Miss and farmhand

Huang Chu knelt on the balustrade, eagerly leaning down to look at the main entrance downstairs.

Originally, nothing could be seen, but the person at the door seemed to know what kind of structure the Golden Pavilion was, so he took a few steps back, stood in front of the screen wall, held a lantern, and silently looked up at the building.

He raised the lantern higher, illuminating the face; it was a stranger.

Huang Chu was utterly disappointed. In an instant, her heart turned cold, and she didn't even want to talk to that person anymore. She just sat there and thought she might as well die. With great difficulty, Li's mother dragged her downstairs to talk to that person through the door.

"Brother Huang asked me to take you out of the city. We can't hold it anymore; the city gates will be breached by dawn tomorrow."

Huang Chu opened the door and saw a sturdy young man with blood and ash on his face, and his clothes were torn in several places.

"Where are the others?"

The young man paused, then took out a pouch from his pocket and handed it to Huang Chu. She opened it, and inside was a bead emitting a faint, bluish-green light, which was not as dazzling as she had imagined.

Is this the luminous pearl?

She displayed blatant disappointment. The young man noticed this and immediately became angry.

"If it weren't for you, Brother Huang wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess! Before he left, he was thinking of giving you this broken stone. It's all because of you, you heartless woman, and you still dare to show that expression."

"I didn't force him to do this," Huang Chu said numbly, hearing his own voice. "Why he died was his fate. What does it have to do with me? I can't bear that responsibility; it has nothing to do with me."

"What are you talking about?" the young man shouted. "Brother Huang almost went bankrupt to marry you. Your uncle only has money in his eyes. If it weren't for Brother Huang's intervention, you don't know where you would be in. Even if you don't appreciate him, he's already gone. Why say such sarcastic things and complain about him?"

Huang Chu was stunned upon hearing this.

"...Marry me?"

"Of course it's true, otherwise why would he go out to sea at this time, just for this worthless pearl?"

Even Li's mother was extremely shocked. Everyone downstairs thought Huang Chu wasn't even a concubine, and no one treated her as a proper mistress.

Seeing Huang Chu's stunned expression, Mama Li took the purse from her and carefully put away the luminous pearl. Just as she was about to take it inside, Huang Chu stopped her, her hand light and weak. When she took it back, even her fingertips trembled slightly.

Huang Chu tucked the beads into his sleeve and whispered to the young man, "...Please wait a moment, we'll go pack our luggage."

The young man nodded, holding his breath, and told her from behind that she should only bring the most valuable and lightweight items, and not large items.

Huang Chu and Li's mother parted ways at the stairwell. Li's mother asked if Madam needed her help going up, her attitude even becoming somewhat hesitant.

She had a thousand words she wanted to say to Huang Chu, a mix of joy and sorrow, but she couldn't utter a single one.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, both of them came down.

Having survived famine herself, Li's mother knew what to bring when fleeing. Her bundle was neither too big nor too small, and she carried it on her chest. The one Huang Chu was carrying was much smaller. He casually handed it to Li's mother when they left, but it was quite heavy, probably made of gold.

Huang Chu hadn't been out for a long time, two years. He had grown accustomed to the silent air inside the Golden Pavilion, carrying the musty smell of rotting wood. Stepping through the door, he even felt that the wind outside was sweeter than when he was sitting at the second-floor window looking out.

Isn't this better than hanging herself? In any case, she finally left that place.

The young man stood by the screen wall outside the main gate, head bowed, staring at his toes, pacing back and forth as he waited for them. Li's mother hurried over, very eager, and turned back to call for her young mistress—

But then they saw the gate slowly closing.

Huang Chu locked the door again, and could no longer hear the shouts and banging outside.

She went upstairs and back to her room. Apart from two lamps and some jewelry, nothing was missing. Everything was piled up haphazardly, reflecting the taste of a nouveau riche, which she had never liked.

She never showed any interest in exploring the room that had been prepared for her. What prisoner would care what was in the cage?

But when she was told she wasn't a prisoner, the place then ridiculously revealed a childish, bestial fawning attitude.

When she was a child, her father would point to the bird paintings on the beams of their house, which looked like magpies perched on plum blossoms, and tell her stories.

Male birds build nests to attract females, and the female chooses the one with the most beautiful nest. Some males use their own colorful feathers to build nests, while others decorate them with brightly colored flowers. Of course, none of these are the most beautiful. Do you know what's the most beautiful thing? The most beautiful things are things made by people—hand-carved gold and jade, woven brocade. Male birds will sneak in through windows when people aren't looking and snatch them to hang in their own nests. Two years ago, your mother lost a piece of mutton-fat jade earring and insisted that your father had lost it. She blamed him so much that he couldn't hold his head up high. Later, it was found in a magpie's nest in the garden, and your father was finally exonerated and could stand up straight as a husband.

husband.

How is this man acting like a husband?

Huang Chu did not believe it.

She suddenly swept everything off the bed frame, scattering mirrors, lampshades, and jade beads all over the bed, and spilling lamp oil onto the bedding, emitting a strong, pungent smell. The lamp hadn't been extinguished to begin with, only a dim ember burning, and this flick of the wrist stirred up a spark in the corner of the bedding.

Huang Chu didn't notice.

She busied herself opening each compartment on the bed, like a shop assistant in a pharmacy sorting through herbs, focused and quick, able to tell what was inside at a glance.

She drove to the head of the bed, to the outside of the bed, where the man was sleeping, and found what she was looking for.

She thought it couldn't exist.

A thin sheet of paper.

Huang Chu hadn't expected that this thing had been lying quietly on her head all along. She tried to pull it out, but the edge of the paper scratched her fingertip, causing a sharp pain, and she withdrew her hand.

She couldn't be sure if it was real. She hadn't seen it, so she didn't know if it was genuine or not.

What did that young man at the door know? Of course, he considered his brother Huang a good person and spoke up for him. Men are naturally more trusting of their brothers than women; brothers are all upright gentlemen, while their brothers' women are all monsters. How could he know how bad and hateful the man was to her?

So bad that even if the man died, Huang Chu couldn't shed a single tear for him.

Huang Chu stared at the scraps of paper lying in the drawer.

"...You died as retribution. Heaven knows what people do. Heaven couldn't stand how you treated me and wanted to take you away. That's your own business, don't blame me."

The piece of paper lay there quietly, silent.

As if in response to her words, something suddenly touched her wrist with an icy touch.

Startled, she flipped her hand, and her purse fell out of her sleeve.

The pocket wasn't tied tightly to begin with, and when it was thrown open, the luminous pearl rolled out, like a silent protest, staring at Huang Chu along with the piece of paper.

Huang Chu's face flushed red, and as if in a fit of pique, he suddenly pulled out the piece of paper.

The handwriting is neat and tidy; it must have been written by a scholar or an official.

Phrases like "growing old together forever" and "a happy marriage that lasts forever" are all stock phrases and don't seem particularly original.

Huang Chu couldn't see anything else besides him; he only saw two names side by side, like two little people standing, one tall and one short, leaning against each other.

Huang Chu. Huang Gou'er.

She chuckled. Two names that were completely mismatched, just like the two of them.

As I laughed, tears finally welled up in my eyes.

Huang Chu didn't know what this feeling was like.

I just feel like we were wrong, wrong from the very beginning. Neither of us deserved this ending.

With a whoosh of hot air, the sparks from the bedding finally reached the bed curtains, and the flames licked the bed frame, quickly igniting the entire structure.

Huang Chu saw the fire out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't feel the heat, nor could he hear the crackling sound of the wood and silk burning.

She heard someone calling her.

...Girl...Young lady, wake up...

She turned around, and the crimson flames transformed into the morning light. Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the flames and shook her.

"Why is the eldest young lady still sleeping? Didn't she say she wanted to go see the garden repairs? Master has already eaten and gone in first, without even waiting for the eldest young lady. I don't know what's the rush."

The tone was quite domineering; in Huang Chu's short life, she had only ever heard one person dare to complain about her father like that. It was the old woman who served her mother.

Her nose stung with tears. She thought her mother was down there and had sent someone to fetch her so she wouldn't get lost. She wanted to call out to her affectionately, but the tone that came out was completely different.

"Mommy Han, stop shaking me," she heard her own voice pleading and acting spoiled, the last syllable drawn out, ending with a yawn, "Just one more moment of sleep, just one more moment. If Daddy needs to go, let him go first..."