Xie Zhi had never seen a woman's intimate undergarments.
Now that booklet full of patterns lay open before his eyes, and he lowered his gaze to examine it with seeming composure.
The first thing he saw was a thin triangular piece of fabric, with only a pair of delicate ties on either side that looked as though they would snap with a single tug.
He studied it without any change in expression, yet he did not understand—these ties seemed as though they could only be fastened behind the waist and back. Would it not slip down?
He looked for too long, and Sanniang assumed he had taken a fancy to this style. She could not help but smile and say, "It's spring now, and clothes are getting thinner by the day. At this time of year, all the young ladies love wearing tube tops. Why not settle on this style? Would you like to pick out a pattern, sir?"
As she spoke, Sanniang turned another page.
Xie Zhi raised his head. "You choose for my wife."
Sanniang chuckled, taking him for a shy man.
"That works too. Your wife has fair skin—she would surely look lovely in red. How about these two, then? Water-red and peach-red."
Sanniang tapped her fingertip on the page. Xie Zhi gave it a cursory glance and grunted in assent.
After leaving Sanniang's fabric shop, Xie Zhi cleared his throat without a trace and headed toward the carpenter's shop.
But before he had taken more than a few steps, the two patterns Sanniang had chosen suddenly leaped into his mind.
Xie Zhi had excellent eyesight and even better memory. Even though he had only given it a cursory glance just now, he had deeply etched the appearance of those two undergarments into his brain.
The peach-red one seemed to have a plump, ripe spring peach embroidered on it.
The water-red one had a pair of mandarin ducks playing in the water…
Xie Zhi shook his head, forcing this untimely image from his mind.
When he walked into the carpenter's shop, the shopkeeper greeted him warmly. Seeing that he wanted to buy a wardrobe and a dressing table, the shopkeeper eagerly led him around the shop to make his selections.
He chose the wardrobe first. As luck would have it, the design carved on its doors was exactly a pair of mandarin ducks playing in the water.
That water-red undergarment flashed before his eyes once again.
Xie Zhi's expression remained unchanged as he selected this wardrobe. Beside it was also a mirror stand and dressing case made of walnut wood, with flower vines carved beside the bronze mirror and finished with pink lacquer.
Spring peach…
Xie Zhi raised his hand and pressed his brow.
"This one." He settled on this mirror stand and dressing case and paid the silver.
The shopkeeper personally hitched the cart and delivered the wardrobe along with the mirror stand and dressing case to his courtyard.
Xie Zhi and the shopkeeper carried and arranged everything together. The wardrobe and mirror stand were both heavy, and by the time they finished, a thin layer of sweat had formed on his body. His mind finally seemed to return to normal.
Yuan Yingti's room was now packed full, no longer empty.
After the shopkeeper left, Xie Zhi personally wiped down the mirror stand, dressing case, and wardrobe for her. The wardrobe was very tall and spacious, but inside it was completely empty—not a single garment.
Xie Zhi crossed his arms and looked at it for a while. Her room was no longer empty, but her wardrobe was too empty.
He leaned sideways against the wardrobe and turned to look at Yuan Yingti.
She was sitting quietly at the dressing case. The bronze mirror reflected her beautiful face. A smile played at the corners of her lips, and her slender hands were stroking the flower vine patterns on the dressing case.
She seemed to like this dressing set very much.
Xie Zhi did not disturb her. He stared at her for a while, then left her room and returned to his own.
Compared to her room, his own room had only a lone wooden plank bed, so empty that one could almost hear an echo.
But he did not intend to add a single piece of furniture for himself.
Gold and silver by the tens of thousands was a money-devouring beast. Every coin in his hand had to be saved to spend on her.
When the mirror stand was delivered earlier, to prevent the bronze mirror from getting knocked or scratched, the carpenter shop's proprietor had slipped a cloth bag over it. Xie Zhi picked up that cloth bag and brought it back inside.
He hammered a nail into the wall and hung the cloth bag on it.
From now on, this would be his wardrobe.
Xie Zhi clapped his hands, rolled up his sleeves, and went out to prepare dinner.
…
That evening, per Yuan Yingti's request, he cooked noodles exactly the same as at noon.
She still ate with great relish, chewing in small bites, but she finished most of the bowl.
Compared to her previous bird-like appetite, this was already giving Xie Zhi tremendous face.
Tonight the moonlight was hazy, and the air was somewhat chilly. Orange firelight flickered in the stove's belly, and Yuan Yingti was reaching out her hands to warm them by the fire.
She was completely unfamiliar with such a thing as a stove. Just now, when the firewood in the stove gave a crisp crackling pop, her hands flew back, as if she'd been startled.
After a while, seeing that nothing happened, she tentatively stretched her hands forward again.
The warm firelight danced across her face, flushing her cheeks crimson, like a vivid, brightly colored flower.
Xie Zhi's gaze followed the movement of her hands, then settled on her face.
"Miss," he called out.
Yuan Yingti turned toward him: "Hm?"
He stared at her without blinking: "That afternoon—why didn't you deny it?"
It was an abrupt question out of nowhere, yet Yuan Yingti immediately knew what he was asking. As it happened, she had been wanting to discuss this very matter with him.
Yuan Yingti sat up straight with a serious expression, facing Xie Zhi: "A-Nu, the Marquis's household has met with disaster now. Prince Qi's men may well be out searching for me everywhere. That day when you brought me out, many people saw it. If I now tell others that you and I are master and servant, it would easily draw attention. If Prince Qi follows the trail and finds us, what then?"
She opened those watery, rippling eyes: "Better to go along with what Sanniang said—just claim that we are husband and wife."
Xie Zhi's lips curved, revealing a hint of snowy white teeth.
She was truly cautious and careful—only her caution was excessive, which made her seem quite timid.
Xie Zhi said slowly: "What the miss says is right. Then from now on, in front of outsiders, I am your…"
"Husband," Yuan Yingti said.
Xie Zhi smiled strangely, and his tall, broad frame leaned toward her. The firelight leaped, and his shadow suddenly loomed tall and imposing.
…
Sanniang's shop had many embroiderers. The next evening, they delivered two complete sets of splendid spring garments.
Besides those, there were also two sets of plain cloth clothes for Xie Zhi, along with some scraps of fabric.
The cloth clothes were what Xie Zhi had instructed her to make earlier. As for the scraps, Sanniang explained: "These are all leftovers from cutting the cloth. Cloud-Rainbow Raiment is an inch of fabric for an inch of gold—I couldn't bring myself to pocket them."
Sanniang was an honest sort. Xie Zhi accepted them, and Sanniang rose to take her leave. Before departing, she didn't forget to smile brightly and solicit the next bit of business from him: "Customer, if your lady needs anything else, remember to come find me again."
After Sanniang left, Xie Zhi carried the two sets of garments inside. The expensive silk lay in his palms, soft and smooth, with a slight bulge in the middle of the layered fabric, where faint hints of water-red and peach-red were tucked within.
He looked away, went inside, and placed them beside Yuan Yingti's hand.
Yuan Yingti had long wanted to change clothes. Now that she finally had new garments, her usually reserved demeanor gave way to a rare flicker of delight. Once Xie Zhi left, she immediately made herself fresh and new.
The new clothes clung softly and comfortably to her body, fitting her measurements perfectly. She opened the door and praised Xie Zhi: "A-Nu, Sanniang's craftsmanship is excellent."
Xie Zhi looked up.
The evening sunset glow happened to fall upon her. Her spring robe was apricot-pink, and a green sash cinched a waist so slender it seemed barely a handful, like a lotus bud just beginning to bloom. Though he was clearly far away, he felt as if he could smell her delicate fragrance.
Xie Zhi's gaze inadvertently swept across her chest. The spring robe was thin, and a full, undulating curve was visible. He suddenly understood why, with only those two fragile thin straps at the back, her undergarment would not slip down.
Having figured it out, Xie Zhi could not help but feel himself somewhat lewd.
His tongue paused in his mouth, and he smiled and gave a sound of acknowledgment.
Yuan Yingti felt his tone was somewhat strange, but could not say exactly what was strange about it. She was only bewildered for a moment before tossing it to the back of her mind, and said to Xie Zhi again: "The clothes I changed out of need to be washed. A-Nu, can you help me fetch water?"
"I'll help you wash them, young miss."
"…That's not convenient." After all, they were her clothes, and no man had ever washed her clothes before. Yuan Yingti shook her head.
Xie Zhi then rose to help her fetch water. A creaking sound came from the pulley well, and soon he carried a bucket of water inside.
Yuan Yingti stood in place holding her dirty clothes, her brows furrowed, as if she did not know what to do next.
Xie Zhi placed a small stool behind her and set a wooden basin in front of her. He poured water into the basin and said to Yuan Yingti: "Young miss, you can put the clothes in now."
Yuan Yingti then sat on the small stool and dumped all the clothes into the basin in one go.
She suddenly began sitting there blankly again.
This time Xie Zhi did not respond, and simply kept watching her.
After quite a while, she finally asked: "A-Nu, what should I do now?"
The young miss had never lifted a finger in her life—sure enough, she did not even know how to wash clothes.
Xie Zhi chuckled softly: "Young miss, you can rub them with your hands now."
"Rub them now?" Yuan Yingti looked conflicted.
"Mm."
Yuan Yingti then reached out and tentatively placed her hands into the basin.
Because she could not see where the dirt was, she could only instinctively poke around inside with her fingers.
"And then what?" she asked again.
Xie Zhi placed the soapberry by her hand.
"What is this?"
"Soapberry."
"How do I use it?"
"Put it in the water and rub it together with the clothes."
Yuan Yingti looked blank: "But there's no water in the basin."
Xie Zhi said: "There is water."
Yuan Yingti felt around in the basin again and confirmed: "There isn't."
Xie Zhi smiled faintly: "Young miss put in so many clothes that the water was all absorbed."
Yuan Yingti had stuffed all the clothes she had changed out of into the basin. The clothes were packed so full that they rose in a high peak, and the water Xie Zhi had poured in had long since been absorbed completely.
Yuan Yingti suddenly understood: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"…Shall I wash them for you, young miss?"
Yuan Yingti was silent for a moment. No man had ever washed her clothes before—that was because all her maidservants were women.
She was a little blind girl, and she had already fallen on hard times, yet she was still fussing over the gender of a maidservant?
It was her fault.
Yuan Yingti stood up and yielded the small stool beneath her: "All right, you do it."
Xie Zhi raised an eyebrow, rolled up his sleeves, and was just about to begin when Yuan Yingti seemed to remember something. She suddenly sat down again and felt around in the packed basin for quite a while, until she grasped something in her palm. Only then did she rise again and leave the place.
Xie Zhi caught a glimpse of the thin fabric hidden in her palm.
Pure white.
…
Yuan Yingti clutched her undergarments and panties tightly as she returned to her room.
Other clothes could be washed by A-Nu, but her undergarments and panties really couldn't be.
That was close—she had almost left them forgotten in the basin.
Yuan Yingti tucked them away securely, thinking to herself that she would wash them in secret one day when A-Nu wasn't home.