According to Shang Hong, the written language used in Great Xia was Small Seal Script. Shen Meng had learned calligraphy as a child, but she had never studied Small Seal Script. This form of writing was even more ancient, with all its winding strokes and complicated shapes. It was genuinely difficult to recognize.
It was essentially like starting from scratch, so Shen Meng studied exceptionally hard.
As for martial arts, Shen Meng had never had any experience with them. She had barely even participated in physical activities before, so she had to start by building up her physical fitness.
Naturally, Shang Hong didn’t dare make her training too strict, but Shen Meng was perfectly capable of pushing herself.
She didn’t just push herself academically. She was equally relentless when it came to housework. Every day, in addition to preparing three meals on time and cleaning and dusting the house, Shen Meng even washed Shang Hong’s sheets, blankets, and clothes.
Of course, she let the washing machine do the actual washing.
One day, Shang Hong came out of the shower and saw Shen Meng once again about to take her clothes away to wash.
She quickly grabbed Shen Meng’s arm.
“Please, let me wash my own clothes. I have perfectly good hands and feet. I can take care of myself.”
“Master, are you embarrassed to let me wash your clothes?” Shen Meng smiled. “They’re not underwear. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
“Please, I’m begging you. Can you stop calling me Master? You’re going to be the death of me!”
Shang Hong pleaded pitifully.
Over the past few days, the Lord had been cleaning her house, cooking her meals, and even washing her clothes. At first, Shang Hong had found it rather enjoyable, but as time passed, she became increasingly uneasy.
Yet there was nothing she could say. She couldn’t reveal the whole truth.
“I know you feel bad about staying here, but don’t wash my clothes anymore.”
Shang Hong tentatively reached for the clothes in Shen Meng’s arms. Unexpectedly, her bath towel hadn’t been secured properly. The moment she made a larger movement, it loosened and began slipping down.
Shen Meng reacted quickly. She stopped the towel from falling and retied it securely around Shang Hong.
The clothes in her arms, however, fell to the floor.
Shang Hong stood frozen in place, clutching one corner of her nightgown.
“I’m not the kind of person who likes troubling others, and I especially don’t like forcing people to do things they don’t want to do. Since you’ve said so, I’ll take you seriously.” Shen Meng paused. “As for what I should call you, what would you like me to call you?”
“Shang Hong. Just call me Shang Hong.”
“All right. I’ll do as Shang Hong says.”
Shen Meng picked up the nightgown and robe from the floor and draped them over the arm that Shang Hong was using to hold her nightgown.
Shang Hong stood there in a daze.
After hearing Shen Meng walk downstairs, she murmured two words under her breath.
“My… Lord…”
Life was orderly and busy, which made the days pass quickly.
Before they knew it, three months had gone by.
Shen Meng had studied English, so she naturally had some experience with learning languages. On top of that, Small Seal Script was an ancient form of her own native language, making it easier for her to pick up.
After three months, Shen Meng had already become proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing Small Seal Script. Now all she needed to work on was her handwriting and making her characters look more elegant.
Her martial arts training, however, had made no progress at all.
For those three months, she had done nothing but physical conditioning and horse stance training. She hadn’t learned a single technique.
Today, however, Shang Hong said she was going to teach Shen Meng a set of palm techniques.
“I’ve watched wuxia dramas. Martial arts are always passed down through generations, and there are different sects. Which sect are you from?” Shen Meng asked.
Before she started learning, she should at least understand her master’s lineage.
Although Shang Hong absolutely refused to let Shen Meng call her Master, Shen Meng was still deeply grateful to her for passing on her knowledge and skills.
Shang Hong opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Given her personality, she had wanted to tell Shen Meng everything long ago. But as a Guide, her duties prevented her from revealing the secrets of Heaven. If she did, she would suffer the consequences.
The fact that she had even managed to guide Shen Meng here had already required Shang Hong to exploit a loophole in the system and do everything within the limits of her abilities.
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. You just want to learn some martial arts for self-defense. Why do you need to know so much?” Shang Hong was already in a bad mood from keeping her secrets, and she was afraid that Shen Meng’s questions might make her accidentally reveal something. “Are you going to learn or not?”
“Of course I’m learning! I just asked one question. What’s the rush?”
Seeing how Shang Hong hesitated and became irritated the moment she asked another question, Shen Meng could tell that she was clearly hiding something.
Something was definitely wrong.
But even if there was a problem, it didn’t affect her learning martial arts.
She’d learn first and worry about it later.
A set of palm techniques had twenty-four forms, a set of sword techniques had thirty-six, and the internal cultivation method had eighteen stages.
Shen Meng spent a full year and two months learning them.
She couldn’t exactly claim to have achieved mastery, but against ordinary people, she was more than capable of holding her own.
“Tomorrow, you’ll be going back.”
Shang Hong ate the delicious dinner Shen Meng had prepared, but she couldn’t work up much of an appetite.
“Tomorrow I’ll get up early and make an extra portion of food to take back with me. I can’t wait to go back and wipe the smug looks off the faces of those snobs in the Shen family!”
Shen Meng, on the other hand, was brimming with excitement. She rubbed her fists together, practically itching to get started.
When Shen Meng returned to the woodshed carrying a food container, Bai Jinxin was just about to open the door and leave.
Shen Meng suddenly appeared right in front of her, startling her.
When Bai Jinxin realized it was Shen Meng, she quickly covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out.
“You’re back? I was just thinking that I should let you sleep a little longer,” Bai Jinxin said with a smile.
“I brought you breakfast. Eat until you’re full before you go to work.”
Shen Meng grabbed Jinxin and pulled her toward the wooden chest.
That wooden chest really did serve multiple purposes. It functioned as a bedside table, a clothes chest, and a dining table all at once.
Bai Jinxin once again helped Shen Meng clear everything off the top of the chest.
As she watched Shen Meng open the food container layer by layer and take out all the dishes inside, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Meng’er, are you really eating this much for breakfast?”
Bai Jinxin still remembered how stuffed she’d been the night before. She had barely been able to lie down, and she couldn’t help letting out a burp.
Only then did Shen Meng remember that Bai Jinxin had overeaten the previous evening.
She had even gone to Shang Hong and begged for a few digestive tablets for Bai Jinxin. After taking them, Bai Jinxin had walked around the courtyard for nearly half an hour before she finally felt better.
Thinking about that, Shen Meng looked at the bowl of braised pork, the plate of stir-fried Chinese flowering cabbage, the large bowl of egg fried rice, and the bowl of winter melon meatball soup spread across the wooden chest.
She couldn’t help feeling a little awkward.
“I thought it would be better to eat a good breakfast so you’d have the strength to work. Just eat what you want. You don’t have to finish everything just to make me happy.”
Bai Jinxin smiled.
“I ate everything last night, but it wasn’t just because I wanted to make you happy. I really hadn’t eaten anything with much oil or meat in a long time. I got greedy for once and ate too much. You can’t blame yourself. It’s my own fault.”
As she spoke, Bai Jinxin took the chopsticks and spoon out of the food container herself and sat down beside the wooden chest.
She put the spoon into the bowl of soup, picked up a piece of braised pork, and put it into her mouth.
She chewed for a while before suddenly bursting into tears.
“My poor Meng’er. She probably never got to eat meat this delicious more than a few times in her whole life! Especially during these past few years after her father died. She never got to enjoy any happiness, and then she was gone just like that.”
Shen Meng didn’t know how to comfort Bai Jinxin, so she simply patted her on the shoulder.
Bai Jinxin buried her face in her hands and cried silently for a while.
Then she wiped away her tears with her sleeve and smiled at Shen Meng.
“Look at me. I’m always crying like this. I must be getting on your nerves, aren’t I?”
“No.”
She wasn’t annoyed.
She was heartbroken.
Shen Meng watched Bai Jinxin cry because she missed her daughter. She watched her mother see a simple dish of braised pork and immediately think about how her daughter had barely ever gotten to eat meat, grieving over the regret of it.
A sharp pain pierced Shen Meng’s heart.
She had died in a car accident, yet her own biological mother hadn’t even been willing to come see her one last time.