Chapter 24: Spring Breeze She wanted to apologize, opened her mouth, but didn’t know…
The next morning.
Zhao Quesheng lowered his head, twisting his ten fingers together and sticking them out in the yard like sticks. He spoke in a low voice, "My uncle told me to stay at the Jiang Mansion and help out. I really can do anything! Madam, just give me your orders."
Zhong Wanci rubbed her head, her yellow, tangled hair, with a bitter face. "How old are you? Ten years old already? Oh, it's a sin to order a little one like you around."
"I'm twelve years old this year! I'm not a child anymore!" Zhao Quesheng said hurriedly.
Su Guanqing stood aside holding his bamboo stick, feeling a little embarrassed. He was the one who opened the door for her. After trying to persuade her for a long time, the little girl just refused to leave. She squeezed past him and started sweeping the yard with a broom as soon as she entered.
"This, this is for no reason. You are not the maid we bought..." Zhong Wanci didn't know what to do.
"Madam, please keep me. I am really capable of working. Besides, my uncle said that Miss Jiang has important work on her hands right now and there is no one to serve her at home, so he asked me to help with some chores so as not to distract her. If I go back like this, my uncle will definitely not forgive me." Zhao Quesheng said at the end, tears falling to the ground.
"Hey, why are you still crying, kid..." Zhong Wanci felt helpless. She took out a handkerchief and gently wiped her tears.
"Quesheng, come here." The two were in a stalemate when Jiang Tong walked out of the bedroom.
Zhao Quesheng hurriedly ran to her.
"Your uncle is also a restorer. Let me ask you, do you know the steps involved in restoring calligraphy and paintings?"
"I know," Zhao Quesheng said, "It consists of four steps: washing, peeling, mending, and completing."
"Did your uncle teach you?"
Zhao Quesheng shook his head. "According to our ancestors' rules, the art of restoration is passed down to males, not females. I heard this secretly when my uncle was teaching me."
"So what else did you eavesdrop on?"
Zhao Quesheng didn't dare to hide anything and told him everything he had overheard and observed over the years.
Jiang Tong got to know the girl and found that she was very smart. She had been following Zhao Ji for many years and had learned a lot on her own. However, because there was no one to teach her, she learned a lot here and there and failed to form a complete system.
"You've learned so much secretly, it seems that you are very interested in restoration skills. Do you want to be a restoration craftsman yourself in the future?" Jiang Tong asked.
Zhao Quesheng nodded immediately, then hesitantly shook his head, "...My uncle won't agree to it."
"Whatever he does, I'll teach you. Are you willing to learn?"
Zhao Que suddenly raised his head, with something sparkling in his little eyes.
In her previous life, Jiang Tong had disciples all over the world, but she had never accepted a female disciple. In this life, she wanted to change the rules.
"If you want to learn, kowtow to me."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Quesheng knelt down straight and kowtowed three times to Jiang Tong.
The noise was so loud that Zhong Wanci, who was standing behind him, was so frightened that she rubbed her chest and said, "This kid is a tiger."
"Okay," Jiang Tong pulled her up. "Zhao Quesheng, from now on you will be my, Jiang Tong's, founding disciple. From now on, you will come to me every day to learn skills from me. I will pass on all I have learned in my life to you. But let me be frank: if you dare to slack off, I will not tolerate you here."
"Disciple will study very seriously!"
"Okay, come in with me." Jiang Tong said, and walked towards the study.
…
At lunchtime, Jiang Tong and Su Guanqing were still sitting side by side on the threshold of the kitchen to eat.
Zhao Quesheng also ate with them.
She originally refused to eat with them, but when she went out in the morning, Zhao Ji gave her two steamed buns as dry food.
Jiang Tong was not willing to let her eat the dry bun alone, and instead stuffed a large bowl of rice into her mouth.
She was small, and the bowl she held was bigger than her head. But she ate faster than anyone else, licking the bowl clean in no time.
Jiang Tong was just about to slip some extra vinegar into Su Guanqing's bowl of sweet and sour pork ribs. Seeing that she had already started wiping her mouth, she nearly popped her eyes out of her head in shock. "Are you... still eating?"
Zhao Quesheng stood up politely: "Thank you, teacher. I'm full. I'll go back to do my homework. Teacher, eat slowly. Master Su, eat slowly."
The homework she was talking about was the exercise Jiang Tong assigned to her - Jiang Tong made a hole in a piece of paper and asked her to rub the edge of the hole to half the thickness, less than half the width of a red bean.
This step is known as "making a hole" in the industry and is a necessary process for repairing holes in the center of the painting.
Listening to Zhao Quesheng's footsteps going away, Su Guanqing smiled and said to Jiang Tong:
"As the saying goes, like master, like disciple. How come your disciple is just like you, always burying his head in work?"
"This child is motivated. I think he can learn it in the future." Jiang Tong smiled with squinted eyes as he watched Zhao Quesheng walk into the study.
Upon hearing Jiang Tong's condescending tone, Su Guanqing couldn't help but smile.
Jiang Tong bumped his shoulder against his: "What are you laughing at?"
"No, nothing." Su Guanqing tried hard to press the corners of his mouth down.
As soon as Zhong Wanci walked to the door, she saw Jiang Tong and Su Guanqing sitting side by side, looking very close to each other, and her expression changed slightly.
She hesitated for a moment, but didn't come out and turned back.
Su Guanqing finally managed to control his expression and asked, "Tongtong, the peach blossom forest in the northern suburbs is in bloom at this time of year. Do you want to go and see it?"
"No, I don't have time," Jiang Tong refused without a second thought. "I have a painting to work on. By the time I'm done, the peaches should be growing."
She has lived alone for more than seventy years, with no relatives, no home, and her only confidant is like a short-lived flower, which turns to dust as soon as she opens her heart to him. Things like outings with friends and family have long been crossed out of her dictionary.
Su Guanqing was rejected by her, and the smile on his lips gradually fell. He lowered his head and said in a muffled voice: "Okay, then don't go."
After dinner, Jiang Tong returned to the study, checked Zhao Quesheng's homework, gave him a few suggestions, and then started his own work.
After Su Guanqing finished cleaning the kitchen, he walked in quietly.
There were three people crammed into a small study room, but there was no sound at all.
Jiang Tong accidentally raised her head, twisted her neck, and turned her wrist. When she turned her head, she saw Su Guanqing sitting there motionless, with his head slightly tilted towards her, as if waiting for her call at any time.
Jiang Tong couldn't help but pause.
Su Guanqing couldn't see, so he always forgot to control his expression. If no one talked to him, his expression would be like it is now, wooden and dull.
He was clearly sitting under the window, but the scorching spring sun refused to shine in, leaving him alone in the pitch-black darkness.
Jiang Tong suddenly felt a little blocked in his heart.
Su Guanqing was not like this before. Although his temperament and character remained the same, his eyes were lively and his expression was vivid.
He would tirelessly paint one painting after another, and even when he knew he would be rejected, he would still show her his proudest paintings.
But he can't see it now.
He couldn't do the things he used to like to do, couldn't read, couldn't draw, couldn't write, he could only sit here blankly.
Thinking of this, Jiang Tong became irritated and had no intention of continuing to work on the painting.
"Guan Qing." She called him.
When Jiang Tong's voice sounded, Su Guanqing seemed to come alive. Although his facial features did not move significantly, Jiang Tong could clearly feel his happiness.
"What do you need me to do?" He raised his face to her expectantly.
"You want to go to the northern suburbs?"
Su Guanqing's slightly raised eyebrows dropped: "It doesn't matter if you don't go..."
"We can still spare a day no matter how busy we are," Jiang Tong glanced at Zhao Quesheng, who was still busy rubbing paper. "Let's go tomorrow. Quesheng will also have a day off tomorrow. Come with us to see the peach blossoms."
The spring breeze blew away the dark clouds, and the sunlight that had been lingering outside the window suddenly shone in. Su Guanqing curved his eyebrows, and a smile melted into his voice: "Okay, then I'll go prepare the food we need to bring tomorrow."
As soon as he stood up, Zhao Quesheng said in a low voice: "Teacher, can I not go? I want to stay here and continue practicing."
Jiang Tong was a little surprised and didn't say anything.
As if afraid that Jiang Tong would not agree, Zhao Quesheng said quickly: "Mr. Su will not be here tomorrow. I can cook for him. I am very good at cooking."
She clenched her fingers and looked at Jiang Tong nervously.
At that moment, Jiang Tong saw herself as an apprentice through her little eyes that were flickering with light. Wasn't she also eagerly seizing every moment to hone her skills at that time?
Jiang Tong patted her head and said softly, "Okay, then you practice well at home. I'll come to check your homework the day after tomorrow."
…
The next morning, Jiang Tong and Su Guanqing went out at daybreak.
The northern suburbs are neither far nor near. If it were a few years ago, the Jiang and Su families would have had carriages and horses, and it would have been cheap. Now you have to walk there, and if you don't leave early, you may not be able to get back before the city gates are locked.
Along the way, Jiang Tong walked holding Su Guanqing's arm.
Speaking of the way the two of them walked hand in hand.
At the beginning, Jiang Tong was very casual. Sometimes she grabbed people's wrists, sometimes she pulled people's arms, and sometimes she grabbed people's sleeves.
Anyway, she was the one who took the lead and led Su Guanqing behind like a donkey.
This made Su Guanqing feel a little at a loss, especially when she was pulling his sleeve and she suddenly changed direction, and he couldn't keep up.
But he never said anything, just obeyed and tried his best to cooperate.
After almost causing Su Guanqing to bump into others or the wall several times, Jiang Tong realized that this was not a good idea.
After thinking about it, she felt that the main reason was that the two of them were out of sync, so she changed her approach. She passed her hands under Su Guanqing's armpits, clamped his arm, and grabbed his wrist from the inside. She felt that controlling him in this way was very easy and she could hit him wherever she pointed.
But this posture is somewhat ambiguous.
In fact, when walking with a blind person, the guide usually walks in front, and the blind person puts his arm around the guide's shoulders. Or, like the wind blowing the willow, they would choose to pull Su Guanqing's bamboo pole.
Su Guanqing had thought about reminding her, but he swallowed the words back every time they came to his lips. He really couldn't bear to push Jiang Tong away.
He could only despise himself and comfort himself at the same time. How long could he be dragged along by Tongtong?
It was almost noon when the two of them arrived at the peach forest.
"Tongtong, how are the peach blossoms blooming?"
"The flowers are blooming..." Jiang Tong looked up at the somewhat bare peach trees, then at Su Guanqing who looked expectant, and changed the second half of the sentence, "...quite well."
Su Guanqing listened carefully and found no tourists making noise around, so he knew that the peach blossoms had faded and Jiang Tong was trying to coax him.
He felt a little touched, but more of it was heartache.
Tongtong has grown up and knows how to be considerate of other people's feelings. But he would rather Tongtong be willful for the rest of her life, even if it means she gets angry at him and blames him for choosing the wrong time.
After Jiang Tong finished admiring the withered flowers on the branches, she turned around and saw Su Guanqing frowning slightly. She immediately knew that the other party had seen through the truth.
...His expression was so heavy, and I didn't know what this idiot was blaming himself for.
"Smile." She folded her arms and looked at him.
"...Ah?" Su Guanqing was a little slow to react.
Jiang Tong simply took action. She raised her two index fingers and poked the corners of his slightly downturned mouth upwards: "Here, just like that, smile!"
Su Guanqing couldn't help laughing at her and couldn't help but laugh seriously: "Tongtong, stop it..."
Then he heard Jiang Tong whispering beside him: "I don't know where the peach blossoms have gone, but the faces of people still smile in the spring breeze." [1]
A hint of surprise flashed across Su Guanqing's face, and then his smile became even wider.
He stood under the peach tree, still wearing Jiang Huaishan's clothes. The clothes of the elders were darker in color, but they did not make him look old. Instead, they made his skin look even more like jade.
With his delicate facial features, slender figure, and cheerful manner, he has a kind of ethereal elegance that comes from his reading, and is even more beautiful than peach blossoms.
Jiang Tong was stunned for a moment. How come she had never noticed that Guan Qing was so handsome?
After a long while, Jiang Tong finally came to her senses and pulled his wrist, saying, "There's nothing to see here. Let's go to the back. I remember there's a bamboo forest out back. Maybe if we're lucky, we can even dig up a few bamboo shoots to add to our dishes."
"Okay." Su Guanqing followed her obediently.
The forest was dense and lush, and I did see some bamboo shoots growing up after the rain, and they were quite big.
Jiang Tong instructed Su Guanqing to pick them, but due to lack of experience and tools, Su Guanqing worked for a long time but only managed to pick off a few pieces of bamboo shoot skin.
He thought about it for a while, and then tried to dig out the mud around the bamboo shoots with his bare hands. Unfortunately, the mud was a bit hard and he couldn't dig it out with his bare hands. He ended up sweating all over.
He wiped his face with the back of his hand, and did not forget to comfort Jiang Tong: "Tongtong, wait for me a moment, I will try again."
Jiang Tong had never seen Su Guanqing look so sloppy. She thought back to the time when she climbed trees to rob bird nests, Su Guanqing never wanted to get involved and always stood aside calmly, making her look like a wild monkey.
Today it's all upside down.
She couldn't help but feel quite curious, and watched it with relish. Fang grabbed his arm and pulled him up: "Okay, okay, if you can't pull it out, then forget it."
As she spoke, she saw Su Guanqing holding up his hands for fear of dirtying his clothes, and felt that she was really bullying him, so she grabbed his wrist and used her handkerchief to wipe the mud off him.
Su Guanqing didn't expect that he would be taken care of by Jiang Tong personally. The gentle touch moved from the fingertips to the gaps between the fingers. He was flustered for a moment and froze there, not daring to move.
"I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat?" Jiang Tong asked after wiping.
"Yes, yes." Su Guanqing hurriedly pulled his hand back and took out a pile of cooked yams and taro from the cloth bag slung over his shoulder like a magic trick.
The two of them found a slightly flat ground. Su Guanqing spread a piece of cloth on the ground, and the two of them sat on it. Each of them took a piece of yam.
When Su Guanqing was at home, he had actually washed the yam and taro very clean, and Jiang Tong took a bite without any hesitation.
Su Guanqing was not in a hurry to eat it, but was still fumbling to peel the yam.
Jiang Tong's gaze fell on his hands. The wounds on Su Guanqing's hands had basically healed, and the mud on his hands had been washed clean with the water in the gourd he brought with him, and his hands had regained their white appearance.
Jiang Tong suddenly felt that Su Guanqing's hands were also very beautiful. He was very thin, so his joints appeared distinct. He pinched the yam in one hand and fumbled to peel it with the other hand. His movements showed his usual meticulousness and elegance.
...is quite pleasing to the eye.
Jiang Tong ate while eating and casually asked, "Speaking of which, why do you want to see the peach blossoms?"
...You obviously can't see anything, and I don't know what the point of making this trip is.
Su Guanqing said softly, "When I was little, my family came here every year for an outing. I just wanted to relive the old times."
"You're lying," Jiang Tong blurted out, "Your stepmother never takes you on her outings every year. Why are you reliving this?"
——Su Guanqing was born out of wedlock, and his biological mother died early. He had no sense of existence in the Su family at the beginning, and even his biological father forgot about him.
Later, the two children born to his stepmother died one after another, and he gradually showed his talent. His father then remembered that he had an older son and transferred him to the name of his wife.
Although the couple did not abuse Su Guanqing and provided him with everything he needed for food, clothing and daily necessities, the love of his father and mother was a luxury that he longed for but could not attain.
Of course his stepmother would not think of taking him with her on an outing.
As soon as Jiang Tong said this, he felt regretful. His words really hit a sore spot.
She wanted to apologize and opened her mouth, but she didn't know how to start.
For some reason, Jiang Tong had been mature and steady for decades, always knowing what to say and what not to say. But when it came to Su Guanqing, he became more and more like the unruly boy he was, and never cared about the other person's feelings in what he said and did.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: [1] Adapted from the title of Ducheng Nanzhuang
Last year on this day, the faces of people and the peach blossoms reflected each other in this door.
I don’t know where the person has gone, but the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
