Beauty Under the Pear Tree

Li TengFei had a lot of rules, and as a person living under someone else's roof and eating someone else's grain and meat, Wei Li Na outwardly agreed to all of them. The first rule was to maintain a male identity. Since she has been consistently mistaken as a male from the moment she met people, that rule was not difficult to follow.

The second rule was more strict and she often forgot about it. The rule was to not show any bare skin, at least to outsiders. Li TengFei considered himself an exception to that rule. Bare skin included bare arms, bare feet, bare nape, and very soon even her whole face had to be covered while outside. This rule had still to come into full effect as Li TengFei did not allow her to leave the room at all!

For the past three days, Wei Li Na had been trapped indoors. She had secretly spied the outside several times, with the intention to escape, but Li TengFei kept all exits, and the roof, well guarded at all times of the day and night since her first attempted escape.

When the devil works hard, Wei Li Na just had to work harder. Without going out herself, she had to rely on the news Li TengFei and the small maid, called Mudan, brought to her. She already knew Li TengFei's room, and her adjoining room, was part of a large, traditional courtyard. Across this living area was the rooms of Wang Lei and his servant. There were also two other young men that lived in the courtyard, Young Master Wei Yu, whom she had met at the human trafficer's shop and one other young master who she has yet to meet.

Among the young masters, only Wang Lei had an official ranking in the military, he was a prodigy apprenticing under Li TengFei. The young master she had not yet met is named Li Siwen, a friend to Wang Lei. This young master, Li Siwen, had a privileged background, he was the son of the Great General, the Minister of Defence of the Imperial court, Li Maogong.

This character, Li Maogong, was legendary, a distinguished figure with a long military career studied in history books thousands of years later. Li Siwen would eventually inherit his official rank when he came of age, but as Wei Li Na recalls, none of Li Maogong's children undertake any meritorious military achievements worth mentioning. The Great General most likely discouraged his children from such a career path, to protect their lives. As expected of a Great General, he was also a great parent. Unlike her own parents who left her at the doorsteps of the military academy at the age of ten.

The straggler was Wei Yu, the brother who lent her his jacket. This one had no military ambitions, no desire to learn under Li TengFei. Instead, he was the son of a big merchant family from the capital. The Wei family was charged the task of delivering rations to the Imperial Army in the Western region. As insurance, Wei Yu was kept by Li TengFei as a so-called guest. In short, Wei Yu was a hostage treated as a guest.

It did not pass Wei Li Na's notice that she shared a surname with Wei Yu. A similar sounding surname did not mean they were related, but Wei Li Na took note. She had still to make any real progress in her search for her Ancestor Uncle. Any clue was precious at this precarious point.

Her second suspect was Wang Fei, because the jade she stole from him had the same design as that much treasured tradition in her family - the engraving of a Crane in Flight from a Lotus. Wang Fei is also from the Wang clan of Louyang. Her family Wei is originally of Louyang. The only blemish was that his surname was "Wang" and not "Wei". However, the coincidence was too strong and needed more investigation.

Wei Li Na heard from Li TengFei, that Wang Fei was so angered over his things being stolen, he had Saint Tami quartered by horses. Saint Tami's remains now hang at the city wall, his separated body parts dangling for the vultures. The only reason Saint Tami was caught wearing General Wang's things was because Wei Li Na gave it to him. Since General Wang has such a bad temper, Wei Li Na thought, and thought rightly, it was better to wait a few days to ask him about his jade token.

For three days Wei Li Na remained imprisoned, not even let out to use the toilet. She was given a chamber pot. Alll her meals were brought to the room by Mudan. In this time, Wei Li Na diligently rubbed mutton tallow on her healing skin. The effect was very effective if not very stinky.

Just when Dave had begun nagging Wei Li Na to "stab that shameless jail warden, Li TengFei," the jail warden relented and had Wei Li Na go out to have a bath. He could no longer tolerate the smell of mutton. Li TengFei also had Mudan wash all the bedding and clothing of Wei Li Na as her stink had infected everything that came in contact with her skin.

The bathing area was to the side of the courtyard. It had a large wood-fed stove, with a ready water source. The narrow brick tub was filled, and a fire was lit from the outside of the bath, heated right under the tub. Not unlike boiling livestock. The heating system was very efficient, one only needed to douse the fire once the water was hot enough.

Wei Li Na left all her clothing outside the bath area for Mudan to take away and wash. She moved behind the screen to scrub and wash. Wei Li Na was given a rough washcloth and a good amount of soap berries. She scrubbed and rinsed outside the tub, soaked for half an hour, got out and did a second scrub. This process was repeated two more times until Dave was satisfied.

Now that she shared a body with Dave, the AI robot had become even more concerned with her physical well-being. The result was skin that was no longer sore or flakey. As long as she kept out of the sun, she would not get burned again.

Wei Li Na was not the kind to soak in a hot tub until her skin wrinkled like a raisin. When she was done, she got out and wrapped a large piece of cloth around her shoulders. The cloth came down to her calves. She had to wait for Mudan to bring her clean clothes.

Unwilling to stand barefoot on the wet floor of the bath area, Wei Li Na walked out into the courtyard's pear orchard. The sun was high, so she took shade under a pear tree. The warm arid air softly touched the back of her head. Her toes sank into the sandy soil, she looked up and her eyes met the gaze of Wang Lei. He stood at the far end of the courtyard, in an absent

minded daze. With head bent down towards his own feet, he slowly walks towards her.

Wei Li Na watches the sunlight, filtered by the leaves and branches. The light plays on the lone figure of Wang Lei. He moved gracefully, hands behind his back in the posture of a humble scholar. How can he still be angry over a few stolen things with that demeanor? As he nears, Wei Li Na makes a curt bow, careful not to let her flimsy cover slip. She greets him first.

Wang Lei looks at her, he turns away, a pink color stains his cheeks. Is he shy? Wei Li Na wonders, bewildered. She carefully eyes this young man, half a head taller than her. His lips drawn in a thin line. Her initial assessment was correct, this was indeed worthy of the moniker, "brother handsome". Revealing this side of himself, he can also be called "brother adorable and cute".