Chapter 28
Huang Li-Hua dutifully sipped her morning tea. The medicine in it tasted quite bitter and upset her stomach, but Runyu had been so adamant that she must take it every day so she soldiered on. The bottle was almost empty now. In a few days she would be done. That would be a relief.
As she sipped her tea, she nibbled at a rice cracker. That helped with the nauseating effect. She had bought these crackers yesterday from the village baker, and she couldn't help but think that he had been looking at her in a funny way. All of the villagers were now looking at her that way. It was like she had two heads or something.
"Maybe they don't approve of the wedding?" she asked herself. It was frowned upon for a commoner to marry into the noble class. Still, she thought that the villagers had loved her enough not to hold that against her.
"It's not like I'm going to a life of leisure" she griped to herself under her breath. Runyu had been very clear that he needed someone capable of hard work. He obviously wanted her to cultivate plants, and to tend to all of the plants she would be bringing with her as part of her dowry. She would probably cook and clean as well.
She wondered about what he liked to eat. She was planning what she should cook for him on the first day when she was startled to hear hoofbeats on the road outside her house. The sound of the hooves changed to a skid and the animal let out a sharp neigh.
"Water!" yelled a man's voice from outside the gate.
Li-Hua sprang into action. The people of her class were expected to serve nobles whenever they demanded, and if this man was riding a horse, then he was of noble class. She rushed outside, forgetting her hat and veil in her haste. (Mother had started to make her wear a veil a couple of weeks ago, but she wasn't used to it yet. She kept forgetting.)
There were two men on horseback outside the gate. The horses were lathered in sweat and blowing heavily. The men were red-faced and disheveled, hair windswept. One of the men she recognized. He was the son of the Lord who owned these lands. The other man she wasn't familiar with. He was currently teasing the Lord's son in a jocular tone.
"I think I won that one, eh Liu Min?" he asked arrogantly.
The Lord's son did not reply. Li-Hua ducked back into the house to fetch two cups, and then filled them with water from the small cistern at the front door. She then walked them over to the two young noblemen, and humbly offered them up to where they were seated astride their horses. First she served the Lord's son, whom she judged to be the highest ranking, careful to keep her eyes downcast. Then she moved to serve the other man. As she held the cup of water up over her head, the horse gave a sudden snort, startling her, causing her to spill some of the water.
"Wo Cao!" exclaimed the nobleman. Reflexively, she looked up in alarm, then quickly back down to the ground.
"Well! Aren't you something!" he said incredulously, taking the cup from her hand. "Liu Min" he called. "Get a look at this girl!"
"Come over here" the Lord's son ordered her.
Li-Hua reluctantly moved back over to his horse, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground, fear beginning to build in her. She felt something hard underneath her chin, forcing her head up. As her head came up she could see that it was the nobleman's riding crop.
"It's YOU!" he exclaimed.
Li-Hua froze, wide-eyed. She was not sure what she had done previously to gain this man's attention, but she was regretting it now.
"I had thought it was just a trick of the light, but your eyes really are yellow" he declared in wonder.
"Oh ho ho!" laughed the other noble. "Going for wife number 2?" he asked. "Your first wife won't be too happy" he warned.
Li-Hua did not know what to do. If she spoke out of turn she could be beaten for it. If these men kidnapped her, there was nothing her mother would be able to do about it. Not only could they ruin her marriage with Runyu, they could ruin her chances of ever marrying at all.
"Runyu!" she thought desperately. "I wish you really were a dragon! You could save me!" the thoughts screamed inside her mind.
As her mind raced in panic, the nobleman fixed his gaze upon her in a calculating manner, using the riding crop to tilt her head this way and that. She imagined this was what a horse felt like when being bought and sold. It was unpleasant.
Suddenly a thunder bolt crashed loudly in the nearby vicinity, causing the horses to rear up in panic. The noblemen struggled to get their horses under control. One of them took off running down the road.
"Chen Yan!" yelled the Lord's son after the retreating figures. He steered his horse around and took off after them.
Li-Hua breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared from sight. She looked up at the sky, searching for the rain clouds that must be close, trying to see what direction the storm would be coming from.
The sky was crystal clear, not a cloud in sight.
