Chapter 5

Yuanhe was Xixi’s shadow and number-one little brother—he obeyed her most. Full of questions, he went at once.
Only then did Xixi urge her third brother: “Home—quick.”
Yuanfeng, who had carried Feng a long mountain stretch and was gasping, rolled his eyes at this sister who favored pretty faces over kin.
Xixi shrugged at his meaning: “I said I’d carry him. You wouldn’t let me.”
Yuanfeng could not be bothered to banter. He carried Feng quickly to their home and laid him on his own bed.
Xiao Ding was second chief of the stockade—their quarters better than most. A farm courtyard ringed by bamboo fence—over ten rooms large and small—everything needed, chickens and geese too.
When the siblings returned only Feng Yunxiang was in the kitchen.
Yuanfeng had to report the loot to his father and chief Pang Sihai. After setting Feng down he drank water, called to his mother passing the kitchen, and left again.
“Stop glaring at me with those little slit eyes. Sit and rest.” Xixi untied Sui He and kicked him a wooden stool. She went to the bed and bent to remove Feng’s shoes.
“Don’t touch my master!”
Sui He rushed to push her aside. Xixi elbowed him back: “I’ll touch him—what will you do?”
Sui He clutched his bruised belly and scolded: “A girl—how can you be so shameless!”
“I’m taking off his shoes so he lies comfortably. How is that shameless?” Xixi sat on the bed, removed both shoes, then reached for his collar on purpose. “Let me see if there are other wounds…”
“Stop—stop!”
Sui He was truly frantic. The seventh young master had come for a beauty trap—but the target was not this Xiao woman. It was chief Pang’s daughter Pang Yuejiao.
If the seventh master was ruined by this woman, the master’s plan would fail!
Xixi laughed seeing him hopping with anger.
When she was done laughing she stopped and said with interest: “I can stop—but tell me more about your master. What he likes to eat and do—and what kind of girl he likes.”
Sui He snorted: “Not your kind anyway!”
Xixi was about to threaten again when her mother came.
Feng Yunxiang had heard from her son that her daughter brought back a “husband to be kept” and wanted to marry him. She glanced at Sui He, frowned, and pulled her daughter outside: “Those two inside—what’s going on? Your brother says you fancy one and want to marry—is that real or a joke?”
“Of course it’s real.” Xixi put away laughter and said seriously: “Mother, you didn’t see him—handsome as the immortal lords in paintings. First look—I felt my soul float up, head went numb. His voice is nice. Even angry he’s beautiful. I like him more than I like a gold ingot.”
Feng Yunxiang had never heard her daughter praise anyone so. Surprised, she hesitated and touched her forehead: “Did yesterday’s shock unhinge you…”
“I know what you’re thinking. One Ge Qingsong isn’t enough to make me lose my mind.” Xixi pulled her mother’s hand down. “Mainly lust at first sight. Put it this way—if I’d met the man inside a few days earlier, maybe I’d have been the one eloping yesterday.”
Feng Yunxiang: “……”
She knew her daughter was only talking. However much she liked a pretty face, she would not betray her word for it.
“Anyway I’m marrying him.” Xixi added. “Tomorrow. We can use the red silk and wedding paper again. And my wedding dress—you embroidered it with such labor—I’ll wear it properly once more.”
Feng Yunxiang was shocked again: “Tomorrow?! You’re too rushed—”
“It’s not rushed—it’s decisive.” Xixi pulled her inside to the bed. “Look at him. If I don’t act when I must, someone else might snatch him.”
Feng Yunxiang: “……”
She stared at the youth on the bed—unconscious yet still devastating—and fell silent in doubt.
What her daughter said had a point…
A man this fine—miss him and regret.
But she was a mother and thought further. She soon recovered sense and tapped her daughter: “Marriage can’t be face alone. You should spend time together—see if your natures suit. Marriage needs two willing hearts. You dragged him here without asking—will he agree? And his family—”
“He has no family—only this one servant.” Xixi pointed at Sui He and repeated his story. “Character and virtue—we can learn after marriage. Most girls marry without ever seeing their husband’s face.”
Feng Yunxiang: “……”
True enough.
And this young man’s lot was pitiful. If he stayed and married her daughter, her daughter need not leave home and he would have a place to rest. She could not help saying: “In such a vast world, to meet like this—there is fate…”
“Right right—I think so too!”
Seeing her daughter bright and happy—while she had worried all day that yesterday would break her heart—Feng Yunxiang hesitated, then softened.
A daughter must marry someday. Such strange fate—and she wanted it so much—then let the match be made.
As for whether the young man on the bed was willing…
Feng Yunxiang smiled helplessly. If her daughter wanted it, a mother must find a way.
**
Not long after Xixi won over her mother, cousin Yuanhe returned with Uncle Lu Dongsheng.
Lu Dongsheng was a mild middle-aged man with a small mustache and wooden medicine chest. Born with smiling eyes, he looked kind. Slow in speech and action—clearly good-tempered.
Xixi’s family had lived in Anping County, thirty li east of Jiangling. Lu was also from Anping—a clinic physician until the county fell to soldiers three years ago, when the family came to wife’s brother Xiao Ding.
His skill was solid. After examining Feng’s leg and taking his pulse he treated the wound properly.
“The leg is serious—at least two or three months to heal. Light diet. He must not leave the bed.” Lu had also been startled by Feng’s face at first glance.
“But Uncle—why won’t he wake?” Xixi leaned on the bed watching Feng’s closed eyes. “He woke once on the road then fainted again. He seems so weak—no strength at all. Is it from blood loss?”
The drug in Feng’s body had mostly faded—Lu did not notice. He took the pulse again: “Likely blood loss plus days without rest—qi and blood depleted. I’ll compound medicine at home. Brew it for him and he should recover slowly.”
Xixi relaxed: “I’ll send Little Fifth with you for the medicine. Thank you, Uncle—much trouble. I’ll hunt a deer in the hills for you.”
“Good good. Sister-in-law—I’ll be going.” Lu greeted Feng Yunxiang and left with Yuanhe.
After seeing him out Xixi returned and dug from her third brother’s loot a set of new robes he had not yet worn. She handed them to Sui He at the bed: “I’ll heat water. Wipe your master and change his clothes.”
Sui He took the robes but would not answer.
Xixi tapped his head: “Speak. Or you heat water and I’ll wipe and dress your master.”
Sui He: “……Got it.”
Xixi was satisfied: “That’s better. I saved you from that dog official. No thanks—and you treat me like an enemy. Think—is that how you repay kindness?”
Sui He could not argue.
But she always acted like a bandit chieftain, wanted to steal his young master as husband—who could stand it?
**
When Feng woke, night had fully fallen.
In a modest room a single oil lamp flickered bright and dim.
Eyes open—blankness in his head—then memory of what came before.
Sui He at the bedside saw him stir and stood: “Young master—you’re awake.”
Feng’s throat was dry and sore. He pressed his lips, paused, then croaked: “Water.”
“Water—yes, yes!”
Opposite the bamboo window under the bed stood an old square table, lacquer worn off. Feng Yunxiang had left tea there. Sui He poured a bowl and brought it.
Feng sat up with effort and looked at his right leg—carefully bandaged, splinted with sticks.
His clothes had been changed—but he did not know by whom or what happened while he was out.
That made him irritable.
He took the coarse bowl from Sui He with a dark face, sipped, and felt his throat ease a little.
Then hunger twisted his belly.
He had not eaten in two days and a night—the Pan bastard had meant to break him.
Remembering the fat man who had dared desire him, Feng felt sick. Murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
“Oh—you’re finally awake!”
Just then Xixi came in carrying a bowl of vegetable porridge.