"You can't even serve a grown man and you lost him. Just wait and see how your aunt will punish you!" Ji Yingyue's husband's family urged her and suspected her. She was anxious to get pregnant but couldn't, and she was already worried. She tried hard to control her annoyance.
The Guo family held a wedding. A maidservant in the Ji residence wanted to cry but dared not. She wanted to kneel but was stopped. She pleaded in a trembling voice: "I know I was wrong. Please forgive me, young lady."
Jiang Yushu waved her hand, "Now is not the time to pursue the matter! The most urgent task is to find the fourth girl as soon as possible."
"Xiaoyue, don't worry. Nothing should happen to your sister in broad daylight. The garden downstairs is quite spacious, so she's probably lost."
Ji Yingyue nodded quickly. "Yes, we need to find someone first. Sorry, we've caused trouble for you again."
As the host, Jiang Yushu could only say, "It's actually my maid's fault. She was careless and didn't take good care of the guests."
The next moment, the maid announced, "Madam, Aunt Liu is here."
"Come in!"
After a while, a capable maid respectfully bowed and asked, "What do you want, Madam?"
Jiang Yushu got straight to the point and instructed, "The fourth young lady of the Ji family probably got lost while admiring the flowers in the garden. You should immediately take a few maids and quietly find her back. Don't make any noise."
"Yes." Nanny Liu understood and turned around and hurriedly took people to look for it.
Two quarters of an hour ago, Garden
It is hot in midsummer.
The garden is full of lush flowers and trees, which are arranged in an orderly manner. The scenery is pleasant and there is a cool breeze under the shade of the trees.
Ji Yingru was surrounded by two maids, strolling and admiring the flowers, feeling leisurely and comfortable.
As we walked, we came to an open space where a dozen children were chasing and playing under the shade of a tree, accompanied by wet nurses and maids from various families. The table next to them was filled with fruits, snacks and tea to entertain the little guests.
Ji Yingru was tired from walking, so she saw a stone bench under the shade of a tree and said, "Sit down for a while."
The two maids stopped, chatted happily, and watched the lively scene.
open space
Guo Yu was not only the little master, but also naughty and playful since childhood, so he naturally became the king of children. He sometimes chatted with those older than him, and sometimes played with young children. He was very busy.
"Hey, Guo Yu, can your second uncle really fly over eaves and walk on walls?" Several boys were very excited.
Guo Yu was filled with pride. He puffed out his chest and wielded his wooden sword twice in a formal manner. He proudly replied, "My second uncle is a skilled martial artist. Back then, Yongzhou was invaded by the Northern Qiong bandits, and we were determined to recapture it. So, the imperial court sent a massive army to drive back the enemy. During the siege, with thousands of soldiers and horses, countless people witnessed my second uncle being the first to scale the city walls!"
"You have to be fast. If you're a little slow, you'll be killed by enemy soldiers with arrows, stones, and boiling oil. So, his speed is no different from climbing walls and running across rooftops."
"Back then, the imperial court issued a special decree to commend my uncle. I saw that decree with my own eyes."
Boys are naturally attracted to heroes and great men. They listened with great interest and asked curiously, "Is it an imperial decree?"
"What does the imperial edict look like?"
Guo Yu spoke eloquently and gave detailed answers.
Then the boys asked, "How many weapons do you have in this set?"
"Can I play with it?"
Guo Yu suddenly felt even more proud. He ordered the servant to open the box, generously displayed the gift from his uncle, and generously allowed his friend to play with it.
At the same time, there were eight or nine young children, among whom Guo Ye, who was not yet three years old, was the youngest. Some were chasing each other, some were picking flowers, and some were feeding snacks to the birds... Their tender voices were cheering, clapping, jumping and running around, and it was very lively.
Ji Yingru was overwhelmed. After a while, she smiled and exclaimed: "What a lively scene."
"Miss, please wait a moment. I'll bring you some tea." The maid from the Guo residence bent her knees, slowly walked through the bustling crowd, and went to the opposite table to pour tea.
Ji Yingru and her servant continued to watch.
Suddenly, the two boys started arguing, chasing each other and hitting each other. One of them accidentally pulled the other and fell, and they started crying at the same time.
Ji Yingru was startled and quickly stood up and ordered, "Help them up quickly. Check where they are injured."
The maidservant knelt down to support them, but the two boys started pushing and shoving, "Hey, stop, stop fighting."
Ji Yingru bent down and pulled one of them apart, "Okay, stop fighting." She asked in surprise, "Whose child is this?" As soon as she finished speaking, a maid nearby came running over and took her own child away apologetically.
"There's one left. Whose is it?" Ji Yingru didn't think much about it and instructed, "Chun'er, take him over and ask, then return him to the owner."
"Yes." The maid picked up the little girl and coaxed her while asking.
The next moment, a chubby little girl came running over, brushing past Ji Yingru's legs, chasing a butterfly, and running towards the winding cobblestone path.
"Why--"
Ji Yingru watched the wobbling little body leave and subconsciously stopped him: "Where are you going? Come back quickly, or you might fall."
The girl was so focused on chasing the butterfly that she didn't even look back. She turned a corner and disappeared.
"Oh, whose child are you?" Ji Yingru, a kindhearted young girl who had just come of age, quickly gave chase and caught up with him in a flash. She bent down and tried to pull him away, "Don't go into the bushes, or you'll get bit by bugs!"
Unexpectedly, the girl twisted and slid into the bushes, saying excitedly, "Catch it! Quick, help me catch it!"
Ji Yingru pulled it in vain, feeling both amused and helpless. She looked at the girl in the bushes, then turned back to look around, pulled aside the branches and coaxed her, "The butterfly flew away, you can't catch it, come out quickly."
"I won't!" the girl said boldly, "I'm going to catch it!"
Ji Yingru was helpless and hesitated for a moment. When she was about to go back to call for help, she suddenly heard crying from the bushes. She was startled and without thinking, she rushed into the dense bushes. She squatted or lowered her body, and moved forward with difficulty. She found the girl deep in the bushes.
"Ouch, ouch, my legs," the girl pulled up her trouser legs. Her calves were scratched by dead branches in two places, bleeding slightly. She cried, "It hurts!"
Ji Yingru picked her up and asked, "Are you scared now?" She looked around: the bushes were very dense where they came from and it was difficult to walk, while the bushes were sparser in the other place.
So, she stood up, bowed and left, "Don't cry, I'll take you out right away. Who did you come to the banquet with?"
"My mother, and Mammy."
"Are they outside?"
"Um...Mammy is here."
Ji Yingru nodded, "I understand." She carried the chubby child in her arms as they made their way through the bushes. Sometimes her hair got tangled, sometimes her dress got snagged. She moved slowly, growing increasingly tired and anxious the longer she walked. She muttered in frustration, "Oh, my hair—this dress belongs to Madam Guo. It's all dirty. What should I do? My sister will definitely scold me."
The girl sobbed, "Hurry up, my legs hurt."
"I, I'm already fast enough, don't rush me." Ji Yingru was sweating profusely. After a long time, she turned sideways, pushed the bushes away with her shoulder, and finally stood on the path.
"We're out!" She panted, looking around in confusion:
Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, the grass is lush, and there are winding paths. It is quiet all around. The laughter that just lingered in my ears disappeared without a trace.
Ji Yingru was in an unfamiliar garden. "Huh? Why is it so quiet?" She put the girl down and said, "Let's go back to where we came from and look for—"
"No! My legs hurt." The girl sobbed and hugged the adult's neck tightly.
"Ouch." Ji Yingru couldn't resist and had to continue holding him. She was tired and hot, sweating profusely. She walked a little and then stopped to catch her breath. When she returned to her original place, the crowd had dispersed.
“Oh my God!”
The sun was scorching, and Ji Yingru was sweating profusely. "Where are the people? Where did they go?"
"Wow, wow, wow..." The girl's cry became louder, "Mammy? Don't you want me anymore?"
"Impossible! Don't worry, I'll look for it again."
Ji Yingru was visiting Guo Mansion Garden for the first time. She was unfamiliar with it and lost her way. When she was getting anxious, a young man behind her suddenly asked:
"Is it Miss Ji?"
Ji Yingru turned around hastily and saw a young man standing half a meter away: tall and thin, handsome, wearing a bamboo-green robe with silver edges on the cuffs, and very refined.
However, in Guo Hongzhe's eyes: the girl opposite, her clothes were obviously too long, her messy hair was covered with dust and grass leaves, her face was sweaty, her makeup was smudged, she was panting and looked in a miserable state.
"I, I am." Ji Yingru held the little girl with difficulty. She knew that she looked disheveled and felt extremely embarrassed, so she lowered her head.
Guo Hongzhe looked at them briefly, then politely looked away and said gently, "The banquet is about to begin, and the guests have been invited to the banquet hall. I was passing by and saw a servant looking for someone. I learned that Miss Ji and the little girl from the Liu family were lost."
"Oh, so your last name is Liu!" Ji Yingru, her clothes soaked with sweat, said to the girl, "I'm so tired, can you sit on the stone bench for a while?"
"No!" The girl wiped her tears, "My legs hurt."
Ji Yingru's arms ached, she bit her lip and looked up at the sky.
Seeing this, Guo Hongzhe couldn't help laughing, but he quickly suppressed his laughter and asked with concern: "Is the little girl hurt?"
"She went into the bushes to catch butterflies and fell. I went to look for her, so I ended up in such a mess." Ji Yingru blushed and spoke in a whisper, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, sir."
"I see."
Guo Hongzhe approached and held out his hand, "Let me take a look. Is the injury serious?"
"It looked like just a scratch, but I don't know if she sprained her bones. She kept crying out in pain."
"Girl, take a break. Come, let me hold you." Guo Hongzhe took the girl and said, "Come on, I'll take you out."
Ji Yingru breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir." She looked up and asked, "Have you seen my girl?"
"Which one is your girl?" Guo Hongzhe was stunned.
"Chun'er." Ji Yingru came back to her senses. "Sorry, I was confused. You definitely don't know her."
Guo Hongzhe pointed to the east and said, "I just met a group of people over there. Among them were two unfamiliar maids. I guess they were the girl's maids."
"Then, what about now..." Ji Yingru was at a loss.
Guo Hongzhe studied the beleaguered girl and noticed her eyes were very clear and bright. "First, let's see to her injuries. Come on, I'll send someone to tell them later."
"Oh." Ji Yingru followed hesitantly.
"Do you know this little girl?"
Ji Yingru took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her face as she walked. She shook her head and replied, "We just met today."
Guo Hongzhe was secretly surprised. "It's rare to see someone so loyal when we first meet."
"She was crying in the bushes at the time, and I went in to look for her without thinking." Ji Yingru was afraid of her cousin's rebuke, and she was timid and uneasy. She murmured in distress: "Now that I think about it calmly, I should have asked her nanny to look for it. Oh, this dress was lent to me by Madam Guo, and it's all dirty. What should I do?"
"Don't worry, my sister-in-law won't blame you."
"Are you...Mr. Guo?" Ji Yingru was not sure of the other party's specific identity.
Guo Hongzhe turned his head and met a pair of bright eyes. An inexplicable thought came to his mind, "My last name is Guo, and I am the third in line."
"It turned out to be the Third Young Master!"
Amid the girl's sobs, the two walked and talked, and unexpectedly hit it off.
During a midsummer garden tour, feelings grew secretly. When they finally parted, one was shy and the other was timid, but when their eyes met, everything was said without words.
A few days later
After breakfast, the couple visited the twins as usual.
"Pitiful."
"Poor thing!"
The wet nurse and the maid were teasing the baby boy. Guo Honglei held his daughter in his arms, frowning and looking at her worriedly. He couldn't help but keep saying "poor thing" and "poor thing".
"Why don't you eat more?"
"I'm always crying and my voice is almost hoarse. Isn't it uncomfortable?"
The thin baby girl was sobbing, tears still on her face, her face no bigger than her father's palm.
Jiang Yushu was at her wit's end, saying distressedly, "He's a born crybaby. I'm helpless, and so are we." She rubbed her second son's face and sighed, "Twins, what a difference! Her older brother is so well behaved. He sleeps when he's full and eats when he wakes up. He rarely cries."
"How can this be compared?" Guo Honglei held his daughter as if she were a rare treasure. "My daughter is precious, so of course she's a little bit delicate. Besides, she's weak, so she must be crying because she's feeling unwell. Poor thing."
"Have you thought of a name yet?"
Guo Honglei frowned, "Hmm... I'll think about it."
Jiang Yushu was about to speak when she heard the maid announce, "The Third Master is here."
"Azhe," Guo Honglei asked cheerfully, "Come and see her. Has she grown up a bit?"
Jiang Yushu called her brother-in-law, "Sit down."
"Let me see." Guo Hongzhe leaned in to take a closer look at his niece and jokingly said, "Oh, are you crying again? It looks like your face has gotten a little fatter."
Guo Honglei smiled with satisfaction and was in a good mood.
The two brothers were chatting. Jiang Yushu noticed that her brother-in-law was absent-minded, and asked with concern: "Third brother, is there anything wrong? Otherwise, you two brothers should discuss it--" As she spoke, she stood up, and the servants had already moved away.
“No no!”
"Sister-in-law, please sit down." Guo Hongzhe, shy by nature, blushed quickly. "There's something I'd like to hear your thoughts on. In fact, I've been wanting to ask you for the past two days, always... I was afraid you'd leave for Yongzhou early, so we have to discuss it today."
Guo Honglei looked up. "What's the matter? Just tell me."
Jiang Yushu remained calm and said, "Tell me about it."
"Ahem." Guo Hongzhe made up his mind and asked tentatively: "On the day of my mother's birthday, Mrs. Pei's sister, I don't know, I don't know--" He paused, but the implication was obvious.
"Miss Ji?"
"Are you talking about Xiaoru?"
Guo Hongzhe nodded, full of anticipation.
The couple looked at each other, and Jiang Yushu briefly explained, "The fourth young lady was adopted by Ji Zhifu's cousin. She's an adopted daughter and hasn't been engaged yet."
Guo Hongzhe nodded frequently, "I know. And I also know that mother doesn't like her."
Guo Honglei put the swaddling clothes back into the crib. Jiang Yushu was not surprised at all. "I saw that day that you had a crush on her, so I tried to explore the matter, but the old lady thought that Miss Ji was not mature enough, as she was an adopted daughter."
"Mother doesn't understand her."
Guo Honglei said seriously, "I don't know that girl either, but I know my mother. It's not easy to convince her."
"Sister-in-law," Guo Hongzhe said eagerly, mustering up the courage to fight for it. "Mother is increasingly willing to listen to your advice. Please, sister-in-law, can you help me think of a solution?"
Jiang Yushu smiled and said confidently, "I've already thought of a solution for you!"
The author has something to say: I don’t know where the love comes from, but it is so deep and lasting.
Is this the fate that belongs to Azhe (づ￣3￣)づ╭? ～
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