After changing her clothes, Jiang Yun Sui struggled to drag a wooden basin outside to catch the rainwater she needed it to wash her clothes. Then she went back for a wooden bucket.
Heiwa trotted behind her, tail wagging, trying to help. He was far stronger than she was, but since he had no hands, he could only grip the bucket with his jaws. It was too heavy and awkward for him to get a good hold.
When they reached the threshold, Jiang Yun Sui’s face turned bright red from straining.
In the end, Ji Si could no longer stand watching. He stepped out from the shadows and lifted the heavy bucket with effortless ease.
Jiang Yun Sui stared at him in awe. When will I ever have that kind of strength? she wondered.
“Put it out there, under the eaves, to catch rainwater for washing clothes,” the little mushroom explained, pointing outward in her soft, childish voice.
Ji Si set the bucket in the right spot.
“Thank you!”
The kind-hearted little girl had already forgotten that she had been angry with him just moments before.
She sat down beneath the shelter and stretched her bare feet out into the drizzle. Glancing up at Ji Si from the corner of her eye, she quickly added, “I’m just washing my feet, that’s all.”
Ji Si gave her a brief look and then turned his gaze away. Seeing this, Jiang Yun Sui beamed happily and wiggled her toes back and forth.
The rain washed away the dirt from her feet, revealing smooth, pale skin with a faint rosy tint like the tender petals of a peach blossom. Plump and soft, they looked so cute that one could not help but want to reach out and squeeze them gently.
Since there was no one else around, Ji Si simply leaned against a pillar, holding his sword loosely in his arms. Though neither spoke, the scene felt strangely peaceful and harmonious.
Gradually, the rain slowed to a light drizzle. Jiang Yun Sui still wished it could last longer. Her feet were now clean, but her clothes had gotten damp.
She carefully wiped the rainwater from her feet, then looked down at her right ankle, which she had injured. It was no longer swollen, though there was still a bruise there but the pain had faded considerably. She poked it gently, then pulled on a pair of soft white socks and slipped into her clean embroidered shoes.
“I’m going to change into dry clothes now!” she called out.
She hurried back inside to fetch the outfit Chef Chen had made for her. It was a rather dull shade of blue. She much preferred the color pink it matched the hue of her true form as a Moon Spirit Mushroom.
When she stepped back outside holding the clothes, Ji Si was already gone.
But just then, footsteps sounded from the gate. It was Chef Chen returning.
She stopped short when she saw the large black dog lying beneath the eaves, and her heart jumped. “What… what is the Young Master’s dog doing here?”
Seeing him blocking the way made her hesitate to enter, and she began to worry about Jiang Yun Sui.
“Auntie Chen!” Jiang Yun Sui called out cheerfully. “Heiwa came to visit me! Don’t be afraid he’s very well-behaved.”
She glanced down at the clothes in her arms, feeling a little guilty. “I accidentally got my clothes dirty, so I was going to wash them myself.”
“Leave them there,” Chef Chen said. “I’ll be doing my laundry later this evening, so I can wash yours along with mine. You’re still too small and don’t have enough strength to get them properly clean.”
Jiang Yun Sui murmured a quiet “Oh…” sounding a little downcast. I’m so useless, she thought. I can’t do anything right.
Suddenly, Heiwa barked twice, stood up, and trotted toward the gate. As he passed her, Chef Chen quickly stepped aside to make room.
“Goodbye, Heiwa! Come play again soon!”
“Woof!”
Chef Chen patted her chest, letting out a sigh of relief. “That dog is enormous bigger than any I’ve ever seen before. But then again, the Ji family’s hunting hounds are said to be exceptional. They can track down raiders and bandits over vast distances.”
A flash of deep hatred crossed her eyes when she mentioned the raiders.
Jiang Yun Sui nodded in agreement. “Heiwa is very capable.”
Chef Chen held up the food container she had brought. “Come on, let’s eat. Are you hungry?”
Jiang Yun Sui placed her clothes in the basin to soak, then clapped her hands. “Not hungry! Heiwa brought me some cakes earlier and I saved some for you too!”
She looked up with a bright, hopeful expression, waiting for praise.
Chef Chen smiled and stroked her hair. “What a good girl you are, Yun Sui.”
Delighted, Jiang Yun Sui hurried inside to bring out the remaining pastries.
Chef Chen recognized at once that these cakes had come from the main kitchen.
“Heiwa really is such a clever dog.”
“Mmm-hmm!”
Jiang Yun Sui nodded as she climbed onto a stool, then eagerly lifted the lid of the food container.
There were only three dishes inside. Two of them were standard portions one meat, one vegetable. Even though Chef Chen worked in the smaller kitchen that prepared meals for the servants, she was still able to give herself a little extra. For instance, the meat dish had quite a generous amount of meat in it; in the ordinary servants’ meals, getting even two slices of meat was considered a luxury.
Jiang Yun Sui sniffed the air slightly. “Auntie… the meat smells a little off.”
Chef Chen nodded. “That’s pork. It naturally has a strong, gamy scent.”
She sighed with regret. “Cooking it with wine would help cover the smell, but wine is very precious way too expensive for us to use.” After all, it was made from grain, which was never wasted lightly.
“Try the Delicious Mushrooms instead, Yun Sui. I’ve found that if you stir-fry meat together with these mushrooms, the taste becomes much better, and the unpleasant smell almost completely disappears.”
“The ones growing in our yard taste even fresher and more delicious than any mushrooms I’ve ever had before.”
“I used one whole mushroom for this dish. I sold the other two to a fellow cook in the side kitchen, and a few maids pooled their money to buy the last one. It’s not as much as I could get selling them to the main kitchen, but it’s still some extra income.”
Since she would be receiving no wages for the next three months, even a little bit of extra money made her happy.
“Once I’ve saved up enough, I’ll buy you some bright, pretty fabric. Little girls look their best in lively colors.”
Jiang Yun Sui replied in a clear, cheerful voice, “I want pink!”
“All right, pink it is.”
Though they were not related by blood, the two of them lived together as if they were a real family.
Jiang Yun Sui ate plenty of the mushroom stir-fry, as well as three pieces of meat. A little mushroom eating mushrooms so tasty! she thought happily.
When the meal was done, she followed Chef Chen around, insisting on helping wash the dishes.
Chef Chen had to return to work in the afternoon, so Jiang Yun Sui stayed home to wait for her.
Meanwhile, Ji Yan’an, who had not eaten anything all day, was in a foul mood. He struggled hard to keep his temper in check. It was only after Shen Qingzhu gave him an acupuncture treatment that he felt slightly better.
“Young Master, please try to eat something. Your body cannot hold out if you continue like this.”
Ji Yan’an stared ahead with a blank expression. As if it were my choice, he thought. The truth was that he simply could not bring himself to swallow anything.
Nanny Zhou and Uncle Li were growing anxious, wishing they could fetch Jiang Yun Sui immediately. But Ji Yan’an refused to allow it.
At dinner, he again barely touched his food. He managed to get down a few mouthfuls of thin porridge, only to feel his stomach turn.
“Take it away!”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, his expression growing colder and more stern by the minute.
Nanny Zhou let out a long sigh.
Just then, Uncle Li entered the room. “Young Master, Nan Shu has returned.”
“Send him in,” Ji Yan’an said calmly.
A young man of about seventeen, looking weary from travel, hurried inside.
“Young Master… why do you look even thinner than before?”
The moment he saw Ji Yan’an’s condition, his eyes turned red and filled with tears.
Ji Yan’an cut him off. “How did matters proceed?”
Nan Shu sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Rest assured, Young Master. The Old Madam and the others are safe for now.”
Ji Yan’an lowered his gaze. “Being safe for now is not enough.”
They needed a far more reliable plan to bring them all out of harm’s way.
“And the information I asked you to look into?”
“Ah here it is. This is everything we found about that little girl.”
He handed over the documents.
“Jiang Yun Sui is the only daughter of the Jiang family in Suzhou. The Jiangs were well-known tea merchants in the region. Earlier this year, they traveled to the capital hoping to introduce a new variety of tea and earn the title of Royal Supplier. But another merchant family secured the position instead.
“On their journey home, the family was attacked and massacred by bandits in the mountains. The local authorities closed the case quickly, but our investigation found that the attackers were not ordinary mountain raiders at all.”