Chapter 18: Where Rapeseed Blooms, Every Home Finds Peace; Where Black Tiles Stack, Each Layer Soars High

The rain was saturated with the fragrance of fresh grass, streaming down from the courtyard skylight with no sign of abating. Since the burly man had invited Guan Yin into his home, he had no intention of leaving his guest unattended.

"Master Guan, you are not exactly young anymore, are you?"

"Hmm..." Guan Yin had no idea how old her predecessor was. However, as the saying goes, one should establish a family before pursuing a career; in the eyes of others, the person she now replaced had long since been a married individual.

She was the one who had burned down the kitchen, and she was the one who failed to protect her wife, yet it was her predecessor’s reputation that suffered—even if that predecessor, having emerged from a house of entertainment, was already looked down upon by many.

"It is time to have a child. Raise them early so they can sit for the imperial examinations. Even if they only place in the top ranks of the provincial exams, it would at least bring honor to your family, wouldn't it?"

Pressuring people to marry, to procreate, to study, and to seek officialdom—these seemed to be unavoidable topics in every era, especially when a junior encountered an elder...

"There is no great rush for that yet." Whenever she heard such things, Guan Yin felt an inexplicable sense of guilt. Even with a thousand grievances and excuses in her heart, she could not withstand the other person’s earnest, piercing gaze.

"No rush? At your age, I..."

"Husband." A voice called from the inner hall, cutting off the burly man mid-sentence.

The man picked up the teapot to pour himself a drink, his mouth half-open to speak again, when a faint cough drifted from inside. It finally forced him to mumble vaguely, "It’s no trouble to lend you an umbrella. Why not stay for a meal and head back once the rain stops?"

Before Guan Yin could voice a refusal, a set of light footsteps retreated into the distance. She stood up, feeling slightly awkward and intending to take her leave, but a gesture from the burly man forced her back into her seat.

"Since you’ve come, you are a guest. If you leave just like this, it would seem as though my household has treated you poorly. If word gets out... you may not care for your reputation, but I do!"

The man spoke with his usual awkwardness. To mask his true state of mind, he drank cup after cup of water. His actions were neither crude nor refined. Yet, combined with these neatly kept rooms, it created an indescribable sense of dissonance in Guan Yin’s eyes.

"Ultimately, you must make plans early. Otherwise, by the time your child achieves success, they will still be burdened with the duty of filial piety toward the two of you."

He lowered his voice for the latter part, as if there were something he had to say but needed to keep from his wife's ears.

"Indeed." For two women to have a child was, of course, impossible. Guan Yin smiled and agreed, all the while pondering the relationship between Liu Jiao’an and her predecessor.

Guan Yin had never been in love, but in novels, when a pair of lovers exchanged glances, there was always a lingering tension—an atmosphere between them. That Liu Jiao’an could leave the pampered life of the Liu family for her predecessor could surely not be for the sake of love alone.

"Ah... benefactor, my wife is still waiting for me at home." Guan Yin did not know how to address the burly man. In this era, if he had had children early, he would not be much older than her. "It is getting late; I must take my leave and we shall converse another day."

"Hey, you, you... it is still raining outside."

"Since Master Guan must go, there must be pressing matters at home. Do not force them to stay."

The woman's remark relieved Guan Yin’s immediate plight. As she rushed out into the rain, she felt a pang of regret; the downpour had not crushed the rapeseed flowers in the distance, but it had thoroughly chilled her to the bone.

Yet, staying any longer in that house, Guan Yin feared she could no longer keep up the facade.

Since this was not the first time the Liu family had come looking for Liu Jiao’an, and the burly man could easily instruct Sanheng to handle it, it was clear that her predecessor did not want to expose herself to more people. Dressing as a man required careful cultivation of one's voice and demeanor—one could fool people for a while, but not for a lifetime.

"You, stop being so quick with your tongue."

"I am only frustrated that he doesn't live up to expectations. Back in our day, our child was even younger than him when he began his path to office; he didn't concern himself with such simple affairs of the heart."

"And so? Because you were quick with your tongue, you misunderstood Mian’er. And now, Mian’er cannot even return to her homeland, can she?"

Stunned into silence by his wife’s words, the man frowned toward the front gate, as if, through the curtain of rain, there stood a familiar, vibrant silhouette.

But that shadow belonged to Guan Yin, not their Mian’er.

"She is not Mian’er, and she lacks the status and standing to pursue an official career."

A clap of thunder drowned out the woman’s voice. The man jerked his head to look at his wife, the disbelief in his eyes masking an undying grief. "What did you say? What do you mean by that?"

"As a young woman, how would you expect her to seek an official post?"

"Do you truly believe these so-called licentious poems could be written through mere flights of fancy?"

"A family of physicians, a scholar of the bureaucracy—if she were a boy, would she not know she could pass the exams, or at worst, become a teacher?"

The series of questions clearly caught the man off guard. As his wife spoke on, his own rapid-fire questions became more like an interrogation. "You mean... how did you discover it?"

"When she married the girl, Jiao’an, just now, look at her slightly lowered brows and her unconscious posture. I felt then that there was something unusual about her." Perhaps switching topics helped resolve the bittersweet, unspoken history they had just stirred up, and the woman explained patiently.

"From now on, don't invite this 'Master Guan' to the house again, or it will truly ruin..."

"Then what is she after?"

There are always things more important than one's own future. A couple who had never experienced it themselves—but their Mian’er had made the same choice. Thus, some words could only remain a tacit understanding between them.

"Master, you and the mistress truly share a quiet understanding." Walking back along the path, Guan Yin saw Sanheng waiting for her from afar. He smiled and urged her to go in quickly. "The mistress is like a diviner; she prepared ginger soup in advance to warm you up."

The rain had not ceased. Guan Yin looked out at the distance, suddenly understanding how students feel when viewing knowledge through a fog. It was clearly close, yet felt thousands of miles away—simply because that knowledge had not yet entered their minds, just as the scenery and Guan Yin seemed to exist on different planes.

"Master, drink some ginger soup."

With vermilion lips parted and soft, gentle hands, Guan Yin suddenly wondered what had forced a girl like this to commit herself to a house so hastily constructed.

Guan Yin knew it certainly was not love.

She took the soup in both hands, her gaze fixed on her own reflection in the liquid, trying to see herself clearly. "Many thanks, Mistress."