Chapter Four
It was already high in the sky when Li Zhi finally woke up.
He lifted the quilt that should have been in the inner room, looked around, but did not find Baozhu.
Li Zhi paused slightly.
Just as he hesitated, the knocking outside grew louder, and a gruff voice said, "Nephew, are you alright?"
The thin gate to Li Zhi's house was almost smashed through by that man. He came to his senses and tidied himself up as he walked out, opening the gate before it was actually smashed through.
Outside the door stood a somewhat hunched old man, his brows furrowed, looking rather distressed.
"Uncle," Li Zhi bowed to the old man.
An eighteen-year-old boy, between adolescence and youth, is full of vigor. Even though Li Zhi had spent the night on the floor and had just been woken up by the old man, he could still have a handsome appearance after gently rubbing his face.
The old man glanced at him, his pupils contracted as if his eyes had been stung, and he looked behind Li Zhi.
“The dogs in the village were barking last night. You live in a remote area, and I was worried something might have happened, so I came to check on you.” The old man said slowly, drawing out his words, his eyes fixed on the small courtyard.
"Thank you, Uncle. I slept soundly last night and didn't hear anything."
"Hmm." The old man's eyes, hidden beneath his drooping eyelids, turned to Li Zhi's face again. "It's good that you're alright."
After saying that, he handed the basket of vegetables he was carrying to Li Zhi and told him to make sure he ate them properly.
“It was planted by your cousin’s mother.”
Li Zhi took the book, paused, and asked, "Yesterday, my aunt said that my uncle has a few rare collections of policy essays. She told me that after I'm settled, I can go to my uncle's study to study them. I wonder if my uncle is free today?"
The old man shook his head: "Your aunt is not feeling well. Since you are alright, I'm going to town later to ask a doctor to take a look at her."
He waved his hand, refusing Li Zhi's request to visit his aunt, and turned away, looking preoccupied.
Li Zhi watched his uncle's departing figure, reached out and closed the courtyard gate again. Just as the two doors touched, Baozhu's voice rang out behind him.
"Is this your cousin?"
Li Zhi's shoulders relaxed, and he turned to Baozhu with a smile, saying, "I didn't see Miss when I woke up this morning, and I thought she had already left."
Baozhu replied matter-of-factly, "I've been in my room the whole time."
Seeing Li Zhi raise an eyebrow, seemingly about to say something, she quickly interrupted, "Was that your uncle just now? The relative I'm looking for seems to be in Fuxia Village. Just ask the elders in the village and you'll find out."
Li Zhi stopped worrying about whether he had seen Baozhu that morning. He carried a basket of fresh vegetables to the kitchen and replied, "That's right. My uncle is the village chief of Fuxia Village. It's perfect to ask him. But as you just heard, Miss, he's going to town later. I'm afraid you'll have to wait at my house for a while."
Baozhu knew, of course, that Li Zhi’s uncle was the village chief. In Li Zhi’s previous life, when he was observing mourning for his grandmother in Fuxia Village, his uncle Li Qing had taken good care of him and had almost caught Baozhu and Li Zhi having a secret rendezvous several times.
After Li Zhi became an official, this uncle traveled a long distance to the capital to find Li Zhi. Baozhu vaguely remembered that it was about repairing the clan ancestral hall.
Asking this question today is merely to better portray myself as a mortal lady.
“Then I’ll have to trouble you, young master.” Baozhu readily agreed.
"It's nothing."
Baozhu stood in the courtyard, watching Li Zhi in the kitchen put down his basket, gather some firewood, and prepare to boil water for breakfast. She felt a pang of emotion.
Since leaving Fuxia Village, Li Zhi has rarely had the chance to cook for himself, so much so that this part of Baozhu's memory has become blurred.
Baozhu watched as Li Zhi rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong arms as he chopped the firewood into smaller pieces.
A blush crept onto her face.
She knew all too well how strong Li Zhi's arms were...
Baozhu swallowed hard and quickly looked away.
"Miss Baozhu."
As if caught red-handed doing something wrong, Baozhu felt inexplicably guilty when Li Zhi called her, and quickly turned around to reply, "What is it?"
Li Zhi stood in the kitchen, his sleeves rolled up high, and said softly, "My family only has simple meals..."
“I’m not a picky eater,” Baozhu said haphazardly, only daring to look into Li Zhi’s eyes.
Li Zhi nodded and turned to continue his work.
That morning, Baozhu sat down at the table with Li Zhi for a rare occasion and ate breakfast at a leisurely pace.
After finishing his meal, Li Zhi picked up a book and began to read. Baozhu knew that he would be going to participate in the autumn examination after the mourning period, so she studied very hard in Fuxia Village and did not disturb him. She took a chair and sat in the courtyard, basking in the sun.
Just as Baozhu was enjoying the sunshine, her ears twitched slightly, and she heard a commotion coming from the village.
This morning, Li Qing, Li Zhi's cousin, was shouting something loudly, and there was also a woman's shrill crying.
"...He's not dead...he's perfectly fine..."
Baozhu unconsciously sat up straight.
It's strange. Is it because she has a bad memory? Why is it that in her memory, the days in Fuxia Village in her previous life were completely ordinary from beginning to end, and nothing strange ever happened?
She subconsciously turned around and glanced at Li Zhi, who was reading in the room.
The scholar held a pen in his hand, writing something incessantly, his brow slightly furrowed, as if he had encountered some problem.
He was so handsome that even his burlap clothes and abject poverty could not diminish his good looks.
As Baozhu heard the sounds from the village approaching, she sighed softly, got up, and went inside.
Her steps were light, and when she reached Li Zhi's side, he was still looking down at the book in his hands.
But the person knocking on the door didn't care whether Li Zhi was reading or not, and the door was pounded on again, making a loud, earth-shaking noise.
"Li Zhi! Are you home?"
Li Zhi put down his book and looked at the chair outside the window. Baozhu was no longer in the chair. He paused, and just as he was about to get up, he heard Baozhu whisper beside him, "I'll stay in the inner room and won't go out to cause you any trouble."
Baozhu, who suddenly appeared beside him, had a slightly pinkish glow on her cheeks from the sun, and her slightly upturned eyes gave her a sly look.
Li Zhi watched silently, then gently shook his head and said, "It's not troublesome."
After saying that, both of them were drawn to the increasingly loud knocking on the door outside the courtyard.
Baozhu hid in the inner room, and Li Zhi quickly went forward to open the door.
A young man with unusually wide-set eyes and a very short neck stood outside the courtyard. Upon seeing Li Zhi, he shouted, "My mother is sick! The doctor said she's not doing well. You're a scholar, studying in the county town. You're knowledgeable, go and see her!"
As she spoke, she tried to grab Li Zhi's arm.
Li Zhi swayed slightly, causing the young man to miss his target. He turned around, closed the courtyard gate, and whispered, "Then why aren't you leaving?"
The young man gave an "oh," scratched his head, and followed Li Zhi into the village.
They had only been gone a short while when the gate opened a crack, and no one seemed to come out before it quietly closed again.
Li Zhi, being tall and long-legged, quickly left the strange young man behind and arrived at the home of his cousin, Li Qing, where the door was open and the house was in a mess.
Li is a prominent surname in the village. At this time, all the elders of Li Zhi's clan had arrived at Li Qing's house and were arguing noisily in the main room. When they saw Li Zhi arrive, they stopped to give him face, greeted him politely, and then continued arguing.
Li Zhi glanced around but didn't see his cousin Li Qing. Just as he was about to speak, the young man who had gone to look for him came in panting. As soon as he entered, he tried to tug at Li Zhi's clothes again, shouting, "Look, I brought Li Zhi! He's a scholar! He knows everything!"
The people arguing in the main room stopped and all looked at Li Zhi.
An elderly man said with a wry smile, "Even if your cousin is a scholar, he probably wouldn't understand your mother's illness. Li Yao, wasn't your father also a scholar?"
Li Yao stared blankly for a while, his face slowly turning red. He couldn't utter a single word, stammering for a long time before jumping up and down and shouting, "I don't care! I want Li Zhi to go see him!"
"Stop arguing!"
Li Qing came out from the inner room, glared at his son, and then turned to look at Li Zhi, who was standing silently to the side. Seeing that he was dressed in hemp clothes but had a straight posture, the contrast with Li Yao, who was scratching his head, was quite stark. Li Qing felt a pang of sadness and sighed, "Since Li Yao insisted that you come and see, then you should come and see your aunt."
Li Zhi nodded and went into the inner room.
The inner room was extremely dark, with thick paper covering the windows, preventing any light from getting in. Only a dim oil lamp on the table provided any light source.
Li Qing's wife, Zhang Yuniang, lay on the bed, covered with a thick quilt, and her face appeared to be covered with fabric as well.
Li Zhi couldn't see Zhang Yuniang's appearance clearly, so he took a step forward.
Now he saw it clearly.
His aunt did not cover her face with a cloth; rather, her purplish-black tongue had grown to over a foot long and could not be retracted into her mouth, so it was strangely displayed across her face.
Li Zhi stopped in his tracks, staring expressionlessly at Zhang Yuniang, whose eyes were vacant and who was drooling.
"What happened to my mother?" Li Yao asked expectantly from behind him.
"I don't know." Li Zhi lowered his gaze.
"Alright, one look is enough. Come out, everyone. Your mother needs to rest." Li Qing stared at Li Zhi for a few moments, then pulled Li Yao, who was still trying to say something more, and led him outside.
Li Zhi fell behind.
Before leaving the room, he turned back to look at his aunt one last time.
Zhang Yuniang's eyes trembled slightly, and her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to bite off her own tongue, indicating that she had not completely lost consciousness.
The Li family members stood in the main room, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to Li Qing.
Li Qing remained silent for a moment, seemingly powerless to resist, and sighed in defeat: "Let's wait a few more days. If she doesn't get better and is truly invaded by an evil spirit, I will personally go to town to invite the Celestial Master from the Temple of Strange People. I am not a fool who doesn't know what's important."
Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the main room immediately eased considerably. Apart from Li Yao, who was unaware of what was going on, the other members of the Li family all spoke up to comfort Li Qing.
With everyone offering their comforting words, Li Qing finally burst into tears.
Li Zhi stood quietly in the crowd, listening to the elders' lamentations and watching the grieving Li Qing.
Such a big thing happened in the village, causing quite a commotion.
After making a ruckus at Li Qing's house, the Li family talked for a long time, and when they parted, they seemed somewhat reluctant to leave.
When Li Zhi returned, it was already evening.
As he returned to the gate of his own courtyard, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, he hesitated for a moment.
After standing there for a while, Li Zhi finally reached out and pushed open the courtyard gate.
"You're back." Baozhu's voice came from the main room.
Hearing Baozhu's footsteps coming out of the house, Li Zhi's lips slowly curled up: "I'm back."
“I have something to discuss with Young Master Li.” Baozhu stopped in the courtyard and looked up at him.
“It just so happens that I also have something to say to you, Miss.” Li Zhi smiled and closed the door behind him. “It’s getting dark, my aunt is unwell, and the village is in a mess today, so it’s probably not a good time for you to come.”
"It's alright, that's all I wanted to say."
As the sun gradually set, Baozhu looked at Li Zhi, whose body was half-gilded with a layer of golden light—and the faint resentment that had reappeared on him—and frowned slightly, saying, "I'll have to trouble you for another night, young master."
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