The Crane of Bygone Years - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ever since I moved into the Marquis’s Mansion, I had nothing to do all day but eat, drink, relieve myself, and sleep.

I would sleep until the sun was high in the sky, then get up and have the maids buy me all kinds of pastries and snacks.

Osmanthus cakes from East Street, candied hawthorns from the western market, butter pastries from the South Gate, almond tea from North Bridge…

I tried them all.

Every day, I sat in the warm chamber, eating while reading storybooks.

Whenever I got to a funny part, I laughed so hard I doubled over, scattering pastry crumbs all over myself.

After Xie Yun finished handling official business, he would occasionally come sit in my room for a while.

Each time, I would generously share some of my snacks with him.

But not too much.

Because I still had to save some to pad my stomach at night.

After a while, both he and Shishu began wearing rather complicated expressions.

And so, more than a month passed.

Seeing that I was growing rounder by the day, with flesh on my cheeks and a fuller figure, Xie Yun finally could not hold back anymore. “Other than eating every day, do you have nothing else to do?”

I was holding a mung bean cake, crumbs stuck to the corner of my mouth, and I widened my eyes in confusion.

After staring at Xie Yun for a moment, realization dawned on me.

“Brother, do you think I’m eating too much…? Actually, I can work too. Back home, I raised chickens and fed pigs all year round. I fattened up every pig we had until they were big and sturdy. I also know how to plant fields and grow vegetables. How about you get me a few mu of farmland and a litter of piglets? I guarantee I’ll take good care of them for you…”

The vein at Xie Yun’s temple twitched.

He told me to stop talking.

Chapter 4

Xie Yun did not seem to be in very good health.

The lamp in his study was often lit until the latter half of the night, and every now and then, one could hear muffled coughing.

The mansion was filled year-round with the smell of medicine.

That day, I went to the study to deliver food and happened to walk in on Shishu kneeling on the floor, holding a bowl of thick, black medicinal brew in both hands. His voice was choked as he said, “Marquis, the imperial physician said this medicine must be taken on time. If your injury is delayed any longer, I’m afraid…”

The Marquis’s Mansion was extremely strict with those serving within it.

For him to say that much already counted as overstepping.

Xie Yun sat behind the desk, a scroll in his hand, not even lifting his eyelids. “Leave.”

“Marquis!”

Xie Yun frowned faintly. “Leave and receive your punishment.”

Shishu’s eyes reddened. Biting his lip, he got to his feet.

He was still holding the medicine bowl, his hands trembling slightly.

I steeled my heart, took the bowl from him, and began nagging through my tears. “Brother, if you don’t drink your medicine, your illness will get worse. If it gets worse, you’ll die.

“If you die, I won’t have a brother anymore. If I don’t have a brother, my stepfather will come to the capital and drag me back.

“After he drags me back, he’ll sell me to some idiot young master as a concubine. Once I’m a concubine, the main wife will bully me and beat and scold me at every turn. Maybe one day, I’ll be resold to human traffickers and sold off to one of those unspeakable places…”

I said all that in one breath, panted for a moment, then added, “By then, I’ll be beaten every day, never get enough to eat or warm clothes to wear, have no charcoal in winter and no ice in summer, and no one will care if I fall sick. I might not even live past three years…”

Xie Yun’s fingers tightened around the scroll bit by bit.

The pages crumpled in his grip.

His expression darkened visibly.

I caught my breath and was about to continue.

Xie Yun suddenly reached out, snatched the medicine bowl from my hands, tipped his head back, and drained it in one gulp.

The medicine was too bitter. His brows twisted into a tight knot, and his Adam’s apple bobbed violently.

Shishu was dumbstruck.

Gratified, I wiped my tears with a handkerchief. “Good boy, Brother. I’ll come watch you drink your medicine tomorrow too!”

Xie Yun: “…”

From that day on, I appeared punctually in the study every evening.

Without fail, I repeated the same speech from that night.

At first, Xie Yun tried to hide from me, but later he realized he could not escape.

So the moment I stepped through the door, he would pick up the medicine bowl with a dark expression and gulp it down.

He drank so fast it was as if someone were fighting him for it.

Holding back my laughter, I brought out the box of candied fruit I had hidden behind my back. “Brother, I know you’re afraid of bitterness. Have something sweet.”

Xie Yun gave me a cool sidelong glance, but still took it and put one piece in his mouth.

The way Shishu looked at me gained a few traces of respect and gratitude.