Chapter 98 Chapter 98 Ji Yanlang really rolled up his sleeves and gave...
After returning to the room, changing clothes and soaking her feet in hot water, Ji Yanlang rolled up his sleeves, placed one of Fang Ying's feet on his knee, and started to massage her foot.
Fang Ying felt a little sleepy while soaking her feet. When she lay down, her eyelids felt even heavier and she fell asleep unknowingly.
Ji Yanlang was still asking if the massage was hard enough and whether it hurt. After waiting for a moment and hearing no response, he looked up and found that Fang Ying had closed her eyes and was fast asleep.
He couldn't help laughing, gently put down her left foot and covered her with the quilt.
Ji Yanlang tiptoed around to the outside and was about to blow out the candle, but saw Fang Ying's cheeks were rosy and her sleeping face was peaceful. His heart was filled with tenderness. He bent down and gently kissed her cheek, then blew out the candle and lay down to sleep.
The next day was a day off, and the two got up a little late. While Lichun was helping Fang Ying get dressed, he reported that his mistress had sent a message that she would not wait for them for breakfast and would eat first, leaving the couple to enjoy themselves.
"This is because they know we came back late." Ji Yanlang said with a smile.
Since the mother-in-law is so considerate, the daughter-in-law cannot be lazy. Fang Ying urged herself to get dressed quickly, and after dinner she went to Li's room with Ji Yanlang to pay her respects.
In Li's room, Ji Yanshou, Yue Qing'e, Wulang Ji Yanhui, Gao, Ji Si Niang and the children were all there. When they saw them coming, they all asked if they had fun going out yesterday and whether the acrobatics were good.
Ji Yanlang then described in vivid detail how strong men wrestled and how amazing it was to breathe fire and do somersaults. The children listened attentively and exclaimed in admiration from time to time. Seeing her grandchildren happy, Mrs. Li couldn't help but smile too.
"It's a pity there are too many people, and there are bad guys mixed in. Otherwise, Sixth Uncle would take you there." Seeing his nieces and nephews' eyes sparkling with longing, Ji Yanlang couldn't help but promise, "When you are older, Sixth Uncle will definitely take you there."
The children were not familiar with their sixth uncle and were a little shy when they saw him. After hearing the promise, Huaiyun bravely approached Ji Yanlang and wanted to ask their sixth uncle to tell them more about the excitement outside.
Seeing her sister standing next to her sixth uncle, Huaizhi also got off the ground and ran to her sister. Ji Yanlang saw that they were as cute as sisters, and his heart immediately softened as a pool of water. He picked up one of them in each hand, put them on his legs on either side, and told them how to go through the fire ring.
Li was very pleased. She let the uncle and nephew quarrel for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, she said to Fang Ying and Gao, "Go and get busy. I'm afraid there will be a lot of things to do today."
The two of them responded, stood up and took their leave, going out to take care of housework.
It was now the turn of autumn and winter, and as Li had said, there were indeed a lot of chores to do in the mansion. The two sisters-in-law were busy for more than an hour before they left.
Fang Ying returned to her room, and Xi Liu came up to her and reported, "My husband has gone out. He said he was going to buy some small things and will be back soon."
I guess he bought toys for the kids.
Fang Ying went to rest on the couch. At noon, Ji Yanlang came back with a bunch of small gadgets, saying that he bought them for his nieces and nephews.
He also asked her: "Guess who I met when I went out?"
"How am I supposed to guess?"
Ji Yanlang smiled and said, "That's right, you don't know this guy. He's a fellow from the Cavalry Battalion. Actually, I don't know him well either. We've only met in the camp. But he deliberately waited for me outside our house. What do you think he wanted to do?"
Someone from the cavalry camp came to him and asked her to guess. Fang Ying asked first: "Is it a business or a personal matter?"
"Private matter."
"Looking for your help?"
Ji Yanlang shook his head: "No, he came to thank us."
Thanks... Fang Ying's eyes turned: "Could it be the child who got lost last night..."
Ji Yanlang clapped his hands, "Exactly. The child is his niece. He said his brother was over thirty when he got this girl, and he loved her like a treasure. Yesterday, he took the child out to watch a variety show. He ran into an acquaintance, who put the child down on the ground. After a few words, the child disappeared."
Although she knew that the child had returned home safely, Fang Ying's heart still ached when she heard this.
"He said he had questioned the child and that a kidnapper had taken her away. The kidnapper was holding her mouth to stop her from crying, but the child bit him hard. As soon as he let go, the child ran away. It's a good thing we ran into her, otherwise the kidnapper might have caught up with her and taken her away again."
Ji Yanlang sighed: "This kid is lucky. He was able to escape from the kidnapper."
"Yeah, so we can't really say we're doing anything indebted to you. We just happened to catch up."
"I said that, too, but he said we were kindhearted. Seeing the situation was not right, we coaxed the child and even got the officials to return him to his sister-in-law. If it were someone else, they might not care. He also said that if the child was really lost, not only would his sister-in-law resent his brother for the rest of his life, but his brother himself would also be unable to get over it. Therefore, we are his family's saviors, and his brother and sister-in-law will definitely come to thank them."
Fang Ying asked, "Did you agree?"
Ji Yanlang nodded. "I saw that he was so sincere and emotional that his eyes were red, so I agreed to let his sister-in-law bring the child to meet you. I've sent word to his family, and they'll be here in about half an hour."
Fang Ying asked someone to pass a message to Mai Cao, asking her to wait in the front yard, and asked Lichun to look for a suitable gift for the child.
Ji Yanlang opened the bag he had just brought back and asked Fang Ying to pick two things for the child to play with.
"What's their family name? What's their name?" Fang Ying asked as she flipped through the documents.
"My surname is Wan. The brother I'm looking for is called Wanzhi. His elder brother is called Wande, and he's a carpenter."
Fang Ying picked out a clay horse and a clay doll with pigtails from the pile of small things.
Ji Yanlang was a little surprised and asked why they didn't choose clay dolls like puppies or rabbits, which little girls would like more.
"Who says little girls always prefer puppies and bunnies?" Fang Ying took a closer look at the clay horse. "I wanted a pony more when I was a kid."
Ji Yanlang laughed: "So you picked it for yourself."
Fang Ying glanced at him sideways: "How old am I? Do I still have to choose for myself?"
Ji Yanlang smiled and said, "If you like, stay and play. There are so many here. Just let the child choose."
Fang Ying ignored him and picked out a silver necklace and a small silver lock from the box that Lichun brought out, and gave them to the child as a gift.
Ji Yanlang guessed that the Wan family would not arrive so soon, so he asked Fang Ying to help him divide the remaining toys and sent people to deliver them to the second and fifth rooms respectively.
The two sat and talked for a while before someone came from the front yard and told them that the Wan family had arrived.
Ji Yanlang got up and went out. Soon Mai Cao led a woman holding a child into the yard.
Fang Ying asked her to come in. The woman came in without even raising her head, put the child down and knelt down. Fang Ying was startled and hurriedly asked Mai Cao to help her up.
But the woman refused and insisted on kowtowing before saying, "Madam, you have been so kind and virtuous. We are a small family and have nothing to repay you with. I can only kowtow to you." She then asked the child to kowtow to Fang Ying as well.
The child, whether he had been taught this at home or was simply well-behaved, knelt down obediently, whispering, "Xiu'er kowtows to my wife."
"Stop it, you're troubling me." Fang Ying asked Lichun to help, gave the woman a seat, and asked someone to serve tea.
The woman stood up, took off the bag on her back, and handed it to Mai Cao, saying that it was an embroidery she made herself and was not worth much, so she gave it to the lady as a token of gratitude.
Fang Ying asked her to sit down first, but the woman looked at the chairs in the hall but refused to sit down. Fang Ying had no choice but to ask the maid to bring a round stool, and the woman sat down next to it.
Mai Cao handed the bundle to Lichun, who held the bundle and placed it on the table in front of Fang Ying.
Fang Ying didn't look at them. She was asking the woman's last name and how old Xiu'er was.
"My surname is Zhang, and I'm the third of my sisters. Everyone in the neighborhood calls me Zhang Sanniang." Zhang Sanniang said, patting her daughter's head. "Xiu'er just celebrated her fourth birthday."
Seeing Xiu'er looking around with her black eyes, Fang Ying smiled and waved at her: "Xiu'er, do you still recognize me?"
Xiu'er looked timidly at Fang Ying and then at her mother.
"Tell me yourself, do you still recognize me? What did you tell your mother when you woke up this morning?" Zhang Sanniang asked her daughter with a smile, "What kind of woman saved you last night and gave you sweets and cakes?"
Xiu'er glanced at Fang Ying secretly and whispered, "Goddess Guanyin is like that..."
Fang Ying was surprised. Zhang Sanniang smiled at her and said, "I often take her to worship Guanyin. She probably thinks you are pretty. She has been saying that you are like Guanyin since early morning."
The little girl was so talkative that the maids serving in the room couldn't help but smile, not to mention Fang Ying, who asked someone to bring out the gifts she had prepared, including the clay doll and the clay horse.
Zhang Sanniang tried to decline, but Fang Ying smiled and said, "To be honest, I took a liking to Xiu'er last night. I felt she was a well-raised child. Furthermore, it's quite extraordinary that such a young child could escape after being kidnapped."
The maid brought the things over. Fang Ying first picked up the clay doll and clay horse, and asked Xiu'er to come over and look at them, saying that they were for her to play with.
Xiu'er took two steps forward and looked back at her mother. Zhang Sanniang looked hesitant.
"They're not valuable things," Fang Ying handed the two toys to Mai Cao, asking her to give them to Xiu'er. She picked up the necklace and silver lock and showed them to Zhang Sanniang. "It's just that these two items happened to have been blessed by the monks of Xiangguo Temple. I thought that although Xiu'er returned home safely, she was still frightened. These two things are my token of my love for her, as they can calm her nerves."
When she heard Zhang Sanniang say that she often took Xiu'er to worship Guanyin, she knew that she must be a Buddhist. Sure enough, Zhang Sanniang was immediately moved when she heard her say that. She stood up and took Xiu'er to thank her, and then asked Xiu'er to go to Fang Ying.
Fang Ying personally put a collar on the child and hung a silver lock on it. She then touched Xiu'er's head and said, "Buddha bless us, and may our Xiu'er live in peace and happiness from now on, and grow up quickly."
Zhang Sanniang's eyes immediately turned red, and she asked Xiu'er to kowtow to Fang Ying again to express her gratitude.
Fang Ying hurriedly supported Xiu'er's shoulders to prevent her from kneeling, and asked Lichun to open the bundle so that she could see Zhang Sanniang's embroidery and changed the subject.
Lichun took out the embroidery as instructed and held it in front of her wife. Fang Ying took one look at it and couldn't help but sigh: "This skill is better than the embroidery lady in our mansion."
Zhang Sanniang quickly waved her hands and said that it was incomparable.
Fang Ying picked up a piece and looked at it carefully. "The peony embroidery is so good, it looks exactly the same at first glance."
"They were all made in the past. Now I'm old and my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be," Zhang Sanniang replied.
Fang Ying took a look at her and thought she was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. However, embroidery was indeed harmful to the eyes. Considering the financial situation of the Wan family, Zhang Sanniang might be doing this to supplement the family income, which would make her work even harder.
The two talked about embroidery for a few more words, and then Zhang Sanniang stood up and said goodbye.
Fang Ying was afraid that the mother and daughter would feel uncomfortable, so she didn't keep them and asked Mai Cao to send them out properly.
"Mrs. Zhang, your speech and behavior are quite polite, and you seem to have some experience." Lichun said.
Fang Ying nodded: "She has this skill. Maybe she has worked as a needleworker for a wealthy family and learned the rules."
Lichun praised the embroidery and thought about what kind of clothes it should be made into. However, Fang Ying felt that the one with a phoenix wearing a peony was more suitable for making a jacket or a long coat for her mother-in-law.
"It's a good opportunity to talk to my wife about this as well."
The couple did good deeds and had good results. Fortunately, they were not separated from their family. The mother-in-law would definitely be relieved to hear this.
Fang Ying asked Lichun to pack the things and planned to bring them to Li to see during dinner.
She waited in the room for a while, but Ji Yanlang didn't come back. Mai Cao came back and said that Liulang went to Erlang's study to talk.
"The Wan family has left?" Fang Ying asked.
"Leave."
Mai Cao said that she sent Zhang Sanniang and her daughter out and waited in the outer courtyard for a while before the Wan brothers said goodbye to Liu Lang. "I listened in a daze, and it seemed that they wanted to ask Liu Lang to give Xiu'er a big name."
Fang Ying couldn't help but smile. Let him name it? Wouldn't that be very difficult for him? Was he going to ask Second Uncle for help?
But it was not easy to tell this to the servants, so she just said, "So Xiu'er is not a famous name."
"It's a nickname. They say they lost a child before, and they were worried Xiu'er wouldn't grow up, so they asked a distant, long-lived relative to give her the name. They also asked someone to read her fortune, and they said the child would have a calamity before the age of five. After this, her life would be smooth, and she would be able to have a proper name."
Lichun and the others beside him were amazed when they heard this: "That's right."
Wheat Grass continued, "I waited with her for a while. She said she was tongue-tied and couldn't express how grateful she was to you, but now that you were here, she couldn't find the words. She also said she didn't dare sleep last night because she was watching over the child, and only dozed off for a short while until dawn. She's not very energetic today, so please don't blame me if I was disrespectful."
Fang Ying said, "Just now at the beginning of spring, they said that Zhang Sanniang behaved well and knew the rules."
"That's what I said too. She said that she had done needlework for wealthy families a few years ago and learned some rules. Because she was good at embroidery, she specialized in delicate work like wedding dresses. Unfortunately, her eyesight was damaged later..."
Fang Ying couldn't help but glance at the bundle of embroidery. In her early years, she'd worked for others, often rushing to make wedding dresses. She probably didn't have many embroidery pieces left, did she? And now, all at once, she'd been given three pieces: one large and two small.
I also thought of what Mai Cao said about Zhang Sanniang who was afraid to sleep last night because she was watching over her child. Even after the child was found and was right in front of her, she still didn't dare to sleep. It shows how scared the mother was.
Fang Ying was lost in her own thoughts for a moment. Seeing her absent-minded, Mai Cao and the others didn't dare to say a word and quietly went about their own business.
It was not until Ji Yanlang walked in that she came to her senses and went to greet him.
"What's wrong?" Ji Yanlang looked down at her, "You seem unhappy."
Fang Ying shook her head: "No, I just... missed my mother."
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