Li Qingwu's face flushed, and he stammered: "...No, I didn't tell anyone. I just..."
Qiu Che continued: "You figured it out yourself?"
Li Qingwu was silent for a moment: "...Ah."
It was considered an admission.
Qiu Che didn't look angry, but he didn't look happy either. It was more like he wanted to laugh, but he held it back.
Li Qingwu looked at her nervously for a long time, but heard her say "hmm", turned around, and said lightly: "I'll go wash the medicine bowl, you take a rest."
Although this place seems to have everything, it is still simpler than the outside world. For example, in this huge Taoyuan Village, there are less than ten books that can be found from the beginning to the end of the village.
Most of them are medical books written by old man Jiang Bo himself. The remaining few books are leisure books such as story books brought to him by his apprentices who grew up and went out and came back.
Li Qingwu sat on the couch waiting for her to come back. He tossed and turned, not knowing what to do, so he walked to the wooden cabinet and found a story book in the corner.
When Qiu Che came back, she was holding the storybook, leaning against the bed and reading it with relish.
Hearing the sound, Li Qingwu looked up and seemed a little uncomfortable. He subconsciously wanted to hide the book in his hand, but then he remembered something and stopped the action. He asked tentatively: "Do you want to read it?"
Qiu Che has been conscious of reading to clarify his ambition since he was a child. He never read this kind of idle book and had no time to read it.
Last time, when he confiscated Yu Yan's storybook, he just flipped through it for a while and was seen by Yu Ming.
She shook her head, and Li Qingwu curled his lips and said, "Well, it's quite interesting. I thought you would like it."
Qiu Che sat down at the table and raised his eyebrows when he heard it, "If I don't like it, you won't watch it?"
Li Qingwu blinked, "You may think so."
She saw Qiu Che smile, and lowered her head to take the half-worn carving knife that Li Qingwu gave her and sharpened it on the iron stone, and said in surprise, "It... isn't broken yet?"
Qiu Che lowered his eyes and said, "I'll try to repair it and maintain it for a while. It should still be usable."
Li Qingwu nodded, "If it can't be used, I can give you another one."
Qiu Che looked at her strangely.
Without waiting for Li Qingwu to react, she retracted her gaze and said, "No need."
"It just so happens that I have to live here during this period of time. I have nothing to do. How about making you a bow and arrow?"
Li Qingwu glanced at the wooden sword hanging on her waist: "Is it like this one?"
Qiu Che smiled and said, "Almost."
Li Qingwu nodded and smiled obediently: "Okay, I haven't practiced archery for a long time."
The two chatted for a few more words, and Qiu Che put away the carving knife and went out to find wood to make bows and arrows.
According to Jiang Bo, the effect of rattan grass is magical. Although it can't revive the dead as the legend says, it can really reshape bones and flesh.
When using it, you need to grind the petals into juice and soak it in water every day. It will take about ten days to completely improve.
That night, Qiu Che ground the petals of the rattan grass into medicinal juice and brought the wooden basin to Li Qingwu.
This was what Li Qingwu went into the dense forest alone to find at the time, even if he had to knock Qiu Che unconscious.
Now that she could recover, she saw the basin of rose-red water and her face changed again. When Qiu Che was about to squat down to take off her shoes, Li Qingwu shrank her legs.
Qiu Che paused and looked up at her.
Li Qingwu whispered, "I'll do it myself."
Qiu Che did not accommodate her choice as before, but looked at her steadily for a moment and said, "Didn't you say we are very loving?"
Li Qingwu was stunned.
"How can a loving couple avoid suspicion even when soaking their feet?"
Li Qingwu frowned and racked his brains to retort in a low voice, "But... you are not a foot-washing maid."
This posture was too disrespectful to Qiu Che.
Qiu Che calmly grabbed her calf, took off the embroidered shoes from her feet, and said, "It's normal for the prince consort to help the princess soak her feet. I don't think it's disrespectful."
Li Qingwu wanted to say something, but Qiu Che had already lowered his head, looking like he didn't intend to listen.
When she took off her white stockings and revealed her broken feet, Li Qingwu held her breath and trembled unconsciously.
She was afraid to see Qiu Che's reaction, but she couldn't help but want to know Qiu Che's reaction.
No matter how beautiful she was, she couldn't deny that she had a pair of ugly feet.
But the other party just paused for a short while, without disgust or shock, but her eyelashes trembled, and then silently pressed her feet into the water.
Li Qingwu couldn't hear her own breathing.
After a long time, she saw Qiu Che slowly massaging the acupuncture points on her feet while looking up at her.
In that look, there was visible heartache and sadness.
She said, "Does it hurt?"
Li Qingwu's breath that was choked in her throat suddenly leaked out.
She turned her head and looked at the dim moonlight outside the window, trying not to let herself show a choked tone: "It's okay."
The pain was over.
Qiu Che did not say anything else. She took care of the entire process of soaking Li Qingwu's feet. After soaking for a full quarter of an hour, she helped her put on new shoes and socks, and then poured out the water in the basin. This
continued for several days. There was
nothing special during these days, except that Qiu Che began to learn how to cook, and often went to Jiang Bo to learn from him. She was chased out by Jiang Bo with a cane because she almost burned the kitchen.
She learned cooking and making bows and arrows during the day, and slept with Li Qingwu after boiling medicine and soaking his feet at night, but everything was peaceful.
Li Qingwu soaked her feet with vines every day, and it was visible to the naked eye that the broken bones of her feet were slowly getting better. She
couldn't be said to be ugly before, but she was definitely not good-looking either. Now she actually looks a bit like a normal person, as if the bones were broken and reshaped. After
soaking in the medicine for the last time on the tenth day, she was like a new person.
Only the ankles of her two feet were left with a scar on each side, twisting and winding, destroying the beauty of her feet that should have been white and tender.
This was the mark left after breaking her foot bones. The vine grass could heal her foot injuries, but it couldn't remove this.
Li Qingwu was uncomfortable with her service at the beginning, but now she has gotten used to it.
Seeing her feet getting better day by day, and Qiu Che's attitude was always normal, and he never showed any disgust, the uneasiness in her heart also faded away little by little unconsciously.
It seemed that Qiu Che was going to put on shoes and socks for her just like a few days ago, and then completely complete this foot massage, officially ending this period of healing.
Li Qingwu had been holding it in for many days, but couldn't help it at this moment, and asked carefully: "Don't you think it's ugly?"
"Even though the wound has healed now, the scar is still there." She lowered her eyes and whispered, "...it's still ugly."
Qiu Che said seriously: "It's not up to me to decide whether it's ugly or not. If I say it's ugly, do you think it's ugly too?"
Li Qingwu opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything for a while.
Because she really thought so.
Qiu Che sighed and said nothing more.
But this time, after she used a towel to wipe the water stains for Li Qingwu, she said, "Wait a minute."
She went out with the wooden basin, and after a while, she took out cinnabar and two paintbrushes from somewhere and placed them beside the bed.
Li Qingwu was puzzled: "What is this...?"
"Yang Qiu once painted a picture of a beautiful woman holding a fan for you, but I don't think I told you that I am also good at painting."
Otherwise, those wood carvings would not be so lifelike.
Qiu Che picked up the brush, gently grasped her ankle, lowered his eyes to look at her white ankle for a moment, smiled, raised his head and said, "Do you want a lotus tattoo?"
"Or... two?"
Li Qingwu was stunned.
She saw Qiu Che lower his head again, and the brush dipped in cinnabar fell on her ankle along with Qiu Che's words. It
was a little itchy, as if someone was holding a feather and gently scratching her heart.
"In fact, at the beginning, I advocated the abolition of foot binding just to change the phenomenon that women were ordered around and forced to lose themselves in order to cater to men's aesthetics."
"But now that I see you, I suddenly feel that my decision to change this law is really the right one."
Li Qingwu couldn't stand the itch, and subconsciously curled her toes and tried to pull her feet back, but Qiu Che gently but firmly grabbed her ankles and held them tighter.
Although her feet were bound, she was still a princess who grew up in luxury. After her foot injury recovered, if you skipped the scar, it would look round and smooth, very white and tender.
She licked her dry lips a little uncomfortably: "...What do you mean?"
"Only when you see the people you care about suffer, you will understand how uncomfortable those people in the swamp are," Qiu Che said softly, "I have never been a very kind person, but now I think that if this bad habit has not been abolished, I am afraid there will be many Princess Lehe in the future-"
Li Qingwu understood this time.
This was Qiu Che's implicit confession.
Because I feel for your suffering, I can also better understand the suffering of other women with bound feet.
Because I understand your pain now, I am even more glad that I did not make the wrong choice.
Qiu Che wrote with cinnabar, and traced the ugly scars that had grown. Wherever she passed, only a bright red was left.
She said lightly.
"Whether your body is ugly or not is never my decision."
"So what if it's ugly?"
"This is a legacy of the old times, a scar left on you by historical bad habits.
Foot binding is never your fault, nor is it the fault of women." "You just need to know that feet were bound in the past because the country was blind, officials were corrupt, and the court was rotten."
"The foot bones are broken, but the human spine is not broken."
"We are still human beings, so no matter when or where, there is no need to be inferior to anyone."
"You don't need to be inferior to me and look at my eyes, nor do you need to be inferior to men and look at their eyes."
"In the animal world, the strong prey on the weak, but in this corrupt country, only by strengthening yourself can you have the greatest say."
"By then, no one will dare to comment on you. It doesn't matter whether you are ugly or not."
"Besides-" Qiu Che smiled and put down the last stroke.
The clear and gorgeous lotus blossomed under her pen. The moment she raised her head, her handsome features seemed to complement the lotus.
There was only one candle in the room.
But Li Qingwu saw a familiar, burning spark in her eyes.
"Besides... I never felt ugly."
People always use cinnabar to detect a woman's chastity.
But now, she uses cinnabar to give Li Qingwu a new life and freedom.
Li Qingwu stared at her blankly, feeling a little choked in her throat, not knowing what to say.
She looked up at the dimly lit beams for a long time, then lowered her head to look at Qiu Che, and said in a hoarse voice: "...Thank you."
Without waiting for Qiu Che to say anything else, she lowered her neck again, the tassels of the hairpin beside her ear swayed slightly, and she tapped Qiu Che's knees with her toes.
This posture allowed her to reveal half of her white and slender calves, matched with the shimmering flowers on her ankles, and that already stunning face, under the dim light, it was even more bewitching.
She was a little hurried, and her voice was slightly trembling when she spoke: "I want..."
Qiu Che heard it clearly, but was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked: "...What?"
Li Qingwu paused, but did not answer again.
She could not hold back the intense heartbeat, nor could she go against her desire to get close to the other party, but she could not say her request twice without changing her expression.
So in the end, she chose to lower her eyes and lean forward. She
left a dragonfly kiss on Qiu Che's lips.
It was separated as soon as it touched.
Qiu Che even stopped breathing.
Then from the neck, it went straight to the roots of the ears.
In the true sense, this was their first kiss.
Seeing her like this, Li Qingwu relaxed instead, and smiled naturally and lazily, like a cat that succeeded in stealing fish: "Yes... Thank you for comforting me as a reward."
Between loving "wife and wife", a kiss is of course nothing.
Li Qingwu pretended to be calm and calmed her heartbeat, thinking.
She had no one to love her before, and did not know self-esteem and self-love.
Seeing people coming and going around, everyone told her that this was right and for her own good.
So even if her leg bones were broken and her back was bent, she had to swallow the pain and cries.
She had learned etiquette for more than ten years, walked with dignified and delicate steps, and knelt at the foot of the bright yellow imperial robe, meek and well-behaved, numb and indifferent for more than ten years.
But now someone told her that true etiquette is not like this.
The foot binding cloth was removed, just like cutting out a piece of smelly flesh from her rotten heart.
From then on, there would only be bright light and shimmering water in her heart.
On a sunny day, a tall flower bud would bloom from the gap of the scar.
Just like the lotus that Qiu Che painted on her foot with his own hands - beautiful and tenacious.
She would understand equality, right and wrong, and resistance.
She would have people she loves, and there would be many people who love her.
On the Lantern Festival two years ago, she picked up a lotus lantern - although it was picked up, it was also the only gift she had received in more than ten years.
Unexpectedly, without any false flattery or calculation.
It was a glimpse, and also the only salvation.
From then on, her obsession grew wildly.
And after many years, this lotus finally blossomed in her heart as she wished.
She thought, she should not need to ask Qiu Che whether he likes her or not.
Such a good person, regardless of whether she will give the response she wants, Li Qingwu has never regretted falling in love with her.
She lowered her eyes, looked at Qiu Che and thought, if "amnesia" could make this gentle and charming dream last longer...
then she would be happy with it