Apologies for the insanely long wait. I've realised some historical inaccuracies in the fic due to poor research, so here is a disclaimer:
Mandarin was not a major language in Taiwan at the time. Furthermore, most of the Han Chinese people in Taiwan weren't upper class, but were rather labourers from Fujian.
Don't study for your Taiwanese history exam through this fic, y'all D: Nevertheless, I'm still going to continue this fic. If historical fiction is allowed to have inaccuracies, I'm sure that a fictional retelling of a legend is allowed as well.
For two more years, Jan and Mei continued this lifestyle of waking up late, rushing to class, and barely passing their classes. Over time, they got used to this new schedule, figuring out how to study without oversleeping, and improving their skills and techniques. Over time, Jan's fluency improved, from a few heavily accented words to having his speech nearly indistinguishable from a native speaker's. Now that the teacher had stopped paying attention to Jan's lack of fluency, he was able to do better in his classes. Some acquaintances had congratulated him for being able to master his subjects, even while being a foreigner.
But to be honest, Jan couldnt've been where he is now without his good friend, Tang, who was the first one to befriend him here, who sat at the desk next to him for the past few years. Tang, who never stopped supporting him, helping him, even when they needed to both study until midnight and when Tang needed support in classes he struggled in as well. Sometimes, there are times when he was very grateful of Tang's friendship.
Plum blossoms drifted onto Tang's side of the desk as the teacher lectured, when Tang would've brushed them away already. Jan huffed. Due to a cold, Tang couldn't come to class today, and had to stay in his dormitory. Today was awfully quiet without Tang there to talk with him.
After the bell tolled and the last lesson finished, Jan followed the rest of the students back to the dormitories. Passing by Tang's dormitory, he paused. It wouldn't hurt to pay him a visit. To check how he is faring with the cold and all that. He rushed back to his own dormitory to put his class materials down, deciding that he will pay his classmate a visit.
"ACHOO!" Mei sneezed into the sleeve of her white undergarment, her nose still blocked and her head pulsing. She rubbed her head, trying to ease the small migraine.
The bright side was that she could take off her bindings for a whole day. At the thought of that, a happy sigh came out as she relaxed into the covers.
"Tang, may I come in?" Mei bolted up. Whipping towards the doors, Jan's tall silhouette peeked behind the paper window.
"Jan!" She gruffened her voice to the best of her ability despite her ill state. "Hang on!" That binding cloth! Where was it, where was it?
Aha! The edge hid under the beddings! Yanking the cloth out, she tied it around her chest and tucked in the loose ends.
"You can come in now!" She declared, putting on her best gruff voice despite the cold. Jan entered with a bowl of medicine. But at the sight of her, he raised an eyebrow, and glanced up and down at Mei. Was something wrong? A cool sheen of sweat covered her skin as Jan rubbed his chin. She gave out a nervous chuckle. "What's wrong?"
It then came to her that she forgot to do her hair. With her hair down, she looked like a girl.
Oh. No wonder he looked do confused.
"... Are-"
"Yep, you've got me!" She chuckled, relaxing into her normal voice, "I'm a girl."
The bowl shattered onto the floor as Jan widened his eyes and froze.
It then came to Mei that that probably wasn't the conclusion Jan thought of. Oh dear. Mei gave out a sheepish smile. "Erhm… surprise?]
After she calmed him down and Jan cleaned the mess before getting a new bowl of medicine, Mei explained to Jan everything. How she passed the entrance exam disguised as a man, how she made sure to put up her hair and gruffen her voice, as well as bound her chest using a cloth, and how miraculously, no one noticed. As Jan listened, he was surprisingly calm, stroking his chin and nodding occasionally.
"So… no one must know." Mei nodded.
"Uh-huh."
"Otherwise, you can't attend anymore."
Mei chewed her bottom lip. "Uh-huh." Jan squinted and looked up and down as he stroked his chin.
He huffed and shrugged. "Certainly." Mei gasped! "You've passed the entrance exam, after all. Why not- OOF!" His words were cut off when Mei tackled him in a hug.
"Thank you, Jan!" She cheered. "thank you so so so so much!"
"Ah, don't worry. I'm just surprised at how I wasn't able to notice for so long. That's all." Sensing that her hug was a little too tight, Mei let go.
"Me neither!" Mei stuck out her tongue as she brushed back her hair. "Every morning I prayed that I wouldn't be found out. I guess that all that praying sorted out then!"
Jan shook her hand, looking into her shiny, obsidian eyes with his own leafy green ones. "On the other hand, I promise that I won't tell anyone, Mei. Erhm…" he glanced to the side, chewing his lips in thought. "Do you prefer Tang or Mei?"
"Either's fine! I've been called Tang for a while now, it's a second name for me." Jan raised an eyebrow at Mei's response and smiled.
"I think that I'll try my best to use your original name, or at least both." Mei raised her eyebrows and smiled at Jan's earnesty. "Oh! And by the way," Jan started as he presented a bowl of hot, green medicine, "I brought some medicine for you from the kitchen,"
Mei looked at the concoction, and shrivelled and scrunched her nose in disgust at the hot, herbal vapours. "Gosh, I hate drinking medicine. The smell reminds me of garden mulch!" Even with her nose blocked, the herbal smell sneaked through, and she wrinkled her nose. To stop that dreaded scent, Mei pinched her nose as she prepared to down that thing in one go.
"You need to drink it so that you can get better faster," Jan reasoned.
"I know, I'm just preparing to drink it," she replied. Jan was looking down at the medicine for some reason, however.
"Hang on." Rolling up his long sleeves, he held the bowl up to his mouth.
"GOSH! Hey, no need to taste it, I can drink it fine!" Jan put the bowl down.
"I know, I know, I'm checking the temperature, only my lip touched it," Jan replied. Upon closer inspection, Mei realised that only his bottom lip was shiny from being dipped into the concoction.
"Oh." She gave a small giggle. "Excuse me. Thank you, though."
With a sigh of satisfaction, Jan placed the bowl beside her, and dipped a spoon inside. Knowing that she needed to drink it to get better, she grabbed the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of the tar thick substance.
"Careful, it's hot!" He warned.
"I know, I know!" Mei blew on the medicine and drank small portions from the spoon as she pinched her nose. She winced when a jab of pain stabbed her throat as soon as she swallowed.
"You alright?" Mei nodded.
"Yep! My throat's just really sore from the cold and all," she replied as she touched her throat. Jan nodded.
"Ah. Drink it slowly, then."
Jan stayed by her side for the rest of the afternoon. By the time the bowl was empty, it was dusk. The tangerine sunset mingled with the navy blue twilight as the crickets chirruped and the bamboo rustled. As it turned dark, Jan lit a lamp. Mei let out a happy sigh as she lied in the bed. It was quiet for a while, with only said crickets and bamboo filling the space in between. Wanting to start a conversation, Mei tapped her knee and thought.
Maybe it was the way the room was illuminated this golden colour or maybe it was the way the crickets chirruped as the evening approached, but Mei thought of how she used to sneak into her father's study at night. Open his books, read about the places around the world and all that. It was a fond childhood memory, one where she'd read about what happened outside of her little island home. About the Ming treasure voyages, where envoys sailed to the Indian Ocean more than a millennia ago, and about the silk road, where China used to trade silk with Daqin for glass. So she wondered that since Jan was studying to be a merchant, perhaps he's been to similar places.
"Jan?" He looked over his shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Since you're a merchant in training and all, have you seen much of the world? Since your father is a merchant and all," Mei asked. Jan raised his eyebrows and stroked his chin.
"No... not exactly. I've only planned to be stationed at Formosa so far. I've been to England and Scandinavia, however, if that would help." Mei nodded.
"Ah." She balanced her head between her knees. "I see. So you stayed in the Netherlands?" Jan looked to the side. Walking nearer towards Mei, he nodded.
"Yes. I grew up in the Netherlands my whole life." He glanced to the side and sat beside the bed. "Though… I should be able to travel more in the future."
For a moment, they enjoyed the ambient silence outside.
"I'd love to see some more of the world someday, too," she continued, "I've only ever been to the mainland." Jan looked up.
"Where to?" She perked up.
"Oh! Well…" There were so many places! The Mughal Empire, Japan, the myriad of kingdoms in Europe… which one would she pick?
"I'd… like to visit Italy."
"Italy?"
"Yes! It's the home of Marco Polo, and I think that Daqin was located there as well. Which nowadays is called…" She stroked her chin. "Rome!" Jan raised his eyebrows.
"Huh, good choices there!" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd… like to visit there as well."
"Really now!" He nodded.
"Italy's the birthplace of the Renaissance, and of many great artists." To her surprise, a small smile stretched on the corner of Jan's mouth. "With the Baroque movement happening right now, there's a lot of good artistic innovations happening over there. Architecture, music, art… so yes. It'd be really nice to go there." The sight of Jan's small smile made Mei's spirits soar. It wasn't that often that Jan smiled, so to see him be happy was a nice change of pace.
"Where else?" Mei asked.
"Hm? Oh. Where else…" Jan crossed his arms and stroked his chin. "Hmm… no, I'm not too sure if there's anywhere else I'd like to go." Mei huffed.
"I see. Oh! How about Japan?"
"Japan?"
"Since they sometimes let Dutch merchants in and all!"
"Ah. I… suppose that that's a good place to go, too."
They talked for the rest of the evening, discussing the future and about their dreams, long after the day melted into the night. As Jan returned to his dormitory, Mei fell back onto the bed. The fever had been uncomfortable, but Jan's company was enough to distract her from that. Talking about where they would like to go… she smiled.
Mei decided that she loved Jan's company much more than she had thought.