When the sky darkened, Aunt Liu stood at the entrance of the courtyard, looking forward. When she saw the siblings return with their arms around each other's shoulders, she let out a sigh of relief. She turned around and walked closer. When she saw Yu Xiaoxiu's bruised and swollen face, she cried out in alarm and called out the two families who were eating in the courtyard.
Yu Xiaoxiu didn't want to tell Aunt Liu that he was beaten. No matter how she asked, he only said that he was beaten. Yu Shu helped him cover it up. Aunt Liu couldn't ask anything, so she nagged for a while and went to the kitchen to get rice for them.
The oil lamp was lit in the room, and there were bags of snacks on the table. Yu Shu pressed Yu Xiaoxiu to sit down on a stool. She opened a bag of sesame cakes and winter gourd strips and piled them in front of him. The baked brown sugar cakes were drizzled with black and white sesame seeds. They were piled up with the pickled winter gourd. It was a beautiful sight.
Yu Shu saw that Yu Xiaoxiu was staring blankly and thought that he was just a kid after all. She giggled as she picked up a piece of sesame cake and brought it to his mouth.
"Ah —"
"Ah? Uh — "
A large piece of cake was stuffed into his mouth. Yu Xiaoxiu covered his mouth. The sweet taste flowed in his mouth. It was strange and fresh. He stared at Yu Shu with his eyes wide open. He puffed his cheeks and didn't know how to chew.
"Silly." Yu Shu laughed at him. She also broke a piece and stuffed it into her mouth. She chewed it. It tasted good. There was no strange taste of preservatives. A purely handmade cake was delicious.
Being teased by Yu Shu, Yu Xiaoxiu lowered his head shyly. He chewed the cake in his mouth slowly. The smell of sesame made his nose sour again. He licked his lips and secretly sniffed. He said,
"Don't waste it next time."
"What? You don't like it?" Yu Shu put down the wax gourd stick that she brought to her mouth and said dejectedly, "I was just trying to make you happy. If I knew you didn't like it, I wouldn't have bought it."
"No, no." Yu Xiaoxiu hurriedly waved his hand and explained, "It's delicious, but with money, isn't it better to save it to buy paper and ink? Don't you want to learn how to write?"
"Sigh." Yu Shu sighed deliberately and leaned on the table. "I want to learn, but no one can teach me."
Yu Xiaoxiu rubbed the corner of the table and whispered, "I-I'll teach you in the future."
Yu Shu had seen him being cold to her many times, so she was not used to him behaving like a little wife. She chuckled, leaned over, and rubbed his head with all her might. She said,
"Alright, I found a job outside. I get paid every day. You don't have to worry about paper and ink. In the future, when I make a lot of money, I'll buy you delicious food every day. Here, this is the remaining money that I spent. Take it and hide it well this time. If you lose it again, don't blame me."
As she spoke, Yu Shu took out the change from the things she bought in the evening and threw it on the table. The silver coins and copper coins were lying together with some oil.
"You work outside?" Yu Xiaoxiu said in surprise. His face was full of "What can you do outside with your virtue?". He didn't try to hide it at all.
Yu Shu said, "Yes." Then she said vaguely, "I do odd jobs in a shop and learn how to do accounts."
Afraid that Yu Xiaoxiu would continue to ask, Yu Shu quickly grabbed a piece of cake and stuffed it into his mouth. She used the excuse of going to the kitchen to help Aunt Liu and ran out.
Under the dim light of an oil lamp, Yu Xiaoxiu looked at the food piled high on the table and then looked at the small pile of change. The image of Yu Shu's fierce face in the small garden flashed through his mind. He blinked a few times and felt like tonight was a dream.
***
It was drizzling in the morning. During breakfast, Yu Shu urged Yu Xiaoxiu to revise the homework he had done last night. Yu Xiaoxiu gave her a supercilious look.
"Do you think the Headmaster doesn't look at your divination? If you just write a random result, do you think I need to spend time arranging the divination? I really don't know how many lessons you have listened to in the past six months. "
As far as Yu Shu knew, Aunt Cui remarried to the Ji family six years ago. It took another three years for Ji Hyotani to coax Yu Shu and her brother into the Ji family. Their names were officially registered in the Ji family's household register last year. The siblings were able to study Yi in the Sanjue Study Room half a year ago.
However, Yu Shu was not the current Yu Shu. She didn't learn the most basic courses and didn't even get started. Now, listening to the Headmaster of the Academy talking about Yi was like listening to a book from heaven.
Seeing that she didn't answer, Yu Xiaoxiu thought that she was guilty. He knocked on the edge of the bowl and urged, "Okay.
Eat quickly. The road is slippery in the rain. We need to go out early. "
"Oh." Yu Shu continued to eat her steamed bun.
After a night, Yu Xiaoxiu returned to normal. He didn't look like the wife from last night. However, the change in his attitude towards Yu Shu was obvious.
There was only one grey-colored oil-paper umbrella in the house. Yu Shu held the umbrella handle and squeezed under it with Yu Xiaoxiu. They went out under Aunt Liu's reminders.
Along the way, she accidentally stepped on several puddles of water. Her shoes were all wet, and the cold water chilled her feet. After entering the door of the study room, Yu Shu quickly pulled Yu Xiaoxiu into the pavilion. She patted the rainwater off her body and tiptoed to find a place to sit down.
The bamboo curtains in the private school were all drawn down, so the rainwater couldn't get in. However, the wind was still blowing, and it was still chilly. Yu Shu shrank her neck and blew into her hands. As she took off her soaked shoes, she complained that there wasn't a place in the private school that was sheltered from the wind. Fortunately, she came in spring. If it was winter, she would freeze to death because she was afraid of the cold.
"Why did you take off your shoes?"
Yu Xiaoxiu turned his head and saw that Yu Shu had taken off her shoes and was wringing out her sock. The loose sock was drooping, and half of her ankle was exposed. His face darkened, and he scolded her in a low voice. He quickly turned his head to look around. When he saw that no one was looking, he hurriedly grabbed her shoes and put them on her feet.
"What's wrong?" Yu Shu didn't understand. She followed his hand and put on her shoes. She consciously stretched out her other foot for him.
Yu Xiaoxiu glared at her and used brute force to put on the other shoe for her. He said in a sullen tone, "You're just stupid."
Yu Xiaoxiu wouldn't scold her for no reason. Yu Shu knew that she had done something wrong. She thought for a moment and roughly understood what was going on. She thought that there were only children in the house, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about taking off their shoes. She didn't think that she was an ancient person now. The custom here was that a woman showing her feet was like showing her chest and back.
Yu Shu remembered this and said to Yu Xiaoxiu with a cheeky smile,
"It's uncomfortable when the shoes are wet. I just want to wring them out."
"You have to wait until we get home."
"Oh."
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