Chapter 26: Lijia'ao
One gold coin for a bucket of bathwater!
Without the experiences of this journey, Fu Tingyun might have considered this an elegant luxury—soaking in a comfortable bath, changing into fresh clothes, and enjoying a good night's sleep. But now, knowing how precious water could be in saving lives, she could no longer treat it so casually and use it carelessly for bathing.
A Sen had endured even more hardships than Fu Tingyun.
Sitting beside the wooden bucket, he stared blankly at her and hesitated before asking, "Are we really going to use this for bathing?"
Of course not!
After a moment's thought, Fu Tingyun said, "How about we pour the water into our waterskins and save it for drinking on the road?"
"Great idea!" A Sen jumped up excitedly. "But we can't just pour raw water straight into the skins. We have to boil it first. Otherwise, after days of traveling, stagnant water will spoil, and drinking it could make us sick."
Fu Tingyun understood this principle but hadn't considered it so thoroughly.
Her cheeks flushed slightly.
No wonder her grandmother often said, "Wisdom lies in understanding worldly affairs, and mastery comes from refined human experience." Clearly, she still had much to learn!
The two searched around the house and found a kitchen in the back room behind the side chamber. Beside the stove were scattered piles of straw and wood scraps.
A Sen showed Fu Tingyun how to bundle wood with straw for kindling and how to arrange the fire with tongs.
Fu Tingyun laughed. "You don’t think I can’t even cook, do you?"
A Sen scoffed. "Then show me how you’d bundle the firewood."
Fu Tingyun had never actually done this before.
When she had learned to cook, maids and servants had always tended the fire and prepared the ingredients—she only handled the actual cooking.
With a hint of disdain, A Sen lectured her: "Straw is used to transfer the fire to the wood. Too much is wasteful, too little won’t catch… Who cooks by having one person feed the fire while another stirs the pot? You toss the wood in, focus on the pot, and when the fire’s about to die, you switch back… The fire starts small, grows strong in the middle, then weakens again… The first batch of wood barely warms the cold pot—even its strongest flame is like the second batch’s weakest. But once the pot’s hot, the second batch’s weak flame is hotter than the first’s strong one… If the fire’s too strong, the food burns; too weak, it won’t cook. With stir-fries, you can manage, but with rice—if the bottom scorches while the top stays raw, eating it will give you a stomachache!"
Fu Tingyun’s head spun. "I just need to boil water—does the fire’s strength really matter that much?"
A Sen glared. "Do you know how many bundles our straw and wood can make? How many bundles it takes to boil a pot of water? If you just toss it in carelessly, we’ll run out before the water boils… Then what?"
Fu Tingyun suspected A Sen was exaggerating to show off his fire-tending skills and smiled. "One pot of water should be enough to fill all our waterskins, right?"
A Sen grumbled, "Well, we shouldn’t waste any."
Suppressing a laugh, Fu Tingyun nodded. "Alright, I’ll listen to A Sen!"
A smug little smile tugged at A Sen’s lips.
Fu Tingyun barely held back her laughter.The two of them sat on small bamboo stools by the stove, bundling firewood.
Fu Tingyun asked him, "How does Ninth Master have so many gold coins?"
A Sen was displeased by her doubt toward Ninth Master Zhao. "He saved them, of course!"
Saved them? If everyone could easily save a few gold coins, who would still rent others' fields to farm?
"How did he save them?" Fu Tingyun asked with a smile. "Tell me, so I can save some too!"
A Sen glanced at her. "Copper coins exchanged for silver, silver exchanged for gold—that's how you save them!" Then he added impatiently, "Let's hurry and bundle the firewood. We still need to cook later!"
This child was tight-lipped!
Fu Tingyun felt both disappointed and relieved.
Someone walked in. "What are you two doing?"
They looked up to see Ninth Master Zhao standing at the kitchen door, holding a cloth bag.
A Sen ran over, eager to show off. "We didn’t want to waste the water you bought with the gold coins, so we’re boiling it to fill the waterskins for the journey!" He took the cloth bag from Ninth Master Zhao. "Master, what’s this?"
Ninth Master Zhao ignored A Sen, his deep gaze fixed on Fu Tingyun by the stove. In the dimly lit kitchen, his expression seemed inscrutable.
For some reason, Fu Tingyun recalled the time they were alone in the kitchen at Azure Cloud Temple—just like this, no one around, the light dim... his eyes profound and steady...
She grew uneasy.
After all, he was Ninth Master Zhao!
Not truly her family’s servant.
When he told the people of Li Family Hollow that he would take her to Xi’an to seek relatives, his expression had been so grim.
Earlier, she had been too happy to think carefully, but now, looking back, he must have been forced into it.
With no outsiders present now, would he go back on his word? Would he lose his temper? Would he think she was like sticky glue, impossible to shake off once attached?
Under the weight of silence, Fu Tingyun lowered her eyes.
Then she heard A Sen exclaim, "Flour, eggs, tofu, winter melon... Master, where did you get all this?" His gulp of anticipation was audible.
Fu Tingyun quickly looked up.
It was true!
The cloth bag had been opened, and A Sen was carefully placing several eggs on the stove.
Four buckets of water had cost four gold coins...
She blurted out, "How much silver did this cost?"
Her face immediately burned with embarrassment.
In the past, she would have referred to money as "that vulgar thing," but now, the first thing she asked upon seeing something was its price... It showed how much she had changed... Yet deep down, another thought nagged at her: if not for her, Ninth Master Zhao wouldn’t have had to spend money on water, flour, and vegetables... When she first met him, he hadn’t even been wearing shoes... It wasn’t that he lacked money... Clearly, he was a frugal man... Seeing him spend like this truly pained her...
Ninth Master Zhao pressed his lips together, amusement glinting in his eyes as he clearly fought back laughter. "Money is meant to be spent!"
Fu Tingyun disliked this reasoning.
Her sixteenth granduncle had been the same—spending every penny he earned. In his youth, when he could still earn, he lived freely and without care. But as he aged, with no savings and unable to adjust to frugality, he died without even a coffin, which had to be bought by the clan.
She couldn’t help muttering under her breath, "What if you’re still alive but run out of silver?"
Ninth Master Zhao was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter.His brows relaxed, his eyes sparkling with an ease she had never seen before.
Fu Tingyun widened her eyes in surprise.
"I've already arranged for the water we'll take on the road," he said with a smile. "We'll leave Li Jia Ao tomorrow at dusk. Go pack your things quickly. A Sen, you handle the cooking!"
A Sen responded cheerfully with a "Yes!" and began unpacking the items Ninth Master Zhao had brought back one by one.
Ninth Master Zhao then turned to Fu Tingyun. "Aren't you itchy? Go wash up quickly." He comforted her, "Things will be better once we reach Xi'an Prefecture!"
How did he know she was itchy?
After being bundled up for so long on the journey, Fu Tingyun had developed prickly heat.
Not wanting him to think she was overly delicate, she only scratched when no one was around. Yet he had noticed anyway.
A wave of inexplicable gratitude welled up in her heart. Ninth Master Zhao turned and headed out the door. "I need to meet the patriarch of Li Jia Ao with Master Qi. I'll be back soon!"
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Because of Ninth Master Zhao's words, Fu Tingyun ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of a bath. She washed up thoroughly, feeling as if several pounds of weight had been lifted from her body, leaving her much more relaxed. Then she tore a white handkerchief into strips to tie up her hair, a makeshift mourning gesture for her uncle and aunt's family.
When she came out, A Sen was frying tofu.
Seeing him standing on a rock just to reach the wok with his spatula, Fu Tingyun hurried over to help.
A Sen shooed her away. "The master said I should cook."
"You can help me tend the fire," Fu Tingyun said, snatching the spatula from his hands. Though not particularly skilled, her movements were graceful and fluid as she flipped the tofu.
A Sen had to admit she was better at it than he was and obediently sat by the stove to tend the fire.
Soon, Fu Tingyun had prepared two dishes. She asked A Sen, "Does Ninth Master prefer hand-pulled noodles or flatbread?"
"Brother Yuanbao makes whatever the master eats!" A Sen thought for a moment. "But he eats more when it's flatbread."
From the looks of it, Ninth Master Zhao didn't seem like a picky person.
Fu Tingyun began kneading the dough and said to A Sen, "You should wash up too! I heard it's still seven or eight days' journey from here to Xi'an Prefecture!"
Remembering that each bucket of water cost a small gold coin, she felt a bit guilty. She had used two buckets and left two.
A Sen hesitated. "We should save it for the master."
"We'll leave one bucket for him," Fu Tingyun urged enthusiastically.
This way, the water wouldn't just be for her enjoyment.
If everyone had their share, she'd feel a little more at ease.
A Sen, who smelled rather unpleasant, couldn't resist her persuasion. After dawdling for a while, he finally joined Fu Tingyun in carrying a bucket of water to the side room, where he took a bath.
By the time he came out, Fu Tingyun had already finished making the flatbread and was preparing egg and winter melon soup.
"Has Ninth Master not returned yet?" he asked, his hair still dripping wet.
"Not yet," Fu Tingyun replied, wiping sweat from her forehead. "It's still early. Let's wait a little longer. If he doesn't come back soon, you can go check."
A Sen naturally had no objections. He asked, "Where are the clothes you changed out of? I'll go wash them first!"
Fu Tingyun broke into a cold sweat.
Among the clothes she had changed out of were her undergarments...
"No need, no need! I'll do it myself!" she said hastily, remembering they had already used three buckets of water. "Besides, there's no water left!"
A Sen grinned. "I saved half a bucket.""A Sen is so capable!" Fu Tingyun praised him, asking A Sen to help carry the prepared food to the square table in the main hall.
Ninth Master Zhao returned.
Fu Tingyun hurried to greet him: "Did the patriarch of Li Jia Ao say anything?"
After all, Master Qi had taken them in without the patriarch's approval.
"Nothing much," Ninth Master Zhao replied casually. "He just asked about our situation."
Fu Tingyun sighed in relief and told A Sen to fetch water for Ninth Master Zhao to wash his hands before eating.
As Ninth Master Zhao dipped his hands into the water, he recalled the patriarch's words:
"...Now that you've escorted your young lady to Xi'an Prefecture, you've fulfilled your late master's wish. As a woman, she will eventually marry. You might consider settling down in Li Jia Ao..."
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An apology to Yuexia Fengyewu!
Yesterday, while trying to mark your post as a highlight, I accidentally clicked delete... and then tragedy struck... My deepest apologies!
(End of Chapter)
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