Chapter 6 A Lu
The sunset in the desert does not give people a feeling of vastness and grandeur. When the wind blows, the dust is blown away, leaving only the black and yellow desolation.
When Chen Zijie's carriage rolled over the last ridge, Wen Youqing's fingers trembled slightly as she lifted the brocade curtain. The wind from the northern border swept into the carriage with sand and gravel, and dust squeezed into her eyes and between her teeth.
Wen Youqing secretly wiped the sand from her mouth with a handkerchief, but the handkerchief embroidered with orchids was accidentally blown into the mud because of her illness and weakness.
"Madam, be careful." The guard driving the carriage wanted to jump down to pick it up, but she stopped him softly.
The moment the blue satin embroidered shoes stepped on the yellow earth, the poplar trees on both sides of the official road bared their fangs and claws, and the smoke from the watchtower in the distance reached the sky.
The people who came to greet him were wrapped in faded clothes, and there was not a single official among them. The hunchbacked clerk in the lead had a smile on his face, but the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were frozen with ice. He said, "Lord Shen, you have arrived just in time. Our bitter cold land is in need of talented people like you to educate us."
This man always spoke with a strange drawl, and there was a group of people standing at the door, and they didn't seem to be in a mood to let anyone in.
The hunchbacked clerk took out a dusty water bag and handed it to Shen Zijie in a flattering tone, "Since you have come from afar, the magistrate will prepare some wine to welcome you."
Shen Zijie took the water bag and brushed off the dust with disdain. He thought of the people of Xunyang he had seen on the road. There were only 121 households there, all of them pale and thin, with numbness and cruelty hidden in their eyes. They stared at the newly appointed group like jackals. Shen Zijie said, "No need. Distribute the food to the people. Take me to retrieve the household registration books first."
Upon hearing this, the clerk immediately flattered him: "Your Excellency is kind-hearted, but there is no need to rush. The journey would be tiring for my wife."
This statement was indeed presumptuous, but Shen Zijie pretended not to understand and took the opportunity to back down, but he also needed to rest first.
The Shen family had many followers, so they didn't need to buy servants for the time being, so they quickly settled in. The shepherd's residence was already a respectable brick and tile house, but the walls were cracked and dusty in some places.
"What a high-ranking official," Wen Youqing said coldly, coughing slightly as he spoke. "He didn't even come to pick me up, and he gave me this house. Is Wang Shouren really that arrogant just because he has the last name 'Wang'?"
Shen Zijie was good-tempered and said comfortingly: "Don't be angry, don't be angry, we will go meet them later."
Soon, all the officials except Wang Shouren came to visit. Wen Youqing watched Shen Zijie being escorted to the yamen. The sixth-rank green official uniform swayed in the gray crowd, like a bamboo leaf floating in the muddy waves.
The welcoming banquet that night was held at the only restaurant in the city - Ju'an Tower.
The faded curtains were rustling in the north wind. County Magistrate Wang Shouren was waiting there early, acting like the master of the house.
When Wang Shouren came over with the wine cup, Wen Youqing smelled the strong smell of mutton from his cuffs, which made her feel nauseous.
"I heard that Madam is an expert at playing the zither?" He grinned, revealing his tobacco-stained teeth. "I got a good item the other day—"
Two yamen runners grunted as they carried up a Jiaoweiqin.
Wen Youqing's breathing stopped. The body of the zither was clearly made of top-quality thunderwood, but the strings were made of randomly twisted cowhide.
Magistrate Wang's rough fingers scraped across the zither, making a harsh, scraping sound. "Our frontier is not like the capital. Many of our brothers haven't heard of it. I've heard that your wife is a very talented woman. Could you please let everyone open their eyes?"
A subordinate asking his superior's wife to play music is really arrogant and shameless!
However, Wen Youqing did not confront him head-on, but just took the piano with a smile.
"Thank you for your kindness, sir." Wen Youqing placed her slender jade fingers on it, and a song of "Ten Sides of Ambush" came out like a muffled thunder, which made people's cochlea hurt.
In just a few breaths, the string broke with a loud bang, violently knocking over the glass of wine that Wang Shouren had just handed to him.
"What a pity! This piano hasn't been played for so long that the strings are brittle. It's really disrespectful of you." As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of those who had just wanted to watch the fun changed.
Shen Zijie started pretending not to understand again, and got back the spotlight with a laugh.
A little later, Wen Youqing excused herself from the table, claiming illness, leaving behind a few vague words about "young ladies being spoiled." She hurried through the corridor, her skirt lifted, the moonlight illuminating the blue brick floor with a pale white.
Suddenly, a dark shadow jumped out from the corner of the wall, startling her so much that she took two steps back. When she looked closely, she saw a little girl carrying a bamboo basket. Her coarse clothes were covered with patches, but her eyes were as bright as the stars in the desert.
"Don't be afraid, ma'am." The child took a clay pot from the basket and opened the lid, revealing a medicinal aroma. "This is tea made from fangfeng root. It's the best way to dispel cold."
Wen Youqing looked at the steam rising from the can and didn't take it immediately. She just asked, "What's your name?"
"They all call me Ah Lu, because my mother gave birth to me in a reed marsh." The little girl pressed the pot into her hands, her fingertips cracked. "Madam, drink it quickly. The firewood in the kitchen behind the sunken door is wet, and the kang will definitely get damp in the middle of the night. And that dog hole behind the east wing is too big. I got in through it. Madam, please find someone to fix it quickly."
Sure enough, before midnight, Wen Youqing was awakened by the dampness in the mattress. The charcoal fire was suffocating, and he couldn't light it when he was asleep.
The night watch maid, wrapped in a cotton robe, dozed in the side room. Wen Youqing tiptoed open the window and saw a familiar figure squatting at the foot of the courtyard wall. Ah Lu was pounding herbs in a stone mortar. When she heard the noise, she looked up and found a few bits of grass on the tip of her nose.
"This is mugwort ash. Mix it with the charcoal basin so it won't be choking." She held up a coarse cloth bag. "If Madam doesn't mind..."
Before he finished speaking, the night patrol guard came around the corridor with a lantern.
Ah Lu leaped up like a frightened rabbit, and before Wen Youqing could stop her, the dusty figure had already disappeared through the moonlit gate. Only the bluish-brown medicinal residue in the stone mortar shone faintly in the moonlight.
The next morning, Wen Youqing found a wicker lunch box at the entrance to her wing. She lifted the cover and found a coarse porcelain bowl filled with golden corn porridge, with a few wild fruits beside it. She picked one up and put it in her mouth. After the sour taste, it was surprisingly sweet.
Ah Lu appeared out of nowhere and quickly picked up a yellow fruit, wiping it on the hem of her skirt. "Madam, try this. The sea buckthorn fruit I picked in the back mountain is sweeter than this."
Although she didn't know what the child was up to, Wen Youqing still felt soft-hearted and asked, "Alu, take me to see the sea buckthorn forest you mentioned."
Wen Youqing walked around the gap in the government office's back wall, and for the first time, he got a clear view of the border town. The rammed earth walls, rippled by rain, resembled wrinkles on an old man's face.
Ah Lu skipped ahead, leading the way. The red string tied to her pigtails fluttered in the wind like two flames. Such a bright color must have been made of some expensive fabric; it seemed her family loved her very much.
"Madam, look!" Ah Lu suddenly pointed to a clump of dry grass at the base of the city wall. "When the spring rains are plentiful, peppers will grow here. When they bloom, the whole wall will be covered in purple."
The little girl squatted down and dug away the snow to reveal a few shriveled plants. "This is Cynomorium songaricum. My mother said it can cure the back pain of the yamen runners."
Wen Youqing squatted down, her brocade skirt trailing on the muddy ground. She reached out and touched the curled, withered stems. Suddenly, she heard Ah Lu whisper, "The nail polish on Madam's nails is so beautiful. It looks like... like a sunset."
The north wind blew sand across the city walls, but Wen Youqing felt something sprouting in her heart. She took off her fox fur collar and gently put it around A-Lu's neck, covering her red, cold face. "This is for you."
"No!" The little girl jumped up as if she'd been burned. She wanted to take it off but was afraid of getting the collar dirty. When she reached out, the short cotton jacket revealed half of the bruise on Ah Lu's arm.
"Who hit you?"
Ah Lu hurriedly pulled down her sleeves, her eyelashes fluttering. "No one, I fell on my own, seriously, it happens every now and then..." She suddenly looked up, her eyes brightening surprisingly. "But my mother taught me to read! I can even recite the Thousand Character Classic!"
Wen Youqing gazed at the rolling hills in the distance and recalled the official document she had seen in the study the day before: the winter clothing of soldiers guarding the border was stuffed with reed quilts. She bent down and grabbed a handful of snow, the ice chips pricking her palms painfully. "Go tell your mother that from today on, you'll come to my house to work."
Ah Lu's eyes lit up instantly, she nodded hurriedly, and ran away shouting happily: "Madam, wait for me, I'll go home and tell my mother right away!"
As dusk fell, Wen Youqing discovered a clay pot on the windowsill of his wing room. Inside, a reed branch, twisted and as hard as iron, swayed in the wind.
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