Unbearable Joy Author: Pian Erdai
Sleeping Through
The silhouette of a youth appeared in the courtyard, stepping over the stairs, glancing at the scorching sun outside, and gently pushing open the door. The room’s windows and doors were tightly closed, exuding an indescribable heaviness. Looking into the inner chamber, white gauze blurred the view, and the person on the bed lay facing away, without the slightest movement, seemingly having no intention of getting up.
Qi’er murmured silently, walked into the inner chamber, and stood quietly a few steps from the carved rosewood summer bed. Qi’er swept a glance over the still-quiet inner chamber, lightly coughed, and lowered his head to softly say: “Master, it’s time to wake up.”
The person on the bed seemed to make a vague sound but still made no movement.
Qi’er’s face looked somewhat sad, biting his lip and lowering his eyes. The master had ordered not to disturb him, not to enter his bedroom casually, and not to serve him in dressing or washing. Except for three meals a day, the master wouldn’t even let him, who had served him since childhood, come close or see him.
However, this melancholic state of mind had no effect on the “man” on the bed, who seemed like the god of sleep, sleeping deeply despite being silently observed by this delicate youth.
Qi’er thought: The master is becoming increasingly strange.
Gritting his teeth as if deciding something, he turned and left, making noise as he walked, and soon brought a basin of clean water, holding a white silk handkerchief, approaching the bed, lifting the gauze curtain, and kneeling down heavily.
A “thud” sound.
The master on the bed—Xu Wanzhi—had long been awake, just unwilling to get up. “Put it on the table. I’ll do it myself.” Accompanied by the sound of getting up, the voice slowly rose, the tone low and clear, without a hint of morning drowsiness.
“Yes.”
Qi’er trembled slightly, carefully placing the copper basin and retreating. When he returned with light porridge and small dishes, this master had already changed into a dark-colored simple robe, her hair styled like a woman’s, tied neatly with a matching-colored ribbon, wearing no hairpins. Elegant and serene, vastly different from her previous gentle and soft demeanor.
