That night, Minglan slept very restlessly, half asleep and half awake, and she kept feeling that someone was watching her. She opened her eyes in a daze, but saw Gu Tingye leaning slightly to the side, staring at her. Minglan was very sleepy and mumbled "Why aren't you sleeping yet?" Gu Tingye said after a while, "You should get some sleep. You've been exhausted these days."
His tone was filled with deep pity and love, as well as a hint of apology.
The girl's long eyelashes trembled suddenly.
She was indeed very tired.
Managing such a large mansion is tiring, socializing, giving gifts and dealing with people is tiring, and being on guard against other people's schemes all day long is even more tiring. She has to think three times before saying a word, and think over something seven or eight times before doing it. She is afraid of being criticized, afraid of being blamed, and even more afraid of being caught in a weak spot and causing trouble for him. If this continues, she will be able to jump straight into the insane asylum.
A long time ago, she made a vow in front of the Buddha that she would try her best to live a good life.
Every day, no matter how busy she is, she always takes time to rest, appreciate flowers, read, play chess, paint, and do her own needlework for the "Beibei Mountain Series" which she enjoys secretly. Facing the clear and empty scenery of lakes and mountains, she recites Buddhist scriptures over and over again. Those charming and beautiful poems, those vast and boundless mountain and river records, are as pleasant as the breeze blowing across the mountain ridges, with a strange soothing power.
Smiling and praying, hoping for Buddha's mercy, I only wish for peace and joy, and a heart as clear as a mirror.
Everyone said she was blessed—but at least this man knew her tiredness and difficulties.
Minglan leaned over and twisted herself into his arms like a little dog. In the cold early summer night, it seemed that only the arms of the man beside her were warm.
After breakfast, the three people from Kouxiangyuan came to pay their respects as usual.
Qiu Niang's eyes were swollen like big walnuts, obviously she had been crying all night, and her expression was listless. Hong Xiao, on the other hand, was still talking and smiling, as if she had no idea what had happened. As for Rong Jie'er, she was well fed and well cared for every day, and she finally looked a little fairer, but she still only uttered words or phrases.
Minglan had a cordial conversation with them, giving each of them three active sentences and letting them speak for themselves. Usually, Ms. Hongxiao took the lead, but today, Minglan said a few more sentences.
"Madame Chang will be here this afternoon. Ask Mama Hua to bring Sister Rong over."
Qiu Niang moved her lips but said nothing, and Rong Jie'er also raised her drooping head. Hong Xiao looked delighted and said, "Madame Chang is coming. I've often heard Master talk about her before. Now that we live in the capital, we can visit her often." Her tone was full of anticipation.
Minglan glanced at her, raised her teacup, and said calmly, "Master has instructed that Madam Chang once looked after Rong Jie'er, so he asked Rong Jie'er to come out and see Madam."
Qiu Niang's face became increasingly ugly. Rong Jie'er lowered her head in thought, as if she remembered something. Hong Xiao's eyes paused for a moment, then she immediately changed the subject with a smile on her face. Minglan let her talk freely for five minutes before serving tea and sending the guest away.
After they left, Minglan looked up at the carved and brocaded beams in a daze; to be honest, this Nanny Chang was also a strange person.
After her newborn daughter died, she went to the Bai family as a wet nurse. She was very dedicated and attentive. Old Master Bai offered to take the Chang couple in, but Nanny Chang declined, preferring to accept less benefits. As Old Master Bai became more prosperous, Nanny Chang was highly valued for her loyalty and dedication, and the family's financial situation gradually improved. When Madam Bai married, many servants rushed to follow her to the Marquis' mansion to "enjoy the good life," but she chose not to go, returning instead to her hometown to manage her own small household.
After Gu Tingye rose to prominence, Nanny Chang still did not rush to attach herself to him, but was determined to continue to be a free and ordinary citizen. Even when Chengyuan was first established, she came to the mansion at Gu Tingye's request and helped to tidy it up for a while. After Mr. Gongsun arrived from the south, she returned to her own home.
Even this time when she came to visit, she made it clear that she would come in the afternoon.
This is very interesting. In ancient times, people usually visited other people's homes in the morning. Minglan secretly guessed what Nanny Chang was thinking: first, if she came in the afternoon, the possibility of running into Gu Tingye would be higher; second, if she came in the morning, the host would definitely invite her to dinner.
No matter how respectable Nanny Chang's generation was, she was the Bai family's wet nurse after all, and she was always half a servant. Therefore, she refused to sit at the table and eat with the masters. But if she really wanted to say it clearly, "A servant will not sit at the same table with the master," she seemed unwilling to humiliate herself, so she simply came in the afternoon.
The old man was very respectful of the rules of rank, but also very proud.
Around 15:30, Minglan woke from her nap, washed her face, and was dressing when someone outside announced that Nanny Chang and her family of four had arrived. Minglan immediately sent Xiao Cuixiu to Kouxiangyuan to teach Rongjieer. After getting dressed, she went to the small flower hall to wait. Not long after, Liao Yong's wife entered the hall with her companions.
In the front was an old woman with gray hair, wearing a dark blue plain brocade jacket with a two-finger-wide black velvet edge, with a wrinkled face and a silent smile; behind her was a woman who was less than forty years old, wearing a long coat of rust-red thin satin with dark round patterns, and behind them was a pair of children. The girl in the apricot-yellow coat embroidered with twined flowers was about fifteen or sixteen years old, and the boy next to her was only a little over ten years old, wearing a light-colored and plain scholar's robe.
Minglan was very familiar with this outfit. Her younger brother Changdong also wore the same outfit usually, but the material and embroidery on this one were much better.
Minglan slowly stood up and walked forward to greet Nanny Chang with a smile. "Mammy, you're here! I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Master has mentioned you countless times."
Nanny Chang turned slightly to avoid Minglan's greeting, bent her knees, and gave Minglan a formal blessing. She said solemnly, "This old woman greets the madam."
As she spoke, she was also looking at Minglan. She saw that the young lady in front of her was in her prime. She was wearing a light purple gauze jacket with cloud patterns and lotus branches. Her hair was tied in a Japanese bun, and she simply pinned it with a ruyi hairpin with a lotus head made of mutton-fat jade. She was like the first dewdrops in the morning, clear and bright, incomparable. When she spoke and laughed, her attitude was gentle and elegant, her eyes were kind and clear, and her temperament was noble.
As soon as they met, Nanny Chang couldn't help but nod secretly.
She turned slightly and pointed at the person behind her, saying, "This is my daughter-in-law, her maiden name is Hu." The middle-aged woman lowered her head and stepped forward to curtsy before Minglan. Minglan smiled and returned the half-bow, "Hello, Sister-in-law Chang."
"Madam, how are you?" Chang Hu raised her head slightly. She was quite pretty, but her skin was a little dark, and her mouth always drooped, making her look miserable. She opened her mouth to please, with a smile on her face, "I have been thinking about coming to see Madam for a long time. They say that Madam was born by a fairy, but I didn't believe it before. But now that I see you today, oh my, how could the Queen Mother bear to let Madam come to the mortal world!"
As soon as Minglan saw Chang Hu's outfit, she couldn't help but curl her lips. Someone with dark skin dared to wear dark red, she was really brave. After hearing this, she couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Sister Chang is so funny! Please take a seat."
Chang Hu was in no hurry to sit down. She glanced at her mother-in-law and saw Nanny Chang pointing at the two children at the back: "This is my granddaughter Chang Yan, and this is my grandson Chang Nian; Yan Zi, Nian Ge'er, don't be polite."
The brother and sister immediately stepped forward, one on the left and one on the right, and bowed. This time Minglan could accept the greeting with peace of mind. When the brother and sister raised their heads, Minglan was stunned.
The siblings looked quite similar, both with dark complexions and delicate features, but their temperaments were vastly different. Chang Yan was just an ordinary, beautiful girl from a small family. Perhaps due to living in the countryside outside Beijing for the past few years, she had a bit of a rustic air. However, she was always a scholarly and upright person, speaking clearly and with a graceful demeanor, without any of the restraint that comes with encountering wealth and nobility among Heike clan members.
Everyone sat down to talk, even the Chang family's daughters and brothers asked for stools to sit on.
Chang Hu's mother and son seemed to be here for the first time. After they sat down, they couldn't help but look around at the furnishings in the hall, especially Chang Hu. They saw that the furnishings in the hall were quiet and elegant, and they looked so noble and refined.
A foot-tall, white jade vase, spotless and spotless, sat simply in a rack of treasures. Two rows of carved red sandalwood chairs, dark in color but gleaming brightly, were placed beside her. She couldn't stop stroking the chairs, praising them constantly, "Madam, this is a truly wonderful place. I feel like I've entered a fairyland. Oh, look at the bonsai... uh, could it be made of jade? And these cool mats, what kind of bamboo are they made of?"
The woman's words and actions had a vulgar air, not very presentable. Nanny Chang beside her frowned slightly, glanced at her daughter-in-law, and held back her words. Then she looked at Minglan, who did not show any disdain or impatience, but did not try to please her either. She just smiled and joked, as if what Chang Hu said was indeed very interesting.
"I'm not too sure either." Minglan tried to recall. "It seems to be the bamboo in the river. The towering big bamboo is cut into slices, and only the slices with the finest and toughest texture are picked out. Then they are pulled into the thickness of long bamboo sticks, and polished over and over again with coarse and fine round white stones. I'm afraid it must be polished thousands of times until it becomes as thin as bamboo silk, and then it is woven out." The felt mat woven in this way will be as soft and white as cotton satin.
Chang Hu gasped, her eyes gleaming with envy as she exclaimed, "My God, how much effort must have gone into this! How precious must it be! No wonder they feel so smooth to the touch! Oh, we ordinary people are so lucky to have this..."
Minglan couldn't be modest. The ancient times were not a commodity society. Sometimes people couldn't buy things even if they had money, because in the imperial society, the best and most exquisite products were tributes from the emperor and were made by craftsmen in the palace's special workshops.
Since the beginning of summer, the palace has been constantly rewarding Minglan with summer cooling items. Many of these items have never been seen before, such as this bamboo silk cooling mat. If Minglan was not afraid that the bamboo products would get moldy after being stored for a long time, she would have wanted to hide the items in the warehouse.
Nanny Chang's brows knitted together. She turned around and glanced at her daughter-in-law, successfully stopping Chang Hu's chatter. Minglan didn't mind much. After a few words, she turned to talk to Nanny Chang: "...I heard that Nanny is now living in Maoer Hutong. I wonder if the house is habitable? Is it convenient to get in and out?"
The wrinkles on Nanny Chang's face softened. "Thanks to Ye'er, the house is very nice, with two courtyards and two entrances in front and back. Not only is it enough for us, an orphan and a widow, but even when Ye'er gets married and has children in the future, it will be enough to live in. The neighbors on both sides are also well-behaved and good people. There are main roads leading to the front and back of the alley, so it's easy to come and go, whether by carriage or sedan chair."
"That's good, Master and I are relieved..."
Minglan picked up a brightly colored fruit from the celadon plate and was about to continue speaking with a smile when Chang Hu interrupted, "Not everything is good. It's a bit out of the way, and the place is a bit deserted. If I want to buy some writing brushes, ink, and books for Nian'er, or some new clothes for Yan Zi, it would take me half a day to get there. If only..."
"Shut up." Nanny Chang's face turned ugly, and she slammed the teacup on the table. "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Chang Hu immediately shut up. Minglan looked over curiously and saw that although she kept her mouth shut, she did not show any sign of shame or anger. She seemed thick-skinned and used to being scolded by her mother-in-law, and was not afraid of being humiliated in public. She even ate the snack fruit as if nothing had happened.
After glaring at her daughter-in-law, Nanny Chang turned to Minglan and said, "Madam, please don't be polite. We have troubled Ye'er countless times. Alas... I am not afraid of being embarrassed, so I will tell you." She sighed and said in a low voice, "It's all because of my useless son! He couldn't study, but he tried to learn business. He was cheated. Not only did the family lose everything, but he was beaten half to death. It seemed that the disaster was about to affect my whole family. That's why I had to lick my old face and drag my family to the capital to beg for mercy. Who knew that my eldest daughter died more than ten years ago. I was at the end of my rope. Fortunately, I had Ye'er! He helped us buy land and houses, which is why we can still live today."
When these words came out, Minglan couldn't hide her surprise.
She was not surprised by what Nanny Chang said, but by the fact that Nanny Chang was so frank and exposed the family's dirty laundry.
Gu Tingye never mentioned these things to Minglan, but Minglan had already guessed them.
In ancient times, people valued defending their land and their inheritance, returning to their roots. Leaving one's hometown was uncommon. If Madam Chang was living happily in Haining, why would she suddenly bring her family to the capital? She had been out of touch with her former master for nearly a decade, so it wasn't necessarily a sudden burst of loyalty. It didn't seem like the Chang family had any students planning to travel to Beijing for the imperial examinations, or any plans to open a branch.
Then, there is only one conclusion: the Chang family can no longer stay in their hometown and have come to seek refuge with their former master.
Since their marriage, Minglan had many questions in her mind: Yanhong's death, Manniang's past, and the other child. If Gu Tingye volunteered to talk, she would listen, but she never asked anything. Even as a couple, there were some secrets that were difficult to share, and Gu Tingye clearly had no intention of mentioning them.
Nanny Chang has been in Beijing for almost ten years and must know all the inside stories. She is the breakthrough point, so Minglan has been deliberately trying to figure out Nanny Chang's character and actions for a long time.
So, what kind of person is she?
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