Wanqing sat up. “Did you have a nightmare? I"ll get you some water.”
Xue Dongting was quick to stop her. She collected herself and forced a smile. “It"s nothing. Go back to sleep, sis. Probably just too much happened today is all.”
Wanqing laughed. “Look at you, how old are you. It"s just a nightmare, it"s not real.”
Xue Dongting nodded. “Mm.” She lay back down and closed her eyes, but she could just not get back to sleep.
The next day was overcast, not the bright s.h.i.+ny morning like in her dream. That made her breathe a sigh of relief. Wanqing was right, it was just a nightmare. When she left, Rosecloud had a broom and was sweeping the courtyard. Xue Dongting asked Wanqing, “Does this place not have a pageboy to do the menial ch.o.r.es? You mean Rosecloud has to draw the water and do the sweeping?”
“We didn"t bring those servants with us when we came here to spend New Years,” Wanqing said. “The matron likes things to be clean, so everyone has a maid or two to wait on them, but there are few pageboys.”
Rosecloud put down her broom and grinned at Xue Dongting. “I"ve done thing kind of work since I was little. Drawing water and sweeping is relaxing.”
Xue Dongting smiled. “You"re so fair and pretty, you don"t seem at all like a menial servant.”
Rosecloud pursed her lips. Though she was reserved, one could see she had already let much of her guard down. She muttered to herself in hesitation as if she wanted to say something but didn"t know how to go about it.
Xue Dongting laughed. “If you have something to say, just say it. I"m not some tigress, I won"t gobble you up.”
“I… I would like to go with you, Miss, to get the whale oil. That way you won"t have to come all the way back her to deliver it. It"s tiring going back and forth.”
Xue Dongting looked her up and down but smiled and said nothing.
Rosecloud was alarmed by that look and she put her head down. But Xue Dongting laughed and asked, “Do you have any red clothes?”
Rosecloud shook her head, at a loss at the sudden question.
Xue Dongting looked at Wanqing and laughed. “I think Rosecloud would look really good in red!”
Wanqing laughed, then sighed. “Girl every time I see you you wear me down, and now you"re wearing down my maid as well. Are you my sister or not?”
Xue Dongting laughed and side-eyed her. “I like Rosecloud, I want to treat her as a sister, so don"t be hard on her.”
Wanqing heaved a deep sigh. “Fine, I have a crimson felt coat. It"s not exactly new, but I wonder if it would be to your liking?” She laughed and looked at Rosecloud.
Rosecloud quickly shook her head. “Of course Madame"s clothes are all wonderful, I couldn"t possibly.”
Xue Dongting laughed. “They"re not necessarily all good. Let"s have you take a look first.” She dragged Rosecloud to the bedroom and rummaged around in the wardrobe and found the slightly-used crimson felt coat and made Rosecloud try it on, and she personally got a silk belt woven from gold and teal threads and studded with rings of ruyi scepters and tied it on for her. She looked at Rosecloud and laughed. “If you go out in that you"ll look the same as any young n.o.ble lady.”
Rosecloud was somewhat uneasy. “It won"t do if Madame sees this, how can a servant wear something like this?”
Xue Dongting said, “I"m here, just wear it. When the villagers see you out in this they will be surprised that a Zhang family servant would be dressed like this. That"ll give the Zhang family a lot of face and the matron will be delighted to no end, why would she scold you? Even Madame will have to say you know how to act proper.”
Rosecloud said nothing to this. How could she not want to wear something like this? It would give her face were she to run into one of her sisters from before. And she had something else in mind as well. When she went with Miss Xue to her house, she would look nice should she see Fisherman Song. She had no designs to entice Fisherman Song, but if she could be seen by him more often that would be enough to make her happy.
Xue Dongting of course knew what Rosecloud was thinking, but she didn"t expose her. Instead she dragged Rosecloud over to pay their leave to Matron. Matron told her to come back and visit her often, and she gave Dongting an exquisite feather coat with green lotus patterns on it and a pair of green jade bracelets, then she let them leave.
On the road, Xue Dongting purposefully took the long way around, away from the coast. She was still thinking about her dream from last night and didn"t want to go there. Rosecloud, though, thought it was because she didn"t want to attract too much attention with the villagers, having her tagging along, so she felt uneasy about making Miss Xue take the long way around.
Sure enough, on the way they came across some women carrying wooden basins going to the river to beat their clothes for was.h.i.+ng. Two of them were women Rosecloud knew. They greeted each other and inquired after each other"s well-being and so forth, but Rosecloud looked uncomfortable.
She and Xue Dongting arrived at the thatched hut. The courtyard gates were half-closed. They pushed the gates open to see Song Yuming wearing an unlined garment, crouched before the stove, making a fire. He was big and tall and looked awkward for some reason squatting there.
Xue Dongting felt a bit sorry and reproached herself. She had been so busy with her sister she had neglected her husband. But then she thought, before they were married, didn"t he have to make a fire and cook by himself anyway? So she went forward and asked, “This late and you still haven"t eaten?”
Song Yuming didn"t turn around but continued stoking the fire. “Isn"t it bound to be a bit slower with no one around to a.s.sist me?”
Xue Dongting smiled thinly and went over and whispered, “You need me, right? Already used to just eating whenever it"s ready?”
Song Yuming, still squatting, turned to his little wife. From this angle she cut a lithe, graceful figure, and really made her bust all the more enticing.
Xue Dongting caught the obscene look in the guy"s eyes and she blushed immediately. “What are you looking at! I"ve brought a guest with me!”
Song Yuming looked past her to where the girl in red stood in the doorway and he asked Xue Dongting, “This is…?”
“Her name is Rosecloud, the one you rescued!” she grumbled softly. “Don"t play dumb.”
Song Yuming"s lips curled in a gentle smile and he nodded to Rosecloud.
Rosecloud stood in the doorway timidly. Her whole face when red when she saw him smiling at her and she didn"t know what to do with her hands.
Xue Dongting raised her voice. “Go to the cellar and get some of that whale oil so Rosecloud can take it back with her. The matron really likes it.”
Song Yuming got the fire going and stood and dusted his hands. “There are buns steaming in the wok. Watch the fire.”
Xue Dongting nodded and Song Yuming lit a candle and went to the cellar. He soon returned carrying an earthenware jar.
Xue Dongting took the crock and handed it to Rosecloud, smiling. “Careful going back. I"ll visit you again when I have time.”
Rosecloud left, blus.h.i.+ng and carrying the crock, so absentminded she forgot to say goodbye.
Xue Dongting leaned in the doorway and watched her go, then bolted the gates shut and went back to the kitchen where Song Yuming was feeding the fire with the bellows, the black hair at his temples fallen loose from the strand of rice straw that held his hair in place.
Xue Dongting kneaded the straw with her fingers and stroked his hair. “Later I"ll comb this for you. It"s all messy.”