In the eyes of Su and Zhenxiu, she had fallen into the hands of bandits all by herself.
Of course, this can be explained.
But she had spent the night with a grown man, and not just one night, so she certainly wouldn't be able to return today. Tomorrow, Su's carriage would likely return to Caijia Temple, and she would follow shortly after. This was a stain she couldn't clear even if she jumped into the river. Su would be alright; for the sake of her daughters' reputations, she would surely keep it a secret. But Zhenxiu was different. She was naturally unable to control her tongue, and within a day, she would definitely be tiptoeing to every household in Caijia Temple, exaggerating and embellishing her story to make her utterly defiled.
What will Tong Qisheng think then? The marriage she's always taken for granted will likely fall through. How will she cope then? Will she still be able to carefree wait for the alfalfa to sprout, for the locust flowers to bloom, for the Wei River to freeze and thaw every year? Will she still be able to walk around Caijia Temple with her head held high, carefree as she always has?
Because of a few robbers who weren't actually robbers, and because of a thief who wasn't actually a thief, her originally stable and secure life took a sharp turn, and she didn't know where it would lead. And she could only sit silently and listlessly in this desolate mountain forest, barely clothed.
She wanted to cry, but couldn't find a reason to.
All I could do was sit there blankly on the hillside, picking up a dry twig and scribbling on the ground.
"Little girl!"
Zhenshu looked up and saw Lin Dayu standing at the foot of the hill, gazing up at her. He had his clothes torn off, and now he was shirtless, leaning on a piece of wood he'd found somewhere, his hair a tangled mess like a bird's nest. Coupled with the anxious and pitiful expression on his face, he truly looked like a lost dog, utterly bewildered.
She couldn't help but cover her face and laugh, then straightened her face, raised her eyebrows, and jumped down the hillside in a few steps, scolding, "You just had your wound stitched up, why aren't you lying in bed properly? What are you doing coming down here? If you're coming down, why don't you put on that piece of clothing? If your wound is exposed to the wind like this, you'll get a fever tonight, and I won't care about you."
Lin Dayu bowed and said, "You are right, young lady! I know I was wrong."
As Zhenshu walked, he bent down and plucked a few blades of grass, shaking off the dirt. This amused him so much that he couldn't help but laugh and say, "You're still here. You're just a farmhand, yet you know how to elevate yourself."
The term "zai xia" was only used by men holding official positions.
Lin Dayu nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I know I was wrong."
Zhenshu forced Lin Dayu onto the bed, picked up the tattered clothes the hunter had thrown away from outside, took them to the riverbank, washed them carefully, and hung them on top of the fire outside to dry. Then she sorted through the dry grass that had been thrown outside, shook it to soften it, and spread it back on the bed.
Seeing her bustling about inside and outside the house, her feet barely touching the ground, Lin Dayu knew she was determined to stay. Overjoyed, he craned his neck to look at her intently and asked, "I still don't know your name, Miss."
A daughter's given name should not be easily revealed to outsiders. Furthermore, it would be best not to let anyone know about her time with him once they left Wuling Mountain. Thinking of this, Zhenshu said, "My surname is Song."
Lin Dayu nodded and said, "Miss Song..."
Zhenshu smiled and brought in the tattered clothes from outside. She then tiptoed to take the large needle from the corner of the rafters and took the thread that had been rolled up. She threaded the needle, sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, and carefully sewed it by the remaining warm light from outside.
Lin Dayu saw Zhen Shu lower her head and furrow her brows, her mind completely absorbed in that tattered garment. He wished he could transform into that garment and lie in her arms. Even if she pricked him with a needle, as long as she could gently caress him with her two red lips and teeth, he would be happy to do so.
After a while, he asked again, "Do you usually do needlework at home?"
Zhenshu glanced at him, smiled and shook her head, saying, "I hate needlework the most. Even if my mother used a rattan cane and an iron lock to restrain me on the kang (a heated brick bed), she couldn't keep me on the kang."
Back then, in order to bind her feet, Madam Su whipped her with a wet rattan cane and even chained her with an iron chain. Unfortunately, she was stubborn and inflexible and could not give in, so Madam Su finally stopped.
She finished sewing the clothes, spread them out with both hands for Lin Dayu to see, and asked, "How's the sewing?"
Sure enough, the stitches were extremely messy, crooked and uneven. Lin Dayu nodded and said, "Good needlework, good technique."
Zhenshu looked at it herself and thought he was mocking her, so she retorted, "The stitches on your back are even worse than this, it's a pity you can't see them."
Lin Dayu didn't care about the neatness of the stitches. Seeing that it was already dark, and thinking that he would be sharing a small bed with this girl in this small hut tonight, he became restless and his mind was filled with all sorts of lewd and vulgar thoughts.
He then asked, "How old is Miss Song this year?"
Zhenshu picked out another hole and sewed it up, saying without looking up, "Sixteen."
She's too young, but luckily she's tall so you can't tell.
Lin Dayu said, "It doesn't look like it. It looks like she's about seventeen or eighteen."
Zhenshu ignored him, finished sewing up the hole, and then unfolded the garment to see if there were any other tears.
Lin Dayu then asked, "Have you been betrothed to anyone?"
Zhenshu had sensed something ambiguous in his questions, but not wanting to embarrass them or cause him to have ulterior motives, she deliberately remained silent. Now that she could no longer avoid it, she simply put down her needlework and went outside to the river to wash her hands, face, and feet before returning to the house. There, she wrapped herself in the tattered garment she had just sewn and huddled in the dry grass, preparing to sleep.
Lin Dayu felt a surge of excitement, knowing it was wrong of him to tease her like this, but he couldn't control his tongue and suddenly asked, "Who is your spouse from? What family?"
It was completely dark by then, and the room had no windows on any side; once the door was closed, it was pitch black. Zhenshu thought to herself that he had behaved fairly well last night, walking behind her back all night without having any improper thoughts. Besides, he was injured, so even if he had some evil intentions, she could simply remove them for him. So she replied, "He's from the same village. He's a student of the Imperial Academy."
In the darkness, Lin Dayu spat a few times and said, "Such a beautiful young woman is going to marry a pedantic, pretentious man? What a pity, what a pity!"
Hearing him speak so disparagingly of Tong Qisheng, Zhenshu couldn't help but retort, "To be born into wealth is a blessing from one's past life. To be born into poverty is a misfortune from one's past life. One must have the will to strive for self-improvement in order not to be enslaved by fate. You are just a farmhand, and you probably don't know many characters. Even if your family is poor and you have no opportunity to study, you shouldn't speak so disparagingly of scholars."
Lin Dayu said, "Judging from what you're saying, young lady, you must also be a book lover?"
Zhen Shu said, “I am a girl, and due to societal restrictions, I cannot attend school. However, I always hold learning in awe and dare not criticize it.”
Chapter 23 Animal Hides
Lin Dayu probably turned over, causing the firewood to rustle softly. He laughed and said, "I suppose your future husband is the only scholar in your village."
Zhenshu wrapped her clothes tighter and said, "He is the only student of the Imperial Academy in our village. A scholar has gone through all kinds of hardships since he was a child, from a junior student to a county-level scholar, then to a student of the Imperial Academy, then to a tribute student, and finally to the final imperial examination. We don't study, so it's fine, but how can we insult them with our words?"
Lin Dayu said, "I would rather be free in the mountains and forests than be confined to a small space and read those tiny characters."
Zhen Shu thought to herself: So you can only work as a farmhand and occasionally as a hunter.
For two whole days, she was terrified, struggling to crawl back from the brink of death. Exhausted and heartbroken, she wanted to say something, but sleep pulled her into an endless, dark swamp, making it impossible for her to climb out.
Lin Dayu lay on her side on the bed, following the steady and long breathing, measuring Zhenshu's current location in the darkness. She was huddled in the corner on the other side, her hands tightly clutching the clothes draped over her chest, perhaps her brows were furrowed, but she was sleeping soundly.
He sat up abruptly, so quietly that he barely disturbed a single blade of grass. He got out of bed, still as light as a ghost, and stretched out to Zhenshu's side, looking down at the sleeping Zhenshu, though he could see nothing.
He reached out, intending to carry her to the side where her skirt was spread out, but feared that such a loud movement would wake her. After thinking for a while, he simply draped the skirt she had spread for him and the jacket she had covered herself with over her, then gently pushed open the door and left the room. The moonlight was still silvery tonight. He stretched his body in the darkness, his upper body bare, stretching all his muscles and straightening his arms to loosen his limbs. He then leaped up and ran along the stream, disappearing into the silvery moonlight in no time.
Back to yesterday, on the official road in the Wuling Mountains. Madam Su screamed, urging the coachman, "Run! Run! They're coming!"
The driver sped the carriage along, and Zhenyuan and Zhenyi, bouncing so much in the back that they couldn't get up. Soon after, Zhenxiu was also pushed up, and the carriage was filled with cries and screams.
After finally getting Su Shi to shut up, Zhenyuan asked Zhenxiu, "Did Zhenshu fall down just now?"
Zhenxiu said, "She couldn't hold on to it herself, and the carriage jolted her off. I'm afraid she'll be in trouble now..."
Zhenyuan crawled to the front and shouted to the coachman, "Coachman, coachman, my sister is lost, please go back and find her."
The coachman pulled the reins back sharply to spur the horse, then turned around and asked, "Madam, is this true? Forgive me, I was too hasty to notice."
Actually, the reason he didn't notice was because the women inside the carriage were crying and screaming so loudly that the driver's head was spinning.
After covering her chest with a handkerchief for a while, Madam Su waved her hand and said, "Keep moving forward."
Zhenyuan said angrily, "Mother, are you out of your mind? We should go back and find Zhenshu."
Madam Su slowly shook her head, tears falling like raindrops: "Go forward, she's already lost, I can't send you all into the tiger's den too."
The coachman, incredulous, turned back, lifted the curtain, and asked Madam Su, "Madam, can I leave you here and drive to pick her up myself?"
Madam Su shook her head and said, "There are about twenty or thirty bandits there. If you leave us here, not only will you not be able to rescue Zhenshu, but you will also risk your life. We will be caught by them sooner or later in these mountains. What will we do then?"
The coachman, driving ahead, hadn't even caught a glimpse of the bandits' faces, only hearing their deafening shouts from behind. The only one who saw them through the window was Madam Su. Since she had said so, the coachman couldn't argue further, so he stepped forward and steered the carriage: "Zhao He just took a wrong turn; he'll probably have to get back to the main road. He might run into the Third Miss then. He's skilled in martial arts; he might be able to bring her back."
Su Shi buried her face in Zhen Yuan's body and cried, "Why is my life so bitter? Marrying your father, a young lady from the capital was sent to such a harsh and cold place, which was already extremely bitter. My mother-in-law didn't like me, and even being humble and subservient couldn't earn her a second glance, which was even more bitter. Now, even my most capable daughter is being taken away by God."
Zhenyuan and Zhenyi both burst into tears, while Zhenxiu alone huddled in the back of the car, staring out the window with a stern face. The kick she had given Zhenshu that caused her to fall meant that no one was questioning her actions, implying that neither Su Shi nor Zhenyuan had witnessed it. Therefore, she figured no one would blame her.
But Zhenshu was far too cowardly. She was always tough and agile, so how could she have fallen down with just one kick?
Serves her right. Zhenxiu gritted her teeth and muttered to herself: Of the four girls in this family, she only likes to beat me. I've suffered so much at her hands since I was a child, and I've endured so much pain from her. What difference would it make if I beat her to death now?
Thinking this, Zhenxiu found the Su family too noisy, so she simply covered her face with a handkerchief and fell into a deep sleep.
By the time they reached Hanjiahe Town on the other side of the road, it was already dark. After staying at the inn, Zhenyuan and Zhenyi were still crying. Madam Su said sternly, "Cheer up, both of you! What are you crying about? You can't tell anyone about this, or your reputations will be ruined."
Zhenyuan knew that Su Shi had done something wrong, but she was never good at arguing, so she turned her sleeves and went back to her room.
Su sat alone until midnight when Zhao He, covered in dew, walked in. He bowed deeply and said, "I just heard from the coachman..."
Su covered her mouth and nodded, tears streaming down her face: "There are too many bandits, I have to take care of these little girls with bound feet in the carriage."
Zhao He said, "I had someone lead the way around, and it took a long time to get back to the main road. We passed through the same spot, but I didn't see the Third Miss."
Su clutched her chest and choked out, "They must have been kidnapped."
Zhao He stepped back a bit and frowned, saying, "Those men in black in the mountains just now weren't bandits. They were servants from Master Liu's household in Hanjiahe, chasing after a runaway farmhand."
Upon hearing this, Madam Su was greatly surprised and asked, "You mean those people weren't robbers?"
Zhao He said, "That's right. I ran into them halfway, and it was they who pointed out the way for me, which allowed me to get out of the mountains and forests."
Su asked in confusion, "If they didn't capture Zhenshu, where did my Zhenshu go?"
She shoved Zhao He on the shoulder and said, "You should go look for her again quickly. Zhen Shu might be hiding in a mountain hollow waiting for you to rescue her."
Zhao He gently dodged and said, "I came all the way from the main road. If she were really in the same spot or nearby, she would have come out to meet me. From my observation along the way, there was no one hiding by the roadside. However, the farmhand that Master Liu's servants were chasing is skilled in martial arts and has excellent lightness skills. He must have been in that place at the time, so..."
Su said, "You mean she was kidnapped by that farmhand?"
Zhao He nodded and said, "That farmhand has been running around in the mountains for a few days and is familiar with the layout of the mountains. If we want to find the Third Miss, I'm afraid we'll have to go home and tell Second Master, and ask Second Master to ask Master Liu to borrow Master Liu's servants to search for us."
Madam Su slowly sat down and nodded, saying, "In that case, let's quietly suppress this matter and go home. You should also instruct the coachman not to let the news leak out. Just say that the Third Miss was kept behind by her grandmother in the capital. Otherwise, it might affect the reputation of our daughters."
Zhao He nodded helplessly, bowed, and withdrew.
In the Wuling Mountains, Zhenshu slept soundly until bees and butterflies fluttered outside before she woke up. She turned her head and saw that Lin Dayu was still fast asleep. The clothes she had covered him with the night before were on herself. Fearing that he would catch a cold and his wound would become infected, she got up and covered him with the clothes.
She got out of bed and went outside. Suddenly, she caught sight of a bright orange-yellow fur hanging high up. Thinking it was another tiger, she was so frightened she almost screamed. Upon closer inspection, she saw it was a tiger skin hanging high up. She turned back into the house, shook Lin Dayu's shoulder, and asked, "Did you go out last night?"
Lin Dayu nodded and said, "I'll go get my knife."
Zhenshu asked, "What about the tiger skin?"
Lin Dayu stood up and stretched out his arms, saying, "A complete tiger skin like this is very valuable. I'll skin it and keep it for a good price later."
When Zhenshu saw him get out of bed, she looked up and saw that there was no sign of bleeding from the wound on his back. Moreover, he did not have a fever, so he must be fully recovered. She said, "Since you are recovered, please take me to the official road. I will wait for passersby or a carriage to cross the mountain together."
Lin Dayu stood there stunned for a moment, then turned around and asked, "Are you leaving?"
Zhenshu nodded: "We have to go home eventually."
Lin Dayu said, "But your mother has already abandoned you, so why would you go back?"
Zhenshu countered, "Where else can I go if I don't go home?"
Lin Dayu remained silent, washed his face by the river, and returned. He sat on a log outside the house for a while before saying, "Let's eat first, and then we can leave, okay?"
Zhenshu thought it made sense, so she got up, found a pot and rice, started a fire, and cooked porridge. She had only eaten porridge yesterday, and her stomach was very empty. She was afraid that a bowl of porridge would not be enough to fill her stomach, so she called Lin Dayu and pointed to the small river, saying, "Aren't you a hunter? Catch a fish and I'll steam it for you."
Lin Dayu shook his head and said, "I never catch fish. I'm already a big fish, it's no fun eating fish every day."
Zhenshu was amused by his serious demeanor.
Lin Dayu looked at Zhen Shu's charming smile, her cheeks curving into a beautiful and captivating arc, her soft lips tinged with a faint blush, full and tender, making his heart pound.