Chapter 210: This Item Is So Precious
Shaoyin was so startled that she squatted onto the ground, covering her ears with both hands as she cried out in panic.
“Ah! What is this!”
How could an object emit such a noisy, roaring sound!
Lin Sanniang hurriedly turned off the hair dryer, looking incredibly apologetic. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I was too reckless…”
Under Jian Xingxia’s guidance, Lin Sanniang, Fatty Aunt, and the others had long since learned how to use all the fixtures in the bathroom.
But to Xu Shaoyin, these were all bizarre, otherworldly things, and she found them difficult to accept all at once.
Lin Sanniang carefully helped Shaoyin up and told her, “This thing is called a hair dryer. It’s just something that blows out wind…”
As Lin Sanniang said this, she felt her words sounded a bit redundant.
However, she didn’t know how else to explain it either.
As a popular entertainer at a prominent restaurant, Xu Shaoyin encountered many merchants traveling from north to south. She had actually seen a bit more of the world than ordinary folk, having been fortunate enough to catch glimpses of items from the Hu people, Ryukyu, Goryeo, and even Tianzhu and Loulan.
Once Lin Sanniang finished explaining, she wasn’t quite as frightened anymore.
She even actively offered, “Thank you, Lady Lin. I lost my composure just now. Please try it again, Lady Lin, I will definitely hold steady this time…”
Lin Sanniang pressed the hair dryer’s switch.
Over the next few minutes, Lin Sanniang meticulously helped Shaoyin dry her hair.
Warm wind blew out from the hair dryer. Xu Shaoyin observed it for a long while, only feeling that this gust of wind blew straight into her heart.
This mountain villa was truly a place that made one feel deeply at ease.
Half an hour later, Xu Shaoyin gathered her hair into a thick braid, looping it from behind one ear to let it drape over her chest.
The end of the braid was secured with something called a “rubber band,” which featured a tiny green leaf ornament for decoration.
Xu Shaoyin was wearing a set of hanfu bought by Jian Xingxia. Lin Sanniang had previously washed and dried them in the washing machine to have them ready for an emergency.
It happened to come in handy right now.
Miss Shaoyin wore no makeup whatsoever, clad only in the white-grounded, light green gauze hanfu with a pair of white cloth shoes on her feet. Yet, even so, just standing there, she was already sufficiently radiant to draw all eyes.
Jian Xingxia was currently sharing the “fries” Fatty Aunt had just fried up—made from sweet potatoes—with Tao-ya.
Seeing Xu Shaoyin emerge, she couldn’t resist wiping away her drool once more.
“These fries are really delicious, hehe. Shaoyin, do you want to try some?”
Jian Xingxia passed the small saucer filled with fries over. “Sanniang, you eat some too.”
Xu Shaoyin looked curiously at the golden, orange-red sweet potato fries in the dish. She had certainly eaten sweet potatoes before, but never sweet potatoes prepared this way.
The restaurant offered more snacks than ordinary places, and the cooks in the back kitchen would also innovate, taking suggestions from traveling merchants to create novel delicacies.
Xu Shaoyin had seen quite a few specialty snacks because of this.
But deep-fried sweet potato fries were something she was seeing for the very first time.
She shifted her gaze from the sweet potato fries to Jian Xingxia, and facing her, sank to her knees. “Thank you, Villa Owner, for saving me!”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “You didn’t actually intend to die, so it doesn’t count as me saving you.”
But Xu Shaoyin understood very well in her heart that even if she hadn’t jumped into the river back then, she had nowhere to go, and the wounds on her body would have claimed her life.
When night fell, plagued by hunger and cold, no matter how great her resolve, without a sound body, she would have ultimately frozen to death in the night.
Yet now, she had been brought back by Jian Xingxia and had taken the most comfortable hot bath of her life. The clean hot water cascaded down in torrents as if it cost nothing, washing away all her terror and anxiety.
She had also put on clean, soft new clothes and had her hair dried.
Most importantly of all, she could tell that the people in the villa, including the Villa Owner, marveled at her beauty.
However, not a single person’s eyes contained any trace of lust or a desire to possess.
In everyone’s gaze, there was only appreciation and pity.
A place like this was the secure haven that Xu Shaoyin, who spent her days putting on a performance at the restaurant, could only ever dream of.
Jian Xingxia handed the saucer of fries to Tao-ya and helped Xu Shaoyin up.
“At my place, you don’t need to bow and kneel all the time.”
As she spoke, she gently rolled up Xu Shaoyin’s sleeve. “You have many injuries on your body. May I look at them for you?”
Xu Shaoyin nodded gently.
While she was bathing just now, Lady Lin had already told her that the Villa Mistress Young Lady absolutely refused to admit she understood medicine, but whenever someone was injured or sick, she would always care for and treat them.
Therefore, Lin Sanniang had told Xu Shaoyin not to ask too many questions or pry, but to simply follow the Villa Owner’s arrangements obediently.
If she could remain at the villa in the future, it would be the same for other matters—what she didn’t understand, she didn’t need to understand, so long as she knew the Villa Mistress Young Lady was the greatest person under heaven.
Jian Xingxia pulled Xu Shaoyin over to sit on a chair, inspecting the injuries on her hands first.
It wasn’t that these were the mildest or most severe, but rather that hands were relatively safe to touch compared to other parts of the body.
Lin Sanniang had quietly informed her that Xu Shaoyin had many other injuries; starting from the hands would allow Miss Shaoyin to slowly lower her guard.
Shaoyin’s hands had burn marks—it was impossible to tell whether they were caused by hot water or candle wax—looking bright red, with the skin appearing a bit tight.
Jian Xingxia pulled a fresh tube of burn ointment from the medical kit. There had originally been another tube, but when Fatty Aunt was messing around frying sesame balls, one had burst, so she had used that tube early on.
Looking at this strangely shaped ointment tube, Xu Shaoyin was thoroughly curious. “What is this ointment contained in? It feels smooth and flexible, yet doesn’t seem like any kind of leather or oilpaper.”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “This is called plastic. You probably don’t have it on your side, but there are many different types of plastic, and this is just one of them.”
Jian Xingxia said, “I can’t explain it clearly, and you probably wouldn’t understand either. Anyway, what it’s contained in doesn’t matter, as long as the ointment works.”
Xu Shaoyin blanked out for a moment, then nodded.
What Lady Lin said was indeed true; it seemed the Villa Mistress Young Lady truly didn’t like people prying too much.
However, there were truly many things one couldn’t help but wonder about.
Xu Shaoyin watched as Jian Xingxia pulled out a small bamboo stick wrapped in cotton to apply the medicine to her. Furthermore, every single time she finished an application, she would pull out a fresh cotton swab to dip into the clean ointment and apply it to the wound.
She repeated this process over and over.
Xu Shaoyin was both surprised and deeply moved. “Villa Mistress Young Lady, this item is so precious, yet you are consuming so much of it for my sake…”
Being praised by a beautiful lady made Jian Xingxia a bit embarrassed. She said humbly, “It’s not much at all. This burn ointment only costs around twenty-odd yuan, it’s nothing major.”
Fatty Aunt had found it highly effective and had directly used twenty yuan of her wage allowance to take a tube home.
She had reasoned that a cook is cooking no matter where they are, so it would always come in handy.
Of course, the packaging had been changed.
While Jian Xingxia was being modest, Shaoyin was taken aback. She hesitated for a moment, remembering Lin Sanniang’s words that she could tell the Villa Owner anything. After some thought, she spoke the truth.
“Villa Mistress Young Lady, I am not talking about this ointment… I know the ointment must be a precious item as well, but my knowledge is shallow, and I do not yet know how much it is worth.”
“Ah, then what are you talking about?”
“The cotton.”
“Huh?”
Jian Xingxia was stunned. Cotton?
What Shaoyin was talking about… was the cotton swabs?
