Chapter 21

A Sen didn't take it: "The Ninth Master said we can only eat the steamed buns at the hour of You."

"Ninth Master, A Sen, it's cooler inside the shed. Why don't you both come in and escape the heat?" She said, moving to a corner of the thatched shed.

If only she had known this would happen, she should have taken a good look at Huayin City when they left it.

All she could see was devastation—nothing but parched fields and withered vegetation, stretching as far as the eye could see.

And Nanny Chen—she was missing. How would she explain this to Eldest Aunt?

She also felt a faint worry: would her mother tell the elders at home about her going to her uncle's place?

"In that case, you wouldn't have to run around everywhere with Ninth Master. You could study with my nephew. If you don't want to study, you could also follow the household steward to learn business or farming, and later become a shopkeeper or buy a few acres of land to cultivate." Fu Tingjun said quickly. "If Ninth Master misses you, he can come to Weinan to visit you. And when Ninth Master grows old, you can take care of him, can't you?"

The elders at home wanted to deal with her, and her mother knew about it too.

Fu Tingjun wanted to ask him whether there were unburied corpses or man-eating wild dogs in the village, but watching his long-striding figure retreating, she swallowed the words.

She chatted with A Sen: "When I get to Weinan, I'll stay at my uncle's house. His family has fields, land, shops, and a clan school. Would you like to stay with me?"

The sun climbed higher and higher, hanging bright and glaring overhead. The air felt scorching enough to burn one's skin. As far as the eye could see, everything flashed with blinding white light.

A Sen hesitated a moment, then said, "Then... when the time comes, can Ninth Master and I come to visit you?"

It shouldn't be!

"As long as Ninth Master is willing, why not?" Fu Tingjun laughed. "I'll have someone make you flatbreads to eat!"

Was wandering around outside with books really that good?

Fu Tingjun quickly said: "Though it's said that traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books, A Sen is still young. Ninth Master, why not entrust him to my care? I'll take good care of him. If one day Ninth Master wants to settle down, you can come and take A Sen back just the same!"

Fu Tingjun laughed and flicked A Sen's forehead.

A Sen touched his head and grinned foolishly.

Fu Tingjun raised the water skin: "Find your bowl, and I'll pour you some."

He still didn't want to settle down!

She grew more anxious the more she thought about it, wishing she could see her mother at once and get the whole matter clarified.

Fu Tingjun took a long moment to snap back to reality, and couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the boy.

Fu Tingjun felt somewhat disappointed.

She was now "dead"—the maidservants who served her in her quarters should have recovered from their "illnesses" by now, shouldn't they?

She took two bites of the steamed bun with some water.

But why hadn't her mother found a way to send her word back then? Her mother was not only her mother, but also a daughter-in-law of the Fu family. Perhaps her mother thought that since things had passed, it would be fine to report it to the elders at home...

The ground was baking hot, like a stove, and the straw overhead barely blocked the sun. Fu Tingjun felt no shade at all. Seeing Zhao Jiuye and A Sen standing in the sunlight, drenched in sweat, she felt deeply grateful.

"There's a village not far ahead, but the villagers have all fled the famine," Zhao Jiuye said, already strapping the cart's carrying strap onto his body. "We'll rest there for a bit."

It looked like a temporary shelter built by field watchmen.

"It's only a few more days," Fu Tingjun said with a smile. "Didn't you say it would only take about ten days to reach Weinan?"

A Sen scratched his head and laughed foolishly.

Zhao Jiuye comforted himself, and together with A Sen, propped up one corner of the thatched shed, letting A Sen help Fu Tingjun inside to rest.

Fu Tingjun's face was flushed red from the sun, and beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down from her forehead and temples, blurring her vision, yet she stubbornly stared toward the northeast.

She felt even more pity for him.

Fu Tingjun broke off half of her steamed bun and handed it to him: "I can't eat this much by myself. Here, take this half."

Fu Tingjun beckoned him to sit beside her: "It's so hot outside—why don't you come sit in here! If you get heatstroke, wouldn't Ninth Master have another person to take care of?"

Fu Tingjun was stunned.

A Sen answered loudly with "Yes!" and Zhao Jiuye walked away without looking back.

They had already done their best to protect her—it would be unreasonable for her to insist on all those formalities now.

Fu Tingjun widened her eyes, trying to see clearly.

When Fu Tingjun smiled, her eyes sparkled brilliantly, and her somewhat listless face brightened, pleasing to the eye.

Zuo Junjie was a juren. No matter how bold the Fu family was, they would surely hesitate at the thought of murdering a juren—especially since Zuo Junjie's elder sister was the eldest sister-in-law, and the Zuo family had only this one remaining heir...

He still didn't want to settle down!

A Sen didn't understand.

It seemed that wielding Ninth Master's name like a magic sword worked wonders with A Sen.

Fu Tingjun found it secretly amusing, and sighed inwardly at A Sen's pure nature. Her resolve to keep A Sen by her side grew even stronger.

Fu Tingjun looked up and saw A Sen squatting beside the cart, gazing at the barren farmland and idly drawing circles in the dirt with a twig.

Fu Tingjun smiled and said, "I sit in the cart all day, and Ninth Master still has to push me. Better to leave the food for Ninth Master, don't you think?"

Zhao Jiuye looked at Fu Tingjun, whose head was drooping like a wilted daylily baked by the sun, and felt somewhat concerned.

Who could have stolen the things from her side?

Was Zuo Junjie truly a fugitive fleeing from justice as the rumors outside claimed? Or had he been secretly dealt with by the Fu family?

Zhao Jiuye scanned the area as he walked and finally spotted a collapsed thatched shed.

Surely her uncle would not refuse to reward Zhao Jiuye. Even if her uncle was unwilling, those two thousand taels of silver notes she had could come in handy then. But as she observed Zhao Jiuye, a man of great skill who nevertheless drifted about with his brothers, he hardly seemed the type to settle down.

It had been the hour of Yin when she'd eaten half a steamed bun and drunk half a bowl of water. Despite the heat, Fu Tingjun was already parched and famished.

Fu Tingjun handed over the water pouch again. "This was originally given to me by Ninth Master, and I can't use that much. If you eat and drink, it's as if I've eaten and drunk myself—it won't use up any more than that, so it doesn't break Ninth Master's rules."

But Zhao Jiuye seemed to see through her thoughts and suddenly turned his head. "Don't worry, the village is clean!"

Zhao Jiuye was quite surprised and gave Fu Tingjun a deep look.

Huayin was right there!

Something was better than nothing!

Zhao Jiuye said nothing, his gaze fixed on her as deep as a well, the calm surface seeming to ripple faintly.

Beside him, A Sen paced anxiously around Zhao Jiuye. "...Is it not okay?"

A Sen smiled sheepishly.

"Great! Great!" A Sen's face lit up with excitement upon hearing this. "The Master said farming can't make money—it only fills your stomach at best. You have to do business to make money. Brother Yucheng once taught me how to use the abacus and how to keep accounts. When the time comes, I'll be a shopkeeper—helping Ninth Master as a shopkeeper!"

A Sen giggled.

Fu Tingjun glanced at the glaring sun and said, "Ninth Master doesn't have a water clock at hand—how does he know when it's the hour of You? A bit earlier or later wouldn't matter!"

Fu Tingjun put the steamed bun and water pouch back into the cart.

"A Sen, aren't you hot? Why don't you drink some water?"

He couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Fu Tingjun was torn between hope and fear, momentarily at a loss.

"No need!" Zhao Jiuye pulled out the water pouch and a steamed bun from the cart and handed them to Fu Tingjun. "Eat something, rest a while, and we'll set off again at the hour of You." Then he instructed A Sen, "You stay here and watch over Miss Fu. Since there's a thatched shed here, there should be a village nearby—I'll go take a look!"

As if she'd said something terribly wrong, A Sen looked a bit displeased. "The Master just knows! Whatever time the Master says it is, that's what time it is—he's never once been wrong!"

A Sen was utterly bewildered.

Because it had been kept too long and lacked moisture, the crumbs of the steamed bun fell like dry, hard flour.

A Sen's eyes brightened at her words, his gaze shifting from the water pouch in her hand to the steamed bun, then from the steamed bun back to the water pouch. After a long moment, he gritted his teeth—Fu Tingjun thought he had finally succumbed to the temptation of food and followed her suggestion, and she was secretly pleased—but then he blurted out, "The Master said we can only eat at the hour of You."

"Great, great!" A Sen was very pleased to hear this, and his look at Fu Tingjun grew considerably warmer. But then he immediately worried, "Yet Ninth Master said your body is weak and you need to rest well..."

She certainly knew water was scarce, but seeing how Zhao Jiuye only gave her a little each time, she'd thought they were already being very frugal—she hadn't expected... She looked at the water and steamed bun in her hands and said softly, "Do you only get a steamed bun at the hour of You?"

And Lü'e and Hanyan—after all that had happened, her mother would probably keep them close at hand and wait for the dust to settle before making arrangements, wouldn't she? To outsiders, Lü'e and Hanyan had risen overnight to become maids favored by her mother, but they themselves knew full well—they would likely be anxious and uneasy!

She couldn't understand it.

She didn't even have the chance to take one last look at it.

Zhao Jiuye returned.

At this thought, Fu Tingjun gently shook her head.

"I was trying to coax you into eating something," she said, beaming at A Sen. "Who knew A Sen would see through me so quickly!"

A Sen didn't move. "Miss, this water was prepared for you by Ninth Master... I only get water at the hour of You."

Zhao Jiuye glanced down at him. "We'll talk about it when the time comes!"

A Sen nodded.

When he raised his head again, his eyes had returned to their former calm indifference.

Hearing this, A Sen dropped the twig and sat down beside her.

A Sen bounded over happily. "Ninth Master, Ninth Master! Miss Fu said we should stay in Weinan with her. After we go see Brother Yucheng and Brother Yuanbao, can we settle down in Weinan?"

But if A Sen were to forget Zhao Jiuye because of this, he wouldn't be the A Sen she liked and cherished.

He was still so young, yet already knew how to restrain himself. If he could be properly taught, he might grow into a man of his word in the future!

Every other sentence was about Zhao Jiuye.

A Sen had been raised by Zhao Jiuye and held a deep, brotherly-fatherly affection for him, so naturally he could not bear any voice questioning Zhao Jiuye. Fu Tingjun could understand this, so although she felt A Sen's admiration for Zhao Jiuye bordered on blind worship, she did not want to say anything more that might undermine Zhao Jiuye's standing in A Sen's heart.

Her eldest uncle would know she had been rescued by a man, and would likely ponder Zuo Junjie's words in secret.

They had been traveling all the way, with dust filling the sky and not a single branch or leaf for shade. They needed to find a place to avoid the midday sun; otherwise, even if she did not suffer heatstroke, she would collapse from dehydration, and with no water available, that would spell trouble.

She wondered how the Fu family viewed her "disappearance."