Snow-white glutinous rice flour was sieved into a bright basin with some white oil dripped in. Adding in warm water and a little milk, a girl stirred with her full strength using her fine and slim hands. A few moments later, a round white fat dough began to form in her hands.
Her slim fingers landed on the smooth surface of the dough. She nipped off the dough bit by bit. She kneaded the smaller bits repeatedly in her hands and then gently pressed them. All the smaller bits then each turned into flat cakes.
She held the flat cake in one hand and quickly added in the filling made with peanuts, sesame, preserved sweet oranges, and sugar. Her fingers danced on the cake and skillfully closed the cake and made it round. In no time, a tiny crystal glutinous sweet dumpling was made.
Gu Yunxi had just made the tenth sweet dumplings when she got whacked in the back of her head.
Nanny Sun, who was in charge of the kitchen, squeezed a towel in her hand and yelled at Gu Yunxi rudely,
"You useless piece of sh*t! What took you so long to make some sweet dumplings? The wok on the stove has been heating forever! Move your ass and go check on it!"
"Yes, yes. Don't get mad, Nanny Sun. I'll go now. I'll go now."
Gu Yunxi bowed repeatedly, apologizing to the clamoring Nanny Sun.
"This woman is big and tall, so strong and so short-tempered. If she got mad, she would really beat me up," Gu Yunxi thought.
Running to the stove in haste, Gu Yunxi rolled up her selves. She grabbed and lifted the heavy wood wok lid with both of her hands using her full strength.
The hot wave blew on her face, making her cough.
"Crap, the water has dried out! I'll definitely get punished by Nanny Sun now!" Gu Yunxi thought.
Gu Yunxi ran to the water vat in a panic to scoop up some water and again ran back to the wok to pour in the water. All of a sudden, the cold water reached the scalding wok and set off rounds of harsh sounds. A gust of white smoke rose from the wok and scattered around the kitchen.
"You little sh*t! Can't do anything right!"
Nanny Sun became furious as Gu Yunxi expected. She raised her iron-like hand that was rougher than a washboard and gave Gu Yunxi's ear a hard twist.
"You useless are sabotaging us on purpose, aren't you?! We are all busy working inside and outside here. Yet you just keep creating messes. Are you looking for trouble?"
"Nanny Sun, I didn't mean it! I'm not sabotaging. Please let me go. I beg you."
Gu Yunxi's ear was in grave pain because of the twist. She couldn't help but cried and begged while stepping back, trying to escape the hand.
Nanny Sun was not letting go but pushing forward. Looking at how Gu Yunxi cried in pain, instead of feeling pity, she felt a great sense of satisfaction. She raised her other iron hand and whacked on Gu Yunxi's head in full strength.
While retreating, Gu Yunxi stepped on the feet of a cook who was killing a chicken. The cook howled in pain and let go of the chicken in his hand. The chicken that was half-dead and hadn't bled out flapped its wings and flew in the middle of this chaos. All the chicken blood just splattered on Gu Yunxi's dress.
Gu Yunxi opened her eyes wide in shock and stared at the bright red marks on her dress. She felt the sky spinning in front of her eyes and she passed out.
----Dividing Line----
An unfamiliar world, many unfamiliar faces. The snow blew...
Screams like thunder pound the eardrum. Red blood was everywhere the eyes could see. People around were waving the weapons and killing each other in frantic.
"Who am I? Who am I?"
A girl stood stiffly in this chaos. She was about five years old. Two buns on her head were already out of shape. She stared absently at all the bodies that collapsed around her. Her eyes were at a loss and full of fear.
The earth was tainted by blood. Its warmth melted the ice and snow. The girl stood in the middle of this hell-like blood pool. She cried and she prayed.
All these unfamiliar smells rushed into her nose. She was too young to know that was what the rust on the knives mixed with blood smelt like.
"Where am I? What are all the adults doing?"
The girl slowly opened up her mouth in fear. But looking at all these people with ferocious faces who were covered in blood, she couldn’t get a single sound out. In her chest, the sound of something pounding was getting louder. She felt like something was about to jump out of her throat.
Her world suddenly changed. When she finally pulled herself together again, she found out she was being carried on the back of a tall and strong man.
She couldn’t see his face clearly as it was half-covered by a bamboo hat. She could only hear his anxious voice,
"Don't be scared, Ruo. Hold on tight! You have to hold on tight!"
While he was speaking, he twisted his left arm back and held on to the girl. He waved the broadsword with golden rings using his right hand. The broadsword flew in the wind, killing countless people and horses that rushed forward.
"Who is he?"
The girl was confused, but her eyes were hurt by some cold glaring white lights soaring into the sky. She couldn’t help but closed her eyes tightly.
After a violent bump and a faint hum, the girl felt like her body suddenly lost support and she fell slowly.
She looked on the ground and saw an amputated limb.
"Ah!"
She finally screamed out...
—
"Yunxi, Yunxi, wake up."
Gu Yunxi opened her eyes to the calling, with her forehead full of sweat.
Beside her bed, her elder sister, Gu Yunyao was holding the candlestick in her hands and looking at Gu Yunxi with worry.
"Sister..."
Gu Yunxi rolled over and sat up slowly.
The moon shone on Gu Yunxi's pale face. Her delicate face and her graceful body all looked sick and weak.
"Oh, it's good that you are awake. Don't catch a cold again. Look at all your sweat..."
While speaking, Gu Yunyao put the candlestick on the pedal under the bed and pulled up the quilt to cover Gu Yunxi.
Among the three sisters, Gu Yunyao was born with a round face. Her skin was white like the porcelain; her face was beautiful like the peach blossom; her posture was graceful like a goddess. Since little, she and Yunxi were the closest.
"Are you having a nightmare again?"
Picking up the handkerchief by the pillow, Gu Yunyao wiped the sweat off Gu Yunxi's forehead and asked.
"Yeah..." Gu Yunxi nodded.
"You are just too soft. Always accommodate yourself to others and never refuse. Any nanny and maid can give you a hard time. The Garden already has enough people, yet they have to get you to help in the kitchen. You always faint when you see blood. And they got you sick again! Speaking of which, this is really Nanny Gu and Yunjin's fault..."
"Sister, keep your voice down!"
Gu Yunxi stretched out her neck as usual and looked over at the bedroom in the inner room. There was no movement on the bed. Gu Yunxi felt relieved and looked back.
"Be careful with your words, sister. Yunjin won't be happy when she hears it."
Even though Gu Yunxi said this, deep down in her heart, she really appreciated Yunyao's care.
"You are just too nice. Always putting others before yourself."
"This is really what I think. The two of you study hard every day, practicing guqin
Chinese zither
and dance. But I don't do anything because of my sickness. Thanks to Nanny Gu and you two that I am still here. How can I complain?"
"You don't need to look down upon yourself. Take care of your health. That sickness would eventually go away."
Gu Yunxi's sincere words were making Gu Yunyao sorrowful. She quickly wiped her tears away. She smiled and said to Gu Yunxi,
"Enough talking. There's still sometime before dawn. Let's go back to bed and have some rest. Tomorrow is Yunjin's birthday and we'll have dinner in the Garden. It's gonna be busy. In the evening, the Lord will come. You have to pull it together."
While talking, Gu Yunyao pulled apart the quilt around Gu Yunxi's body and helped her lie down. She tucked Gu Yunxi up, picked up the candlestick, and went back to her bed.
It was just past 11 p.m. The Garden was all in silence. Without all the people coming back and forth and all the instruments performing, at this moment, with the quite moon shining, this mansion showed a unique elegance and beauty, just like its name – Youzhu
Tranquil Building
.
Gu Yunxi couldn't fall asleep. She listened to the water dripping on the hourglass and reminisced the past.
Since she could remember, Yunyao, Yunjin, and she lived in "Youzhu", the Garden, which was managed by Nanny Gu. They studied guqin, Go chess, calligraphy, drawing, and etiquette from her. Among the three, Yunyao was the eldest, Yunjin was the youngest, and Yunxi was in the middle.
"Youzhu" was called the Garden. It was a mansion that was specifically used to cultivate young girls for the royalty of Dayi, who would serve in the Palace when they came of age. The manager of the Garden, Nanny Gu, used to be a maid who was the former rank five official of the Music Office in the Palace.
Yunyao, Yunxi, and Yunjin all took Nanny Gu's last name, but they were not her own blood. According to Nanny Gu, they were all orphans that stranded in the city during the famine years. They were brought to this peaceful and elegant Youzhu by that kind Lord and were given to Nanny Gu to raise. Just because of that, their statuses were higher than any other girl in the Garden.
In the future, like most of the girls here, among them, the ones who were talented and skillful would be taken to the inner Palace that was just over the wall. If they were lucky enough to get picked by the emperor and rose up to join the imperial harem, they could use this supreme glory to repay Nanny Gu and the Lord for bringing them up.
Gu Yunxi realized a long time ago that she was not going to get to the Palace.
She was born with sickness. When she saw blood, she passed out and then it led to a fever. Among all the suffering, the most painful one was her period every month.
Even if she was the stupidest person in the world, with all the hinting and sarcasm Nanny Gu dropped every day, Gu Yunxi knew that in other people's eyes, she was born useless.
Even if she could enter the door of the Palace, with her weak body, she would definitely be eliminated by the nannies in charge in the first round.
Every day, Nanny Gu put all her attention on Yunyao and Yunjin. She was extremely strict with their guqin and dancing skills. She counted on them to become something one day so that she would have someone to depend on when she got old.
But when she faced Yunxi, who was naturally useless, she just left her aside and ignored her.
Lying on the bed, thinking about all the unfair things that happened, Gu Yunxi stared at the top beam emptily and sighed in this quiet night of early autumn.
