As evening approached, Lu Yuan finally came to find Ji Cheng. After resting for half a day, Ji Cheng had somewhat recovered her Yuan Power. Together, they went to Chang Heng’s quarters.
Upon seeing Ji Cheng, Hong’er was so excited he nearly jumped up. However, he restrained himself, as Shen Yu had just returned to Chang Heng’s quarters, and Hong’er didn’t dare to be too exuberant.
“Hong’er, didn’t your aunt promise to make you a kite? Look, I’ve brought bamboo strips,” Lu Yuan said, revealing what she had hidden behind her back.
Hong’er replied, “I need to ask Father first.”
He turned and went to Shen Yu’s room, quickly returning with an excited, “Father said it’s alright.”
Lu Yuan and Ji Cheng, holding Hong’er’s hands, went to the east wing where Hong’er’s room was located. However, the bamboo strips Lu Yuan brought needed trimming, which would create bamboo shavings. So, the three decided to work on the strips right in front of the east wing’s steps.
Ji Cheng asked Hong’er, “What kind of kite do you want? A big tiger? A little rabbit? A goldfish?”
Hong’er, showing his decisiveness, said, “I want a big eagle.” As he spoke, he gestured with his hands.
Ji Cheng turned to Lu Yuan and said, “We’ll need to use the longest bamboo strip for the eagle’s wings.” Ji Cheng picked up the longest strip and held it up to the light. It was almost as long as Lu Yuan’s outstretched arms. The strip wasn’t split very finely, thicker at one end and thinner at the other, which would make it difficult to fly and prone to nosediving in the air.
“This strip needs to be split again with a knife,” Ji Cheng told Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan, who wasn’t serious about making the kite and was just using it as an excuse, replied, “But that’s not easy to split.”
Ji Cheng bent down to Hong’er and asked, “Hong’er, do you have a small knife?”
“Yes,” Hong’er said, turning to fetch a silver-wrapped wooden-handled paper-knife from his desk.
Ji Cheng placed the bamboo strip on the steps and started splitting along the thicker part with the small knife. This was the most challenging part, not only laborious but also difficult to split evenly. After splitting just a small section, Ji Cheng’s palm began to hurt. Her hand slipped, and the knife cut outward, scraping her elbow against the bamboo strip, and leaving a bloody mark.
“Ouch!” Hong’er exclaimed, feeling the pain for her even though Ji Cheng remained silent.
The courtyard was noisy, especially with a half-grown child around. Shen Yu, unable to rest in his room, decided to come out. As soon as Hong’er saw Shen Yu, he immediately fell silent.
“What happened?” Shen Yu asked, looking at Ji Cheng who was cradling her wrist.
“It’s nothing, just scraped a bit of skin while splitting bamboo,” Ji Cheng replied.
Shen Yu looked at the messy bamboo strips on the ground. “Let me do it.”
Hong’er’s eyes widened like copper bells as if he’d seen the sun rising from the west, and he stared at Shen Yu.
Lu Yuan also looked at Shen Yu in disbelief, her eyes brimming with unspoken emotions. Ji Cheng knew that Lu Yuan and Shen Yu could never be together, but Lu Yuan wanted to make one last effort. Ji Cheng felt she should give her the opportunity.
“Hong’er, shall we go to your study and draw the big eagle?” Ji Cheng extended her hand to Hong’er.
Lu Yuan gave Ji Cheng a grateful look, to which Ji Cheng responded with a playful wink.
There were no maids in Hong’er’s study, as per the Shen family’s rules. Women were not allowed in the study without permission. This was true for both the master and the young masters of the household when they were children. It was considered a way to cultivate one’s character.
So when Hong’er led Ji Cheng to his study, he skillfully found a large sheet of white paper and placed it on the desk. Ji Cheng measured the width of the paper with her arm and immediately began to outline an eagle soaring in the sky. This was no difficult task for her, but it left Hong’er staring in admiration.
Drawing an eagle was no simple matter, especially the feathers. To make it look realistic, color mixing was crucial. Ji Cheng sat in the chair, directing Hong’er to do this and that. The little one was enthusiastic, seemingly afraid that Ji Cheng might stop giving him tasks. He kept asking, “What else should I do? What else should I do?”
As Ji Cheng was finishing the last corner of the eagle’s wing, she suddenly felt a warm flow in her lower abdomen. Based on Ji Cheng’s experience over the past year, this likely meant her monthly cycle had begun.
However, her cycle was usually quite regular, and by her calculations, this was four days early. Ji Cheng was completely unprepared. Moreover, she usually experienced breast tenderness and lower back pain before her cycle, but this time she felt no such symptoms.
Ji Cheng estimated that by the time she could feel the warm flow, it usually meant her undergarments were already stained, and she wasn’t sure if her outer skirt was affected as well.
It was already late February, and the thick winter skirts had been put away. Ji Cheng always preferred light, thin fabrics for her clothes, which was now proving to be a disadvantage.
Ji Cheng didn’t dare stand up and could only awkwardly call Hong’er to her side. Fortunately, the child was only five years old and probably didn’t understand women’s matters. “Could you go call Yunzhu in for me? I need her help with something.”
“What is it? Can’t you tell me? Can’t I do it?” Hong’er asked, feeling a bit hurt.
Ji Cheng quickly shook her head. “It’s not that. I just need to ask her for help with something. It’s a girl thing.”
“What’s a girl thing?” Hong’er asked curiously.
Ji Cheng’s face was starting to turn red. “Can you please just go get her for me?”
Hong’er said, “Yunzhu’s brother is getting married today. I allowed her to go out for the wedding feast and return in the evening.”
“What about the other maids in your room?” Ji Cheng asked.
“I don’t like too many people serving me. There’s only Yunhua left,” Hong’er replied.
The name Yunhua suggested she was still a young girl, probably not even ten years old. Calling her wouldn’t help and might even cause her to gossip around, which would be embarrassing for Ji Cheng. “Then could you go get your Aunt Yuan or call Ruixue from your father’s room?”
“Alright,” Hong’er said, running out with a pitter-patter of feet.
Ji Cheng quickly stood up and pulled her skirt around to look. She was wearing a goose-yellow skirt today, and the back already showed a slight discoloration. Thankfully, the chair cushion wasn’t stained, or Ji Cheng might have considered suicide.
But the warm flow was becoming increasingly intense, and Ji Cheng didn’t dare hope for the best. She only wished Hong’er would hurry back with help.
Hong’er returned quickly. “Sister Cheng, for some reason, Aunt Yuan was crying and ran out just now. Ruixue chased after her. What should we do?”
Ji Cheng was on the verge of tears herself. “Are there any other maids around fourteen or fifteen in the courtyard?”
Hong’er shook his head. His father disliked those coquettish maids, so there weren’t many servants. The rest were just eight or nine-year-old little girls, and then there were the older women servants.
Ji Cheng was most afraid of these older women servants. They were the biggest gossip, able to turn the smallest incident into a full-blown story. If they found out about her carelessness, who knows what tales they’d spin.
Ji Cheng had no choice but to say to Hong’er, “The eagle still needs some time to finish. Could you go to my room and ask Liuye’er to come? Just tell her I need her help with some women’s matters.”
Hong’er nodded.
Ji Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Hong’er was so obedient and hadn’t asked too many questions, simply doing as he was told.
Unfortunately, Ji Cheng’s luck was not good. As soon as Hong’er ran out, he bumped into his father, Shen Yu.
“Where are you rushing off to? Where are your maids?” Shen Yu asked sternly.
Hong’er spilled out Ji Cheng’s request like beans pouring from a jar.
Shen Yu frowned, thought for a moment, and then headed towards Hong’er’s study. Hong’er hesitated, unsure if he should still go find Liuye’er, but he had always admired his father and believed he could solve any problem. So he thought his father could surely help Sister Cheng as well.
Ji Cheng hadn’t expected Hong’er to return so quickly, let alone with Shen Yu in tow. When she saw Shen Yu, her face probably froze.
“Cousin Yu,” Ji Cheng said, but her bottom remained glued to the chair.
Ji Cheng was usually not so impolite. Shen Yu looked at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ji Cheng blinked at Shen Yu and said, “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just helping Hong’er draw a big eagle for his kite.” While saying this, Ji Cheng thought to herself, ‘Why does this grown man have to be so meddlesome? He was much better when he was cold and aloof before.’
“What’s the matter that requires Hong’er to call for a maid?” Shen Yu asked.
Ji Cheng’s face turned as red as a piece of pork liver. She was contemplating how to answer in a way that would make Shen Yu leave her alone. But when Shen Yu asked this question and saw Ji Cheng’s face turn as red as a monkey’s bottom, he immediately realized the awkwardness of the situation.
Shen Yu’s face showed a rare display of embarrassment. He coughed lightly twice, turned to Hong’er, and said, “Let’s go. I’ll have someone find your maid.”
Ji Cheng mumbled a barely audible “Thank you” from behind.
When Ji Cheng finally made it back to Rui Ying Hall, hiding and dodging along the way, her entire body was as red as a shrimp. “I feel like I can never show my face again,” Ji Cheng said, burying her face in the blanket after changing into clean trousers, wishing she had never existed in this world.
Liuye’er laughed and said, “What’s the big deal? Nobody knows about it.”
Ji Cheng didn’t dare tell Liuye’er that Shen Yu knew. It was just too embarrassing. “Why did I always have a premonition before my cycle in the past, but this time there was nothing? And it came several days early too?”
“Yes, it caught us off guard. We hadn’t even prepared the cloth pads for you,” Liuye’er said.
Because her cycle had started, Ji Cheng couldn’t take a bath. Before bed, Liuye’er brought water to help Ji Cheng wash her feet. Her snow-white feet were quite striking in the celadon basin. Liuye’er used her hand to pour water over Ji Cheng’s feet and then applied some fragrant cream to massage them.
“Hey, didn’t you used to have a scar here, Miss? How come it’s gone now?” Liuye’er asked curiously.
Yüqian’er, who was nearby, chimed in, “Are you sure you’re not mixing up the feet? Wasn’t it on the right foot?”
Liuye’er retorted, “How could I possibly mix up something about Miss?”
After Liuye’er finished washing Ji Cheng’s feet, Ji Cheng also became curious and held her foot up close to examine it. “It does seem to be gone. How could a scar I’ve had for so many years just disappear?” Ji Cheng pulled up her trouser leg to look at the dark mark left from when she fell from a horse in the South Garden. “Hey, this one’s gone too.”
Liuye’er found it quite miraculous.