Chapter 11 The Rouge Tiger

Thinking this, Meng Yutong gently smoothed the wrinkles on her nightgown. With a thought, she walked to the display cabinet by the window and took out a set of pure white porcelain tea set from the innermost layer.

The tea set has a warm and lustrous glaze, and its walls are as thin as cicada wings, allowing light to pass through them; it is a rare and exquisite piece.

She picked up the small teapot with a handle and poured boiling tea into one of the teacups. The clear tea soup rippled with emerald green waves on the white porcelain wall.

She stretched out her finger and gently touched the warm, slightly hot rim of the cup, her voice clear and unhurried: "Granny, please look at this teacup. When Father brought it back, he repeatedly warned me that this thing was extremely precious and could not withstand boiling water or being bumped."

"I then put it away and treated it like a treasure, fearing that I might lose it."

Her gaze fell on the teacup steadily filled with boiling water. "But today, it seems much more resilient than I imagined."

The tea was piping hot, and the white porcelain was translucent; there was nothing unusual about it.

The rising wisps of tea smoke blurred Meng Yutong's face, but her eyes shone brightly behind the mist, like stars reflected in a cold pool, clear and deep.

She picked up the cup of hot tea and steadily presented it to Granny Gui, a faint smile playing on her lips: "If objects are allowed to remain covered in dust forever because they are afraid of breaking, wouldn't that betray the very purpose of their existence?"

"It's better to make the most of it and let it hold all the flavors of life. Even if it breaks one day, that's its destined fate. It's better than letting it gather dust in a dark box and be forgotten by everyone."

Her eyes were clear as she met Granny Gui's worried gaze directly: "As for the future, fortune and misfortune are intertwined, and the future is uncertain. Rather than worrying about the unknown tomorrow, it's better to enjoy the comfort of this cup of tea in front of us. Don't you think that makes sense, Granny?"

Granny Gui was momentarily stunned, staring at the girl in front of her.

She had removed the elaborate dresses and jewelry she wore during the day and was now wearing a simple, light blue silk nightgown.

Her black hair was loosely tied up, adorned only with a simple silver hairpin with peach blossoms, and a few strands of hair casually fell to the side of her neck.

The invisible tension and deliberate effort of the daytime had completely vanished. She exuded an indescribable tranquility, like a bamboo forest after the rain, washed clean of dust, leaving only its pure and clear essence.

Those bright eyes watched her quietly, and beneath the calm surface, Granny Gui vaguely sensed a power and determination to break free from her cocoon.

That was something she had never seen in any girl before.

She then recalled that in the years since her wife, Lady Liu, passed away, the young woman seemed to have put on a thick shell, her words and actions always showing caution and prudence, for fear of making a mistake.

But lately, especially today, that thick shell has broken through from the inside, and the vibrant life that has been suppressed for so long has flowed out like a stream thawing in early spring.

This young lady... actually bears a striking resemblance to the old lady in her youth. The moment this thought crossed her mind, even Granny Gui was startled.

Bai Zhi, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement and couldn't help but clap her hands and laugh, "Miss is absolutely right! Who can say what will happen in the future? The real joy is in the present moment! Don't you agree, Granny?"

Looking at the two young women before her, one calm and insightful, the other cheerful and straightforward, Granny Gui's heavy worries finally turned into a silent sigh.

Oh well... oh well.

The young lady had been confined in this mansion for so many years, and it was a rare moment of relaxation for her.

Besides, she's about to get married, and her time in the Meng family won't be long anyway. Let her be free for a few days.

Seeing the worry in Granny Gui's eyes gradually fade, Meng Yutong knew that the nanny had at least listened to her words for the moment.

However, her grandmother wasn't as easy to talk to as the nanny. There was likely to be another confrontation between them.

Meng Yutong gestured to Bai Zhi to carefully put away the mutton-fat jade gourd. Only then did she turn around, gently take Gui Mama's arm, and lead the somewhat dazed Gui Mama to the window.

A soft bamboo couch covered with a brocade cushion sat by the window. Meng Yutong helped Granny Gui sit down on the couch together.

On the small table beside the couch, a three-legged gilded lion-shaped incense burner silently exhaled wisps of smoke, the smoke trails meandering and meandering through the quiet room.

“Granny,” Meng Yutong said softly, “I remember you used to serve Grandmother, right? You were only transferred to our Apricot Courtyard after Mother entered the mansion?”

The past is like smoke. Granny Gui gazed at the floating dust in the incense smoke, her eyes somewhat distant, as if the smoke had taken her back to the past.

She sighed softly: "Yes... Old servant and Granny Wu have been by the old lady's side since we were young, as her personal maids. When the old lady married into the Meng family, the old lady of the Jiang family was afraid that she would be wronged, so she assigned the two of us as her left and right arms to accompany her in her dowry."

"Later, when the lady entered the mansion, the old lady took pity on her, a stranger who had come from afar and had no close confidant she could rely on. So she removed the old servant from her side and sent him to Xingtao Courtyard."

"The old lady's temperament..." Granny Gui shook her head helplessly, with a sigh, "It's so awkward. It's clearly a kind and considerate thing, but when she says it, it always sounds wrong."

She said that the lady "has just entered the mansion, does not know the rules, and has no sense of propriety," and told the old servant to "go and teach her properly."

Meng Yutong's heart stirred slightly. If it came to teaching discipline, Granny Wu was decisive and ruthless, clearly more suitable than the gentle Granny Gui.

But Grandmother chose Granny Gui, probably because she thought of my mother's lonely marriage to a distant place and wanted to find someone with a gentle temperament and someone she could talk to to keep her company, so that my mother wouldn't be too lonely in this deep mansion.

Grandmother... was indeed an unpredictable old woman.

My grandmother took me under her wing, teaching me manners and giving me my first medical lessons. Apart from that, there was no other warmth between us.

Once, she made a calming sachet by hand and gave it to her grandmother, only to receive a remark from the old lady that she was "not doing her proper job".

She thought the woman probably didn't like the sachet, but then she saw her carefully put it away in the chest...

Because of her grandmother's contradictory and strange nature, even though Meng Yutong had grown up under her stern presence since childhood, she still felt that her grandmother was like a dusty old book with blurred and illegible handwriting.

She never understood it.

“Granny,” Meng Yutong’s voice softened further, tinged with a cautious inquiry, “Could you tell me about Grandmother before she got married? Was she also like this… cold and taciturn when she was young?”

There was also the scar on her grandmother's face. When she was little, she had asked her mother about it in her ignorance. Her mother just gently stroked her head and said, "Whether she has that scar or not, she is still your grandmother. We are connected by blood, and you should not treat her lightly."

Granny Gui let out a long, deep sigh, a sigh that seemed to well up from the depths of her heart, carrying an unspeakable heaviness.

She could sense that the young lady's attitude towards the old lady had become somewhat subtle lately.

Since she specifically asked about these things today, she suddenly felt that perhaps Miss should also know.

"The old lady... was actually a woman with a tragic fate. Her maternal family, the Jiang family, originally from Guangling, was a well-known and prestigious family in the silk trade in Jiangnan back then."

“The old lady before she was married was not like this at all. She was truly…” She squinted, as if trying to capture a vivid image from a long time ago, “like a wildfire burning brightly and recklessly! Unrestrained and flamboyant, she lived more freely than anyone else!”

She drifted into memories, her tone tinged with the glow of yesteryear: "She followed the master and mistress all over the country, her audacity boundless. She could calculate with the abacus with lightning speed, and she knew the accounts of the trade routes like the back of her hand;

"He also learned excellent medical skills, could identify hundreds of herbs, and dared to use acupuncture; in addition, he had some martial arts skills, and was known for his straightforward and shrewd personality, and was quick to settle scores!"

"Back then," a rare smile of pride appeared on Granny Gui's face, "when you mentioned the name of the eldest daughter of the Jiang family, whether it was the merchants' guilds or the various factions of the martial arts world, who wouldn't praise her as 'Rouge Tiger'? She was truly a woman as bright as fire and with a spirit that soared to the heavens!"

Granny Gui was a quiet person and rarely got so excited.

Meng Yutong was deeply shaken. Business ethics, medical skills, and the joy of revenge... every word spoken by Granny Gui surprised her.

Is the person Granny Gui is talking about really her grandmother?

She couldn't help but lean forward, her voice trembling slightly: "And then?"

This "later" not only concerns the truth of the grandmother's transformation, but also seems to be questioning another possibility of her own rebirth.

The radiance on Granny Gui's face gradually faded, turning into a long sigh, and her eyes welled up with complex emotions. "Later, everything changed."

A note from the author: