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墨書 Inktalez
In February, the fragrant blossoms are about to sleep, and a spring stream flows gently, mingling with the dust. Sharing wine with you, I kiss your delicate face when drunk.
The fragrance lingers in the spring chamber, where I am still alone, as the candle flickers in the red canopy, continuing our past connection. After one night of spring, things will never be the same again.
"A Night of Spring Dreams Beneath the Warm Red Canopy"
This day is just like every other day in the past two years.
San Chun sits on the hillside at the village entrance, gazing at a jujube tree not far away. It bears several green jujubes, each plump, but she wonders when they will turn red, making her salivate every time she comes by.
The hillside slopes down to a dirt path, worn by the villagers' feet. Walking along this path for over a hundred steps leads to Niushan Village, where a river flows past the village entrance. At this moment, as the morning sun rises, mist hovers over the river surface, sparkling with golden light, while wildflowers and grasses grow abundantly on both banks. Occasionally, a wild duck flies by, making her swallow even more saliva.
She now drools in her sleep; once she dreamt of eating roast goose and soaked half her pillow. This habit of hers remains untreated; it’s called gluttony.
In this mountain village, there isn’t much good food. Even if they occasionally catch some game from the mountains, she always lets Sister Zhu eat first. As for her, just getting some soup is already quite good.
In his heart, she will always be second place, behind Sister Zhu, just like her birthday falls on February 2nd—forever tied to "two." Once, out of frustration, she asked him, “Am I your sister?”
“No,” he replied bluntly. “You’re someone I picked up at the village entrance.”
She cried at that moment and ran out in tears, not returning home for an entire night.
Later, Qing brought a few strong villagers to find her and discovered her on this hillside. At that time, she was so hungry that she was staring at the fish in the river with drool pooling in her mouth; if they had been any later, she might have jumped into the water to feed the fish.
He was very angry and shouted at her, “If you have the ability, run farther away.”
She had never seen him so fierce before and cried even harder. She thought he despised her because she was picked up like a stray hen or like Ahuang, their big dog. Perhaps Ahuang held a higher status than her since at least it could guard the house.
In truth, Qing appeared stern but had the kindest heart. After being angry for a while, he quickly calmed down and returned to the Cottage with a bowl of bean soup for her. It was meant to "reward" her for crying so hard that it hurt her throat.
She immediately stopped crying and smiled; her face changed faster than in March. Qing still cared about her...
She liked Qing just as all young girls fall in love when they come of age; she too had fallen for Qing every time they were together. He was handsome—the best-looking guy in the village—and also possessed the strongest martial arts skills.
After years of war, the number of able-bodied men in the village was already scarce. Among the few young men, some were already married, while others were disabled in various ways. Therefore, people tend to compare, and in such a resource-deprived place, someone like Qing was considered a rare gem. It was no wonder that many young women in the village secretly admired him. Whenever someone sent him flirtatious glances, she would sigh and wonder why there had to be wars; if there were none, so many men wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't seem so precious.
Qing had sharp eyebrows and a tiger-like gaze; he certainly didn't look like a rustic villager. Sister Zhu didn't seem like one either. They were siblings, but from her perspective, it looked more like he had a crush on someone else. Or perhaps Zhu had a crush on him; anyway, whenever they were together, it always evoked the word "ambiguous."
She felt quite indignant about this situation. Clearly, she was much prettier than Sister Zhu and could be considered the most beautiful woman in the village, yet why was she never in his eyes?
Regarding this question, she had asked Qing before, and his answer was, "If one day flowers can lay eggs, perhaps then."
Flowers weren't roosters; they were hens, but they couldn't lay eggs. It seemed that when they first hatched from their shells, they were frightened by something strange and thereafter suffered from infertility. According to Azure Wind Antelope, that strange thing seemed to be her. One night when she was extremely hungry, she grabbed the newly hatched flower and put it in her mouth, which scared it into infertility.
To atone for her actions and to make Qing's promise come true, she earnestly studied acupuncture with medical books. Unfortunately, after two years of effort, she still couldn't cure the flower's infertility but ended up injuring Ahuang's leg instead. This left her feeling extremely frustrated; at one point, she thought that even hens wouldn't lay eggs anymore.
Qing was like a beautiful shell hiding a rotten core; apart from causing trouble, she couldn't do anything right. She felt as if she was sent down from above to torment others; he must have committed too many sins in his past life to end up with her.
She firmly believed this; she thought that in this life, she must have done too many good deeds to have met Qing.
In fact, she didn't even know what Qing's real name was; she just saw him wearing the same blue clothes every day and gave him that name. She initially wanted to call him Qing'er but had to settle for "Qing" after he threatened her with a hoe.
As for her name, she was called San Chun—"San" meaning three and "Chun" meaning spring.
She didn't remember what her previous name was or what she used to do. The reason for this name was entirely due to the three old Sophora Trees at the village entrance. Every spring, those trees would be laden with locust flowers; amidst the high and low branches of the Sophora Trees, clusters of flowers dotted the lush green leaves—bright white and bustling with life.
Breathing against the wind brought forth the fragrant scent of flowers that wafted from afar—a fragrance that could be smelled miles away. People floated in this aroma as it seeped into their hearts, filling them with sweetness that lingered through the night. During this time, shadows of locust flowers would always appear in her dreams—especially when steamed and mixed with a bit of salt; they were so delicious that one could almost swallow their own tongue.
Because of the Sophora Trees, she was named San Chun; as for why not call herself Three Locusts or Three Flowers—it was probably because she thought it would sound more refined.
Of course, these weren't all the reasons; another main reason was an identity tag hanging on her when she woke up—engraved with the character "Spring" along with a tiger head pattern whose meaning remained unclear. Although the tiger head looked very much like Ahuang's face and "Spring" was crooked and ugly, because of this tag, she felt compelled to be called San Chun.
Qing had indeed picked her up from the village entrance; there was no doubt about it. That day happened to be February 2nd—a date that later became her birthday. Qing often regretted picking her up on such an inauspicious day since Ahuang had just given birth to two cubs and a big pillar family in the village was marrying off a second wife. He had woken up that morning after drinking two bowls of porridge; combined with all those twos on February 2nd—it was no wonder she occasionally acted silly.
She believed that being silly wasn't her fault at all; once upon a time, she must have been very smart. It was only after injuring her head that things changed for her. And if only they had picked her up on March 3rd instead—wouldn't that guarantee her brain would work properly?
She often argued back with him like this; every time she did so cleverly, Qing would take his hoe and leave without looking back for an entire day. This caused her heartache over and over again. If it weren't for cooking medicine for Zhu, he probably wouldn't want to come back at all.
She really liked Qing and didn't want him to leave, even disliking the sight of his back.
She still remembered when she first woke up, her body covered in wounds, with no memory of anything. Upon seeing Qing, she hugged him tightly, which scared him into covering his head and running away. He tripped and fell hard when he dashed out the door.
She didn't know why she felt a special connection to him, or why he reminded her of someone. But damn it, she couldn't remember who that person was.
When she was first found, she was wearing a soldier's armor with a large "Wei" character engraved on it; even the waist tag indicated she was part of the Wei Kingdom's army. She speculated that she might have been a soldier from the Wei Kingdom. As for why she was a woman, perhaps it was because during the war started by Zhao Chuyan in the Three Kingdoms, she bravely took her father's place in the army.
Of course, this was just her personal theory. Qing might think she was some noble lady from another country who happened to be caught in the war and disguised herself as a soldier to escape from the enemy.
She chose to believe that she was a remarkable woman fighting for her father rather than just a pampered girl raised in some household.
As for Sister Zhu, whether she was a noble lady or a remarkable woman, one thing was certain: she definitely did not do any work at home. Her hands were soft and delicate, except for a thin callus between her right thumb and index finger from holding a sword; the rest of her hands looked like those of someone who lived a life of luxury.
After summarizing their conversations, she concluded that Sister Zhu must have originally come from a wealthy family that later fell into decline, leaving her no choice but to take her father's place in the army to avoid conscription. Therefore, it was only natural that she wouldn't know how to do anything.
Sister Zhu was the third person living with them and had been with Qing for four years. She often suffered from poor health and carried around a medicine jar, taking two doses daily without fail. When not taking medicine, she mostly slept, which led to her gaining weight and developing an increasingly round figure.
Perhaps because they often had to compete for food with a sick person, she didn't like Sister Zhu and believed that Qing only disliked her because of Sister Zhu's presence. However, sometimes she couldn't help but feel insecure and thought that even if Sister Zhu weren't there, Qing might not necessarily like her.
Just look at how he looked at her; it felt as if his left eye was looking at his right hand. Of course, if one insisted on saying his right eye was looking at his left hand, that would work too!
With a sigh, feeling slightly thirsty all of a sudden, she slipped down the hillside to the riverbank.
The water was clear and carried a hint of spring's coolness. She was very happy and knelt down to scoop some water with her hands. After just a few handfuls, her thirst vanished completely, leaving her feeling an unprecedented lightness.
She paused for a moment before scooping more water to wash her face. When the icy water touched her skin, she realized how hot her face had become.
Was it from the sun? Or from thinking about men?
This question really troubled her! At this age of budding desire, one tends to think about all sorts of things. Just last night, she dreamt of being intimate with a man by the riverbank—kissing passionately. Unfortunately, upon waking up, she couldn't remember what he looked like. Thankfully, her pride wasn't so thick that she'd dare ask Qing if that man was him.
She considered herself extremely beautiful. If she were to leave this village, such beauty would surely attract many gazes.
She leaned over to look into the water, and the emerald-green surface reflected her face more clearly than the copper mirror she had stolen a glance from at the richest family in the west of the village, Zhang Dahuo. She had slender willow-like eyebrows, round bright eyes, rosy cheeks, a straight nose bridge, and lips that seemed to smile yet were not quite warm... She gazed at herself for a long time, and for the one hundredth time, she was astonished to realize just how beautiful she was!
She cradled her face in her hands, feeling happy enough to laugh one moment and heartbroken enough to cry the next. This must be what they call 'Self-Pity' in books!
But... why was it that no one liked a beauty like her?
The few young people in the village looked down on her; she was pretty but useless, possessing only a pretty face and no skills. The older women gossiped maliciously, saying that someone like her could only marry into a wealthy family as a concubine.
She deeply resented this notion. "What nonsense! If I have to marry, why must it be as a concubine?"
Regarding this matter, she had asked the Fat Aunt who lived next door. The woman, shaking with her excess flesh, laughed derisively and said, "With your lowly status, being a Concubine is already an honor. Do you think you can aspire to be the main wife?"
She wholeheartedly agreed with this statement. She couldn't wash clothes or cook, couldn't sew or work in the fields; all she knew how to do was eat and sleep. She was both greedy and lazy, with a bad temper. For someone like her, being able to marry at all would be considered fortunate; how could she dare to aspire to be the main wife?
After washing her face, she climbed back up the hillside to continue wallowing in self-pity, fantasizing about how wonderful it would be if she could marry Qing, even though this thought was merely a fantasy that might never come true.
Zhu had once given an accurate definition of her thoughts: as she grew older, it was inevitable that she would think too much. Qing summed it up simply: "You're just full after dinner."
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