Chapter 18
"Ning Qingxi?"
When the sun was high in the sky, Ning Qingxi opened her eyes. Her head was a little heavy, but the hangover didn't cause her any other aftereffects. The only thing was that she had blacked out.
The last scene in her memory was of her dozing off, leaning on her arm, while Huo Yanci called her name, as if to urge her to drink.
Then what?
Ning Qingxi stared at the light pink bed curtains in front of her—the sunlight was filtered out and no longer glaring—and fell into deep thought.
It's said that when someone gets really drunk, they can lose all sorts of face.
Ning Qingxi thought for a long time, then clutched her head and wailed before continuing to lie there until her wet nurse knocked on the door: "Young lady, are you awake? The prince said you drank too much and need some plum juice to sober up."
Upon hearing this, Ning Qingxi quickly put on her clothes and shoes, opened the door with a whoosh, and hesitated before asking, "Yesterday... he brought me back?"
The wet nurse smiled and said, "That's right."
"Did I... say anything?"
"?"
Ning Qingxi was relieved and said cheerfully, "It's okay, I was just talking nonsense... Where's the plum juice? I'm really thirsty."
"It's warm in the kitchen, I'll go get you some."
"No need, I can go by myself."
The kitchen was in the front yard. Ning Qingxi quickly went down the steps and into the house. Sure enough, she saw soup bubbling in a pot on the fire. She ladled herself a bowl and drank it. After taking a sip, she frowned.
The wet nurse came in and frowned, "What's wrong? Does it taste bad?"
"No, it should have some ice. It tastes better cold."
“Ice is hard to find at this time of year,” the nanny said, sitting opposite her. “By the way, we’re out of rice, flour, and oil; we need to get some new.”
Ning Qingxi has always been generous to her family, but there is one thing she just can't figure out.
"We bought so much rice, flour, and oil, and it lasted for more than a month. How come it's all gone?"
She drank the last drop of the rice in one gulp, got up and found the jar where she kept rice and flour. When she opened it, she found only a layer of corn grits at the bottom and some sweet potato leaves next to it. Finally, she found a bowl of white flour in the cupboard.
Ning Qingxi: "..."
She stood there holding the lid for a while, and then she actually laughed out of anger.
She wasn't stupid; she could guess where all that rice and flour had gone. She turned to look at yesterday's leftovers: cornbread and sweet potato leaf bread.
Well done! You only steal things that are worthless, you'd be too embarrassed to tell the authorities.
She put the lid back on, took out two taels of silver and gave it to the wet nurse: "Please go and buy the things yourself. I won't be staying long after I get back, I really don't have time."
Ning Qingxi's hand trembled slightly as she handed over the money. She was generous with two taels of silver, but on the carriage back to the construction site, she felt a pang of heartache. She weighed the light purse in her hand again and again, and when she confirmed that there wasn't even five taels of silver left, her heart sank.
Seeing that she finally had time to look at people properly, Huo Yanci cautiously asked, "Do you remember what you said yesterday?"
Ning Qingxi: "...Did I say anything embarrassing?"
"No."
"I just can't believe it," Ning Qingxi straightened up and stared at Huo Yanci. "Really not?"
"No, that means you need to make money or something."
Ning Qingxi: "..."
It really fits her persona perfectly.
When money was mentioned, Ning Qingxi immediately reverted to her dead fish-like state.
Huo Yanci asked, "Are you really out of money?"
"Not really. I was just thinking about how I could make it to the completion of this garden with only five taels of silver."
"..." Huo Yanci said, "I do have a solution."
Ning Qingxi glanced at him sideways: "Tell me about it."
Huo Yanci said, "That's easy. I'll knock you out as soon as you say you're hungry. That way, you can eat once every three days, and that should be enough."
Ning Qingxi gave a forced smile: "Thank you."
Ning Qingxi thought that life without money would be especially difficult, but to her surprise, life was actually better than she had imagined.
She provided food and lodging at the construction site. There are only three people in her family. Winter is still far away, so she doesn't need to pay for charcoal. It seems like she can really afford to spend the money until the garden is completed.
Ning Qingxi was overjoyed and happily went out wearing her tattered clothes meant for working in the fields. She ran into Aunt Shen, and both of them were stunned for a moment.
Aunt Shen greeted her warmly, "Oh, isn't this Miss Ning?"
"You're here to work?"
Upon hearing this, Aunt Shen sighed, her voice filled with the weariness of time, and said, "Yes, the family is struggling financially, so I have to come out and earn some money to support my family."
Ning Qingxi nodded: "That's good, let's keep doing it."
After saying that, he turned and left.
The thin stone has arrived today, and Ning Qingxi has to go and supervise the construction.
Such a large stone has a specific placement, so that it doesn't collapse as soon as someone leaves, resulting in a shoddy construction project.
When she arrived, Huo Yanci was already standing there, waiting for her. Ning Qingxi greeted him, "You're here so early."
Huo Yanci said, "It's because you arrived too late."
Ning Qingxi pretended not to hear and stood there directing, "Put it on the ground first, be careful not to bump or knock it, this stone is expensive."
The craftsmen here all do rough work. They've seen at least eight or ten thousand stones, if not ten thousand. Few people take her saying that the stone is expensive seriously. But since she's standing here, and there's someone else standing next to her, they have to save face.
Ning Qingxi didn't care. As long as the quality was up to standard, she continued to supervise, while also instructing, "And the newly transplanted saplings these past few days, water them when the sun is setting. Their roots are still tender, and they'll die if you don't take good care of them."
New trees are precious; you have to water them when it's cool after sunset. Otherwise, if you water them right after they've opened up their stomata, and then they're exposed to the scorching sun, something bad is bound to happen.
Huo Yanci casually put a straw hat on her head, and Ning Qingxi's vision went black. She was about to get angry, but after adjusting the hat, she found that it was much cooler. So she smiled and said, "How thoughtful of you. I had forgotten to buy a hat."
"I've been wandering around with you for ages, just waiting for you to ask me for it, but when you came here you didn't even look at me."
Huo Yanci's tone was not without resentment.
Ning Qingxi laughed it off: "Who said that? I saw it, but I was just too embarrassed to take it. If I had known you would think so much, I wouldn't have been so polite with you next time."
Huo Yanci said, "What's there to be embarrassed about?"
"...What if you're going to give the hat to someone else? Wouldn't it be presumptuous of me to take it?"
"Which other person?"
Ning Qingxi: "..."
Huo Yanci's emotional intelligence is truly off the charts, absolutely off the charts.
Huo Yanci concluded, "I'll let it go this time and not hold it against you, but don't do it again next time."
Ning Qingxi: "..."
She silently tugged at her hat and took a step to the side to avoid any more gossip.
Huo Yanci's attitude is now frightening her.
Huo Yanci took in all of her little actions. Seeing that there was enough space between the two of them for another person to squeeze in, she looked a little dissatisfied, but ultimately said nothing.
Ning Qingxi watched a group of people fiddling with the stone. Besides her, there were several other industry experts gathered together, discussing how to stand the stone up. Ning Qingxi couldn't get a word in edgewise, so she was happy to be left alone. She stood aside drinking tea, then suddenly remembered something and moved back to her original spot: "Speaking of which, do you still remember Aunt Shen who left my house?"
Huo Yanci lowered her head, looking completely bewildered, as if wondering why this was being brought up all of a sudden, but she still replied, "I remember, what's wrong?"
Ning Qingxi said, "She's here. Tell the kitchen to keep an eye on things."
Huo Yanci: "..."
"After she left, all the rice, flour and oil in my house were gone, leaving only some corn grits and sweet potato leaves. The key is that I didn't buy any of those things. I have no proof that she took them, but it's always better to be safe than sorry."
Huo Yanci said, "Don't worry, Boss Zhang seems unreliable and hates people with dirty hands the most. If something really goes wrong, it's not your place to worry about it."
Even so, Ning Qingxi still felt uneasy.
Isn't her job to supervise and manage this area? What happens is none of her business to worry about?
That's utter nonsense!
Ning Qingxi said quietly, "It's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering."
Huo Yanci was unaware of the situation.
Ning Qingxi patted his shoulder and said, "I'll trouble you to keep an eye on things here for me. I still have a few pictures that need some more refinement."
Without waiting to see if Huo Yanci had heard her, she went back on her own. As soon as she reached the dormitory, she disappeared around the corner and strode into the kitchen: "It's so hot! Do you have any more ice? Put some in my tea."
The man in charge of the kitchen was an old man, probably around fifty years old. He was quite tall, but a little hunched over. He had a lively personality and got along very well with the young people. When he saw her arrive, he immediately put a spoonful of ice into the tea bucket: "Is that enough?"
Ning Qingxi casually scooped all the ice into her bowl and said, "That's enough, that's enough."
The old man chuckled twice, put his spoon on the table, and sat down opposite Ning Qingxi: "What's up? Went to the construction site again this morning?"
"That's right, these people are all lazy and shirking their responsibilities. This is the first garden I've ever managed, so there can't be any mistakes."
"But speaking of which, how long will it take to finish building this garden?"
Ning Qingxi thought about it carefully.
When Zhang Fuhu told them about the land, she didn't say how big it was. She just assumed it was something she would build for fun. Plus, she was short on time, so she didn't draw a very large area. The value of the drawing lies in its many and meticulous details.
She casually replied, "About a year or two, I'm not really sure."
"Ha! You're the head steward, how could you not know?"
Ning Qingxi said helplessly, "I really don't know."
She's decent at drawing and calculating workloads.
But when it comes to something serious, she can't do it.
Therefore, it's impossible to give a definite answer about this garden, which could take a year or two, or even ten or eight years.
“Alright,” the old man stood up. “I’ll talk to Boss Zhang tomorrow and see if I can get some wages in advance.”
Ning Qingxi asked, "What do you need the money for in advance?"
"I owe gambling debts!"
Watching the old man turn around to prepare lunch, Ning Qingxi also crunched up the ice cubes and went out to her own yard.
The small room was filled with blueprints, with only a small sleeping area on the bed, surrounded by pens.
Scattered on the ground were papers of all kinds, such as the shape of a window, small details of buildings like corridors, pavilions and boats. In addition, there were several drawings, as if a person was standing at the door of a room and drawing the furniture inside, such as an eight-immortal table, a long bench, and what kind of flowers were on the bench. Everything was drawn in great detail.
Ning Qingxi picked out the papers and put them aside. She casually pushed the rest aside, clearing a space on the table. She found a new piece of paper to press down on it, picked up her pen, and pondered deeply.
Her garden design philosophy was to pursue fun, so she had to carry it through to the end. The gates connecting the various courtyards also had to be different shapes, which became a problem. Ning Qingxi racked her brains, drawing one as she thought of it. After a whole morning, she had only drawn three - the moon gate, the square gate, and the begonia gate.
Ning Qingxi: "..."
I've never doubted whether I'm suited for this job, but now I'm starting to have doubts.
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