Ink Blade Chapter 69 (Part 1)
Translated by Sylver
Extra 2.1 Old Place (Part 2.1)
“Daren, please don’t touch that, it’s very dirty!”
Xiao Wu’s face turned pale, and he hurriedly tried to grab the axe. However, Mo Ren knew that the child was still very sick and wouldn’t be able to do the strenuous task of chopping wood.
He shook his head and pushed Xiao Wu away, his voice calm but firm, “You go do something else.”
Seeing Xiao Wu still looking confused, Mo Ren patiently explained, “I could ask the steward to spare you from this task, but we are far from the Inner Hall, and I can’t come often. If you attract attention, it will be troublesome later. I can only help you this time. The Palace Master is currently tidying up the Inner Hall, and it will soon be the turn of the Side Hall, so it won’t be so hard then.”
With that, he picked up a bundle of wood from the ground, casually pulled out a piece, and raised the axe in front of Xiao Wu’s astonished eyes. T
he crisp sound of cracking wood followed, and after two or three sounds, the log was neatly split in half.
Only then did Xiao Wu understand what Mo Ren meant. The daren was actually going to chop all this firewood for him!
He was scared stiff at that moment - how could this be!? Even the most kind-hearted, friendly, and frugal master would not do such a lowly task himself!
Xiao Wu quickly kneeled in front of Mo Ren, looked up in panic, “No, no, no, how can this be, Daren! I, I can do it myself! I will work hard, I won’t be lazy…”
Mo Ren ignored him, he was already seriously counting the time in his mind, figuring out how to finish this pile before the hour was up.
He swung the axe smoothly, each time landing precisely on the previous chop mark, not wasting a bit of strength, as if he had done the same thing thousands of times before.
Xiao Wu was stunned. In just a moment, Mo Ren had already swung the axe several more times.
He didn’t look back, just picked up another piece of wood from the ground, and said lightly, “Aren’t you going? In less than an hour, I can’t finish this by myself. If you still have some strength, don’t kneel here and just watch.”
“You, you… I…” Xiao Wu was at a loss, looking at Mo Ren with fear and timidity.
He knew about the difference in status, knew that he shouldn’t let the daren do his work for him. And… and the daren looked thin and pale, as if he was not in good health, how could he withstand such labor?
But he was still a child, afraid of being beaten, afraid of being hungry, afraid of being whipped until his skin was broken, afraid of the discomfort of coughing when he was sick, and even afraid of death.
Xiao Wu bit his lip, suppressed the surging feelings of guilt and sin, made up his mind, turned around and ran, using his still trembling arm to carry the wooden basin filled with dirty clothes, and ran towards the laundry room.
****
By the time Mo Ren had finished chopping all the firewood, the sun had already set. The cold autumn wind blew, rolling up fallen leaves and withered grass, making the dim side hall seem even more desolate.
Xiao Wu had already finished washing the clothes. However, the young man seemed to have a high fever again, his face was full of abnormal flush, he was shivering with cold, and his eyes were almost unable to open.
Xiao Wu thanks Daren…cough cough, for the kindness…” The young man squeezed out a grateful smile weakly, swaying as he stood up, “This, this servant, is going to wash… the chamber pots, today’s work will be done soon, cough cough… that’s great.”
“…You rest.” Mo Ren rubbed his temples, feeling that this situation was really headache-inducing. He calculated the time again, guessing that his physical strength could still hold up, so he turned around and walked along the path in his memory. Xiao Wu followed him in a daze, looking at Mo Ren’s distinct profile and hesitating to speak.
Soon, a square wooden house appeared in front of them. The smell in the air became bad, a nauseating stench mixed with a suffocating smell hit them in the face.
Xiao Wu immediately panicked: “Daren, Daren… cough cough, you can’t go there… it’s dirty ahead, really dirty! You can’t—”
Mo Ren shook his head, “What can’t be done?” Saying that, he quickened his pace and pushed open the door.
Suddenly, the disgusting smell that made people nauseous and vomit became several times stronger. The small room was messily filled with chamber pots used by servants and slaves, some dirty things were not poured out cleanly, sticking to the bottom of the pot; some were full of flies; and some were probably where a servant had diarrhea, making a mess, there was almost no place to start.
Mo Ren’s face sank slightly, he closed the door and stepped back.
Xiao Wu shrank in his heart, cursing himself for daring to let the daren enter this most filthy and unbearable place, not only stinky, but also dirtying the daren’s eyes.
He had seen a girl from the Inner Palace before, judging from her clothes and manners, she was just a maid serving the palace master’s favored young master, but she also vomited after accidentally entering here, and it was said that she didn’t eat for a whole day when she went back…
Thinking of this, Xiao Wu hurriedly turned his head to look at the daren’s face, but was surprised to see Mo Ren taking off his robe, folding it carefully, hanging it on a branch of an old tree not far away before returning, this time he pushed the door open without any hesitation, and casually threw an explanation to the young man, “The clothes bestowed by the palace master, I don’t want to dirty them.”
Seeing that Mo Ren was really going to touch those disgusting dirty pots after he finished speaking, Xiao Wu was so anxious that he was about to cry. At this moment, he even felt that even if he really couldn’t finish his work and was beaten and starved, he couldn’t dirty the noble daren. How could such clean and good-looking hands do this kind of thing?
In desperation, he grabbed Mo Ren’s hands. “No, no, Daren, you really can’t do this! This, this…it’s all work done by us servants, you—”
“Work done by servants?” Mo Ren was not annoyed, but looked at the young man and said softly, “——But I’ve done it.”
Xiao Wu’s eyes widened in surprise, stuttering, “You, you’re joking…”
Mo Ren laughed inwardly, but his face was impassive, and he pretended to be serious. “Do you know why I came to the Side Hall? I’m not a daren at all, I’m just a person serving the palace master. I made a mistake this morning and angered the palace master, and he was angry and didn’t want me.”
“Now I don’t even have a place to sleep, I might have to borrow your firewood room for the night… hmm, maybe in a few days I will have to call myself a servant like you, and I will have to do these chores every day—you don’t look at me like that, I’ve really done it before, I’m used to it.”
As Mo Ren was half-truthfully talking nonsense, he pushed away the young man who was confused by his words, helped him sit aside, picked up a chamber pot and put it in the cleaning waterway, slightly rolled up his sleeves and took a brush to start cleaning.
He lowered his head, a few strands of black hair scattered around his ears, swaying slightly with his movements.
