Chapter Text
On the day that their... ward was going to arrive, Xingchen woke early.
They usually rose with the sun, stoking the fire and feeding the animals as the fields and woods surrounding Baixue turned from ash-grey to copper-gold to green flecked with the last grayish-white snow.
Now however, the old house and the small stable and shed were still in the pitch-dark and pre-dawn cold of an early spring night. Still, Xingchen knew he there was no point in going back to sleep. Besides, a storm had been raging through the night. Best to check on the animals sooner rather than later.
Zichen was still asleep, a comforting warm presence next to him as Xingchen carefully extricated himself from the blankets and felt his way to the door in the dark. He did not light a candle until he reached the living space downstairs next to the kitchen, before pulling his worn coat over his sleep clothes and tending to the fire there. He'd make breakfast in a bit, the animals came first.
After two years at the farm, he barely needed the light he was carrying, his feet easily finding their way to the stable. Luckily, he could detect no big damages to the roof or the apple, cherry and hawthorn trees in their yard.
The animals - a horse, a few sheep and chickens, as well as two cats and a dog - were all accounted for and their usual greedy selves. Feeding them was quick work by now, even with minimal light and half-asleep.
Though today, Xingchen was wide-awake. He hoped everything was in fact prepared and ready. The whole thing was so far beyond his experience. He wasted some time petting Shuanghua, the dog, and then one of their mousers, the ginger one.
As a result, Zichen, who would be the one to travel to the train station, had already cooked and eaten by the time he came back inside. The rice-porridge was cooling in a pan on the kitchen table, a bowl set out for Xingchen.
"Sorry, love", Xingchen sighed. "I just wanted to finish the other chores before cooking, but I got distracted."
Zichen's smile was tired but warm. "It was no problem. I'll be leaving in a minute. Is there anything else I need to know?"
He was dressed already bar his overcoat, tall and handsome as ever, if a bit pale against the dark material of his clothes. Xingchen still couldn't get enough of looking at him, though they'd been together three years. How did he ever get so lucky?
"Xingchen." Zichen touched his arm, clearly to get to him to focus, a questioning look on his face.
Xingchen thought for a moment. "I don't think so", he finally answered the question.
"They should have told the girl everything at the orphanage. Other than that... well, she will be a few years younger than I am, I guess, and will be travelling with all her possessions. It shouldn't be hard to recognize her. Besides, the station master knows the locals and should be able to point out a new person. Just come straight back, and we can get to know each other."
Xingchen tried his best to infuse his voice with confidence.
Zichen, fully dressed now, nodded and stepped towards the door. He left without another word and Xingchen couldn't help but wonder with whom he would return.
But life went on in the meantime, and Xingchen had a delivery to make and some news to break to their closest neighbors over at Lotus Pier.
In a small, close-knit community as theirs, keeping secrets was difficult, as they knew only too well, and though this was not, in fact, a secret, it would be best to control at least some of the talk that would soon sweep through the town.
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"Have you really thought this through? It seems awfully risky."
Jiang Cheng did not look at him as he passed the medicinal herbs Xingchen had just delivered to him to a maid.
"We did", Xingchen replied politely, trying to keep his face blank and avoid Madame Yu's piercing gaze at the same time.
He hoped they would drop the topic quickly, but of course he wasn't so lucky.
"An orphan."
Xingchen did not have to look up to detect the sneer on Madame Yu's face.
"With no name or family, nor education. Has that person even worked before? Of course, it's hard to find servants now, but I could have recommended somebody."
"They're not just a servant, we're providing a home to..."
"Well", Madame Yu interrupted him, sounding even more scandalized. "If you were looking to adopt, you should have chosen an infant instead of a youth."
Jiang Cheng looked at his mother uncomfortably, clearly thinking of another orphan in the vicinity. Perhaps he was trying to change the subject, therefore, but his attempt was rather clumsy, as he turned back to Xingchen.
"Do they have experience of housekeeping or working on a farm, at least?"
Xingchen just smiled and tried for a non-committal nod, as he scooped up the now-empty bag of herbs. A faint sharp scent still emanated from its folds, which he found soothing.
"And is somebody acting as a guarantor?"
Xingchen opened his mouth to reply, though unsure of what to say. He never got a chance to speak anyway.
"Well, you want to be careful, and no mistake."
Madame Yu actually sounded offended rather than worried.
"I only recently read in the papers of an orphan, that one merely a young child, who ended up burning down the house of his benefactors. Once a lowlife, always a lowlife, I suppose."
She sighed, pouring herself some tea and offering none to Xingchen. Not that he wanted any, at this rate.
"At least you've chosen a girl, so it shouldn't be quite so bad, though you never know. Well, I suppose once she's old enough, if she's pretty and decent, she'll might finally make an honest man out of one of you.
"Jiang Cheng. Madame Yu. I'm so sorry, but I'm going to have to go. Zichen has left for the station, so there's much work on the farm."
Xingchen bowed and left quickly, lest he would say something he'd later regret.
He just about caught Jiang Cheng's pinched expression, before he was outside, the fresh air and early morning sun a blessing after the stuffy atmosphere of Lotus Pier's elegant drawing room.
He tried to shake off Madame Yu's comments. The fact that she thought one of them looked to marry the girl, well...
But though the idea that their neighbors might mistake the girl for a mail-order bride for one of them stung, it was the other things that worried him right now.
The truth was, he wasn't too sure either that he and Zichen had made the right decision, that they had not in fact taken an insurmountable risk.
He did not know if their ward had any kind of relevant experience of keeping house, in fact he was fairly sure whoever the girl was, she hadn't. How could she, if she was an orphan without her own home? He also was very certain that she would have no guarantor of any kind.
Although the orphanage did say that most of their older orphans, who were going to have to leave as adults in a year or so anyway, had in fact worked before.
As he walked back across the fields towards where he saw the familiar, beautiful wooden walls of Beixue, his unease did not pass, but intensify. After all, what if Madame Yu and Jiang Cheng had a point? Who were they letting into their lives? Into their community? Surely, no criminal - could a such a young woman even be dangerous?
He had thought they'd be doing a nice thing, offering an orphan an income and roof over their head, at least for a while, but what did he know? He'd only left the mountain a few years ago himself.
Of course he and Zichen didn't have children, but neither of them even had younger siblings, nor did they grow up with servants or many employees.
It didn't help that Zichen had been less than enthusiastic about the plan. It had been Xingchen's idea, through and through, and therefore it would also be his responsibility if things went awry.
He stopped near the door, next to the kitchen garden, to briefly close his eyes and take a deep breath. It wasn't like him to be so nervous. He was an optimistic person who trusted his instincts, and there was no reason to change his ways now. Things would work out just fine.
Xingchen continued to tell himself this repeatedly as he did every chore he could think of in an effort to make the morning go quicker, without much success. Time passed like treacle.
"Why so nervous?"
Jin Zixun had asked when he'd dropped by with the post, himself instead of a servant for once, clearly already intend on getting the gossip and disappointed at not seeing a new face himself yet.
He was also both annoyingly astute and alarmingly callous.
"If she's not what you wanted, you can just send her back."
"She may not have a place to go", Xingchen pointed out, to which Zixun just shrugged. "If the girl's not yet of age, surely the orphanage will take her back, or she'll just have to find other work."
Spoken like a man who'd never had to worry about such things, truly, Xingchen thought, suppressing a sigh, but did not argue.
Instead, he went upstairs, to the attic room they'd converted into a guest room.
It had a sloping roof and a window next to an apple tree. A bed with as many pillows and blankets as they had going spare, a chair, a chest of drawers. Creaking wooden floors. Nothing much, but he hoped their new housemate would like it.
At a sound, he eagerly looked out of the window, though it was rather too early for Zichen to return. And indeed, it was only Wen Ning, the young man who occasionally helped them out with the farm work.
Wen Ning's family were poor, and he was always helpful and glad for the money. But since he hadn't even finished his schooling, his time - and how much he could help Zichen - were limited. He could not, in other words, replace either Xingchen or Zichen.
Xingchen waved at him and Ning cheerfully waved back, before going straight to the stable, leaving Xingchen to his thoughts - and nerves.
From this vantage point, Xingchen could see the damage the storm had caused - not to the buildings, thankfully, but to the tender plants of spring. The apple trees bloomed later, but the frothy cherry blossoms and delicate hawthorn had been decimated, hundreds of delicate pale pink and white petals now lying in the mud.
The sight made him strangely melancholic. If he'd been a poet, he'd have written about it, he thought, then almost laughed out loud at himself. How ridiculous.
Still, while he didn't have an inclination for the arts, really, he had felt unfulfilled lately, in spite of how much he loved Zichen and Baixue. Maybe this change would help.
....................................................................
The cart ride to the station was fairly long, but pleasingly uneventful. The stormy morning had turned into a fine spring day with warm sunshine and a lingering chill in the breeze. Fuxue, their dappled grey gelding, cantered merrily along the muddy path. Somebody would have their work cut out trying to clean him.
Somebody would most likely be him, Zichen thought wryly, unless Wen Ning, their occasional stable boy, could work overtime.
It wasn't that Xingchen didn't help around the farm, clearly, although his main work was in medicine, sought after since Wen Qing was no longer in the neighborhood. But somebody had to do the housework, and it fell mostly to Xingchen, since Zichen had much more experience on the farm-side of things.
The plan Xingchen had laid out was to take on a ward who'd help around the house, thus freeing up some of his time, which he could divide between farm work and his medicinal herb business.
And if the young woman liked it, she could take on a full housekeeper role later, when she was of age, by which time they'd also know if they'd get along for longer. And if not, Xingchen had argued, they would still have provided a young person without connections some help in this world, until they could support themselves.
He'd made it sound plausible, good, even, but privately, Zichen was full of doubts.
They'd asked for somebody from a similar cultural background, but obviously couldn't make their relationship known. They were already hiding it in the wider community, Zichen did not look forward to have to sneak around his own home, so no one would know they were lovers.
Well, some people did already know, but those were far and few between. And Xingchen's claim that a young orphan wouldn't care about such things, wouldn't even notice, seemed incredibly naive to Zichen.
It worried him. Really, Zichen worried about lots of things these days.
Though raised in the countryside, Xingchen background was so very different from his own, the Songs having being part of a rural farming community for generations, in the old and new world.
Whereas he had no doubt that if not for meeting him, Xingchen would have stayed in the city after his studies and lived a very different life to the sedate seclusion of Baixue and their little community. The least he could do therefore was let Xingchen practice his vocation, medicine.
Which was why, against his own wishes and better judgement, he agreed to Xingchen's proposal of a hired help. Hired in this... unorthodox way.
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When he finally arrived at the station, a little later than planned due to a stone in Fuxue's shoe, the train had long since arrived and left again and the passengers apparently dispersed.
In fact, at first glance it seemed to Zichen that their ward had not arrived at all.
Feeling a mixture of frustration and, worryingly, a budding sense of relief at the empty train platform, Zichen was about to turn towards the station master's shed, for formality's sake, when he noticed someone in the shadows, watching him.
At first glance, he only saw a slender figure, dark hair of indeterminable length, a threadbare overcoat that may once have been some dark colour, but was now faded to grey, and a medium-sized, battered travelling trunk.
It seemed about right, so he steeled himself and walked towards her.
But as Zichen picked his way across the cracked, dirty stones of the platform, towards the person, he soon realized something. It was not a girl.
It was a boy, a young man, really, more slender than himself and shorter and younger than either he or Xingchen, with a thin, handsome face and, under strong brows, clever eyes full of a kind of fire that he immediately mistrusted.
Well. Whoever he was, he surely wasn't who Zichen was here for. He stopped abruptly, ready to turn around, go to the stage master and then home, where hopefully they'd just come up with a new plan.
But just then the young man who had watched him approach, warily yet somehow provocatively, called out to him.
"Hey, mister - you wouldn't be from Baixue farm now, would you?"
Zichen hesitated. What on earth was going on here?
Eventually, he turned back and walked closer before stopping a few meters away with a slight incline of the head.
"My name is Song Lan, from Baixue Farm. I'm meant to pick up a new hire."
Despite his words just now, he half-expected the young man, looking like any street urchin on closer inspection - to scoff or run away, but instead, he got up with a flourish of his overlarge coat and a sudden, bright, brazen grin.
"That'll be me indeed. Chengmei's the name. From the orphanage in Carp Town."
He picked up his trunk with surprising strength before Zichen could say anything else, and walked past him, too closely for Zichen's comfort.
"Where's your carriage, mister? You took your sweet time. I can't wait to be gone from here."
Zichen's hackles rose at the brazen admonishment, but worse, he felt his control slipping away.
"Hold up there."
The boy turned. If he had had a slightly sullen look at Zichen's first approach, he looked excited now, almost cheerful. Zichen cleared his throat.
"Um. You were sent by the orphanage in Carp Town? What did they tell you?"
"That's what I said." The boy looked confused now, and more than a little annoyed. Which was bad manners, but that was the least of Zichen's problems right now.
"What did they tell you?" Zichen asked again, sharper now.
The boy took a step back, away from him, scowling.
"Nothing much. Only that the owner of Baixue is looking for help with the farm, in exchange for room and board. And you'd also be my guardian until I reach my majority and so on..."
He waved his hand vaguely and pulled a face, clearly not pleased at the last part.
"And nobody from the orphanage came with you? They let you travel on your own?"
Nobody to complain to, anywhere. It was most vexing.
"Well, it's not as though I'm a child." The boy snorted. "Besides, Yao-ge who teaches at the orphanage took me to the station in Carp Town."
The boy shrugged, then gave Zichen a shrewd look that turned into a nasty sneer.
"What's the problem, mister? Not happy with your purchase?"
Now it was Zichen's turn to take a startled step back, before catching himself. No. He wasn't scared of what was, very clearly, still a child, whatever he might say.
He took a deep breath, willing himself not to shout at the boy - fine, the younger man.
"Mind your tongue. And it's not that. It's just that we had asked for a girl, to help keep house."
"Oh."
The boy dropped his trunk and stared down at his hands for a moment, before quickly withdrawing them into his coat when he noticed Zichen looking.
Odd, but again not the most pressing issue.
Zichen sighed. "I'm sorry you came for nothing."
He paused, thinking. Well, there was only one way to fix this, wasn't there?
"In that case, let's find the station master and see when the next train back to-"
"I have no coin", the young man cut in. He really had no manners.
He did, on second thought, have a point, though. Zichen pinched the bridge of his nose, already exasperated by this turn of events. He sighed.
"Never mind that, I'll pay for it. Any more objections?"
"No", the boy said after a moment, his voice toneless.
He looked smaller now, wrapped up in his old coat, as if his bravado and excitement alone had puffed him up like a peacock, or, more aptly, Zichen thought, a small songbird or kitten, that had now returned to its real size.
He had meant it, when he said he was sorry. But what could he do? This was not what they had planned, at all.
"Come now", he repeated, trying to make his voice confident yet soothing, an endeavor that probably failed spectacularly. "Let's find the station master.
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Not a half-hour later, they walked to back to Fuxue, together.
The station master, it should be noted, had been most unhelpful.
True, Zichen supposed he couldn't have magicked up a second train that day (who would have thought there was only one?). But he also had known no other solution, merely suggesting an overpriced inn. That Zichen would have to pay for, of course.
At least it had transpired in this their new guest, for a night at least, was 17 years old.
They reached the horse, and if he - Chengmei, Zichen reminded himself grudgingly - was further disappointed that the carriage he'd mentioned earlier turned out to be merely Fuxue in front of an old farmer's cart, he did not show it.
Instead, he easily and without Zichen's prompting placed his trunk in the back of the cart (he'd refused any help with carrying it), before swinging up onto the seat next to the driver.
After a moment, he noticed Zichen wasn't following and lifted his strong, inky brows at him. "What? Did you want me to sit in the back?"
It was said breezily, but Zichen felt there was more than a hint of defensiveness in his demeanour. He gave a curt shake of his head before pulling himself together and jumping into the driver's seat, taking up the reigns in his left hand and the whip in the right.
But he didn't give Fuxue the signal yet, turning instead to Chengmei.
This close, he could smell the young man slightly, a faint musky smell as of long-worn clothes. They need to be washed, Zichen thought absently, before turning away, uncomfortable to be so near to a stranger, no matter the age. He could have counted the boy's freckles, if he had wanted.
"You understand that this will only be for a night, yes? Tomorrow morning, I will bring you back. Again, I apologize for the trouble, but we're already two men and have a stable boy. We need something else."
"You already said that, I'm not deaf or stupid", Chengmei muttered, and Zichen found himself glad he was the wrong person, although this whole situation was a mess they hadn't needed.
But whatever happened, hopefully they'd never be forced to live with such a brat.
A brat that was not his to teach better manners, though, and so he merely clicked his tongue to get Fuxue to start moving.
The horse did so, slowly at first, then picking up speed as they entered the dirt road leading away from the station and town of Caiyi, towards the countryside and Baixue.
As they cantered along swiftly, Zichen noticed that Chengmei had lost his easy seat, one hand now tightly gripping the side of the cart. He had half a mind to tell him that Fuxue was a very calm horse and he an experienced driver, but when Chengmei noticed him looking, he hastily let go of the cart and withdrew his hands into the folds of his clothes again.
And anyway, hadn't he made it clear earlier that he was a big boy, who could handle himself? He didn't need Zichen to coddle him.
So Zichen deemed it right to just look ahead and focus on the road. Best to get back quickly, he thought, then just get through this day and one night, and things would be back to normal.