Chapter 15 recalls how she indulged her bad intentions.
The sacrificial ceremony was finally completed step by step in a subtle atmosphere.
As soon as the main ceremony ended, Li, supporting Old Madam Yu, said with obvious worry on her face to the village chief and Yu Chengfu, "Uncle Zhengde, elder brother, Mother has been busy all day, and her face looks a little pale. I'm afraid her old illness has flared up again. Although the road back to our village is not far, I'm afraid Mother won't be able to handle the bumpy ride. Could we rest at your house for a while before continuing?"
Yu Zhengde's home was not far from the ancestral hall, so her words were reasonable and hard to refuse. Old Mrs. Yu was slightly out of breath, clearly not feeling well.
Although village chief Yu Zhengde was unhappy that the third wife was late, he nodded because the old lady's health was the priority: "In that case, let's go to my house to rest for a while." Since his wife hadn't come, he had to lead the way himself.
Li thanked them quickly, and then smiled at Yu Chengfu and Deng Sanniang, saying, "Brother, sister-in-law, then I'll trouble you and my second sister's family to help look after the villagers who are coming later. I'll come over as soon as Mother has rested."
Seeing that his mother looked really pale, Yu Chengfu said in a muffled voice, "Okay, you guys go first, we'll take care of things here."
So, Li helped Old Lady Yu and followed the village chief home. Yu Chenglu naturally followed as well, leaving Yu Man's family and his second aunt Yu Chengxiu's family behind in the ancestral hall to entertain the villagers who came to offer incense.
Yu Chengfu and Wang Zhiyi were in charge of guiding the male guests, while Deng Sanniang and her second aunt Yu Chengxiu, along with Yu Manze, greeted the female guests, serving tea and water and responding to the villagers' greetings. Xiuxiu and Xing'er, the two younger ones, were also busy, helping to pass things and run errands.
People came and went, and incense burned continuously until the sun began to set, at which point the number of worshippers gradually dwindled. After seeing off the last villager, Yu Man felt a sudden ache in her back and couldn't help but gently massage it.
Just then, a cup of warm tea was handed to her.
Yu Man was slightly taken aback and turned her head to look. She saw Pei Ji standing beside her at some point, looking at her calmly. She took the rough earthenware teacup; its warmth soothed her slightly dry throat. She lowered her head and took a sip. It was tea made from wild jujubes she had brought from home, slightly sour with a sweet aftertaste.
"Thank you." She thanked him, then glanced around the somewhat empty courtyard of the ancestral hall. Not seeing the familiar little figure, she casually asked, "Where's Xiuxiu? Where has she run off to again?"
“She’s tired. My mother took her home to rest.” Pei Ji’s voice was gentle. “She’s young, her energy comes and goes quickly, she can’t keep up with working from morning till night like this.” He paused, looking at Yu Man’s listless face, a barely perceptible tenderness appeared in his eyes, and added, “Just like you when you were little.”
Yu Mancai took a sip of water, glared at him, and said irritably, "Who's like her? I wasn't that resilient when I was little."
Her engagement to Pei Ji wasn't arranged from the moment she was born. She first met Pei Ji at a similar, but much smaller, village sacrificial ceremony. She was still young then, and rather mischievous. Confined by her mother, she listened to the adults' endless chatter, feeling utterly bored. After eating her fill of the offerings, she couldn't resist the urge to sneak out and play.
Her mother was still there. Seeing her fidgeting, she whispered to stop her, "There are too many people here, don't wander around." Yu Man looked around, trying to find a "shield" that her mother could trust. Her gaze immediately locked onto the boy sitting quietly reading a book under the old locust tree in the corner. The boy was dressed in clean cloth clothes, with unusually handsome features, and he looked like a reliable young man from the neighborhood.
Driven by lust, she pointed in that direction with her little finger, tugged at her mother's sleeve, and said matter-of-factly, "Mother, I'll have that brother come with me to play. With him watching over me, you can rest assured, right?"
Her mother looked in the direction she was pointing and saw that it was the Pei family's child. She had heard her father-in-law say that he was an extraordinary young man. Her face showed a bit of helplessness, and she pulled Yu Man away: "That is your Pei family's older brother. He is studying hard. Don't disturb him."
Yu Man had already decided to give up when she heard that the person was the renowned Pei Ji. She didn't want to get involved with such an ethereal person; there was too much trouble. She pouted, ready to continue being bored. But just then, the boy under the tree looked up at her.
Their eyes met.
Yu Man admitted that the moment those clear, calm eyes met her, she completely forgot her previous plans and ran over, utterly forgetting the small, withered leaf that had somehow gotten stuck to her head. She reached Pei Ji, tilted her head back, her eyes wide and round, and her first words were:
"Brother, you are so handsome!"
Her earth-shattering words, "Brother, you are so handsome!" came out of her mouth. Her own mother, who was listening nearby, felt her eyelids twitch and almost stepped forward to cover the mouth of this unbridled girl. Her face was filled with embarrassment and helplessness.
However, Pei Ji, who had been teased by Tong Yan, was only a teenager at the time, and showed no annoyance or embarrassment upon hearing it. His gaze fell on Yu Man's upturned face, and he first noticed the incongruous withered leaf on the top of her hair. He did not respond to her impetuous praise, but simply leaned slightly, extended his clean and slender fingers, and gently plucked the leaf from her soft hair, the movement as natural as brushing away dust.
Then, he turned to Yu's mother, who looked nervous and was about to apologize, and said in a calm tone with a composure beyond her years: "Auntie, it's alright. I'll go for a walk with her and bring her back in a bit."
Seeing how sensible and polite the Pei family boy was, Madam Yu felt a little relieved. Seeing her daughter looking at her expectantly, she finally softened and nodded, "Then... then I'll trouble you, Erlang."
Pei Ji then looked at Yu Man, whose eyes were shining brightly, and naturally took her small hand.
Once outside the somber confines of the ancestral hall and into the open space, Yu Man completely let loose. She let go of Pei Ji's hand and cheered as she rushed toward a wild fruit tree not far away, climbing it on all fours to pick the half-green, half-red fruit. After picking enough fruit, she carelessly jumped onto the grass, even rolling around happily a few times, getting covered in grass clippings and dust.
Pei Ji didn't stop her. He found a clean, shady stone stool to sit down, reopened the book he hadn't finished reading, and occasionally looked up to glance at the little figure frolicking around.
After playing around for a while, Yu Man got a little bored and ran back to Pei Ji's side, curiously peering at his book, her clothes smelling of fresh grass: "Brother Pei, what are you reading?"
Pei Ji raised his eyes and patiently replied, "It is the 'Geography Records,' which describes the mountains, rivers, customs, and people."
Yu Man frowned. "This sounds so boring. Brother, can you tell me about it?"
Seeing her interest, Pei Ji selected some anecdotes and interesting stories from books about overseas fairy mountains, rare and exotic animals, and told them to her in simple language. His voice was clear and peaceful, like a mountain stream, making people feel at ease.
At first, she tried her best to stay awake and listen, nodding her head slightly. Before long, she leaned against Pei Ji's arm and fell asleep, her breathing even and deep.
Pei Ji felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw the little girl sleeping soundly, with a few mud stains on her face. He closed his book, carefully carried her on his back, and walked steadily toward the Yu family.
When Yu Man woke up groggily on her kang (heated brick bed), it was already evening. Rubbing her eyes, she heard her mother say with a smile, "You little rascal, you fell asleep on Pei's back after playing until you were tired. Luckily, he carried you all the way back so quietly that he didn't wake you up."
Ever since that first encounter at the ancestral hall, Yu Man has found that she seems to always run into Pei Ji.
She rolled up her trousers by the stream behind the village, barefoot, and focused intently on catching fish, splashing water everywhere and soaking her clothes. Looking up, she could often see Pei Ji sitting not far away, a book open on his lap, but his gaze wasn't entirely on the book.
When she caught a few small fish, each about the size of her palm, and proudly showed them off, he would pull out a small wooden bucket from somewhere, filled with even smaller fry, and say in a gentle voice, "These are too small, let them go, wait until they grow bigger." Then he would naturally take the slightly larger fish from her hand, string them together with straw rope, and hand them back to her. Yu Man let him do as he pleased, since she didn't plan to eat them anyway.
He always tolerated her silly antics and cleaned up her messes.
As she grew older, Yu Man became busy making sauces and would go to the county town alone to sell them to vendors. Things went smoothly, and with her newly received payment in hand, she strolled through the market in a good mood, wanting to buy some snacks for Xiu Xiu.
As she walked through a relatively quiet alley, she caught a glimpse of several teenagers shoving and grabbing at a younger boy. The boy dropped the candied hawthorn in his hand, cried loudly in fright, and even bumped his forehead, causing it to bleed.
Seeing this, Yu Man didn't have time to think and immediately stepped forward to stop them: "What are you doing! What kind of skill is it to bully a child!"
Perhaps her imposing manner intimidated them, for the group of teenagers muttered a few curses and scattered in all directions.
Yu Man was about to step forward to check when he slipped and his elbow slammed hard against the brick wall next to him. A sharp pain shot through him, and the crying boy immediately stopped crying, his lips twitching.
Yu Man: "...Laugh if you want to."
After taking the boy home, she politely declined the mother's gift of thanks. Feeling a burning pain in her elbow, she decided to go straight home.
Unexpectedly, she bumped into Pei Ji, who was walking hurriedly, just as she stepped out of the alley. He had obviously come looking for her on purpose. His gaze immediately fell on her slightly furrowed brow and the way she instinctively protected her elbow.
Yu Man's eyes darted around unnaturally, and she said in an attempt to cover up her mistake, "I'm not injured."
Pei Ji stepped forward, gently lifting her arm without allowing any room for argument, and carefully rolled up her sleeve. When he saw the glaring bruise on her elbow and the abrasions with blood seeping from the edges, the atmosphere around him suddenly became tense.
Seeing him like this for the first time was quite novel to Yu Man, and she became bolder: "Are you angry?"
Pei Ji did not respond to her. He gently pulled down her sleeve, then silently took her uninjured hand and went straight to the nearest clinic, watching the doctor clean, apply medicine, and bandage her.
After leaving the clinic, on the way back, he slowed his pace to accommodate her, remaining silent throughout. Only when they were almost at the gate of her house did he stop, turn around, and sigh softly, "Don't let yourself get hurt. Someone will worry."
"Are you one of them?" Yu Man leaned closer, trying to see his unusual emotions more clearly.
"Yes." He reached out to support her, indulging her wicked thoughts and truthfully expressing his feelings.
...
Pulling her thoughts away from distant memories, Yu Man, unusually, didn't bother him by bringing up her embarrassing past. Holding her lukewarm teacup, she looked at the tall and elegant Pei Ji beside her and suddenly remembered something, casually asking, "You've been back for a while now, when are you going back to the academy?"
Pei Ji was silent for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, Deng San Niang called out from the entrance of the ancestral hall: "Aman! Aman! Come back quickly!"
Yu Man turned her head and saw Aunt Xiang standing at the door, waving at her. Her expression was not very good. She lowered her voice and said, "Your third uncle and the others came out of the village chief's house and went straight to our house! They said... they were leaving and went over to say goodbye." But obviously, this 'saying goodbye' was not so simple.
Pei Ji swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue. He remained calm and said to Yu Man, "Since you have something to do, you can go ahead and attend to it."
Yu Man nodded: "Okay, then I'll go back first." She stuffed the empty teacup back into Pei Ji's hand and walked quickly toward Deng San Niang, wondering what kind of trouble was hidden in her uncle's family's sudden "farewell".
Pei Ji stood there, watching her hurried departure, his gaze slightly lowered. He stroked the rough pottery teacup, still warm from her fingertips, with his fingertips, for a long time before slowly letting go.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com