Madam Lou asked Liu Mei to invite the birthday boy sent by Xu Jiang to the altar in the inner room, and then pulled Xu Jiang to sit next to her.
Her expression was much softer than before, and her mind was filled with questions that several close friends had asked her to ask, such as how old he was, where he was from, how many people were in his family, etc., but she still couldn't ask a single one.
Just then, I remembered Yinyin's suggestion that she would take her to pick pears, so I asked, "Are the pears sweet?"
Xu Jiang laughed out loud, and Yin Yin heard it and couldn't help laughing.
Mrs. Lou didn't understand.
Liu Mei came out from the inner room and saw that the two of them were hiding something and just laughing and refusing to share the fun, so she pinched the flesh on Yin Yin's waist.
"Damn girl, if you have something interesting to say, tell me now."
Yin Yin was pinched so hard that she cried out "Ouch" and had no choice but to sell Lou Yunchun out.
When everyone heard that Lou Yunchun was hit by a pear and got a big bump, and remembered his cold face, they immediately burst into laughter, and even Mrs. Lou curled her lips.
I finally got a chance to rest, and coincidentally, Lou Yunchun came in at this moment.
When everyone saw him, they all looked at his head. When they saw that there was indeed a bump, they laughed so hard that they fell down.
Seeing that Lou Yunchun's face was getting redder and redder and colder, Mrs. Lou quickly coughed lightly, and everyone gradually stopped coughing, but they were all blushing.
Xu Jiang pursed her lips and looked at him, and Lou Yunchun happened to look over as well, with a smile in his eyes.
He looked away, took a few steps forward to Madam Lou, and knelt down to congratulate: "Happy birthday, mother."
Madam Lou said, "Get up."
After Lou Yunchun woke up, he asked his attendant to present the birthday gift, a long, narrow brocade box that looked like a painting. Liu Mei took it, opened it, and handed it to Madam Lou. Madam Lou only glanced at it and didn't take it out for a closer look, so she let Liu Mei keep it.
Xu Jiang thought about the painting "Pine and Crane Prolonging Life" that she had mounted for Lou Jing earlier and was also by Lou Yunchun, so she became curious about it. Seeing that her eyebrows were furrowed, she didn't dare to ask, so she just glanced at her once more and then looked away.
Mrs. Lou suddenly called out to Liu Mei, "Wait a minute." Then she waved to Liu Mei and took the brocade box back.
Xu Jiang was stunned for a moment, and then his heart felt warm.
Madam Lou reopened the brocade box, took out the birthday gift, and gently unfolded it in front of Xu Jiang, admiring it with her.
It is a painting called "Magu Offering Longevity".
Different from the thick and ancient style of "Pine and Crane Prolonging Life" given to Lou Jing, this "Magu Offering Longevity" is more gentle and elegant. Magu's demeanor has some of Mrs. Lou's charm, and the painter's intentions can be seen at a glance.
Xu Jiang couldn't help but glance at Lou Yunchun, not understanding why Mrs. Lou looked at the painting with an indifferent expression, as if she didn't like it very much.
"It's a beautiful painting." Xu Jiang stroked Magu's face with his fingers. "It captures Madam's spirit quite well."
Liu Mei smiled and said, "Every year when celebrating Madam's birthday, Young Master always paints a picture of Magu. How can it not be good?"
Xu Jiang was speechless. No wonder, if she received the same gifts on her birthday every year, she would become numb.
Then she couldn't help but wonder, could it be that the painting he gave Lou Jing every year was also "Pine Crane Longevity"? But she saw how much Lou Jing treasured that painting, and it didn't seem like he had received it many times, which was strange.
Just as she was thinking about it, she heard Madam Lou tell Liu Mei, "Hang it up."
Liu Mei hurriedly called Yin Yin to go to the inner room to help hang the paintings.
The room was full of women, and Lou Yunchun would feel somewhat uncomfortable with him around, so after he paid his respects to the deceased, he said goodbye to everyone and left.
The room became lively again. Several ladies came to recognize each other one by one, talked to each other warmly for a while, and asked some questions that Mrs. Lou had not asked out loud, and Xu Jiang answered them one by one.
When Xu Jiang learned that she was an orphan and that she now ran a bookstore alone in the capital, she felt distressed at one moment and called her "my daughter, my daughter", and at another she praised her as "shopkeeper, boss", which made her heart burn.
It was Madam Lou's birthday, and Xu Jiang, not wanting to make it seem bitter, changed the subject and talked about some interesting experiences from her travels. She was a talkative woman, having published books and brochures herself, and her stories were so amusing that they made the women, who had never traveled far, burst into laughter or even marveled at them.
Only Mrs. Lou kept stroking her hands while listening to her speak. Seeing some calluses and tiny scars on her hands, she called Liu Mei over and whispered a few words to her.
Liu Mei nodded in agreement and went into the inner room to get out a bottle of hand ointment.
Xu Jiang was speaking with great enthusiasm when she suddenly felt a chill on the back of her hand. She lowered her head and saw that it was Madam Lou who was scooping out some ointment and applying it to the calluses on her hands.
She was stunned for a moment, her nose felt sore, and her eyes gradually turned red.
Seeing this, everyone fell silent.
Mrs. Lou suddenly heard her stop talking, looked up, and saw that her eyes were red. She was a little at a loss for a moment and her expression froze.
Xu Jiang held out her other hand in front of her eyes and said softly, "This one hasn't been applied yet."
"Yeah." Mrs. Lou held her hand and applied it for her again.
At this time, a lady changed the subject and said, "This ointment is really effective. I had a sore on my hand at the beginning of winter, and it healed in just a few days after applying it."
Several other ladies also agreed and praised the ointment.
Xu Jiang calmed herself down, raised her voice again, and continued the unfinished story. Soon, bursts of laughter rang out in the greenhouse again.
After staying in the greenhouse for a long time and feeling stuffy, the ladies decided to go out for a walk in the garden.
The lady who had been trying to smooth things over earlier winked at the others and pinched Madam Lou's waist. Seeing that she still looked silly, she spoke up for her, "Let's go shopping on our own. It's probably boring for you little girls to keep us company. Why don't you just go out and have fun on your own? We'll call for them later when the banquet starts."
After saying that, he carried the reluctant Mrs. Lou out of the house.
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