Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The clear water flowed unimpeded onto the ground, diluting the blood-stained snow.

Qingshan didn’t say a word, returning to his usual steady, taciturn self.

He tore off a strip of cloth, intending to bandage my hand, but he paused the moment his fingers brushed mine and took a step back.

“Master, you’re back. It’s snowing again, and you’ve just recovered from your injuries. Please…”

Qingshan was becoming a bit talkative. Cui Shao shot him a look. “You handle the cooking today.”

Qingshan lowered his head and retreated into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. Soon, a wisp of smoke rose from the chimney, carrying the scent of a hearth fire.

Only Cui Shao and I were left in the courtyard.

He walked over and stopped in front of me, a layer of snow already dusting his shoulders.

“If you let him cook, no one is going to have enough to eat today.”

“If they don’t have enough, they don’t have enough. Skipping one full meal won’t kill them.”

“Easy for you to say. Zishu is sixteen and my brother is fifteen-they’re at the age where they’re always hungry. You’re not much better yourself… When people get hungry, they start getting homesick, or worse, they start making trouble.”

Cui Zishu and my brother were constantly bickering. She called him a dummy, and he never backed down, calling her a glutton.

Mealtime was the only time the two of them were ever quiet.

“The Zhang Manor is hosting a banquet and invited us to provide some entertainment. I won’t be eating at home tonight, so don’t wait up for me.”

No wonder he didn’t care; he was going off to eat well.

As he spoke, he pulled a porcelain bottle from his robes and told me to apply it myself. It was the golden-sore ointment I had brought from the Chen Family.

“You’re quite good at ‘offering the Buddha his own flowers,’ aren’t you?”

I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or something else, but the tips of Cui Shao’s ears were slightly red. He looked away, gazing at the snow lion my brother and I had built. Our craftsmanship wasn’t great; the ‘mighty lion’ looked more like a lazy cat, radiating a certain silly charm.

Cui Shao’s lips twitched, but he quickly regained his composure. “Your medicine works well.”

“Of course it does. No matter how badly I was beaten at the Chen Family, as long as I applied this ointment, it would stop the bleeding and help the skin regrow. I’ve spent years testing it out.”

My mother had been a mere dancing girl. Her contract was held by Master Chen, and she wasn’t even considered a concubine. She died shortly after giving birth to my brother, before she could even give him a name. Master Chen didn’t care; he had plenty of children, and my brother was a simpleton to boot.

Cui Shao looked at me. “Jumping from one fire pit into another… you actually had other choices.”

I curled my lip. “It’s winter. It’s warmer near a fire pit.”

Cui Shao’s gaze turned vacant, as if lost in thought, before he quickly masked his expression. “Heartless.”

“Am I supposed to wallow in self-pity over past miseries forever? Whether it was wealth or hardship, the past is the past. One has to look forward. There’s no way to walk a road backward, so you might as well be happy. Life is short; if you want to suffer, there’s an endless supply of it. Why not let yourself be a little happy instead?

“It’s like that snow lion. Even if it has neither the form nor the spirit of a real one, it can still hold out until next spring.”

I didn’t understand grand philosophies. I only thought about how to survive.

I just wanted myself and the people I cared about to live well.