The bedrooms were spick and span the next when Bai li yue came to choose her room. She chose the largest one. It was bare like the rest. The former owner had sold everything he could except the house itself. She laid her bedroll on the clean floor and went to sleep. 

Ye zhian woke her up to tell her about the kitchen. Bai li yue was still undecided about whether to give the kitchen a complete overhaul for the sake of modernisation. She didn't know how that would go over with those from this world. Anyway, she was excited about finally using the kitchen. Everything else could wait until the servant quarters was finished.

She gave Ye zhian a shopping list for the food store along with some money for expenses and sent him off. He returned a few hours later with two wagons of provisions. They now had enough food with which to feed a unit of soldiers. 

Over the days, he didn't know where Bai li yue often disappeared to. He never found her, but he always found a full money purse waiting for him.

'I seem to be in charge of everybody.'

He sighed.

The cleaners finished cleaning the main house, but instead of leaving, they insisted on cleaning the garden. Ye zhian had been thinking of hiring someone to clear the area of weeds, but the women were adamant. They'd be back to finish cleaning when the carpenters finished working. They therefore saw no need to stop work. Clearing a garden was a different type of cleaning. He wanted Bai li yue's opinion but she was nowhere to be seen. In her absence, the cleaners left with satisfied smiles. 

Bai li yue left the capable Ye zhian in charge and tried to familiarise herself with the city. Mostly she walked with no destination in mind. When she got lost, it was only a matter of asking or studying her map and finding a nearby landmark. So far, her wanderings had proved fruitful. She had found a small restaurant whose decent priced menu could rival Wang's food house in quality. She also found a garden full of statues that looked oddly lifelike and an alley that led to a flooded courtyard fed by a well. The clean clear water in the courtyard came up to her neck. The cold water refreshed many of the neighbourhood children who played in the water till nightfall. The flooded courtyard was a welcome break from the afternoon heat. 

Today, she found herself standing in front of a painting provisions shop. The paintings hanging outside drew pedestrians into the shop. Bai li yue wasn't exempt from temptation. She had missed putting paint on canvas. 

Do they even have oil based paints in this world? Most of the paintings she'd seen so far didn't look oil based. 

The shop was bigger than she had expected. She found brushes of all sizes and paints. They turned out to be sticks of dried ink of different colours that had to be ground and mixed. In the next section, she found rolls of paper and canvas cloth of different sizes and quality. Instead of wooden frames they scroll ends were used. They were made mostly from all types of wood- of different colours, carvings and adornments. She even found scroll ends made from jade. 

Bai li yue gave into temptation and bought some supplies to try out in her free time : a few yards of cloth, some brushes and some basic inks. She also bought a few cheap, but good looking hanging paintings to decorate the house with. 

In the evening,  Ye zhian sat by her side outside while she ground the ink sticks and mixed the powder with water. He hadn't seen her in two days.

'The cleaners insisted so i put them to work clearing the garden. The head carpenter asked for you. He wants you input on something.'

'I'll talk to him in the morning. Thank you.'

She'd known the house would be in good hands when she'd left. Ye zhian was a trustworthy person. She didn't mind keeping him next to her.

The length of canvas cloth was beckoning. She had a vague idea of what she wanted to paint. It had taken root during her shopping expedition. The final image appeared in her mind's eye: a woman sitting on a grassy hill, a red bow resting on her leg. 

The night crawled on brushstroke by brushstroke, the image of a woman taking form under her brush. Her face, tilted toward the sky was wreathed in untold loneliness. She was as much a mystery now as she had been the first time she saw her. Bai li yue stared at the painting in the light of the oil lamp and finally let out the breath she had been holding. Her tense shoulders relaxed when she didn't see any of those grey coloured wisps of energy that had plagued all of her paintings. She laughed out loud and settled to watch it till the slight shift in noise level announced the coming of another day. 

Her mood carried her till morning. It was expressed in her cooking. She placed a steaming bowl of rice noodles and meat in front of Ye zhian when he arrived.

'Eat! You have a busy day ahead of you.'

Ye zhian stared at the bowl warily. They had always eaten food from wang's food house. He didn't know if she could cook.

'What are you doing? Eat!' 

'Didn't you buy the food supplies for the cook?' 

Her happiness waned at the question.

'How many times do i have to tell you that this is a house, not an inn? Don't sit there making assumptions. Eat!'

Ye zhian tasted the soup. The soup was light and the noodles springy. He finished eating in no time. 

Huh? where did the food go?

Opposite him, Bai li yue was eating a kind of dumpling he had never seen before. The dumplings were bite sized than the usual steamed kind and they looked to have been fried. Seeing his arrested look, she slid the tray across the table to him. He bit into the interesting creation and tasted juicy meat and vegetables cooked inside a crunchy skin. The rest disappeared into his mouth as he reached out mechanically for another. 

All the while, he listened to Bai li yue's instructions and nodded in between bites. 

'Chairs, mmm… tables, beds, mmm… yes.'

He remembered most of what she said even though his attention was on the food. The delicious food was a novel experience. He hadn't experienced so many different tastes before. His taste buds were awakened and palpitating in readiness. 

He had been curious ever since they'd met her, but he'd never had the courage to give voice to his questions.

'Miss, are you opening an inn? Do you need workers?' 

He tentatively asked.

'I already told you that's not the case. The rooms are for people visiting.'

'You must come from a wealthy family. You spent all that money just for a house.'

'I bought it because it's a good investment.' 

'The house is almost in order, you won't need me- me any longer.'

'Yes but, I have an idea to remedy that. This house is too big for one person. You could live here if you wanted to. Stay for as long as you'd like.'

Ye zhian thought of the small room he shared with five other boys. It was cramped all the time and he only went there to sleep. 

'If you're worried about taking advantage of me, you can pay rent. I'll even provide you with meals from time to time.' 

She really hoped he stayed. 

Ye zhian didn't answer but watched her, his head cocked to the side. The proposal had come out of the blue. Bai li yue remained an enigma to him because she didn't treat him the way others did. She affected the demeanor of an indolent wealthy lady, but he couldn't tell if she was really lazy or if it was a pretense. 

But he had to give her some credit. The transformation of the servants quarters into individual chambers had blown him away. A part of him told him to stick by her side. He made his decision.

'I'll stay. I can't p-pay much.'

'Don't worry. We'll figure something out together.'