That evening, after a simple meal, they burned paper offerings in the courtyard. The streets were filled with the sounds of gongs and warnings about fire, since it was the Ghost Festival and many were burning paper. There were also ceremonies and prayers for the dead; by the riverside, flames flickered in long rows of offerings.
Shu Rui didn’t go outside, using a clay basin in the courtyard. It was the thought that counted. Kneeling before the fire, tearing paper offerings, he silently told his parents he was well, asking them not to worry.
Watching Lu Ling kneel across from him, also tearing paper offerings, Shu Rui pressed his lips together. This time, he truly meant it—he was genuinely doing well. After leaving his uncle’s home, he had feared he wouldn’t manage, yet someone had protected him. Though sometimes odd, Lu Ling had a good heart, didn’t anger easily, listened to him, and trusted him with money.
“Did you speak to your parents?” Lu Ling asked after burning a batch of paper. He watched Shu Rui’s bright eyes, noticing he wasn’t sad despite the ritual.
“Mm,” Shu Rui replied. “Usually they don’t hear me. Today, during the Ghost Festival, the path between heaven and earth opens. Once the paper is burned, my words reach them.”
“And did you mention me?”
Shu Rui lifted his eyes. “Mention what?”
Lu Ling furrowed his brow. “Of course, that we’re together. It’s only once a year, and you don’t mention me?”
“Why would I? Shall I say I ran off to marry and ended up with some young boy?”
“I’m not some boy—I’m of age. Why must you always be honest and only talk about my elopement?”
Lu Ling reached for Shu Rui. “Tell me now.”
“Wait until New Year,” Shu Rui said.
Lu Ling pouted and ran to Shu Rui. “By New Year, we might already be married. It’ll anger the elders even more.”
“Who says we’ll be married by New Year? Stop making things up!”
Shu Rui blushed slightly, pushing Lu Ling away and returning to his paper offerings. Three bows later, the ritual ended.
Lu Ling, frustrated, refused to fetch water and retreated inside. Shu Rui watched him, suppressing a laugh.
Clearing his throat, he said, “I already mentioned it.”
The door creaked, and someone peeked in. “Really?”
“Whether you believe it or not,” Shu Rui said.
Lu Ling returned, picking up Shu Rui’s bucket and ladle, diligently filling them with water.
“How did you say it?”
“What else? Truthfully,” Shu Rui replied. “How you treat me is how I describe it.”
Lu Ling’s brow twitched, lips curling.
“When there’s news from home, I’ll tell them about us too.”
Shu Rui, hearing this, felt some unease. “When I went to the woodworking shop, I also visited the nearby post office. Haven’t found a reply yet.”
“No rush. If there’s still no news, I’ll look into it myself.”
“I checked the martial arts school. Jizhou also has a branch. It’ll be easier to get news through them.”
Shu Rui nodded softly. Looking at the shop, he felt a twinge of worry knowing Lu Ling would tell his family about them.
“Don’t rush to tell your family. Wait until the shop is running smoothly.”
Lu Ling didn’t understand. “Why?”
Shu Rui didn’t want to explain that without assets, Lu Ling’s family would look down on him. Even with the shop, a mere traveling merchant wouldn’t gain their respect. If the Lu family knew about them, it would cause chaos. He didn’t want to worry about the shop and manage the elders simultaneously.
“It’s not the right time. Say it too soon, they’ll think it’s a child’s game. Wait until everything’s stable—it will naturally fall into place.”
Lu Ling, seeing Shu Rui’s unease, said, “Fine. I’ll listen. No rush; we’ll take it slowly.”
Shu Rui added, “If there’s still no news from your family later, I might ask you to visit, and while you’re there… check on the Bai family situation.”
Lu Ling’s brow tightened. He hadn’t planned to return to Jizhou, but since Shu Rui suggested it, he could make a trip to Gan County.
“All right. Don’t worry too much. I’ve been keeping an eye out. If anyone tries to inquire about you, I’ll handle it and won’t disturb your peace.”
Shu Rui felt a warmth in his chest at Lu Ling’s words and responded lightly.
While they were talking, Lu Ling carried the hot water into Shu Rui’s room. That night there was no wind, and the air was heavy and humid.
After washing up, Shu Rui felt relaxed. He applied some insect-repelling ointment to his body and lit a coil of mugwort. Back in the countryside at the Bai family home, summer nights were full of mosquitoes; here in Chaoxi Mansion, they seemed fewer. This year, lighting mugwort at night was just enough to keep them at bay.
Still, out of habit, he always slept under a mosquito net, so the insects didn’t disturb his sleep.
“Lu Ling, do you still have any mugwort coils in your room?”
Mentioning the net reminded Shu Rui that Lu Ling only had a simple floor mat in his room, without anything to cover it.
“You finally asked! We ran out a couple of days ago. Last night, I didn’t teach the mosquitoes to move along, so I just relied on my size,” Lu Ling replied. He had just finished bathing, a towel draped over his shoulder, still unclothed, and answered Shu Rui casually.
“I didn’t know. I only have one coil left here. I planned to buy more on the street tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Lu Ling slowly put on his underclothes, plotting a bit of mischief.
“So I’ll get bitten all night? I hardly slept last night, tried asking you, but you didn’t respond. And this morning you didn’t wake up to tell me.”
Shu Rui recalled being too exhausted yesterday, falling straight into bed without lighting any mugwort, forgetting that they were out.
“Then take this coil I’ve lit and use it,” Shu Rui said.
“If I take it, you won’t have any left to use.”
“I might as well sleep in your room. That way, there’s enough for both of us, and I won’t complain.”
Lu Ling expected Shu Rui to scold him for being shameless, but no words came. He frowned, worried that Shu Rui might be angry. “I’m not…”
“All right,” Shu Rui said.
Lu Ling paused, then remembered: “Next time, if you respond, don’t lock your door.”
“The door isn’t locked,” Shu Rui replied slowly.
Lu Ling stayed silent, not because he didn’t believe him, but just to tease.
“Never mind. I have thick skin; even if I don’t use it for a night, it’s fine.”
Then the door creaked open.
“I’m coming in,” Shu Rui’s voice called. The door was indeed unlocked, and he stepped inside carrying the lit mugwort coil, a wisp of smoke curling up, filling the room with the herb’s fragrance.
Lu Ling, however, didn’t notice the smoke, as if his sense of smell had vanished, staring blankly at Shu Rui. Shu Rui placed the coil on a small stool by the floor mat.
Compelled, Lu Ling stepped forward and tripped over the stool, nearly falling. Shu Rui chuckled softly. “You’re bewitched? Tripping on flat ground?”
“You…”
Lu Ling stared incredulously, then averted his gaze. “Did you forget to put on makeup?”
Shu Rui smiled at him. “You wanted to look. Now that you’ve seen, why shy away?”
“I… I didn’t mean to…”
Lu Ling tried to explain, initially surprised and curious, but then realized that Shu Rui had reasons to hide his face. There was no need to make a fuss—he understood. He had seen through Shu Rui’s intentions immediately.
Shu Rui asked, “Didn’t mean to what?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Lu Ling cleared his throat, embarrassed to face Shu Rui directly.
Not that anyone could blame him—Shu Rui had always had striking looks, fair skin, and refined features, cultivated from a lifetime of study, with the grace of one accustomed to scholarly manners. Removing his past cosmetic embellishments only highlighted his natural beauty.
Shu Rui said gently, “I didn’t mean to deceive you. On the road, if I didn’t hide a little, it would have been unsafe. Running an inn brings many inconveniences.”
“I understand. Hiding like that protected yourself, and I don’t blame you,” Lu Ling said, looking at Shu Rui. “I didn’t expose you out of respect… but now that you’re showing your true face, I’m glad.”
If not for trust, Shu Rui would have hidden everything until the last moment. Lu Ling was moved—not just by Shu Rui’s beauty, but by his heart.
“In the past, I was employed. My only concern was protecting my master. I did this for many years. After I was injured and couldn’t continue in the capital, I was lost, unsure how to live. But now, you are my new life, my new master. From now on, I’ll follow you, never changing. Shu Rui, you needn’t live so cautiously and anxiously anymore.”
Shu Rui felt his heart warm. Pressing his lips together, he said, “I can’t pay you a generous wage. I can’t be your master.”
“I don’t want wages,” Lu Ling said. “Just a place to stay and three meals a day.”
Shu Rui looked at him and felt his stubborn determination was endearing. He rose lightly on his toes and lightly kissed the corner of Lu Ling’s mouth.
“I’m not cruel. Consider this my way of compensating you. Your loyalty won’t be wasted.”
Lu Ling froze, his back stiffened. When he realized what had happened, his usually composed face turned red.
Shu Rui’s own face flushed as well, the fair skin revealing embarrassment easily. Seeing Lu Ling, normally calm and unflappable, shy, made Shu Rui feel lighter.
“Then… I’ll go back to my room and sleep.”
Shu Rui moved toward his bed, but Lu Ling followed, escorting him to the door.
“Close your doors and windows at night,” Lu Ling said, still a bit dazed.
Shu Rui smiled faintly. “With you here, what’s there to fear?”
Lu Ling averted his gaze. “You’re tricky. I’m hard to guard against.”
Shu Rui chuckled. “Planning to sneak something?”
“You tell me.”
Shu Rui slipped inside and closed the door behind him, leaning against it, his heart still racing. “These mornings, washing with cold water is torture.”
Lu Ling said obediently, “Then I’ll bring hot water for you every morning from now on.”
Shu Rui felt content.
“You should get back to sleep early too.”
With that, Shu Rui lay on the bed, a smile lingering in his eyes, thinking how foolish Lu Ling looked being so devoted. He wouldn’t reveal his true face to everyone yet, but at home, he could relax with someone covering for him.
Wrapped in a thin blanket, Shu Rui slept soundly.
He slept well, though Lu Ling spent the night restless, standing by the door so long before returning to lie on his mat, thinking about every expression of Shu Rui.
Touching his warm lips, Lu Ling realized that unlike the ghost stories told during the festival, this person was real, his companion, and it was deeply etched into his heart.
Lu Ling thought about how scholars were clever. Compared to Shu Rui, all his martial arts practice seemed trivial. With Shu Rui’s gesture, he could only follow along, wagging his tail like a loyal pet.
Remembering Yu Qiaosheng, a seemingly honest scholar adept at pleasing others with words and books, Lu Ling felt he needed to keep a closer eye on Shu Rui.
Tossing and turning, he alternated between joy and worry. At times, he thought of Xuan Yang, the dashing noble, fretting over whether a minor social exchange at a gathering had been fully completed.
After some pondering, he sighed: “You don’t understand. You’re just a foolish boy. Explaining is pointless.”
He realized now that family, status, or talent didn’t matter—whoever ended up with Shu Rui simply lost their composure. The calm became restless, the stable unstable, the clever became foolish, and the foolish… lucky.
The next morning, Lu Ling got up before dawn and went to the kitchen to heat water for Shu Rui again.
Sunlight poured into the room, bright and clear, sharply defined, nothing like the warm yellow haze cast by an oil lamp.
That person looked exactly the same as he had the night before.
In fact, he looked even better in the daylight.
He stayed by Shu Rui’s side as Shu Rui, still bleary-eyed with sleep, rinsed his mouth, washed his face, cleaned his hands and dried them, then opened a case and spread a layer of powder over his face. In an instant, his pale complexion darkened several shades to yellow.
Another layer of paste went on, and the yellow gained a hint of black.
He picked up a brush and dotted beneath his eyes, then stuck a small mole beside his nose.
“Seen enough?” Shu Rui shot a glance at the person who had been crouched beside him for quite some time, while packing away the little bottles and jars.
Lu Ling was thoroughly amazed. Looking at that now-familiar face again, he said, “I never thought it was ugly before. I don’t know why, but today the more I look at it, the stranger it feels.”
Shu Rui said, “It’s hard to go from luxury back to simplicity.”
“Before, this face relied entirely on my bearing to carry it. Otherwise, how many people do you think would look at it without secretly finding it ugly?”
As he spoke, memories stirred, and he looked at Lu Ling.
“At that post station in the Ji Prefecture area—when you were knocked awake by a donkey, and I said I was your husband—what did you really think in your heart?”
“My mind was completely blank. I didn’t think anything at all.”
“You truly didn’t think my face was ugly, secretly cursing the heavens?”
Shu Rui stepped closer and pressed him. “Or was it because you’d lost your memory and didn’t dare to think it was ugly?”
Lu Ling said, “At first I only doubted whether it was true or not. I didn’t think about beauty or ugliness at all. Later, you said that before I lost my memory I thought you were ugly, that we quarreled, and that I fell from the carriage because of it.
“I felt that made some sense. I just assumed my past self really did find you ugly, and instead I felt guilty. Whatever you said, I took it as you sulking. Later…”
Lu Ling smiled. “Later, it was just as you said—because you’re too good a person, it left me with no mind to think about something as trivial as beauty or ugliness.”
Shu Rui couldn’t help laughing. “In the past ten or twenty years of my life, that was the only time I thought I was being clever and ended up falling into a trap. Ever since then, I’ve been cautious, afraid that cleverness would only end up harming itself.”
Lu Ling quietly tugged at Shu Rui’s hand. “It didn’t ruin anything.”
The two chatted for a while in the room. By the time they finally dawdled their way out, it was already too late to make breakfast. Shu Rui pressed a string of copper coins into Lu Ling’s hand and told him to go eat outside.
He even reminded him to go somewhere farther away, so Yang Chunhua wouldn’t see him—otherwise she’d laugh and say he’d slept in again today, letting her imagination run wild.
Lu Ling didn’t really want to go to the martial arts hall, but Shu Rui coaxed him by saying he’d bring lunch at noon. Only then did Lu Ling head out.
Shu Rui took his time fixing his own breakfast, then set about making drinks.
They hadn’t done any business yesterday, yet two old customers from nearby alleys still came to ask today. Though there weren’t many people lingering at the door, it showed that his little business was doing quite well.
After the drinks were ready and the sun had climbed higher, Shu Rui carried a table outside and set it beneath the elm tree at the front.
“The shop is already like this. Our household is struggling too—it’s not that we won’t pay you wages, just that we need to delay it a bit. We’re cousins, after all, but you’ve gone and buried yourself in money, insisting on collecting something first!
“Haven’t I introduced you to plenty of jobs before? Now that I’m down on my luck, this is how you treat me?”
“Qin Er, that’s not fair of you to say. You make it sound like I’m deliberately making things difficult.
“You said your shop burned down and asked me to repair it. I didn’t hesitate—I even turned down a job from a family back in the village to come do yours. All I’m asking now is for you to give some money upfront to buy timber. I don’t have everything on hand and need to buy some from others. I’m not even talking about wages yet. What more do you want?”
“The four doors, two tables, and eight benches I made for you before you opened the shop—you still haven’t settled that bill. Have I ever chased you for it even once?
“My wife gave birth last month, and my father fell and has been lying at home with a bad leg. Even when money was tight, I never opened my mouth to you. Now where am I supposed to get money to front the cost of timber for you? If we weren’t relatives, do you think I’d enjoy making this trip for you?”
Shu Rui heard the argument starting up again at the oil shop and thought to himself that although the couple had quarreled yesterday, today they had still managed to get tiles delivered and even called in a carpenter relative to repair things. At least they weren’t delaying the work.
The oil shop owner had been shouting loudly at first, as if determined to let everyone know how unreasonable his relative was. But once the cousin responded like that, his momentum faltered. He changed tack and said, “Don’t lump all that together. Who doesn’t have hardships of their own?
“Just say whether you’re doing the job or not. If not, I’ll hire someone else. I thought of you as family and gave you the work, and now you’re picking faults left and right. You think I can’t find anyone else?”
“Then go find someone else. Let’s see who’s generous enough to let you run up wages on credit and even front the cost of timber.”
Qin Er from the oil shop, hearing this and still getting no concession, grew furious. “Go, go, go! As if I care about a countryside cousin like you.”
The man, having endured such scolding and being sneered at as a country bumpkin, was beside himself with anger. He hoisted his carpenter’s tool chest and strode off.
Shu Rui bent over wiping his table, looking busy with his own work, but in truth he had his ears pricked, listening to every word.
When he saw the man in his thirties storm past his doorway, his eyes flickered. He thought that perhaps he could be a little unscrupulous this once. He hurried over and called out, “Master, are you a carpenter?”
The man glanced at Shu Rui. He didn’t recognize him, but seeing the question, he tamped down the anger he’d carried out of the oil shop and replied, “I am. What do you need, young master?”
Shu Rui said, “My shop needs some repairs. I’ve been looking for a carpenter recently. If you have time, could you step inside and take a look?
“We can talk about the work after you see it. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll still treat you to a bowl of drink. It’s hot today.”
Hearing this, the man gave his toolbox a little shake. He clearly hadn’t expected to turn around and immediately find work. He followed Shu Rui and said, “That’s no trouble at all. Taking a look won’t cost anything.”