Hua Jin pushed open the door and saw Pei Yan lying on the bed pitifully, his watery eyes staring at the door, like a helpless puppy. Her heart softened instantly, and she quickly walked to the bedside and reached out to touch his forehead: "It's still a little hot, and your face looks so bad, did you eat anything this morning?"
"I have no appetite. I don't want to eat." Pei Yan grabbed Hua Jin's hand. "I was dizzy and wanted to vomit, and the world was spinning. But when I saw you, I felt much better."
"You are sick but you are still not honest. Why are you saying sweet words?" Hua Jin glanced at the dropper bottle. There was only one-third of the liquid left. She sighed and looked at his hand with the needle. "I'll go make you some fruit porridge. You take a rest first."
"Don't go." Pei Yan grabbed her hand, "Just sit here with me for a while, okay?"
Seeing him looking at her eagerly, Hua Jin sat back on the bed and straightened the corner of his quilt: "Then I'll wait until this bottle of water is finished before going down."
"Okay." Pei Yan looked at Hua Jin's profile and put his face against her palm. "I was planning to take you to see Doctor Lin tomorrow and get you a different ointment. It seems like I'll have to wait a few days."
"My knee is an old problem. It doesn't matter if it's a day earlier or later." Hua Jin sighed, "Take good care of your own health first, then I can rest assured."
Pei Yan was not in a good mood. He forced himself to talk to Hua Jin for a while, then fell into a deep sleep. Hua Jin got up and touched his forehead, which was covered with a thin layer of sweat.
Sweating is a good thing, and the fever should go down soon.
After going downstairs to ask the doctor to change Pei Yan's medicine, Hua Jin asked the maid to take her to the kitchen. Pei Yan's kitchen was very large, with all kinds of kitchen utensils, some of which Hua Jin had never seen before.
There was a chef in the kitchen who was stewing soup. He was surprised to see her come in at first, but then he smiled when he realized that it was the maid who accompanied her in.
Hua Jin's cooking skills are not superb, but she has learned to wash clothes and cook since she was a child, so at least she can cook normal home-cooked meals. Perhaps because she had to cook every day when she was a child and was scolded if she didn't cook well, she became less keen on cooking after she came to this city and lived alone.
When she was a child, her living conditions were poor. She would have a poor appetite after catching a cold or having a fever. If it happened to be the fruit harvest season, her grandmother would cook for her with rock sugar and fruit. When she ate the food, her mouth was full of sweetness.
When I was young, the sweetness of rock sugar was so sweet that it was hard to forget it even after more than ten years.
After preparing the ingredients for the fruit porridge, Hua Jin began to slowly cook the porridge in a clay pot. When adding the fruit, she asked the chef, "Is there any sugar in the kitchen?"
"Sugar?" The chef was stunned for a moment, and helped Hua Jin find several jars, each of which contained a different kind of sugar. "Yes, but Mr. Pei doesn't like food that is too sweet."
"I see. Thanks for telling me." Hua Jin scooped up a piece of rock sugar with a sugar spoon and threw it into the bubbling porridge. The rock sugar was soon submerged in the porridge and could no longer be seen.
Gently stirring the porridge in the casserole with a wooden spoon, Hua Jin turned down the heat to minimum: "After ten minutes, please turn off the heat for me. I'll go upstairs to check."
"Okay." The chef agreed quickly. After Hua Jin left, he looked at the rock sugar jar in confusion. It was just adding a piece of rock sugar, so why did the lady's expression look so serious, as if she had finally completed the most important step?
Hua Jin returned upstairs and saw that Pei Yan had not woken up yet. She found a dry towel and patted Pei Yan, "Your pajamas are wet with sweat. I'll use my sweat to protect you."
Pei Yan sat up in a daze, and obediently let Hua Jin stuff the towel behind his back, then he held Hua Jin's hand and continued to sleep.
After the fever subsided, his face finally stopped being red, but it became a bit more unhealthy pale. Hua Jin sat with him for a while, and when the doctor came in to take out the injection for Pei Yan, Pei Yan slowly woke up again.
"Awake?" Hua Jin touched the top of his head. "Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Pei Yan shook his head and looked at Hua Jin with a smile: "Hua Hua, you are still here."
"Are you disappointed to see that I'm still here?" Hua Jin helped Pei Yan hold down the hemostatic cotton swab that was pressing the needle hole. "Don't move, or I'll punish you."
Pei Yan lay still obediently: "I'm just so happy to see you're still here."
The doctor, who was packing up needles and medicine bottles, heard the conversation between the two young people, smiled and took his medicine box down, and said to the maid, "I never thought that Mr. Pei would be as obedient as a cat in front of his girlfriend. It's really a case of one thing suppressing another."
"Then you see, can these two... make it work?" The maid looked upstairs and said in a low voice, "This is the first time Mr. Pei has brought a girl back."
"It's hard to say about young people, but judging from Mr. Pei's attitude towards this young girl, it's probably the same." The family doctor smiled and said, "Call me if you have anything. I'm leaving now."
As soon as the doctor left, the maid saw Hua Jin coming downstairs. Thinking she was leaving, she immediately said, "Miss Hua, lunch is ready. Do you want to eat first and then..."
"I'm not hungry yet. Bring the fruit porridge up to Pei Yan first, and I'll come down later." Hua Jin went to the kitchen and brought out the cooked fruit porridge. "You and the others can eat first. You don't have to wait for me."
Hua Jin brought the fruit porridge upstairs and found Pei Yan had changed into a clean shirt and was sitting by the bed. She put the porridge aside and said, "It's time to eat."
"Ah." Pei Yan opened his mouth wide.
"Young Master Pei, you are so old, and you still need someone to feed you." Hua Jin laughed helplessly and fed Pei Yan with the bowl, "Try it first to see if it suits your appetite. I haven't made this kind of porridge for several years."
When Pei Yan ate the porridge, he felt a faint fruity aroma and a sweet and sour taste. He nodded, "It's delicious. It's a delicacy."
Seeing Pei Yan's smiling face, Hua Jin thought of her childhood: "When I was sick before, what I looked forward to most was the fruit porridge cooked by my grandmother. Unfortunately, the transportation was not as convenient as it is now, and my family couldn't afford to spend money to buy fruits all year round. We could only eat fruits when they were ripe."
"My grandmother's house has many fruit trees, including pear trees, plum trees, peach trees, apricot trees, and citrus trees. Every time I go to my grandmother's house to play, it is my happiest time." Hua Jin smiled when talking about her childhood at her grandmother's house. "I was very naughty when I was a child. During the summer vacation, I looked for cicada shells in my grandmother's citrus grove, picked up tender citrus fruits that fell on the ground and dried them, and then went to the traditional Chinese medicine shop in the county town to exchange them for money. Every time I made money, I was very happy."
Pei Yan finished a bowl of fruit porridge unknowingly. He looked at the empty bowl and said, "I've finished it. What do you want to eat?"
"I'm not a patient, so of course I'll go downstairs and eat delicious food." Hua Jin patted Pei Yan's head. Pei Yan felt that her gesture was like patting a dog. "Be good, I'll come back to accompany you after I finish my meal."
Pei Yan: “…”
He should thank her for not eating the lavish food in front of him.
After lunch, Pei Yan felt much better. Hua Jin watched a sweet movie with him. Suddenly, there was a strong wind outside, lightning flashed, and it looked like it was going to rain.
"Is it going to rain?" Hua Jin frowned as she watched the lightning flash outside the window. "Pei Yan, I..."
"You just promised to have dinner with me, but now you're going to break your promise?" Pei Yan suddenly looked like he was dying. "I feel dizzy and my whole body feels uncomfortable."
Hua Jin: “…”
When a man becomes shameless, he can say anything.
"I'm afraid it will rain heavily later and it will be inconvenient for me to go back."
"Then don't go back, stay here." Pei Yan approached Hua Jin, blinking his beautiful eyes, "I won't eat you, what are you afraid of?"
Hua Jin covered her chest with her hands. Not only was he shameless, but he also used beauty tricks. How could she resist such temptation?
"I sleep alone on the second floor, and the workers I hired sleep on the first floor. What if I have a fever in the middle of the night and the thunder is too loud and they don't hear it? How pitiful would I be, alone and sick?" Pei Yan pulled Hua Jin's hand, "Tonight, you can live next door to me and keep me company, okay?"
"Okay." In front of beauty, Hua Jin, who had no bottom line, threw down his arms and weapons in an instant.
"Then let's watch another movie?" Pei Yan, who was dying and weak just now, stood up from the sofa in an instant and ran to the cabinet to look for a disc.
Hua Jin: “…”
Can't you pretend to be more like him?
The phone rang, she glanced at the caller and pressed the call button: "Hello, Mr. Mark."
Hearing the word Mark, Pei Yan continued to look for the disc as if nothing had happened, but his ears perked up.
Mark stood in front of the French window, looking at the dark clouds rolling in the sky outside the window: "Miss Hua, I have a draft for the pattern of the phoenix bird. I wonder if you have time tomorrow. Let's have lunch together and talk about the embroidery in detail."
"Tomorrow?" Hua Jin glanced at Pei Yan's hands that were rummaging around in the cabinet without any order. "Sorry, I'm afraid I don't have time tomorrow. If you don't mind, we can talk about this on video after dinner."
"Oh?" Mark's eyebrows moved slightly, "If you don't have time tomorrow at noon, tomorrow night will be fine."
"I'm afraid I won't have time tomorrow night. My boyfriend is sick and I have to take care of him." Hua Jin said, "Mr. Mark, if you have any requirements for embroidery, just let me know in the video. Even if you don't treat me to a meal, I will do my best to complete your work, so please don't worry."
"Of course I can trust Miss Hua's work." Hearing Hua Jin's refusal, Mark felt a little regretful that such an interesting lady was snatched away by another man first. "Since it is not convenient for you, let's make an appointment again when there is a chance in the future."
Hua Jin said a few polite words to him and hung up the phone. She looked up and saw Pei Yan eavesdropping. She couldn't help but smile: "Ask if you want."
"What's there to ask? I'm not the kind of man who would ask countless questions about his girlfriend every time she goes out." Pei Yan put the disc into the player and said generously, "Don't worry, I'm not that petty."
Hua Jin looked at the player and said with a half-smile, "The disc is in the wrong place."
The man who talks tough is really not petty at all.
After dinner, Hua Jin borrowed Pei Yan's study and made a video conference request with Mark. Pei Yan was sitting in the corner holding a book, with an expression that said, "I'm not here to listen to you, I just happen to be sitting here reading."
It was stormy outside, but there was an indescribable beauty inside the house. Pei Yan leaned against the back of the comfortable chair, glanced at Pei Yan on the sofa, who peeked over here from time to time, and couldn't help but smile.
The video was connected, and Mark saw that Hua Jin's smile had not faded yet. He picked up the coffee and took a sip: "Miss Hua, good evening. I'm sorry to bother you again in the evening because of my matter."
"You're welcome." Hua Jin restrained her smile and adjusted her sitting posture. "I will do my best to cooperate with Mr. Mark's requirements on work matters."
Mark noticed that Hua Jin's study was very large, and there were many precious books on the bookshelf behind her, which were not what an ordinary family could have. However, he only took a glance and retracted his gaze: "Regarding the issue of Shu brocade, I have arranged for someone to inquire. There are several weaving masters in Shu Province, but they are already old and I am afraid they cannot meet my requirements."
It is inevitable for the development of society that machines will replace most of the manual labor. As a top designer, he knows what visual effect each piece of cloth will have after being made into clothes, but he may not understand the production process of the cloth.
Hua Jin was not surprised to hear Mark's words: "There is not much difference between machine-woven Shu brocade and hand-woven brocade nowadays, but there are some traditional weaving techniques that machines cannot do now. I don't know what effect you want to achieve with this skirt, Mr. Mark, but as an embroiderer, I still feel that only specific fabrics can make the embroidery on clothes play the best effect."
"Does Hua Jin have any recommendations for suitable weavers?" Mark knew that Hua Jin was telling the truth. He looked at Hua Jin in the video and asked, "Or do you have a suitable purchasing channel?"
"I'm sorry, the fabrics I usually use are mostly machine-woven Shu brocade, and only a small amount of expensive embroidery uses hand-woven fabrics, but those are made by ordinary weavers, and they can't meet that standard." Hua Jin shook her head, "So I don't have a suitable purchasing channel to improve. In this regard, perhaps a few embroidery masters know more than me."
"Miss Hua, have you ever heard of any great weavers?" After Mark asked this question, he noticed that Hua Jin's expression became a little strange.
"Before I came into contact with embroidery, I saw a very good weaver who could weave Shu brocade that was as thin as cicada wings and as light as mist." Hua Jin lowered her eyelids, "But she is not a famous master."
Mark was delighted when he heard this: “Where is she?”
"In a remote county town in Shu Province." Hua Jin curled the corners of his lips, "Anonymous County."
"Anonymous County?" Perhaps this county was too remote, and Mark had never even heard of it.
"It's a nameless little place." Hua Jin turned around and looked at Pei Yan who was sitting on the sofa and still peeking at her. "If Mr. Mark needs it, I'd like to go there in a few days."
Look at the place she once tried so hard to escape from and has not set foot on for nearly eight years.
Things that I once didn't want to face, things that I didn't want to recall, things that I was afraid of in my dreams at midnight, all seem to be no longer so important at this moment.
She wanted to take Pei Yan to visit her grandmother's hometown and burn some incense for her, so that she would know that her granddaughter, who had escaped from the nightmare for eight years, finally had enough courage to face everything.
Pei Yan saw Hua Jin turning her head to look at him, and he gave her a big smile.
The author has something to say: Huahua Diary: If you don’t return to your hometown when you are rich and powerful, it is like walking in fine clothes at night.
Pei Yan: Huahua is right.
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