Nu’Er Hong was a wine that was buried when a girl was born, and she wouldn’t be able to dig out the wine until she got married. A’Rui was in shock, he quickly took the jar lid and closed it again, then said in a deep voice, “This wine is untouchable!”
“It’s no longer needed, instead of keeping it buried under the ground, it’s better to drink it now.”
Shangguan Xi wanted to remove his hand, but he didn’t move.
“Bangzhu! No!” A’Rui firmly pressed on the wine jar, not allowing her to take it again, “Although I don’t know what happened, but no matter how sad you are, you shouldn’t take out the wine that will be used to celebrate your marriage, it’s not right!”
“I’m not sad.” Shangguan Xi laughed a little, “I just… I feel my heart awfully empty. I’ve waited for him for several years. It must be because I’m not good enough that, even when he came back, he still…”
“You’ve treated him too well!” A’Rui said in anger, “He thought it was natural to behave like that, because you have been enduring all his behaviours, now he’s not even thinking about you! A person like him is not worthy of being the leader of this gang at all.”
“Be quiet!” Shangguan Xi shouted, “I do not allow you to criticize him behind his back!”
A’Rui fell silent, his eyes were filled with pain. After a few seconds, he said in a low voice, “Bangzhu, don’t be sad, you will marry a better husband in the future, a hundred times better than the Young Master Bangzhu… This wine, I won’t allow Bangzhu to touch it!”
As he was speaking, he lifted the jar and walked back into the room. In the room, there happened to be some tarpaulin covered in oil, usually used to protect the roof of the boat during heavy raining days. He cut a cloth and used it to close the lid of the jar, then using a rope he tightly tied it, and carried it back to the bow of the boat.
“You…”
Before she could finish her words, Shangguan Xi saw that he had thrown the wine jars one by one into the lake; they quickly disappeared and sank into the lake.
“You!” She was so angry that she could not speak and gave him a slap on the face.
A’Rui was in pain, so he didn’t say anything. He sincerely looked at her, “I will wait until Bangzhu finds a suitable husband and gets married, then I will personally dive into the bottom of the lake to get the wine for you.”
Shangguan Xi said annoyingly, “What if I don’t ever get married?”
“No, you are a good woman. There will be a lot of good men who would want to take care of you, there will be!”
Although the moonlight was dim, she could still discern the left side of his face, and it was swollen. She could no longer say anything. She sat down with a slow movement and hugged her knees tightly…
The lake water hit the side of the boat gently, the sound of her crying was mixing with the sound of the water. A’Rui listened to it in silence.
***
A thin and crispy pancake crust was spread out neatly, the first layer contained crushed peanuts, on the second layer were fried tiny shiny strands, the third layer was with fried tofu slices, the fourth layer was adorned with golden chunks of egg. Lastly she added a sprinkling of onions and seaweed that had been fried on low fire, then carefully rolled it up. Jinxia let out a satisfied sigh, sealed one end and the other, and was about to bite into it…
A hand stretched out from her side, naturally and boldly taking her spring roll pancake.
“…” Jinxia was stunned.
Lu Yi looked at the roll and frowned, “It looks like they are all vegetables, can they be eaten too?”
“Of course, it’s very good. Daren, please taste it!” She urged him, excited.
He tried to take a bite, chewed it carefully, and frowned again, “It tastes a bit strange.”
Jinxia put her hand on her chin, watching him chew it and thought, “It is because of the seaweed, are you not used to it?” She handed the plate containing the seaweed under Lu Yi’s nose.
After smelling it, he made a disgusted face, “That’s it.”
“Look, Daren is inexperienced, this seaweed is the finishing touch for the spring pancakes, but maybe this is Dongnan people’s culture, that’s why Daren isn’t used to eating it.” Jinxia took another pancake crust, then put the vegetables on top.
“Dongnan people’s culture?”
“That’s right, my master lived in Fujian for many years, ever since he was a child, that’s why Da Yang cooks according to the taste of Dongnan people. They also don’t call this a spring pancake, but a moist pancake.” Jinxia said, “Wait, when you are used to the taste, you eat it better.”
Lu Yi lowered his gaze, silently thinking that when he was about to leave for Jiangnan, he had time to review Yang ChengWan’s information; he remembered clearly that he was a Jiangxi person, how could he have lived in Fujian for many years as a child?
“You try one more bite.” Jinxia wrapped her own roll, took a big bite and watched Lu Yi in excitement.
Watching her eating so happily, Lu Yi took another bite of the moist pancake, and then tightened his eyebrows, “The taste of the seaweed is too strong, I can’t get used to it.”
“Daren is too picky with food.” Jinxia looked at him with dissatisfying eyes, “You being like this, surely when you were a child, a lot of people didn’t like you.”
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows, laughed and said, “Did people like you when you were a child?”
“Of course! As a child I wasn’t picky with food and ate whatever I was given.” Jinxia was proud of herself, “My mother said, when she went to the orphanage to choose a kid, it happened that a group of children were eating and I was the most excited about eating, hence she chose me right away.”
“Orphanage?… You’re adopted?” Lu Yi was a little surprised.
Jinxia nodded her head, taking another big bite of the moist pancake.
“How old were you when you were adopted?”
“I’m not really sure, my mother said at that time my front teeth were changing, so I was probably around five or six years old.”
“Five or six years old, you should remember something.” Lu Yi frowned, “You were abducted by kidnappers? Where did you live…”
“Wait, wait…” Jinxia stoppeds his words, using her hand to remove a few strands of hair along the side of her forehead. On that very spot, there was a wound that had faded, “See this, I have been injured on the head… The things that happened in my childhood, they all are vague and scattered.”
Staring at her forehead, Lu Yi was silent for a while, then asked, “How much can you remember?”
“I remember there was a lively street with a lot of people and many lanterns. It seemed they were celebrating a festival… There was a pair of stone lions. I put my hand in the lion’s mouth to play with the stone ball, rolling it around…” She struggled to think, “I don’t remember anything else…”
Lu Yi continued to look at her in silence, without realizing that his fingers pressed on the handle of the cup were slightly turning white.
“Do you want to help me find my family?” Jinxia suddenly realized it and leaned forward all happy, “I’m at LiuShanmen and traveling to solve cases is because of this problem. I often think, when I’ll arrive at the right place, I will feel some sort of familiarity, or meet someone who looks like me: my brother, sister, father, mother, uncle, aunt or my aunt’s husband…”
“Aunt’s husband…”
At that point, the two of them were so close that their pancakes touched each other. Lu Yi noticed it and leaned back slightly.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, as long as they look like me even a bit, no one can be missed.” Jinxia looked at him earnestly, “Daren, I know the ability of JinYiWei, you guys even have connections with members in Korea and Ryukyu. If Daren is happy to help, maybe I can really find my family… However, I think it is not possible that my family came from Korea, what do you think?”
“Do you really want to find your family?” He asked again.
She nodded a few times, and looked at him sincerely, “You can help me! Next time, I will invite you for dinner!”
“Another table full of vegetables? And I have to eat it for the second time?” Lu Yi snorted, “If I guessed correctly, you took these ingredients from the post station kitchen, right?”
“…” Jinxia awkwardly looked at him “This.. .Invite a guest for dinner, it’s not about how much you spend, it’s your heart! Daren, you must understand this.”
“The ingredients are taken from the kitchen, these dishes are made by YangYue, and the wine is mine. I want to see your good will, but where is it?”
Jinxia opened her eyes wide and defended herself, “I washed these vegetables and made this soup, Da Yang just happened to come in time to help. Actually, I can also cook myself, but Da Yang’s cooking is better. I just wanted Daren to eat good food. There’s more, the moist pancake on your plate, I rolled that, it’s filled with all my sincerity! I’ll make another roll.”
As she spoke, her hand moved and Lu Yi didn’t have a chance to stop her, he just watched as her hand scattered picking up the vegetables from each plate. He said, “That, don’t put too much carrots.”
“Don’t worry, I know, I’ll put more shredded tofu and eggs.”
She rolled up a big pancake roll, and with satisfaction she placed it on his plate.
“Daren is willing to help me so much, I will make another toast to you.” She took the glass and was about to pour the wine, but Lu Yi took it away.
“You are a lady, you shouldn’t be drinking wine, you’re not allowed to drink.” He said in a low voice.
“Are you afraid that I will cause trouble when I drink? Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten drunk before.”
Lu Yi glanced at her with an icy stare, “The night I ordered you to investigate Zhou Xian’s room, you were so drunk that you forgot about my order.”
“…” Jinxia was speechless, “That… That’s an exception.”
“That night Xie Xiao invited you to have a drink.” He looked at her and said bluntly, “In the future, you will not be allowed to drink and forget about work.”
“Uh, alright, I will listen to Daren.” Jinxia deliberately tried to please him, “Then I will use tea instead of wine to toast to you.”
The cup of tea met the wine cup with a crystal clear and happy sound.
She didn’t even look at whether Lu Yi drank it or not, she just drank the tea in one shot.
“Daren, you’re tired today. I’ll massage your shoulders and rub your legs?” The very considerate Jinxia didn’t know what else to do.
“Don’t”
“Daren, how about I help you loosen your head by massaging it, it will be very comfortable!”
“Don’t!”
“Daren, how about I help you prepare the bed?”
“Don’t!”
“Daren, how about I warm the water to wash your feet?”
“…Don’t!”
Nu’Er Hong was a wine that was buried when a girl was born, and she wouldn’t be able to dig out the wine until she got married. A’Rui was in shock, he quickly took the jar lid and closed it again, then said in a deep voice, “This wine is untouchable!”
“It’s no longer needed, instead of keeping it buried under the ground, it’s better to drink it now.”
Shangguan Xi wanted to remove his hand, but he didn’t move.
“Bangzhu! No!” A’Rui firmly pressed on the wine jar, not allowing her to take it again, “Although I don’t know what happened, but no matter how sad you are, you shouldn’t take out the wine that will be used to celebrate your marriage, it’s not right!”
“I’m not sad.” Shangguan Xi laughed a little, “I just… I feel my heart awfully empty. I’ve waited for him for several years. It must be because I’m not good enough that, even when he came back, he still…”
“You’ve treated him too well!” A’Rui said in anger, “He thought it was natural to behave like that, because you have been enduring all his behaviours, now he’s not even thinking about you! A person like him is not worthy of being the leader of this gang at all.”
“Be quiet!” Shangguan Xi shouted, “I do not allow you to criticize him behind his back!”
A’Rui fell silent, his eyes were filled with pain. After a few seconds, he said in a low voice, “Bangzhu, don’t be sad, you will marry a better husband in the future, a hundred times better than the Young Master Bangzhu… This wine, I won’t allow Bangzhu to touch it!”
As he was speaking, he lifted the jar and walked back into the room. In the room, there happened to be some tarpaulin covered in oil, usually used to protect the roof of the boat during heavy raining days. He cut a cloth and used it to close the lid of the jar, then using a rope he tightly tied it, and carried it back to the bow of the boat.
“You…”
Before she could finish her words, Shangguan Xi saw that he had thrown the wine jars one by one into the lake; they quickly disappeared and sank into the lake.
“You!” She was so angry that she could not speak and gave him a slap on the face.
A’Rui was in pain, so he didn’t say anything. He sincerely looked at her, “I will wait until Bangzhu finds a suitable husband and gets married, then I will personally dive into the bottom of the lake to get the wine for you.”
Shangguan Xi said annoyingly, “What if I don’t ever get married?”
“No, you are a good woman. There will be a lot of good men who would want to take care of you, there will be!”
Although the moonlight was dim, she could still discern the left side of his face, and it was swollen. She could no longer say anything. She sat down with a slow movement and hugged her knees tightly…
The lake water hit the side of the boat gently, the sound of her crying was mixing with the sound of the water. A’Rui listened to it in silence.
***
A thin and crispy pancake crust was spread out neatly, the first layer contained crushed peanuts, on the second layer were fried tiny shiny strands, the third layer was with fried tofu slices, the fourth layer was adorned with golden chunks of egg. Lastly she added a sprinkling of onions and seaweed that had been fried on low fire, then carefully rolled it up. Jinxia let out a satisfied sigh, sealed one end and the other, and was about to bite into it…
A hand stretched out from her side, naturally and boldly taking her spring roll pancake.
“…” Jinxia was stunned.
Lu Yi looked at the roll and frowned, “It looks like they are all vegetables, can they be eaten too?”
“Of course, it’s very good. Daren, please taste it!” She urged him, excited.
He tried to take a bite, chewed it carefully, and frowned again, “It tastes a bit strange.”
Jinxia put her hand on her chin, watching him chew it and thought, “It is because of the seaweed, are you not used to it?” She handed the plate containing the seaweed under Lu Yi’s nose.
After smelling it, he made a disgusted face, “That’s it.”
“Look, Daren is inexperienced, this seaweed is the finishing touch for the spring pancakes, but maybe this is Dongnan people’s culture, that’s why Daren isn’t used to eating it.” Jinxia took another pancake crust, then put the vegetables on top.
“Dongnan people’s culture?”
“That’s right, my master lived in Fujian for many years, ever since he was a child, that’s why Da Yang cooks according to the taste of Dongnan people. They also don’t call this a spring pancake, but a moist pancake.” Jinxia said, “Wait, when you are used to the taste, you eat it better.”
Lu Yi lowered his gaze, silently thinking that when he was about to leave for Jiangnan, he had time to review Yang ChengWan’s information; he remembered clearly that he was a Jiangxi person, how could he have lived in Fujian for many years as a child?
“You try one more bite.” Jinxia wrapped her own roll, took a big bite and watched Lu Yi in excitement.
Watching her eating so happily, Lu Yi took another bite of the moist pancake, and then tightened his eyebrows, “The taste of the seaweed is too strong, I can’t get used to it.”
“Daren is too picky with food.” Jinxia looked at him with dissatisfying eyes, “You being like this, surely when you were a child, a lot of people didn’t like you.”
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows, laughed and said, “Did people like you when you were a child?”
“Of course! As a child I wasn’t picky with food and ate whatever I was given.” Jinxia was proud of herself, “My mother said, when she went to the orphanage to choose a kid, it happened that a group of children were eating and I was the most excited about eating, hence she chose me right away.”
“Orphanage?… You’re adopted?” Lu Yi was a little surprised.
Jinxia nodded her head, taking another big bite of the moist pancake.
“How old were you when you were adopted?”
“I’m not really sure, my mother said at that time my front teeth were changing, so I was probably around five or six years old.”
“Five or six years old, you should remember something.” Lu Yi frowned, “You were abducted by kidnappers? Where did you live…”
“Wait, wait…” Jinxia stoppeds his words, using her hand to remove a few strands of hair along the side of her forehead. On that very spot, there was a wound that had faded, “See this, I have been injured on the head… The things that happened in my childhood, they all are vague and scattered.”
Staring at her forehead, Lu Yi was silent for a while, then asked, “How much can you remember?”
“I remember there was a lively street with a lot of people and many lanterns. It seemed they were celebrating a festival… There was a pair of stone lions. I put my hand in the lion’s mouth to play with the stone ball, rolling it around…” She struggled to think, “I don’t remember anything else…”
Lu Yi continued to look at her in silence, without realizing that his fingers pressed on the handle of the cup were slightly turning white.
“Do you want to help me find my family?” Jinxia suddenly realized it and leaned forward all happy, “I’m at LiuShanmen and traveling to solve cases is because of this problem. I often think, when I’ll arrive at the right place, I will feel some sort of familiarity, or meet someone who looks like me: my brother, sister, father, mother, uncle, aunt or my aunt’s husband…”
“Aunt’s husband…”
At that point, the two of them were so close that their pancakes touched each other. Lu Yi noticed it and leaned back slightly.
“It doesn’t matter who it is, as long as they look like me even a bit, no one can be missed.” Jinxia looked at him earnestly, “Daren, I know the ability of JinYiWei, you guys even have connections with members in Korea and Ryukyu. If Daren is happy to help, maybe I can really find my family… However, I think it is not possible that my family came from Korea, what do you think?”
“Do you really want to find your family?” He asked again.
She nodded a few times, and looked at him sincerely, “You can help me! Next time, I will invite you for dinner!”
“Another table full of vegetables? And I have to eat it for the second time?” Lu Yi snorted, “If I guessed correctly, you took these ingredients from the post station kitchen, right?”
“…” Jinxia awkwardly looked at him “This.. .Invite a guest for dinner, it’s not about how much you spend, it’s your heart! Daren, you must understand this.”
“The ingredients are taken from the kitchen, these dishes are made by YangYue, and the wine is mine. I want to see your good will, but where is it?”
Jinxia opened her eyes wide and defended herself, “I washed these vegetables and made this soup, Da Yang just happened to come in time to help. Actually, I can also cook myself, but Da Yang’s cooking is better. I just wanted Daren to eat good food. There’s more, the moist pancake on your plate, I rolled that, it’s filled with all my sincerity! I’ll make another roll.”
As she spoke, her hand moved and Lu Yi didn’t have a chance to stop her, he just watched as her hand scattered picking up the vegetables from each plate. He said, “That, don’t put too much carrots.”
“Don’t worry, I know, I’ll put more shredded tofu and eggs.”
She rolled up a big pancake roll, and with satisfaction she placed it on his plate.
“Daren is willing to help me so much, I will make another toast to you.” She took the glass and was about to pour the wine, but Lu Yi took it away.
“You are a lady, you shouldn’t be drinking wine, you’re not allowed to drink.” He said in a low voice.
“Are you afraid that I will cause trouble when I drink? Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten drunk before.”
Lu Yi glanced at her with an icy stare, “The night I ordered you to investigate Zhou Xian’s room, you were so drunk that you forgot about my order.”
“…” Jinxia was speechless, “That… That’s an exception.”
“That night Xie Xiao invited you to have a drink.” He looked at her and said bluntly, “In the future, you will not be allowed to drink and forget about work.”
“Uh, alright, I will listen to Daren.” Jinxia deliberately tried to please him, “Then I will use tea instead of wine to toast to you.”
The cup of tea met the wine cup with a crystal clear and happy sound.
She didn’t even look at whether Lu Yi drank it or not, she just drank the tea in one shot.
“Daren, you’re tired today. I’ll massage your shoulders and rub your legs?” The very considerate Jinxia didn’t know what else to do.
“Don’t”
“Daren, how about I help you loosen your head by massaging it, it will be very comfortable!”
“Don’t!”
“Daren, how about I help you prepare the bed?”
“Don’t!”
“Daren, how about I warm the water to wash your feet?”
“…Don’t!”
