Chapter 10.10 They grew up so quickly.
He said it so readily, but when it came to actually washing himself, he froze on the spot, unable to even take off his clothes properly.
Yuezhi wasn't annoyed. She rolled up her sleeves and started teaching him how to bathe himself, beginning with splashing water on him.
At his age, he could read the Records of the Grand Historian by heart, yet he needed someone to teach him how to bathe himself. Pei Heng, who was easily embarrassed, blushed deeply. "I've got it. You can go now."
Yuezhi closed the door and went out, returning to the main room to tidy her clothes.
These days, sleeping at the Wang family's house, she only dared to take off one cotton-padded jacket, afraid that her valuables would be seen. Because the gold and silver were uncomfortable, she didn't even dare to turn over at night.
Now, after folding the new cotton-padded jacket and old clothes she had bought during the day and putting them in the wardrobe, and tidying up her clothes and shoes, she took off the inner thin jacket and took out all the gold and silver from the inner layer, and even poured out the pearls from her belt.
A candle was lit in the inner room, and gold and silver jewels were piled on the quilt. Even a tiny glimmer of light made them shine dazzlingly.
She counted them carefully: two gold ingots totaling twenty taels, five silver ingots totaling seventy taels, three taels of loose silver, plus the fifty-two copper coins remaining in her purse—that was all she had.
In addition, there was a pile of pearls and a gold lock. The pearls were difficult to price and sell, and the gold lock was a gift from Pei Heng to her during a time of crisis, so it was of great significance and naturally could not be sold.
The newly bought wardrobe had a hidden compartment. She first hid the gold, pearls, and gold lock inside, then left ten taels of silver ingots and put the remaining sixty taels into another hidden compartment.
The two of them spend no more than three to five hundred coins a month on food and other necessities. With the cost of Pei Heng's writing implements, ink, paper, and inkstone, this amount of silver will last them a long time.
As Yuezhi was recounting the future, she had just closed the wardrobe when a white figure ran in from outside.
Before she could see clearly, he climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and crawled into the quilt.
"Have you dried yourself off?" Yuezhi wanted to lift the blanket to look at him, but Pei Heng pulled the blanket along the edge to prevent her from seeing.
After he finished showering in the bathhouse and put on his undergarments, he soon felt extremely cold. He rushed into the main room without even tying his belt properly. He was currently tying his belt under the covers, too embarrassed to let anyone see him.
Yuezhi assumed he was just cold and didn't ask any more questions. She took her change of clothes and went to the bathhouse to take a shower.
When she returned to the inner room, it was quiet, and the candle on the kang (a heated brick bed) was almost out.
She blew out the candles, climbed onto the kang (heated brick bed), and crawled into bed. The soft quilt smelled of freshly sun-dried flowers, which, combined with the scent of soap on her body, made her feel completely relaxed and comfortable.
Yuezhi never imagined that she would have her own courtyard at the age of fifteen, with brand new furniture and bedding.
Although she paid for the items herself, these three brick houses and the courtyard were thanks to Pei Heng.
Wangshan Village is remote and sparsely populated, with plenty of land and many vacant and abandoned houses, which is why they were able to get such a bargain. If they had stayed in Yanjing City, they would have had to work for others for many years to afford even a small house.
The more Yuezhi thought about it, the more she felt that Pei Heng was her lucky star.
Ever since he took her from the embroidery room to the East Palace, even though she experienced oppression and exile in between, look at what she has now: a house, money, and freedom—a good life she never dared to dream of when she was a palace maid.
If only I could live such a peaceful life.
She took a deep breath, unable to suppress the smile on her face, pulled the blanket tighter, and turned over.
As she breathed, the boy next to her, who had warmed up, turned over and unconsciously curled up into a ball in his sleep, like a freshly cooked glutinous rice cake falling into her arms.
It feels so warm.
When her arm touched the top of his head, feeling its softness, Yuezhi's heart softened, and she lowered her hand to gently stroke his back.
The sleeping boy shifted his body and skillfully snuggled into her arms, his forehead resting against her chest. His soft breathing resembled that of a small, adorable animal, making Yuezhi want to protect him for the rest of her life.
He has fallen from the heavens to this rural countryside, and there are bound to be things he doesn't know or can't do. She will take good care of him, and when he becomes successful in the future, she will be able to enjoy the good life with him.
The winter wind seems to never stop.
As the year draws to a close, a heavy snow fell, with goose-feather-like snowflakes drifting down and turning the world into a blanket of white.
The snow had been falling for several days straight, and the newly built brick houses were almost buried in snow.
A charcoal brazier was burning in the main room. Yuezhi sat by the brazier sewing clothes, while Peiheng sat at the table and chair next to it reading and writing. The room was so quiet that only the crackling sound of burning charcoal could be heard.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the snow melts and spring returns.
After the weather warmed up, Yuezhi made bedding for the new bed in the east wing. Pei Heng moved into the east wing with his books and asked someone to buy him several new books he hadn't read before. He studied even more diligently.
Yuezhi embroidered handkerchiefs and consigned them to shops in the city. She could earn more than ten coins for each handkerchief. Because of her exquisite embroidery skills and unique designs, they were often sold out in less than two days after being delivered to the shop.
The shop owner made a lot of money from this, and later asked her to add some sachets, waistbands and other items. Just by consigning, Yuezhi could earn more than 500 coins a month.
Villagers would occasionally ask her to make new clothes for their children. Since the children's clothes were small and didn't waste much fabric, she would only symbolically charge them twenty or so coins.
The villagers said she was warm-hearted, her clothes were sewn tightly, and she was willing to put in a lot of effort for them. Whenever they harvested new vegetables, picked wild fruits, or hunted wild game, they would always send some to her house so that her siblings could have a taste.
More than half a year passed, and one morning, a stranger came to the door, claiming to be a servant of the Marquis of Jing'an's mansion in Yanjing. He said that the daughter of the Marquis had learned of Yuezhi's excellent embroidery skills and specially asked her to embroider a birthday picture for her grandmother.
Yuezhi couldn't believe that the daughter of a marquis would send someone to the remote mountains to invite someone to give her a birthday gift, but the servant took out a small gold ingot and respectfully handed it to her.
A deposit of five taels of gold?
The Marquis of Jing'an's mansion in the north is truly wealthy...
Lured by the large sum of money, Yuezhi agreed to the task. In order to complete the birthday gift before the old lady's birthday, she lit lamps and candles every day to embroider the huge birthday celebration picture.
Less than a month later, a painting of cranes and pines in the Southern Mountains at the old lady's birthday celebration amazed the guests. The stunningly beautiful birthday painting, as natural as an ink painting, was actually embroidered with fine strands of hair!
Everyone says that the daughter of the Marquis is filial and sincere, and praises the Marquis of Jing'an for his excellent parenting skills.
Yuezhi couldn't see the excitement in the Marquis's mansion; she only knew that she had spent a month painstakingly embroidering and received ten taels of gold—a sure-fire way to make money.
She rubbed her eyes, exhausted from the long hours, but wishing there would be more of these lucrative jobs.
Time passed like flowing water, and two more years went by. During this time, a few wealthy families in Yanjing City learned that the painting of cranes and pines in Nanshan was her work, and they sent people over to pay her to embroider things.
Flowers bloom and fade, wind blows and snow falls, the seasons turn.
Life in the countryside is simple and peaceful, like a pot of slowly brewed tea, its fragrance lingering.
In the blink of an eye, the tender girl has grown into a graceful lady with black hair reaching her waist. The lively and cheerful light in her eyes has become gentle and docile, but her hands, which are still white and tender, remain.
Yuezhi sat inside looking outside. In the sweltering summer, the vegetable garden that had been cultivated in the yard was already lush and green.
Before I knew it, I had been in Wangshan Village for six years.
*
Wangshan Village is not the only village in the border area that has been reclaimed and settled. Three years ago, four villages in the border area that are close to each other pooled their money to build a school in the largest village, Yuxi, and invited an old teacher to teach the children to read. Children from all four villages can come to study.
Pei Heng now works as a teacher in this school, teaching children to read and recite.
At first, the old scholar was afraid of the cold in early spring and couldn't go out. The village chief knew that he could read, so he asked him to come and teach for two months. Who knew that he was so young, but he was even more upright in his teaching than the old scholar. Before long, he stayed for a long time.
Every morning, I would go to Yuxi Village to teach for two hours, and then walk home at noon, rain or shine, for two years.
"Little Aheng!"
At noon, Pei Heng returned to Wangshan Village. As he walked along the ridges of the fields, his slender and upright figure drew glances from the men, women, and children working in the fields.
"Among all the boys in the surrounding villages, he is the most handsome. He was handsome since he was a child, and he is still handsome now that he has grown up."
"That's because his parents are good-looking. He and his sister are both beautiful. They are also smart and skilled. Unlike us, they don't have to endure the wind and sun. They are born fair-skinned and beautiful. It's really enviable."
"If you like her so much, why don't you ask your parents to propose marriage? Yuezhi is a good earner, and she has such a good teacher as her younger brother. Whoever marries her will be very lucky."
"Go away!" The man buried his head in the ground and nudged his teasing cousin with his elbow. "Don't say things like that. If Wang Qiushi hears you, see how he teaches you a lesson."
"Tsk tsk." The woman looked at the handsome young man in blue on the edge of the field. He had stopped and was talking to Wang Miaomiao, who had called out to him from another field.
The woman sighed and shook her head, "Why is it that our family isn't so lucky to be neighbors with Yuezhi and her brother?"
Not far away, Wang Miaomiao ran from the field to the edge of the field, turned her head to show Pei Heng her hair ribbon in a showy manner.
"Made of silk?" Pei Heng recognized it at a glance.
Wang Miaomiao smiled proudly, "Sister Yuezhi gave it to me this morning, isn't it pretty?"
"You stopped me just to say this?"
In the six years that followed, Pei Heng had grown quite a bit taller. Wang Miaomiao, who used to be half a head taller than him, now had to look up at him.
"I also wanted to ask you, you're fifteen this year, are you going to Yanjing to take the civil service exam?"
"We do have this plan."
"That's great!" Wang Miaomiao clapped her hands happily. "You're so smart, you'll definitely pass the exam. Once you become a clerk, my brother's biggest worry will finally be resolved."
"What are you talking about?" Pei Heng was completely confused.
Wang Miaomiao's eyes lit up with delight. Just as she was about to whisper something to him, Wang Qiushi called out "Miaomiao!" from the field. She immediately shrugged and turned back to the field.
Aunt Wang called out to him, "Aheng, that brat Miaomiao just loves to talk nonsense, don't take it to heart."
Pei Heng bowed to them in return, without giving it much thought.
When I got home, I opened the door and saw a figure in a peach-pink dress standing in the lush vegetable garden in the yard. She had a vegetable basket on her arm and was about to pick vegetables.
"Don't move!" Pei Heng quickly put the book box on the stone table and went over to lead Yue Zhi back to the stone bench.
"I've told you so many times, with me here, you don't need to do these chores." He took the vegetable basket and went to the vegetable patch to pick vegetables, afraid that she would get restless and want to help again. He would occasionally turn around and stare at her, telling her to stay put and rest.
Yuezhi sat on the stone bench with her legs spread apart, looking at the broad back of the boy as he bent over, and felt a warmth in her heart.
He's grown so much in just a few years.
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