Chapter 20 Naming and Seeking Romance
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The notice about the bird's disappearance at the Wen residence was posted by Wen Qi.
The second young master instructed that it should be posted at the busiest street corner in Shengjing City.
Wen Qi walked along the road to Caishikou. A local bully who had harassed women and children in the street had just been beheaded there, and the bloodstains splattered against the gray wall were still wet.
Snap!
He stretched out the notice and pressed the still-wet notice onto the wall.
He stepped back a few paces to examine it closely, and there stood the image of Cuihuang bird next to the arrest warrant for the wanted criminals of the imperial court.
"Hmm...?" He scratched his chin, feeling that this arrangement was a bit ominous.
However, the next moment, he suddenly realized the truth and successfully cheered himself up.
"The location is prominent, so more people can see it."
Wow, I'm so capable!
"Who else but me is the number one jester in Shengjing!"
The sound of Lin Xihe encouraging Qingwu suddenly echoed in his ears again. Wen Qi parroted, mimicking Lin Xihe's tone: "Go for it, Wen Xiaoqi!"
The onlookers exchanged knowing glances, their eyes filled with deep sympathy for Wen Qi.
This servant was plain-looking and not very bright; his brows revealed a "clear stupidity."
The rumors about the Second Young Master Wen's womanizing ways were indeed true.
In the middle of the day, he was riding a horse back and forth in front of the brothel, truly indulging in debauchery in broad daylight.
Now that his master's temperament has changed drastically, he is no longer as gentle and refined as before, and his personal servant has also followed suit and become bad.
An elderly man in the crowd stroked his beard and muttered, "The feng shui of the Wen family mansion seems to be truly in trouble..."
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Lin Xihe lay on her back on the oxcart, her face covered with a missing bird notice.
As the car approached the Lin residence, she seemed to have a premonition and suddenly peeled off the paper, revealing the entire starry sky in her field of vision.
In the center of the pristine starry sky lies that dazzling Milky Way.
She, a modern person, looked up at the sky with a strange expression, sat up halfway, and nudged the maid who was slumped in a limp mess.
"Look, the Milky Way!"
"Yes." Qingwu thought it was just an ordinary sight and nothing to be surprised about.
Just as Lin Xihe was about to get out of the carriage, she saw the driver heading straight for the side gate.
Because of her tattered clothes, she waved for a long time by the roadside, but not a single carriage paid her any attention. In the end, she had to haggle with the driver of an oxcart for a while, but the driver still complained that the green grass was too heavy and insisted on charging an extra ten copper coins.
Fine, she accepted the overload fee.
At worst, she could ask her younger brother for some money—she was a modern person who had transmigrated to ancient times, so what was wrong with collecting a little money for settling in during her adjustment period?
A gust of wind swept through the room, carrying away the notice from Lin Xihe's hand.
The thin paper seemed to have grown wings, twirled in the air, and gracefully flew over the high wall, disappearing into the Wen Mansion.
“It’s over,” Lin Xihe pointed to the Wen family’s territory, “the notice has flown in.”
Qingwu didn't care at all: "It's alright, the whole city is covered in them. Haven't we peeled off enough along the way?"
One more paper flying into the Wenfu residence doesn't mean anything.
“That makes sense,” Lin Xihe said, feeling a little relieved. “As long as it doesn’t drift into Wen Zhixu’s room.”
“Miss, that is the Hidden Spring Pavilion of the Duke of Wen’s Mansion.”
"Um."
"The courtyard where Madam Wen used to live."
"oh."
"Now it is the Second Young Master Wen who is staying here."
"ah?!"
Qingwu: "Miss, don't panic. There are over a hundred notices in total."
Lin Xihe panicked even more, muttering to herself, "A strong wind is coming... help me blow the notice away!"
While others prayed for rain, she prayed for wind.
A gust of wind suddenly blew in from somewhere, and a thin piece of paper was smeared all over Wen Zhixu's face, which he had just washed.
With a blank expression, he raised his hand and lifted the paper.
Wen Qi immediately leaned closer, his eyes wide open: "Huh? Isn't this the notice I posted?"
Wen Zhixu didn't say anything, but simply smoothed out the crumpled piece of paper.
It is indeed a missing bird notice, but someone has added some "ingredients" to it.
There was a large arrow pointing to a corner at the address of "Second Young Master Wen" on the notice.
A pig suddenly appeared in that corner.
The painting style is rough and crude, far from the meticulous brushwork and freehand style; every stroke exudes a strong sense of mockery.
The pig, with its long snout, stared intently at Wen Zhixu, as if to say, "What are you looking at?! You'll regret this!"
As soon as Lin Xihe entered the room, the old nanny who was watching over Bu Bu let out a long sigh of relief.
"Young Master Bu Bu—" She reported on Que'er's daily life according to the rules set by the young lady, and she could finally call him that naturally now. "He ate once, a little rice porridge and half an earthworm."
"How many grains of rice did you eat?"
"Eleven grains." The old woman answered fluently, thankfully she had been careful and counted them!
"Won't earthworms smell too fishy?"
If a sparrow doesn't eat earthworms, does it eat the whole feast? The old nanny looked bewildered: "Miss, would you like to check?"
"No, no, no!" Lin Xihe waved her hand violently, as if the half-earthworm was already in front of her, and her stomach churned.
Realizing her lapse in composure, she steadied herself and gave the order: "Have the kitchen prepare more fine ingredients; the patient needs to recuperate."
"yes……"
In early spring, there weren't many insects, and those few earthworms were found by several servants who dug three feet into the ground.
Now that the young lady has asked for mantises, caterpillars, and grasshoppers, the servants really don't know where to find them.
Lin Xihe asked in surprise, "Does our household not even have a knowledgeable person?"
The old nanny bowed her head and replied, "Miss, if we're talking about playing with insects, the young master often accompanies the second young master Wen to buy crickets and grasshoppers, so he must know a thing or two."
Lin Xihe: "That's perfect! Our Lin Pinyan is an insect expert, the Chinese version of Fabre! Let that kid go dig up some nymphs tomorrow."
After Lin Xihe explained what a nymph was, the old woman understood. It was a cicada nymph before it climbed the tree!
"Remember, don't tell him I keep birds."
"Yes." The old nanny closed her mouth.
Lin Xihe didn't even bother with her meal. After washing her hands, she carefully removed the thin cloth from the wound. The wound was still red and swollen, showing no signs of improvement.
Bu Bu lay on the embroidered silk quilt that the maids had hastily made, looking just like a badly injured version of a wealthy young master from a feudal society.
The Golden Wound Jade Powder given by Wen Zhixu could only stop the bleeding, but could not reduce the swelling. Que'er's vital energy was severely depleted, and her belly swelled and contracted repeatedly; she was only clinging to life by a breath of immortal energy.
It seems we must find the flower stamen stone.
"Miss," Qingwu brought over hot water and a towel, "aren't you going to tell Young Master Wen that Que'er has been found?"
"I won't tell," Lin Xihe said firmly. "It'll drive him crazy."
Qingwu felt dizzy and disoriented; the one thousand taels of silver offered as a reward in the notice had just vanished.
"If he really cared for it, wouldn't he have neglected to watch over it and let Bubu run away?"
Lin Xihe felt more and more justified as she spoke. She turned to look at the sickly Bu Bu and softened her voice: "You're trying every means to run away from home, which shows that your master is not very good. The name he gave you is also awful. Cuihuang Cuihuang, it sounds so rustic."
Bubu, barely clinging to life, was weak and listless.
Qingwu was powerless to refute; all she felt was the frustration of losing the reward money.
Not long after, Bubu urinated on the expensive silk mattress.
Seeing Lin Xihe wet a handkerchief and personally wipe Que'er, Qingwu said anxiously, "Miss! This kind of rough work is not something you can do! This won't do, Young Master Bu Bu is too dirty! Let me wipe him."
Lin Xihe raised her wet, dog-like eyes: "Don't say that about it. After all... it was separated from its mother when it was a puppy."
Qingwu: "..."
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Since the argument two days ago over the tonics from the Lin family, Wen Hongyuan regretted speaking harshly to his grandson.
Seeing that Wen Zhixu was unusually silent during the meal, he pondered for a moment, picked up a piece of Dongpo pork with his chopsticks and gave it to his grandson, speaking in a gentler tone: "I was a bit too harsh with my words that day."
Unexpectedly, Wen Zhixu turned around and put the meat back into his grandfather's bowl.
“Grandfather, I don’t eat pork.” Wen Zhixu was extremely displeased.
Today he felt he was incompatible with pigs—he felt insulted from afar by the person who drew the pig. This person was extremely arrogant, drawing a pig on his bird-finding notice as a veiled criticism.
The grandson refused to take the offered way out, leaving Wen Hongyuan's hand frozen in mid-air. He suddenly felt utterly humiliated: "You!"
Unexpectedly, Wen Zhixu said, "Please give me a piece of fish, I'll eat that."
The stepping stone was given to Wen Hongyuan.
Wen Hongyuan's heart was pounding. After finally calming down, curiosity welled up in his heart: "Why don't you eat pork?"
The household has changed chefs, and recently they've been cooking all sorts of dishes, each one a delicacy that ordinary people can't afford.
Without thinking, Wen Zhixu blurted out, "Losing weight."
"?" Wen Hongyuan was taken aback. What kind of unfamiliar term was this? He frowned as he listened.
After the meal, Wen Zhixu took a walk to the stable.
Remembering the envious look in Lin Xihe's eyes when she saw the white horse, he patted the horse's head and said, "Although you have no sense of direction, you are still better than that rambling woman from the Lin family."
The horse flicked its tail, showing no reaction to his words.
"Is Cuihuang gone forever?"
He stood with his hands behind his back, muttering a few more words to himself. The horse half-closed its eyes, as if it were about to meet the Duke of Zhou in the morning.
"I think she drew that pig."
"But I don't have empirical evidence."
"I need evidence to get an explanation from her, otherwise it will seem like I've wronged her."
The area around the stable was completely silent.
Wen Zhixu pinched the horse's mane: "Speak."
"Hiss." The horse snorted, as if to say: Don't pull it, or you'll go bald.
Having not seen his master since the meal, the inexperienced newcomer, Wen Ba, wandered around the Wen residence for a long time.
"Shh." The coachman stopped him, signaling Wenba to be quiet.
Two servants hid behind a pillar not far away.
"The second young master is talking to Chunlu."
Who is Chunlv?
"Here you are." The coachman held up his finger.
Wen Ba followed the wrinkled fingers and looked up, his gaze settling on the white horse. The groom's words drifted into his ears: "This white horse is a tribute from the Western Regions, bestowed upon the Second Young Master by the Empress."
"The horse is beautiful, as for its name..." Wen Ba drawled out his words, skillfully reserving his opinion while precisely steer the conversation toward his colleague.
"What an awful name!" the coachman chimed in bluntly. "Stupid donkey, big stupid donkey, right?"
Wen Ba: "..." He mentally rubbed his forehead; this brother was too blunt.
"The names of all the birds and beasts in the manor, and even the names of the newly hired servants, were all bestowed by the Second Young Master."
"Oh, right." Wen Ba's toes dug into the ground. Wen Qi, Wen Ba... since the Second Young Master has such outstanding talent, why not give them decent names?!
Wen Ba then asked the coachman, "When did the Second Young Master begin this hobby?"
Everything has a source. Only by finding the cause can we treat it. If the treatment is effective, since the Second Young Master likes naming things, Wenba would like to ask him to give him a more impressive and pleasant-sounding name.
The coachman was old; he was one of the elders of the Wen family.
That year—
"Madam Lin is six months pregnant, and our lady has taken the second young master to visit her..."
That year.
The crabapple petals on the ground returned to the flower buds. The northern barbarians had not yet invaded, and Madam Wen was not yet called Abbess Huikong.
The eldest son of the Wen family did not receive the imperial order, and the soldiers who went to war returned home to be good husbands, good fathers, and good sons.
Young Wen Zhixu picked up the arrow his elder brother had shot and put it back in the quiver.
That year, my elder brother had not yet died on the battlefield.
His mother held his little hand and placed it on Madam Lin's belly, smiling gently, "Xu'er, is Madam Lin carrying a little brother or a little sister?"
"Little sister." The child's voice was clear and bright.
Madam Lin: "My daughter is wonderful. If it were my younger sister, I would betroth her to you as your wife, would that be alright?"
Preface: "Could you name my wife?"
Mrs. Lin smiled slightly.
A gentle breeze dispels the summer heat, and the lotus flowers in the pond unfold their petals, their reflections rippling with red waves.
Wen Zhixu's palm was small, yet he could clearly feel the movements inside Madam Lin's belly. Through her skin, a tiny foot suddenly kicked out, blocking his palm.
A thought struck him, and he said, "Xihe, let's name my wife Lin Xihe."
A note from the author:
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