Tao Er, feeling pleased with my mediocre appearance, nodded repeatedly in satisfaction and said, "You"d better take the a.s.sumed name of Xiaoyu and pretend to be a servant girl like Lian"er during this time."
I interrupted, "Whose servant girl?"
My question made everyone agitated.
"She is mine!" Tang San answered first.
Qiao Si frowned, competing with Tang San as usual, "She is mine!"
Yan Wu held up his head and said to Tao Er, "Let Brother Tao decide it." That made my hands tremble. Why should my own right be delivered to Tao Er?
Tao Er thought for a while and said, "Dongli would be the best choice. Dongli"d better stay in Shen Garden with Xiaoyu as well, because he may recognize you."
Everyone agreed with the decision including me. Thus, I would be in close contact with Master Shifu!
Tao Er added, "I will tell other servants that Master has been out these days."
Master of Li Mansion was really famous in Luocheng. Even in such an open age when anyone could be master as long as he/she was rich enough, female masters were still rare. Strangers outside only knew Master Li had married several handsome childes, among whom Tao Qing, the Second Childe, was especially superior. Tao Qing was not only outstanding in physical appearance but also in earning money which made him really precious and attractive to young girls.
"By the way, Tao Er, you still haven"t told me the name of your "ordinary friend", the one I came across on Triplet Pleasure Boat."
Tao Er said after a pause, "He is Fang Zhun, you can call him Duke Fang."
I nodded after hearing that.
I had heard of him because of his privileged family. His mother was the eldest princess while his father was a senior general who had helped found Chen Kingdom. He himself was said to be "a bit" talented, handsome and famous. However, that "bit" talent didn"t quite live up to his privileged family, according to which others would be jealous of his born luck.
Master Shifu had been silent for quite a while as if he was worried about something. I came closer upon him and held his one hand, which was cool like a precious jade.
"Master Shifu, let"s go back home…" I, genuinely, was persuading him to take a rest, but somehow my words and bright smile were misunderstood by narrow-minded Tang San. He made an unsatisfied snort, followed by a teasing glance from Qiao Si, which annoyed Tang San naturally.
At the very moment when Tang San was grabbing the nearest vase to fight with Qiao Si, I clapped my hands suddenly and said, "I remember now!"
Everyone else froze again with tension.
Tao Er asked in a cold voice, "What did you remember?"
I turned back to look for Lian"er. "Where is Lian"er?"
Lian"er came in upon hearing my calling.
I said, "Lian"er, please change all our porcelain vases to bronze tomorrow."
Tension in the air got released as I finished my words.
I looked at them oddly, "You guys look so weird."
Master Shifu held my hand and said, "Let"s go back to rest..."
Li Mansion covered a very large area with each childe owing one garden. Even Lian"er, a servant girl, had a place of her own. And some places were available for guset living. In fact, we barely had any guest except for the annoying and brazen-faced Duke Fang who wanted to stay at our home.
When this huge mansion had just been built, Tao Er recommended Master Shifu to name it, because he was the most learned man among us. However, Shifu looked smilingly at me, indicating that he would be proud of me if I could name it instead. How could I let him down? As the old saying goes, students will do better if they are taught by accomplished teachers.
Therefore, I named it "garden" with everyone"s family name putting in front…
Though the names didn"t sound elegant, they were easy to remember.
Li Garden, Shen Garden, Tao Garden, Tang Garden, Qiao Garden, Yan Garden…
As for other available gardens, I named them: Jia Garden, Yi Garden, Bing Garden… (T/N: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding… is the traditional Chinese way of counting…just like Garden A, Garden B, Garden C…)
Master Shifu sighed without saying a word about it—After all, he had known me long and well enough. The reason why he still had hope for my literature was that he treated me too soft and gentle.
Holding Master Shifu in hand at this romantic moment and smelling his delicate body fragrance, I couldn"t help flirting with him by drawing circles in his hand. Hand grabbbed tightly by him, I looked up and said coquettishly, "Master Shifu…"
Though I was more than twenty years old, an old lady in people"s eyes, I still enjoyed nestling in the arms of him like a little girl. In my mind, Master Shifu was always the gentlest man in the world. Other people might distance themselves from him because of his ethereal bearing, and only a shamless person like me dared to pester him.
Master Shifu looked so white and felt so soft just like a rice dumpling, who would also taste very sweet.
He was amused by my childish behavior and rubbed my hair, which had been his habit since he always treated me as a little girl. Anyway, he was not my unrequited love…
Master Shifu was willing to live in a remote and quiet place like Shen Garden, which was very hard for strangers to find. Meanwhile, Tao Er would be entertaining Duke Fang, the poor guy whose priceless jade was stolen by me before in the Men"s Room of Triple Pleasure-boat.
While thinking about the funny thing happened in Triple Pleasure Boat, I began to undress Master Shifu.
He only wore such a thin underwear in white color, which was tied so loosely by a green silk ribbon and easy to take off.
My eyes were fixed on his neck, which had been my dirty wish since I was still a kid. I really wanted to have a bite and taste it. After so many years, Master Shifu had got used to my staring. Though he was said to be powerful and fierce at court, especially when he was in duty in Dali Temple (Refers to the Supreme Court) where criminals would confess involuntarily in front of him, he was always so bashful and gentle to me. After one moment of my staring, his body would turn pink, even his eyes being covered by water fog.
Look! He was turning pink again…
I giggled and pretended to be sleepy. Moving to Shifu"s bed gradually, I yawned all along.
"Master Shifu, I feel tired and wanna sleep now."
Shifu was petrified for a minute, and then turned to me, "You should go back to your own room to sleep."
How could a servant girl sleep with her master?
I sat up and said, in earnest, "Shifu, how could you say that? You are not my real master, and after all, this is not our first time sleeping together."
My Shifu, who was so learned, was almost turning red out of shyness. Why was he so bashful about s.e.x? Did learned scholars like Shifu all refrain from s.e.x?
We had the traditional saying that, among so many unfilial conduct, no children to inherited his/her family name was the most serious matter!
Scholar like Shifu cannot handle a rogue like me in a regular way.
Failing to convince me to leave, Shifu had to blow out most candles except one and went to bed with me.
The moment he came close to me, I turned over immediately to climb on top of him and pulled his robe, "Shifu, Shifu…"
He had known I would seduce him when he decided to sleep with me in one bed. I couldn"t help touching and biting him brazenly. His warm body made my heart beating madly.
How could I love him so much? My love had been lasting for over ten years, and the feeling grew even stronger every day. How could he be such a fierce and aggressive Prime Minister when facing others while be so shy and panic in front of me? All in all, he was a paradoxical combination of cute appearance and stoic personality, which could almost drive me crazy and make me scratch the wall…
I would always remember what I said to him before, "Shifu, I wanna have s.e.x with you…"