Jin Mo left, and Su Xi put down the vegetables from the market. Just as he was about to scold Xiao Lian, Xiao Lian presented the handkerchief, saying, “I made this while working hard. Can I be exempted from men’s work for a few days?”
Su Xi eyed the delicately embroidered handkerchief suspiciously. “Did you really make this? You couldn’t handle needlework before, so how could you suddenly embroider such a good pattern?”
Xiao Lian suppressed his guilt and grew proud. The handkerchief was now comparable to his brother’s embroidery, and he hoped his brother would let him avoid men’s work. “Of course I embroidered it. You don’t think she did it, do you? A woman wouldn’t do men’s work for a strange man. It’s definitely mine. Don’t disbelieve me; it’s my work.”
“Xiao Lian, don’t call her that.”
“How will you ever get married? What did you say last time when Jin Jiazhu was leaving?” Su Xi asked angrily, ignoring the embroidered handkerchief. He decided that Xiao Lian couldn’t go out often anymore, as he seemed to be learning inappropriate behaviors in the brothel alleys. Last time, he had imitated how male escorts saw clients out, making Jin Jiazhu stand frozen before leaving expressionlessly, while Xiao Lian called out “walk slowly” and “come again,” even using crude, flirtatious phrases.
“I… I didn’t mean to,” Xiao Lian mumbled, looking conflicted and troubled. He had seen how quickly women returned after male escorts saw them out, prompting him to want Jin Jiazhu to come back quickly. He had suppressed his shyness to see her out, using phrases to attract her attention and imitating the men’s movements, smiling and moving closer to her. However, she seemed to be avoiding him, always with his brother and ignoring him more.
To test his words on women, he even smiled at women on the street. One woman looked at him lustfully and tried to grab his clothes, scaring him into running away, but she suddenly disappeared just as he was about to cry.
Blinking away his tears, he wondered how a living person could vanish in broad daylight. When he returned home, his brother saw his tear-streaked face and confined him at home for several days.
