Chapter 176 Returning Home!
The rain turned into sunshine.
Inside the courtyard, small puddles of rainwater on the ground reflected the fiery orange clouds at sunset.
Looking down from a high place.
These puddles, forming open spaces, resemble a patch of sky, fragmented like a mirror.
There is a quiet beauty to it.
This scene was quickly broken.
One puddle reflected the fiery clouds of the sunset, splashing water everywhere; the same was true in another place.
The puddles in the courtyard were broken and splashed one after another.
The pace is extremely fast.
Upon closer inspection, they were being crushed by two slender, fair, bare feet.
Muddy water mixed with sand and gravel inevitably splashed onto the hem of the skirt, which was being held up by two delicate hands above the bare feet.
A rosy-pink figure darted about in the courtyard, which was full of puddles.
The tranquility was broken.
"Miss, what are you doing? Why are you barefoot? Be careful not to catch a cold..."
Cai Shou, who was gossiping and chatting with the other maids in the courtyard, turned around in surprise.
Her little face was full of surprise as she looked at the pretty young woman in the pink dress who was panting and bending over.
However, the response to Caishou was a hand that shot out urgently, its forearm trembling as it reached out in front of her.
"Bring it here quickly!" His voice trembled slightly, carrying an indescribable meaning.
I don't know if it was because I had just run downstairs from upstairs and then grabbed my skirt and ran barefoot into the yard that it was a bit strenuous.
Cai Shou and the maidservant from Mei Ying Zhai behind her were surprised to see that their usually aloof and elegant young lady's fair face had become flushed, the color of which was similar to the wet peach-colored fabric of her dress. This, along with a few strands of black hair falling beside her upturned nose, added to her charming and touching beauty.
It's been a long time since I've seen my young lady in such a hurry.
Seriously, is this really the same young lady who was just elegantly and calmly reading under the eaves? Could she have been switched with someone else?
Cai Shou and the maids from Mei Ying Zhai behind her looked at each other in bewilderment. Some of the maids even rubbed their eyes, thinking they were seeing things.
"Wh...what do you want to bring?" Cai Shou asked, her face full of confusion.
Su Guo'er ignored the frequent sidelong glances from the maids around her, her bright eyes beneath her beautiful, delicate eyebrows fixed on the chubby-faced maid.
"The gift, his gift, did you take it? I've searched everywhere but can't find it. Where did you put it? It's clearly written on the gift list!"
She launched into a long, rapid-fire speech, asking questions that left Cai Shou and the maids behind her bewildered.
Cai Shou suddenly shrank back, as if she had realized something.
She glanced furtively at her companions on either side, hesitating to speak, "Miss, there are too many people..."
"Give it to me!" The hand extended in front of Cai Shou remained unmoved, as if she hadn't heard a word.
Cai Shou glanced at her mistress's serious expression, then nervously pulled out a round fan from behind her back and timidly placed it into Su Guo'er's hand.
On the fan was painted a picture of court ladies enjoying springtime, a scene of unparalleled coolness.
The maids in Meiyingzhai, who had initially looked confused, immediately turned into strange expressions.
“I’ll take it back, Miss. I’ll know better next time and won’t take yours again…” Cai Shou whispered.
"..." Su Guo'er.
She took a deep breath, stuffed the fan that resembled an erotic painting back into Caishou's hand, walked around the little maid who was standing as if being punished, and reached out to snatch a long, narrow wooden box from the little hand behind her back.
Su Guo'er opened the wooden box in front of everyone, glanced down at it, paused for a moment, then pulled out a roll of mulberry paper and handed it back to the box. Without looking back, Su Guo'er hurriedly went back to her house barefoot.
She didn't care at all that her fair ankles were covered in mud.
The rosy-pink figure came and went in a hurry.
Cai Shou stood there blankly for a while, then turned and dismissed the maids. She followed after them, her hands still clutching the silk fan and the empty wooden box.
"Miss, be careful not to catch a cold..."
Cai Shou followed her mistress's retreating figure all the way back to the study on the third floor of Mei Ying Zhai.
Her eyes were filled with confusion the whole way. She had been with her mistress the longest, and she had never seen her mistress so out of control.
This kind of thing should only happen in dreams.
As soon as Cai Shou entered the study, she saw many rare books lying at the foot of the bookshelves, and many of the young ladies' favorite precious calligraphy and gold and jade bookmarks lying quietly on the soft carpet...
The bookshelves and attic that she had recently tidied up were now a mess, as if they had been ransacked.
However, in the chaotic room, only a pink-clad figure stood quietly, seemingly indifferent to the messy scene around her.
"Miss, this is..."
Cai Shou murmured softly to her young mistress.
Su Guo'er stood in the center of the study, ignoring her.
The entire study was filled with a dazzling array of priceless rare books and exquisite calligraphy, but at this moment her gaze was fixed on only one thing.
A plain, unremarkable piece of mulberry paper.
The unfolded paper bore the elegant and unrestrained handwriting of a young county magistrate.
"Return home! My fields are overgrown with weeds, why not return?"
"Since you have allowed your mind to be enslaved by your body, why should you be sad and grieve alone?"
"Realizing that the past cannot be changed, yet the future can be pursued... we have not strayed too far from the right path, and we realize that what we thought was right yesterday is wrong today..."
In the open space in the center of the room, Su Guo'er stood alone. The afterglow of the setting sun slanted into the room through the window, casting a long shadow of her with her hands spread out and her head bowed.
There seemed to be a breeze; the shadows swayed slightly, and a soft murmur drifted by.
"This is the 'Returning Home' poem... It's Tao Yuanming's 'Returning Home' poem... Wasn't it lost for a hundred years? How could he have it... and even gave it to me... as a birthday gift... Wait, that proverb!"
Su Guo'er muttered to herself, her body suddenly stiffening.
"A dragon lies hidden in the abyss... emerging with the bright moon in its beak... serving as an official in this county and then resigning... writing an ode of resignation and retirement... the ode and the bright moon will both be my gifts..."
"Write an ode to resign from office and retire? Write an ode to resign from office and retire! That's right, write! It doesn't have to be written by him personally; it could be a copy of Tao Yuanming's ode to resign from office, which could then be presented to him on his behalf!"
Su Guo'er's originally stiff body suddenly spun around one and a half times in place. This sudden stop and turn made the onlookers worry that she might strain her back.
However, this young lady with plum blossom makeup clearly had studied dance, and was even quite proficient in it, with an extremely flexible waist that could be grasped in one hand.
Inside the room, Su Guo'er's peach-colored skirt fluttered wildly, and when she stopped spinning, she was directly facing the colorful ribbon at the door.
"It matches up, it matches up completely."
Su Guo'er's almond-shaped eyes widened, as if staring at Cai Shou. Suddenly realizing something, she murmured with her pink lips:
"Now only... only the bright moon remains ungiven to me. Also, he will resign from his post in the future, but why will he resign?"
“Ouyang Lianghan, you are the benefactor I am destined to meet, the one with whom I will share hardships and…wealth.”
Su Guo'er bit her lip and stared at the poem on the paper, then raised her hand to rub her slightly flushed right cheek.
I've been thinking about it day and night, searching for it for so long.
"I searched for him a thousand times in the crowd, and suddenly, when I turned around, he was right there in the dim light." This sudden realization left even the usually calm Su Guo'er a little dizzy.
It's not that she wasn't calm and collected enough; when faced with such an experience that felt like fate had descended upon her, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to control their impulsive emotions.
Not to mention, as intelligent as she may be, Su Guo'er is still just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl of marriageable age...
"Sharing hardship and prosperity? What exactly constitutes sharing hardship and prosperity?"
"Wait, what about the bright moon... the bright moon... how do you explain this? Ouyang Lianghan, you can't exactly pluck the moon from the sky with your bare hands and give it to me, can you..."
Su Guo'er hesitated for a moment, the mulberry paper bearing Ouyang Rong's handwriting pressed unconsciously against her chest. Her still slightly flushed oval face had her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if she were both happy and worried.
"Miss, what match? What important person?"
Cai Shou entered the room, picking up rare books from the floor as she asked curiously.
My young lady just paced back and forth nervously for a while, muttering to herself.
Aside from the first few sentences, which she managed to hear somewhat clearly by straining her ears, Cai Shou only caught fragments of the subsequent murmurs.
This further aroused the girl's cat-like curiosity.
Su Guo'er glared at the chubby-faced maid.
"It's nothing... You almost ruined my plans just now, what were you grabbing?"
Cai Shou shrugged, but still pouted and retorted:
"Didn't Miss tell me to take two items...? Hmm, Miss, do you mean that this birthday gift from Young Master Ouyang is very important to you?"
Su Guo'er didn't have time to pay attention to her and remained silent.
"Where is Mingyue..."
She stopped pacing and muttering to herself, walked forward, and carefully looked through the gift booklet twice more. Then she turned around and started searching through the pile of birthday gifts again.
Before long, Su Guo'er rummaged through several exquisite and luxurious gift boxes and found a large pearl and gemstone, as well as a famous painting with many seals depicting the bright moon over the sea.
However, she immediately tossed it onto the carpet.
It wasn't him who gave it to me.
Su Guo'er felt utterly bored.
"You only gave me a poem called 'Returning Home' and nothing else? Are you going to give it to me separately?"
In the cluttered study, a young woman was still engrossed in her search, refusing to give up.
"Um, miss, don't litter. What are you looking for?"
Cai Shou followed behind Su Guo'er. Whenever the latter dropped something, Cai Shou would pick it up, wipe it clean, or tidy up something else. What an old, troublesome maid.
Su Guo'er did not answer, her bare feet stepping on the soft carpet, her slightly damp skirt trailing on the ground.
Seemingly lost in thought, she murmured to herself, "Those who share both hardship and prosperity... what truly constitutes sharing both hardship and prosperity? Is it... to treat the virtuous with respect, to offer them high office and generous salary, and to bestow upon them wealth and honor?"
Just then, Su Guo'er passed by an inconspicuous wastebasket next to the bookshelf.
With a loud crash, the trailing hem of her skirt knocked over the wastebasket.
Su Guo'er casually turned her head, and her peripheral vision suddenly caught a striking red color in the overturned wastebasket.
A bamboo skewer wrapped in red paper.
It's a marriage fortune slip.
Su Guo'er slowly stopped and stood still. Her fair cheeks, which had faded a little from the excitement, suddenly flushed red again.
This time... the red seems a little different.
(End of this chapter)
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