Fresh Mantos

Suzhen said nothing, but sat there hugging her knees. She was feeling once again that strange heavy compassion she had felt when she saw Madame Zheng weeping. This woman was a dangerous one, full of bitterness and spite and even hatred, and had done wrong against her. Yet she felt sorry for her. Just like how trapped animals snapped and bit in their frenzy of pain and terror.

At last she said simply, "I will not tell anyone. But you cannot go on like this."

Madame Zheng looked at her searchingly. "Who do you think you are, Xu Suzhen? Telling me what I can or can't do. Don't expect me to be indebted to you for not telling anyone. We are not friends. Don't think this has changed anything between us." she said harshly.

Suzhen returned her gaze steadily. "I never said we were friends. You have tried to cause trouble between Xuxian and I for a long time, and you have never apologized. So yes, we are not friends. I am simply telling you what anyone with common sense would say."

Madame Zheng said nothing.

"Like you said, everyone knows things are not right between you and your husband. There is no point going around pretending everything is all right."

Abruptly Madame Zheng stood up, dusting off her clothes. "I acknowledge your help today. But don't try to give me advice, or assume you know better. You know nothing at all."

She looked coldly at Suzhen, and walked out of the kitchen with her head held stiff and upright.

Suzhen stared after her, somewhat startled, and sat back on her heels. She squished the piece of dough thoughtfully in her palm. "Perhaps that was foolish of me," she mused.

With a sigh, she stood up more slowly, and turned back to the mantos.

There was a raspy meow and she glanced at the stray cat, who had lain down to bask in the sun and was looking lazily at her from half-opened eyes.

"People are complicated. Being an animal was easier," she remarked dryly.

The cat yawned.

She worked steadily, and soon the rest of the dough was formed into tier after tier of neat rolls. Suzhen could not help feeling pleased. She had had many things to learn, but she had treated them just like how she had treated cultivation and learning how to fight--taking each skill seriously, studying it carefully, and practicing it diligently till she had mastered it. She was not easily intimidated by what she did not understand, or what she did not know how to do. After all, she had eight thousand years of experience to prove that practice could indeed make perfect.

Dusting her hands off, she put the last steamer onto the fire and put away the things. She wondered what time Xuxian would be back. If it was a clean break that just needed setting and splinting, he should be back in time for dinner.

She checked the mantos, opening the lid carefully to avoid the cloud of stinging hot steam that came rushing out, and smiled as she saw how plump and fluffy they were. Blowing on her fingers, she delicately plucked them out of the steamer. There were more than she and Xuxian could eat, and on second thought she fetched a small basket and a clean piece of cloth. Folding the cloth neatly into a little pocket, she tucked eight mantos inside, arranging them with care as if they were sleeping babies being tucked into bed.

"These will be soft enough for Granny Hong's teeth. She never chews her food properly before swallowing because her teeth are bad. But these should be fine." she explained to the cat busily. "I'll bring them over while they're hot, and she can have them for a snack if she wants."

Taking up the basket, she stopped short, and her eyes suddenly narrowed as she looked at the cat, who stared innocently back at her. "Don't you dare try to eat any while I'm gone," she warned, and took a moment to weigh down the steamer lid with a rock from the garden.

Satisfied, she took up the basket and hurried out of the kitchen, feeling the pleasant warmth of the hot buns against her stomach as she walked. She put Madame Zheng from her mind determinedly. Some problems, she had learnt, could not be resolved at the moment you wanted to. One had to bide one's time. Like when hunting.

The weather was clear and the sun was bright, despite the cold that hit her once she left the steamy warmth of the kitchen; and the winter did not seem that harsh after all. It was cold, but it was only a few steps to Granny Hong's home, and she didn't want to bother going to the house to fetch her rabbit skin winter cloak.

Hugging the warm basket of mantos tighter to herself, Suzhen walked briskly up the path to Granny Hong's house, to see the door open.

"Granny Hong! I've brought you some mantos, freshly made--eat them while they're hot." she called.

There was no answer, and she realized that Granny Hong was in the yard, talking to someone, a basket of forgotten chicken feed in her hand--from the looks of it, she had been on her way to feed her brood.

"Ah, Suzhen! Come on in. I have a visitor," Granny Hong added, visibly flustered and considerably pleased. She waved enthusiastically.

Suzhen stopped short just outside the gate. For a moment she stood there paralyzed. The only thing she was conscious of was the old sensation of panic--colder than the early winter, heavier than a rock, gripping her as suddenly and dizzyingly as labour pains.

As she stood there stricken, the stranger Granny Hong had been talking to turned, and dread tightened her throat as she watched the shorn head of the stern monk face her. His lips remained in an impassive line, but his eyes flickered ever so slightly as his gaze fell on her face, and she saw in an instant that he recognized her.

Granny Hong gestured hastily at him. "This is the saintly man Fahai, a travelling monk passing through our village." she fluttered, beaming at Suzhen. "He'll be lodging with us during his sojourn here. Holy man, this is my neighbour, Suzhen--Madame Xu Suzhen. She's our physician's wife. Physician Xu's wife."