The girl's first attempt at cooking ended in crushing defeat.
She had nearly burned the kitchen down while she was at it.
Luckily, Xiao Mo reacted fast and put the fire out.
And honestly, even without the fire, Xiao Mo didn't think what Bai Ruxue had made this time was fit for a human to eat.
Because in Bai Ruxue's mind, "cooked" really did just mean cooked.
Her original plan had been to boil a pot of water and then dump the rabbit and the pheasant straight in.
But even that dish "boiled live fish" doesn't mean you actually throw a live fish into the pot and boil it...
Still, seeing Bai Ruxue with her head bowed in self-blame, Xiao Mo didn't scold her. He only encouraged her: "It's fine. I'll do the cooking today."
"Xiao Mo, I'm sorry. I'll definitely learn how to cook properly from now on..." Bai Ruxue lifted her lovely head, her eyes misted over, as though one more word of scolding from him would make her burst into tears.
Xiao Mo nodded. "No rush. Take it slow."
He fished the rabbit and the pheasant out of the pot and set to work on the ingredients.
Bai Ruxue watched from the side to see how he did it, checking for anything she could help with.
She watched him gut the rabbit and the chicken, wash them clean, cut them into small pieces, and stir-fry them with scallion, ginger, and garlic.
Only then did she understand—so human cooking was this particular.
After that, Bai Ruxue began learning to cook the human way.
Her teacher was the village chief's wife—Aunt Chen.
As for how Bai Ruxue had gotten hooked up with Aunt Chen,
that was all thanks to the village chief's second daughter, Wang Ying.
Wang Ying had heard that a fairy sister had come to Brother Xiao's house, one who was ever so pretty, so she came to have a look.
Bai Ruxue was simple-hearted by nature, so she and the little girl Wang Ying hit it off right away.
And when Wang Ying heard that the fairy sister wanted to learn to cook, she marched her straight to her mother.
Faced with a request from such a pretty girl, Aunt Chen could hardly refuse.
And so Bai Ruxue became Aunt Chen's "disciple."
Aunt Chen was warm-hearted too; every day she came to Xiao Mo's courtyard to teach Bai Ruxue how to cook.
At the beginning, Aunt Chen was quite patient.
After all, looking at Bai Ruxue's tender white hands, Aunt Chen knew at once that she must have been a sheltered young lady, the kind whose ten fingers never touched spring water.
So Aunt Chen had come prepared, certain that this young miss would know nothing at all.
But gradually, Aunt Chen started to lose her temper.
"No, no, no! You have to scale the fish first! And take the guts out! You can't just throw it in the pot!"
"S-sorry..."
"What are you putting in so much chili for? Are you trying to burn Xiao Mo's mouth off?"
"Sorry!"
"Stop with the salt! Is salt free? Are you trying to salt Xiao Mo to death?"
"I didn't mean to..."
"All right, all right, now put the cilantro in. Xiao Mo likes cilantro."
"Enough! Cilantro is a seasoning—I didn't tell you to stir-fry it like it's cabbage!"
Every day at noon, as Xiao Mo read in the courtyard, he could hear Aunt Chen scolding Bai Ruxue.
Every time, Aunt Chen left grumbling and cursing—"Dumb as a post, I'm never coming back to teach you."
Every time, Bai Ruxue was scolded to tears,
but the next day Aunt Chen came again, and Bai Ruxue wiped her tears and went on learning to cook, serious as ever.
Not for any other reason—clumsy as Bai Ruxue was, she was pretty, and she learned with all her heart.
And Aunt Chen had a sharp tongue over a soft heart; once her temper cooled, she remembered that pretty little girl again.
As the days went by,
Aunt Chen scolded Bai Ruxue less and less.
One noon, three months later, Aunt Chen didn't scold Bai Ruxue once.
And that same noon, as the two of them watched Xiao Mo pick up his chopsticks, they were both terribly nervous.
"It's good." Xiao Mo tasted a piece of rabbit and nodded.
"Yes!" Bai Ruxue jumped up in delight.
Aunt Chen couldn't help wiping her eyes.
She's finally graduated from my teaching. It wasn't easy...
Besides the cooking, Xiao Mo's clothes were also washed by Bai Ruxue.
Every morning she got up and carried her clothes and Xiao Mo's down to the river to wash.
The village women were warm and eager too, teaching Bai Ruxue how to get the clothes really clean.
In no time, the aunties were all on familiar terms with Bai Ruxue.
They even slipped a few dirty jokes to her now and then.
But Bai Ruxue didn't understand a single one.
Seeing her blank, innocent face, the aunties didn't explain—they just laughed.
Bai Ruxue was baffled, so she ran back to ask Xiao Mo.
"Xiao Mo, why does Aunt Wang say men have three legs? But you only have two. Where's your third leg? Let me see it."
"Xiao Mo, why does Aunt Chen say I'd be easy to give birth to children, and that as long as I get pregnant the whole family will never go hungry?"
"Xiao Mo, Aunt Sun asked me whether you sneak into my room at night and do naughty things to me. What are naughty things? Are you going to come into my room tonight?"
Faced with these questions, Xiao Mo had no idea how to answer. He could only keep his mouth shut.
Sometimes Bai Ruxue went back up the mountain to visit her little sister, bringing her some of the tasty persimmon cakes from the village and telling her all the interesting things that had happened to her.
When it was hot, Bai Ruxue would take up a fan and fan Xiao Mo, and even when she was drenched in sweat herself, she only wiped it away a little and kept fanning.
When it was cold, Bai Ruxue would crawl into Xiao Mo's bed and warm it for him.
Xiao Mo said there was no need, but Bai Ruxue insisted every time.
Brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books were expensive, so Bai Ruxue hunted and handed the game to Aunt Chen to sell for her.
Or else she learned from Aunt Chen to raise silkworms and weave silk.
While she fed the silkworms she was always muttering, "Little silkworm babies, you have to spin lots and lots of silk for me~"
Since the village chief had nothing left to teach Xiao Mo,
Xiao Mo often had to travel elsewhere to study and hear other masters' lectures.
Studying cost money, but luckily the magistrate of Qingshan County was eager to win the goodwill of the local scholars,
so the tuition for taking a master and the travel expenses could all be funded through him.
When Xiao Mo went off to study, Bai Ruxue went with him.
The two of them walked through the hills and forests, and Bai Ruxue hunted for him, roasted his food, fetched his water.
All Xiao Mo had to do was walk on and study well.
When winter came, Bai Ruxue began to feel drowsy.
Every night she went to bed early and slept until the sun was on her backside, then scrambled up in a fluster and complained to Xiao Mo: "Why didn't you wake me? I haven't even washed the clothes."
Without her noticing, Bai Ruxue grew more and more skilled at washing, cooking, and keeping house—like a virtuous wife.
Deep into winter.
One morning Bai Ruxue woke and found her skin covered in a layer of translucent, crystalline snake skin.
The girl was startled. She hurried to the mirror—her face too was covered in white snake skin, and her eyes were filmed over gray.
"Oh no! I'm going to shed! What do I do, what do I do..."
Bai Ruxue paced back and forth in the room, her little hands clutching her sleeves.
At last she stopped, her eyes firm. "Looks like there's only one thing for it—run!"
She took up brush and paper and left Xiao Mo a letter, the gist of it being "something has come up at home, my little sister is sick, I have to go back and look after her, I'll be back in the spring."
Then Bai Ruxue turned into a snake, slipped out the window as fast as she could, and climbed the mountain.
"Ruxue... time to get up... Ruxue..."
It was past noon and Bai Ruxue still hadn't risen, so Xiao Mo knocked on the door. The room was empty—only a letter on the table, and on the floor a translucent white snake skin.
Back on the mountain, Bai Ruxue shot into the cave like a wisp of smoke.
Her little sister had long since gone into hibernation. Bai Ruxue lay down beside her, gazing out at the heavy snow, and worry began to stir in her heart.
"With no one to cook for him, won't he go hungry?"
"With no one to wash his clothes, what will he do?"
"And with no one to warm his bed, won't he find it strange?"
The more she thought, the heavier her head grew, until at last she sank into hibernation.
With the coming of spring, Bai Ruxue opened her eyes and shed her skin once more.
When she saw her own body, Bai Ruxue jumped in fright.
Bai Ruxue was now fifteen chi long and a chi thick.
The knowledge carved into her bloodline told her she was no longer a snake, but a python.
With a shake she took human form, then looked down—and found she couldn't see her toes.
She walked to the edge of the pool and looked at herself in the water.
The woman's figure was slender and enchanting; below her delicate shoulders her jade peaks were full and round, and the silk sash cinching her waist drew out a breathtaking curve. Beneath the thin gauze the lush contours rose and fell faintly with her breathing, warm as jade giving off fragrance.
Her waist was slender, just the right amount for a hand to circle, like a tender willow leaning into the wind.
Below her skirt, two jade legs ran long and straight, and even under the pomegranate-red cloth one could glimpse how she stood tall and graceful.
Those peach-blossom eyes held a tender, lingering gaze, like peach petals just opening, the outer corners tipped slightly up, a natural air of romance about them, as though steeped in rouge and spreading a blush of tempting pink.
"Is this me?"
Bai Ruxue stared in astonishment at herself in the water.
She turned and looked at her own profile; the curve of the woman in the water rose and fell like a mountain range.
"Pretty enough, but my shoulders ache so much..."
Bai Ruxue frowned and hefted the two mountains in front of her.
"Never mind. I'd better get down the mountain—half a year has gone by already, and who knows whether Xiao Mo has been eating properly."
When she came down the mountain and reached the gate of Xiao Mo's courtyard, he was there reading, as usual.
"Xiao Mo."
Bai Ruxue called out to the man in the courtyard.
Xiao Mo raised his head, saw the woman in the white skirt beyond the gate, and was struck dumb. Only after a long while did he come to himself: "Miss Bai?"
"Who else would it be?"
Bai Ruxue walked into the yard.
But wherever Bai Ruxue went, Xiao Mo's gaze followed.
"You... why do you keep looking at me? Is there... something strange about me?" Bai Ruxue was a little embarrassed under his stare, and felt her whole body burning.
"No. It's only that we haven't met in half a year, and Miss Bai has changed quite a lot. I wasn't prepared for it," Xiao Mo said, withdrawing his gaze. "Forgive me, this student was rude."
"Then compared to before, have I gotten prettier, or uglier?" Bai Ruxue asked playfully, the same as ever.
"Prettier." Xiao Mo was honest.
The Ruxue of before had a girl's pure freshness.
But the Ruxue of now had fully blossomed; with the freshness there was now a touch of allure.
"If I'm pretty, then look more." Bai Ruxue's eyes curved into crescents. "If it's you, Xiao Mo, I don't mind~"
"Still, it wouldn't be proper." Xiao Mo shook his head with a smile.
"What's improper about it?" Bai Ruxue tilted her head. "I'm pretty exactly so you can look at me."
"..." Xiao Mo was, for a moment, speechless.
"Miss..." Xiao Mo thought for a moment about how to explain. "There is a difference between men and women."
"I don't get it."
Bai Ruxue didn't understand.
With anyone else, of course she would have minded the difference between men and women.
But she didn't dislike Xiao Mo, so why should she mind?
Xiao Mo always had some strange principles.
Unknowingly...
Another two years passed.
Every winter, Bai Ruxue went up the mountain to hibernate.
Each time she woke, she was thicker and longer, but once in human form her looks were fixed and unchanging.
One day, Bai Ruxue went down to the river to wash clothes.
Who knows what the village's aunties and great-aunts said to her.
When Bai Ruxue came back, she stared at Xiao Mo without letup.
She stared at him while they ate, and stole glances while she hung the laundry.
When she had nothing to do, she sat right in front of Xiao Mo and looked.
"Is there something you want, Miss Bai?" Xiao Mo set down his book, picked up the tea on the table, and took a sip.
"Mm-hm." Bai Ruxue nodded. "Xiao Mo, when are you going to marry me?"
"Cough, cough, cough..." Xiao Mo choked badly. "What did you say, Miss Bai?"
"I said, when are you going to marry me?" Bai Ruxue asked.
"Miss Bai... why do you ask?"
"Because Aunt Li told me to!"
Bai Ruxue straightened her willow waist, and the cream mountains and snow seas cast a shadow over the stone table.
"Aunt Li says I'm not married and you're not married, and we live together every day, and we're both grown, so why aren't we husband and wife? Aunt Li says that when her son was your age, his kids could already run to the store to buy soy sauce."
"That's..." Xiao Mo thought for a moment, then explained, "Miss Bai, two people can only marry if they like each other."
"But I do like you." Bai Ruxue blinked. "Don't you like me?"
Xiao Mo smiled. "Then what would you say we are to each other, Miss Bai?"
"Friends." It came out of Bai Ruxue's mouth at once.
Xiao Mo shook his head. "But Miss Bai, liking someone as a friend isn't enough."
"Then what kind of liking is enough?"
Bai Ruxue was all in a muddle. So liking came in types now?
"That..." Xiao Mo considered for a moment. "It's hard to say. But if one day Miss Bai understands it, she'll know whether she wants to marry me."
"Then when I understand, if I still want you to marry me, will you marry me, okay?"
Xiao Mo was taken aback. He looked gently into the girl's peach-blossom eyes:
"Yes."