Chapter 8
On that day, snow fell heavily. Huo Yanci was unusually dressed warmly, wearing a light green robe and a matching cloak, both trimmed with rabbit fur. However, she did not appear bulky; instead, she exuded a unique liveliness, standing out among the crowd.
He came in wearing a hood, and because he was tall, he always had to lower his head when entering the room, so the hood almost covered half of his face, and only his chin could be seen.
Ning Qingxi looked at him and suddenly remembered a line of poetry. So she swayed over to his side and said leisurely, "I remember the green silk skirt, everywhere I feel the fragrance of grass."[1]
Huo Yanci looked up at her with a strange look in her eyes, the red mole at the corner of her eye quite conspicuous: "Did you take the wrong medicine this morning?"
Ning Qingxi sighed, "Does this clueless man even know what this poem means?"
Huo Yanci's ears turned red, she snorted, and turned to leave.
Ning Qingxi was in a great mood after winning a verbal battle with him. She went around in circles but couldn't find anyone to talk to. She turned to Huo Yanci for a chat, but couldn't find him anywhere.
Huo Yanci was avoiding her.
Zhang Fuhu said something unintentionally, but Ning Qingxi took it to heart. So when Ning Qingxi looked at him, he turned his head away abruptly.
Ning Qingxi: "?"
Is it just my imagination?
Without giving her time to think, the second round of judging began.
Ning Qingxi had no choice but to return to her desk and take out her blueprints, as she had no opportunity to ask Huo Yanci for clarification.
This action drew the attention of everyone present.
The reason is simple: Ning Qingxi's drawings were the thickest in the entire room, while everyone else only had one or two sheets, and they were all just refining the sketches.
Ning Qingxi was different; she took more than ten cards, which drew various reactions from the crowd.
However, she offered no explanation, simply standing aside with her sleeves tucked in, waiting for the judging to begin.
The first to speak was an old-fashioned man who angrily scolded Ning Qingxi for not understanding garden design and for simply messing around. He flicked his Xuan paper and spread it out on the table, and everyone present praised him.
Ning Qingxi had seen it and thought it was quite good. Although this person was old-fashioned, he was indeed quite skilled. His brushstrokes were crisp and decisive, and the small objects in the courtyard were arranged reasonably and beautifully.
He said, “This is my garden design. It is based on the idea of upholding righteousness. The layout of the courtyard is square, and most of the trees are pines and cypresses. Firstly, it symbolizes longevity, and secondly, the pines and cypresses have different shapes, which makes it very interesting.”
After he finished speaking, Zhang Fuhu and the others applauded.
Zhang Fuhu thought the blueprints were really good.
Although he was rough and uncultured, he knew that garden design should consider feng shui and other such principles. Auspicious places are naturally pleasing, and as the future owner of the garden, he couldn't be happier.
Huo Yanci seemed uninterested, only clapping a few times.
Next up is the second person, also an old-fashioned one, even their talking points are almost identical.
Ning Qingxi suddenly realized that there didn't seem to be any such details in her design.
In the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn, it was Ning Qingxi's turn to show her drawings.
She pulled over a nearby table and placed a drawing on it.
It was the same sketch from the first round, and it looked exactly the same. However, in the upper right corner of the drawing, there was a small line that was cut off by another line. Below it was written "1引" and next to it was a cross. In the four directions of the cross were written the characters for east, west, south, and north.
Huo Yanci was quite surprised and asked, "What is this?"
Ning Qingxi drew the lines and said, "This means that on this drawing, this distance represents one section of the actual garden, and the words next to the cross represent the direction when the actual construction is carried out."
Ever since she transmigrated, she had always felt that something was wrong with the blueprints, but everyone drew them that way, so she couldn't figure it out for a moment. It wasn't until she looked at the empty sides of the blueprints, as well as the upper right and lower right corners, that she realized she was missing some kind of marker.
Therefore, she made a special addition to this drawing. In addition, there are green plants in various parts of the garden. Usually, drawings can only show that there is a tree here. Ning Qingxi used different patterns to represent different tree species on the drawing, and attached the tree species represented by each pattern next to it, classifying them and arranging them according to the sequence number.
The large blueprints looked rough, so she refined every part of the garden, from the smallest flowers and trees to the overall terrain, all according to the original sketch.
This greatly increased the workload, but it also made it easier for viewers to see what the garden she was building would look like.
Huo Yanci stood to the side, looking at her drawings.
Although it lacks aesthetic appeal and looks rather rigid and old-fashioned, it is undeniable that this makes the effect more noticeable.
The covered walkway winds its way through the wild waters and the rocks, as if it were embedded in the landscape. Suddenly, it turns at one point and breaks away from the rocks, plunging into the water. This opens up a wider view, and it feels like you've arrived in a completely different place, even though you've only turned in one direction.
Ning Qingxi used words to construct the garden, guiding everyone to actively imagine what the garden would look like after it was completed.
Qiao Yuan interrupted him.
He had studied in school, and although he wasn't exactly an expert in garden design, he wasn't completely blind. He said, "Miss Ning's idea is indeed wonderful, but what if the terrain on site doesn't turn out the way Miss Ning described?"
Huo Yanci frowned and then looked at Ning Qingxi.
Ning Qingxi calmly replied, "The essence of garden design is to integrate architecture with nature. Besides, wild rocks and water are not rare at all. And even if they were..."
Ning Qingxi turned to look at Zhang Fuhu and said with a hint of teasing, "Master Zhang has plenty of money. If you don't have water, why don't you just bring it over?"
Zhang Fuhu: "..."
Huo Yanci chimed in, "Master Zhang is so generous! He's got money!"
Zhang Fuhu even wanted to kneel down and beg Huo Yan to say goodbye.
Even before Ning Qingxi finished the blueprints, Zhang Fu already knew it would be a huge project.
When he organized this competition, he wondered how much it would cost to build a courtyard. So he made a boastful claim.
Now it seems that Ning Qingxi really took these words to heart; she truly didn't value money.
After a rough calculation, Zhang Fuhu felt dizzy and disoriented. It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, but it was indeed beyond his expectations.
While he was weakened, Huo Yanci had already cast her vote.
He gave Ning Qingxi his vote, then looked at Zhang Fuhu and Qiao Yuan with amusement.
As usual, Zhang Fuhu gave one vote to Ning Qingxi, and the other two votes were for the two phrases mentioned when discussing the design drawings: "prolonging life" and "accumulating wealth from all directions." Qiao Yuan, as usual, did not give Ning Qingxi any votes.
The second round of results concluded. Huo Yanci abstained from two out of three votes, casting only one vote for Ning Qingxi. Zhang Fuhu also gave his vote to Ning Qingxi, resulting in two votes for Ning Qingxi.
Zhang Fuhu's remaining two votes were the same as the two people Qiao Yuan had voted for, thus the three who advanced were determined.
Ning Qingxi was overjoyed and went to find Huo Yanci as soon as the party ended.
However, Huo Yanci seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. Upon seeing her, he simply said indifferently, "Everyone is still here."
Ning Qingxi looked bewildered: "What's wrong with everyone being here?"
Huo Yanci glanced at her sideways and said, "You're here to participate in the competition, I'm here to vote. What's wrong with that?"
Ning Qingxi: "..."
So that's why he acted so aloof all this time.
Ning Qingxi said, "Didn't you say it yourself? If you had invited someone else, they might not have refused to give those old fogies face. Besides, isn't my painting good enough?"
Huo Yanci looked at her and said in a riddle-like manner, "It's not bad, it's just too good."
Because Ning Qingxi is a good painter, it doesn't matter whether her painting is good or not if someone with ulterior motives makes a fuss about it.
People only believe what they want to believe.
Ning Qingxi couldn't understand: "They're not contributing any money, so let them say whatever they want."
Huo Yanci smiled kindly: "You should focus on your painting first, and you'll treat me to a big meal when you win."
Ning Qingxi was interrupted by him and forgot what she was going to say. She said warily, "Don't eat anything too expensive. If you go to Zuixianlou and set up two tables, I'll have to sell you to the owner to pay off my debts."
Ning Qingxi's brain had been working overtime lately, and after passing the second round of drawing, she suddenly relaxed, like a kite that had drifted far away and had its string suddenly cut. As the kite drifted freely in the wind, it lost its direction.
Ning Qingxi was completely disoriented at that moment.
It wasn't until Ning Qingyuan, thinking she had lost the election, cautiously came to comfort her that she finally found a little motivation.
Ning Qingxi looked up at Ning Qingyuan.
The thin, small child had managed to gain a little weight after moving into the Zhang family's home. Although he still looked thin and small, at least his face and body weren't as frightening as before. Right now, he was looking at her cautiously with his big eyes wide open.
Ning Qingxi felt a surge of tenderness in her heart. She reached out and touched her head, then turned to look at Ning Qingshan, her expression equally worried.
"Don't worry," Ning Qingxi reassured, "I won, I'm just tired these past few days... Come on, let your older sister take you out to play!"
As the snow fell heavily, the world was covered in a blanket of white, and Ning Qingxi imagined that it must be quite desolate outside.
A servant was sweeping snow in front of the Zhang family's house, and a row of vendors set up stalls along the base of the outer wall of the Zhang family's house. They were all very enthusiastic and greeted everyone who passed by.
It seems she was wrong.
The air after a snowfall in winter carries the scent of ice and snow, rushing straight into the lungs through the nose. All the pent-up frustration seems to vanish with the cold air, and the heat of the past few days disappears instantly.
“Sister,” Ning Qingyuan suddenly spoke, looking up at Ning Qingxi with an innocent expression, “Will this competition give you a lot of money?”
Mentioning money, Ning Qingxi was in high spirits, her tone rising as she spoke: "Of course! Who is Master Zhang? He's got plenty of money! A few drawings will earn him a hundred taels of silver!"
What does 100 taels of silver mean?
You should know that for an ordinary family of four, it would only cost one or two taels of silver to eat for three months.
Ning Qingyuan, who had been poor since childhood, had no concept of a hundred taels of silver. He continued to ask, "Is that a lot? Is it enough for us to eat butter cakes for many years?"
"Enough to eat ghee cakes for a lifetime!" Ning Qingxi said generously. "Come on, your older sister will take you to eat ghee cakes!"
Yes, that's right. The happiness of the poor is so simple. The two children, Ning Qingshan and Ning Qingyuan, held the steaming hot ghee cakes, took a bite, and squinted their eyes in happiness.
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