At the end of the evening lesson, Jin Feng asked Zhou Jin to stay behind.
“Sir, is something up?” Zhou Jin asked respectfully.
Most of the other girls joined the medical team reluctantly, unable to stomach fighting bandits. Zhou Jin was the only one who joined willingly.
In her heart, Jin Feng had made it all possible, filling her with admiration and gratitude.
“Are you settling in these past few days?” Jin Feng asked as they walked.
“It’s great. The food and lodging are much better than at home,” Zhou Jin replied, hurrying to keep up.
“Good,” Jin Feng said, stopping. “I’d like to teach you some things privately, which might mean moving to my front courtyard. Are you willing?”
Liu Tie had bought the liquor, and the buns in the cupboard had grown green mould, ready for distilling alcohol and attempting penicillin production. Jin Feng planned to teach Zhou Jin the methods.
Passion is the best teacher. After observing her, Jin Feng was certain Zhou Jin genuinely loved medical work. His own interest wasn’t in medicine, so he thought it better to teach her and let her explore.
“Teach me privately?” Zhou Jin’s eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly. “I’m willing, I’m willing!”
“Alright, go pack your things. You can move in today or tomorrow.”
“Yes!” Zhou Jin ran off excitedly to gather her belongings.
Back home, Run Niang had set the table with dinner.
Guan Xiaorou, Tang Dongdong, Xiao E, and Qing Mulanzhou, who was there for a free meal, sat around chatting, waiting for Jin Feng.
Though Jin Feng had said not to wait for him to eat, Guan Xiaorou always insisted, and he had grown used to it.
“What kept you so late? The food’s almost cold,” Qing Mulanzhou grumbled, urging him to sit.
“You, a freeloader, sure have a lot of complaints. If it’s cold, don’t come,” Jin Feng shot back, deliberately taking his time to wash his hands with soap before sitting and picking up his chopsticks.
As he moved, Qing Mulanzhou and Xiao E launched into a battle over a chicken leg.
Xiao E, being young and weaker, lost to the martial artist Qing Mulanzhou, who claimed the prize.
“Sister Mulanzhou, I’m a kid, and you’re an adult. You can’t steal from me,” Xiao E said indignantly.
“I’m a guest, and I trained all day. You should be sensible and let me have it,” Qing Mulanzhou teased.
As the daughter of the former Xichuan Governor and sister of the current one, Qing Mulanzhou had tasted every delicacy. She came to Jin Feng’s for the lively atmosphere, not just the food, which was better than the camp’s slop.
Big households had strict rules. Growing up, Qing Mulanzhou was taught to eat silently, each person at their own low table, no noise allowed, or the strict nanny would scold them.
At Jin Feng’s, there were no such rules. Everyone, including Run Niang, who worked there, sat around one table, chatting freely. To Qing Mulanzhou, this was what dining should feel like.
Teasing Xiao E was her routine.
“You’re tired from training? I ran around all day too,” Xiao E retorted, pouting and turning to Jin Feng. “Brother-in-law, do something about Sister Mulanzhou. She always bullies me!”
“You’re just bored,” Jin Feng said, glancing at Qing Mulanzhou. He fished another chicken leg from the clay pot and put it in Xiao E’s bowl.
Qing Mulanzhou wasn’t upset. She stuck out her tongue at Xiao E and took a defiant bite of her chicken leg, nearly prompting Xiao E to throw her bowl at her.
“Xiaorou, after dinner, you and Run Niang tidy up the side room next to Dongdong’s,” Jin Feng said, changing the subject to avoid a fight.
“What’s the side room for? Guests?” Guan Xiaorou asked curiously.
They now lived in a courtyard house. Jin Feng, Guan Xiaorou, and Xiao E stayed in the inner courtyard, Tang Dongdong and Run Niang in the middle, with a few spare rooms for guests.
“Not a guest. It’s for Zhou Jin,” Jin Feng said, sipping his porridge. “I told her to move in with us.”
“What?!” Everyone except the oblivious Xiao E stared wide-eyed at Jin Feng.
“Zhou Jin? The girl you said wasn’t scared of bandit corpses?” Guan Xiaorou asked.
“Yes, her,” Jin Feng nodded.
Guan Xiaorou nodded thoughtfully, about to speak, when Qing Mulanzhou slammed her bowl on the table.
“Jin, what’s that supposed to mean?” Qing Mulanzhou snapped, dropping her usual “sir” and banging the table. “If you want a woman, what’s wrong with Dongdong or Run Niang? Why go after my female soldiers?”
Tang Dongdong and Run Niang blushed furiously. Run Niang couldn’t even lift her head.
“What are you yelling about?” Jin Feng said, exasperated. “I’m just having Zhou Jin live here. What does that have to do with wanting a woman?”
Zhou Jin was only fifteen, a child in his eyes. How could he be interested?
“Are you daft, or do you think we are?” Qing Mulanzhou fumed. “If you didn’t want her as a concubine, why would you have her live here?”
In those days, a woman living long-term in a man’s home usually meant one of two things: she was family, like Xiao E, or a concubine.
Jin Feng, shaped by modern views, saw these as outdated customs and paid them no mind. He thought, as long as he, Tang Dongdong, and Run Niang were above reproach, gossip didn’t matter.
But he forgot that, in the villagers’ eyes, Tang Dongdong and Run Niang were already seen as his concubines. Unless he died, no one would marry them, even if he hadn’t touched them.
That was the way of Da Kang.
“Your minds are filthy!” Jin Feng pointed at Qing Mulanzhou and the others. “I’m having Zhou Jin move in to teach her some things privately. What does that have to do with taking a concubine?”
“What?” Qing Mulanzhou, Guan Xiaorou, and the others were stunned again.
“You’re taking Zhou Jin as an apprentice? No wonder you want her to live here,” Tang Dongdong said, recovering first.
In Da Kang, the saying “a teacher for a day is a father for life” held weight. An apprentice and master were like family, so it was normal for an apprentice to live with the master.
But mixed-gender apprenticeships were rare. A blacksmith wouldn’t take a girl as an apprentice, nor would an embroiderer take a man.
So Qing Mulanzhou looked at Jin Feng with a strange expression.
