Chapter 66 – A Walk in Outside of Domus
Riding an animal.
That was something straight out of Jade’s imagination. She could picture herself riding bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, or even a jetski – if she somehow got lucky enough to win a trip to some island or another.
She had never imagined that one day, she would be riding an animal. And not even a horse or cattle, but a donkey, an even rarer creature in a Southeast Asian city girl’s understanding.
When she first arrived at the domus and learned that they kept two donkeys for farm work, she had gone to the shed to take a proper look. The place was clean, but animals with fur inevitably carried a certain smell. Like, a doggo had a doggo smell, and a kitty had a kitty smell, so a donkey naturally had its own smell too. And honestly, it wasn’t a pleasant smell even when the shed was carefully managed.
She had fed them carrots and hay, petted their head, and then never got close to the shed after that. Not because she was scared of them or anything, but she remembered a Chinese saying that donkeys were stubborn animals, hard to control and troublesome to handle. It was one of the many reasons why cattle were more commonly used in ancient Chinese farming instead of donkeys.
So it was better to keep her distance. She wasn’t going to stay here forever anyway; there was no need to build any kind of relationship with such troublesome creatures.
However, now she suddenly had an empty slot where she couldn’t do anything related to her work. Tidying the storeroom would be the boundary line; anything more than that, Father Rochester and Mother Annie would definitely give her a stern look. So she accepted her pupil’s suggestion. After breakfast, she left the class to Mother Annie – she could hear the students groaning at the old nun’s arrival instead of hers when she passed by the door – and made her way to the shed, planning to spend the entire morning persuading one of the donkeys to let her ride it.
“This is Apple, and this is Pea,” Brother Aaron, the monk in charge of the farm work, said, giving Pea a gentle pat on the head. “I would suggest you take Pea for a walk. Apple has a mind of its own once it leaves the farm. Your boy, Josh, took Apple once, if you recall. The creature led him along the most winding route, and he returned muttering that he could have delivered the message far more quickly on foot.”
Jade chuckled. She remembered her pupil bragging about that donkey. One of the rare moments when Josh had actually looked a little cute – unlike now, when he was always trying to act mature and reliable.
“Never ridden a donkey before?” Brother Aaron asked as he began fastening the reins and saddle onto Pea.
“Nope.” Jade shook her head. “Never ridden anything that breathes. It won’t shake me off, right?”
“Pea won’t,” Brother Aaron replied, leading the donkey out of the shed. He placed a stool beside it as a stepping aid. “Apple might.”
Jade carefully stepped onto the stool and, with Brother Aaron’s help, climbed onto* the saddle. Sitting upright on the donkey’s back, she blinked in surprise. “Ooh, this point of view feels familiar.”
It was like riding a bicycle or driving a high-seated vehicle. The only difference was that she could hop onto a bicycle or get into a car effortlessly, while getting onto a broad-backed animal with her legs spread wide was not so easy for an untrained person.
She turned to look at Brother Aaron to see if he had any comments about her posture, and caught him frowning for a moment before he shrugged.
“What?” Jade asked, confused. “Did I do it wrong? Do I need to get down and try again?”
“It is quite all right,” Brother Aaron said, waving a hand dismissively. “I had thought you might prefer a side-saddle and was about to ask you to dismount so I could change it. Then I remembered – we do not have one here.”
“Side-saddle?”
“A type of saddle that places both legs on the same side.” Brother Aaron took hold of the reins and led Pea forward a few steps, allowing Jade to grow accustomed to the motion.
Jade furrowed her brows, and cautiously adjusted herself on the saddle. “That sounds tiring. One leg would definitely go numb if I kept sitting to one side.”
It didn’t sound realistic to her, but the image of a girl in a fluffy dress sitting sideways on a horse – that was a heroine straight out of some medieval or historical drama. Still, Jade cared more about her safety than looking good for Instagram.
“That is how a proper lady rides,” Brother Aaron said as he handed her the reins and showed her how to control the animal. “No ladies would ride astride like a man.”
“And I am no lady,” Jade said, puffing out her chest. “I’m a peasant, and I’m gonna ride in whatever position feels safe.”
She was about to ramble on just to keep the conversation going, but the donkey clearly disagreed. “Whoa, Pea! Nice donkey! Be nice to me, please. I’ll just ride you for a day, and I’ll reward you with carrots, alright?”
Brother Aaron let out a loud laugh. “Oh, Miss Jade, have you ever wondered why we call it Pea?”
Jade raised her brows as she finally managed to stabilize the donkey. “... because it likes peas?”
“Exactly!”
Jade bent slightly to stroke the donkey’s mane. “Alright then, Pea the nice donkey. Would you accept my bribe of some peas and treat me nicely for the whole trip? I’ll reward you with more when we get back. Deal?”
The donkey let out a loud bray, and Jade chose to take it as a yes. She hopped down, fulfilled her promise with a quick handful of peas, then climbed back on before setting off along the path.
She didn’t have any particular destination in mind, so Pea simply chose a path it preferred. The two of them began wandering away from the domus in the winter morning.
The donkey moved at a better pace than Jade’s walk from the day before. Within minutes, she had already gone farther than she had been, entering territory unfamiliar to her. It lay opposite the poorer neighbourhood where most of her students lived – perhaps closer to the Ashborne’s estate.
I wonder if Mr. Rich Sponsor ever named his estate… Or do people just call it the Ashborne’s estate? Jade mused as she passed a cottage that didn’t look particularly rich, but not poor either. Perhaps it belonged to a farm owner.
Pea carried her onward without pause. Soon, Jade began to notice the gradual change in their surroundings – huts by muddy roads, then two-storey terraced houses along pebble-paved streets, followed by semi-detached villas with decorated pavements, and finally larger villas that definitely cost a decent amount of money, situated near a stone-paved path… then, Jade saw a buffer zone.
She knew this odd term from a cousin who had studied engineering – something about factory safety or environment conservation? She couldn’t quite remember the exact field, but she had picked up bits of interesting knowledge from him over the years.
In her understanding, a “buffer zone” was an empty space between a facility and public areas such as roads or parks. The purpose of this empty space was that, in case of emergencies like an explosion or a fire hazard, the buffer zone could slow the spread of danger and even serve as an evacuation area. To her, that was a moment of gaining useless but interesting knowledge, where she finally realised “buffer” could mean something other than her slow internet constantly “buffering” to play her the videos.
Jade pulled Pea to a stop.
Of course, she knew this wasn’t exactly a buffer zone – she doubted anyone here even knew the term. But it was clearly an open stretch of land separating the residential area from something private, even without fences or visible boundaries.
Jade narrowed her eyes, and spotted a few figures walking – or maybe working – between rows of trees. She couldn’t identify what kind of trees they were in winter, when most had only a few dry leaves dangling from the branches, but it was definitely no forest if they were planted in careful order…
Then it clicked: This must be Mr. Rich Sponsor’s estate!
“Whoa. Huge.” Jade gasped, muttered under her breath. The last time, she had passed by in a carriage, catching only fleeting glimpses of the orchard through the window. She had been too nervous about being invited to the clubhouse to instruct a tabletop game to really think deep about it. Now, standing outside the estate, she finally got a direct impression of its scale. She decided to stay where she was on the donkey, quietly taking in the view.
For someone who preferred staying indoors, this kind of scenery wasn’t exactly an everyday experience.
With no watch to tell the time, Jade glanced up at the sky and noticed that the sun had shifted slightly. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out, but it had definitely been a while. She gave Pea a light tap on the neck and urged, “Up, up!”
Pea took the hint, finished munching on the dry weeds by the roadside, and started forward again.
As they went on, Jade passed more houses, gardens, and farmlands, along with a few clusters of shops – most of them focused on farm-related services. Just as she was about to turn back toward the domus, something caught her eye.
A shop with strips of leather hanging outside.
She pulled Pea to a stop and took a closer look. Boots, bags, pouches, belts, and saddles – all made of leather – were displayed at the front. At first glance, it didn’t even look like a shop, more like an ordinary house with far too many leather goods hanging outside. It was only the sign at the front – Leather Goods, Repairs, Saddlery – that confirmed it was a proper business, and not just someone’s overly enthusiastic hobby.
Jade narrowed her eyes, and sank into thought.
She had always wanted to get her students water bottles.
People here didn’t have the habit of drinking boiled water, even though it was the simplest way to disinfect it. They didn’t know that this was a way to make water safe from waterborne diseases. And those who could afford to boil water usually drank tea instead, because plain water could not display how comfortable their households were.
Jade cared very little about how the rich drank; she worried about her students who were poor.
Fuel costs money. Coal, in particular, was not something they could spare. They would use it for cooking or anything essential, but certainly not just to boil water, they’d consider that a waste of fuel.
Although most of Jade’s students tried to follow her advice and drink boiled water, reality didn’t cooperate. Instead, they drank as much as they could while at the domus because the domus provided boiled water free of charge, saving them from the need to boil water at home. But that wasn’t a healthy habit, and they couldn’t possibly go without drinking during their working hours.
So Jade had thought about buying them water bottles, so they could refill them in the domus and drink when they left.
And then she hit a dead end.
Plastic didn’t exist here, at least not in this era. It would have been the perfect solution: lightweight, cheap, durable, and safe for children who still hadn’t quite learned to handle things carefully. But there was no plastic.
She needed a substitute. Something cheap, durable and light.
Tin bottles were too expensive. Clay bottles were too heavy and broke too easily. Plant-based options were no better – bamboo didn’t exist in this kingdom, and bottle gourds were rare, grown only by the wealthy in greenhouses for decoration and as special plant collections.
In the end, she had given up on the idea, at least for now. Either she would need more funding to afford tin bottles – which risked her students gaining unnecessary attention and being robbed for the tin – or she could ask Mr. Rich Sponsor for help in obtaining bottle gourd plants or seeds to grow them on the domus farm. He would be glad to help if she asked. Both options would take far too long.
But now, standing in front of a leather workshop, a lightbulb suddenly sparked in her mind: If I remember correctly, the Mongols and many other nomadic people used water bottles made of leather. So… maybe this could work?
A leather water bottle had an obvious flaw – it could burst if punctured. But compared to expensive tin or fragile, heavy clay, it seemed like a reasonable compromise.
Jade didn’t know how much it would cost, but after a quick mental calculation based on what she understood of local prices, she made up her mind and hopped off the donkey.