Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Don’t Cry

Chun Zhi paused. She had not expected this cold-looking man to ask why she cried. She had cried all the way home, but her arms were full so she could not wipe her tears. With tear tracks all over her face, she must have looked messy and pitiful.

She felt it was too embarrassing to say she cried because the top scholar dumped her, the top scholar’s wife shamed her in public, and then everyone protected her when she fought back. She sniffed and said: “I spent quite a bit of silver to buy you things. Can’t I cry because my heart aches for the money?”

At her words, Huo Zheng was speechless. [This girl is really money-mad.] He thought that buying some cloth, medicine, and food cost only a little silver. Could she truly be crying over that?

Chun Zhi did not say more and turned to go inside. Being seen while crying felt very shameful, especially since she was not close to this man. Their relationship was far from the point where she would share such things.

With her head down, she hurried past him carrying the pile. Behind her, Huo Zheng said: “When my injuries heal, I will pay you back.” Without looking back, she said: “You better keep your word.” He said: “I always do.”

Chun Zhi did not answer again. She put everything on the Eight Immortals table in the main room, carried the pork, food, and cleaver to the kitchen, washed her hands, then came back to take the two bolts of cloth into her room. She sat alone for a while until she calmed down, dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, and washed her face.

Huo Zheng kept practicing with the wheelchair in the yard. Before long, he could use it well. He rolled to Chun Zhi and handed her a valuable jade pendant, saying: “This is for you.”

She asked: “For me?” Yesterday, when she dressed his wounds, she had already seen this pendant. At a glance she could tell it was very valuable, not a common thing. She did not take it right away. Instead she asked, puzzled: “If this is your only valuable item and you give it to me, what will you do?”

In over twenty years, it was the first time anyone worried about whether he would have money. He felt something subtle inside, but his face stayed cool as he said: “I have my own ways.”

In truth, Chun Zhi had not cried because she spent money on him. When he asked, she did not know how to answer and had made up an excuse. She did not expect him to take it seriously.

Seeing that she still did not take it, Huo Zheng pushed the jade into her hand and said in a low voice: “Take it. Don’t cry.” The expensive jade felt warm and even carried a trace of his palm’s heat. Chun Zhi felt a bit moved. The next second, he added: “You look very ugly when you cry. Don’t do it again.”

Chun Zhi fell silent. [So much for being moved.] The man was staying to heal, eating her food and using her things, so it was right for him to give something valuable. Thinking this, she put the jade away. [With a mouth that mean, he should pay a little more anyway.]

Chun Zhi hid the jade in a chest, then got to work. She made tofu fresh every morning. Before, she would soak the soybeans in the afternoon and then go back to the Lu Clan to care for Old Madam Lu. Now she was no longer part of the Lu Clan and did not need to do that. She could rest in the afternoon. But there was still a strange man in the yard, and she could not sleep or bear to think about her past with Lu Jing Yun, so she looked for things to do. If she kept busy, she would have no time to be sad.

The cloth-seller Sister Xiu had given her two bolts of cloth, one bamboo green and one sky blue. Both colors worked for men or women. Last time she went to the ready-made clothing shop to buy men’s clothes, Qian San Niang had asked a lot of questions. If she went again, it would be hard to explain. So she planned to use these two bolts to make clothes for the man. She had just taken his jade; making him two sets of clothes was only fair.

Thinking this, Chun Zhi found her measuring tape, went to the window, and called to the man in the yard: “Huo Qi, come here a moment.”

Sitting in the wheelchair, Huo Zheng turned the wheels and looked toward her, but did not roll over as he asked: “For what?”

Chun Zhi raised the measuring tape for him to see and said: “To measure you for clothes.”

In truth, she could have gone into the yard. But because Huo Qi had just said she looked ugly when she cried, Chun Zhi made him wheel himself over. Yet Huo Zheng still did not come.

Chun Zhi said: “Forget it if you won’t. It’s not like I have no clothes to wear,” and she moved to put the tape back into the drawer.

Huo Zheng could not stand having no clothes to change into, so he slowly pushed his wheelchair into the room. The room was small and simply furnished, but Chun Zhi kept it very clean.

She walked up to him and asked: “Can you still stand? Do you need my help?”

Huo Zheng said: “No need,” and braced one hand on the armrest to stand with effort. His leg injury was not so bad that he could not stand. He used the chair because of lingering damage.

Chun Zhi said: “Raise your arms,” then measured his shoulder width, his arms, and his waist, one by one. When she measured the front, she had to stand very close. They could hear each other’s breathing. The strong heat of a healthy man pressed toward her, and Chun Zhi could not help blushing. She sped up and quickly stepped back.

Just then, Huo Zheng lost his balance and fell toward her. Chun Zhi quickly reached out to catch him and found herself holding him in her arms. She froze for a moment, then pushed him back into the wheelchair. Huo Zheng grunted, as if he had hit a wound by accident. Feeling a little flustered, Chun Zhi said: “A-are you all right?”

Huo Zheng did not speak. He only looked at her, his eyes dark as ink, like the deep sea that could swallow anything. Chun Zhi took two steps to the side, held the cloth up to his body to compare, and said: “All right, go out now. I need to make your clothes.” He looked at her for a long moment before wheeling himself out.

After he left, Chun Zhi quietly let out a breath. She had been taken in by Lu Jing Yun when she was nine and had lived with him for years. She had measured and made his clothes many times, but had never blushed and felt her heart race like today. Steadying herself, she touched her own face and thought: [Maybe it was because I stood too close to a stranger. From now on, I should stay farther away.]

Outside the door, Huo Zheng watched through the wooden window as Chun Zhi worked. He remembered the faint scent that clung to her when she had stood close. It had made the blood surge in him, a man who had always kept his distance from women. He closed his eyes. The sudden restlessness that rose in his chest was hard to control. [Did measuring have to be that precise? Was this country girl doing it on purpose to tease me?]