Chapter 32
"I'm saying... are you two trying to kick me out?"
Zhang Fuhu looked at the two men with a suspicious expression.
Ning Qingxi said frankly, "How could that be? There's nothing I can do if that's what you think."
Huo Yanci said confidently, "You're mistaken. Don't make assumptions if you don't have one."
Zhang Fuhu: "..."
The two of them, standing there, looked exactly like two villains. Their words and actions were perfectly in sync, giving Zhang Fuhu no chance to interrupt.
Taking advantage of Zhang Fuhu's visit, Ning Qingxi immediately asked for money to hire another team of craftsmen to complete the garden before the end of the year.
Zhang Fuhu asked in bewilderment, "Why must it be before the New Year? I'm not in a hurry."
Ning Qingxi put her hands in her sleeves: "I'm in a hurry. The New Year is coming soon, and so many people at home are waiting for food. Besides, we still need to transplant saplings next spring. If we don't finish this year, it will be rushed together with the project here."
Winter is just around the corner. When Ning Qingxi went back last time, she bought charcoal braziers and winter clothes for her family. They are not exactly well-off right now. Moreover, they need to move all the saplings over next spring when it is neither too hot nor too cold. If the construction is not completed by then, the dust will fly all over the leaves of the saplings, and they will most likely die.
Ning Qingxi had a clear conscience. Zhang Fuhu instinctively looked at Huo Yanci, who nodded: "That's right. If we delay until next year, the transplanting of saplings will have to be postponed. Trees planted in the middle of summer won't even need anyone to kill them; they'll just die."
Zhang Fuhu, without suspecting anything, nodded and paid the money.
With money in hand, Ning Qingxi immediately asked Huo Yanci to find her a team of craftsmen to start work together, and the progress was encouraging.
It just so happened that Ning Qingxi's shop had found a supervisor, and she took him along to teach him. On weekdays, Ning Qingxi would teach the craftsmen how to watch them work so as not to make mistakes. The young man was very eager to learn and listened attentively, which made Huo Yanci feel a little awkward. He finally found an opportunity to tell Ning Qingxi about it, and Ning Qingxi just turned her head and looked at him strangely: "Are you jealous right now?"
Huo Yanci: "...No, I just feel that we're not married yet, and it wouldn't be good if rumors started to spread, would it?"
He phrased it tactfully, but Ning Qingxi went straight to the point: "When I first met you, were your romantic escapades already known throughout the capital?"
Huo Yanci: "..."
Ning Qingxi: "Did I say anything to you? You don't trust me at all! Men, huh?"
After saying that, Ning Qingxi turned her back to him and went to sleep, leaving Huo Yanci alone. He wanted to say something but couldn't, and almost suffocated all night.
The next morning, an antique garden designer from the capital came to her, saying that construction was about to begin and she needed to go and oversee it.
Ning Qingxi asked doubtfully, "Does this really have to be done by me?"
Antique nodded: "After all, this is a matter that could cost you your head, so it's best to be careful."
Ning Qingxi had been loafing around here for too long, and she hadn't done these professional things in a long time, so she was a bit rusty. She was so busy for days that Ning Qingyuan and Ning Qingshan hardly saw her.
When Ning Qingxi returned, the two younger children had already gone to bed and left for school. Ning Qingxi was still asleep, so even though they had lived under the same roof for several days, they hadn't seen each other.
Before the New Year, the garden outside the city was completed, and a table was set up for Ning Qingxi to eat with them. She politely declined, only instructing Huo Yanci: "Go ahead and check if they cut corners over there."
The snow came exceptionally early that winter, forcing the construction site to slow down long before it was completed. It dragged on until the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, so the celebration banquet was exceptionally grand, comparable to the New Year's Eve dinner.
Huo Yanci hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Why don't you go and see for yourself? Don't make things difficult for a complete novice like me."
Ning Qingxi let out a wail and slumped onto the table: "They're still waiting for me here. They can't even slack off. When I'm supervising the work, there are people watching me. This is just too miserable."
It would be inhumane to pass on such a risky business to someone else. Ning Qingxi wouldn't do something so despicable. She figured that after the New Year, she would have to keep an eye on the saplings at Zhang Fuhu's garden. Otherwise, these people would be clumsy and like to cut corners, and they would cause her trouble if she wasn't watching them.
In this way, a business that could result in huge losses and a business that could cost you your life still end up together, making it impossible to reconcile them.
Ning Qingxi's vision went black, and she collapsed onto the table, unable to get up: "Huo Yanci, hurry, kill me while there's still time!"
Huo Yanci gently massaged her shoulders: "Don't be so pessimistic, okay? How about I keep an eye on things in the capital for you? It's not like I'm going to lose my head."
This man came from a family of loyal martyrs, leaving behind only one orphan. Coupled with his royal bloodline, he was the perfect scapegoat.
Looking at him from the left and the right, he is the best candidate.
However, Ning Qingxi hesitated.
It wasn't that she was particularly kind-hearted; she was just really embarrassed to have Huo Yanci repeatedly expose her own wounds to help her.
Ning Qingxi waved her hand: "Forget it, we'll talk about it later. Anyway, I can't do anything about it right now. Didn't they say there was someone else supervising? How come it's suddenly my job too?"
Huo Yanci changed the subject cleverly: "Speaking of which, I asked about the wedding dress a few days ago, and I reckon it will be delivered in the next few days."
"The wedding dress? Does the color look nice?"
"You'll definitely look good in it."
Ning Qingxi touched her face with some doubt: "When is our wedding date again? I've been out here all year looking disheveled, and I think I've gotten so much darker."
She held the mirror, looking at herself from left to right, and still felt that she was very self-aware; she really was too dark.
However, when she was out there looking disheveled, Huo Yanci was with her too, so they all got smeared together.
Ning Qingxi turned to look at Huo Yanci: "..."
Huo Yanci asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me?"
Ning Qingxi waved her hand: "It's nothing, I just think you're so beautiful it's unreal."
Huo Yanci: "?"
Ning Qingxi felt that if fate were to truly favor one person, that person would most likely be Huo Yanci.
Who can have such fair skin after being exposed to the sun every day?
This is absolutely inhumane!
Ning Qingxi asked seriously, "Do you think there's any way I can make my skin as smooth as before?"
Huo Yanci stared at her, and said in a serious tone, "Aren't you doing just fine now? You're stunningly beautiful! You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone as breathtaking as you anywhere in the world."
Ning Qingxi said, "That's enough."
"You should think of it this way: there are millions of good-looking people in the world, but very few are as talented as you."
Ning Qingxi remained sullen.
At the wedding, people looking at those two faces would probably assume that Huo Yanci was her kept man. Who could see through the facade to the inner self?
Ning Qingxi was an ordinary person. While lost in thought and sighing, she played with Huo Yanci's hair with her fingers.
This melancholy was palpable at the victory celebration banquet, when Zhuo Miao, that clueless and unlucky boy, pointed at her and exclaimed, "Young Lady Ning, did you go to dig coal?"
Ning Qingxi: "..."
Zhuo Miao quickly tried to salvage the situation: "But it's alright. We're here to earn money to support our families, so it doesn't matter if things are a bit rough. As long as there's one beautiful woman in the family, that's enough."
The blind date his mother arranged for him to meet last time was someone who was both talented and good-looking, and Zhuo Miao was extremely satisfied. Coincidentally, the girl also took a liking to him. When they spent time together, Zhuo Miao couldn't help but start showing off. Since the girl had been with him, she no longer had to work in the fields, and the calluses on her hands had gradually disappeared. He heard that they were planning to get married.
The beautiful Huo Yanci served Ning Qingxi some food and comforted her, saying, "That's right. When we're out and about, everyone knows that I'm so well taken care of because my wife is so capable."
Ning Qingxi poked at the fish in her bowl, until the fish meat was completely mashed up: "Stop it, what if more people come for my money? What if there's someone prettier than you among them, and I end up abandoning them after starting something?"
Ning Qingxi was worried on the surface, but the thought of this scene made her laugh, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Seeing this, Zhuo Miao couldn't help but shake her head.
He used to tease Huo Yanci from time to time, saying that with Ning Xiaoniangzi's talent and wealth, if she wanted to keep a mistress outside now, there would probably be a lot of people flocking to her, asking him what he thought.
Huo Yanci said at the time that this was the best way.
If Ning Qingxi had no special skills, Huo Yanci wouldn't have looked at her with any respect.
Now, Ning Qingxi uses him as a ladder to climb higher and higher. Her steps will never stop for anyone. Not to mention leaving him, even if Huo Yanci were to die one day, Ning Qingxi would not be discouraged.
Looking back now, it's a miracle that Ning Qingxi didn't have an affair before that; both of them are quite the ladies' man.
Ning Qingxi was completely unaware of this, but Zhuo Miao's timely attack dealt her a significant blow.
After returning home, she secretly went to a cosmetics shop and bought all kinds of pearl powder, piling them onto her face one by one, and insisted on having Huo Yanci watch over her.
She switched to a pearl powder made from pearls produced by mother-of-pearl raised in natural spring water in the south, spread it on her face, and then turned to Huo Yanci and asked, "What do you think of this?"
Huo Yanci sat on her couch, examined her for a moment, and said seriously, "Not bad, better than the previous one."
Ning Qingxi could no longer contain herself: "You say that to everyone!"
Huo Yanci said with a grin, "Do you know the saying, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'?"
Huo Yanci's matchmaker had already brought the betrothal gifts, and the grand scale of the event made everyone aware of it. Therefore, his open and aboveboard manner made him seem particularly magnanimous. Ning Qingxi often felt that he was a bit shameless. Every time she brought it up, he would interrupt her and forget about it as soon as he turned his head. As time went by, she realized that if Huo Yanci didn't want her to do something, she wouldn't be able to do it. So she just let him be.
The two younger ones were used to this. It was perfectly normal for Huo Yanci to sit in her older sister's room. When Ning Qingyuan came in, he didn't even glance at her and went straight to Ning Qingxi: "Older sister, it's almost New Year's. Are you going to write couplets this year? Ning Qingshan said he has learned to write good calligraphy and he can come."
Ning Qingxi turned around with a face that was frighteningly pale and a different color from her neck. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Father, I remember, he's been dead for less than three years, right? Can we really put up couplets?"
Ning Qingyuan shrugged, no longer the cowardly man he used to be: "Who cares about him? If he had died yesterday, I would have bought two strings of firecrackers to celebrate today!"
Ning Qingxi: "..."
Well done. She's ruined two perfectly good children. It's a good thing they're not antisocial, otherwise she would have raised two cancers for society.
Huo Yanci gave Ning Qingyuan a thumbs up: "It should have been released before you closed your eyes, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it, and the celebration would have been in vain."
Ning Qingxi: "You've really gone too far."
Before she could even say whether she wanted to write couplets this year, Ning Qingshan had already come in carrying three sheets of red paper: "Sister, look at the couplets I wrote."
Ning Qingshan's words were clearly very festive, but he looked cold and aloof, as if he were celebrating Qingming Festival rather than the Lunar New Year.
Ning Qingxi didn't even look at them, and after praising them incoherently, she turned to Huo Yanci and asked, "Don't you think there's something wrong with these two kids? Weren't they acting like quails before?"
Huo Yanci, however, thought it was quite good: "How can you continue to be a quail? You're so capable, yet you make others be quails. How can you be so heartless, Miss Ning?"
Ning Qingxi expressionlessly picked up a broom, and then for the entire afternoon, the yard was in chaos. Huo Yanci was whipped all over the yard by Ning Qingxi, and as she ran, she kept saying, "This is wrong, Miss Ning, are you trying to murder your husband?"
Ning Qingxi said, "I'll get it done right away!"
The two children, one in pink and the other in green, looked extremely undignified. The wet nurse sat in the yard with a smile, carrying a basket, and together with the two children, they peeled the seeds out of the dried green beans to make red bean paste and steamed buns for the New Year.
The next day, Huo Yanci was woken up by a noise. He opened the door with a troubled mind, and was about to curse when he looked down and saw two children, one holding a thick stack of couplets and the other holding a bowl of steaming paste, looking up at him in unison.
It's probably almost Chinese New Year. His nanny loved to dress him up when he was little, and she would always dress him in all sorts of festive clothes for the New Year. The clothes on these two little ones are probably also made by his nanny. They look like two New Year's picture dolls guarding the gate.
Ning Qingshan: "...Are you going to come and help us put up couplets? Grandma said that only tall people can come."
He didn't move his lips when he addressed me, and what he said was indistinct and unclear.
Ning Qingyuan didn't mince words; he simply shoved the paste into his hand and said, "We're all family, no need for formalities. Go on!"
Huo Yanci: "Um...actually, I'm not married yet."
With that, he turned to go back into the house.
Ning Qingxi asked indistinctly with her eyes closed, "Who's here?"
Huo Yanci said, "Your younger brother and sister."
Ning Qingxi: "What are you here for?"
"Come to me to put up couplets."
Ning Qingxi said "Oh" and then fell silent.
A moment later, she opened one eye: "Then why are you still standing here?"
Huo Yanci: "Did I say I was going? It's freezing cold. Whoever wants to go can go. I haven't even bothered with the couplets in my own house."
Ning Qingxi let out a few laughs: "Won't your home be here from now on? Isn't that a bit too formal?"
Huo Yanci was completely bewildered by her words. Standing outside in the freezing cold with the paste in hand, he felt utterly swayed by her beauty and sighed, utterly convinced: "Come on, where do you stick it?"
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