Chapter 97: A Maiden on Nanshan, Singing Melodies Aboard Her Steed
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At sunrise, the ground already held a hint of summer’s heat.
Mist drifted from the old locust tree at the entrance to Siltmire Village. Seen from afar, it looked almost like an immortal tree.
It was merely the morning dew on its leaves, turning into wisps of vapor that floated into the air.
Beneath the tree, a young woman rode past on a fiery-red old horse, a sword slung at her side.
She hummed a song:
“Wild sands rise beneath the wind,
Clouds turn to rain and fall…”
Yu Bai had heard Feng Ning and Zhong Ming sing the tune so often that she had picked up a few lines herself.
The old horse seemed just as eager to return home. The moment it entered the village, it snorted and broke into a trot toward its owner’s little courtyard.
…
Within the fenced courtyard.
As usual, Zhong Ming stood before the stone table practicing his calligraphy. He no longer recorded the passing days as often as he once had.
For more than a month, he had not written down a single date.
Perhaps certain people and certain things had melted his heart without his realizing it, giving him a sense of belonging in this unfamiliar world. He no longer cared quite so much how many days had passed in his former life, or how long he had been here.
As long as he could live here, in this remote little village on the frontier, he was content. At times, a gentle warmth even spread through his heart.
His brush moved like a dragon winding through rivers. With every passing day, Zhong Ming’s calligraphy grew more expressive—less soft and scholarly, yet sharper, carrying something of a swordsman’s edge.
He lifted the brush and drew the final stroke, then gazed at the characters on the paper with satisfaction.
Across the entire sheet of rice paper, in sizes both large and small, two characters had been written again and again:
Yu Bai.
Staring at her name, Zhong Ming lost himself in thought for a long while. At last, he let out a deep sigh and murmured, “I wonder whether Miss Yu Bai has been safe on her journey… And I wonder when Miss Yu Bai will return…”
The moment he finished speaking, a clear voice rang out from the gate.
“Little village official, I’ve returned safely!”
At the sound of her voice, Zhong Ming’s body trembled faintly. He slowly turned around.
Standing outside the wicker gate was a lovely young woman. Her black traveling clothes were somewhat soiled and disheveled, with two streaks of mud on her face whose origin was unknown. A few strands of dried grass clung to her hair.
Even her dirty, rumpled clothes could not conceal Yu Bai’s breathtaking beauty.
She gave him the faintest smile, and Zhong Ming was drunk with it.
No wine, yet I am drunk;
A foolish heart, intoxicated by beauty.
Beneath the morning light, Yu Bai’s smile seemed almost unreal. Zhong Ming felt as though he had stepped into a dream. He had never imagined that the girl he had yearned for day and night would truly appear before him.
He was still rubbing his eyes when Yu Bai led the horse into the courtyard.
As she walked, she said, “I heard you muttering about me just now. Little village official, were you worried about me?”
Zhong Ming came back to himself with a start. He coughed twice to hide his embarrassment.
“No. You’d been gone for so long, and I was afraid something might have happened to you.”
With a soft laugh, Yu Bai said, “And wasn’t that worrying about me?”
That left Zhong Ming speechless. He awkwardly scratched his head, then lowered his hand, unsure where to put it.
Holding it before him felt wrong. Behind his back felt wrong too. Even tucking it into his sleeve seemed awkward.
After more than three years, Zhong Ming finally experienced once again the feeling of a wildly pounding heart and restless unease.
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Ever since arriving here, he had never again seen the girl who used to sing little ballads at the mouth of the alley in his former life. And so he had never again blushed or felt flustered because of a girl.
After standing there blankly for a long while, Zhong Ming gave a self-mocking laugh.
After all these years, he was still just as hopeless. Whenever he saw a girl he liked, his heart became a complete mess.
At sixteen, he had been this awkward; now, he was still exactly the same.
Some things were difficult to change, no matter how the stars shifted, the sun and moon alternated, or the world itself transformed.
Just like the mighty Eastern Sea, flowing ceaselessly day and night.
As for the sea running dry and the rocks crumbling, that lay far too far in the future.
Zhong Ming remained dazed for quite some time. By the time Yu Bai had finished tying up her horse, he was still standing there foolishly grinning.
“What are you writing?”
Yu Bai came over and leaned forward, trying to see what Zhong Ming had written.
But Zhong Ming hurriedly gathered up the sheet of rice paper and said, “Just practicing my calligraphy. Nothing worth looking at. But you’re quite like Cao Cao—when you say you’re coming, you really do show up!”
Yu Bai pursed her lips, secretly thinking Zhong Ming was stingy for not even letting her look at his writing. Her attention soon shifted to what he had said.
“Cao Cao? Who’s Cao Cao?”
Putting away the rice paper, Zhong Ming walked into the house and explained, “Cao Cao? A great warlord of a chaotic age, a man of extraordinary talent and vision. He once controlled the Son of Heaven and commanded the feudal lords in his name. He did tend to overthink things, though. He was suspicious by nature and always liked to imagine the worst.”
After thinking it over briefly, Yu Bai said, “Then he must have been very skilled at flying through the air with vital energy. From the sound of it, he flew incredibly fast—arriving the moment he said he would. He must have been able to travel ten thousand miles in a day, right?”
Clearly, Yu Bai had never heard of the Three Kingdoms, much less Cao Cao.
Zhong Ming could not help laughing. “Just think of him as an immortal who could fly very fast.”
“Such a perfunctory answer…” Yu Bai muttered.
She sat down beside the stone table and poured herself a cup of tea.
Her gaze wandered around the courtyard. It looked familiar, yet somehow different.
It was the willow tree. In the short dozen or so days since she had last seen it, it had already grown as tall as the roof.
“That willow tree certainly grows quickly.”
Yu Bai took a sip of cold tea, and a wave of comfort spread through her.
This shabby little fenced courtyard, whether it changed or remained the same, always made her feel at peace.
From inside the house, Zhong Ming called back, “Yes. We have the Great Azure Mountain to thank for that! All the flowers and grasses around here have been growing like mad. Even ordinary weeds can reach half a person’s height. They have to be pulled out every day, or in just a few days they’ll cover the paths completely.”
After putting away the writing paper, Zhong Ming began fussing over the pots, bowls, and utensils.
He called out to the young woman in the courtyard, “Miss Yu Bai, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
In the courtyard, Yu Bai first reached out to touch the young willow tree. Then she crouched down to stroke the brilliantly plumed rooster. Teasing Iron General, she said, “Mm. The provisions I took with me ran out long ago. I traveled through the night yesterday and haven’t eaten anything.”
Iron General was remarkably docile. He nestled beneath the shade of the tree, clucking softly without attempting to fly away, allowing Yu Bai to do as she pleased.
“Then I’ll make you some meat porridge.”
Zhong Ming poured water into the pot and rinsed the rice, then began expertly slicing beef.
After cutting two pieces and putting them into the pot, he asked casually, “What have you been eating all these days in the mountains?”
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Yu Bai’s voice drifted in from outside. “Wild fruit. The meat you gave me lasted only three days, and the rice didn’t even make it ten. For the rest of the journey, I picked wild fruit to eat.”
When Zhong Ming heard that Yu Bai had gone more than ten days without meat, he picked up the cleaver again and cut off a large piece, which he added to the pot.
He remained by the stove, cooking the meat porridge with painstaking care. He added firewood, then shifted it aside, constantly striving to make the rice thick and sticky and the meat tender and soft.
Only after the time it took an incense stick to burn did Zhong Ming finally lift the lid.
On ordinary days, he cooked porridge merely to fill his stomach. He would start eating before even half an incense stick had burned. But today, he felt that the porridge had to be absolutely perfect.
When he opened the pot, the fragrance of meat porridge spread throughout the little fenced courtyard.
Its aroma drifted far and wide. Even people at the eastern end of the village could smell it.
Old Sun stood in his courtyard, his nose sharper than anyone’s. He sniffed and muttered, “Little Zhong is making meat porridge again. It smells even better than usual.”
Sun Luolian crouched before the stove, her eyes swollen and red as she cooked porridge.
At the sound of Old Sun’s voice, she lifted her head as well and gazed toward the western end of the village, as though her eyes could see straight through the little settlement.
After a long while, Sun Luolian finally said, “I saw Miss Yu Bai return just now. Brother Zhong… Brother Zhong must naturally make the finest meat porridge for her.”
Before she could finish, tears had already rolled from the corners of her eyes.
She secretly wiped them away, afraid her grandfather would notice.
Old Sun failed to see his granddaughter crying and continued cheerfully, “Ah! No wonder! So you have an opponent now, Little Lian. Little Zhong is quite a catch—you’ll have to work harder!”
Sun Luolian froze for a moment, and her tears stopped at once.
The speaker had meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart.
In that very instant, Sun Luolian’s feelings underwent a complete change.
The timid, yielding girl who had always obeyed others since childhood experienced a forceful thought for the first time:
I’m going to win Brother Zhong back!
…
By the stone table, Yu Bai drank three large bowls of meat porridge before finally wiping her mouth.
Zhong Ming had finished eating long ago. He waited until Yu Bai was full before asking, “Miss Yu Bai, did you gain anything on your journey?”
At his words, the hand wiping her mouth came to a halt. Her eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
With a broad smile, she said, “Gain anything? I found something incredible!”
Seeing how delighted she was, Zhong Ming grew interested as well. “What could be so wonderful that even Miss Yu Bai calls it incredible?”
Yu Bai beckoned to him, signaling that he should lean closer.
Zhong Ming bent toward her and felt a faint tickle beside his ear. Yu Bai brought her lips close to his ear, her breath soft and faintly fragrant.
Was that her natural scent?
Zhong Ming coughed to conceal his embarrassment, then hurriedly whispered, “Miss Yu Bai, you can tell me now.”
Yu Bai lowered her voice as well and whispered, barely audible, “Zhong Ming, I found a heaven-sent opportunity for you in the mountains!”
“For me?”
Zhong Ming was instantly stunned.
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