Chapter 29: The Oil-paper Umbrella
At the tail end of the seventh month, Cui Jingkong’s visits to Zhong Jide’s study became more and more frequent. Cui Jingkong had only passed the county examination last year. Logically, he should have been given a three-year break to prepare for the next provincial examination to be on the safe side.
However, Cui Jingkong was never bound by such “logic.” He was set to leave in August. He had missed at least three days of class in the previous month without reason. Now that it was a critical time, Zhong Jide no longer dared to make him kneel or be beaten.
Zhong Jide and Cui Jingkong, one sitting and one standing. Whatever he asked, the other would answer flawlessly and with propriety. It was clear how diligently he usually studied, which made him stroke his beard and nod repeatedly.
If he had had such a capable student under him when he was in the capital that year, how could he have ended up in this state?
The sound of questions and answers in the study gradually faded, and after a while, a long sigh was heard. “For this year’s autumn provincial examination, I have nothing more to teach you.”
The white-haired Teacher Zhong stood up and walked to the window with his cane. The window lattice was carved with patterns of immortal peaches and gourds, symbolizing longevity and good fortune.
Looking out from the gaps in these intricate, rounded patterns, a layer of fine, misty rain shrouded the green Qianshan Mountains. Looking closer, the rain hit the lush osmanthus tree outside the window, and the withered, curled yellow leaves spun down sorrowfully.
His yellowed eyes stared blankly. Only after a cup of tea did he turn back. Cui Jingkong was still standing in the same spot, his feet not having moved an inch, his gaze respectfully looking down, his expression as usual.
Zhong Jide suddenly remembered his third daughter, Zhong Yun, who had been sent away a few months ago. Compared to her dejected state during the confrontation that day, she had not shown much collapse or sadness when she was about to leave.
She had sat in the sedan chair, lifted a corner of the curtain, and said meaningfully, “Father wishes to use a tiger to swallow a wolf, but I fear that with a moment of carelessness, this growing tiger’s harm will one day be more ferocious than the wolf’s, and will end up swallowing itself.”
This sentence had hit upon Zhong Jide’s growing anxiety. In addition, his usually mischievous younger son had changed his lazy ways since his sister had left and seemed to be studying hard.
But his aptitude was far inferior to Cui Jingkong’s. He had also insisted on going to the provincial examination this time, saying it was to get used to it first.
But Zhong Changxun was, after all, his own flesh and blood. Even if he were a piece of rotten wood, he was more trustworthy than this student, Cui Jingkong, with whom he was mutually wary.
Thinking of the plan Zhong Changxun had conspired with him that day, Zhong Jide couldn’t help but tighten his grip on his cane. He said to the young man, “It’s raining. Did you bring a straw hat and cloak? Why don’t you take the silk umbrella by the door?”
Cui Jingkong cupped his hands in a salute to him. “Thank you, Teacher.”
He took the umbrella and returned to the schoolroom. When class was over, few people approached him.
Most people, due to Zhong Changxun’s fierce glare from behind, didn’t even dare to go near Cui Jingkong’s desk. But after class was over and they left the schoolroom, they would gather around him as if nothing had happened, eagerly asking him what unique and profound knowledge the teacher had secretly taught him in the study every day.
As usual, Cui Jingkong would let a little slip through his fingers. Just a little bit of unimportant content was enough to make these usually arrogant “scholars” like fish biting at a hook, their eager faces quite comical, and enough for them to be grateful to him. Why not?
But today, he was not in the mood. He just gave them a cold glance, didn’t say a word, and made them all feel so awkward that they left dejectedly. Cui Jingkong was indifferent. When he stepped out of the Zhong residence, it was drizzling. He opened the silk umbrella and walked back.
The wind was strong and the rain was heavy. Halfway there, he saw a slender, indistinct figure standing at the village entrance in the distance. His steps faltered for a moment, and Cui Jingkong casually tossed the silk umbrella into the deep grass on the side.
He stood there for a moment, and his shoulders were soon soaked. The fabric showed streaks of wetness, and water slowly trickled down his face. Only then did he walk towards her.
Cui Jingkong probably wanted to maintain a leisurely, strolling-in-the-rain posture, but it was no use. His feet were not listening to him. As his steps quickened, the figure hidden in the rain and mist gradually became clear.
First, he saw the legs and waist wrapped in a loose, plum-dyed cloth dress. Feng Yuzhen always liked to wear this kind of dull-colored fabric, as if to match her status as a widow.
But Cui Jingkong thought, in the future, he would have to make his widowed sister-in-law wear some bright colors. She was fair-skinned and thin. The two years she was older than him were a bit of a waste. Why didn’t she dress in pink and lotus-root colors like the flamboyant women in front of him—he wanted to see it.
His gaze moved up. A green oil-paper umbrella covered half of her body. The person holding the umbrella seemed to sense something. She turned to the side, straightened the tilted umbrella, and a string of raindrops slid down the surface of the umbrella. Her almond-shaped eyes, which also seemed to be misty, met his through the sparse curtain of rain.
Feng Yuzhen’s expression was still a little hesitant, whether to continue walking forward to find him. She had wanted to just wait at home as usual, but the rain had gotten heavier, and she couldn’t bear to see him come back drenched. He was about to leave for the autumn provincial examination in a few days, and he absolutely couldn’t get sick now.
Seeing the young man in front of her standing in the rain, she hurried over, tilted the umbrella over his head, and handed him the oil-paper umbrella she was holding in her other hand. “I was afraid you would get caught in the rain, so I came to bring you an umbrella.”
The two of them had bought these two umbrellas together in town before. Cui Jingkong took it, but did not open it. Instead, he reached out and grabbed the bamboo handle she was holding, lifted it slightly, and snatched it from her hand.
He was half a head taller than Feng Yuzhen. The two of them sharing one umbrella could just fit under it.
Cui Jingkong said calmly, “Let’s go.”
Feng Yuzhen was led by him for a few steps before she understood his intention. She looked around and saw no one. The tense string in her heart relaxed, and she said reproachfully, “Kong’ge’er…”
She didn’t have to say anything else. Just a soft call of his name, and she stood still. Cui Jingkong had no choice but to turn back and soften, half-coaxing, half-deceiving, “There’s no one else. Who would go out in the rain? It’s just you and me on the road, Sister-in-law. Besides, we’re just a few steps from home.”
Cui Jingkong was not lacking in patience. He just looked down at her. Feng Yuzhen had no choice but to compromise, afraid that if they stood there for too long, they would be seen. So they walked shoulder to shoulder, squeezing under the umbrella.
It was, after all, one umbrella, and it was tilted towards her. Cui Jingkong deliberately slowed his pace. By the time they got back, half of his shoulder was completely soaked, not much different from if he hadn’t had an umbrella at all.
He had to be so stubborn, making such a mess. It would have been better if she hadn’t gone, Feng Yuzhen thought sullenly. The water she had boiled before leaving was still warm. She brought it to Cui Jingkong for him to drink and warm up.
She took out a clean set of clothes from the cabinet and told Cui Jingkong to change quickly, while she hid in the side room and waited for him to finish.
When Cui Jingkong was done changing, he called out. Feng Yuzhen opened the door and came out. He was wearing a black longshan, which made him look even more cold and aloof.
He sat in the chair for a long time without speaking, then suddenly asked, “Does Sister-in-law like that trinket very much?”
That stupid wooden rabbit was still on her desk, next to a ball of yarn. It was clear that she had taken it down from the windowsill to play with again.
Feng Yuzhen quickly closed the ajar door. “Don’t look in there.” Her cheeks were red. It was, after all, a woman’s room. How could her brother-in-law just peek in like that?
Cui Jingkong was unconcerned. He seemed to care a lot about this and asked again, “Do you really like it that much?”
Feng Yuzhen bent down, and her loose clothes faintly outlined her waist as she moved. She wrung out a cotton towel in the basin of hot water and handed it to him. “It’s just for fun.”
But Cui Jingkong did not cooperate. He did not reach out to take it, but just sat there, tilted his head up, and leaned slightly towards her, meaning for her to wipe it for him.
This time, Feng Yuzhen was really unwilling to indulge his pushiness. She folded the cotton towel three times into a long white strip and held both ends to his handsome face. At first glance, it looked as if he were blindfolded for a play.
She couldn’t help but curve her lips. Cui Jingkong took the cotton towel from his face, a smile also on his face, but he was still harping on the matter. “If you like it, I’ll make one for you too. It’s not difficult.”
He wiped the water from his face and let down his half-wet hair, his tone softening. “It makes me uncomfortable to see Sister-in-law always playing with things he made.”
Feng Yuzhen did not want to answer. After a while, she said, “I have no other feelings for him.”
This time, Cui Jingkong’s smile was genuine. “Yes, I know Sister-in-law has feelings for me.”
I can’t listen. I can’t listen to a single word.
Feng Yuzhen deeply regretted going to meet him today, which had made him so greedy. She just wanted to quickly boil the water and let him sit there with his tea.
She went to the stove to cook. The thought of being held and sat on it a few days ago made her even more uncomfortable. She felt she had no face to see Zhou Fu.
After that day, under Cui Jingkong’s aggressive pressure, she had only agreed to “give it a try” with him.
In the past half a year, at least until today, Feng Yuzhen’s gratitude towards him was needless to say, so she tried her best to repay him. But when it came to matters between men and women, she was at a loss.
If she were to say that she did have feelings for Cui Jingkong, the budding feelings were far from what she had felt for his brother, Cui Ze. Even the “give it a try” that he had gotten by taking advantage of the situation was, from Feng Yuzhen’s own heart, more of a way to deal with him—
But whether Cui Jingkong knew this or not, she did not know.
The three words “give it a try” were very meaningful. How to try? To what extent? How to try?
There were many ways to interpret it. A little further south, “giving it a try” meant sleeping together directly! Feng Yuzhen was undoubtedly a block of wood when it came to matters of love, so she was naturally completely under Cui Jingkong’s control.
But this was too much to handle. Feng Yuzhen frowned. She was kneading dough in her hand, trying hard to remember, but she couldn’t remember clearly, or perhaps the storybook had not described the daily interactions between the princess and Cui Jingkong, so she had no way of knowing if Cui Jingkong was like this with others.
As she was thinking, a hand suddenly appeared from behind her, the arm with the rolled-up sleeve brushing past her waist. Half of her body went numb. The young man’s breath was close, yet distant. He asked in a light tone, “What are you making?”
“…Steamed buns.”
Feng Yuzhen turned her face away in embarrassment and sighed inwardly. She herself was now extremely confused and didn’t know if piercing this thin layer of paper was a good thing or a bad thing.
But the sense of security she had felt these past few days was not fake. It was like a traveler who had crossed mountains and rivers and had found an inn to rest in; or like a thin vine that had been swaying in the wind for a long time and had found a solid tree trunk to cling to.
She closed her eyes and sighed softly.
The two of them sat at the dinner table. As Feng Yuzhen was slowly chewing on a steamed bun, the usually quiet Cui Jingkong, who had been watching her, suddenly asked, “Sister-in-law, when are we moving to town?”