Chapter 12 Going to the Lin Family: Probably just like her, they are all minor characters in the book.
As the morning bell faded away, the sound of students reciting their lessons from the Imperial College echoed through the alleyways. The Yao family lived nearby and could hear everything clearly.
Yao Qizhao had taken his medicine and slept soundly through the night, unaware that Madam Wu had come early that morning. Now, having washed and cleaned himself, he was sitting on a rattan mat on the front porch reading a letter. As he read, he couldn't help but listen to the sound of reading outside the wall, and frowned, saying, "Listen to this! Listen to this! The reading is so weak and disjointed! These students at the Imperial Academy are getting worse every year; even monks chanting scriptures are more attentive than them."
Yao Ruyi was drawing water from the well to wash the dishes when she heard this and couldn't help but laugh. This is quite similar to how teachers in later generations often say, "You are the worst class I've ever taught!"
After washing a large basin of bowls, she turned them upside down in a bamboo basket to drain, then went back to the kitchen and cooked two bowls of vegetarian noodles. She added a few green vegetables, a few drops of sesame oil, and a spoonful of pickled mustard green sauce to the noodles—simple yet delicious.
Yao Qizhao put the letter aside, and began to eat without being picky. He picked up his bowl of noodles and started slurping them down.
"Grandpa, I promised you yesterday that I'd buy you some meat once I've earned some money." Yao Ruyi patted her bulging satchel with a hearty laugh. With the few dozen coins she'd earned yesterday, and after deducting costs, she'd almost made half a string of cash in the past two days. A pound of pork belly cost only thirty-odd coins, which she could afford.
Yao Qizhao squinted at Yao Ruyi's smug look with her chin held high, and felt inexplicably happy for her. But he still tapped her with his cane: "Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd earned five hundred guan. Look at the future, isn't your tail wagging in the air? Don't flaunt your wealth. Quickly get rid of your arrogance and complacency!"
“What’s there to be afraid of in front of you? I’m happy to be happy!” Yao Ruyi clutched the strap of the coarse cloth bag on her shoulder, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with satisfaction. Her grandmother often said that men could lie, but money couldn’t. She had earned money, and could make a living in this world of books—how could she not be happy?
"Okay, okay, okay." He continued reading the letter with his head down, looking completely focused.
Yao Ruyi pouted at Grandpa Yao's back, and said, "I'm happy anytime, anywhere!"
Humming a little tune, she went inside, counted out the money she had saved for meat and vegetables that day, and hid the rest in the crevice of her bed. She was craving meat herself, so she decided to fry up some fragrant, crispy pork belly!
Before she fell ill in her previous life, her happiest days were waiting for the afternoons when middle school let out. Once the school was empty, her grandmother would lead her to pull down the roller shutter halfway, then pull the cord of the old-fashioned round light bulb in the house, and the dim yellow light of the old bulb would fill the shop, where no one would bother her anymore.
She then moved another stool into the kitchen to help her grandmother wash vegetables and rice.
In the living room, an old television set that someone else had traded in and given to them was playing a boring health program that would run for ten minutes and then cut off into commercials for thirty minutes.
Grandma would fry fragrant pork belly for her while telling her some made-up ghost stories.
She was so frightened that she wanted to eat but was also scared, so in the end she could only eat while crying in a cowardly manner.
Grandma would point at her and laugh out loud.
Yao Ruyi wrapped the money inside her belt. When she came out again, Grandpa Yao had already finished reading the letter and waved to her: "Ruyi, come here. The letter says that Wen An will arrive in the capital around the winter solstice. In that case, you should go to the Lin family as soon as possible today. If there is anything wrong, we can take care of it in advance."
Oh right, there's that too! She'd been so busy she'd forgotten! Yao Ruyi hurriedly and awkwardly agreed, "Give me the key, I'll go check it out now. I'll go get the meat when I get back. I'll lock the door, so you can stay home and read a book for a while, but don't wander off."
She didn't care whether this neighbor she had never met came back or not. Because Grandpa Yao often mentioned him, she had thought about it carefully a few times. She should remember correctly that the name "Lin Wen'an" did not appear in the book.
Like her, they are probably just minor characters in the book.
But Grandpa Yao valued it highly, so she thought it would put the old man at ease.
"How old am I? Do I need your instructions?" Yao Qizhao retorted, tucking the thick letter into his arms and muttering to himself. He then propped up his cane, struggled to his feet, and went back inside to get her the keys.
Fortunately, he was in good spirits today and hadn't forgotten where he put the keys. Although it took him a while to find them, he finally came out with a large bunch of keys, along with a stack of paper and pens.
When Yao Ruyi woke up early in the morning, she thought that her grandfather was a little more lucid today, but looking at his expression now, he seemed to have become confused again: "Ruyi, my hands are shaking so badly that I can't write a letter. Please write a letter back to Wen An for me, and send him some money. Don't tell him that I'm sick. Just tell him not to rush, to walk slowly on the road, and not to be stingy. Spend more money on the canal boat..."
Yao Ruyi's heart skipped a beat. Although thanks to the original owner of the body, she could easily understand vertical traditional Chinese characters and writing a few words wouldn't be difficult for her, she had never practiced calligraphy before, and she was afraid that she would give herself away as soon as she picked up a pen.
Besides, didn't Grandpa Yao always treat her like the little cook he hired? Why is he recognizing her as his granddaughter this time? However, she had seen elderly people with Alzheimer's disease in the hospital before, and their thinking was so unpredictable that it was impossible to make any logical deductions.
However, she didn't show any sign of unease. She calmly accepted the keys and letter Yao Qizhao handed her, and also showed him her hands, which were wrapped in gauze and had several blisters from burns.
“Grandpa, now that you’ve received the letter, I’m afraid the person has already set off. Even if you wrote a reply, he wouldn’t receive it. Besides, look at my hands… I’m not used to cooking. I’ve been forced into this job these past few days, and I burned my hands last night while making the braising liquid. They’re still swollen.”
Yao Ruyi wasn't a chef who cooked every day, and her experience with wood-fired stoves was more of a childhood memory. How could she possibly be perfect and error-free in everything? The original owner's ten delicate, white hands had been burned in seven or eight places by the fire and scalded by the pot after two days of her work.
The original owner didn't like going out, so her skin was fair and thin, making it look particularly bad when she got burned. Even light burns left painful red marks when touched, while severe burns not only left red marks but also small blisters and swelling, with soft, yellowish skin drooping around them.
Yao Qizhao glanced at it and immediately became anxious: "How did it get like this? Did you rinse it with cold water? Quickly go buy some burn ointment! If it starts to fester, it will be difficult to heal!"
"It's nothing serious. I rinsed it off and applied some tooth powder. It'll be fine in a couple of days." Yao Ruyi had taken her medicine that morning, so the pain wasn't too bad anymore. She had died once and cherished this body, but she had no choice; she always had to do things.
Yao Qizhao still seemed worried, so he took her hand and looked at it again and again, nagging her to be careful, and ordered her to go and get some burn ointment to apply.
Afterward, he stared at a mole on her wrist for a long time before suddenly letting go, leaning on his cane, and slowly turning back into the house: "You're right, Wen An is probably already on his way. I won't write the reply. You go and do your thing, I should go back to my room and grade the assignments those bastards handed in."
Yao Ruyi held the key and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing the bamboo curtain in Grandpa Yao's house slowly descend, she hurriedly went around to the back of her own house, squeezed past the woodshed, and walked to the end, where there was a small side door locked with a large lock.
Previously, the Yao and Lin families could enter and exit directly through this small door.
She shook the dust off the lock, turned the key to unlock it, removed the bolt, and pushed the door twice before it could move, the door panel clogged with dust.
Approaching this side gate, you'll find yourself in a small, overgrown courtyard.
Yao Ruyi walked through the knee-high weeds to the eaves, where the steps were mottled with moss, and then she could turn into the narrow door with spider webs hanging down.
Before me was a spacious and bright courtyard house with a main hall in the center, facing a square courtyard. There were two side rooms on each side. Weeds grew among the polished blue bricks. There was a well platform with a stone on the wooden cover, and there should be another well underneath.
Before Grandpa Yao fell ill, he would probably come in to check on things every month or two. Although the house hadn't been lived in for a long time, the courtyard was bright and airy, and although there was a musty smell, it wasn't unpleasant. As soon as she entered, she noticed several clumps of short grass growing on the roof tiles of the Lin family's house, with traces of being cut at the top. There was even a wooden ladder still propped up behind the door. These were signs that Grandpa Yao had come to help tidy up before he fell ill.
At such an advanced age, he's still climbing high to pick up tiles!
This old man!
Further along, at the end of the east corridor, there is a tall persimmon tree. Even though it has been neglected for many years, it still grows freely and lushly, with some green and yellow fruits hanging on its branches.
Yao Ruyi looked around and even walked up to stroke the trunk of the persimmon tree. When she got to the tree, she noticed a faded wooden board hanging on it. The ink marks on it were long since blurred, but the elegant strokes of the brush could still be seen.
She struggled for a long time before she could make out what was written on it:
mediocre
Taking the meaning of "May everything be peaceful and safe"
Transplanted in the summer of the first year of Baoyuan
This tree is lazy and prefers to grow taller with fewer fruits.
Yao Ruyi looked up and saw that it was indeed very tall, with only a few fruits.
She couldn't help but smile, her heart filled with tenderness.
It turns out that the "passerby" that Grandpa Yao often talked about was someone who could name trees.
She's quite like her; she also likes to name all sorts of things around the house. She even named her grandmother's motorcycle "Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey" before.
"Goodbye, Pingping. I'll come back to water you when I have time." She smiled and patted the tree trunk before continuing to carefully examine the tree along the corridor. There was a lot of dust on the ground, and apart from her, she didn't see any footprints indicating that anyone had come in. She then pushed open the carved wooden doors one by one to let the air out.
The Lin family's house had two courtyards, several times more spacious than the Yao family's, with a total of more than a dozen rooms, and was decorated in a much more elegant and comfortable style. After looking at the backyard, she planned to go through the moon gate to the front yard.
Later, she found a pot of bright red "Salvia splendens" in the front yard. The flowers were dense, like strings of bright red little bells. When she bent down to take a closer look, she saw that the white ceramic flowerpot was indeed inscribed with: "Miaomiao, planted and named by my younger sister Yueyue in the autumn of the second year of Baoyuan. It is a diligent and easy-to-grow flower, truly a fine flower, worthy of the name 'Miao'."
There is also a mimosa tree with a broad canopy, on which a small wooden board reads: "Listening Tree; transplanted in the spring of the second year of Baoyuan. Every night and on rainy days, its leaves fold together in pairs. Seeing this every month, I would often put my ear close, innocently trying to hear the whispers of the flowers and leaves, hence the name."
The courtyard was lush with vegetation; even though no one lived there, the flowers, plants, and trees continued to grow freely through the seasons. Yao Ruyi walked around the Lin family's house twice, letting the empty wind blow by, watching the dust quietly rise and fall in the beams of sunlight. Her heart felt as if it had been cleansed, and she calmed down.
After reading it twice to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I prepared to leave.
Just as she turned around, there was a rustling sound behind her, as if something was running past, brushing against the thick weeds.
Yao Ruyi was so frightened that her hair stood on end. She turned around sharply, but there was nothing there.
Only a gust of wind blew in, swirling up a few leaves and stirring the large spider busily weaving its web on the eaves.
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The male lead is just a background character who appears in other people's stories, lol.
Lin Wen'an: ...QAQ
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