Chapter 402 — Su Wanning's Assistant

CHAPTER 402

Su Wanning's Assistant

“I'm your assistant!” Su Wanning said.

The door of the pill room banged open so hard that a tray of soil samples jumped on the table. Su Wanning stood in the doorway with her green sash crooked, a basket on her hip, and a huge smile.

Shi Feng didn't look up from his mortar.

“Nobody appointed you,” Shi Feng said.

“I did! It saves time!” Su Wanning said, dropping the basket beside him. “Big Sis holds the array, Bai Chenxi guards the Garden, and Lin Yue boils the Master’s tea. I’m the only one left running errands and crying. So I’ll help you instead. You can’t object to me being useful!”

“Where did you get the basket?” Shi Feng said.

“The kitchen! They said I could have it if I stopped asking them questions. I've got herbs! You asked Lin Yue for the standard shelf, and she was busy, so I brought it myself. Look!” Su Wanning said.

She pulled out three bundles, fanned them across the table like a gambler showing her cards, and beamed.

“Dusk-fern, moonroot and red-thorn bark,” Su Wanning said. “I know the names!”

Shi Feng picked up the first bundle and smelled it.

“This is a spring onion,” Shi Feng said.

“It's dusk-fern!” Su Wanning said.

“It's a spring onion,” Shi Feng said. He set it down and picked up the second. “And this is a turnip.”

“It's got moonroot's shape!” Su Wanning said.

“It has a turnip's shape,” Shi Feng said. The third bundle he didn't even lift. “That's a stick. From the kitchen fire.”

“...It looked like bark,” Su Wanning said in a very small voice.

“It's charcoal,” Shi Feng said.

Su Wanning inspected the spring onion, turnip and charcoal. Shi Feng expected her to be embarrassed. Instead, she brightened, apparently delighted to have three mistakes she could finally put names to.

“So what you're saying is, I got three whole things wrong, which means I've got the hardest part out of the way! A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit!” Su Wanning clapped her hands. “Now I can learn! What do I do next?”

“Grind the soil from tray two,” Shi Feng said.

“Which tray's tray two?” Su Wanning said.

“The one with the number two on it,” Shi Feng said.

“Is it really poison?” Su Wanning asked, seizing the pestle. “The kitchen says you tasted dirt and made Elder Fen Yi go red! Peng Xiao says you called them fools. I said you’d never use so many words—unless you were explaining something. Then I wasn’t sure.”

“I didn't call them fools,” Shi Feng said.

“I know! Big Sis told me.” Su Wanning ground the soil in a furious circle.

“She also asked me whether you ate the bitter roots,” Su Wanning said. “I said I didn't know! She said, ‘Find out.’ So did you?”

“I ate them,” Shi Feng said.

“All of them?” Su Wanning said.

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“She'll be so pleased!” Su Wanning said, then clapped a hand over her mouth. “I mean, she won't be. She'll say it's the Valley's rule about food waste. She says that a lot about food now.”

Shi Feng ground a stem a little harder than it needed.

“Senior Brother Shi,” Su Wanning said, lowering her voice, “did you burn it?”

“Burn what?” Shi Feng said.

“The, you know. The little paper. The one I... the one that somebody might have maybe passed you,” Su Wanning said.

“What paper?” Shi Feng said.

Su Wanning stared at him. Then her face lit like a lantern.

“Perfect!” Su Wanning whispered. “That's exactly what you should say! You're so good at this!”

“I had a teacher,” Shi Feng said.

“He must be wonderful,” Su Wanning said, setting down the pestle and leaning closer. “All right, I’ll be serious. You’ve got your work face on. Do you want to know who’s been acting strangely?”

“I want to know who's been what?” Shi Feng said.

“Weird! Or I mean, not weird exactly, nobody's weird, everybody's just upset.” Su Wanning counted on her fingers. “Elder Fen Yi shouts at everything, which is normal. Elder Cui Lan sits by the Master's door and doesn't talk, which is normal. And Elder Hua Rong has been very helpful lately.”

Shi Feng stopped grinding.

“Helpful,” Shi Feng said.

“He brings tea to the night guards every evening,” Su Wanning said. “And he changed the rota so Big Sis misses the late shift. He’s even walking the Garden after midnight to calm himself!” She wrinkled her nose. “The kitchen girls sound angry when they call him helpful. Peng Xiao says he never bothered before.”

“Who said that?” Shi Feng said.

“Everybody who's met him!” Su Wanning said.

“Is that all?” Shi Feng said.

“That's all! It isn't anything, is it? He's kind and he's helpful. That's what elders are for.” Su Wanning shrugged. Then she peered at his face. “Why have you gone like that?”

“Like what?” Shi Feng said.

“Like Big Sis does when she thinks a thing and doesn't say it,” Su Wanning said.

Shi Feng put down the pestle.

“Of everything you've said this morning,” Shi Feng said, “one part was right.”

“Which?” Su Wanning said. She bounced on her toes. “The spring onion? The turnip?”

“The helpful elder,” Shi Feng said.

“I KNEW IT,” Su Wanning said.

“The herbs were still wrong,” Shi Feng said.

“...All three?” Su Wanning said.

“All three,” Shi Feng said.

Before Su Wanning could protest again, Lin Langtian’s voice rolled across the hills from the gate. The shout startled a bird off the roof. Shi Feng set his pestle down and looked toward the window.

“JUNIOR BROTHER! YOUR SENIOR BROTHER HAS ARRIVED! WHERE IS MY JUNIOR SISTER-IN-LAW? A SON-IN-LAW IS HALF A SON!” Lin Langtian said.

Su Wanning looked at the window. She looked at Shi Feng.

“Is that...?” Su Wanning whispered.

“He's finished his nap,” Shi Feng said.