v4c76: To News

The wind blew through Meiling’s hair and steam wafted off the top of her tea. It was warm—one of summer’s last hurrahs. Outside the small pavilion and in the sun, it was even hot enough that quite a few of the people out in the fields had stripped off their outer layers. The rain from the past week had been chased away, leaving conditions perfect for the harvest… or an event.

And an event Hong Yaowu would proudly host, the Great Reaping Race.

It was a small thing, mostly amongst family and friends, but somebody had invited the Lord Magistrate and Lady Wu—and to everyone’s surprise, they had actually come.

So now Meiling was sitting with Lady Wu, Pi Pa, Meihua, Hu Li, and several other women from Verdant Hill that Lady Wu had brought along with her.

It was the kind of gathering where she normally would have sat on the edges of, if she had been invited at all. A wallflower, shying away from the more radiant ladies around her.

It was a hard habit to crack, but one could hardly blend into the background when they were seated beside Lady Wu. And yet there were no condescending looks from the other ladies. No barbs about Meiling’s appearance. Even when Meiling found herself looking for things to get angry about, there was nothing. The boney viper, the prickly thistle… was just Meiling.

She found herself smiling as she returned to the conversation.

“It has taken a lot longer than I first anticipated, but it’s been an enjoyable project—I even saved up a bit and bought thread from the Azure Jade Trading Company! Isn’t it a wonderful shade of blue?” one of the ladies asked as she opened up the embroidery project she had been working on.

Meiling gave it a glance. The scene of sky and clouds woven into the dress was very nice—she would have to see about making one like that for herself.

‘It is a wonderful design. The colours truly pop,’ Pi Pa said from her own seat.

“Thank you, Miss Pi Pa.” The women Lady Wu had brought with her had been afraid of the talking pig at first—but that fear had swiftly fallen away when they discovered the dainty-hat-wearing Spirit Beast was as prim and proper as they came, the picture of feminine grace.

“I wish we could afford that!” another lady grumbled. She looked slightly frazzled, even now. “But this year has been a travesty! Burrower ants in the foundation, termites infesting the walls of the servant’s quarters—we’ve had to tear down three buildings and take the servants into our own house. I haven’t had a quiet moment in months, and my husband’s been working himself to the bone. He’s been too tired to fulfill his duties to his own wife!”

Meiling felt a touch of pity for the woman. That was one thing Meiling didn’t have to worry about.

“I may know something to put a bit of… pep back in him,” Meiling said, and the rest of the ladies leaned forwards in interest.

“Oho? Liling’s specialty?” Hu Li asked. “Youse best be careful with that, couldn’t walk straight for a week after Ten had a sip!”

Lady Wu’s eyes lit up. The rest of the ladies leaned in. “Please, do tell us more, Meiling.”

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The conversation meandered from there. It was nice to have women’s talk. While she did love Jin and Gou, ever since Xiulan, Ri Zu, Tigu, and Yin left she was mostly lacking in female conversation partners; only Pi Pa remained and they both needed more people to talk to.

Meiling felt herself relaxing as she looked out at the fields where they were finishing the set up for the demonstration. She quickly spotted Gou Ren, who was taking care of Zhuye today. He looked to be lounging and lazing; her son curled up in his arms after finally exhausting himself.

It was a welcome reprieve for both of them. While Meiling enjoyed being a mother, she had just gotten hit with her first real trial. Taking care of Zhuye when he was immobile had been rather simple, in a lot of respects, and her constitution prevented a lack of sleep from impacting her.

This was a bit more of a trial.

The second her boy learned how to crawl he immediately set about giving every one of his minders a headache. He scuttled about like a rather cute beetle, and each day he crawled for longer and longer. He definitely had his father’s inexhaustible stamina, even at this tender age.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

It was good that they had baby-proofed the living room, but even then he had somebody always watching him, just in case.

Just in case of times like when he decided the best idea ever was to launch himself off the couch. He had been sleeping the moment before! Chun Ke had managed to catch him on his back. The boar pushed the shaken baby back up onto the couch, looked Zhuye in the eye, and gently but firmly shook his head.

Zhuye had immediately started crying after being admonished… but somehow Chun Ke’s simple headshake had gotten through to him. Zhuye stayed away from the edge of the couch now.

Still, it was trying enough while he was crawling. Meiling wasn’t particularly looking forward to the day he could walk, run, and escape the relatively safe confines of the house.

As if reacting to her thoughts, Zhuye stirred. His eyes opened and he pushed himself out of Gou Ren’s grip, his eyes darting all around.

Gou sighed and looked at Meiling. Meiling simply winked and raised her cup of tea, cherishing the man’s expression as he stuck his tongue out at her.

“Ah, I remember when my son started crawling,” Lady Wu observed with a small smile. “He was a bit less spirited than your Red Leaf, but he got into everything. My husband used to call him his ‘Special Inspector’ because there was nothing we could do to keep him away from drawers he really wasn’t supposed to be in.”

Meiling laughed. “Like the ones containing the ropes?” she jabbed.

“Like the ones containing the ropes,” Lady Wu replied serenely.

Both of them chuckled.

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Soon, however, it was time for the event to begin, and Meiling, according to Jin, had a vital part. She was standing in the middle of a field, holding two flags that she would raise and drop to signal the start of the coming race.

There was also a costume to go along with this, but Meiling refused to wear the tight-looking, form-fitting garment in front of the village. The women in the Other Place were certainly bold to have such clothes!

No, the “racing queen” was strictly for her own enjoyment, and as a project. Getting fabric that shiny would be something to work on.

The atmosphere in Hong Yaowu was charged as the racers lined up.