A Fu was awakened by the cold.
Even after so many days on the road, she still couldn't get used to such hardship.
It was truly miserable.
She had never endured such suffering in either of her lifetimes.
A Le had laid down everything available as padding, but the rough ground still left her aching all over. She moved her limbs with some difficulty.
A Le, sleeping beside her, woke immediately.
"Young—" Startled awake and still disoriented, she nearly blurted out "miss," but was promptly silenced by a hand covering her mouth.
In the dim morning light, A Fu's dark eyes met hers as she whispered, "Elder sister, it's still early. Sleep a little longer."
Now fully awake, A Le turned over and sat up. "Little sister, I'm not tired anymore. You didn't sleep well, did you?" She pushed the clothing she'd been using as padding toward A Fu. "Use mine too and rest a while longer."
A Fu shook her head at her. "I'm not sleepy anymore."
As they whispered, the soldiers sleeping haphazardly on the other side of the campfire grumbled discontentedly.
A Fu shushed A Le, and the two rose quietly. Carrying their water flask and small bundle, they softly addressed the two Couriers on watch: "We're going to wash up."
There was a small river nearby with a dense grove by its bank—convenient for young women to attend to personal needs.
The watchful Couriers nodded without further questions, only cautioning, "Be careful. There are wild beasts around here too."
A Fu thanked them and left with A Le.
The river water was piercingly cold. Having little interest in washing up beyond answering nature's call, A Fu sat on a riverside rock lost in thought.
"I'll fetch water to heat so you can wash properly," A Le said, rolling up her sleeves to wash briefly with the icy water.
A Fu shook her head. "No need. Being a bit dirty is fine."
A Le studied the girl's face—bare of hat or scarf, cleansed with warm water before bed last night, lightly treated with medicinal Scented Balm to prevent frostbite. Even so, her skin appeared fair and delicate in the morning light.
If the young mistress revealed her true beauty, their journey would shift from arduous to dangerous.
Though the young mistress addressed everyone as "kind benefactor" along the way, A Le knew none of these people were truly virtuous.
"Then let me apply more powder," A Le murmured, retrieving a small porcelain jar from their bundle.
A Fu nodded and lifted her face, allowing A Le to gently dab the powder onto her skin.
"A Le, you're truly remarkable," Chu Zhao said, watching her. "You can make powder to conceal appearances, create medicinal balms for frostbite, and even smoke wild rabbit and pheasant jerky. Without you, I'd be helpless—I'd probably have died already."
A Le startled. "Lit-tle sister, don't say such things! I only know these crude, useless skills that bring you shame. Thank you for not blaming me and still being willing to keep me. I thought I'd never see you again."
Her eyes reddened as tears fell.
A Fu didn't correct her form of address—the riverbank lay empty in the morning light with no one else in sight.
Seeing A Le's tears stirred complex emotions. Truthfully, A Le wasn't wrong: according to her previous life's path, they indeed never saw each other again after this.
Amusingly, when she first awakened, she had even forgotten about A Le, this maidservant.
......
......
A Le was the maidservant who grew up with her, two years her senior.
Less a servant than a childhood companion.A Le was an orphan from the borderlands who had grown up roaming the streets, surviving by theft until the day she tried to pickpocket her own father—who had come incognito to the market to watch street performances—and was caught.
Instead of punishing her, her father urged her to change her ways: to stop stealing and instead accompany the young lady in learning to ride horses.
Thus, the two of them learned horseback riding together, practiced with swords and spears in the training grounds, swaggered through the streets side by side, and eventually journeyed to the capital to stay at her uncle’s house.
But the moment they stepped inside, A Le—who had never served as a proper maid—made a fool of herself by mistaking the bath beans a maid brought for handwashing as snacks and eating them, provoking bursts of laughter from the servants.
Humiliated and angry, and having now seen the manners of noble young ladies in the capital, she refused to keep a maid like A Le any longer. She asked her aunt to send A Le away and find the finest maid in the household instead.
From then on, A Le vanished from her memory.
Even after she woke up from her rebirth following a fall from the rockery in the Chu family garden, and up until she prepared to leave the Chu estate, she hadn’t recalled A Le. It wasn’t until that night, while climbing over the wall, that she encountered A Le waiting outside.
A Le ducked her head and shrank into the shadows, afraid that seeing her would provoke anger: “I was just worried about you and wanted to see how you were.”
Only then did she recognize her and remember her.
So she brought A Le along.
And it was only after bringing her along that she realized this A Le, who couldn’t serve as a proper maid, was skilled in many things useful for survival on the road.
A Fu looked at A Le and wondered: in her past life, what had been A Le’s fate? Was she sold off by her aunt? Sent back to the Border Commandery? Or did she remain in the Chu household? Whatever the case, A Le surely met no good end.
She herself had met a bad end, and so had A Le—after all, A Le had been her maid.
She couldn’t help but reach out and stroke A Le’s face. In such a short time, A Le’s skin had already grown rough. The anti-frostbite ointment A Le had managed to prepare was so little that she only dared use it on her young mistress—
“What a touching sisterly bond.”
A drawn-out voice interrupted A Fu’s reverie.
She didn’t need to look to know it was that A Jiu.
A Fu withdrew her hand, wiped her own tears, and nudged A Le. “Sister, don’t be sad. I’m fine—I’ve stopped crying.”
A Le lowered her head. She wasn’t good with words and spoke very little to avoid drawing attention.
A Jiu sauntered over, his robe half-open, and remarked with a mocking smile, “Someone as delicate as you doesn’t seem like a child from a poor family.”
This Courier named A Jiu had been suspicious of her all along—watching her, scrutinizing her, constantly testing and probing with his words. He was both persistent and annoying.
She had put up with it the last few times, but this time, perhaps because thoughts of her past life had put her in a low mood, she reacted.
“Sir,” A Fu lifted her head and looked at A Jiu, “before my mother fell ill, our family was actually doing alright. Besides, with parents around, what child isn’t a little delicate?”
Having said that, she took A Le’s hand and hurried away.
A Jiu didn’t chase after them to cause trouble, merely letting out a scornful laugh behind them.
A Fu led A Le back to the campsite, where the Couriers were already up, chewing on dry rations while checking the horses.
“A Fu, you’re back,” Zhang Gu greeted them. “A Jiu went looking for you specially. Huh? Have you been crying?”
A nearby Courier chuckled, “A Jiu must have been bullying people again.”
Zhang Gu frowned. “That A Jiu—”
“No,” A Fu quickly shook her head, raising a hand to wipe her eyes. “My sister and I were just thinking of our mother. We don’t know how she’s doing now.”Her voice grew thick with a nasal tone, choked with emotion.
Zhang Gu quickly consoled her, "Don't dwell on it anymore. Look ahead. Once you see your father soon, everything will be alright."
A Fu responded with a soft "Mm," then curtsied to Zhang Gu.
"Go get something to eat quickly. We'll be setting off soon," Zhang Gu said kindly, watching the two girls walk toward the campfire. After a moment's thought, he added, "Don't hold a grudge against A Jiu. That lad was assigned this duty as punishment, so he's been stewing with frustration."
Punishment? A Fu wondered. What's A Jiu's background? He seems accustomed to a life of privilege, yet he carries an air of roguishness—so strange.
But never mind, what does it have to do with her?
"Yes," A Fu nodded gratefully to Zhang Gu. "I'll remember that."
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