Chapter 39: Ling Ruyue

The red car drove away, leaving behind two women, an old woman and a young woman. I didn’t care what they looked like. I only had one thing on my mind: my hair!

“Master, I’m going to run back first!” I finally made up my mind and looked at my master and said.

But before my master could respond, I heard a crisp voice.

She said, “Are you going back to wash your hair?”

I was so angry that I glared at her, but my mother said with a smile, “Oh, what a good girl! She’s even prettier than my two daughters.

Then my master also said, “Xiao Yi, why don’t you walk back together?”

I was scared and didn’t want to deal with this group of people, so I turned around and ran away.

Behind me, I heard my mother say, “Come here, I’ll take you home. Don’t pay any attention to my son. He’s been like a fool since he was little, and he’s no help at all.”

“Yes, this apprentice is not easy to take care of.” My master didn’t forget to chime in.

I think the term “tears of joy” best describes my state of mind at the time. It was the first day of the Chinese New Year, and I had no idea why I was being treated this way.

After washing my hair at home, I sought comfort from my two sisters. I don’t think I’m a mean person, but as soon as that little girl got off the bus, I felt like I really hated her. What kind of mouth was that? What she said was so annoying.

My eldest sister took me by the shoulders and said, “Sanwa, it’s okay. I’ll teach that little girl a lesson later.”

My second sister also said, “Sanwa, don’t be angry. I know you’re the best.”

I was completely coaxed like a little child, but I didn’t feel it at all at the time. I said angrily, “My mother also said that the little girl was very obedient and prettier than you all. My mother is a traitor! What a vision.”

“Hahaha…” My eldest sister couldn’t help but laugh at that time.

My second sister also smiled and took a piece of wool to help me wipe my wet hair. I didn’t understand why they were laughing, but I felt extremely aggrieved.

While we were talking, there was a commotion in the alley. My eldest sister exclaimed, “Oh, my goodness!” and ran out. She said, “Sister, come out and look, Mom and the others are back. Dad has gone to meet them. Oh, that little girl is so well-behaved.”

My second sister responded, and quickly ran out. I was furious and yelled, “She’s not allowed to come to our house for dinner. Big sister, little sister, you’re all traitors.”

My eldest sister ignored me and replied from the balcony: “Sanwa, don’t be so childish, okay?”

I’m childish? My sister actually said I was childish? I’ve always been very sensible, and suddenly I felt like a defeated rooster.

When I returned to the mountain, I was still very depressed during evening prayers.

Why did everyone around me like that little girl Ling Ruyue so much? My father liked her, my mother liked her, my older sisters liked her, and my master doted on her.

I felt that the little girl’s grandmother liked me a little bit.

Her grandmother is a nice person!

Especially my mother, absolutely hate it, we ate lunch before returning to the mountain, during the meal, my mother kept saying: “good girl, I want to give Sanwa a child marriage, but our Sanwa is not good enough for her.”

It was so embarrassing. A marriage between children? Not good enough? What else could my mother say? Fortunately, the other grandmother liked me and said, “Li Chun’s apprentice is your son, and he is really good. Don’t be modest.”

After a set of 12-section brocade, I was sweating all over. I was just about to take a towel to wipe it off when I suddenly saw a small figure next to the table where I put the towel.

When I looked closer, it turned out to be Ling Ruyue’s ‘thing’ sitting there, looking at me with a crooked head. I ignored her because when she was eating, she pretended to be innocent and asked me about my hair twelve times, making everyone laugh at me. She did it on purpose, and I had a big grudge against her. I didn’t give her a reason at all.

“Mai Mai, what are you playing? Are you dancing the Great God?” The girl spoke up when she saw me go to get the hair brush with a cold face.

“Don’t understand what you’re saying?” I’m not used to Kunming dialect, and I don’t want to talk to her anyway, so I simply use the excuse that I don’t understand.

This little girl is deliberately targeting me. When she eats, she speaks fluent Mandarin, but when she talks to me, she starts speaking Kunming dialect.

“I said that Grandma and Grandpa Jiang were talking about things, and I was so bored. Would you play with me?” The little girl said to me very innocently.

Actually, to be honest, she has big, watery eyes that make it hard to say no, but I just hate her, so I said very bluntly, “No, I have a lot of things to do and no time to keep you company.”

“Brother, I think you’re so stupid. You don’t understand Kunming dialect, so if I speak Miao dialect, you won’t understand it either, right?” She spoke very innocently, with very pure eyes, but the key point of her words was that she was calling me stupid.

I was furious and pointed at Ling Ruyue, saying, “Go away, don’t bother me. Don’t think that just because you have big eyes and fair skin, everyone will praise you as a good child. I don’t like you at all.”

Ling Ruyue’s mouth turned down, and her eyes became misty. She looked like she was about to cry. I couldn’t bear to see it, so I simply turned my head away. I couldn’t be soft-hearted with this little girl. I don’t know why, but as soon as I saw her, I felt that I had to be careful.

There was no expected cry, and I saw Ling Ruyue stand up all of a sudden, walk up to me, and slap the towel in my hand twice, as if slapping my hand, and then say, “You are a bad brother, I don’t care about you.”

After that, she turned around and ran away, but before she had gone two steps, she ran back, slapped me twice on my waist and arm, and then ran away again.

I wiped the sweat off my body with a towel and thought to myself, this little girl is really a little crazy. She hits people after just a few words. I almost felt sorry for her.

Master Ling Yueru’s grandmother was telling me about the incident. I had already finished my evening lesson that night, and it seemed that I would not be able to wait for Master to make me a fragrant soup. I was going to boil some water to take a bath myself. Master had not taught me how to make fragrant soup, so I didn’t know how to do it.

I went to the kitchen and found my medicinal soup still simmering on the stove, emitting a fragrant aroma. I took the pot and put it on another stove, and was about to scoop water into it to boil it, but then I felt an itch on my body. I looked down and was helpless.

When did I have so many ants crawling on me?

There are many snakes, insects, rats and ants on this mountain. Master said that the bamboo in our bamboo house has been specially treated. It was Master Xiaoding, the old man Wu, who helped with the treatment. As for how it was treated, I don’t know. It was someone else’s expertise, but I know that it was very effective.

At least I have lived on the mountain for so many years that there are almost no mosquitoes in the Bamboo Hut, and Master often sprinkles some of the medicine powder mixed by Old Wu around the Bamboo Hut, which is even more effective.

Where did these ants come from?

But I didn’t think much of it. I took off my clothes and shook the ants off my body. I looked again and saw that there were quite a few on my pants. I shook the ants off my pants as well.

When I looked back, I saw Ling Ruyue hiding at the door not far away, watching me. I blushed and yelled at her, “Little girl, don’t you know how to be ashamed? Can’t you see that I’m taking a bath?”

Ling Ruyue didn’t say anything, looked at me, turned around and ran away. I didn’t bother to think about it, so I simply put my clothes and pants together and concentrated on boiling water.

But today was strange. During the process of boiling water, ants kept crawling on me. At first, I was patient and flicked them off one by one. Later, the ants came in waves, so I just kept flicking them off. But nothing could stop them from crawling on me!

Could it be that I have honey on my body? To be honest, I did eat some sweets at noon, could it be that I have fallen into the honey?

At this time, the water boiled, and I decided to take a quick shower. If I cleaned myself up, the annoying ants wouldn’t come back. I’ll have to tell my master to get some more powder to sprinkle around. The bamboo in this bamboo hut is probably losing its effectiveness.

I quickly added water to the wooden tub where I usually bathe, and when the water was at the right temperature, I jumped in without delay.

The warm water immediately surrounded me, and I let out a long sigh of relief. I was clean now, so I should be fine.

I thought about how tired I was today. I was dragged out early in the morning to pick someone up, rushed back for dinner, then had to do homework. Under the effect of the warm water, I was so tired that I started to doze off in the wooden tub again. This is how it used to be. I often took a bath and fell asleep while bathing. My master always smoked a pipe and kept watch, waiting until a certain time to wake me up. I was used to it.

It just so happens that the water today has a strange taste, but it is very light, almost undetectable, but this is not enough to attract my attention.