Chapter 368
Wang Jiazhi accompanied them shopping from morning to afternoon, and as expected, they didn't buy anything and didn't decide on anything.
It's normal to be unable to decide on something as important as a wedding dress, but other places, after all the searching and asking, still haven't bought anything. These two young ladies were nothing like Wang Jiazhi had imagined. She went to any store without intending to buy anything, feeling embarrassed to bother anyone. These two sisters, on the other hand, were rummaging through everything, messing up neatly folded items and asking the clerks to re-arrange them. They kept asking if they had that and that, forcing them to search through boxes and cabinets. At one store, they opened several pieces of fabric, only to have the clerks dig out several more, which they then opened again, piling them on the counter, leaving the boxes open again in a mess. The same thing happened with shoes: they tried on everything, asking the clerks to look up their sizes in the backroom. Once they found their sizes, they'd ask for a size up, then a size down. In the end, every store they visited was the same: they didn't buy anything, leaving the place in disarray. The clerks were exhausted from running around and talking, and they smiled and just walked away. Whenever she saw them leaving, she was the first to go, fearing the clerk would scold her too. But to her surprise, the clerk said nothing. From what she heard them saying to the clerk, the clerk probably didn't know they were daughters of high-ranking officials. Wang Jiazhi thought, if someone like her, who always looked honest, were to be scolded, she would definitely be judged by their aura.
Seeing her buy something in that pajamas store, the two sisters felt more confident and continued to ask the clerk to search for things. Wang Jiazhi was really helpless.
Mrs. Liao's family didn't pay much attention to their daughters, and their pocket money was more limited than other families of the same level. The two sisters had developed a habit of just browsing without buying, and it was indeed a headache to encounter their store.
Her shoes were really getting worn out. Wang Jiazhi thought to herself, "I should have worn flats earlier. Those two sisters are about the same age as me, so how could they have walked around in high heels for so long and still have the nerve to do so?"
The three of them went to the hotel's cafe for afternoon tea. Just as the coffee was served, they heard someone shouting.
Looking in the direction of the voices, they were all familiar faces: Mrs. Xiao, Mrs. Ma, Mrs. Liang, and Mrs. Liao.
There was no other way. Wang Jiazhi said she had something to do and would not eat with them. Mrs. Liang said, "You have time to eat snacks with the children, but not with us."
Wang Jiazhi sighed inwardly, she felt like she was a generation older. But that was how it should be, otherwise there wouldn't be a generation difference between them. Wang Jiazhi defined it herself, twenty years old was a cutoff point, if the age difference was less than twenty years, they were a generation. If you ask her what her basis was, it was that Lao Yi was no more than twenty years older than her. She thought about it and it made sense, when she was eighteen or nineteen and had grown up, he was still under forty. She also had a custom that a man could still be considered a boy if he was under forty, if you ask her why, it was because when she grew up and was a little girl, he was still a few years away from forty.
She could only go to dinner with the ladies again, but she was feeling uneasy. She knew that ever since Mrs. Yi was sent back to the countryside, she had become a public enemy in the fake imperial edict circle, and she didn't know why they were making such noise today, both openly and covertly.
But unexpectedly, these people were unusually friendly. Even Mrs. Ma, who loved to stir up trouble, said nothing. Mrs. Liang even fawned over her and asked her to order the dishes.
These ladies were willing to curry favor with Mrs. Yi, often setting up card games at her house and rushing to curry favor with her, all because of Old Yi's high position. Now that Mrs. Yi had been sent back to the countryside and banished to the cold palace, she had clearly become a pariah. Of course, no one would be so foolish as to offend Wang Jiazhi, the new favorite, because of her. This group of people had originally been brought together by profit, each one openly and covertly competing against the other, so where was the true affection? Mrs. Yi, accustomed to being fawned over by this group, was unaccustomed to Mrs. Ma's pampered and arrogant behavior, so she invited Wang Jiazhi into the house.
Ever since Old Yi had managed to temporarily remove Mrs. Liang's husband from his rice duties, Mrs. Ma hadn't dared to openly cross Wang Jiazhi. And ever since Mrs. Yi had been sent back to the countryside, no one dared to cross her. The job Old Yi did was terrifying to others, and if they truly offended him, the consequences would be disastrous.
In a previous life, Mrs. Liang's husband's rice management job was completely taken away. She just didn't know about Wang Jiazhi's death. It was also not long after her death, and he was already feeling unwell and couldn't sleep for nights. The other wives had forgotten about her, and then one day, Mrs. Liang had to bring her up. To curry favor with Mrs. Yi, she said, "That Wang Jiazhi, she's such a petty person, she's never even been to Shuyu. People from small families are just so proud and like to curry favor with others."
Mrs. Xiao said, "You've won a lot of money from others, and you still say that."
Mrs. Liang said, "She's stupid. She doesn't even know how to play mahjong. Who can she blame? Is it because I'm the only one she lost to?"
As luck would have it, Old Yi happened to come back and overheard these words. Mrs. Liang's husband hadn't just lost his rice management job; he'd lost every job, completely unemployed. No matter how much the couple tried to curry favor, he couldn't find a job. Mrs. Liang's luck at poker seemed to have fallen apart because of her husband's situation. She kept losing money, and eventually she stopped playing. Her husband couldn't earn, and she couldn't afford to lose.
Mrs. Ma happened to be sitting next to her and exclaimed, "Huh?" She looked at the kite-shaped hairpin in her hair and said, "I've never seen anything like it anywhere else."
It was a miniature pink swallow kite, twice smaller than a silver dollar, and she wore it in her hair as a hairpin. Although small, it was very delicately made.
He came home last night, having barely slept all day and night. But then he remembered it was kite-flying season, and he wanted to make a kite for his daughter. He didn't sleep after returning home. Instead, he changed his clothes and started chopping and roasting bamboo wood to make a kite frame. He also made a small kite and glued it to a piece of bamboo to use as a hairpin for her to play with.
Wang Jiazhi thought that no matter how good they were at reading people's expressions, they would never be able to guess who did it.
She was very surprised that during the meal, no one mentioned Mrs. Yi, as if this person had never existed.
These fake imperial edicts were made because Wang Jiazhi was around, so they couldn't mention Mrs. Yi. When Wang Jiazhi wasn't around, they did mention Mrs. Yi quite a bit, and right after Mrs. Yi passed away, this incident became the hottest topic of interest in the fake imperial edict circle.
That circle was already a fiercely competitive one, and Mrs. Yi had been in power for too long. Now, driven back to the countryside in disgrace, everyone was delighted to see her laugh. Meanwhile, Wang Jiazhi also became a focal point of discussion. As to how she had bewitched Old Yi, some claimed she was a master of disguise, appearing honest but actually even more scheming than Old Yi; others claimed she was a master of the art of sex and could easily please men; others claimed she had hired a fox to lure men into a trance... In short, there were numerous theories, none of which were reliable.
Wang Jiazhi also noticed that more and more people were asking her for help. When they first moved in, it was just the mother and the little girl at home who would occasionally ask her for help and talk to him about something. Since Mrs. Yi went back to her hometown, these things have popped up like mushrooms after rain. Not only the mother and the little girl, but also the cook, the guards, the driver, and suddenly a bunch of relatives and friends came to ask her for help. There were so many things to do that she had to take notes. She didn't understand, so she showed him the notebook when he came back. It was up to him to do it or not, she didn't care. After a few times, she realized that he would not help unless it was absolutely necessary and it was something that was against the will of heaven.
She didn't know that Lao Yi did everything he could for her sake, and then people found that she was really effective, so more and more people came to her for help.
After dinner, she didn't have the strength to walk back, so she asked the family car to pick her up.
When Lao Yi returned and entered the house, he saw her and Dabai lying face to face, Dabai reaching out with one paw to hug her. All the cats and dogs in the house were female, even the two that had come to stay for the winter. Fortunately, Dabai was a little girl, otherwise he would have been jealous to see it hugging her like a human.
She opened her eyes and saw him sitting beside the bed. He smiled and said, "It's taken my place."
Dabai also woke up, turned around and crawled over, resting his head on his legs and acting coquettishly.
Wang Jiazhi said, "It's too clingy. It rubbed all over my fur." Then she pulled its tail and said, "Stop rubbing me. You're all over my fur." Then she said to it, "Go change your clothes quickly, or it will rub all over you."
Because the bedding needed to be washed, she allowed Dabai to come to the bed. This guy was too big and shed hair like a walking dandelion. When they played with it for a while, it was like snowing in the house, and his hair turned white.
Wang Jiazhi got up and asked the little girl to come in to change the bed sheets and quilts, and then took Dabai out to play.
He still didn't change his clothes, but just looked at her with her furry white hair and smiled.
She pounced on him and said, "If you don't change your clothes, I'll get all over you."
After they finished their shower, she came out first. When he came out again, he saw her completely tucked away under the covers, and he felt something was amiss. Sure enough, as soon as he got under the covers, she popped out like a kitten, wearing a veil. The veil, covering her entire body like a veil, was embroidered with large roses in silver thread.
"Look, isn't it beautiful?"
"Um."
She jumped to the ground excitedly, and only then could we see that she was wearing a long white nightgown. The veil on her head was almost as long as her ankles, covering her like a waterfall of silver roses. She looked even more mysterious and beautiful under the night light on a quiet night.
Historical records indicate that women in the Tang Dynasty favored wearing a mili (a type of veil) when going out, likely a type of veil, often made to be extravagant by noble families. She had seen a movie in which Yang Guifei, fleeing the An Lushan Rebellion, wore a veil that reached almost to her feet, completely obscuring her. The veil was a pale star-blue, embroidered with silver patterns, faintly revealing her face and clothing. The veil created a hazy beauty, a kind of illusion, a lingering beauty that invites endless reflection and imagination. Perhaps the term "white space" in freehand painting is meant to capture this meaning. Today, while helping the two sisters choose wedding dresses, she spotted this veil, which reminded her of the mili (a type of veil).
"Does it look like the Mi Li of the Tang Dynasty? I think it's very beautiful."
"yes."
She looks very much like a bride now, wearing a long white dress and such a shiny veil.
Wang Jiazhi wondered if foreigners also had this kind of veil, one that completely covered the body, and asked her husband to lift it up, like a veil. She'd always thought it might be a fusion of East and West, a way to create a romantic and mysterious feeling in a Western-style wedding, with the veil lifted. If it was a Chinese creation, it would be a rare East-West fusion that she didn't dislike and instead found deeply romantic.
He was also infatuated with her. She was really beautiful like this, but he was not worthy of such a good person.
She thought that if she could meet a good man, wear a wedding dress, and get married properly, that would be great. But she would never have the chance to wear a wedding dress and get married in this life. Even if she was willing to take another step in the future, her state of mind would definitely be different from when she was a little girl.
Wang Jiazhi returned to the bed, pulled up the long veil to cover him, rested her head on his shoulder and joked with him, talking about the origin of the veil.
He was startled. Could she be having another attack? It didn't sound like it. But her attacks were always sudden; she couldn't even tell for sure. Lao Yi felt overwhelmed. Their circle of friends happened to be the one with the most frequent marriages. Those around his age in his circle had grown children, making it the perfect time for marriage; and those around her age were also busy getting married. Of course, he didn't want to admit that they were from different generations.
Covered in her veil, he realized that since she bought the veil, she had used it to play with the children, the cat, and the dog. Because he came back the latest, she was playing with him now.
The veil just formed an isolated little world. It was very interesting and fun for the two of them to stay in it for a while.
She had played with the veil enough with him, so she took it off and draped it over the bed, then lowered her head shyly and said, "I changed into new pajamas."
Wang Jiazhi was shopping today when she spotted this wide-strap nightgown. The style is simple and elegant, but that wasn't the main point. The main point is that it's low and loose around the chest. She's still breastfeeding, so her breasts are even rounder. It reveals more in the front, and more than two-thirds of the sides. Even in the fitting room, she felt quite alluring.
Actually, he had felt it a little bit just now through the veil, but he couldn't see it clearly. Now it's really, very...
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