Chapter 66. Chapter 66 is over. Her dad finally got a brain...
"You're calling me sick?" Lang Zhizhi's expression changed, and in an instant, the corners of her mouth turned up wildly. "Here it comes, here comes the torture."
Lang Zhizhi looked Jiang Wei up and down. In the past few days, she had met many of Lang Mingxuan's classmates and friends. The scholar had a refined appearance.
But compared to the person in front of them, those people were no match at all; their faces were completely outmatched.
The same period costume looks so good on him, while everyone else looks so much worse.
Admiring her beauty, Lang Zhizhi thought of how he had just had her arrested and snorted at Jiang Wei.
Now let them arrest her; when they remember her later, they'll torture you to death.
Thinking of this, Lang Zhizhi covered her mouth and giggled.
"..." Jiang Wei took two steps back. This girl was quite strange.
Although they didn't say a word, it felt like they said a lot, and it was very noisy.
His facial expressions were particularly rich, and his winking and grimacing gave off a strange vibe.
Jiang Wei gave Qingfan a wink, and taking advantage of the moment when Qingfan was blocking the woman, he quickly left the silver shop.
"Hey, don't go, I haven't told you my name yet."
The shouts behind him were like a death knell, forcing him to move even faster.
"Get out of my way." Lang Zhizhi tried to chase after him, but was blocked by the servants, and was so angry that she couldn't push them away.
Just as she was looking around, the servant darted away.
Lang Zhizhi: "..."
The second floor of the jewelry store had private rooms reserved for ladies and young women. The argument downstairs attracted the attention of several people upstairs.
Lin Nianzang glanced at the maid standing beside him and said, "Go and invite that young lady up."
The maid nodded, lifted her skirt, and went downstairs.
Seeing this, the noblewoman beside her asked, "Does Sixth Sister know that girl?"
Lin Nianzang smiled but did not answer.
Another noble lady spoke up, saying, "I do know that young lady; the author of Mingxuan's poetry collection is her brother."
"Really?" One of the noble ladies took out a poetry collection from her sleeve, her eyes full of joy. She truly loved this poetry collection and was reluctant to put it down even when she went out. "Then I must get to know it properly."
A noblewoman standing nearby also became interested, wondering if her brother would be among the successful candidates in this year's imperial examinations.
As soon as he finished speaking, the ladies present exchanged glances, subtly competing with each other.
If this person is indeed on the list, they will likely be extremely sought after this year.
Before long, the maid led Lang Zhizhi upstairs.
Seeing so many elegantly dressed women, Lang Zhizhi could hardly take it all in, but the subtle sense of superiority in her eyes was noticed by everyone present, who exchanged glances with each other.
Lang Zhizhi didn't understand why they had called her up here. Remembering Lang Mingxuan's instructions, she asked warily, "I don't think I know you?"
Lin Niancang got up and walked closer to Lang Zhizhi, smiling as she said, "I was upstairs just now and heard you say that you almost lost your life to save the eldest son of the Jiang family, but he doesn't acknowledge this favor."
Lang Zhizhi subconsciously said, "He forgot."
Lin Nianzang suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. Does that mean the girl has to wait for him to regain his memory?"
Lang Zhizhi shrugged. "That's the only way."
“That girl is so wronged.” One of the noble ladies stepped forward. “The Jiang family originally had a savior of the eldest son of the Jiang family, who was also adopted as a goddaughter by Madam Jiang.”
Another person chimed in, "Yes, the Jiang family even created a family genealogy for her, clearly recording that adopted daughter under Madam Jiang's name. The young lady is also the eldest young master's savior, so it's only right that she should receive the same treatment."
When Lang Zhizhi heard the words "family tree," she thought, "Isn't that the same as a household registration book? That won't do. Dating is forbidden if you're on the same household registration book."
Before Lang Zhizhi could speak, the others each said something.
“Young Master Jiang has lost his memory and doesn’t remember you, young lady. You should come to him for help.”
"Yes, how can we not repay kindness?"
"Such a great favor as saving my life cannot go unrepaid; to do so would be to be unworthy of being human."
As the noble ladies approached, Lang Zhizhi felt as if she had fallen into a pile of perfume and powder.
She shook her head at their words and said, "No, the woman he married is blocking me from going in."
Lin Nianzang pulled Lang Zhizhi to sit down, and said in surprise, "Young Madam Jiang is being so unreasonable."
...
As if they had started talking, the group chatted happily and found common ground.
--
Jiang Wei reported on the matter of the imperial examination papers. The emperor entrusted this matter to him and instructed him to handle it privately so that no word would leak out.
It just so happened that during the imperial examinations, he arranged for people to copy the exam papers, and each person's family background had to be thoroughly investigated.
Because I've been busy running around about this matter, I don't know why, but today I remembered what my mother said about Lian Niang and Ting Yue's birthdays.
He had already prepared Lianniang's birthday gift, but as for his sworn sister Tingyue's, he should have instructed the servants to prepare it, but he had forgotten until today when he happened to pass by the silver shop and went in.
But then they encountered a strange woman talking nonsense.
Jiang Wei did not take the encounter with Lang Zhizhi to heart. He had also encountered some people who talked nonsense. Some recognized him as their son, some recognized him as their husband... They were all people suffering from hysteria.
The girl's words and actions were similar to those of people with hysteria.
Upon returning, Jiang Wei gave the selected flower and bird jade pendant to Li Lianniang, saying, "This is a birthday pendant I chose for my sister. I would like to trouble you, Madam, to deliver it to her."
He was too busy to celebrate Cui Tingyue's birthday.
Li Lianniang opened the box, looked at it, and nodded: "Okay, I'll send it over tomorrow."
Jiang Wei went to wash up, and Li Lianniang put the flower and bird jade pendant together with the headdress she had prepared, all of which she would give as gifts tomorrow.
But a sliver of expectation lingered in my heart.
However, after Cui Tingyue's birthday, on Li Lianniang's birthday, Jiang Wei left early, and Li Lianniang's anticipation turned into a soft laugh.
The gifts from her father-in-law and mother-in-law came together: a complete set of face ornaments, three bolts of fabric—a shimmering brocade, a brocade satin, and a soft gauze—and a small rectangular box, just like the birthday gifts Cui Tingyue received yesterday.
Peony opened the last small box and said with a smile, "Madam knows that the young mistress loves to paint, so she specially instructed the steward to collect a lot of paints. I'm afraid even the bookstores don't have this complete collection."
When Li Lianniang heard that they were paints for painting, she immediately became interested. She opened a box and found that it contained pre-ground powder, and the bright colors surprised her. She looked at the others, some in powder form and some in paste form. She opened each box, looked at it, and closed it again, unable to put it down.
"Mother is so kind."
Chi Lan watched from the side, and when she saw the face ornaments and fabrics, she was still thinking, "Wouldn't Madam send the same thing?" The birthday gift that Miss Cui received yesterday was the same.
But seeing the paint, you can tell that the lady put her heart into it; she was impartial yet thoughtful enough.
On Miss Cui's side was a box containing gold and silver threads for embroidery, as well as a thick stack of embroidery patterns.
Her young mistress, on the other hand, possessed a variety of rare and hard-to-find paints.
They all touch people's hearts.
As dusk settled, Danruo nudged Chilan with her elbow and gestured with her hands: Everyone's gifts have arrived, except for the eldest young master's.
Chi Lan shook her head at her. Although the young mistress didn't say anything, it was clear that she was feeling down.
It's best not to bring it up, lest it cause further heartache.
Li Lianniang said nothing, but the atmosphere in Yunzhu Garden was much more subdued than usual, and the maids were extra cautious in their actions.
Jiang Shuxiu played with the gift her mother had received, turning it over and over in her hands for a long time.
Yesterday was Cui Tingyue's aunt's birthday. She went to see her, and her mother said that her father had asked her to deliver a jade pendant with flowers and birds.
Many things in this life are different from those in the previous life, even the gifts are different. So, did her father repent and give the gifts that originally belonged to her mother back to her?
However, after searching around, she still couldn't find the mother-of-pearl inlaid wooden comb.
Oh, and the makeup box.
When Jiang Shuxiu arrived at the dressing table, she realized that she could barely see the makeup box on the inside of the table when she stood on tiptoe; she couldn't reach it at all.
"You little rascal, what do you want?"
Seeing that her gaze was fixed on the makeup box, Li Lianniang instructed Chi Lan, "Take out those sharp hairpins and earrings."
He then placed the entire makeup box on the bed, letting Jiang Shuxiu play with it as she pleased.
The makeup box was quite large, and apart from the hairpins and earrings, it had a pointed end.
The drawers on the vanity case contained eyebrow stones, rouge and face powder, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, rings...
Jiang Shuxiu opened each of the small drawers and found the drawer containing combs. There were several combs inside, but the styles were all very old-fashioned, such as bone combs, wooden combs, ivory combs, gold combs, and jade combs, which Jiang Shuxiu had never seen before.
She took everything out, and it was scattered all over the bed, but she still couldn't find the mother-of-pearl inlaid rosewood comb that her father had given to Cui Tingyue in her previous life.
Giving a woman a comb can symbolize a lifelong commitment and unwavering love.
Her father himself said in his previous life that the comb was originally prepared for her mother, but it was given to the wrong person. Later, he even gave her a whole box of combs, but her mother still didn't turn back.
Could it be that he wasn't prepared after his rebirth?
He must have lied to his mother in his past life, you scumbag.
"So our Xiu'er likes combs. These were all worn by your maternal grandmother. The styles aren't new enough. Xiu'er likes them, so I'll have someone make you two smaller ones another day."
Seeing that she was playing with the comb, Li Lianniang patted the child's head and said.
The wet nurse glanced at the sky and said, "Young Madam, it's getting late. I'll take Xiu'er back to sleep now."
Jiang Shuxiu, who was rummaging through her makeup box, immediately dropped the combs and threw herself into her mother's arms upon hearing this, saying, "Sleep, sleep, sleep with Mom."
Her father doesn't love her mother, but she does. She wants to be close to her mother and not let her be heartbroken over that scumbag.
Jiang Shuxiu looked up at her mother, her eyes filled with dependence.
Seeing this, Li Lianniang felt a surge of warmth in her heart and hugged the child tightly. "No need, Xiu'er will sleep next to me today. You may all leave."
The wet nurse and her maidservant withdrew.
While Li Lianniang went to wash up, Jiang Shuxiu pounced on the bed and rolled around happily.
But in her heart she was thinking, "What a scumbag father! Mother is hers. I'm going to monopolize her and not let him get near me."
She also wanted to persuade her mother to get a divorce, saying that Uncle Qi was still young now and that her mother would be better off remarrying.
As for this father, I'd rather not have him.
As she rolled along, Jiang Shuxiu reached the edge of the bed, hugged the pillow, and then took the pillow with her.
Chi Lan came to make the bed and was amused by her appearance. "You're so happy sleeping with your mother, Xiu'er."
But his gaze fell to the headboard, where something seemed to be stuck between the bed frame and the bedding.
Chi Lan bent down and picked up the item. "What is this?"
Seeing her picking at something by the bedside, Jiang Shuxiu put down her pillow and crawled over.
Chi Lan pulled the item out and found it was a painting. "Strange, when did this end up on the bed?"
"Open it, open it." Jiang Shuxiu patted her hand, gesturing for her to open it and take a look.
Chi Lan didn't move. "Xiu'er, shall we wait until the young mistress comes out before we look?"
She didn't know if the young mistress had finished painting and casually stuffed it here. She hadn't noticed it when she was tidying the bed this morning, probably because it was hidden by the pillow.
"What are you looking at?"
As soon as Li Lianniang came out, she heard this and asked.
Chi Lan handed over the painting she had found under the bedding by the bedside. "Young Madam, just now when Xiu'er was playing with her pillow, I saw a painting hidden under the bedding. I don't know when it fell in."
She and Chi Lan didn't notice it when they tidied the bed in the morning, and since they hadn't completely removed the pillow, they overlooked that spot.
Jiang Shuxiu craned her neck, looking extremely curious.
Li Lianniang was delighted to see this, so she reached out and took the scroll, then sat down on the edge of the bed so that Li Lianniang could also see it.
Jiang Shuxiu moved closer to her mother, her face full of curiosity, "Open, open it."
There was a rope tied to the scroll. When the rope was untied and the scroll was unfolded, two combs fell out with two clangs.
Danruo quickly bent down and picked it up. "Hey, who hid the comb in the painting? What a beautiful comb, it's made of mother-of-pearl. Young mistress, look, doesn't it look like two colorful butterflies fluttering in the air?"
“Ahhh…” Jiang Shuxiu excitedly pointed at the comb. She recognized it. It was the mother-of-pearl inlaid rosewood comb that her father had given to Cui Tingyue as a birthday gift in her previous life. But why were there two of them?
Li Lianniang was somewhat surprised. In fact, when she received the scroll, she had a suspicion that it might have been planted by Jiang Wei.
He then unfolded all the paintings in his hands.
Upon seeing the content of the painting, I couldn't help but smile.
Seeing her mother smiling happily, Jiang Shuxiu peeked over and frowned slightly.
Oh no, her dad has finally gotten a brain in this life.
Looking at her mother's smile, one can see that things might be a little difficult for them to separate.
Danruo and Chilan peeked over, and Danruo spoke first: "This painting depicts the eldest young master, the young mistress, and Xiu'er."
The group immediately realized who had placed the painting and the comb there.
Chi Lan pursed her lips and admitted her mistake, saying, "This painting was left in the bed frame. It's my fault and Danruo's fault for not tidying the bed carefully enough, and we didn't find it earlier."
"It's alright." Li Lianniang handed the painting to Chi Lan. "Take it and hang it up."
Just as the master and servants were playing with the snail-shell comb, Jiang Shuxiu sat on the bed with her hands in her pockets, pouting, her face full of displeasure.
Suddenly, a servant called out, "Young Master!"
"Mother, Mother!" Jiang Shuxiu scrambled into her mother's arms.
After Chi Lan and Dan Ruo bowed to Jiang Wei, they reached out to hug Jiang Shuxiu: "Sister Xiu, come out with me, we're going to find the wet nurse."
"No." Jiang Shuxiu clung tightly to her mother's neck.
Giving her mother things that were given to other women? Humph, I don't care.
Jiang Wei has been so busy these days that he rarely gets a moment's rest and comes home very late. He usually doesn't see his daughter and hasn't held her for quite some time. Although his face is expressionless, his voice is very gentle, "Xiu'er, are you still awake? Come and let Daddy hold you."
Li Lianniang patted Jiang Shuxiu's bottom, "Daddy's back, let Daddy hold you."
Jiang Shuxiu was still weighing her options when she was suddenly pulled away from her mother's arms.
Faced with her father's somewhat ingratiating expression, Jiang Shuxiu showed no kindness whatsoever, her face sullen.
His face was full of disgust, yet it was still incredibly amusing.
Jiang Shuxiu couldn't understand why her father never scolded her when she disliked him so much in this life. In her previous life, she tried so hard to please him, but she never received a kind word from him.
Probably, he's just being a jerk!
Upon discovering this, Jiang Shuxiu's eyes lit up.
She started grabbing her father's face without any politeness, which seemed to have a sense of revenge.
"This hand is quite strong." This action did not displease Jiang Wei. On the contrary, he felt that his daughter was finally paying attention to him. "Xiu'er, call me Daddy, Daddy."
Jiang Shuxiu kept saying "mother" without actually speaking, deliberately contradicting her.
"Call me Daddy."
"mother."
"Father."
"mother."
...
The father and daughter seemed to be competing with each other, and Li Lianniang watched from the sidelines with amusement, but had no intention of stopping them.
--
When Jiang Shuxiu opened her eyes in the morning, she found her sleeping in her room, with her wet nurse fast asleep next to her.
?
Didn't she sleep next to her mother yesterday? Even after she was exhausted from grabbing, slapping, hitting her father, and contradicting him, she was still laughing before falling asleep, having a great time.
But what is she doing here? Where is her mother?
"Xiu'er is awake. She woke up quite early today." The wet nurse got up first to get dressed.
Jiang Shuxiu rolled over and stood up on the bed, her expression indignant. "Come on, Grandmother, let's complain."
It must be that bastard of a father who took advantage of her while she was asleep to bring her back. What a scoundrel.
"Huh?" The wet nurse didn't hear her clearly; she spoke quickly and unclearly.
However, the master and servants still went to Haitang Residence early, as Zhao Xian was still not up.
After listening to Jiang Shuxiu's accusations, even though she was gesticulating wildly and speaking haltingly, with the wet nurse adding to the story, Zhao Xian roughly understood what she was trying to express.
Zhao Xian tapped Jiang Shuxiu's nose with her finger, "After the imperial examination, your father will probably be too busy to come home. You can sleep next to your mother however you want then, okay?"
Jiang Shuxiu tilted her head: "Really?"
Only after receiving Zhao Xian's assurance did the little girl calm down.
Jiang Shuxiu spent the whole morning with Zhao Xian, playing with the little yellow dog that Jiang Heng had brought back last time.
In the afternoon, Yingchun came to deliver a message, saying that a eunuch had come to see her.
Zhao Xian changed her clothes before meeting the person. On the way, she wondered if someone in the palace had summoned her to the palace. But no one had told her in advance, so she was unsure whether she should wear her official robes.
Upon seeing the man, Zhao Xian put on a professional smile: "May I ask what brings you here, sir?"
"This servant is here on the orders of Her Majesty the Empress to deliver an invitation to the flower viewing banquet to Lady Jiang."
Zhao Xian took the invitation and grasped a few key points: "palace" and "flower appreciation banquet". The banquet in the palace is different from those held by other families. It is not just for flower appreciation. It usually has a purpose or special significance.
I glanced at the post.
Zhao Xian glanced at Granny He again, who understood and slipped a silver note into her father-in-law's hand.
Zhao Xian asked with some doubt, "I remember Her Majesty said before that she prefers quiet..."
The eunuch touched the stack of silver notes and said with a smile, "The Sixth Prince will soon be leaving the palace to establish his own residence."
Zhao Xian pursed her lips, "Thank you for making this trip today, Father-in-law."
The eunuch stood up as he spoke, “These are all things a servant should do. Her Majesty the Empress specially arranged for me to deliver a letter to Madam Jiang. Her Majesty still wants to speak with Madam, so please come to the palace as soon as possible.”
Zhao Xian: "Of course, of course, please take care, Father-in-law."
After seeing off the palace visitors, Zhao Xian glanced at the invitation again and said to Shaoyao, "Go and call Miss here."
Cui Tingyue came with Li Lianniang. When Shaoyao relayed the message, they were discussing matters related to the embroidery workshop.
"Mother, did you call me?"
Zhao Xian looked Cui Tingyue up and down, becoming more and more satisfied. At first glance, she felt that Cui Tingyue's temperament was suitable for the "white moonlight" (a term used to describe someone who is idealized by others). However, after getting to know her better, she found that Cui Tingyue was quite thoughtful and not the kind of person who would just accept whatever came her way.
She originally planned to choose someone from a prominent family to be her husband.
Zhao Xian gestured for them to sit down and said, "The palace is holding a flower-viewing banquet to select a consort for the Sixth Prince. All eligible women from various families are required to attend, and the Jiang family has also received an invitation."
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