Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Crossing Paths

It was fine before he said it; when he did, Chun Zhi felt hungry too.

“You sit and wait there,” she said: “I’ll cook noodles.”

Badly hurt, Huo Zheng could not move well. He did not sit down. He stood by the window and watched her busy at the stove.

Tying on an apron, Chun Zhi sliced some greens and a bit of shredded meat, then sat on her small stool. She fed kindling into the stove and lit the fire.

Smoke rose in thin curls. She ladled a large scoop of water into the pot, put on the lid, and waited for it to boil.

She pinched several stalks of scallion from the small basin nearby, washed them clean, and chopped them.

Soon the water boiled.

She lifted the lid and dropped in the noodles. White steam rolled up and wrapped around her.

Even without makeup she was as bright as peach blossoms, her waist slender, spring beauty tucked beneath her collar. No wonder men always eyed her.

Watching from not far away, Huo Zheng had to admit that Chun Zhi was very pretty.

Even working at the stove, she wasn’t the least bit shabby. Instead, she had a warm, homely glow that made people feel at ease.

She worked fast and soon finished two bowls of noodles, set them on the table in the main room, and said: “Weren’t you hungry? Why are you still standing there? Come eat.”

He heard her but didn’t come right away.

She found it odd and started to ask: “You…”

Under her gaze, he tried to step forward and stopped after a single step.

He was too badly hurt to lift his leg.

He had been standing by the window because walking was hard.

“Hold on,” Chun Zhi said, remembering his injured leg. She hurried into the next room and pushed out a wheelchair.

She had saved for a long time to buy it for Old Madam Lu.

Old Madam Lu had once broken her leg. Though it healed, rainy days made it ache, and walking hurt. Chun Zhi had secretly prepared this wheelchair out of care for the old lady.

But she had been driven out of the Lu Clan before she could give it.

Now it happened to be just right for this wounded man.

She pushed the chair into the room and stopped it before him: “Use this until you get better.”

“I’m only injured, not crippled,” he said.

“Then walk two steps so I can see,” she said.

He paused: “…”

“There’s no one else here,” she said: “Even if you sit in the wheelchair, no one will know.”

He still didn’t move.

She stepped in and steadied him: “Sit down. If you dawdle, the noodles will turn soggy.”

He almost ended up in the chair half-pushed, half-pressed by Chun Zhi.

She rolled him out to the Eight Immortals Table, handed him a pair of chopsticks and a spoon, and said: “Eat while it’s hot.”

It was greens and shredded pork noodles, each bowl topped with a poached egg.

The two bowls were the same, except his had a larger portion and hers a smaller one.

Chun Zhi was truly hungry and began eating at once.

After eating half her bowl, she noticed he still hadn’t moved his chopsticks.

“Why aren’t you eating?” she asked.

“I don’t eat scallions,” he said with a blank face.

“You don’t eat scallions?” she said: “Then just pick them out.”

He didn’t move.

As someone who had gone hungry as a child, Chun Zhi couldn’t stand food being wasted. She put down her chopsticks, took his, and carefully picked out every bit of chopped scallion: “All right, no scallions now. Eat.”

“There’s still the taste of scallions in the noodles,” he said.

She stopped waiting on him, set his chopsticks across the bowl, and said: “This is all I have. Eat it or don’t.”

With that, she ignored the wounded man and ate her own noodles.

He sat still for a moment, but hunger won in the end. He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

After one mouthful of hot noodle soup, his dark eyes lit up.

He clearly hadn’t expected her noodles to be so good.

They were so good that he forgot all about the taste of scallions.

He ate fast.

Soon his bowl was almost empty.

“Is there more?” he asked.

Nobody dislikes someone who praises their cooking.

A small smile rose on her lips as she said: “There’s more in the pot. I’ll get it.”

She quickly brought another full bowl.

Head down, he ate. He ate quickly but not like a glutton, even with a kind of grace.

Chun Zhi finished her own bowl slowly. Before he could look up and ask if there was more, she said first: “There isn’t any left.”

He said nothing and slowly put down his chopsticks.

She knew men ate more than women, so she had cooked an extra bowl. She just hadn’t expected him to eat this much.

[If he stays, will he eat me out of house and home?]

Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up and met his gaze, then quickly looked away and carried the bowls off to wash.

When she finished tidying up, she said to him: “Get used to the wheelchair. I’m going out to buy medicine for your wounds, and I should buy two sets of clothes for you to change into.”

Most important of all, she needed to check the yamen notices and ask around if any criminals were on the run.

If this Huo Qi was a fugitive, she could not keep him. She would have to report him at once.

He only answered: “Mm.”

With a few bits of broken silver in her pocket, she went out.

She went to the yamen first. On the posting wall there were several wanted notices for river bandits.

Every drawing showed big beards and scarred faces with clear features. They looked nothing like the strikingly handsome young man in her house.

Then she went to the back door of the County Yamen to find the cook who often bought tofu from her, and asked quietly. After making sure that Linshui Town had no fugitive like Huo Qi lately, she finally let out a breath.

[Good. The man I picked up isn’t a criminal.]

Leaving the County Yamen, she went to Li Apothecary to buy medicine.

The shopkeeper knew her and asked in surprise: “You’re fine. Why are you buying wound medicine? Did Top Scholar Lu not only cast off his first wife, but also injure you?”

Top Scholar Lu throwing away his wife to marry another was the biggest scandal in Linshui Town lately.

Almost everyone talked about it over tea and wine.

A sudden prick of pain hit her heart, and she said helplessly: “It’s not like that. I broke the bottle of medicine I kept at home by accident. I’m buying more to have on hand, just in case.”

“All right, wait here. I’ll get you the best medicine.”

The shopkeeper turned to fetch it.

Chun Zhi stood before the medicine cabinets and waited.

Just then, several maidservants came in and said: “Where is the physician? Come with us to the Lu Clan at once.”

Ji Ru Zhen walked in right after them. As she stepped into the apothecary, she turned and locked eyes with Chun Zhi.

Chun Zhi hadn’t expected to run into Ji Ru Zhen here. She froze for a moment, then reacted at once.

Ji Ru Zhen also hadn’t expected that in a town as small as Linshui, she would cross paths with Chun Zhi even while fetching a physician.

The shopkeeper soon came back holding the best wound medicine and handed it to Chun Zhi: “Take this. I’ll count it as half a string of coins.”

“Thank you,” she said, paid, picked up the medicine, and turned to go.

Ji Ru Zhen suddenly said: “Did I say you could leave?”

At once, the maidservants with her stepped forward and blocked Chun Zhi’s way.