In Search of Love 9
But the kinds of things in this world that left her feeling indignant were too many.
Like going to the bathroom, for example, or bathing, or brushing teeth…..
That night, Ran Feize drew water for himself from the well and proceeded to take a bath in the backyard; Su Xiaopei was envious from hearing the sound. She had been walking all day and was now covered in mud and sweat. She really needed a good bath and hair washing.
But her two legs were truly useless at this point and she sat on the edge of the bed entirely wary of moving about recklessly. To go fetch water and carry it back into the room would be too difficult a task for her currently limited strength.
But while it was still manageable when she didn’t think about bathing, the moment her thoughts strayed in that direction, the more she ruminated over it, the more she felt her body was unbearably filthy. The thought of not washing became intolerable.
Su Xiaopei prepared herself psychologically; she was already in this state so it wouldn’t make a difference if she approached this with brazenness one more time.
And so upon waiting for Ran Feize to return after he finished cleaning himself, she spoke up. “Warrior, do me a favor and help draw a bucket of water for me.”
“What for?”
“To bathe.”
For a woman to mention such a thing to man wasn’t quite appropriate in this world, was it?
No matter, Warrior had probably gotten used to her, Su Xiaopei said to herself.
Indeed, Ran Feize didn’t seem to overreact or make a fuss and simply looked at Su Xiaopei’s legs without saying a word.
“As Warrior can see, my legs are simply incapacitated. Once my injuries are healed, I will surely repay Warrior; I can swap places and work instead at that time.”
To say such bold words shamelessly! Ran Feize’s face twitched, disbelief clearly on his face. The way she revealed her ability to sew a pair of socks was already telling; just what else could he possibly expect her to do for a living?
Su Xiaopei didn’t continue making boastful claims. Besides, what she wanted to say were simply those; it was fine as long as her intent was expressed.
Ran Feize went out once more in the end and brought Su Xiaopei a bucket of water as well as a towel. Then he turned to leave once again and closed the door behind him.
Su Xiaopei wobbled and wiggled around until she was beside the bucket, sat on the chair, and undressed herself to scrub down.
The water was extremely cold but Su Xiaopei still happily scrubbed away. She couldn’t wash her hair so she wiped at what she could gather. The fatigue she felt was akin to having fought in a battle when she was done.
She called for Ran Feize to come in and he silently helped her tidy and clean up the aftermath. Su Xiaopei was truly grateful in her heart and zealously thanked him.
Ran Feize didn’t have any particular reaction and simply went about his way rummaging through his belongings and left again. He busied himself for a while before he entered the room. Su Xiaopei was puzzled and ask, “What is Warrior busy with?”
“Rinsing the mouth.”
Su Xiaopei’s eyes sharpened as she honed in on what looked to be a toothbrush in his hands and suddenly became ecstatic, “Toothbrush!”
Ran Feize was utterly baffled as he stood there looking at the item in his hand with a look of befuddlement.
“Warrior has a toothbrush?”
“Everyone uses the tooth bristle to polish teeth, does Miss not do so?”
[TL/N: ‘牙枝’ literally translates to ‘tooth twig’ but they’re more like bristles made of coarse animal hair. This first appeared in China some time during the Tang Dynasty and was later made with horsehair instead.
揩齿- literally means wiping/polishing the teeth.]
Su Xiaopei froze with her mouth open. She had kind of mistakened ‘polishing teeth’ as ‘commencing*’ but she also thought it might have been ‘open-mouth’. At last, she could only quietly say, “I also want to rinse the mouth.”
[TL/N: Both 揩齿 (brushing teeth) and 开始 (commence/to begin) sound similar enough phonetically and in intonation (开齿 also sounds the same, but doesn’t really have a meaning other than literally ‘open teeth’ which makes no sense. It miiight mean knocking out a tooth…so I opted for ‘open-mouth’). That’s why she’s confused. lol]
Ran Feize calmly stored away the tooth bristle and mouth rinse before calmly replying. “It would be inappropriate for Miss to use them.”
Of course Su Xiaopei wouldn’t want to use his toothbrush but she was quite astonished that the ancient people of this world actually had such a thing. She also felt all sorts of uncomfortable for not having brushed her teeth. But it seemed that Ran Feize didn’t intend to help her solve this issue and so she couldn’t say anything.
She couldn’t endure it in the end. “Does this tooth bristle need to be purchased as well?”
“Naturally.”
“Then, the paste for rinsing the mouth?”
“The rinsing paste naturally needs money as well.”
Fine. Su Xiaopei held her tongue. She had no money, not even a copper coin so she had no qualifications to be able to brush her teeth. She swept her tongue along her teeth in a very terrible mood.
Ran Feize tidied up his belongings then turned towards the door to leave. “Miss should settle and rest. I will be just beyond the door.”
Was he planning to sit outside for the whole night?
Although Su Xiaopei’s morale was low, she still had a conscience.
“Warrior, this room has space enough for two people to lay down.” Setting up a place to sleep on the floor was still much better than bracing the wind all night.
Ran Feize pondered for a while, then stayed.
He set his large baggage between himself and Su Xiaopei as a divider, then shook out a large cut of cloth and placed it on the ground before laying down with only his clothes. Su Xiaopei laid on the bed with her body covered in the quilt that Ran Feize had procured from Boss Song, wide-eyed and unable to sleep.
When she wanted to turn over, her legs would hurt. She hadn’t brushed her teeth and her body felt uncomfortable from head to toe. How the days ahead would proceed remained unclear and the pressure of it all was immense. Su Xiaopei wasn’t feeling sleepy and couldn’t help but sigh.
“Miss.” Ran Feize suddenly spoke up. “Not far from this town is a convent, one which I had visited years ago and saw to be a decent place. The dedicated nuns* there are benevolent and compassionate, and will definitely not persecute anyone. Once Miss’ legs are healed, I will surely send Miss over to take shelter.”
[TL/N: 出家人- Refers to those who have permanently ‘left home and family name’, meaning that they will no longer associate themselves with worldly affairs so as to dedicate themselves to meditation of Buddhists scriptures and the attainment of enlightenment.]
Su Xiaopei smiled bitterly. She had inexplicably arrived in this world and yet she was going to end up becoming a nun here?
“Where does Warrior plan to go?”
“Just around.”
“Go around where?”
“I need to find a person.”
Su Xiaopei’s heart skipped a beat. “Searching for a person? Searching for who?”
“To find one with an aptitude for learning and accept him as a disciple.”
Calling the four seas his home in order to take in a disciple? That sure sounded like an impoverished and miserable life goal. Su Xiaopei sighed again.
“Miss, it is not that I am hardhearted, but rather as a man, it is imprudent to bring along Miss in my wanderings. The convent is tranquil and the dedicated nuns kind-hearted; Miss will be able to settle well.”
Su Xiaopei bit her lip and decided to try being thick-skinned one more time. “Warrior, I will trouble you tomorrow to go and inquire of the five silver silvers for capture of the criminal. What if we do have the luck to catch him? I have nothing to my name and even if I do go to the convent, should anything happen, it will be difficult to consider my next steps. If I have some money on hand, then my heart would be at ease, don’t you think so?”
Ran Feize didn’t mind that the job of apprehending the criminal would be his and what did the matter of money have anything to do with her? He only considered it for a bit, then consented.
When Su Xiaopei heard this, her heart settled down a little. At last, she was unable to endure the fatigue and fell asleep.
The next morning, she was awakened by noise coming from outside the room. Upon listening, it turned out that Ran Feize was working. She dragged herself up; her legs were hurting even more than yesterday but she was able to move them slightly. She arched her back in a stretch like a cat, moving around like an old woman.
Upon opening the door to look, Ran Feize had already tidied up the firewood shed, and finished chopping the kindling and arranged them neatly. She heard him tell Boss Song by the courtyard entrance that he had filled the water cisterns, and that the courtyard as well as the shop front were already swept clean. Su Xiaopei inwardly sighed. This Warrior was truly virtuous.
When Ran Feize returned a moment later and saw that Su Xiaopei had gotten up, he gave her a greeting. He assisted her over to the latrine and also helped her draw well-water to wash up.
Once Su Xiaopei washed her face, he brought over a cut of pliant tree branches. When Su Xiaopei looked at him blankly, he explained. “Although we have no means to purchase a tooth bristle, willow branches can be used.”
“Huh?”
“Those who have no money to purchase a tooth bristle, can instead use tender willows as a tooth bristle to clean their teeth.”
Su Xiaopei stared at the willow branch with its outer bark already peeled, unable to imagine how to poke it into her mouth.
“How about it?” Ran Feize asked.
“I don’t know how to use it”, she replied honestly.
Ran Feize gave her a look as if he suspected that she had never once brushed her teeth, as old as she was. This made Su Xiaopei feel extremely indignant. Ran Feize broke the willow branch into two sections and handed one part over to her while keeping the other to demonstrate how to bite the branch tip for her to see. The fibers in the branch looked a bit like a brush. He then fetched the rinsing paste and gestured to use the branch tip to brush teeth with.
Su Xiaopei looked at this toothpaste of yore with skepticism, sniffing at it carefully to find it didn’t smell strange. It looked a little like pasty Chinese medicine and so she relaxed a little and emulated him in brushing her teeth.
Brushing teeth was unbecoming in appearance and so Ran Feize sensibly left.
Su Xiaopei poked around on the left and then on the right as she very carefully cleaned her teeth one at a time. Although the cleaning process felt awkward and uncomfortable, and although she thought it wasn’t clean enough, it was still better than not brushing her teeth at all. Su Xiaopei gargled with water a few more times to console herself.
Ran Feize came back again after a while and brought breakfast over to Su Xiaopei which consisted of congee and mantou; it didn’t taste much of anything, of course. Su Xiaopei ate while listening to Ran Feize pass on some instructions.
他说他把铺子里的活干完了，现在出门去探探那捉贼的事，这种事他见得多了，应该希望不大，让她别太放在心上，只管等他的消息好了。另外她的举止打扮都不伦不类，别出门，容易招惹事非，他让她在屋里好好呆着。
He explained that since he finished his work at the shop, he was heading out to investigate the matter regarding catching the criminal. He’d seen things like this plenty of times. He didn’t have high hopes, so she should take it to heart and just wait for news from him. In addition, her mannerisms and appearance were quite out of place* so she shouldn’t venture outside as it easily attracted trouble; he was having her remain in the room.
[TL/N: 不伦不类- Literally meaning ‘neither fish nor fowl’, meaning that someone/something belonged in neither category and was sticking out like a sore thumb.]
Su Xiaopei nodded. “I will look after Warrior’s baggage.”
Ran Feize’s face twitched and turned to look at his large baggage. It hurt quite a bit to think that his beloved belongings were now being made a hostage but he said not a word and left.
Su Xiaopei sat alone in the room, her heart in a bit of turmoil. What should she do after this? Though Ran Feize’s earlier remarks were not harsh, the meaning was firmly clear; he was sending her away when her legs were better.
What should she do?
Once she arrives at the nunnery, will her days become better?
Was that so-called Yue Lao real or fake? Was finding that man the only way? Finding him would really enable her to return?
What was that man called again? Surnamed Cheng or was it Jiang? Su Xiaopei sighed. She hadn’t cared about it at the time and so never bothered remembering it.
But no matter what, earning some money was the first priority. At least she could survive once there was money to be had and she could, at least, afford a contingency plan no matter where she went.
Su Xiaopei thought, once the criminal was caught and the money earned, the first thing she would buy was a toothbrush.
With hope in her heart, she waited for Ran Feize’s return.
* ~~ *:
(作者有话要说)The author speaks: I searched on the internet and it turns out that toothbrushes had existed in ancient times.
The following is information extracted from Baidu, of which I picked a simple excerpt:
The earliest dental appliances in China came from poplar and willow branches. During the late Tang Dynasty, poplar and willow branches were soaked in water. When one needed to use it, the branch was bitten through with teeth to expose the fibers within. It would look like a wooden comb with bristles and was a very convenient toothbrush. The old saying ‘Morning, chews tooth wood’ originated from this.
During the Song Dynasty, there were substitutes similar to toothpaste. The ancients used Poria cocos (called ‘fuling’ in Chinese, which is an herb) and other medicinal ingredients to boil into an ‘ancient toothpaste’, which was used to rinse the mouth early in the morning. If one was worried about the thoroughness of the cleaning, then fingers were used in place of the modern toothbrush. Otherwise, the willow branches mentioned earlier would be applied with ancient toothpaste to clean the teeth.
According to ancient records, by the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, there were already shops specializing in making and selling toothbrushes in cities. At that time, toothbrushes were made of bone, horn, bamboo, wood and other materials. Two rows of pores were drilled into the brush head, and hair from the horse’s tail were planted into them. They were extremely similar to modern toothbrushes.
There was also the use of green salt (they’re mostly produced in salt wells and salt ponds in the southwest and northwest) along with cloth or fingers, but otherwise, the ancient toothbrushes mentioned above were dipped in the salts to brush the teeth before rinsing the mouth with water.
There is much more information on Baidu, so interested friends can check it out. I only have surface knowledge of this so I won’t go into too much academic detail.
