Chapter 8 Drought Fortunately, he found her.
The old man's figure disappeared at the end of the alley. Ayu turned around and walked towards the main street.
The moment I stepped out of the alley, the sunlight that had been filtering through the crisscrossing eaves poured down on me, like boiling water drenching me.
Rows of willows line both sides, their leaves like jade, a myriad of green strands. The scenery before my eyes is cut into slender strips by the delicate leaves, and my gaze is also fragmented.
The moment Ayu looked up, her previously brisk pace abruptly slowed down.
As far as the eye could see, there stood a man in a bamboo hat and blue robe on the opposite street corner, his silhouette as ethereal as smoke.
He hadn't expected to find Yue Yining so quickly; his heart suddenly pounded violently, as expected.
"Miss!"
Hearing the familiar voice, the woman in green turned around, her long black hair billowing in the air before slowly falling back down to her slender shoulders.
His obsidian-like eyes were filled with surprise when he saw him clearly.
Yue Yining looked at him as he approached, her face full of surprise: "What are you doing here?"
Ayu took the cloth bag off her waist and handed it to Yue Yining. Looking into her eyes, she said, "After parting ways with Miss, I hadn't gone far when I felt that the weight of the bag was wrong. I opened it and found Miss's talisman inside, so I guessed that I had taken the wrong one."
Yue Yining was stunned for a moment. She took the cloth bag from Ayu, opened the elastic knot, and inside lay a bronze token. As the bag swayed, the copper coins and sunlight danced back and forth on the worn marks of the token.
Before the two parted ways, she divided the money for purchasing supplies, putting it in a smaller cloth bag and giving it to Ayu, while keeping the money bag containing the token for herself.
Both bags were handmade by Fu Yao herself, made from the same piece of silver-patterned fabric. They looked very similar, but she hadn't expected that she had given the wrong bag in such a hurry.
“I didn’t know if the tools and materials needed for divination were expensive, and I was afraid that Miss didn’t have enough money to pay for it, so I quickly turned back to find her.” Ayu smiled with her eyes crinkling. “I asked the merchants and passersby along the way if they had seen a young woman in a blue dress and a bamboo hat. A few people happened to remember Miss and pointed me in the right direction.”
He looked down at her, a nameless tremor rising in his throat. As if remembering something, his voice suddenly lowered, almost a murmur: "...I was always worried that I might not be able to find you, thankfully."
Fortunately, he found her.
Yue Yining pulled on the braided rope and slowly tightened the opening of the money bag without saying a word.
Ayu's voice was gentle and steady, seemingly neither humble nor arrogant, but she could actually hear the caution in his voice. Even though she had given him the wrong bag, he insisted it was a mistake, as if afraid she would think he was blaming her.
Perhaps it was her previous rejection and avoidance that caused him to lose his initial composure and calm. He thought long and hard before speaking, as if he was always watching her expression.
As Yue Yining thought about it, her lips unconsciously pursed slightly.
...And just now, she was wondering if he was intentionally following her.
Because of her suspicions, Yue Yining abandoned the idea of leaving immediately and deliberately waited not far from the alley entrance, just waiting for him to come up and speak to her.
She had even thought about how to ask him questions, but he stopped her completely with the money bag he offered.
...That's true. If it were truly tailing someone, one would be extremely cautious, following closely behind without making a single mistake. How could she have noticed?
Thinking of this, a barely perceptible tension pierced deep into her chest, taking root and making her feel a little flustered.
Seeing that she didn't respond for a while, Ayu called out "Miss" again.
"...Don't go to the east of the city."
Ayu paused, and Yue Yining put away her money pouch and put her bamboo hat back on. For some reason, the voice coming from under the white veil became muffled, "Since you're already here, come with me to the west of the city."
"We'll go buy the rest together later..." Even though that would take more time.
But suddenly she didn't want to care about so much anymore.
The midday sun shone brightly, and a few inches of gentle sunlight peeked through the tightly sealed white veil, revealing half of the woman in green's profile, her face as smooth and lustrous as mutton-fat jade. As she spoke, she deliberately avoided looking in his direction, appearing somewhat embarrassed.
Ayu unconsciously held her breath.
The gauze curtain had long been drawn, but his gaze followed her, almost as if he were lost in thought.
That was a side of Yue Yining that he had never read about in books and scattered historical materials, a side of her that he had never seen before.
Like a child who has done something wrong, awkwardly wants to make up with him, but is too proud to admit it, so he secretly slips a piece of candy into his hand and runs away.
Uncontrollable thoughts grew wildly, and a crack appeared in the empty altar in his heart. The first ray of light drifted and fell on the moss-covered statue.
...
Because of the delay on the road, it was very late when she got home after shopping that day. Yue Yining was more tired than usual and went to bed early.
Unexpectedly, the next day, as soon as she woke up, she saw Fu Yao push open the door and walk in with a furrowed brow.
Yue Yining was stunned: "What's going on?"
Fu Yao's expression was more somber than ever before. The usually lively and cheerful maidservant remained silent for a moment before speaking: "...Miss, something bad has happened."
The signs of drought had appeared long ago, but Yue Yining did not expect it to come so swiftly.
Fu Yao: "Yesterday I went out to the morning market, but I found that there were very few shops selling rice and flour. The few that were selling rice and flour were extremely expensive, far exceeding the previous price. I took a long detour to the larger neighboring town of Baixian, and the situation was the same. When I asked around, I learned that the drought was severe, and many farmers were afraid of losing their harvest this year, so they were unwilling to sell their grain. Now, those still selling grain are almost all wealthy merchants and large landowners. They have their sights set on some people who have no choice but to buy, and they are planning to fleece them. The price of their grain is so high that it is almost comparable to gold and silver."
"Since the beginning of summer, it hasn't rained for three months. The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and some streams near the villages have even dried up. The villagers say that after the national mourning, the court was in turmoil, and the government's disaster relief grain has been delayed for a long time. Now it seems that we can't count on it anymore..."
After listening calmly, Yue Yining gestured for Fu Yao not to be anxious, "I understand. Did you buy any grain yesterday?"
Fu Yao hurriedly said, "I bought it! Because we really didn't have enough rice and flour at home, I gritted my teeth and spent all my money to buy some. But even all of this combined isn't enough for the three of us to eat for a month..."
Yue Yining paused. Just then, the half-closed door was pushed open from the outside.
She looked up and saw that it was Ayu carrying the tea.
He sensed the tense and frozen atmosphere, and slowed his movements as he entered the inner room: "What happened?"
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