In the south of the City of Wei, there was a small ditch that was not even a stream. Beside the ditch was a small slope that was not even a hill. Below the slope was a hut with a fence and a stone floor that was not even a small courtyard. The rain clouds dispersed early in the night, and the exceptionally bright starlight sprinkled on the ditch, slope and hut, instantly plating them with a very beautiful silver halo.
Ning Que dragged his shoes and walked slowly under the starlight. Looking at the hut in front of him that he and Sangsang had lived in for a long time, he could not help but slow down. But as long as he was walking, no matter how slow he was, he would arrive at his destination one day. He pushed open the fence that could only stop dogs but not people, and walked to the oil lamp that leaked through the crack of the door. He raised his hand to cover his mouth, coughed twice, and said, "What if we go to the capital?"
The door of the hut was pushed open, and the sharp squeaking sound pierced the quiet night of the border city.
The little handmaiden Sangsang squatted at the door, and her thin figure was elongated by the oil lamp. She pressed the wooden door with her finger and replied, "Haven't you always wanted to go to Chang 'an? Oh yes, Ning Que, when are you going to steal some oil from the firearms camp? This door has been ringing for months, and the sound is really terrible. "
"Who still uses those terrible firearms now? If it's just oil, I will go to the military camp tomorrow and ask …" Ning Que answered casually, and then suddenly understood something. "Ah! That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. If we really want to leave, why bother with this broken door? "
Sangsang stood up with her hands on her knees, and her thin body looked especially thin in the cool spring night wind. She looked at Ning Que and said in a serious and soft voice without any other emotions, "Even if we leave, there will still be people living in this house, and they will still open the door."
After the two of them left, would there really be people willing to live in this remote and broken hut far away from the market place? Ning Que thought silently, and did not know why he suddenly had some feelings of reluctance. He sighed softly and squeezed past Sangsang, and said in a low voice, "Pack your belongings tonight."
Sangsang casually combed the yellow hair on her temples, looked at his back and asked, "Ning Que, I don't understand why you are so interested in that matter."
"No one can resist the temptation of becoming stronger. Also, those things are really interesting to me. "
Ning Que knew that the little handmaiden had guessed his thoughts. He looked up at Sangsang's tanned face and raised his eyebrows, saying, "And we can't stay in the City of Wei forever. The world is so big, and there are many other countries besides the Empire. We have to go and have a look. Even if it's just to earn more money and get promoted faster, going to Chang 'an is much better than staying in the City of Wei. So I must get into the Academy this time."
Sangsang's face revealed a thoughtful expression. Because of her young age, the little handmaiden's eyebrows and eyes did not grow long, and because of the sandstorm in the border town, her little face was tanned and rough. Coupled with the yellow hair caused by childhood malnutrition, she was not good-looking, not even delicate.
However, she had a pair of willow leaf-like eyes, long and thin, and her pupils were as bright as ice. In addition, she rarely showed any obvious expression, so she didn't look like an eleven or twelve year old handmaiden who was born in a miserable family. Instead, she looked like a mature woman who knew everything and had seen through the world. The extreme contrast between her real age, appearance, and eyes made her look especially cold and stylish.
Ning Que knew that these were all illusions. In his view, the little handmaiden Sangsang was a typical simple-minded girl. They had depended on each other for so many years, and because she was used to thinking and doing things by herself, she became more and more lazy. Because of this, she became more and more stupid. In order to cover up her clumsiness, she used fewer and fewer words in every sentence, which made her look more and more silent, cold, mature, and weird.
"Not stupid, it should be clumsy." He thought of something and corrected her in his heart.
After a long silence, Sangsang suddenly raised her head, bit her lips, and showed a rare timid expression. She said, "I heard … Chang 'an is very big, and there are many people."
"The capital is prosperous, and I heard that in the third year of the Tianqi era, the population had already exceeded one million. Living expenses are very expensive, and it is not easy to live in peace for a long time …"
Ning Que sighed. Seeing the little handmaiden's nervous expression, he smiled and comforted her, "There is nothing to be afraid of even if there are many people. You can just treat Chang 'an as a bigger City of Wei. When the time comes, I will deal with the outsiders, and you can handle the affairs of the family as usual. If you are really afraid, you should not go out."
"How much does it cost to buy meat, vegetables, and rice in the capital for a month?"
Sangsang's willow leaf-like eyes were wide open, and her two small hands tightly grasped the hem of her cloth skirt. She asked nervously, "Will it be more than four taels of silver? That is twice as much as the City of Wei. "
"If I really get into the Academy, you have to get me some good cloth to make some clothes. In addition, there may be guests at home, such as classmates. If any gentleman takes a fancy to your young master, he may also come to work at home. So you have to at least make a new set of clothes. I have roughly calculated, it will cost at least ten taels of silver."
Ning Que answered with a frown. In fact, he was very serious about it. He was not very clear that ten taels of silver, to the students of the Academy, might be the price of a table of banquets in a big restaurant in the Heavenly Fragrance Market. Just like the famous joke in Hexi Road, a farmer who worked in the fields always imagined that the Empress of the East was baking meat pies, and the Empress of the West was peeling green onions. The meat pies were like the sea, and the green onions were like the mountains.
However, even this obviously wrong answer had far exceeded the bottom line of the little handmaiden's heart. She frowned and looked at him seriously, and suggested, "It is too expensive … Ning Que, let's not go to Chang 'an, and you should also not enter the Academy, okay?"
"You are so ignorant." Ning Que reprimanded, "If I enter the Academy, I will definitely become an official. At that time, you and I will spend ten taels of silver a month, and I will casually earn seventy or eighty taels of silver a month in the yamen. Besides, what is wrong with Chang 'an? Chenjinji Cosmetics Store doesn't need too much rouge and powder. "
The words "rouge and powder" seemed to be the little handmaiden's weakness. She tightly pursed her lips, obviously in a very fierce psychological struggle. After a long time, she replied in a mosquito-like voice, "But what about the years you study in the Academy? My needlework is ordinary, and the people of Chang 'an must have high standards. I may not be able to sell it. "
"This is indeed troublesome. I heard that hunting is not allowed around Chang 'an, and those mountains and forests belong to the emperor … How much money do we have left?"
The master and the handmaiden looked at each other, and then tacitly walked to the two big elm chests. They opened the chests and took out a very tightly wrapped wooden box from the deepest part of the chest.
The wooden box was filled with scattered pieces of silver. There were obvious scratches on the fingernail-sized pieces of silver, and there was only one big piece of silver in the middle. At first glance, one could tell that it was accumulated bit by bit on a daily basis, but there wasn't much of it.
Looking at the scattered silver in the wooden box, neither of them counted it. Sangsang whispered, "As usual, count it once every five days. I just counted it last night. Seventy-six taels and four fen."
"It seems that we have to find a way to earn more money after we go to Chang 'an." Ning Que said seriously.
"Yes, I will strive to improve my needlework." Sangsang answered seriously.
…
…
At night, Sangsang knelt on the kang bed and tidied up the bedding. Her skinny knees moved quickly, and her small palm pressed the middle of the pillow to make an arc, which was the most comfortable angle for Ning Que to sleep. Then she picked up her bedding and jumped off the cold kang. She walked to the two big elm chests in the corner and began to make her own bed.
After the lights went out, Ning Que put the bowl of water on the windowsill and got into bed under the starlight. He put his hands on the edge of the quilt and yawned. Then he let out a very satisfied sigh and closed his eyes. After a while, he heard the rustling sound that he had heard for years coming from the corner of the room.
It was a night that seemed no different from the past years. They would fall asleep with the starlight at the frontier fortress of the empire. However, the truth was that the master and the handmaiden in the hut were not asleep today. Maybe it was because of the excitement of stepping into a new world, or maybe it was because of the prosperity of Chang 'an, the vague wealth, and the charming fragrance of the cosmetics. The two breathing sounds by the window and the corner of the hut could not calm down.
After a long time, Ning Que opened his eyes and looked at the faint silver halo on the window paper. He said absentmindedly, "I heard that … the girls in Chang 'an are not afraid of the cold. They wear thin clothes with wide open necklines. Their bodies are very white. I don't know if it's true … I was too young to remember."
He turned over and looked at the dark corner of the hut. He asked, "Sangsang, have you been sick recently? Are you cold? "
The little handmaiden seemed to shake her head in the dark. He could vaguely see her clenching the corner of the quilt. Her eyes were closed, but there was a rare smile on her lips. She murmured, "I heard that the girls in Chang 'an are indeed very white. They use such good cosmetics every day. How can they not be white?"
Ning Que smiled and looked at her. He said, "Don't worry. When I have money in the future, you can buy all the cosmetics in Chenjinji Cosmetics Store."
Sangsang suddenly opened her eyes. Her willow-leaf-like eyes reflected the bright starlight. She said seriously, "Ning Que, this is what you promised."
"I just said that when you go to Chang 'an, you must remember to call me young master, so that it shows respect."
It had been seven or eight years since Ning Que found the cold little Sangsang from the pile of corpses by the roadside and came to the City of Wei. Although Sangsang was registered as a maidservant and did the work of a maidservant, she had never called him young master. This did not mean anything else. It was just a habit.
Today, the little handmaiden Sangsang was forced to abandon this habit.
"Ning Que … young master … you must remember to buy me cosmetics in Chenjinji Cosmetics Store."
Ning Que responded. His eyes fell on the frost-like starlight on the ground beside the kang. His heart tightened for no reason. The feeling of emptiness from many years ago came again. He looked back at the dark blue night sky outside the window. He looked at the sky full of stars. Then he lowered his head and began to miss his hometown. He murmured, "There is still no moon today …"
Sangsang, who was on the elm cabinet in the dark corner of the hut, curled up in the cool quilt like a little mouse. She reached behind her waist and pulled it to block the cool air outside. She also made the gap between the two cabinets less uncomfortable. Listening to the murmurs coming from the window, she thought to herself, Ning Que … young master is talking nonsense again.
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