Chapter 235 Contact

Meimei said to the woman, "I want to see your girl for something. Is she here?"

The woman was startled for a moment. She often received guests in the store. Her experience told her that the elegant and beautiful young woman in front of her must be rich or noble. From her attire, the carriage she rode in, and the fact that she was not wearing a veil, and the young man with extraordinary bearing and elegant appearance beside her, it was cleared that she was married. A large number of guards cleared the store and controlled the street. The maids looked calm and well-dressed. This aura was stronger than those of the noble ladies who came in the past. But she was not a regular customer. The girl was busy embroidering autumn clothes for the wife of the Duke. The woman was not sure how to answer for a moment. After thinking for a while, she bowed her head and said:

"Please forgive me, grandma, our girl is out for something and is not in the store..."?

Meimei smiled and said, "She originally told me to come here to find her if I need her. Since she is not here, I will go back first. Please tell her that the wife of Weiyuan Hou has been here!"

After Meimei finished speaking, the woman hesitated for a moment, holding her handkerchief, and finally made up her mind: "Since we have an appointment, please wait for me, Madam. I will go in and see if the girl has returned?"

Meimei nodded, and the woman bowed and hurried to the back, pushing aside an embroidered curtain. Her shadow disappeared, and another young man of fifteen or sixteen came up and greeted them warmly, asking if they wanted to see the new embroidery patterns. ?

After a short while, the embroidered curtain moved, and Liu Jingyun walked out quickly. ?

She wore a bean green jacket and an apricot red pleated skirt. The embroidery on the jacket and skirt was elegant and delicate. Her black hair was still in an exquisite style that was not cliché. This time, she did not wear the pearl flower, but only the ordinary jade hairpin. A strand of hair hung behind each of her cheeks, covering a pair of small white jade earrings. Perhaps because she ran in a hurry, she was slightly out of breath. Two red clouds rose on her cheeks, and her eyes were clear as water. When Xu Junxuan looked at her, he felt as if he saw a magnolia that had just bloomed in the early morning of summer, elegant and pleasant, pure and beautiful. ?

Liu Jingyun walked straight to Meimei and bowed deeply: "I didn't know that Madam Weiyuan was here. I'm sorry for the delay. Please forgive me, Madam!"

Meimei helped her up and said with a smile, "How can I blame you? I didn't make an appointment with you in advance, so I came as soon as I said I would - I didn't disturb you from doing your work, did I?"

Liu Jingyun had a quick look at the situation in the store. When Meimei arrived, all the customers were driven away, and all the people standing inside and outside the door were her people. ?

"Madam Weiyuan, you are too polite! My cousin has given me a new life. You are her friend, but if there is any needlework that needs my help, I will do my best!"

Liu Jingyun said seriously, bowed her head and knelt down in front of Xu Junxuan. Meimei supported her with a smile: "Since you said so, I think you are a good match. I will have to trouble you in the future. Just follow your cousin and call me sister! You don’t know this person, he is my uncle - Master Xu Liu. If we meet on the street, please walk with me and we will go home together later!"?

Xu Junxuan was very polite, bowed and said, "I apologize for disturbing you, Miss Liu!"

Liu Jingyun bowed and returned the greeting: "I pay my respects to the Sixth Master!"

She took two steps back and stood slightly to Meimei's side. When she heard her stepmother come to report that Weiyuan Hou's wife had arrived, she quickly put down her work and went out to greet her. She also heard that Weiyuan Hou's wife was followed by a man, probably Weiyuan Hou. She had already reached the back door at that time, and it was too late to go back and put on the veil. She hesitated for a while, but still gritted her teeth and came out. Who knew that according to her glance, she guessed that it should not be the Marquis. She had seen her cousin's husband, Changle Hou, and her cousin's wife Changle Hou often took her to visit the noble ladies in the Duke's mansion. Occasionally, she saw the Duke and the Marquis, and they were all very imposing, but the young and handsome nobleman next to Weiyuan Hou's wife did not have that kind of aura. But since the Marquis didn't say anything, she didn't dare to ask or guess randomly, so she had to bow and go down, just not calling out randomly. When she heard Meimei say that it was just her younger uncle, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and it turned out that she still had some vision. ?

Meimei asked Cuixi to take out the clothes she wanted to embroider and to unfold them for Liu Jingyun to look at. Liu Jingyun hurriedly said:

"If Madam Weiyuan doesn't mind, you can take it to the backyard to have a look. Although the backyard is a workshop and a bit messy, there is a quiet room for resting, where you can drink tea while choosing patterns."

Meimei thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Okay, I'll go take a look, but I won't drink tea. I know it's the season change, you're very busy, and I'm not thirsty, so I won't delay Miss Liu's work. I'll keep the clothes, and you can make them when you have time. As for the patterns... I really want to pick them carefully to see if you have anything special!"?

Liu Jingyun smiled and said, "There are many! Madam Weiyuan, please follow me!"

She lifted the curtain with one hand, turned slightly, lowered her eyes humbly and handed one hand to Meimei for support. Meimei looked at Baizhan and said, "You two stay here. I'll just watch for a while and come back... Sixth brother, come with me!"

Bai Zhan wanted to follow, but was forbidden to do so. Instead, the Sixth Master followed the Young Madam. He was very upset. The Young Madam was out of his sight, and he didn't know what the backyard looked like. No way! He had to follow one of them. When he saw Cui Xi put the bundle of Madam's clothes in Cui Si's hand, he hurried over and took it away. Cui Si glared at him:

"what you do?"?

Bai Zhan chuckled and said, "Miss Cui Si is tired, I'll let someone hold it for you!"?

When he glanced over, a tall and handsome young man came over and took the bag. He smiled flatteringly and followed Cui Si closely. Cui Xi and Cui Si understood Bai Zhan's intention and said nothing. Cui Xi smiled, but Cui Si rolled her eyes at Bai Zhan. After the last time she was slapped by the old lady and turned into a pig's face, Bai Zhan saw her miserable appearance, and Bai Zhan never called her sister Cui Si again. The reason was that he was afraid that one day Cui Si would fall into the hands of the old lady again. The old lady would not be satisfied with beating her and would punish her whole family. If he called her sister, wouldn't he be implicated and turned into a pig's head? That would be too ugly! ?

Meimei and Xu Junxuan visited Liu Jingyun's embroidery workshop and could not help but marvel at it. It was a courtyard of moderate size, and each of the rooms was clean and tidy. More than a dozen embroiderers were doing their jobs quietly and busily. From time to time, young wives came to ask questions, and Liu Jingyun answered them carefully and meticulously, with few words and a calm and firm tone. It was not easy for a gentle and elegant unmarried girl to start with her own skills, and to work hard to create and preside over such a large-scale small workshop, with a very good development prospect. It seemed that Liu Jingyun was not raised in the way of ordinary young ladies from childhood to adulthood. ?

Maybe she is also a traveler? ?

Meimei quickly shook her head to deny it. If she was a time traveler, she should have been more forward-thinking, and the small workshop would not be limited to this scale...?

On the way back to the mansion, Meimei was sitting in the car while Xu Junxuan rode outside the window. He wanted to get closer to the car window and say something to Meimei, but he was too embarrassed to say anything because he was worried about the crowds of people around him. Baizhan was very depressed by her absent-minded and confused look. Meimei also felt awkward looking at Xu Junxuan in the car, so she couldn't help but open the car window and asked, "Sixth brother, what do you think?"

Xu Junxuan quickly glanced at the people around him, blushed slightly and said: "Let's talk about it when we get back home. I, I haven't thought about it yet..."?

Bai Zhan thought to himself, "Sixth Master, you haven't made up your mind yet, and I don't know how or what to think!"

Passing by a side alley, Bai Zhan turned his head and suddenly saw a large group of people walking on the street at the end of the side alley. Although the group of people walked very fast, he could still see their clothes and attire, which was very familiar to him. He was very happy, but he didn't dare to make it too clear. He quickly waved to a guard to take his place. He pulled up the reins, turned around and quickly passed through the side alley. ?

After half a cup of tea, Bai Zhan caught up with Mei Mei's carriage. There was no special expression on his face, but the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were full of smile lines. ?

The carriage entered from the second gate and stopped in front of the hanging flower gate. Xu Junxuan waited for Cuixi and Cuisi to help Meimei get off the carriage, and said with a smile: "Heng'er is still in Qiuhua Courtyard, right? Sister-in-law is going to pick him up? Brother and sister-in-law will go together to visit and say hello to mother, and talk about this on the way!"?

Meimei nodded: "Then let's go together!"?

The uncle and his sister-in-law walked side by side in front, talking, followed by a group of maids. Bai Zhan and the guards would not go into the inner courtyard unless it was necessary, but he needed to go to Qinghua Courtyard. After asking the guards about the situation on duty, he went in through the corner door. ?

Meimei and Xu Junxuan came to Qiuhua Courtyard and saw Xu Xiaojuan and Li Zhao sitting in the hall with their two children. The family was drinking tea and eating snacks. The two children were playing and fighting. The couple sat aside with a smile, guarding them so that they would not fall off the bed. Meimei did not see Heng'er with Li Xu. After asking, she found out that Heng'er was in Madam Zheng's room, and Xia Lian was playing a literacy game with him. ?

After Xu Junxuan and Li Zhao finished their greetings, they wanted to go to Madam Zheng's bedroom with Meimei to pay their respects, but Xu Xiaojuan smiled and stopped them:

"Sixth brother, don't go. As long as Mother is with Heng'er, she will find it noisy when Jiao'er, Xu'er and I are around. If you go, she will be even less happy!"

Xu Junxuan's eyes darkened, thinking about how the first wife had always been cold and harsh to the children of concubines, but the Marquis treated his sons equally, regardless of whether they were legitimate or illegitimate, and gave them the same attention and love, including teaching them by calling the three sons together. The first wife saw this and could not be too harsh on the children, but the Marquis was rarely in the mansion after all, so the first wife made a rule for herself, only allowing the concubines' sons, daughters and concubines to greet him at the bottom of the steps, even if it was windy, rainy, frosty or snowy. He had seen his mother and concubine Lin waiting in the rain many times, and they dared to leave only after hearing the first wife send them away. When he was young, he once advised his mother not to come to pay her respects again, but was scolded by his mother. From then on, even though he didn't say much, he was extremely cold to the first wife in his heart, and what he did was just a false courtesy, which even he felt was fake. ?

Only after the first wife fell ill, perhaps because I didn't have to see her face but hear her voice, did I pay my respects to her with more sincerity. ?

How ashamed! Xu Junxuan thought, and accepted Li Zhao's invitation to sit down and talk with him about the recent trends of the scholars in the capital, what literary and poetry societies they have formed, and how many masterpieces they have produced...