Xiaoxiao and Mo Yan - Chapter 3

After the Gu family recognized me, they saw me swagger about like a boy. The prime minister shook his head. His wife covered her face in embarrassment. The servants laughed.

Gu Jinya came to my defense. “My sister spent so many years begging. How can anyone laugh at her manners? We only need to find a matron to teach her.”

The prime minister’s household immediately assigned me three matrons. Music, chess, calligraphy, painting: lessons in all of them began.

Unfortunately, while I had some persistence, I had little talent. I learned the surface of everything and mastered nothing well enough to show in company.

At poetry gatherings, literary salons, and flower-viewing parties, Gu Jinya flitted among the guests like a dazzling butterfly. I ate and drank. No one paid me any mind.

Most of them looked down on the prime minister’s daughter who had appeared out of nowhere. They whispered behind my back.

“Is she really his daughter? Look how rough her hands are.”

“That’s nothing. Look at her eating everything in sight. Who eats like that at a banquet?”

Sorry for offending your delicate eyes.

I didn’t want to attend, but Gu Jinya took me to every gathering. The prime minister’s wife was delighted, convinced we sisters got along.

I knew Jinya was putting on a show, partly to please Mother and partly so I could make her look better by comparison.

Whenever someone said, “They’re both legitimate daughters of the prime minister, yet Miss Jinya is so poised and elegant. No matter how richly Miss Xiaoxiao dresses, she can’t hide the air of a poor, shabby beggar,” or, “Gu Xiaoxiao is so coarse. How could Gu Jinya have a sister like her?” Jinya would smile slightly, then stop them.

“Xiaoxiao grew up outside the capital. Her ways are different from ours. Please be more understanding.”

There was, however, one skill in which I surpassed her. Perhaps I had spent too long living as a boy, but I preferred drinking and riding.

The noble young ladies rode ponies. I alone rode a magnificent horse and raced with the wind. The breeze across my face made me feel gloriously alive.

Jinya watched me ride away while the ladies around her complained.

“Why does Gu Xiaoxiao carry on like a barbarian? So crude and unrestrained.”

“A woman ought to be modest. Who else grins so widely you can see every tooth?”

I chose to believe they envied my fine white teeth.

Jinya clenched her reins, watching my carefree back. For once she couldn’t bring herself to offer her usual show of support.

Jinya didn’t like going to the riding grounds. Yet that day, after we finished checking the caravan’s accounts, she surprised me by inviting me there.

Embarrassment and shyness colored her face. “Sister Xiaoxiao, could you… could you teach me to ride? Not a pony or a little mare. A real, powerful horse.”

I gave her a half smile. Since when were we close enough for her to ask? How did she have the nerve?

Growing anxious, she said, “If you agree, I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Oh?” I said. “Then can you get out of the prime minister’s house?”

Her face flamed. She stared at me, shocked, her fingers trembling. “You… you…”

I beamed and drew her hand down. “Oh, I’m joking. Surely my dear sister didn’t take me seriously. You want riding lessons? No problem. Today or tomorrow? I’ve plenty of time.”

Her flush gradually faded. Her eyes turned cool. “Tomorrow. Xiaoxiao, Father and Mother regard me as their own daughter. I know you resent it, but those are the facts. You need to accept them. Don’t say anything like that again. If they hear, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

She gave me a long look and left.

I rubbed my wrist until my knuckles cracked. She was still close enough to hear. Her steps faltered, then quickened.

I laughed behind her back.

I sent someone to investigate. It turned out the heir of the Marquis of Loyalty, the man Jinya loved, had recently become besotted with a foreign horse slave. The woman had curves in all the right places and galloped atop a powerful horse, her body rising and falling with its stride. The young lord was so captivated he wanted to bring her into his household.

I stared at the report, momentarily stunned. Was Jinya planning to imitate the horse slave?

I doubled over laughing. A lofty, proper young lady was going to copy the manner of a woman she considered beneath her.

Somehow Mo Yan heard I was teaching Jinya to ride. He pestered Gu Luochen until he brought him to the riding grounds too. Luochen would teach him himself.

Mo Yan’s fitted red riding clothes outlined his youthful figure. Luochen led out a small mare, but Mo Yan took one look at the tall horses on our side and immediately protested.

“Gu Luochen, I want to ride a big one too!”

“It’s your first time,” Luochen said helplessly. “Practice on the little mare first.”

Mo Yan looked from our horses to the one before him and turned pleading eyes on Luochen. “Luochen, I want a big horse. Otherwise, I’ll ride you.”

He spoke to Luochen, but his eyes were on me. I watched him make his brazen threat and ground my teeth. His skin must be itching for another spanking.

Luochen blushed. “All right, you can ride a big horse. But if it’s too much, get down at once.”

I drew my attention back and discovered Jinya watching the two men. Her cheeks were faintly pink.

“Elder Brother and a man… I didn’t know they could be like that.”

With a wicked grin, I caught her by surprise and touched her waist. “It isn’t only my brother and a man. You and I could be like that too.”

She shivered at my touch, then nearly jumped out of her skin at my words. “Gu Xiaoxiao, I like men. I like the young heir.”

I folded my arms and looked at her in amusement. At last she realized I was teasing her. Red with anger, she used the little I had taught her, mounted, and rode away.

I mounted and followed. If she fell and hurt herself, who knew what the household would say about me?

When we returned, I noticed Lin Yue beneath a tree. She watched the two men on horseback, tears running silently down her face.

Lin Yue was obsessed with Luochen. I had expected her to make trouble for Mo Yan, but I hadn’t seen her since that day. I went over to her.

She stared blankly ahead. “Xiaoxiao, I’m engaged.”

Huge tears filled her eyes. Her mouth drooped in misery. “My parents said I could never marry my cousin. They’ve arranged another match for me.”

“Waaah! Brother Luochen, Brother Luochen!”

She bawled until her nose ran.