Chapter 741 A Dream of Youth 273
Later, Xie Yun also looked at the courtyard carefully, and then said to Xie Ning, "Auntie can't help much, but I know that Qi'er had uniforms when she went to school, so I spent money to buy some fabric and make a set of clothes for each of the new female students."
Since girls' schools have been established, clan schools cannot be refused, otherwise the clan elders will have objections.
“Then I’ll give you a set as a gift too,” Chen Wanniang said with a smile.
"Aunt Yun, you're so kind! Auntie, you're so kind too!" The little girls surrounded the two of them, showering them with compliments, and then turned to praise Xie Ning as well.
She pinched the white wolf's mouth and pulled out a green apricot from inside.
Snowball's chubby wolf face scrunched up. "It's not even cooked yet, and you're already eating it!"
Xie Ning rubbed Xueqiu's ears in annoyance.
Liu Ya stared at the snowball with bright eyes, "Ning'er, can I touch it?"
You know, she'd been craving it for ages.
"Go ahead and touch it." Xie Ning was very generous, and in an instant, the snowball was pounced on by the little girls.
"Awoooooo—wooooo—"
On the way back, we saw an adult hanging a large wooden scale under a tree at the village entrance, with a stool suspended from the hook to weigh people.
Chen Wanniang's eyes lit up. "It's the weigher. Bao'er, would you like to get on the scale?"
Xie Ning looked at the group of children and silently took two steps back. "I won't..."
"Oh my, this is such a blessing! Come and weigh yourself!" Xie Yun pulled Xie Ning to join the queue, and the other girls were also eager to try.
Liu Ya, with her sharp eyes, spotted Si Zhu returning home from school and immediately shouted, "Brother! Hurry home and get some beans!"
That was a gift for the weigher; a handful of beans would suffice for each person.
Sizhu let out a sound and then ran home.
"Twenty-three weights on the scale, the young master will grow up to be a great man, easily becoming a seventh-rank county official, and even a high-ranking official like the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers." The scale maker said auspicious words as he moved the weights outward.
Xie Ning looked puzzled. "Auntie, why does the weight on the scale keep moving outwards?"
She didn't see it moving inwards; even if the scale wasn't accurate, it was moving outwards.
"When striking the weight, you can only strike it from the inside out, not from the outside in, otherwise it's considered unlucky. This is because weight gain is called 'getting fat,' while weight loss is called 'losing weight.'"
Weighing yourself on the day of Lixia (the beginning of summer) can prevent summer heatstroke and weight loss.
"Douzi is here, Douzi is here!" The other children in the family came with Sizhu.
After handing over the beans, Sizhu hung the eggs around Liuya and Qiya's necks. Xie Ning coughed lightly, politely declining the offer to hang the eggs around their necks, and immediately stuffed the boiled eggs into her mouth and ate them.
It's a bit hard to swallow.
"Baby, it's your turn!"
Xie Ning: ......I feel inexplicably ashamed.
Everyone around was amused. When they saw Xie Ning's slightly flushed face, they realized that she was still just a child, and the usual distance between them disappeared.
Xie Wangzhi whispered to Chen Niangniang, "Wan Niang, shall we go to the pavilion on the mountain to drink plum wine after sunset? Second Aunt's plum wine tastes the best."
Chen Wanniang gently slapped away the hand that had been secretly taken, "Aren't you going to invite Bao'er and Qi'er?"
“No, Qi’er is busy copying books, and Bao’er is busy too. It’ll just be the two of us. I’m busy with official business all day and haven’t taken you out to play yet.”
Looking up to meet Xie Wangzhi's gentle gaze, Chen Wanniang coughed lightly, turned her head away, her ear tips slightly red, "I'm too old for that... Never mind, I'll make some of your favorite pastries later..."
Pink bubbles were swirling around here, while Xie Ning carried Snowball onto the scale, hoping it would also receive some good fortune.
When they got home, Grandmother Xie had already brought back the tea. Naturally, Xie Ning also took some tea with her. Xie Ning followed everyone and tried all seven kinds of tea. She preferred the almond tea.
“That was made by your great-aunt; she was very good at making almond tea.”
Xie Ning nodded in agreement. Outside, the laughter of children could be heard. Eating eggs today was also one of their games: egg fighting to see whose eggshell was harder.
Xie Ning stayed in the study busy until it got dark before finally crawling out to find food. She bumped into Xie Qi, who was also looking for food, as soon as she reached the kitchen.
"Brother, have you finished copying the book?"
Xie Qi's face immediately fell. "Not yet."
It wasn't dinner time yet, so the two of them could only find some snacks to eat.
The busy cook in the kitchen saw Xie Ning and his companion and said with a smile, "Madam made some snowflake pastries and was just saying she was going to send them to the young master and young lady."
Xie Ning sat down at the square table in the small kitchen, picked up a snowflake crisp, took a light bite, and fine crumbs fell down. It melted in her mouth, sweet but not greasy.
It has a good chewy texture, but it's not too tough to eat.
"As expected, the snowflake crisps made by my mother are still the best," Xie Qi exclaimed.
Xie Ning nodded in agreement, but snowflake crisps are troublesome to make, so Chen Wanniang rarely makes them anymore.
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