Chapter 78
The father and daughter were both exhausted, so Liu Ma quickly boiled some water for them to take a bath. When Ai Ye and Ye Hu heard that they needed to boil water, they went up to ask where the kitchen was and said they could just go and boil it.
Aunt Liu looked at them as if they were country bumpkins, and said with a smile, "Do families like us need to chop wood and make a fire? The master and the young lady would wait until their hair and beards turn gray and they still can't take a hot bath." Then she led them out of the bathroom and pointed to a wooden box hanging on the wall. "Look, this is the switch. When you want to boil water, just push it up. Remember, hold this ceramic handle. Don't touch it carelessly, or you'll get electrocuted."
After that, he took them into the bathroom and said, "This is the hot water faucet, and this is the cold water faucet. Every time before the ladies take a bath, you should first turn on the hot water faucet and drain the cold water to wash the bathtub. This tap water costs money. It's different from the river water in your country. What flows away is money, so don't waste it."
The two men saw with their own eyes the faucet that the lady had described, which could flow water with just a twist, and were stunned with surprise.
Seeing their frightened expressions, Aunt Liu felt quite pleased. She coughed and said seriously, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help the master and the young lady clean the bathtub. They're still waiting to take a bath!"
Yueming took a comfortable bath and came out wrapped in a bathrobe. She saw that the old woman had already cut the cake for her according to the standard of English afternoon tea and brewed black tea. She immediately smiled, threw away the towel she was using to dry her hair, sat down at the table, picked up the knife and fork, and began to enjoy the meal.
After Ai Ye finished cleaning up the bathroom, Yue Ming saw that she was still wearing her dusty cotton-padded jacket. The jacket was thick with cotton and the sleeves were not rolled up high enough. Half of her sleeves were soaked by the water while she was working. Yue Ming told her and Ye Hu to take a shower and change clothes quickly so that they could eat cake.
Ai Ye timidly glanced at Liu Ma who was standing by the table, holding the teapot and adding tea to Yueming, and did not dare to speak.
Yueming raised an eyebrow and glanced at Liu Ma. Seeing her standing straight, holding the teapot, looking straight ahead, she felt both amused and helpless. Was she jealous and trying to embarrass the two maids?
She put down her fork and pretended to be angry and asked Ai Ye, "I told you this morning that this salted butter was for Aunt Liu. Why did you cut it for me? What will Aunt Liu eat if I eat it?"
Ai Ye was bewildered after being scolded: "I didn't cut it. I was waiting outside the door for you to finish your shower and come in to clean it up."
When Aunt Liu heard that the salted butter was bought for her, she beamed. "I cut the cake. They can't even tell the difference between a teacup and a coffee cup. I wouldn't trust them with such a task. Eat as much as you can. Don't worry about me. I'm happy to see you eating."
Yueming said unwillingly, "I said I bought it for you, how can I eat it all by myself? Let them do any work, and you can go downstairs to have some tea and cake. Do you want to go to church today? Do you want to bring some for your fellow church members?"
Yueming smoothed every hair of Liu Ma's. She scolded, "How many times have I told you not to call people 'fellows' in church? I'm not going to a Taoist temple. You should call them 'sister' and 'brother'. You've been baptized, so why can't you remember?"
Yueming almost spit out her English when hearing Liu Ma's Majie accent. She suppressed her laughter and said, "If you say it a few more times, I'll remember it. Don't worry about me. Go eat your cake quickly."
Aunt Liu reached out to untie the key from her waist, muttering, "I've taken care of you since you were little, and now you don't want me to take care of you after just a few days away. Can I just stop you? If I don't, how can you give these two girls the soap they need to take a bath? Do they even know where to go to take a bath?"
Yueming felt that after not seeing Liu Ma for a few years, she had many minefields and she could easily step on them. So she simply shut up and continued eating the cake.
Liu Ma tiptoed into the room and opened the cabinet to get soap for Ye Hu and Ai Ye. She was keen on locking all the consumable items in the house tightly in the cabinet, not allowing anyone to peek at them easily, not even Lan Yingde would do that.
Seeing that Liu Ma was not around, Yueming quickly beckoned Ai Ye over and, using an unused fork, scooped up a piece of cake and fed it to her. Ai Ye felt she had never tasted anything so soft, so smooth, and so sweet in her life. She stared at Yueming with wide eyes in surprise.
Yueming took another bite and fed it to her: "You and Yehu must listen to Aunt Liu and don't make her angry. I'll save the cake for you. After you finish your shower, I'll go hold her back and you can eat it quietly."
Ai Ye nodded vigorously with the cake in her mouth: "Don't worry, Miss, I won't make Aunt Liu angry. I will do whatever she asks me to do."
Liu Ma led Ai Ye and Ye Hu to the servants' shower room to take a bath. Yue Ming seized the opportunity to say to her, "Liu Ma, I want to eat the cured beef tongue from Shengnian Garden. Can you go buy it for me?"
Good or not? Of course! She only regretted that she couldn't fly, otherwise she would have agreed to eat dragon meat if Yueming wanted to.
Yueming helped her carry the small cart and walked her to the gate, saying, "If there are any Dali sour plums for sale, buy some for me. I feel sick of eating too much sweet stuff."
He closed the door, turned around and walked over to Lan Yingde, who had moved a rattan chair to sit in the yard to dry his hair. He squatted on the ground, rubbed his face against his arm and said with emotion, "It's good to be home."
Lan Yingde touched her still damp hair, not noting that the hem of her white bathrobe was dragging on the ground, gathering dust from her squatting position. A gramophone from somewhere was playing Peking opera, its humming notes carried on the wind. The sky was glassy blue, cloudless. A flock of pigeons flew over the yard, their bells attached to their tail feathers humming softly.
"The south side of the alley knocks on the board to announce the end of the night watch,
People play the silk and chant scriptures on the north side of the street.
The dream was interrupted by two people,
Whose house is the one with the pigeons fighting and ringing bells?
After reciting the poem, he asked Yueming, "Are you full of cake?"
Yueming nodded and puffed her lips, "I'm full. I ate three pieces and it hurts a bit. I don't think I'll be eating any more sweets in the near future."
Lan Yingde chuckled: "I saw that Aunt Liu has already soaked the glutinous rice. If you dare not eat her steamed eight-treasure rice, she will definitely pound you with a pestle."
Yueming sighed in distress and said, "My feelings towards Liu Ma are too complicated. I missed her very much when I was with Yunxiang, but less than five minutes after meeting her, I started to get annoyed with her again."
Lan Yingde laughed: "You can't bother her, you have to coax her, otherwise we will have a hard time at home for the past two months."
Yueming sighed deeply and melancholy, "I really have a long way to go." After sighing, she asked Lan Yingde, "Can I go shopping with my classmates tomorrow? Aunt Liu thinks I look like a country bumpkin this time and wants me to buy some new clothes."
Lan Yingde nodded: "Go ahead, take advantage of the opportunity to contact your old classmates and friends while you're back. You'll all start your own families in the future, so you might not have the chance to be together anymore."
After calling a close classmate, Yueming felt incredibly sleepy. She returned to her room, took off her dusty bathrobe, changed into pajamas, pulled back the covers, and slid onto the soft Simmons mattress, letting out a long sigh of comfort. It had been ages since I'd felt like sleeping on cotton candy. How could being home be so good?
When Liu Ma arrived at Shunnian Garden, the owner, upon seeing her buy beef tongue, knew that Master Lan and his eldest daughter, whom he hadn't seen for several years, had returned. He instructed the waiter to add a plate of pickled vegetables and fried red beans. Liu Ma looked at the owner with a half-smile and said, "I only brought money for the beef tongue!"
"Oh my!" the boss waved his hands exaggeratedly, "You're slapping me in the face! What's a plate of red beans? I just remembered your daughter loves them, so I'm just showing my appreciation. Why would you charge me for them?"
A gift? That's fine! Auntie Liu looked at the dish nameplate hanging above the counter. Although she couldn't read, she read it very carefully. As she read, she muttered to herself, "Why are you giving me red beans? My sister prefers your braised oxtail."
The boss's smile froze. Was this old woman planning to rob him? She'd bought a plate of ox tongue and wanted a plate of oxtail? He pretended not to hear what Liu Ma said, and called for the waiter to bring a lunch box and put the food in. He said enthusiastically to Liu Ma, "Your house is nearby, I'll have the waiter deliver it to you."
Although her goal wasn't achieved, she didn't have to carry it back herself, so Aunt Liu thought... that was fine! She wasn't the kind of person who cared about small things, was she?
Looking up and down at the unfamiliar young waiter, Aunt Liu said, "Are you new here? I've never seen you come to our house before. You have to carry it carefully. If you stumble and knock over the chili oil dish inside, my master will be angry."
The young man in the white hat held the lunch box in one hand and supported her arm with the other, saying, "Don't worry, I'm very steady! Let me help you cross the threshold!"
With someone's help, Aunt Liu, who was wearing a brown gown with a slanted collar, walked out on her bound feet, looking like Empress Dowager Cixi in her phoenix robe.
On the way, I met a man selling rose jam. I bought a small jar because Yueming likes to dip bread in it. I saw a man selling sweet white wine and bought another bowl because I thought I would make it for Yueming as a midnight snack.
After shopping all the way back home, Lan Yingde called Shunyinglou to deliver lunch, and Yehu and Aiye were busy setting the table. Liu Ma brought out the beef tongue and stir-fried red beans with pickled vegetables, and asked the waiter to take the lunch box back. Seeing that Lan Yingde was already sitting at the square table ready to eat, Yueming was nowhere to be seen and asked curiously, "Where's the young lady? Why didn't she come down to eat?"
Ai Ye and Ye Hu didn't dare to say anything, so Lan Yingde said, "She's asleep."
Aunt Liu frowned and looked at Lan Yingde with dissatisfaction, as if accusing him of not taking his daughter seriously. She asked, "You let her go to bed hungry?"
Lan Yingde found it funny: "How could she be hungry? She ate two pieces of cake and then went to sleep because she couldn't eat anything. Even if you force her to wake up now, she won't be able to eat anything."
Aunt Liu thought about it and picked up the beef tongue and stir-fried red beans with pickled vegetables on the table and walked towards the kitchen: "I'll heat these two dishes for her when she wakes up."
Lan Yingde...it's not that he was greedy and wanted to compete with his daughter for the food, but Liu Ma's attitude that no one except Yueming was worthy of eating these two dishes made people feel uncomfortable.
Liu Ma didn't allow anyone to touch the two dishes, determined to leave them for Yueming. As a result, Yueming didn't wake up for dinner. She stood in front of Yueming's door with a sad face, struggling with whether to wake her up for dinner.
There are only two pieces of cake, and I don’t know if they used two taels of flour. They don’t look as solid as the crispy vermicelli buns sold on the street. What should I do if this girl wakes up hungry in the middle of the night?
But thinking about how she had traveled for so many days, she must be extremely tired, which is why she just lay down and fell asleep. She felt reluctant to pull her up.
After thinking about it, I think it's better to let her sleep. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, she can wake up in the middle of the night. I can just turn on the power switch and cook her some sweet white wine, brown sugar and eggs. I can't let her starve.
When the beef tongue and pickled vegetables with red beans were served on the table, Lan Yingde raised his eyebrows and said jokingly, "Take it away! I dare not pick up my chopsticks. I'd better leave it to your sweetheart!"
Aunt Liu sneered, "Master, why are you arguing with a child? I didn't serve it before because I was afraid my daughter would specifically order this dish of cured ox tongue. If she wakes up and can't have it, she'll throw a tantrum. She's so stubborn and hard to appease."
Lan Yingde was surprised and said, "If you give it to me now, I won't be afraid that she will wake up in the middle of the night and get angry."
Aunt Liu said confidently, "No, I know my sister's appetite and taste. She has a thin neck and never eats dry food in the morning or at night. Even if she occasionally sees other children eating buns or bait, she will choke if I don't buy her a bowl of soy milk. She likes sweet snacks at night, such as glutinous rice balls or eggs with white wine. She will never get tired of them. If you ask her to eat with a bowl in her hands at night, she will definitely not be able to finish it."
Lan Yingde paused as he picked up the food. After a long silence, he sighed, "No wonder Yueming thinks of you even when he eats a piece of cake. You know more than me, your biological father."
Aunt Liu squatted down and said modestly, "Master, you've been working outside all year round to make a living for the family, so it's no wonder you don't know these things. Our little sister is also sensible. She doesn't cry or make a fuss when she misses you, and she comforts herself. If you don't go out, where will these cookies and candies come from?"
He used these words to coax Yueming when she was a child. When he wanted to go out, Yueming would hold his legs and not let him go, so he would coax her, saying, "If you don't let dad go out to earn money, there will be no money at home to buy biscuits and soda."
When she went to school, the words to coax her changed again: Your paints are so expensive, how can you afford these things if you don't let your dad go out to earn money? How are you going to pay for your tuition when you study abroad?
After coaxing her for a while, she suddenly grew up and was going to get married! From now on, I should rarely use these words to coax her.
He suddenly felt sad for Yueming. When she was little, she had waited on her father at home, and now she would be waiting on her husband at home. He regretted taking Yunkai with him to run a horse race and sell goods. It would be better for him to continue to be the second young master in Yunxiang, living a life of idleness and waiting for death. That way, Yueming would at least not be lonely.
He felt that he needed to review his future son-in-law's life plan.
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