Chapter 171 Swift as a White Ape, Still as a Virgin
Ye Weilai's expression was a little strange.
Watching Xie Lingjiang's figure disappear into the night, she hesitated at the door for a while, not immediately going back inside.
Ye Weilai only breathed a sigh of relief when a familiar soft "ah" sounded from inside the house behind her, as if it were a reminder.
With a thud, he slammed the courtyard gate and the house door shut, then turned and went back inside.
Ye Wei looked at her with curiosity.
On the couch, the embroiderer sat with her legs bent against the headboard, Ouyang Rong's head resting on her thighs. The embroiderer gently pulled him into her arms, her slender fingers lightly massaging and kneading around his temples.
She would occasionally pause, her fingers pausing, her eyes slightly closed, as if sensing and conveying something.
For some reason, Ye Weilai always had the feeling of a doctor in a clinic taking a patient's pulse.
In addition, the embroiderer's clothes were somewhat disheveled, and the bed sheet under her legs was also wrinkled, as if she had just rolled around and struggled.
Upon seeing this, Ye Weilai's face showed a look of dazed understanding.
Just now, Miss Xie entered the room, so the master's sleep-talking was probably not unfounded. He was probably indeed vaguely awakened by Miss Xie's two calls of "Senior Brother." However, in his dazed state, he probably mistook the body of the embroiderer who was hugging him for his junior sister.
For some reason, the master was so sleepy in the sandalwood incense, and even after all that commotion, he still hadn't fully woken up.
I wonder if the embroiderer used some special technique on her mistress while she was out of the room...
My doubts were somewhat relieved.
Ye Weilai pursed her lips slightly.
She now vaguely understood something: this mute girl called Xiu Niang was probably a Qi cultivator, just like Miss Xie.
Otherwise, Miss Xie should have noticed the embroiderer just now. Since she didn't, there's a possibility that the embroiderer in front of her might be even more skilled than Miss Xie...
However, Miss Xie is a descendant of the five famous families and seven prominent clans, and her father, Xie Xun, is a great Confucian scholar of the academy. She has no shortage of teachers and resources, so it is normal for her to learn Qi cultivation techniques from a young age.
But what about this embroiderer? What is her connection to her master or the Ouyang family of Nanlong? Her master seems to have never mentioned it...
In the darkness, Ye Weilai, who was close to the bed, relaxed her furrowed brows for a moment. After entering the inner room, she turned around and lit a candle.
A pale yellow glow shone in the center of the inner room.
It's a warm color scheme.
The darkness beside the bed was dispelled.
The light illuminated the silhouettes of the three people inside the room.
Ye Weilai raised both hands behind her neck, lowered her head slightly, and re-tied her pink and white embroidered lotus-patterned bodice.
But when she reached the bedside, she paused:
"what you do?"
The embroiderer lowered her head and closed her eyes, gently pressing two fingers together against the Shen Ting acupoint of her beloved in her arms, as if to sense and probe it. She silently withdrew her two fingers to calm the mind and transfer energy, and took out a golden pill from her palm.
She helped Ouyang Rong up and carefully put the food into his mouth.
Judging from the process and its appearance, they seem quite skilled.
Ye Weilai was stunned for a moment, then anxiously stepped forward: "You..."
The embroiderer placed Ouyang Rong's head back on the pillow, lying flat on his back. She turned her head and shook her hand at Ye Weilai, whose face was full of worry.
"How could you feed your master random things..."
Ye Weilai stamped her foot in annoyance, but when she saw the tender look in the eyes of the mute girl named Xiu Niang as she gazed at her master's sleeping face, her words caught in her throat, and she could only ask helplessly:
"Did you often do this to your master while we were sleeping?"
The embroiderer glanced at her and nodded without any attempt to hide her feelings, seemingly not feeling that she had done anything wrong.
Ye Weilai hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
The embroiderer seemed to sense the white-haired maid's distress and confusion. She pointed to Ouyang Rong on the bed and gently raised an index finger to her lips towards Ye Weilai:
"Shhh."
The mute girl moved with light grace, put on her shoes, and got out of bed. She led the girl, who wore a white lotus-patterned bodice and had silver hair that reached her waist, to the desk, leaving the young man, who was fast asleep on the pillow, with his eyes closed, undisturbed.
Ye Weilai took down the only oil lamp in the room and followed the mute girl.
Darkness once again invaded the inner room.
The orange "halo" followed the two women to the desk, enveloping the neatly arranged desk piled with documents.
The embroiderer reached out as if to lay out paper and grind ink, but Ye Weilai suddenly stopped her.
"Wait, let me do it. Master is smart, and he often claims to have obsessive-compulsive disorder. He arranges things in a regular way, so it's easy for him to notice if an outsider goes through his things... I'm more familiar with this."
An oil lamp was placed on the table, and Ye Weilai stepped forward to take over from the embroiderer, laying out paper and grinding ink.
The embroiderer silently stepped back, making way for her.
However, she turned her head to stare at Ye Weilai, who was chattering away and moving with practiced ease.
Tanlang is intelligent, and the white-haired maid beside him is just as intelligent.
The embroiderer's eyes were both bright and dim.
I don't know whether to be happy or sad.
"alright."
Ye Weilai tidied up the details on the table and turned to make way for her.
The embroiderer snapped out of her daze and walked to the table.
On the table are paper, ink, brush, and inkstone.
The embroiderer rolled up her sleeves and picked up her brush.
Ye Weilai noticed that although the embroiderer was missing her little finger on her right hand, she was not left-handed and still wrote with her right hand.
However, writing with the four fingers other than the little finger is obviously more difficult and requires more effort.
However, as the mute girl in front of her began to write, a look of surprise flashed in Ye Weilai's eyes.
The embroiderer's handwriting is very beautiful.
Her handwriting reflects her personality: elegant, graceful, and refreshing.
Like a cup of floral tea shrouded in morning mist, it touches the heart with just one glance.
Recently punished by Ouyang Rong, Ye Weilai, who was diligently practicing calligraphy, couldn't help but take a closer look.
It's hard to imagine that these bare hands, which have been exposed to the warmth of spring water and possess excellent culinary skills, could write such beautiful characters with just four fingers.
Ye Weilai's eyes grew increasingly curious.
"You asked."
On the paper, the embroiderer wrote.
Perhaps because they cannot speak, even their writing is concise and to the point.
Answer only.
Ye Weilai blurted out, "You're in love with Tanlang?"
The girl had many questions in her heart before, but when it came down to it, she asked this one first.
The embroiderer glanced at her, then lowered her head at the table, lightly brushing a strand of hair behind her ear with her little finger, and silently wrote:
"I miss him terribly if I don't see him for a day."
Ye Weilai couldn't help but ask, "This kind of feeling... then how did you and Tanlang meet?"
The embroiderer paused for a moment, her slender fingers holding the brush.
fall:
“He never knew I was here, and he never... ever said a word to me before.”
"Then how did you manage to get in touch?" Ye Weilai asked, sounding completely puzzled. She added, "You can't speak either."
"dream."
"What?"
“I dream about him every night.”
I've known Tanlang for a very, very long time.
“I was talking to him in my dream.”
“I even dreamed about him last night.”
Ye Weilai fell silent, her eyes fixed on the mute girl's seemingly gentle smile at the table, and whispered:
"But he doesn't like you, or rather... he doesn't know you exist."
"I know."
The embroiderer didn't raise her head.
“But he is my husband, and I have promised to take care of him for the rest of my life.”
Ye Weilai's small face froze for a moment. She looked down and repeatedly examined the delicate handwriting on the paper, the ink still wet. Then she looked up and couldn't help but glance at the embroiderer's profile.
"ah?"
At night, the white-haired maidservant with a big mouth, wearing only a bellyband and underpants, sat at the table. She seemed to have become mute, only able to utter a single syllable.
"etc."
Ye Weilai turned her head to look in the direction of the sleeping Ouyang Rong, and quickly asked:
"It seems that Tanlang has never been married. Madam Zhen and Miss Xie were just worried about his marriage a few days ago. Is there some mistake? Or has Tanlang divorced his wife?"
The embroiderer shook her head, then nodded.
She turned her head and looked in the direction of someone sleeping in the inner room. After gazing at him for a while, she lowered her head and dipped her brush in ink to write again.
Immediately, a few words on the paper caught Ye Weilai's eye, causing her to gasp for breath for a moment.
“I was a child bride who took care of my beloved, but I made a mistake and was sold by my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen.”
"this……"
Ye Weilai's small face showed a look of astonishment.
"Is that so...? Huh..."
However, she frowned and thought hard for a moment, and seemed to vaguely remember hearing Madam Zhen mention something about it.
It seems like it was a few days ago, on the passenger ship returning to her hometown of Nanlong, when Madam Zhen was chatting with her on the deck at the bow of the ship, she vaguely mentioned it.
However, Ye Weilai was preoccupied at the time, only thinking about returning to Longcheng County, so she didn't pay much attention or ask any further questions.
A brief silence fell over the desk lit by candlelight.
The embroiderer's brush fell limply onto the Xuan paper, the ink from its tip inexplicably staining a large area of white paper black, spreading out and forming an ink circle.
Ye Weilai scratched the little white head, pondered for a moment, and nodded:
"It seems there is such a thing. So, you are from the First Madam's family? You were adopted by the First Madam and became Tanlang's child bride?"
The embroiderer nodded and picked up her brush again. Ye Weilai considerately replaced the paper with a clean sheet of Xuan paper for her.
"When Tanlang was young, he was frail and sickly and needed someone to take care of him at his bedside and stay with him day and night."
After a pause, another line of elegant regular script appeared on the paper:
"My beloved often falls into a coma during his illness, and may have no memory of me, only the pain of needle pricks... Lady Ye, has my beloved ever mentioned me to you?"
Ye Weilai was speechless for a moment. Meeting the expectant glint in the embroiderer's eyes, she hesitated for a moment, then nodded gently—a white lie.
"She mentioned it briefly... but Tanlang doesn't really remember it well. It was mainly mentioned by Madam Zhen during casual conversations."
The mute girl standing by the table raised her left hand to gently brush her hair behind her ear, glanced at his bed in the middle of the room, lowered her eyes and head, her crystal earlobe peeking out was bright red, like a shy flower heart.
Ye Weilai paused, her gaze shifting strangely to the embroiderer who seemed overjoyed simply because her master remembered her. She whispered a reminder:
"It's just that the First Madam passed away early, so we can only hear these things from Madam Zhen alone. What Madam Zhen said didn't seem to be very nice... Of course, now it does seem a bit off. Please don't take offense, Embroiderer, Madam Zhen's personality might be a bit fiery..."
Upon hearing this, the embroiderer waved her hands vigorously in the air, even reaching out to cover Ye Weilai's mouth.
Ye Weilai was somewhat surprised to see that the mute girl in front of her had a face full of fear and apprehension.
The embroiderer quickly grabbed a pen and wrote:
“It’s not Aunt Zhen’s fault, it’s not Mother-in-law’s fault. It’s the embroiderer who’s useless. She can’t take good care of her husband and has violated the virtues of a wife.”
Ye Weilai was taken aback. The mute girl's reaction made even the usually aloof Ye Weilai feel a pang of sympathy. Ye Weilai took the girl's four fingers and said earnestly:
"You are a girl from the First Madam's family, so you must also be from Nanlong. I heard that the clan customs in Nanlong are very strict, and they have high requirements for women's three obediences and four virtues, and they value chastity... Madam Zhen also told me this on the boat a few days ago, telling me to behave myself when I go back to my hometown to pay respects to my ancestors..."
"So, embroiderer, what did you do wrong back then, or did you break some taboo? Madam Zhen didn't explain it very clearly, but it seems that she said you were not good to Tanlang, and that you secretly pricked him with an embroidery needle... and that's why she and the First Madam had no choice but to sell you. Madam Zhen also said that you were some kind of wolf that could not be tamed..."
"Ah." The embroiderer seemed to have no strength left, not even to lift her brush, and was too weak to open her mouth.
The dim candlelight fell on a delicate oval face with two lines of clear tears streaming down it.
Ye Wei looked at the tearful, pitiful mute girl in front of her and shook her head vigorously:
“I don’t think you are like what she said at all. Could there be some misunderstanding? Well, Xiu Niang, you are mute. If there is a misunderstanding, you cannot speak. You probably couldn’t write when you were young. It’s not unreasonable that you were misunderstood by the First Madam and Madam Zhen.”
The embroiderer sniffed, picked up the brush to write, but her hand trembled so much that she mishandled the brush twice. After adjusting herself:
"How could this be? How dare you do this?"
The owner of the delicate handwriting seemed somewhat excited, as the characters became quite crooked:
“How could I dare to harm my beloved? That year, I was guarding my beloved by his bedside, doing embroidery, when a white ape carrying a sword slipped in through the window. It was very mischievous and not only disturbed my peace but also stole my embroidery needle and pricked my beloved’s arm.”
"The white ape was exceptionally agile, and I was unable to stop it. I sought out my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen, but it had already disappeared, leading to a misunderstanding."
"As such, the white ape sneaked in every day and stabbed my beloved every day. I couldn't chase it away in time, and my mother-in-law and aunts gradually became suspicious."
"Then one day, I finally managed to hold the embroidery needle in my hand and outwit it, making it cry out and dare not hurt my beloved again. But on that day, my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen still took me to the ancestral temple, where the clan elders testified, and I was stripped of my social status and sold..."
Ye Wei opened her mouth wide, speechless, and after a long while swallowed hard:
"Such a strange thing? There really is a psychic white ape in this world? The embroiderer has been wronged so much..."
Ye Weilai's voice grew softer and softer, because she suddenly realized that Madam Zhen was still too kind to her. If it were before, she might have had to kneel before the ancestral archway...
The embroiderer lowered her head.
She was as still as a virgin.
In his youth, he attracted a restless white ape, which led to this disaster.
Fate plays tricks on people.
Later, the embroiderer vaguely heard her master and senior sister say that the sect was able to find her, apparently because of this white ape carrying a sword...
Ye Weilai didn't ask about these matters concerning her sect, and the embroiderer naturally wouldn't talk about them either.
The atmosphere was silent for a long time. Ye Weilai offered a few words of concern and comfort, and the embroiderer managed a weak smile.
"So, Embroiderer, you know Qi cultivation techniques?" Ye Weilai suddenly asked.
Perhaps it was their heart-to-heart talk that brought the two women closer.
The embroiderer nodded gently.
Ye Weilai wanted to ask again, but the embroiderer avoided her gaze and instead wrote on the paper:
"Everything has passed, and it's pointless to say more. Miss Ye, could you please not tell Tanlang? I'm afraid he'll only be troubled if he finds out. Tanlang has important things to do, and I shouldn't add to his worries. Besides... my situation is special, and it's hard for me to say."
Ye Weilai was silent for a moment, then lowered her eyes and said:
"Sister Embroiderer told me that she naturally trusts me... But the master is the master's guide. If it doesn't affect the master, I can choose not to say it. But if there is something necessary, I will definitely say it, but I will also tell you in advance."
"I am extremely grateful," the embroiderer said with a smile.
Soon after, the two women exchanged a few more words. The sky outside the window gradually brightened, and much of the sandalwood incense in the room dissipated.
From the direction of the bed in the inner room, one could faintly hear the sounds of a man tossing and turning.
"Sister Embroiderer, please go back first. I will handle the rest."
Ye Weilai gently comforted her.
The embroiderer glanced back at the direction of the inner room, then quietly left.
(End of this chapter)
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