The next morning, Ying Yun woke up from the sound of knocking on her room's door. She heard the voice of Li Jianyu asking if he could come in, which she muttered that he could. Her voice was husky as she had just woken up, particularly since she could sense that she was very early. She usually woke up in the morning at the earliest of chen shi, but according to her Li Jianyu, it was currently mao shi. He had woken her up very early because the village was a couple of hours away if they were to walk.
As much as he wanted them to take horses, they couldn't because Ying Yun didn't know how to ride one. And, Li Jianyu told her that the walking would help her build endurance. He told her that she should meet them outside when she was done and left.
Them? She wondered who else was going with them.
She dressed quickly and hurried outside. She couldn't feel the warmth of the sun, really indicating that it was super early.
"Ying Yun, over here." Li Jianyu called out to her. She walked in the direction of his voice and heard someone quietly complaining about going on this trip. She recognized the voice as Zixin, the one who had blatantly denied her as a fellow student yesterday. "Ying Yun, I planned to go with you today, but it appears that I have something important to do for a friend. Zixin will take you."
She felt a tinge of disappointment creeping in her heart, but she ignored it and nodded. If she could see, she would see Zixin nearly rolling his eyes at the excuse of his teacher. He knew that his teacher had already planned this since yesterday, but had created an excuse for the girl so she wouldn't know.
"Grab onto Zixin and walk there with him. I already gave him the list of things that I need. I'll give you two silver taels to buy everything." Although Ying Yun was astonished at the absurdly large amount, she didn't say anything and nodded. She didn't know that this was a test. Li Jianyu had given her this amount to test her. He wanted to see if she was greedy and was going to purchase anything for herself with the remaining amount after purchasing his things. He was wealthy enough that two silver taels, nonetheless thousands, didn't affect him at all.
She was guided to Zixin and meekly grabbed on his sleeve. Her small and pitifully malnourished appearance softened Zixin's heart a small bit but he didn't show it on his face. They both bowed to their teacher and began to walk to Jin Village.
Thirty minutes later, after walking in complete silence, Zixin couldn't take the quietness and spoke, "You..." her bowed head lifted and she confusedly glanced around until her brain had discerned the direction of his voice. "Why are you trying to leech on my shifu?"
"I..." she swallowed nervously, "My Lord was just being too generous. I don't think he was serious about the matter." When he heard her response, Zixin grew angry.
Not serious? Then who was the man that was willing to send away his one and only student in exchange to keep a new one? Who was the stubborn man who kept insisting on keeping her?
"You!" She was so stupid! Zixin stopped and pushed her away, releasing them grip on his sleeve and falling to the ground. "You're so dense! You aren't even appreciative of what Shifu has offered you! You, a girl who is completely blind and useless!" His anger had lead him to blurt out the last portion and he immediately regretted it when he saw her face fall. Her small fists clenched and she averted her eyes in embarrassment. Although she tried to conceal it, her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
"I know...I know I'm a burden to his kindness," Ying Yun mumbled. "But I won't let anyone but him tell me that I'm burdensome!" Her last sentence carried a bit of the backbone she had when she confronted Old Man Li. Even Zixin was stunned when he heard her say it. To hear such a thing from her small frame...his impression of her increased a small bit. He still didn't think that she was worthy to be the second disciple of Li Jianyu, but at least she wasn't completely hopeless.
He tsked. "Alright, grab on again and let's keep walking." A few seconds had passed and she hadn't grabbed on. "Hey, are you deaf too—" he stopped speaking when he saw her stand up and stubbornly insist that she would be fine. "Fine. Do it your way. If you get lost, then it's all on you." If she wanted to play to keep her pride, then Zixin would let her. She would be the one suffering in the end, not him.
They walked an hour further and Zixin realized that she was following the sound of his footsteps very well. For someone so young, her senses were decent. He purposely made his footsteps gradually lighter and lighter until the sound of them disappeared. He stood one zhang from her and watched her reaction. At first, it seemed like she didn't notice and continued to walk straight.
Then, she paused.
A flash of panic appeared on her face despite her doing her best to be calm.
Zixin watched her, wondering what she was going to do. To his astonishment, she continued to walk straight with her arms straight in front of her to feel any trees or such before she bumped into them. Her slow walk would've slowed down the trip by a few hours, so Zixin came out and scoffed. "You're seriously not going to ask for help?"
"Why ask when I know it won't be offered?"
He humphed and grabbed her small hand in his and they strode forward in silence. Zixin didn't think she was so stubborn, but her words made him realize that she had a deeper story then she intended.
And as Zixin thought, Ying Yun's words weren't just directed at Zixin, but her entire life. People had assumed the worst about her beloved mother and never offered to help them, even when she had pleaded with all of her might. Though she was surprised when the young master had grabbed her hand in his. He was willful and purposely driving her away, but Ying Yun senses that he had a good heart.
They walked for another hour until she finally heard lots of footsteps and voices.
They had arrived.
"Don't stray away from me or else you might really get lost. Even though we came early, it seems like today is really busy as merchants from both countries had stopped by." Zixin warned, although he wouldn't have minded if she really disappeared. It would mean that she wouldn't need to bother him and his shifu again. Jin Village was the small town that bordered both countries of Kang—their current country—and Xi, where Ying Yun had escaped from.
She nodded and gripped his hand harder as he lead her around with the list of things.
The stall owners greeted Zixin as though they were familiar with him, meaning that it wasn't the boy's first time running this errand for his teacher. The smell of different types of herbs hit her nostrils every time they went to different places. Although some were very similar in smell, she began to slowly distinguish between them. A couple were familiar smells and she used her memory to remember them and their appearance. However, most were unfamiliar to her. Either unfamiliar from never having been in contact with them, or unfamiliar from having been originating from the country of Kang. Had it not been for the incident of her old village and her meeting Li Jianyu, then she would've never been near such herbs.
They finished all their shopping by a few hours and it was already near the end of si shi. To Ying Yun's dismay, the large amount of herbs they had bought had nearly costed them an entire silver tael. She didn't think that medicinal herbs would be that expensive, but as they had also bought a large quantity of each, it was somewhat expected. They had a couple of copper coins and one silver tael left over and Zixin purchased a couple of meat buns as they sat on a table to eat. She recognized the smell but didn't ask for any. He waited for her to open her mouth to say she wants one, but she didn't say anything which annoyed him.
"You're so stubborn! Don't you want one?" Zixin placed one in front of her, but Ying Yun made no movements to grab it.
"For me?" It shocked him how astounded she was. Even though he didn't like her company, he wasn't greedy enough to starve her. But he didn't know that she wouldn't starve since Ying Yun's body had adjusted to going several days without food.
"Yes! Now eat because we need to leave quickly." She hesitatingly grabbed the bun and began to munch on it with small bites.
"We still have one silver tael left over. Don't you want to buy anything for yourself?" He wanted to see what this greedy girl leeching on his teacher was going to do with the leftover money. He was sure that his shifu had given them the extra money to test her as well.
"No. It's not my money to spend." She answered carelessly as she was still eating her food.
Tsk! Let's see how far you're willing to carry that lie.
As they had finished their initial task and purchased everything, Zixin purposely took her around the market to tempt her.
"You don't want this?" He pointed at the tanghulu and remembered that she couldn't see and added, "the candied strawberries are mouthwatering!"
"No thanks, I don't like candy." I've never had it. But Ying Yun felt embarrassed to admit that so she pretended like she didn't like candy.
"How about these silky clothes? They're so soft, I'm sure you'll look very cute in them."
"No. It's not appropriate for me to dress like that." Ying Yun knew that she was a servant. Maybe Li Jianyu was going to pretend like he was interested in her as a student for a bit longer, but once his interest was over...she would just quietly finish doing her daily chores to stay there.
Zixin frowned and pointed out a couple of other things, which her reply was the same thing: no, no and no.
The market was bustling and she gripped his hand harder, but he felt so frustrated! How long is she going to drag her stubborn lie for?
Zixin felt that the only wait to expose her greedy nature was to let her go around with the money on her own. He released his hand and planned to follow her around, but there were so many people that his eyes lost sight of her small figure which was swept along the horde...
Some notes:
Chen shi: (辰时) 7-9 am. Ancient China functioned on two-hour intervals.
Mao shi: (卯时) 5-7 am.
Zhang: One Zhang (丈) = 10 Chi (尺). A Chi's length had varied in dynasties and regions (from 28 to 40 cm), so I'll just follow a chart image that I found which states 1 Chi = 33 cm (12 in). The chart says 1 Zhang = 3 m (9 ft 10 in).
Si shi: (巳时) 9-11 am.
Also, I literally spent three hours researching how gold/silver taels & copper coins work and I've gotten so much written down for it. So essentially, what I've decided for this book is:
1 silver tael = 1000 copper coins.
1 gold tael = 16 silver taels = 16000 copper coins.
Meat bun (baozi): (包子) delicious pork or chicken meat stuffing in a bun. I've had this and it's so yummy and most of the time, sweet. But there are some other receipts that make it with different flavors. They also can use vegetables (pickled) for stuffing.
Tanghulu: (糖葫芦) is candied fruit. Hawthorns is the classic but strawberries and other fruits are used too. I've never had this but I want to try it so badly since it seems so delicious.
That should be everything, but let me know if you have any questions. This was an extra chapter because I love you guys <3
This chapter actually ended up being very long, so I had to split it into two. The next part will be posted Friday!
- Scarlettt