Are You Lua?

"It was Young Master Khang! Out of nowhere, he asked, 'Why was there a new person in the kitchen and no one reported it?' I was standing right there, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest."

Aunt Bay, who was warming her hands by the charcoal stove at the time, merely gave a soft snort:

"I told you, not even a shadow in this house can be unfamiliar, let alone a living person. It was my oversight. I will report to him myself later."

Mam, still shaken, patted her chest a few times:

"My goodness, the young master didn't even raise his voice, but that face and that tone... they were cold enough to stop your breath. Seriously, when he set his chopsticks down with a clack, I felt like my shroud was already being rolled up."

Lua swallowed hard and whispered:

"So... did the young master say anything else?"

"No. He just kept eating as if nothing had happened. But that silence was even more terrifying."

Mam sighed, then turned to tease her gently:

"Look at you, only here for a few days and already having your name called out. Impressive."

Lua gave a forced smile and lowered her head.

Aunt Bay did not laugh, only uttering a dry remark:

"From now on, the young master has his eye on you."

The entire kitchen fell silent for a moment.

The fire remained red, the smoke still drifted, but something in the air had shifted, as if the name "Lua" had been etched into the memory of the very man everyone tried their best to avoid.

A moment later, the meal for the main house was prepared, and Mam and Lua carried the baskets of food out to the plantation as usual.

The midday heat was stifling, the ground radiating waves of heat. As Lua held the pot of soup, sweat seeped out, dampening her palms.

Mam spoke as they walked:

"Remember to distribute the food properly today. Two new people just transferred over from the milling camp. I'll hand out the rice, you ladle the soup, and then we carry the pots back inside immediately, okay?"

Lua nodded, keeping close behind.

Just as they reached the large courtyard between the granaries and the buffalo shed, before they could even reach the wooden platforms to set down the food baskets, someone strode out from the edge of the path lined with peeling concrete pillars.

A white shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbows, boots on his feet, and gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose—he walked tall, like a man who had never known how to bow his head.

His face was devoid of expression, but his gaze was as cold as deep well water in the midst of a drought.

Lua had never seen the young master up close. Today was the first time.

She could only bow her head as low as possible, her hands gripping the handles of the pot as if praying she would turn into thin air.

But he stopped right in front of her.

"Are you Lua?"

His voice was neither loud nor harsh, but it was enough to make her entire body freeze.

Amidst the blazing sun, that question felt like a strike from above, leaving her back cold with sweat.

"Ye... yes, master."