Chapter 12
Lan Yingde walked as fast as the wind and finally saw the headman Tao talking with Feng Er in front of the gate. He straightened the hem of his long gown, which was a little messy from his hurried pace, walked up to the headman Tao, bowed, put his hands together and said, "Greetings, father-in-law."
Tao Tou Ren glanced at him and said calmly, "Mr. Lan, I'm afraid you've called me the wrong name. I only have one unmarried daughter, and she died young because she didn't listen to your teachings. I'm not worthy of being called father-in-law."
Feng Er felt embarrassed when he saw that Tao Tou Ren humiliated Lan Yingde in front of outsiders without any regard for others. He was afraid that Lan Yingde would lose face, so he quickly found an excuse and ran away.
Lan Yingde straightened up and said, "I know you blame me for not being able to save Mannu's life, but I beg you to take care of Yueming because she is Mannu's only blood."
The Tao headman sneered, "You've got a pretty good plan. Back then, you kidnapped Mannu and made her abandon her family without a care in the world. The little bastard you gave birth to caused her death. I didn't ask you to kill me because of Mannu. Now you want to order me around? It's simply wishful thinking."
Lan Yingde lowered his head and said, "I don't expect you to forgive me. I will bear any beatings or scoldings you want. I just beg you to understand the heart of a father."
Tao Tou Ren's smile became colder: "Now you know a father's heart, but why didn't you understand and understand me at the beginning?" After saying that, he left without caring about Lan Yingde.
This merciless accusation made Lan Yingde feel like he was falling into an ice cave. Looking at the angry back of the Taotou man, he recalled the conversation he had with his wife when they got married.
He looked at his beautiful wife and asked worriedly, "If you follow me, you'll have nothing. Your parents, your family, your noble status, and that comfortable life. Are you willing to give it up?"
Dai people don't wear bright red at weddings, but she heard that Han brides all wear red wedding dresses, so she asked the best weaver in Yunxiang City to weave her a piece of red brocade mixed with gold, and then she cut it into a wedding dress herself. Wearing it tonight, she looked charming and cheerful.
She leaned on Lan Yingde's shoulder and whispered, "How can there be nothing? I still have you!"
Lan Yingde hugged her and sighed, "I have a shallow family relationship with you, and my parents died early. I really don't want you to turn against your closest relatives because of me."
Mannu pressed her finger against his lips and said, "How could we possibly turn against each other? Dad and Mom are just afraid that I won't have a good life if I marry you. As long as you treat me well, when we have a child in the future, we will take her to see Grandpa and Grandma. Dad and Mom will forgive me for the sake of the child."
Lan Yingde thought so too. As long as he treated Mannu well and as long as they lived a prosperous life, the old people would let it go.
On a spring night, the air revives, the fresh air of grass and trees mingles with the fragrance of flowers. As the night wind wafts by, the large Burmese osmanthus blossoms on the branches unfold their thick petals, their fragrance particularly strong. Gazing at the Burmese osmanthus blossoms, his wife's favorite, he murmured, "Don't worry. I promised you, no matter how he scolds me, I won't get angry or talk back."
Yin Tai saw Dao Yueming sitting in a chair in a daze, looking at a loss and pitiful. A well-behaved child is always lovable, and Yin Tai's maternal love suddenly overflowed from the bottom of her heart.
She said to Huanyan, "I'm afraid Yueming doesn't understand what they are singing. You go over and keep her company, so you girls can talk."
Huanyan nodded in agreement and sat down next to Yueming, asking the maid to replace the hot tea and the rice popcorn for the guests: "This rice popcorn is hot and dry, replace it with some snacks for Miss Lan to watch the show.
The maid brought up six small plates of snacks: a plate of tazha (1), a plate of honey olives, a plate of fried malang, a plate of banana chips, a plate of crispy fried dried basil wrapped in dainty smoke, and a plate of raw mango. There was also a salty and spicy dipping sauce on the side of the plate. Yueming glanced at them and had no idea what the other dishes were except the banana chips.
The maid picked up a white porcelain pot with a big belly and a thin neck and poured a drink for Yueming. Yueming looked at the transparent and yellowish drink in the cup and studied it carefully. She didn't know what it was and didn't dare to drink it.
Seeing Yue Mingguang watching without doing anything, Huan Yan guessed she had never seen this before, so she explained to her, "This is sugarcane juice. We squeezed it this morning and hung it in the well. It's cool and delicious. Try it!"
Yueming took a tentative sip and immediately fell in love with the sweet taste, drinking it all in one gulp. Huanyan led her again, and they tried each snack.
Seeing Yueming let go, Yin Tai said to the maid beside her, "The sesame seeds that Menghan has sent as tribute this year are very good, big and plump. Put a plate on the table for the third young lady. Listen to Zanha, don't you think it's better to eat melon seeds and sesame seeds to enjoy the taste?"
Han Tusi heard this and said to her, "Give them betel nut as well. Chewing betel nut is good for your health."
Yin Tai said helplessly, "We're not going to plow the fields, why would we need to be so energetic? The Han Chinese don't chew betel nuts because they think it makes their teeth look ugly."
The chieftain waved his hand sullenly at Yu Nan who was sitting in the middle of the hall, signaling her that she could begin.
Yunan understood, opened his folding fan to shield his face, and gestured to the musician beside him. The flute sounded, and Yunan began to sing.
Although Yueming didn't understand a word, she thought Yunan's singing was melodious and beautiful. She asked Huanyan curiously, "Miss San, what is she singing?"
Huanyan tilted her head and whispered in her ear, "She was singing 'The White Elephant's Daughter.' It tells the story of a young girl who went to the forest to pick wild fruits. On the way back, she became thirsty and drank water from a pond. Miraculously, she became pregnant when she returned home and gave birth to a daughter. When the girl grew up, she was very curious about her life story. She went to the forest where her mother had drunk water. After going through untold hardships, she finally learned that her mother had drunk the urine of a white elephant, which was why she was born. She found the white elephant father in the forest and lived with him in an ivory house. One day, a handsome hunter went hunting in the forest and met the elephant girl. They fell in love, eventually married, and had many children. This is the origin of the Dai people being called descendants of elephants."
As a doctor's daughter, Yueming was baffled by the news that drinking elephant urine could lead to pregnancy. Why not drink elephant urine? Speaking of elephants, she couldn't help but recall the embarrassing incident at the elephant shed a few days ago. She felt that praising elephants was a completely irrelevant topic.
She suppressed the twitching of her lips and asked, "Does all elephant urine work, or only white elephant urine?"
Her question was so out of context that Huanyan didn't react at first. But after she understood, she felt shy and amused. She covered her mouth with her handkerchief and said, "It's just a story. And this white elephant is no ordinary white elephant. It's the one that the god Yingba created to stabilize the heavens and the earth in the story of 'Batamaga Pengshangluo.' Its trunk held up the sky, and its four feet held down the ground, thus stabilizing the world from then on."
Afraid that the girl would ask bolder questions next, she grabbed a handful of sesame seeds and gave them to her: "Try this, it's like eating melon seeds, it smells very good." Using food to block the girl's mouth would prevent her from asking nonsense questions.
She couldn't understand what she was saying, and she didn't want to disturb the Third Young Lady from listening to Zanha. Yueming, chewing on her pockmarks, began to daydream again. Did her senior brother help her put her things away? Where was he now? Dad had been out for quite some time, why hadn't he come back yet? Could she go out and look for him? They'd been so busy packing their own bags today; they were definitely still unpacked, and in their rush, they'd definitely forgotten something.
Lost in worry, she suddenly felt something stuck to the roof of her mouth. She pushed it with her tongue. It was small, round, probably the shell of a sesame seed. She silently scraped at the ceiling, hoping to dislodge it as quickly as possible. Her tongue ached from pushing, her saliva practically oozing, but the object remained stuck to her ceiling like glue. She felt both uncomfortable and humiliated, and just as she was at a loss for what to do, Lan Yingde returned.
When Han Tusi saw Lan Yingde come in, he asked with interest, "Did you get scolded again?"
Lan Yingde… He smiled and said, “No, we just chatted for a while.”
I don't believe it with Han Tusi's face.
Seeing that the two of them were chatting, Yueming wanted to shout at them, "Stop chatting, she feels very uncomfortable now!"
Lan Yingde was puzzled when he saw his daughter looking at him with a look of help on her face. He coughed and asked, "Yueming, do you want to go change clothes?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Yueming, and she wished she could find a hole to crawl into. My dear father, can't you find a better excuse?
She nodded with a blushing face. Yin Tai smiled and said, "I'm afraid you drank too much sugarcane juice. I'll ask the maid to take Miss Lan to change clothes."
Lan Yingde waved his hands and said, "No, no, this child is very troublesome, always asking for this and that, and your maid can't understand her. I'd better take her there!"
Yin Tai thought about it and agreed. Girls are always more particular than boys. The maidservant beside her could not speak Chinese, so it would not be appropriate to let Feng Er and Tao Da, two grown men, send her there.
Lan Yingde took his daughter out of the flower hall. As soon as they reached the corner of the corridor, Yueming opened her mouth wide and said to Lan Yingde, "Dad, help me get it down."
Lan Yingde raised his chin and looked closely at her mouth in the light of the lantern on the porch. Seeing a sesame seed shell stuck on the ceiling, he asked jokingly, "How did you get a sesame seed in your mouth? People who are not familiar with eating sesame seeds love to get them stuck in their mouths."
Mingyue opened her mouth wide and mumbled, "I don't dare to eat it anymore. Help me get it off!"
Lan Yingde first took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, then put his little thumb into Yueming's mouth and scratched it lightly with his fingernail. Yueming felt something fall on his tongue, and he quickly turned his head away and spat the evil sesame shell into the flowers outside the corridor.
Finally feeling comfortable, she breathed a sigh of relief. Since she had used the excuse of changing clothes to come out, she might as well go to the bathroom! She wanted to ask Lan Yingde to take her to the bathroom, but when she looked up, she saw Han Yunkai standing on the opposite corridor looking at her. Although the dim light made it difficult to see his expression, Yueming knew that he must have watched the whole process of her opening her mouth and letting Lan Yingde pick the pockmarks out of her.
Yueming asked the heavens speechlessly, not only were her horoscopes incompatible with Yunxiang, but she was also incompatible with Yunxiang's people.
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