Chapter thirty four

"Luckily, we arrived here," Lantian said.

When she heard it, Caihong seemed to have a small guilt because at the last moment she did not believe her. However she did not confess any word. As she looked at her hand and found her wrist was still inside the bigger woman's palm, quickly she snatched it off and moved to stand a little far and inspected the place.

This hut seemed to be abandoned for many years. It was old, messy and dirty everywhere. There was a door and there were two windows next to it. Door's sheet was still useful, but the windows' sheets were all broken. It was fortunate that the rain was not strong, so it did not come into the house.

On the floor, there were a few wood pieces suitable for being chairs; Caihong went to sit on one of them.

At the window, Lantian was checking the rain, "At the horizon there is no dark cloud. This rain will not last longer."

After claiming, she made way to sit on the wood next to the girl.

"How do you know there is a hut here?" Caihong asked.

"I used to come here," Lantian said.

"You came to this hill often, right? Or you might not be able to know the way like this."

Lantian grinned and pointed her eyes at the girly, "Are you praising me?"

Hearing it, Caihong rolled her eyes and expressed Ugh. The boastful attitude and joking of the woman made her lose feeling to talk with.

Outside the rain didn't stop yet.

Because the hut was a small space, there was nowhere to visit, only sitting still. Caihong felt weary and impatient so she thought of something to do. She took her hanging from her waist then used her hem of sleeve to clean it.

From the left, Lantian examined the way Yang's daughter was washing her property. She saw she was caring about that thing, so she questioned her, "Is this hanging from your mother?"

"No," Caihong shook her head, "it's from my father."

"Why does it have only one mandarin bird?"

"I don't know."

"It's strange."

Hearing that, Caihong raised her face and watched the female speaker with an unpleasant expression. "The strange thing is your hanging," she said.

Lantian took her hanging to hold in hand, "It's not strange. It is unique."

Caihong rolled her eyes then she carried on to clean the hanging.

"Your hanging is white. Do you like white color?" Lantian continued.

"No. My favorite color is sky blue."

"But I see you are wearing only white dress."

"My mother likes white."

The elder lady raised one eyebrow as she heard it. "I heard your birth mother isn't with you," she claimed.

Caihong wagged her head and said in a low voice, "She died after she gave birth to me." 

"Do you think her death is because of you?"

Though the younger girl didn't respond, but through her face, Lantian could sense she got it right. 

"You think if she didn't have you, she wouldn't die," she added.

"Everyone in the house said this. I am the one who made my mother die."

When she said it, her voice was lower and her face showed a big sorrow. However she was trying to hide by downing her eyes and wiping the jade object in her hand.

"My mother likes white color and she likes rainbow. That's why she named me Caihong. She even said if the rainbow were white, it would be great."

"You never met your mother. How can you know?"

"I heard about her from my wet nurse."

"Um." Lantian wagged her head in a row. Now, she understood more about the second girl in Yang's family.

"After I was born, I lived with my wet nurse. I know about my mother from her," Caihong explained. "My wet nurse told me that before my mother died, she said that she did not wish for me to live in a big house or gold mountain, she just wanted me to live happily. Moreover, she did not want me to do what I don't want to do."

"I can see your mother loves you so much. I think you have two reasons to dress in white. First it's because your mother likes white color and second you feel guilty that you made your mother die, you wear it to mourn for her." 

The little woman did not speak a word – because what the elder sis spoke was correct.

"Well, it seems your father does not like you," Lantian added.

The girl stayed silently and kept her eyes on the object.

"If he likes you, he wouldn't send you here alone. Though he is from the province, I don't think he doesn't know that this hill doesn't have any farm."

"It's my eldest sister who told me to get the persimmon here," Caihong stated.

Hearing that, Lantian giggled, "She lied to you."

"I have nothing for her to lie to."

"You think that you have nothing, but for your sister, she thinks you have and she needs to take it from you."

Caihong stayed quiet. However, she felt that Lantian had a point. Her sister never liked her, she didn't allow her to show up in the family, how could she call her to take the fruit for her father? What the cart driver had said and done was the true evidence that she had a plot against her. 

Though it was family's matter. Caihong did not want to spread it out of the house. She kept her mouth shut and finished cleaning her hanging, then returned it to her waist.

"Are you cold?" Lantian asked.

Caihong shook her head, "No."

"The rain will stop soon."

The description did not catch Caihong's feeling because her mind was interested in other things.

"Why do you come here?" She asked.

"You guess!" Lantian said.

"I remember you said today you are busy taking your mother to meet with the queen."

"You remember what I said."

It was not happy but a kind of shyness as Caihong heard the sentence from the mouth of Wu's girl. "Don't think anything nonsense," she said.

Lantian shrank her eyes. "It's not nonsense," she stated, "and it is not a shame to admit that you remember my words, unless you have another purpose."

"I don't have," Caihong hurriedly denied.

Seeing the attitude of the girly, Lantian giggled.

"You are tricky," Caihong said with her eyebrows knotted.

However the elder girl was not angry; instead she grinned very big.

Even though the lady did not tell, Caihong was able to guess she came here because of her.

"How can you know I am here?"

"I have magic eyes."

Caihong shook her head when she heard the answer. This woman liked to make a joke - she made her feel bored to communicate with her. 

At that time, the rain stopped falling.

"We can go now," Lantian stated.

Then the two girls got out of the hut and went down the hill. At the foot of high ground, they met a carriage of a kind merchant, he agreed to take them to the gate of the town.

As lunch time passed, the pair of women arrived in the city.

Through the crowded street, Caihong walked at a rapid speed.

"Hey," Lantian caught her hand, "where are you going?"

"I need to go home," Caihong told.

"I'm hungry. Let's have a meal first."

"But…"

"Come on."

Without waiting for answer, Lantian pulled Caihong towards the food store along the road.

In fact, Caihong did not want to go, but she was reminded of the woman's help at the hill; furthermore, she did not get lunch either, she was hungry, so she went along with the elder woman to have the food.

"Seller, give two bowls of noodles," Lantian called.

"Yes, wait for a minute," the seller said and hurriedly made the noodles. When the food was cooked, he hurriedly brought them to the guests.

"Hurry up. I want to go home," Caihong stated.

"Walking down the hill by foot takes hours. You can use it as a reason you are late if someone asks you," Lantian said.

"I don't lie."

"It's not a lie. It's true. You were tricked to go to that hill and left there and you came down by walking. If your house members do not believe you, call me. I will be your witness."

The speech of the girl was loud. Caihong was scared that people around would hear it, so she tried to change the matter.

"Even though I should go home early. The evening is coming soon."

"Are you afraid that your eldest sister will blame you?"

Caihong didn't respond to this question.

"Don't worry. She won't blame you."

"How can you know?" 

"Don't believe me? Then let's have a bet."

"Bet again!" Caihong narrowed her eyebrows. "You are a woman, but you like to bet."

"So what if I am the woman and I like to bet!" Lantian said and looked straight at the eyes of the girl.

It was a boring thing that Caihong didn't want to talk about it. She dipped chopsticks into the bowl and pulled the pieces of noodle to her mouth. However, the daughter of the high governor did not allow her to have a peaceful time.

"Are you scared of losing to me?"

This sentence made Caihong raise her face and pointed her eyes straight at the eyes of the female asker.

"I don't bet because I don't like gambling. Betting is a kind of gambling too. Not because I am scared of losing to you," she clarified.

"If you aren't, let's have a bet. It's simple. When you arrive home, if your sister blames you, you win, then we cancel the four days that you have to accompany me; if your sister doesn't blame you, you lose, we keep the number of days, I don't add."

Caihong narrowed her eyebrows, "Easy like this?"

"Yes, it's easy like this," Lantian confirmed.

"Aren't you afraid if my sister doesn't blame me and I tell you that she blames me?"

"I trust you."

This sentence caused Caihong to have a big surprise. It was unbelievable that there was an outside person saying that she trusted her. Her heart, at this time, jumped strangely, but it seemed to be at ease, warm, and it seemed to bend - towards the side of the elder lady that was sitting next to her. 

Eating already, Lantian walked Caihong to the back door of the house.

After getting in, Caihong went to see her eldest sister.

"Sister, there is no persimmon," she said.

Like Lantian had said, Ehaung did not blame, instead she smirked and spoke, "Never mind" before she turned her back and left.