The beggar uncle felt that Jinxia’s body stank like the rotting corpses she had examined. It was something unbearable, therefore, on their way back, as soon as they reached Mrs. Shen’s house, one of them walked in through the front door and the other went to the back of the hut.
“This child must be cleaned from head to toe, I mean, totally cleaned, otherwise you won’t be able to swallow any salted meat tonight.” The beggar uncle said to Mrs. Shen, “There are several corpses by the edge of the mountain of the Taohualin Forest, all of them are rotten. This girl has unstable legs and fell down, now she smells so bad… I know you like cleanliness, so I let her stand outside the yard.”
Upon hearing the voices, Lu Yi looked out of the window and saw Jinxia standing in the backyard holding a small branch and playing with a little snake. Although he couldn’t see her face with clarity, he could imagine her standing there with a bored face.
“Let her come in, get the water and take a bath. Tell her to also wash her clothes, I will go find a change of clothes for her.” Mrs. Shen looked at the beggar uncle’s worn out garments, laughed and said, “Brother Lu, it’s rare to see you criticize others.”
“Actually, I also love to be clean, I wash myself once everyday.” The beggar uncle laughed, then turned his head to call out for Jinxia.
Mrs. Shen went back to the house and searched for a set of lilac coloured dresses from her old closet. That dress was hers when she was young, she had stored it away for several years. Unexpectedly, it could still be worn. Her fingers stroked the fabric of the clothing and she remembered a glimpse of the past that was blurred and… an uncontrollable panic swept over her. A moment later, she had regained her senses and risen to her feet to bring the clothes to Jinxia.
Although there was a curtain covering her, when she heard the sound of the door, Jinxia, who had just removed her clothes, was taken aback. She quickly jumped into the big wooden tub and shouted, “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
She was relieved when she heard Mrs. Shen’s voice. After examining the bodies, she’d been able to draw the conclusion that this matter had nothing to do with Mrs. Shen. The location of the discarded corpses was at the edge of the Taohualin Forest, and the surrounding area didn’t seem to have any trace of people, only snakes. In less than a few days, those snakes would definitely gnaw the corpses clean, and Zhai Lanye’s remains would be unidentifiable.
It was very convenient to destroy corpses that way, but she was sure the person throwing them in that place had not expected that the red python would be bringing clues to the hot spring. Lu Yi and she had happened to come there to heal his wounds and had unexpectedly found the body. The entire situation could be said to be arranged by the Heavens.
Mrs. Shen passed the outfit over the curtain and said, “Don’t forget to wash your clothes.”
Jinxia slightly poked her head out of the wooden tub, her eyes fixed on the purple lilac dress in the woman’s hands and said with joy, “Is this for me?”
“I’m lending them to you, wear them carefully!” Mrs. Shen said.
“Of course, I must be careful.” Jinxia smiled and nodded, “This dress is so nice. Auntie, you are really kind, like my real aunt.”
Mrs. Shen put the dress beside the wooden tub, her eyebrows tightened and said, “This uncle, that aunty, which one is actually your relative? You’re a girl, can you be a bit more reserved?”
“Okay, I will listen to you, I’ll hold back a little.” Jinxia accepted her rebuke. Her eyes glanced at the hand of Mrs. Shen where she was holding two eggs. Feeling confused, the girl asked, “This… aunt, is this meant for me to eat?”
“It’s for you to wash your hair. For a girl, hair is very important, you have to take good care of it.” Mrs. Shen did not intend to correct her words. She gave the eggs to Jinxia, looking at her hair and feeling unsatisfied. “Look at your hair, it’s all dried up from the sun.”
“Using eggs to wash hair…” Jinxia shook her head, “Such a waste, if my mother finds out, she will beat me up. Aunty, you better save it to eat.”
“Don’t be noisy and quickly wash your hair.”
“I can’t, I can’t, this is a waste.” Jinxia was holding an egg as if she was holding a valuable item.
Mrs. Shen did not bother arguing with her, took the wooden ladle and poured the water on her head.
The smooth egg white speeded into the strands of her hair, while gentle hands slowly massaged her head. Jinxia felt so comfortable that she almost fell asleep.
After massaging her head a few times, Mrs. Shen pulled her hands back and made Jinxia massage the hair herself.
“No wonder aunt’s hair is shiny black, it looks like satin.” Jinxia said, “I can’t bear to wash it off.”
Mrs. Shen washed her hands in the water; after that she turned to look at Jinxia, and asked, “Are you really a servant? Have you never washed your Mistress’s or other ladies’ hair?”
“…Me? I don’t serve the Mistress or the other ladies, I only serve the young master. The young master, he… He doesn’t like washing his hair.” Jinxia tried to think.
Mrs. Shen did not question it further, she took out a badge from her clothes, then asked, “Why do you have a LiuShanmen badge?”
“……” Jinxia was for once at loss of words. A few moments later, she tried to explain, “It’s a long story… It’s like this, I have a saviour who is a constable at LiuShanmen and who is very kind to me…”
“Continue.” Mrs. Shen nodded.
Jinxia had difficulty to continue. “…In order to appreciate his kindness, I asked someone to create a LiuShanmen badge, so I can carry it with me to never forget his kindness.”
Mrs. Shen praised him while nodding her head, “Keep going with the story.”
“Actually, this badge is a fake, take a look at the craftsmanship, it’s very rough and the copper used for it is of low quality.” Jinxia said that sincerely. The fundings in LiuShanmen were always limited, therefore they would be as stingy with money as possible.
Mrs. Shen casually took out a badge, “This one in comparison to LiuShanmen is much heavier.”
The thing that was held in her right hand was Lu Yi’s JinYiWei badge. As soon as Jinxia saw it, she wished she could sink her head into the water bath.
“Do you have another saviour who is a JinYiWei?” She asked slowly.
Jinxia frowned and looked at her with a gloomy face. Biting her lip, a few moments later she persistently replied, “That’s right, aunty, you are really smart, you guessed it right.”
The two of them looked at each other for a moment.
Seeing Jinxia’s uncomfortable look, Mrs. Shen got up, tilted her head and smiled, “You continue to take your bath, I want to find your uncle and have a talk.”
“….Aunt!”
Mrs. Shen walked past the curtain divider but, before leaving, she turned to remind her, “Later, when you water your head, don’t forget to use warm water and to wash the egg whites completely off.”
Jinxia said yes, but did not know later how the uncle beggar would deal with her questions. In her heart, she was feeling uneasy.
She watered her head, and finished her bath as fast as she could. Afterward, she dried herself off and put on the clothes.
It was quiet outside, there were no voices arguing at all.
She curled up her half wet hair and, with light steps, she walked through to the yard, heading straight to the room where Lu Yi was. She stood outside the door for a while, it was quiet inside. She couldn’t hear anything strange, hence she poked his head to look inside…
Lu Yi was leaning back on the bed. He tilted his head and looked at her.
“Being so sneaky, what’s wrong?” Lu Yi glared at her with displeasure.
Seeing that there was only him in the room, Jinxia tiptoed to his side, “Brother, is Mrs. Shen here?”
Lu Yi shook his head, his eyes fixed on her.
“No?” Jinxia paused, then immediately said, “There’s a problem… When I was taking a bath, Mrs. Shen found the badges, not only yours but mine as well. Although I lied, it seemed she didn’t believe it at all. Therefore, before she makes things difficult for us, we better go first!”
“They are Mrs. Shen’s clothes?” Lu Yi didn’t seem to be listening to her at all.
Jinxia nodded her head and said again, ”We have to go immediately, can you walk?”
Lu Yi continued not to listen to her but he leaned back and continued to ask, “Why haven’t you ever worn a dress like this?”
“This dress is old but look at this material, it must be very expensive, my mother would never be willing to buy it for me. Besides, I’m always spending time outside in the field, no reason to buy such expensive clothes. Wouldn’t I be distressed if I dirtied or tore them?” Jinxia explained, unconsciously stroking the dress. “I have to wash this and give it back to Mrs. Shen… These clothes should be more than ten years old and, judging from the style and the material, Mrs. Shen must be a lady from a noble family.”
He smiled, “You… A dress like this does make you indeed look like a lady.”
“I am indeed a lady.” After she finished talking, Jinxia just remembered now it was not the time to talk about clothes, “I said earlier, Mrs. Shen had realized that we are government officials, we must hurry and go, Brother!”
“There’s no need to rush. Even though she already knows, she still lent you her dress. How mad can she be in her heart?”
Lu Yi said calmly.
Jinxia was dumbfounded for a moment. Thinking about it, it did make sense. “She said she would go find uncle first, is it possible she will finish him first?”
As she was talking, the beggar uncle walked into the room, dressed in a brand new outfit, his head was tied with a binding cloth, he had jade green overalls and his feet were wearing cloud-patterned shoes. His hair was combed and not a single strand of hair was out, even his face had been washed. If one looked at him now, he could only be described by two words: ‘fine-looking’.
“Uncle?” Jinxia said suspiciously, wondering if maybe he was the beggar uncle’s twin brother.
“Niece, this time I really got hurt by you!” As soon as the beggar uncle opened his mouth, he complained, “Why don’t you keep your badge safe?”
“I did! Who would have thought that when I took a bath she would come in.” Jinxia said with conviction, “This matter, you can’t blame me…What are you doing?”
The beggar uncle glanced irritated at her, then stretched out his arms, “Based on how I look, can you not guess?”
Jinxia couldn’t guess it but turned her head to look at Lu Yi and they both looked at each other. Lu Yi shook his head because he couldn’t guess it either.
After observing the man for a while, Jinxia flashed with an idea and said, “I know! Have you finally lost your virginity?”
Upon hearing her words, the beggar uncle was bewildered. At the same time, the back of Jinxia’s head was pushed lightly by Lu Yi. “You are a lady, you can’t talk like that!” Lu Yi scolded her.
“I get it, Brother…” Jinxia raised her head and asked him, “Then how should I say it? Wedding night consummation?”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, then nodded his head, “That’s fine.”
Following his suggestion, Jinxia looked at the beggar uncle and asked all happy, “Uncle, did you have a wedding consummation?”
“God!” The beggar uncle couldn’t bear it, and stepped forward to beat her, “Are there any wedding consummations happening during the day? Besides, can a consummation be this short?”
Jinxia laughed so hard that she almost slipped off the bamboo bed. Luckily Lu Yi caught her in time.
The beggar uncle felt that Jinxia’s body stank like the rotting corpses she had examined. It was something unbearable, therefore, on their way back, as soon as they reached Mrs. Shen’s house, one of them walked in through the front door and the other went to the back of the hut.
“This child must be cleaned from head to toe, I mean, totally cleaned, otherwise you won’t be able to swallow any salted meat tonight.” The beggar uncle said to Mrs. Shen, “There are several corpses by the edge of the mountain of the Taohualin Forest, all of them are rotten. This girl has unstable legs and fell down, now she smells so bad… I know you like cleanliness, so I let her stand outside the yard.”
Upon hearing the voices, Lu Yi looked out of the window and saw Jinxia standing in the backyard holding a small branch and playing with a little snake. Although he couldn’t see her face with clarity, he could imagine her standing there with a bored face.
“Let her come in, get the water and take a bath. Tell her to also wash her clothes, I will go find a change of clothes for her.” Mrs. Shen looked at the beggar uncle’s worn out garments, laughed and said, “Brother Lu, it’s rare to see you criticize others.”
“Actually, I also love to be clean, I wash myself once everyday.” The beggar uncle laughed, then turned his head to call out for Jinxia.
Mrs. Shen went back to the house and searched for a set of lilac coloured dresses from her old closet. That dress was hers when she was young, she had stored it away for several years. Unexpectedly, it could still be worn. Her fingers stroked the fabric of the clothing and she remembered a glimpse of the past that was blurred and… an uncontrollable panic swept over her. A moment later, she had regained her senses and risen to her feet to bring the clothes to Jinxia.
Although there was a curtain covering her, when she heard the sound of the door, Jinxia, who had just removed her clothes, was taken aback. She quickly jumped into the big wooden tub and shouted, “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
She was relieved when she heard Mrs. Shen’s voice. After examining the bodies, she’d been able to draw the conclusion that this matter had nothing to do with Mrs. Shen. The location of the discarded corpses was at the edge of the Taohualin Forest, and the surrounding area didn’t seem to have any trace of people, only snakes. In less than a few days, those snakes would definitely gnaw the corpses clean, and Zhai Lanye’s remains would be unidentifiable.
It was very convenient to destroy corpses that way, but she was sure the person throwing them in that place had not expected that the red python would be bringing clues to the hot spring. Lu Yi and she had happened to come there to heal his wounds and had unexpectedly found the body. The entire situation could be said to be arranged by the Heavens.
Mrs. Shen passed the outfit over the curtain and said, “Don’t forget to wash your clothes.”
Jinxia slightly poked her head out of the wooden tub, her eyes fixed on the purple lilac dress in the woman’s hands and said with joy, “Is this for me?”
“I’m lending them to you, wear them carefully!” Mrs. Shen said.
“Of course, I must be careful.” Jinxia smiled and nodded, “This dress is so nice. Auntie, you are really kind, like my real aunt.”
Mrs. Shen put the dress beside the wooden tub, her eyebrows tightened and said, “This uncle, that aunty, which one is actually your relative? You’re a girl, can you be a bit more reserved?”
“Okay, I will listen to you, I’ll hold back a little.” Jinxia accepted her rebuke. Her eyes glanced at the hand of Mrs. Shen where she was holding two eggs. Feeling confused, the girl asked, “This… aunt, is this meant for me to eat?”
“It’s for you to wash your hair. For a girl, hair is very important, you have to take good care of it.” Mrs. Shen did not intend to correct her words. She gave the eggs to Jinxia, looking at her hair and feeling unsatisfied. “Look at your hair, it’s all dried up from the sun.”
“Using eggs to wash hair…” Jinxia shook her head, “Such a waste, if my mother finds out, she will beat me up. Aunty, you better save it to eat.”
“Don’t be noisy and quickly wash your hair.”
“I can’t, I can’t, this is a waste.” Jinxia was holding an egg as if she was holding a valuable item.
Mrs. Shen did not bother arguing with her, took the wooden ladle and poured the water on her head.
The smooth egg white speeded into the strands of her hair, while gentle hands slowly massaged her head. Jinxia felt so comfortable that she almost fell asleep.
After massaging her head a few times, Mrs. Shen pulled her hands back and made Jinxia massage the hair herself.
“No wonder aunt’s hair is shiny black, it looks like satin.” Jinxia said, “I can’t bear to wash it off.”
Mrs. Shen washed her hands in the water; after that she turned to look at Jinxia, and asked, “Are you really a servant? Have you never washed your Mistress’s or other ladies’ hair?”
“…Me? I don’t serve the Mistress or the other ladies, I only serve the young master. The young master, he… He doesn’t like washing his hair.” Jinxia tried to think.
Mrs. Shen did not question it further, she took out a badge from her clothes, then asked, “Why do you have a LiuShanmen badge?”
“……” Jinxia was for once at loss of words. A few moments later, she tried to explain, “It’s a long story… It’s like this, I have a saviour who is a constable at LiuShanmen and who is very kind to me…”
“Continue.” Mrs. Shen nodded.
Jinxia had difficulty to continue. “…In order to appreciate his kindness, I asked someone to create a LiuShanmen badge, so I can carry it with me to never forget his kindness.”
Mrs. Shen praised him while nodding her head, “Keep going with the story.”
“Actually, this badge is a fake, take a look at the craftsmanship, it’s very rough and the copper used for it is of low quality.” Jinxia said that sincerely. The fundings in LiuShanmen were always limited, therefore they would be as stingy with money as possible.
Mrs. Shen casually took out a badge, “This one in comparison to LiuShanmen is much heavier.”
The thing that was held in her right hand was Lu Yi’s JinYiWei badge. As soon as Jinxia saw it, she wished she could sink her head into the water bath.
“Do you have another saviour who is a JinYiWei?” She asked slowly.
Jinxia frowned and looked at her with a gloomy face. Biting her lip, a few moments later she persistently replied, “That’s right, aunty, you are really smart, you guessed it right.”
The two of them looked at each other for a moment.
Seeing Jinxia’s uncomfortable look, Mrs. Shen got up, tilted her head and smiled, “You continue to take your bath, I want to find your uncle and have a talk.”
“….Aunt!”
Mrs. Shen walked past the curtain divider but, before leaving, she turned to remind her, “Later, when you water your head, don’t forget to use warm water and to wash the egg whites completely off.”
Jinxia said yes, but did not know later how the uncle beggar would deal with her questions. In her heart, she was feeling uneasy.
She watered her head, and finished her bath as fast as she could. Afterward, she dried herself off and put on the clothes.
It was quiet outside, there were no voices arguing at all.
She curled up her half wet hair and, with light steps, she walked through to the yard, heading straight to the room where Lu Yi was. She stood outside the door for a while, it was quiet inside. She couldn’t hear anything strange, hence she poked his head to look inside…
Lu Yi was leaning back on the bed. He tilted his head and looked at her.
“Being so sneaky, what’s wrong?” Lu Yi glared at her with displeasure.
Seeing that there was only him in the room, Jinxia tiptoed to his side, “Brother, is Mrs. Shen here?”
Lu Yi shook his head, his eyes fixed on her.
“No?” Jinxia paused, then immediately said, “There’s a problem… When I was taking a bath, Mrs. Shen found the badges, not only yours but mine as well. Although I lied, it seemed she didn’t believe it at all. Therefore, before she makes things difficult for us, we better go first!”
“They are Mrs. Shen’s clothes?” Lu Yi didn’t seem to be listening to her at all.
Jinxia nodded her head and said again, ”We have to go immediately, can you walk?”
Lu Yi continued not to listen to her but he leaned back and continued to ask, “Why haven’t you ever worn a dress like this?”
“This dress is old but look at this material, it must be very expensive, my mother would never be willing to buy it for me. Besides, I’m always spending time outside in the field, no reason to buy such expensive clothes. Wouldn’t I be distressed if I dirtied or tore them?” Jinxia explained, unconsciously stroking the dress. “I have to wash this and give it back to Mrs. Shen… These clothes should be more than ten years old and, judging from the style and the material, Mrs. Shen must be a lady from a noble family.”
He smiled, “You… A dress like this does make you indeed look like a lady.”
“I am indeed a lady.” After she finished talking, Jinxia just remembered now it was not the time to talk about clothes, “I said earlier, Mrs. Shen had realized that we are government officials, we must hurry and go, Brother!”
“There’s no need to rush. Even though she already knows, she still lent you her dress. How mad can she be in her heart?”
Lu Yi said calmly.
Jinxia was dumbfounded for a moment. Thinking about it, it did make sense. “She said she would go find uncle first, is it possible she will finish him first?”
As she was talking, the beggar uncle walked into the room, dressed in a brand new outfit, his head was tied with a binding cloth, he had jade green overalls and his feet were wearing cloud-patterned shoes. His hair was combed and not a single strand of hair was out, even his face had been washed. If one looked at him now, he could only be described by two words: ‘fine-looking’.
“Uncle?” Jinxia said suspiciously, wondering if maybe he was the beggar uncle’s twin brother.
“Niece, this time I really got hurt by you!” As soon as the beggar uncle opened his mouth, he complained, “Why don’t you keep your badge safe?”
“I did! Who would have thought that when I took a bath she would come in.” Jinxia said with conviction, “This matter, you can’t blame me…What are you doing?”
The beggar uncle glanced irritated at her, then stretched out his arms, “Based on how I look, can you not guess?”
Jinxia couldn’t guess it but turned her head to look at Lu Yi and they both looked at each other. Lu Yi shook his head because he couldn’t guess it either.
After observing the man for a while, Jinxia flashed with an idea and said, “I know! Have you finally lost your virginity?”
Upon hearing her words, the beggar uncle was bewildered. At the same time, the back of Jinxia’s head was pushed lightly by Lu Yi. “You are a lady, you can’t talk like that!” Lu Yi scolded her.
“I get it, Brother…” Jinxia raised her head and asked him, “Then how should I say it? Wedding night consummation?”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, then nodded his head, “That’s fine.”
Following his suggestion, Jinxia looked at the beggar uncle and asked all happy, “Uncle, did you have a wedding consummation?”
“God!” The beggar uncle couldn’t bear it, and stepped forward to beat her, “Are there any wedding consummations happening during the day? Besides, can a consummation be this short?”
Jinxia laughed so hard that she almost slipped off the bamboo bed. Luckily Lu Yi caught her in time.
