As Liu Ming'an returned home carrying the laundry basin, Jiang Ning was still busy in the kitchen.
Jiang Ning stood by the stove, her movements nimble. With her sleeves rolled up, revealing a stretch of fair skin on her arms, she held a spatula and bent over, stirring the contents of the pot. The steam from the pot wafted over her expressionless face, and Liu Ming'an inexplicably found the scene somewhat cozy.
Sensing Liu Ming'an's gaze, Jiang Ning looked up towards the doorway. Liu Ming'an stood outside the kitchen holding the wooden basin, a faint smile on his lips, motionless, looking a bit foolish.
"You're back? The food's almost ready," Jiang Ning said, averting her gaze and ladling the mushroom chicken stew into a large bowl. The aroma spread through the air, making Liu Ming'an's stomach growl with hunger.
A long, thin bamboo pole hung from a beam on the side of the main room. Liu Ming'an walked over, shook out the clean clothes, and hung them up to dry. By the time he entered the room, Jiang Ning had already set all the dishes on the table.
Liu Ming'an had cooked rice and prepared two dishes at noon. Jiang Ning had reheated them and additionally stewed half a chicken and fried a small bowl of chicken blood. She ladled chicken soup for both Liu Ming'an and herself, cooled it slightly by blowing on it, and they slowly drank it down.
The wild chicken was indeed delicious, and with the added flavor of wild mushrooms cooked together, the taste lingered pleasantly in their mouths. Neither Jiang Ning nor Liu Ming'an had eaten much since morning, and this bowl of hot chicken soup made them feel content and comfortable to their very core.
"Delicious!" Liu Ming'an exclaimed after finishing his bowl in one go.
"Then have some more," Jiang Ning replied nonchalantly.
"This chicken meat is so tender!"
"That's how wild chicken is."
"I don't think I've seen this kind of mushroom before."
"Just eat it, it won't poison you."
...
The two chatted intermittently as they ate, unconsciously clearing the entire table of food.
While Liu Ming'an went to wash the dishes, Jiang Ning went to the courtyard to pick some vegetable leaves. She walked to the rabbit hutch, tore the leaves into small pieces, and pushed them through the gaps in the cage.
At first, the three gray rabbits huddled timidly, not daring to move. After a while, seeing no danger, they cautiously began to eat. Jiang Ning, with nothing else to do, found it quite amusing to watch their tiny three-lobed mouths nibbling on the leaves. She squatted down by the cage, watching with interest.
When Liu Ming'an finished washing the dishes and came out, he saw this scene and smiled, "I was planning to feed them, but you beat me to it."
Saying this, Liu Ming'an also squatted down by the cage, watching the rabbits eat with great interest.
The evening breeze blew through the courtyard, lifting Jiang Ning's hair strands and gently brushing them against Liu Ming'an's face, causing a slight tickle.
Jiang Ning heard him suddenly say, "When I was little, I loved feeding rabbits. I thought they were adorable with their fluffy fur. Until one time, I reached out to touch a rabbit's ear and it bit me. I was crying while my parents laughed beside me, saying, 'We told you rabbits would bite when they're scared, but you wouldn't listen. Now you know.' That's when I realized these little creatures could actually bite..."
Liu Ming'an's thoughts drifted back to those carefree days, with both parents present, everything was good - a time in his memories that was hard to forget.
"That rabbit was quite fat, about the same size as these. I remember it sold for about 300 wen, and my father even bought me some sweet candy..."
Jiang Ning listened quietly, not responding.
When people reminisce, their words don't always need a response. She didn't have enough curiosity to inquire further into Liu Ming'an's story; being a listener was enough.
After a long while, the rabbits in the cage had finished eating, and the sun in the distance had sunk behind the mountains. As the daylight dimmed, Jiang Ning and Liu Ming'an stood up together and returned to the house.
As usual, Liu Ming'an lit the oil lamp, took out his books, and spread out paper and pen. He hadn't been able to read a single word during the day, and now he could finally study properly.
Jiang Ning idly flipped through a copy of "The Book of Songs". When it was almost time to sleep, she spoke softly, "Are you going to get into bed on your own, or do I need to come and drag you?"
Liu Ming'an hesitated, but remembering last night's scene, he realized he couldn't win against Jiang Ning. So after tidying up the table, he stiffly lay down on the bed.
Jiang Ning looked at him lying straight as a board on the edge of the bed, her feelings quite complex. It made her feel as if she were forcing a virtuous woman.
When Liu Ming'an fell asleep and, like yesterday, tossed and turned before finally reaching out to hug her, Jiang Ning's feelings became even more complicated.
Jiang Ning extended one arm for Liu Ming'an to hold, allowing him to settle down and stop moving. Then she closed her eyes and slowly began to drift off to sleep.
As night fell, a gentle breeze arose, causing the door to sway slightly, producing a faint, rhythmic creaking sound. The sound of the wind, the swaying door, and Liu Ming'an's soft breathing became particularly clear in the quiet darkness, growing closer and more distinct.
"Click!" A barely audible light sound came, and Jiang Ning's eyes snapped open, half-asleep and half-awake.
Someone was there!
The assassin's instinct made Jiang Ning instantly alert, her drowsiness disappearing completely. Her muscles tensed, ready for action.
Could it be that mute woman? Coming to deliver vegetables again?
Jiang Ning listened as the footsteps gradually approached, not moving because she thought it might be the mute woman.
But when the person reached the outside of the main room, Jiang Ning clearly heard her cursing in a low voice: "You son of a bitch, you think you can become a scholar? Bullshit scholar, I spit on you! If I don't teach you a good lesson, my name isn't Li..."
It seemed the visitor had ill intentions.
After cursing, the woman didn't leave but tiptoed towards the back of the house.
Jiang Ning wanted to go and see what was happening, but Liu Ming'an was holding her tightly, and she couldn't free her arm. With no choice, she focused her thoughts and slipped into her space, using it to escape. Then she silently walked out of the house, following behind the woman.
The woman crept to the back of the house, clutching a piece of bamboo in her hand. Jiang Ning watched as she squatted down along the back wall and began to dig a small hole with the bamboo piece.
What was she doing? Jiang Ning was deeply puzzled.
However, what happened next shocked Jiang Ning, a modern person who hadn't seen much of the world.
The woman threw away the bamboo piece, stood up, and actually started to take off her pants!
Her pale buttocks were exposed to the air, and then she removed something from her crotch area - an object about the size of a palm with two long straps. She hooked the straps with her fingers and then put her pants back on.
Jiang Ning now understood the intention of this unexpected visitor - she had come to cast a curse.
The object the woman had removed from her crotch was clearly an ancient form of sanitary napkin, apparently still bearing menstrual blood. In Jiang Ning's memory, this thing was called a "horse-riding cloth," though she wasn't sure if it was called the same in the Great Liang Country.
In ancient times, a woman's menstrual blood was viewed as an impure substance. In some dynasties, women on their periods were considered unclean and weren't allowed to go out. There was even a belief that if a man saw or touched this blood, he would be plagued by misfortune.
From a feng shui perspective, the front of a house belongs to yang, while the back belongs to yin. The roof represents the upper realm of light, while the base of the walls represents the lower realm of darkness.
This woman intended to bury the blood-stained cloth at the base of the back wall, where the yin and darkness would generate negative energy, secretly eroding the yang energy of the house. The inhabitants would then have their fortunes severed, be plagued by endless misfortunes, have their blessings and longevity destroyed, be constantly ill, and have both official and financial luck pass them by.
The reason Jiang Ning knew all this so clearly was because she had once assassinated a merchant who was very superstitious and believed in these things.
Jiang Ning scoffed at such nonsense, and seeing someone actually do this made her feel disgusted.
What had Liu Ming'an done to offend this woman so badly that she would come in the middle of the night to cast such a vicious curse on him?