Maid Xiao Chun - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When my young lady turned thirteen, she changed back into that noble and aloof young lady. She was still very good to me, granting me every proper reward and courtesy.

It was just that she would no longer call me Sister Xiao Chun in private, nor would she pull me up with a guilty look when she saw me kneel.

At that time, I was still foolishly holding my young lady’s hand, asking her to teach me how to compose poetry. She could bear it no longer and flung my hand away.

“Xiao Chun, I have already given you enough dignity. Stop coveting things that do not belong to you. Composing poetry and writing were originally meant for people like us, who live amid romance and refinement! You want to compose poetry? To chant about your life of washing clothes?”

“I am not her!”

I knelt there blankly, kneeling for a full four hours, and understood a vague yet terrifying truth.

She was not her.

She would never come back again.

In my dream, I seemed to see her again, wearing clothes I did not recognize, walking through the mountains. She had been tanned very dark, and her hands were cut with many bloody gashes, yet she was encouraging the people behind her:

“Children, keep going! The old school building has collapsed, so today Teacher will take you all to my home for class!”

Behind her were more than a dozen girls. Their expressions were resolute as they sang mountain songs loudly, the echoes lingering for a long, long time.

I woke from the dream, my pillowcase completely wet.

My young lady, you are doing what you want to do. I think you are free, and you are happy.

Even if I can never see you again, I still hope that throughout your life, you will do what you love and never be confined by shackles.

And I will forever and ever remember what you said, and will never again be locked inside another estate.