square-faced man who wanted her to be Crown Prince Dan's concubine. He had apologized reluctantly that day, and she hadn't accepted, but she still remembered it.

She kept sneezing during those days, and she suspected that the square-faced man must be insulting her behind her back.

She leaned over the table, giggling adorably, "Cousin, what's your idea?"