The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

CH 21

After a good minute, Ah-Xia came out carrying some dishes and passed them to Ah-Dong, who took them and nimbly walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Ah-Chun had just finished eating, and came out to catch sight of Ah-Dong heading over. “Why did you come here, too? You can set those dishes to the side there, first. There’s no one at the Madam’s side! What’ll be done if she needs something?”

Ah-Dong giggled. “Don’t worry, Sister Ah-Xia already came back. She’s standing watch by the Madam!”

Ah-Chun wrinkled her brow. “Didn’t she say she didn’t feel well? I even had her go see a doctor and get medication these couple of days.”

“Right, she said that her monthly came. She seemed to be really uncomfortable walking!”

Ah-Chun was astonished. “Her monthly came? How come I didn’t see her thong? Maybe it came just today…”

As soon as she said that, she apparently realized that it wasn’t appropriate to talk like this to an eight-year-old girl, and quickly shut up.

“Okay, Ah-Dong, go ahead and rest. Ah-Xia and I will be fine by the Madam.”

When Ah-Chun had just returned to Lady Zhang’s courtyard, she happened to see Ah-Xia coming out from inside. Following a second of close observation, she discovered that her complexion was indeed a bit pale, so she went up to greet her. “Ah-Xia, did you go to the doctor’s today?”

Ah-Xia smiled. “I did, but there were too many people there. I feared that the Madam would have some commands to go about here and you wouldn’t be able to do them by yourself, so I stopped waiting and came back.”

“You’re still not at ease about how I do things?” Ah-Chun rebuked her. “I told you to rest, yet you run off to come work again! It’s fine, go back and lay down! I’ll be okay here with the Madam!”

Ah-Xia made a gesture to keep quiet. “She just went to rest.”

Ah-Chun nodded, a concerned tinge to her face. “Is she still in a poor mood?”

The other sighed. “Yes. I comforted her some and had her go to sleep early. She had a bit of a headache. Let’s not go in and disturb her unless something’s wrong.”

“She’s sleeping inside the room, and I’ll be resting outside it. What harm’s in that?”

“There’s only one door separating the inside and outside. The Madam had us leave, so she obviously doesn’t want us to wake her up with the noise from tossing around in the middle of the night, right? You know as well as I that she sleeps lightly whenever she has a headache.”

“You’re right. I’ll stay out for the night, then.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Ah-Chun gave her a push. “That won’t do. Go rest now, your face is hard to look at like this.”

“I’m the one that should have been on duty today, how could I just dump it on you to go rest? I’m going with you and that’s that.”

“Didn’t Ah-Dong just say that you’re on your monthly?”

“I am. It just came today, but it’s much better now. If I’m sitting down, I feel fine.”

Ah-Chun couldn’t do anything, so they sat down beside a stone table in the courtyard. Thankfully, even though it was midsummer season and the weather was stuffy, it was pleasantly cool in the yard when one raised their head to look at the starry sky.

The two chatted idly. Once midnight came, they both got a little tired, and with their chins rested on their arms, they dozed off right there.

Ah-Chun yawned, standing up. “I’ll go in to check on how the Madam is sleeping, and if the windows are shut tight enough so that it doesn’t get cold.”