Chapter 174 A Familiar Name on the Gift Certificate (Thanks to my dear friend "Most Beloved Higashiyama Haru" for the generous contribution!)
rain.
Raindrops hit the umbrella.
Smash the wall.
Smash the bluestone slabs.
Smash the dark green eaves.
They also knocked down the pink and white plum blossoms on the branches.
Water droplets hit it, bouncing and splashing everywhere.
The water splashed out in all directions, forming a mist that then merged into a continuous spray.
Looking down from a high place.
This courtyard with its white walls and black tiles is shrouded in mist and rain.
In the misty haze, there is an open round umbrella.
The round umbrella, as red as a blazing flame, moved slowly in the rain.
It's like a bright red lotus leaf floating ashore in a rain-soaked pond.
The red umbrella slowly moved to the eaves of a house in the center of the courtyard.
Rainwater from the roof is collected and flows down through the traditional Chinese eaves.
Between the eaves and the steps below, it's as if a water curtain is hanging.
Behind the water curtain, a young woman dressed in a peach-colored, high-waisted, cross-collar ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) knelt gracefully and quietly behind the tea table, turning the pages of a book with her eyes down.
The young lady has reached the age of marriage, with a plum blossom dot on her forehead. Her peach-colored ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) fits her well and clung to her body, highlighting her slender waist and hip curves.
Over the short jacket, she wore a dark embroidered robe, which highlighted the touch of peach pink underneath.
Layered outfits are eye-catching.
Moving the gaze upwards, one sees her smooth, jet-black hair styled into a low bun, her round, oval face adorned with elegant, light makeup, and the touch of plum-red between her brows adding to her air of nobility.
Ancient towns in Jiangnan are never short of misty rain.
Even in the secluded boudoirs of Meilin, there is no shortage of graceful young ladies.
The chubby-faced maid, holding an umbrella in one hand and a full stack of gift certificates in the other, stepped over the stairs, taking two steps at a time, and entered the eaves.
She turned to the side, folded her red umbrella, and shook off a string of water droplets.
A red umbrella leans against the wooden door.
A stack of gift certificates was placed on a small tea table in the corridor.
At the door, Cai Shou bent down slightly, twisting her wet, pale yellow skirt with both hands, wringing out a handful of cool, damp rainwater.
She glanced back at the rain outside, muttered a few words to herself, then turned to the young woman reading aloud in the rain beside her, and said shyly:
"I'm sorry, Miss. I just dozed off at Madam's residence. Why didn't you call me when you left? I thought you were going to have a long talk with Madam. Hmm, I just finished lunch, so I was a bit sleepy..."
Cai Shou scratched her head in frustration, her mind still replaying the scene from not long ago when she woke up from a nap and found the Madam and her sisters in the Madam's residence looking at her with ambiguous smiles.
The chubby-faced maid asked dejectedly:
"Miss, is Caishou very stupid? All she does is eat and sleep, just like a pig."
Behind the coffee table, Su Guo'er leaned her elbow on the table, looking down as she flipped through a book.
She shook her head and softly comforted him:
"Don't feel guilty for sleeping in, because you can't create any value while you're awake. If you can find enjoyment in wasting time, then you're not wasting time."
“You have lived a very fulfilling life,” she said, nodding.
"..." Colorful ribbon.
When chatting, I'm afraid the air will suddenly become quiet.
Cai Shou took a moment to process what her mistress had said, only to find that she had killed the conversation again.
Cai Shou pouted and decided to ignore the young lady for the next hundred breaths. Humph.
Based on past experience, if she ignored the young lady, the young lady wouldn't talk to her either. The young lady never initiated conversation; it was always she who muttered and asked silly questions...
Realizing all this, the chubby-faced maid became even more depressed.
"Why."
Life is hard, even a colorful ribbon can only sigh.
She bent down to wring out her wet skirt and wiped her hands. Since her mistress didn't speak, Caishou could only wander around the room for a couple of minutes, not knowing what to do.
Finally, she couldn't help but turn her head and quietly observe the young lady under the same roof.
The young woman, beautifully made up, sat alone under the eaves, her brows furrowed and her book hidden.
Outside the eaves, a continuous curtain of rain falls.
Cai Shou always felt that the silhouette of the young lady listening to the rain from the side was full of the charm of a beautiful woman.
For a woman to possess true beauty, physical beauty alone is not enough.
Because there are many beautiful women in this world, even in ordinary families; there are quite a few pretty maids in the Su family.
But who can compare to our young lady?
Putting aside her innate nobility, this kind of beauty is accompanied by talent, which comes from books and the knowledge she has acquired in her youth.
In this era, women's literacy inherently carried a Confucian air.
Not to mention, playing the zither, reciting poetry, playing Go, painting, calligraphy, embroidery, weaving brocade... In Caishou's memory, there was nothing her young lady couldn't do; she was proficient in everything.
The young lady is refined and elegant, and she is lazy to get up every day. Everything she does is imbued with literary charm.
Brew new tea in spring, admire flowers at dawn in summer, compose poems about willow catkins in autumn, and protect orchids and lilies in winter.
On sunny days, I burn incense and bathe; on rainy days, I read books and draw pictures.
Occasionally, I'll lazily get up from my afternoon nap, chase butterflies, tease cats, or dye my nails red and teach my parrot to recite new poems.
But sometimes, the young lady can act like this.
Suddenly she closed the book, her brows furrowed slightly, she held the book close to her chest, and gazed intently at the misty rain outside the eaves.
His eyes held a lingering, unyielding melancholy.
I wonder if gazing into the distance adds a new sorrow or simply continues an old one.
Whenever Cai Shou saw this scene, she felt that her mistress's figure was somewhat unfamiliar.
The carefree young lady who grew up with her seems to be fading into the distance.
Instead, she had a calm gaze in the young lady's eyes that she found somewhat unfathomable, both familiar and strange.
However, Cai Shou had no idea what was on her mind all day long.
Is it really worth it for a young woman of marriageable age to be so worried?
The life of women in these ancient towns and secluded courtyards in Jiangnan is slow and leisurely.
The master, mistress, and eldest son all doted on her, and the family lived in harmony.
In the future, I can follow my heart and choose a suitable husband who can cherish and love me. We can have a happy marriage and enjoy our days in peace and contentment. Wouldn't that be perfect?
Countless women outside would love him but could not.
Cai Shou frowned in confusion, her little head seemingly unable to grasp the meaning, and she scratched her crooked temples with her fingers.
Following Su Guo'er's gaze, looking out at the rain and mist outside the eaves, it seemed to be in the direction of Luoyang.
Hmm, could it be that Miss longs for the magnificent and prosperous Luoyang, the capital city, where all nations pay tribute and flowers bloom in abundance?
That makes some sense.
Cai Shou vaguely remembered that the master and mistress seemed to be originally from Guanzhong, but their family had fallen on hard times and they had hastily moved from the capital Luoyang to this remote corner of Jiangnan. At that time, however, the young lady had just been born...
"Why haven't I seen Sister Xie these past two days?"
Su Guo'er asked abruptly without turning her head.
She didn't go to what seemed like a sneaky glance at her chubby-faced maid.
Cai Shou came to her senses.
Oh, it was the young lady who initiated the conversation with her!
She tilted her head and thought for a moment, realizing that "one hundred breaths of ignoring Miss" had passed. The little girl, who wasn't very good at math, immediately sat back down by the small tea table and answered quickly and crisply:
"Miss, Miss Xie has gone on a long trip. I heard it from Xiuchun, a maid at Yilan Pavilion. Yesterday morning, I also saw Miss Xie rushing back, packing her things and leaving in a hurry."
"Really? Going on a long trip..."
Su Guo'er glanced outside the eaves; in the distance, the outline of green mountains was faintly visible through the mist.
She suddenly felt a little envious of Xie Lingjiang.
You can go anytime, anywhere, whenever you want.
While some people are of marriageable age, others are like canaries trapped in a cage.
Even if they move slightly away from the cage, they will attract countless stares and may even anger the woman who set up the cage.
The canary is aware of this, so it always puts in extra thought and caution when doing things.
Because she doesn't live for herself alone.
Canaries live under the watchful eyes of countless people, both overt and covert, outside their cages.
One needs to be mindful of both the consequences and one's words and actions at all times.
So sometimes Su Guo'er actually envied Xie Lingjiang for her freedom of movement. She had an enlightened and learned father, and no burdens or pressures from her family...
Of course, Su Guo'er would never say these things to Xie Lingjiang or anyone else, not even her personal maid Caishou.
But there are many things in this world that follow this pattern:
You know perfectly well that you can never do such a thing or become such a person, but when you meet such a person, you will be subtly drawn to them to talk, and gradually become best friends.
Then, by listening to casual conversations, or by helping your best friend solve her problems and offering advice, you can subtly peek into her life... or rather, participate in it. In this way, you might as well have experienced it yourself.
If the other person has the same mindset towards you, then naturally, once you meet, you will quickly become best friends who can talk about anything, just like a magnet.
However, Su Guo'er and Xie Lingjiang did not follow the script exactly.
The relationship between the two women was neither warm nor cold, neither close nor distant.
We're good friends, but not the kind of best friends you can talk to about anything.
Su Guo'er knew that this Sister Xie had other ambitions and did not envy her. In fact, compared to her, the senior brother who served as the county magistrate was more attractive to Sister Xie.
As for Su Guo'er, due to her personality, even when she routinely asked Cai Shou about Xie Ling Jiang, she would still refrain from doing so.
But if there's nothing wrong, she wouldn't go looking for Xie Lingjiang for no reason, just like a naive and innocent little girl who spends her days chatting and gossiping with her best friend, doing such childish things.
Because she understood this relationship so clearly, Su Guo'er became too lazy to do it.
Perhaps this is why she hasn't had many close female friends growing up.
Sheep flock together; those who live apart from the flock are either wild beasts or gods.
Cai Shou leaned forward, pushing the stack of gift certificates on the table forward, and smiled, revealing her dimples:
"Miss, there are so many gifts! Look, they were all delivered to the mansion ahead of time. It seems they were all from the master and mistress's relatives and friends, and quite a few came from Luoyang."
“Miss, look! This is a luminous cup, this is a tricolor phoenix-head ewer… This is an eight-petaled blue glass plate with floral patterns… A gilded silver Bodhisattva statue… Hmm, what is this, Miss? I don’t know how to read these characters…”
"oh.".
Su Guo'er lightly touched her chin, her slender fingers turning the pages of her book, seemingly lost in thought, remaining motionless in her seat.
She didn't know whether she heard or not what Cai Shou said after that.
Cai Shou's voice trailed off as she closed the gift book in her hand and sighed.
In recent years, the number of birthday gifts sent to Miss Caishou has been increasing every year on her birthday. If this happened to her, Caishou would be laughing in her dreams.
But the young lady seemed to be losing interest in it. Last year, at least she would choose a sunny day to open the gifts and air them out, counting them off in her head as if she were memorizing the names of the gift givers.
But this year, the young lady didn't even bother to lift her eyelids. She had instructed her in advance to handle the matter and make a copy of the gift list. As for the birthday gifts, she put them all away and shelved them, not even bothering to look at them.
The chubby-faced little maid perked up again, clutching the gift book in her tiny hands, and chattered excitedly in the ear of the elegant, orchid-like book-turning lady for a while.
The frequency of raindrops dripping from the eaves gradually decreased.
The continuous curtain of water from the rain has transformed into a beaded curtain made up of individual raindrops.
The rain gradually stopped.
"Miss, the gift lists are all here. I'll go and call the servants to bring the gifts over and put them in the pavilion. You can take a look and see if there are any gifts you like..."
Su Guo'er nodded gently, but remained motionless, lowering her eyes to silently read a collection of poems by Tao Yuanming, without touching the gift document beside her.
Cai Shou didn't insist. She turned around, left the eaves, picked up her red umbrella, and went out again in the light rain.
Before long, the chubby-faced maidservant, holding a red umbrella, returned to Meiyingzhai, followed by a group of crowded Su family maids.
The latter carried, held, or moved gift boxes, bottles, and plates, and under Caishou's direction, they carefully carried the birthday gifts that had been delivered in advance into the house.
Everyone proceeded cautiously, trying not to disturb Su Guo'er, who was quietly reading a book under the eaves not far away.
She rested her chin on her hand, seemingly lost in thought.
A short while later, the birthday gifts were almost all moved, and the maids filed away.
In the courtyard, Cai Shou held up a red umbrella and stood at the very back, watching them leave.
Once again, only she and Su Guo'er remained in the courtyard.
Su Guo'er suddenly asked, "Why haven't you returned this umbrella yet?"
Cai Shou shrank back.
Su Guo'er closed her eyes, raised her hand, and rubbed her temples with the pad of her slender middle finger.
"Didn't I tell you to find a chance to return it to Ouyang Lianghan last time?"
Cai Shou secretly stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes.
The little girl turned around, her face serious, and said:
“Miss, didn’t you teach me to repay even the smallest kindness with the greatest gratitude? I just wanted to be more serious about it.”
"Find a sunny day, take a bath and burn incense, then put on some nice clothes and dress up in a dignified and elegant manner. You can't embarrass your mistress."
"Then let's choose another lakeside gallery with willows swaying in the breeze, a scene that matches the encounter between talented scholars and beautiful women in the stories of folk tales. I will then run into Young Master Ou again and return the umbrella to him."
"How was that? Did this whole performance not diminish the imposing presence of our Su family's maids at all?"
Su Guo'er nodded, her pretty face tense.
"A gentle breeze and bright sunshine, fragrant bath, dignified elegance, swaying willows, a chance encounter at an art gallery... There are too many factors involved, it's really difficult to return an umbrella. Hmm, is this returning an umbrella or a blind date?"
Cai Shou sighed, her face serious.
"There's no other way. Miss entrusted me with this important task, so I naturally have to take it seriously and give it my all!"
Su Guo'er couldn't help but ask, "Then why don't you take other things seriously? You're putting all your energy into this kind of thing, aren't you?"
"Miss!"
The little girl put her hands on her hips and shouted loudly, her little face very stubborn, and said seriously and affirmatively:
"Your energy is limited. If you put in twelve parts of your energy here, you'll have two parts less there, and you can only put in eight parts of your energy for other things!"
You can't eat one bowl of rice and do the work of two bowls, can you?
This is not something a maidservant earning 180 coins a month should be concerned with!
Su Guo'er: "..."
She shook her head, her mouth feeling somewhat tasteless.
"Alright, then hurry up and return the umbrella to them, don't delay."
Cai Shou blinked:
"I know, I know. Miss, do you not want others to overthink things? Do you cherish your reputation? Oh, Miss, you're being too polite. If it were me and the other person was Young Master Ouyang, I wouldn't mind losing a little reputation."
"Young Master Ouyang is a very nice person, kind and handsome, and he has a good relationship with Dalang..."
"Look at what you're saying! Is this something a young lady should say?" Su Guo'er sighed.
Cai Shou, with her chubby baby face puffed out, said with a bit of self-righteousness, "But he really is handsome, eating crickets like a sparrow."
Su Guo'er lowered her head and continued reading, gently shaking her head: "Never mind, just remember to pay me back."
“Okay.” Cai Shou nodded, thumping her small chest loudly. “Don’t worry, Miss, I’ve found an opportunity. These past few days, Young Master Ouyang seems to be visiting Eldest Brother quite often. I’m planning to ambush him at Juxian Garden on a chosen day…”
Su Guo'er ignored it.
Seeing that her mistress was ignoring her, Cai Shou quietly stopped talking and sighed inwardly.
Actually, most of what she said was just joking, half-joking. Her main goal was to make the young lady relax and not be frowning and preoccupied all day long. Otherwise, even sitting still would be a mental drain.
This is called "extreme wisdom inevitably leads to harm".
This could be considered a routine instruction from the First Madam to these maids, to keep their mistress company and talk to her to cheer her up...
Cai Shou glanced at the young lady's quiet reading figure, then turned to look at the room filled with gift boxes, bottles, and plates.
They were all birthday gifts sent to us.
But the young lady didn't seem interested in turning it in.
Bored, the chubby-faced maid picked up a stack of gift documents from the table and went into the room.
She looked down at the folded document, muttering to herself, and circled the pile of gifts twice.
Cai Shou, who was looking down at the document, suddenly stopped at a certain page and row at the back of the document.
It was a familiar name.
A little head tilted to one side.
It's here! Thank you so much to my good brother "Most Love Dongshan Qing" for the generous donation! Waaah, I didn't see the donation last night, and then the update was delayed again at midnight. I wonder how traumatized my good brother Dongshan is... It's okay, Xiao Rong is all set, let's fencing!
(End of this chapter)
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