Eleventh Lady doesn’t feel anything about her birthday.

In the past, her parents would give her an expensive gift, but other than that, her life seemed to be no different from any other day. Others could say things like "a child's birthday is a mother's suffering day," but she had no one to talk to, so naturally she had no special expectations.

Later, she lived with Xu Lingyi. In the first year when she came of age, he gave her a jade plaque with the pattern of three goats in it. The jade was of excellent quality and the carving was also fine. She liked it very much and wore it on her body. In the second year, he asked her if she wanted anything in particular. In her opinion, gifts were given by others. If she asked for them, they would lose their meaning. She smiled and said, "It's just a gift. My Lord, there's no need to spend so much money." Xu Lingyi didn't ask any more questions. A few days in advance, he gave her a hairpin with a delicate red gold Buddha hand basket. It was nothing special. This year, he asked the same question again, and there was a sense of completing a task.

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "We don't need anything, so Lord Marquis doesn't need to worry about it."

Xu Lingyi nodded and said nothing more. Two days later, he gave her a red gold magnolia hairpin.

The two hairpins were placed together, and they were not much different in length, workmanship, and weight. If it weren't for the different patterns, they would look like a pair. Eleventh Lady suspected that Xu Lingyi had made ten or eight hairpins at once, but with different hairpin heads. He could just take out one every year to deal with it.

So she asked Amber to ask the people in the outer courtyard warehouse to make a long box made of purple purlin wood for her, lined it with bright red Zhang velvet, and placed the two hairpins side by side in it.

"See how many hairpins I can get!" She looked at the empty space in the box, smiled, closed the box, and handed it to Amber, "Take it!"

Amber smiled and responded.

Mrs. Zhou comes to visit.

"This child is quite naughty!" She saw that Shiyi Niang did not have the plumpness of a pregnant woman, but was thinner than before. She knew that she had not recovered yet, so she asked her with a smile: "Do you like sour or sweet food?"

“I like both sour and sweet food!”

The two of them laughed and chatted for a while. Mrs. Zhou took out a red lacquered and gold-painted box and said, "Your birthday is in two days. I'm afraid I won't be free. Just consider it my congratulations in advance!"

Eleventh Lady’s birthday happens to be the Dragon Boat Festival.

She thanked him with a smile, asked Amber to take it, and invited Mrs. Zhou to have dinner.

"You'd better take a good rest in your condition!" Mrs. Zhou insisted on leaving. "We'll have a good reunion after the baby is born." Then she paid her respects to the lady dowager and returned to the princess's mansion.

As soon as Mrs. Zhou left, Grandma Lin arrived.

"We live together in a family. When we have a meal, we have to steam five large baskets of steamed buns. We also have to send Huijie a mat and a palm leaf fan. I won't come over on your birthday. When you have some free time, we can sit down and talk again."

I gave her a pair of five-poison velvet flower hairpins.

The spider and scorpion were made to look lifelike. When Xu Sijie saw them, he hid in Shiyi Niang's arms and screamed, and everyone laughed.

Eleventh Lady showed him the hairpin and said, "It's fake." Then she asked him to "feel it, it's fluffy and very interesting."

He timidly stretched out his little finger to touch it, and saw the spider's legs tremble. He was so scared that he buried his face in Shiyi Niang's arms. After a moment, he raised his head and touched it again with courage. He found that the spider only knew to tremble, and there was no sign of crawling. He gradually became bolder and touched the spider's back with his fingertips. It was really as Shiyi Niang said, fluffy and very interesting. He became more and more courageous and took the hairpin to look at it carefully. Just then, Si Xi brought in a plate of golden apricots. Xu Sijie rolled his eyes and suddenly stretched out the hairpin. Si Xi suddenly saw a black spider. How could he tell whether it was real or fake? He was so scared that his face turned pale. With a cry of surprise, the plate in his hand fell to the ground with a clang and broke into several pieces, and the round apricots rolled all over the floor.

Luyun cried out "Oh!" and hurriedly squatted down to pick apricots. When the maids saw this, they also squatted down.

Xu Sijie didn't expect this to happen and was so scared that he just stood there.

Seeing this, Eleventh Lady didn't know how to teach Xu Sijie a lesson. She held Xu Sijie in her arms and smiled at Si Xi, who was standing there trembling with fear but wanted to cry but didn't dare to, "It's okay, it's okay, just wash the apricots." Then she lowered her head and said to Xu Sijie, "Look, you've gotten into trouble, haven't you? Don't scare people like this in the future!"

Xu Sijie finally reacted and nodded repeatedly. He hurriedly stepped forward and took Sixi's hand, holding the hairpin in front of him: "Look, it's fake!"

Si Xi was so frightened that he took a few steps back before he dared to look closely at what Xu Sijie's hand was in.

Seeing that it was indeed a hairpin, she burst into laughter and said, "Fifth Young Master, you scared me to death!"

Xu Sijie lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly.

A little maid came in and reported: "Madam Wen is here!"

"Let her in!"

Madam Wen came in through the curtain, followed by Qiuhong, who had double spiral buns and was wearing a water-red bottom with a grass-green jacket embroidered with water-wave patterns.

"What's going on?" She smiled and turned her eyes away, "Who is so careless?"

Eleventh Lady pointed to the stool in front of the kang and asked Madam Wen to sit on it: "Brother Jie is using the Five Poison Hairpin given by Madam Lin to scare people!" She said this briefly and then said with a smile: "How come you have time to come and sit here with me today." But she knew what was going on and glanced at Qiuhong out of the corner of her eye - she was squatting with a few maids picking apricots, her hands and feet were light and clever.

"Madam's birthday is in a few days," Madam Wen glanced in the direction of Eleventh Lady and said with a smile, "I don't know what to give her. It happened that I saw Amber embroidering a handkerchief for you a few days ago. As you know, my needlework is not good, so I asked Qiuhong to help make a few handkerchiefs. The workmanship is rough and looks terrible, but it is a reflection of our thoughtfulness." As she spoke, she took out a few handkerchiefs.

Moon white, light blue, lake green... these were all the plain colors that Eleventh Lady usually used. She would embroider a goose yellow duck with just a few stitches, or meticulously embroider two tiny twin lotus flowers on the corner of the handkerchief.

Eleventh Lady felt a little strange.

Madam Wen did not hide it: "I asked Bin Ju to help draw the pattern of the flowers."

Eleventh Lady accepted it with a smile.

Madam Wen called Qiuhong, "Why don't you come and pay your respects to Madam? Madam's needlework is one of the best in the whole city of Yanjing. It's a blessing for you to accept your things."

Qiuhong looked a little embarrassed and stepped forward to salute Shiyi Niang.

Only then did Eleventh Lady look at her carefully.

She has a fair complexion, delicate features and a slightly shy expression.

Eleventh Lady praised her: "This handkerchief is embroidered very well!"

"Yes!" Qiuhong said nervously, "I embroidered it for several days."

A very honest answer.

Eleventh Lady smiled and asked Amber to take out a pair of gold rings with willow-leaf shapes from her dressing table and give them to Qiuhong.

Qiuhong quickly knelt down to express her gratitude and stood behind Madam Wen.

Madam Wen talked to Eleventh Lady for a long time, and then Third Madam Huang from the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion came. She stood up and said goodbye.

After leaving the main courtyard, Qiuhong covered her chest and took a long breath: "I was scared to death!"

Before she could finish her words, Madam Wen twisted her ear and said, "What did I tell you? You, when you saw Madam, not only did you not say a single flattering word, but you also said, 'I have been embroidering for several days'..."

Qiu Hong ducked to avoid Madam Wen's hand: "This is the first time I have spoken to Madam face to face like this..."

"Dog meat can't be served at a banquet." Aunt Wen was furious when she heard this. She also saw that she bent over and the pearl inlaid with southern pearls on her hair slipped to the ground without her noticing. She couldn't help but stare at her with wide eyes, "Hurry up and pick up the pearl, it's worth more than sixty taels of silver!"

Qiuhong said "Oh", and hurriedly squatted down to pick up the pearl flower. She looked carefully to see if it was broken, and took out a handkerchief to wipe the dust off.

When Madam Wen saw her like that, she turned around angrily and went into her own yard.

Qiuhong heard someone burst into laughter.

She looked up and saw Cui'er beside Aunt Qin.

"It's you!" Qiuhong stood up with an embarrassed expression.

"Sister Qiuhong looks so beautiful today." Cui'er looked at the pearl flowers in Qiuhong's hand, her face full of envy.

"Oh!" Qiuhong carefully put the pearl flower into her purse, "Because I'm going to see the lady, Madam Wen specially gave me this pearl flower."

"Sister went to see the Madam!" Cui Er asked curiously, "Why did she go to see the Madam?"

"My aunt asked me to embroider a few handkerchiefs for the lady..." The two of them stood there and talked for a long time before they dispersed.

* * * * * *

It’s very lively here at Eleventh Lady’s place.

After seeing off Grandma Huang San, several mothers in charge came in. Some presented shoes and socks they had made themselves, some presented pendants of the five poisons they had made themselves, and some presented nets made of colorful silk threads with calamus and perilla leaves.

"...It just so happens that your birthday falls on the same day as the Dragon Boat Festival, which is celebrated by all," said Yu Mama, who manages the warehouse. Ever since Shiyi Niang warned her about Wang Mama's overstepping her authority last time, she has been especially respectful to Shiyi Niang. "We should also share some of the blessings and put the birthday gift and the Dragon Boat Festival tribute together."

The other mothers joined in the laughter when they heard it.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, mothers." Eleventh Lady smiled and asked Luyun to sit on the small stool.

After some deliberation, several mothers half sat on small stools, speaking flattering words with honey on their lips.

Xu Sizhun came over.

The mothers saluted him with smiles.

Xu Sizhun nodded slightly and shook his slightly sore arms: "I have finally finished copying the four big characters required by the teacher." A happy smile of relief appeared on his face.

It was a sunny afternoon in late spring and it was still a bit hot even wearing a padded jacket.

Shiyi Niang took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Xu Sizhun's forehead, and asked Luyun to give him a cup of warm water: "Moisten your throat, Jie Ge is waiting for you to play Cuju!"

Xu Sizhun's eyes lit up as he listened. He quickly drank two sips of water and ran to Xu Sijie.

The mothers all flattered: "Our fourth young master is being taken care of by his wife. He is becoming more and more energetic and sensible as he grows up."

"It was the Marquis who found a good teacher for the Fourth Young Master." Eleventh Lady responded with a smile.

Over there, Xu Sizun and Xu Sijie went to the garden through the back door and played Cuju on a piece of blue brick space in front of Biyi Gate. Seven or eight maids gathered around and clapped their hands, attracting all the maids and old women nearby.

Soon, both of them were sweating profusely.

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O(∩_∩)O~

The additional update is a bit late, please get up tomorrow morning and read it!