Chapter 37 Rabbit Fu Bao

After leaving Wutong Garden, Fu Changze went directly back to the Marquis's residence.

As soon as they stepped through the main courtyard gate, the maidservant inside came to announce that the madam had arrived.

This lady naturally refers to Fu Changze's birth mother, Madam Liu.

Fu Changze waved for her to leave, then ordered his men to fetch the jujube paste cake that Madam Liu liked best before going to find her.

As he stepped into the room, Madam Liu was drinking tea. Seeing him enter, she lazily said, "You're back."

"Hmm," Fu Changze nodded, went over and sat down next to her, and poured her a cup of tea. "The sun is so bright outside, Mother, why did you come? You could have just had the maid announce your arrival."

"You disappeared right after the ancestral worship ceremony. I was worried you'd been bewitched by some demon, so I came to check on you." Madam Liu asked knowingly, "Tell me, where did you rush off to?"

“I went to Wutong Garden to deliver some miscellaneous books to my elder brother and also to ask him what he thought about my uncle’s proposal,” Fu Changze said frankly.

"You seem to care about him quite a bit." Madam Fu had already guessed that he had gone to Wutong Garden, and was not surprised by his answer.

"Everyone says that the eldest son of the Marquis's family is clever and shrewd, so I thought I'd try to find out what he was thinking. Besides, my respect for my elder brother will earn me a good reputation, and those old fogies won't be able to use this to their advantage and make trouble for me at every turn."

Although he is now the head of the Marquis's mansion, it is only a temporary position. The First Madam is running around for Fu Yunting, and the Second Branch of the family is also involved. He can only avoid being brought down by making sure that others can't find fault with him.

Madam Liu understood the reason behind this, and looked at him with heartache, saying, "You've worked so hard, it's just that your mother is incompetent."

If she had been a concubine of the Marquis's family when she gave birth, her son Ze'er would have been the legitimate heir, and she wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble.

"Mother, what are you saying? I have my uncle's help, which is the best trump card." Fu Changze patted Madam Liu's hand to comfort her.

"Your uncle's actions are also for your sake, and for the sake of the entire Marquis's mansion. If it really succeeds in the end, then the entire Marquis's mansion will definitely be under your control."

“I know, but…” Fu Changze still had some doubts.

"And what about him? What did he say?" Although Madam Liu disliked Fu Yunxiu extremely, she had to admit that his talent was the most outstanding among the many sons of the Marquis's family.

Moreover, the Marquis followed him around every day and had made friends with many nobles, so his vision was unmatched by others.

Fu Changze shook his head. "What my elder brother means is that I shouldn't get involved in this mess."

Although he didn't say it explicitly, Fu Changze understood from his few words.

Upon hearing this, Madam Liu snorted coldly, "Hmph, you stole his position as head of the family. It's already a good thing that he doesn't mind you. How could he sincerely give you advice?"

Instead of wasting your time on him, you'd be better off visiting your uncle more often. You're his nephew, so why would he harm you?

Fu Changze naturally knew that his uncle would not harm him, but he also knew that the King of Ying had great prestige in the army. If the King of Yu wanted to resist, he would need to recruit more troops.

Personnel and horses—those things don't require money. The uncle was trying to win him over because he wanted to find a money bag for King Yu.

Money was certainly not a problem for the Marquis's mansion.

But if...

Although he was not in the court, he had heard that although the emperor favored King Yu, he also praised and rewarded King Ying. Otherwise, those ministers would not have been so devoted to following King Ying, even risking their lives to start a rebellion for him.

It was the emperor's indecisiveness that led to the current situation.

My father always said when playing chess, "One wrong move and the whole game is lost."

Therefore, he really dared not make any rash moves and thus accompany the people of the Marquis's mansion.

"Let me think about it some more, let me think about it some more."

*

At midday in May, the sun scorched the earth, and cicadas chirped incessantly in the trees, making people restless and irritable.

For lunch, Aman heated up some zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), stir-fried two side dishes, and drank a pot of realgar wine until it was empty. Except for Fu Yunxiu, who only took a small sip, Aman and Mantou both had flushed cheeks from drinking.

After the meal, Mantou volunteered to clean up the kitchen, while Aman pushed Fu Yunxiu back to his room to rest.

Aman brought water for Fu Yunxiu to wash his hands, and when she turned her head, she saw stacks of books on the small table by the window and a gift box next to it.

These are the things that Fu Changze brought over just now.

Aman went over and took a look. The books were all miscellaneous books, such as astronomy, geography, classics, history, philosophy and literature. As for the gift box, you couldn't tell anything from the packaging. However, the second young master had just said that it contained medicinal herbs, which would be beneficial to the young master's health.

But is the food he sent edible?

Aman, still suspicious, pointed to the pile of things and asked Fu Yunxiu, "Young Master, what should we do with these things?"

Fu Yunxiu put down the towel, glanced at it sideways, and said, "Put all the books on the second shelf. As for the medicinal herbs, take them to Mantou, and he'll tell you how to use them."

Judging from what you're saying, young master, he intends to use these medicinal herbs.

Aman stepped forward and voiced her doubts, "Young Master, are the things the Second Young Master sent us usable?"

She always felt that the man had ill intentions.

“Why can’t I use it?” Fu Yunxiu asked, puzzled. “If I remember correctly, this should be the first time you’ve met him. Why are you so hostile towards him?”

He had noticed it when the tea was served, and later when Fu Changze spoke to her, her tone was also a bit strange.

"Anyway, I don't think that second young master is a good person." Aman said truthfully, "The second madam treated you like that, so how can the second young master, as her son, be sincere in being nice to you? I think he has ulterior motives and is just being nice to you for no reason."

Aman was indignant, which made Fu Yunxiu laugh. He reached out and flicked her forehead. "What are you thinking about all day? The Second Madam is the Second Madam, and the Second Young Master is the Second Young Master. They cannot be treated the same."

Seeing that Aman still wanted to argue, Fu Yunxiu simply interrupted her and ended the topic, "Alright, you've been tired all morning, go and get some rest."

“But…” Aman was unwilling, but in the end she could only give up. “Alright then, young master, you should get some rest too!”

Fu Yunxiu watched her leave, then shook his head. When his gaze fell on the stack of brand-new books on the bookshelf, he seemed to be deep in thought.

Although he knew that Fu Changze's grand visit was not just to see him, the Marquis's residence was where he had lived since childhood, and he could not stand by and watch it sink deeper into the mire.

It's just that he doesn't know if Fu Changze can understand what he means.

*

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather became increasingly hot.

After refining his ideas for "Spring River Flower Moon", Fu Yun began to immerse himself in the creation, rarely leaving his room except to eat.

With the vegetable-selling job gone, Aman no longer needed to take care of the vegetable garden in the backyard, and all she could do was hold the rabbit, feeling bored out of her mind.

Besides providing three meals a day at Wutongyuan, Aman would spend his spare time idly thinking about how to make money.

That day, Mantou inadvertently let slip that the young master had pawned his most beloved jade pendant in order to heal her leg and prevent scarring.

Although it's a flexible loan, it can only be redeemed after six months.

Although Wutong Garden is not short of money now, and the young master can redeem the jade pendant himself after half a year, Aman feels that since it was pawned for her, she should redeem it.

But the money she has now adds up to only one or two taels of silver.

That's far from enough.

Therefore, she urgently needed a way to make money.

However, having nothing of value to his name, Aman really didn't know what he could do. As he pondered, Aman's gaze fell upon the few charred trees and the pile of collapsed earth in the front yard.

These things piled up there are really an eyesore, especially the soil.

The yard was just cleaned, but when the wind blew, dust was everywhere, which was extremely annoying.

If we could see all these charred trees, remove all the mounds of earth, and build a pavilion and a small flower garden on that land, wouldn't that be wonderful?

Without further ado, Aman made a plan, and the first step was to cut down the tree.

Although the outside of these trees is charred, the inside is still fine, and they are still good for burning for cooking.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, Aman got to know almost all the neighbors in the area. Since he had been delivering vegetables to them frequently these past few days, he could help with things like cutting down trees or hauling soil by simply asking for help.

Moreover, Aman also said that they could take the felled trees away to burn as firewood. It was a simple task that would save them money on firewood, so why not?

Therefore, Aman only needed to casually mention it while delivering vegetables, and many people would come to help.

When Aman arrived at the door in a flurry of activity with a group of people armed with saws and axes, Fu Yunxiu was just reaching a bottleneck in his painting.

Hearing the banging and noise outside, she frowned and asked Mantou, "What's that noise outside? Why is it so noisy?"

Mantou listened intently for a while and then understood what was going on. He said, "It seems that Aman has sent people to cut down the trees. She said that the soil and scorched trees on the west side of the house are an eyesore and she wants to find someone to remove them."

Knowing that the young master had been focused on painting these past few days, Aman didn't mention the matter to him. After all, it was a small thing, and the young master wouldn't say anything.

"I had no idea that she was in charge of this Wutong Garden." Fu Yunxiu snorted and pushed his wheelchair toward the window.

Mantou followed behind him, thinking to himself: In the end, isn't it all because you spoiled him?

For so long, you've indulged Aman in everything she does, otherwise she wouldn't have the audacity to do such things.

Following Fu Yunxiu to the window, Mantou immediately spotted Aman directing the work among the crowd.

She wore simple clothes and a plain hairpin, her eyes full of smiles.

Although her clothes were no different from those of the other neighbors, Mantou could still sense a hint of the mistress of the house from her.

"Young master, should we call Aman over?" Mantou asked.

"No need." Fu Yunxiu waved his hand, but his gaze remained fixed on Aman, unblinking.

In the sunlight, Aman Yue's white cloth dress was tinged with a pale yellow, and a plain hairpin tied her long black hair into two double buns.

Because of the heat, she stretched out her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, revealing a section of her lotus-root-colored arm, which was as fair and delicate as the osmanthus cake he had eaten the night before.

He didn't know what the aunt next to him said, but she suddenly smiled, her smile even more radiant than spring flowers.

"Young Master!" After finishing her conversation with Aunt Guo, Aman turned around and saw Fu Yun Mantou standing by the window. She waved and walked over with a smile.

Aman approached, met Fu Yunxiu's probing gaze, smiled sweetly, and explained, "I asked the neighbor to come and cut down the tree, but that may have disturbed your painting, young master."

“No,” Fu Yunxiu shook his head, “I just lost inspiration for a while, so I’m taking a break.”

"I'm glad I didn't disturb you, young master. Would you like some tea? I'll go make some." As she spoke, Aman was about to head towards the kitchen when Fu Yunxiu called out to her, "No need. I just felt a bit stuffy in my room and came out for some fresh air."

“Alright then,” Aman nodded, looked at Fu Yunxiu, and then suddenly seemed to remember something, “Young Master, please wait for me a moment.”

With that, she ran back to her room.

A moment later, she came out carrying a snow-white ball of fur. Before Fu Yunxiu could react, she shoved it into his arms. "Since you have nothing to do, young master, why don't you watch over Fu Bao for a while? There are too many people in the courtyard, and I'm afraid it will frighten him."

As soon as Aman finished speaking, she heard someone calling her from the other side.

"Hey, here I am."

Aman responded and said to Fu Yunxiu, "Then I'll go over there first, young master. Don't worry, Fu Bao is very well-behaved and won't cause any trouble."

After saying that, she ran away in a flash.

Fu Yunxiu was still in a daze, holding the rabbit.

After a long while, he finally spoke, "Mantou, what did Aman call this rabbit just now?"

“Fu Bao, Aman said that since you bought this rabbit, it should have the surname Fu, and since it’s her precious baby, it should be called Fu Bao,” Mantou said.

If someone didn't know better, upon hearing this name, they might think it was the son of a young master.

Fu Yunxiu had only heard Aman call this rabbit Abao, but he didn't know that it also had a formal name, Fu Bao.

Fu Yunxiu lowered his eyes. Fu Bao, being his first time meeting him, curled up into a ball, his three-lobed mouth twitching as if he were afraid.

For some reason, Fu Yunxiu recalled the first time he met Aman, which seemed to be in a similar situation.

As expected of her pet rabbit, it has the same temperament as her.

Reaching out to stroke the rabbit's ears, Fu Yunxiu couldn't help but chuckle softly.