Chapter5

Shaoxing First Encounter (Part Four)

The first time Yu Manyi saw Song Qi, she observed how he observed strict etiquette with Master Yu, and she firmly believed he was respectful and well-mannered toward his elders. Then, at the dining table, when he blocked someone on behalf of his friend, she decided he was loyal. Lastly, after she brought him back and he was unable to speak due to a throat injury, she assumed he was quiet and reserved.

In just a little over ten days, Yu Manyi had already drawn a preliminary image of Song Qi in her heart—a sketch that even overlapped a bit with her cousin’s scholarly and courteous persona. She thought that now that she was angry, Song Qi would immediately apologize to her.

But she quickly realized that the real Song Qi had very little in common with the man she had imagined.

"I didn’t say you would be locked up in the attic," Song Qi said calmly.

"Then you were implying it," Yu Manyi tried to control her volume, afraid someone might pass by outside the cellar, but her voice was still shaking with anger. "You think that even if I marry my cousin, my life won’t improve."

"I don’t know him," Song Qi responded in an even tone, sticking to the facts. "So I have no way of judging what your life would be like after marrying him."

"Of course you can’t judge. You’re a man, and you’re so young," Yu Manyi, furious now, spoke without thinking, not caring that Song Qi was a few years older than she was. "Besides your own parents, have you ever seen any other married couple?"

When Song Qi heard the words "your own parents," there was a faint change in his expression, but he said nothing. Yu Manyi, meanwhile, clenched the fabric of her skirt between her fingers and declared forcefully:

"But I’ve seen plenty! My Second Aunt, my Third Aunt—they both married into the Yu family and their lives became better. My Third Aunt told me since I was little that the best fate a woman could have in this world is to marry a good man and live with him for a lifetime. Marrying my cousin is the best path I have right now—"

She was so angry that she went on at length, as if she were defending some kind of personal faith. Song Qi didn’t immediately refute her definition of a “good life”; instead, while listening to her, he slowly bent his right leg, rested his arm on it, pinched a dry stalk of rice between his fingers, and, by the light of a corner candle, began to observe Yu Manyi—like he was observing a species he wasn’t very familiar with.

"What are you looking at!" Noticing that he was watching her, Yu Manyi stopped her speech about life philosophy and questioned him instead.

Song Qi’s response was to snap the rice stalk in half. He studied her again—her loose and conservatively cut jacket and skirt—then looked up and said:

"After being around my classmates for so long, it’s been a while since I’ve heard such feudal nonsense. And with that purple mandarin duck-patterned skirt you’re wearing…"He looked at her and smiled faintly.

"Looks like my grandfather's purple mandarin duck embroidered robe passed down from the late Qing—come to life in human form."

...

Yu Manyi went to bed fuming with nameless anger and ended up sleeping later than usual. Someone came to the door urging her to eat breakfast. Yu Manyi hurriedly changed clothes, but after taking just two steps and lowering her head, a flash of purple came into view—it was exactly the robe Song Qi had mocked last night as looking like a refined spirit from his grandfather's late-Qing outfit. Though she knew the elders had already arrived, Yu Manyi still stomped her foot and turned back to change into an old outfit in pale goose-yellow.

She had thought Song Qi was refined and courteous, well-read and understanding—but it was all a misunderstanding.

He was just quiet because his throat hadn’t healed yet!

Cursing herself inwardly for misjudging him, Yu Manyi hurried to the dining table. Several uncles and Master Yu had left early on business; only Third Aunt and Second Aunt—who was feeding the youngest child—remained. When she entered, Third Aunt scolded her for becoming more and more undisciplined, then turned back to continue her earlier conversation with Second Aunt.

Yu Manyi lowered her head and began to eat. She noticed that breakfast was more abundant than usual. Second Aunt mentioned that someone had come early in the morning to deliver a wedding invitation and had brought some accompanying gifts. Among them were white rice cakes stamped with bright red characters for "a lifetime of conjugal bliss" and "good fortune and harmony," arranged like mahjong tiles.

Yu Manyi reached out and took one. She bit into the filling of black-eyed peas and sesame, chewing it with the sticky rice—it was sweet but not cloying.

"These are stamped rice cakes from the Fang family," Second Aunt paused her conversation with Third Aunt and smiled at her. "Manyi, you've been eating more than usual lately, but you’re not gaining any weight! If you like these cakes, take a few more with you—maybe you’ll catch a bit of the joy from someone else’s wedding."

In the past, Yu Manyi would’ve eagerly carried off a plate, but today was different. She glanced coolly at the rice cakes and said, "I’m full. I won’t take any," then continued eating the fresh pan-fried buns from the kitchen.

"Useless—eats everything and still doesn’t grow," Third Aunt said with annoyance. "At least it saves on fabric for new clothes. Yilan, go on, you were saying about the You family. My third son never tells me a thing—just comes home and drops into bed."

Yu Manyi focused intently on eating her pan-fried bun, ears perked up and listening."The You family is really out of options now," Second Aunt turned back around, dabbing the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, her tone laced with a hint of schadenfreude. "The principal of that school went to the Shanghai municipal government, and they in turn contacted the Shaoxing county government. The officials passed the inquiry level by level until it landed on the You family. Master You was so frightened he fell twice getting into the sedan chair—his legs went weak."

"All this fuss over one student?" Third Aunt said.

"The You family lost a lot of face," Second Aunt went on. "First, they got scolded over the matter of taking a concubine. The new policies may not ban it outright, but they certainly don't encourage it. When they say it's not encouraged, it's like raising a whip—you just don’t know when they’ll strike."

"Exactly!" Third Aunt agreed heartily.

"Locking someone up in the attic is even worse—it's a scandal. Journalists in Shanghai have already blasted them in the newspapers, and of course, the two students are being portrayed as the heroes. Now one of them still hasn’t returned, and the You family can’t produce his whereabouts. Looks like they’re in for a lawsuit."

"Does that student have some kind of background?" Third Aunt asked.

"No one's mentioned anything like that," Second Aunt said. "But what’s clear is that the pressure from above is intense. The You family is scrambling. Master You is a man who values face. His fourth son’s marriage to someone from the Fang family is supposed to take place tomorrow—"

Yu Manyi glanced down at the rice cake in her hand and finally realized this was a celebratory cake from the You and Fang families’ wedding. Disgusted, she put the rice cake back.

"They wouldn’t cancel it, would they?" Third Aunt asked.

"How could they cancel it?" Second Aunt replied. "That would be an even bigger embarrassment. Of course, they’ll proceed as planned, and the guests will be invited as usual. Why else would they send over the wedding cakes and gifts? I still have to return a gift tomorrow."

"They didn’t invite me," Third Aunt said.

"When they take a second wife, they’ll definitely invite Third Aunt." The youngest child, who had been quietly eating the whole time, suddenly looked up and shouted. The eldest sister always used the second wife matter to provoke Third Aunt, and now the youngest was mimicking her.

Children speak without filter. Third Aunt’s face went from pale to livid in an instant. She threw her porcelain spoon into the bowl with a loud clang. Second Aunt, startled, hurriedly scooped the youngest into her arms, shielding him with her body from Third Aunt’s glare, and scolded half-playfully, half-reproachfully:

"What kind of talk is that? What does adult conversation have to do with you? Go, go play outside!"She pushed the youngest off her lap and then turned her gaze to Yu Manyi. Yu Manyi, understanding the situation, sensibly set down her bowl and chopsticks and reached out to tug at the collar of the youngest’s clothes.

“Come on, let’s go play outside,” she said, clearly feeling the growing anger radiating from Third Aunt and choosing to avoid a direct clash. “Quickly, let’s go.”

A perfectly good meal, and they couldn’t even eat in peace. With a sigh, Yu Manyi led the youngest toward the garden. Past the rockery and pond was the cellar, but she didn’t go that far—instead, she found a patch of flat ground where they wouldn’t easily twist an ankle.

The two sisters came to a stop, and the youngest pulled a shuttlecock from her pocket, wanting Yu Manyi to kick it. Yu Manyi began kicking it absentmindedly while the youngest counted beside her. Her kicks were steady, requiring no effort or thought—her mind had already drifted to what Second Aunt had said earlier—

People from Shanghai had come looking for Song Qi. He’d been missing for too long, completely out of contact. His classmates might even be mourning him as if he were dead. But he wasn’t dead—not even close. He had food and drink in her family’s cellar, and even the energy to joke about her being a tonic spirit brought to life.

Thinking of this, Yu Manyi suddenly kicked harder, sending the shuttlecock flying.

“Thirty-two!” the youngest grumbled. “Second Sister, you’re terrible today!”

“Second Sister’s sleepy from eating wedding cakes,” Yu Manyi replied lazily, leaning against the rockery and gesturing for the youngest to retrieve the shuttlecock. “Go pick it up and kick it yourself. I’ll count for you.”

The shuttlecock had flown to the other side of the pond. This was one of the tricks Yu Manyi had picked up over the years for watching her younger sister—she could steal a few quiet moments while the child ran back and forth. But the youngest had grown. She looked at the shuttlecock far off by the pond, then at her Second Sister sitting there unmoving, and crouched down on the ground in displeasure.

“I don’t want to play shuttlecock anymore. I want to fly a kite.”

At first, Yu Manyi didn’t react and laughed. “What kite?”

“What do you mean, what kite! We made one together—you even painted a bird on it!” the youngest insisted. “Second Sister, go back to your room and get it. I want to fly yours—yours is pretty.”

Yu Manyi was still smiling, but as she smiled, her heart sank.

If she hadn’t brought it up, it would’ve been fine. But that kite...The frame had long since been crushed and buried by her behind the rockery!

The youngest hadn’t noticed her Second Sister’s panic at all and was still poking at the dirt with her fingers, rambling on:

“…In a few days, there’ll be strong winds. Then I’ll beg the grown-ups to take us to the fields to fly kites. Second Sister, you bring your kite then, and before we leave, draw a few more little birds on mine, okay?”

Her smile had frozen stiff on her face:

“You go by yourself. Second Sister doesn’t want to fly kites. You have to run when flying them—I can't run.”

“How could that be! Isn’t Second Sister the one who loves flying kites the most? You even complained that the courtyard’s too small and the kite can’t get off the ground. I used you as an excuse so Father would agree to it—Second Sister, where’s your kite?”

Yu Manyi, where’s your kite?

That night, Song Qi, now recovered from his injuries, was planning when to leave the Yu family. He had been missing for over ten days—his classmates must be worried sick by now.

He was already mentally prepared that Yu Manyi might not bring him food tonight. So he took off his filthy clothes and began wiping down his body with the clean water he’d been saving these past days. He’d have to take the train back to Shanghai—it would be far too conspicuous to board covered in blood and grime—

Just as he thought this, the cellar’s door suddenly gave a sharp “clack,” and someone leapt down the ladder in two quick steps. The candlelight shook violently. The cellar was pitch-black, and for a moment, neither of them could see the other clearly. A cold breeze followed Yu Manyi in, splashing onto Song Qi’s skin like a bucket of icy water, making his scalp tighten.

And Yu Manyi—who had rushed down without even seeing clearly—threw a dirt-smeared, broken-framed kite in front of Song Qi with force, her tone fierce and overbearing—

“You fix this for me!”