The Innocent Heart - Chapter 15

“How about this: I’ll wear your clothes and go out to buy things. That Princess you mentioned, they don’t know me, and they might not recognize what I look like. If I wear your clothes, who would still mistake me for a beggar?”

In order to keep Huo Qubing, Guan Yueyao’s long-dormant brain quickly started working and soon came up with what he thought was a foolproof plan. Moreover, in the time he had been here, he had already profoundly realized the truth of the saying “Clothes make the man.” If he wasn’t dressed respectably, even with money, the small stall owners might not be willing to sell him food. They likely worried that the money Guan Yueyao held was stolen.

Huo Qubing considered Guan Yueyao’s suggestion and thought it was a good strategy. He nodded, and his empty stomach urged him to take off his outer garment and hand it to Guan Yueyao.

“Then go quickly.”

But Huo Qubing glanced with distaste at the ill-fitting coarse cloth garment Guan Yueyao had acquired from someone else and set it aside. Although Guan Yueyao regularly washed it and it was reasonably clean, Huo Qubing was accustomed to wearing fine silks and couldn’t possibly put on such a rough-textured garment.

However, in the late spring weather, wearing only thin underclothes caused goosebumps to rise on his skin with every gust of wind. Guan Yueyao haphazardly put on Huo Qubing’s outer garment and then turned to look at him.

The young man was rubbing his arms, trying to warm himself by hugging his body, when he suddenly shivered, “Achoo!”

Perhaps sensing Guan Yueyao’s gaze, Huo Qubing lifted his head: “Why are you still not…”

Stopping mid-sentence, Huo Qubing paused slightly, forgetting to look away. Guan Yueyao’s height was currently greater than Huo Qubing’s, but fortunately, the clothing of the Han Dynasty was generously cut. Though the length looked a bit short, it was generally a passable fit. Guan Yueyao had skillfully combed his messy hair and tied it into a topknot, which looked slightly unconventional but, unexpectedly, gave him an air of youthful, handsome spirit.

He was not sweet-looking by nature, and his personality was boisterous and somewhat boyish. Combined with his height and young age, his feminine characteristics had not yet fully developed. At this moment, in Huo Qubing’s eyes, he truly appeared as a graceful and distinguished young man.

“Here, why don’t you wear this first?” Guan Yueyao pulled out the carefully preserved school uniform jacket he had been wearing when he time-traveled from a corner of the room. He had time-traveled during the autumn season, so in addition to the sailor uniform, he had been wearing a cardigan sweater over it for warmth.

This set of clothes seemed to prove that all the memories in his mind were not baseless fantasies. Therefore, the first thing Guan Yueyao did after acquiring new clothes was to carefully wash and store them away.

And now, this young man, who knew his identity, did not treat him like a strange person suffering from delusions but seemed to believe his story. Guan Yueyao considered him his only friend and was therefore willing to display these clothes from another era to him.

“I’m going out to buy things now. You stay here and play with Laosan for a while.” Without waiting for a word, Guan Yueyao draped the sweater over Huo Qubing and then quickly ran out of the room.

The room instantly fell silent. Huo Qubing absently touched the sweater that had been forcefully put on him. The material was soft and warm to the touch, seemingly made of wool. However, the knitting style and color were unlike anything Huo Qubing had ever seen.

Suddenly, he felt something cold and hard. He picked it up and saw it was a shell button fixed on the placket, a row of five or six, each meticulously and uniformly crafted. That was the result of industrialized, standardized production processes; every button was identical, without the slightest difference.

At this point, his curiosity, roused by the sweater, had long surpassed the coldness brought by the draft. Huo Qubing took off the clothing and carefully examined it inside and out. Soon, he discovered several things he couldn’t understand on the inner side of the garment. A main label made of synthetic fiber material, a washing label, and a size label.

They were printed with unfamiliar symbols of unclear meaning, but whatever those symbols represented, Huo Qubing was certain that no textile technology in the current Great Han Dynasty could produce such patterned effects on fabric.

Driven by curiosity, Huo Qubing slipped his arms into the sleeves. The moment he put the sweater on, a warm sensation enveloped his upper body.

“It seems he really is from the future, just as he said…” Huo Qubing seemed completely convinced. His gaze unconsciously went to the corner where Guan Yueyao had retrieved the sweater. It seemed there were more items from the future stored there by Guan Yueyao.

But constrained by his upbringing, Huo Qubing resisted his curiosity and did not rummage through the corner. Poking around in other people’s possessions without their permission was a highly rude act. Of course, in the Great Han Dynasty at this time, such etiquette mostly only applied between two people of equal status. Slaves and concubines were essentially the private property of the master, their very lives controlled by their superiors, let alone their personal belongings.

Perhaps without even realizing it himself, Huo Qubing had already treated Guan Yueyao as a friend of equal standing, rather than a commoner who could be arbitrarily ordered around.

The time Huo Qubing spent sitting alone in the room was excruciatingly boring. Furthermore, he couldn’t help but worry whether Guan Yueyao’s trip would lead to him being discovered by the servants of Grand Princess Guantao. The minutes dragged on unbearably.

Finally, just as Huo Qubing’s limited patience was about to run out, sounds came from outside the room again. Huo Qubing put down the puppy Laosan, whom he had been teasing, stood up, and went out to greet him with a look of delight.

Guan Yueyao’s appearance at this moment was quite comical. His hands were full of shopping bags, and he was carrying a large ceramic fu ( – cooking vessel) on his back. Hearing the movement, he looked over, and the moment he saw Huo Qubing, he was first stunned, then burst into loud laughter.

Clearly, he wasn’t happy about his friend coming out to greet him.

Guan Yueyao felt like he was about to collapse with mirth. Huo Qubing had unknowingly put on the middle school girl’s uniform sweater, buttoning it up neatly. In truth, the male and female versions of the sweater were almost identical and did not differ much. But knowing full well that this was a girl’s uniform, and Huo Qubing had unintentionally put on women’s clothing, was what made Guan Yueyao laugh uncontrollably.

Huo Qubing was confused by Guan Yueyao’s laughter, but he was inherently smart and quickly realized from Guan Yueyao’s reaction that the problem must lie with the garment he had been given. Did I wear it wrong? Huo Qubing was at a loss. He did not yet know that his friend was actually a young woman, and while Guan Yueyao had not deliberately concealed it, he didn’t feel it necessary to emphasize his gender. After all, in the era where he grew up, making friends seemed to only depend on whether they got along, not their gender.

“Hey, hurry back inside and change clothes!” Huo Qubing urged, his face flushed. As he spoke, he walked over and took some of the items Guan Yueyao was carrying.

Once Guan Yueyao had laughed enough, he nodded, and the two young men returned inside to change their clothes and then began to hastily prepare breakfast.

This time, Guan Yueyao had only bought a small amount of pre-cooked food. He had bought more seasonings and ingredients, intending to cook their meals himself. The current cooking methods, in his opinion, were not satisfying enough for his appetite, so he decided to buy ingredients and cook for himself. It was also for this reason that he had bought items like pots, bowls, and ladles.

“Huo Qubing, do you know where to buy an iron wok? I searched the streets forever and couldn’t find one,” Guan Yueyao asked, setting down the large ceramic fu on his back.

“What is an iron wok?” Huo Qubing asked curiously while clumsily changing his clothes.

“You don’t know what an iron wok is?” Guan Yueyao asked back, tilting his head. “It’s that large iron pot used for stir-frying (炒菜).” As he spoke, he gestured in the air a few times.

However, his words and actions only confused Huo Qubing further: “Stir-fry? Is that a method of cooking where you come from? Using iron to make cooking utensils is truly extravagant.”

When Huo Qubing finished speaking, Guan Yueyao finally understood: there were no iron woks in the Han Dynasty. Although the Han Dynasty already had quite advanced smelting technology, even capable of forging high-toughness Bailiangang (百煉鋼 – ‘hundred-refined steel’) through folding and hammering, iron products were still mainly used for making weapons and farming tools. The appearance of the iron wok would have to wait roughly another 1,000 years.

Although the large manor had been abandoned for a long time and was devoid of furnishings, the stove was still intact. Washing down steamed buns with the Zhe Jiang (柘漿 – mulberry juice drink) he had bought, Guan Yueyao rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning the stove area of the abandoned house.

Huo Qubing, for his part, intended to just watch from the side. After all, he had been spoiled and pampered since childhood, and no one had ever dared to make him do the work of servants.

Of course, now someone dared, and that person was Guan Yueyao.

“Why are you just standing there not helping?” Guan Yueyao, busy carrying the cleaned-out debris out of the kitchen, reached the doorway and found the young master sitting on a rock outside, basking in the sun.

He glared at him. Was this person planning to enjoy the fruits of my labor? He angrily tossed the debris onto the ground and walked over menacingly, looking down at Huo Qubing.

“Hurry up and come help! Otherwise, even if you stay here, I’ll only cook for myself!”

“You want me to do labor reserved for mere servants?” Huo Qubing refused to back down, standing up and glaring back. In his view, treating Guan Yueyao equally as a friend was one thing. Making him do chores only done by servants was quite another.

“You are not some young master here; I don’t serve people,” Guan Yueyao naturally didn’t subscribe to Huo Qubing’s aristocratic ways, especially since in the era he lived in, the class of aristocracy had vanished for nearly a hundred years—not including the later migrants to Japan.

“I can pay you,” Huo Qubing did not take offense but instinctively reached for his waist, only to find the familiar money pouch missing. A look of embarrassment flashed across his face, and he added: “I’ll get the money for you when I go home.”

“No. I don’t serve people, no matter how much money you offer. You either help me clean the house, go out and buy your own food, or starve.”

Guan Yueyao was angered by Huo Qubing’s attitude and flatly rejected his offer, throwing his earlier fear of losing his companion to the back of his mind. If it came down to survival, he would rather perform hard labor than bow down and serve others. Although he did not yet know the grand principle of “How can I stoop and bow before the powerful, preventing me from expressing my true joy?”

Nor did he take Huo Qubing’s action as a deliberate trampling of his human dignity—he knew perfectly well that Huo Qubing intended no malice. He simply and instinctively hated the state of affairs between them.