章 58: Chapter fifty four
In the room of Yang Ying, Lantian was standing with her eyes watching the menu that Caihong had brought to Wan Hua Lou.
Like mentioned above that the elder woman understood her younger sis very well. She guessed that she would bring the food to the tester by herself without waiting for her. Also, she could guess that the girl might meet another failure again. However, she was unable to do anything. She just wanted to confirm her guess, so after she got up from sleep, she quickly came to the entertained house.
While she was eyeing the cold dishes, Yang Ying came to stand near.
"She brought them to me at lunch time," she said.
"She rushed," Lantian stated, then she exhaled a slight wind through her nostrils.
"Actually, these foods are not bad," Yang Ying stated. "If you want, I can tell mother Wang…"
"No need," Lantian cut in. "She will not be happy if she knows it. Furthermore, I want her to learn. She has lived in the well for many years. Now it's time for her to leave her comfort zone."
"I see what you mean." Yang Ying nodded her head. "Anyway, do you want to see her? When she left Wan Hua Lou, I saw her face was so sad."
"I think it is not necessary."
"But I am worried about her. She should need someone to comfort her. It's her first experience in the society. At least, you should give her an idea."
"At this time, the person she needs the most is herself. She has to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. If she cannot find it, though there are hundreds of me, it still does not have any benefit."
Hearing this claim, Yang Ying stopped her lips to open. She understood well that Lantian wanted to help Caihong. She wanted her to learn to depend on herself, not to wait or ask for help from others.
It was correct. In Lantian's opinion, Caihong was like a small lotus that was staying by the surface of the water and covered by big leaves. She thought staying like this would be safe for her, but she didn't know that if she continued living such a life, she would not grow up and one day her stem would rot and die or she would be eaten by fish, crab and other animals. If she wanted to get rid of these, she had to come out from the shade. In conclusion, she had to become a mature lotus and bloom. And if she wanted to be that, she needed to be brave to get out of her shelter and go through wind, rain and heat.
It was like two years ago when Lantian was teaching Yang Ying how to overcome the sorrow in her life as a courtesan, she used a similar technique. She allowed her to find out by herself, especially her goal of living. She told her though she could not get out of the whorehouse, she should not work as a whore for the whole life; she should develop herself to another position which was higher. She told her to observe people around her that she could use as an example to encourage and to guide herself.
Yang Ying followed the instruction, then she noticed one person, it was mother Wang, the owner of Wan Hua Lou.
In truth, mother Wang was a former prostitute along the street. She had sold her body to get food to feed her old parents. After her parents had died, she still had worked the same but she had saved money; then, she had opened Wan Hua Lou and became its boss lady.
After learning the history of mother Wang, Yang Ying saw that in this world it was not only her, there were many women meeting miserable lives and some might have had more sorrowful lives than her and women in Wan Hua Lou. Following, she decided to develop herself.
With help from Lantian, Yang Ying learnt how to manage the menu production in Wan Hua Lou till she was skillful and was trusted by mother Wang. Nowadays, she was able to limit her working time as a serving woman and turned to focus on marketing tasks.
Not only her but also her sisterhoods. Lantian would not be bored to share and guide if any of them wanted to learn.
Now, the high girl spread her aid towards the illegitimate daughter of Yang Fu. However, Yang Ying noticed a difference between when she was helping her and others and when she was assisting Caihong.
When Lantian was guiding her or her sisterhoods, she was clear and serious, but now, while she was helping the girl of Yang, her mind was not grim.
Yang Ying could clearly perceive the lips of Lantian that said she didn't want to see Caihong, but her true mind was worried and wanted to go to her; however, she tried to stop herself – since she wished for Caihong to gain success by her own effort.
At the log, Caihong just finished working with the white water lily pot. When she was organizing the garden stuff, her eyes met with the basket that Lantian had put vegetables and carried into the house for her. She walked near it, she touched it gently, then she was reminded of the words that the elder sis had stated.
"Delicious food is the food that makes everyone happy including the cook and the eater. It doesn't need to use special ingredients. You can use what you have in your kitchen. Even though it is a piece of cabbage, you can create something wonderful."
At that time, magically, Caihong eyed through the opened door of the kitchen. Before the portal, she saw the grinding stone. Then she spun and walked towards the shelf by the wall to check and found out she had some white cabbage, dried chili and a pot filled with soybean.
Voice of the high lady echoed in her ears, "The importance is you have to find out what you like and what you are good at."
Caihong grinned from ear to ear. Now, she got the meaning of cooking delicious food. Without waiting, she carried the soybean pot towards the grinder. She put the pot near the stone machine, then prepared the needed ingredients to produce the soy milk.
As for Lantian, she was still in the room of Yang Ying at the Wan Hua Lou.
By the opened window, she stood with her hand clasped behind her back, while her eyes looked lower and her lips didn't smile even a bit.
With such an expression, Yang Ying sensed that no longer her female client would say goodnight to her.
Like her guess. Lantian turned and said, "I'm going now." Then she left without halting feet or looking at her for a bit.
Even so, Yang Ying still held a beam over her face. In the evening, she knew that Lantian's mind was thinking deeply about Caihong; she would not be able to be patient; soon she would break her words to check for the girl in her heart. And she was not wrong.
After leaving Wan Hua Lou, Lantian directed towards the residence of Yang. Since Yang Fu, his wives and daughters were busy outside, the house was quite quiet and she could enter easily through the back door. When she arrived in the yard of the house of Caihong, she wished to go to find her in her bedroom, but then she heard a noise from the right side of outdoor garden of the house, so she walked to check and saw Caihong was grinding the soybean. Seeing that, she smiled because she sensed the young lady was in the process of finding herself. Though it was just a start, it was really good.
As for Caihong, she didn't have a clue that there was a person watching her. She was putting her heart and soul into her work since she wanted to make the food that she loved.
The sky was getting darker and the wind was blowing cooler. Though Caihong still struggled with her tiny fingers to swirl the grinder to crush the crops, and once in a while she poured the water into the hole to mix with the seeds to create the milky out.
Because she had worked in the garden for hours, her hands were losing strength. However, she tried to hold on the handle and move it around till her palms were red. Was she hurt? Yes, she was hurt, but she didn't stop and she didn't cry either.
Suddenly, a palm enlarged from behind to cover her hand which was holding the grinder's handle. Caihong was surprised but then a familiar voice spoke into her right ear, "Let me help you."
"Wu Lantian," Caihong exclaimed.
"Yes, it's me," Lantian said in a low voice before she enlarged her left hand to grab the soybean to put into the grinder's hole, and whispered at the same time her right palm that was over the right hand of Caihong started to move the handle around, "From tomorrow, I will be busy. So, allow me to help you with your work for tonight."
Didn't know why, the heart that was always tense was softened immediately after hearing the gentle voice of the behind lady. Through silence, Caihong agreed to be supported by the third miss of the city mayor. With this kind of aid, she felt her hand was not painful like the last moment and her energy was able to be saved also.
Slowly and slowly, the grinder went around, in a row, by the combination of hands of the two females. Once in a while, Lantian captured the soybean crops in her left palm to put into the trench of the grinder; then, Caihong would use her left hand to pour some water into the same trench. A few seconds later, the cloud-color-liquid came out from the pouring spout falling into the white large bowl that was placed under it.
The wind was still blowing and it was still cold. But with the elder lady covering, Caihong didn't feel any chill. Close to her right ear, she felt the warm and steady breaths from her nostrils. That kind of wind made her heart tremble and inside her belly there were several strings jumping in a row. To reduce the quake inside body, she tried to keep a distance but Lantian seemed to not want a gap between. She stood so close that Caihong could feel her back was touching with her front body.
"Don't stand closely. I don't have a shower yet."
Though Lantian didn't care. "I don't smell anything besides the fragrance of flower," she stated, then she came closer making Caihong feel strongly trembling inside. However she agreed to stay silent because she knew that there was no way to refuse.
After getting enough soymilk, Caihong prepared to make tofu. There were a few stages to produce the soft white substance and Lantian assisted the girly until the last phase.
When it was midnight, the important ingredient was successfully made.
Caihong collected the stuff to clean and arranged them on the shelf. When she came back from the kitchen, she saw Lantian was sitting on a chair in the living room with her head leaning against the wall and her arms hugging herself under her chest. It looked like she was more tired than her.
It was true, even though Lantian had slept from morning till evening, her energy charged only half. It was because her brain thought about the lassie, who was watching her, making her rest was not full, and after working on the grinder at last moment, she felt sleepy that she could not endure. As a result, she had to lay herself on the chair like at this time.
"She will catch a cold if she sleeps like this."
Straight away, Caihong went into her bedroom to get a blanket then came out to cover the body of Lantian. When she was about to leave, suddenly Lantian grabbed her right wrist and pulled her to sit on her lap while her eyes were still shut.
"Hey, let me go," Caihong yelled.
Even though Lantian didn't release her hand. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Caihong's body tightly.
"Let me go. What are you doing?" Caihong stated and tried to pull herself from the embrace. But she seemed to have not achieved victory. The more she struggled, the more Lantian tightened her.
With tied eyebrows and narrowed eyes, Caihong stared at the female who was hugging her. She knew that she woke up but she acted she was sleeping in order to gain advantage from her. However, she realized that it was useless for her to want to get rid of her hands; the daughter of Wu Guang would not allow it surely. Seeing there was no chance to win, including she was also tired, Caihong concurred to stop refusing and drop her head and close her big round eyes on the hard chest of the high woman.
Though within latch peepers, Lantian could sense her conquest. She revealed a smile before she organized the blanket to cover her and herself.
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