Chapter 442 The Dumbest, Without a Trace (Seeking Monthly Tickets at the Beginning of the Month!)
In a corner of the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, inside a lakeside boudoir.
On the desk in the dark study, a small female Taoist priest, about the size of a palm and dressed in a jet-black Confucian robe, stared dumbfounded at the three oil-paper umbrellas in front of her.
These three oil-paper umbrellas seem to have been carefully protected by their owner, as if they had never been rained on and are as new as ever.
Each umbrella has an elegant love poem inscribed on its surface.
"At dawn I gaze at the sky, at dusk I watch the clouds; whether I'm walking or sitting, I think of you..."
"You are so beautiful, I can never forget you..."
These love poems seem to have been written by a man himself, with elegant and fresh handwriting that, compared to the delicate beauty of women, possesses a more robust and masculine quality.
Miao Si had never seen the man's handwriting on the umbrella before, and it was different from the simplified handwriting of the Butterfly Love Flower Master that Rong Zhen had shown her not long ago.
However, the ink spirit sensed a familiar literary style.
You can't be wrong.
She seemed somewhat on high alert, and muttered to herself:
"No way... What a coincidence... How could this be... Wait a minute..."
As if remembering something, Miao Si's expression turned serious.
She quickly dropped the oil-paper umbrella in her hand, jumped off the table, sniffed the air in the room, and ran around wildly in the dark boudoir of a noble lady from the Xie family.
Last time, to repay her kindness, Huang Xuan specially brought Miao Si, who had transformed into an inkstone, to Xunyang Tower during the day so that he could meet his benefactor.
Although Huang Xuan and Huang Feihong eventually escaped by climbing out of the window with Lu Ya, Miao Si, with her keen sense of smell, remembered the scents of the young chief secretary and the noble lady of the Xie family.
Unlike the literary spirit that lingers and solidifies with ink marks, a person's aura dissipates if they are away for too long. Compared to ordinary people, those with keen intellect are more aware of this.
The three oil-paper umbrellas on the table, perhaps because they had been left there for too long, or perhaps because they had been exposed to the sun and wind not long ago, had lost their boudoir-like aura, except for the scent of the noble lady of the Xie family. The scent of the man who made these umbrellas and wrote love poems on them was barely perceptible.
"Not necessarily, it might not be him. Yes, what if the man this Miss Xie is in love with, the lover she exchanged love letters with, isn't him... They might just be ordinary friends."
Miao Si still harbored a sliver of hope.
To confirm something, she searched the entire house, but in the end, she discovered...
Inside the boudoir, besides the rich aura of the Xie family noblewoman, there was also a distinct and unique masculine aura.
It belonged to the young chief clerk who had saved Xiao Xuan.
One point worth noting is that, apart from one or two men's scholar's robes stored in the Xie family's wardrobe, the masculine aura was mainly present in several pairs of exquisitely embroidered shoes and thin socks, as well as some private undergarments...
Miao Si stopped flipping through the pages and raised her flushed little face.
It's understandable that the noble lady of the Xie family possesses one or two of her beloved's scholar's robes and outer garments, but how did the young clerk's aura get onto these socks and embroidered shoes? It seems to be something that happened recently, which is why such a distinct aura remains.
Miao Si felt that she had been led astray and that her thoughts had become impure.
However, these messy and lewd thoughts are not the key point right now. The key point is that these clues clearly show that... the young chief secretary and the noble lady Xie are lovers.
So those three handmade oil-paper umbrellas, imbued with a certain literary charm...
Unless the Xie family's daughter is chaste and has two relationships, there is only one answer.
The room fell silent.
Three oil-paper umbrellas lay quietly on the desk.
At the table, the young female Taoist priest in black Confucian robes, who had been forced to reveal her true name tonight, looked down at the scraps of paper handed to her by the cold, palace-dressed girl.
"The dumbest, without a doubt, will die of stupidity someday..."
She murmured to herself.
...
"Why are you back so early?"
In a corner of Xingzifang, by the well in an old courtyard, a little girl in a red coat was drawing water. Hearing the noise behind her, she turned around and looked, asking curiously.
Miao Si remained silent, walked into the courtyard, and went into the house, keeping her head down as she passed Huang Xuan.
The little girl quietly jumped onto the cabinet that served as her little nest, and didn't forget to close the cabinet door behind her.
With a "bang," he locked himself inside.
Hearing the commotion inside the house, Huang Xuan shook her head, wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, and carried the well water to the kitchen.
After entering the kitchen and putting down the bucket, she turned around and left the kitchen. Back in the house, she tiptoed to open the cabinet and glanced at the little figure inside.
The young female Taoist priest was sitting cross-legged with her back to her, her hand supporting her chin, seemingly staring blankly at the wall, not saying a word.
Huang Xuan thought for a moment, wiped the water stains on her apron, and tentatively poked the little head wearing the lotus crown with her index finger.
"What's wrong? Are you alright?"
Miao Si's head, bobbing like a roly-poly toy, swayed twice with Huang Xuan's finger. Just as Huang Xuan was about to ask another question, the little nun suddenly threw aside her whisk and alms bowl, turned around, and asked seriously:
"Xiao Xuan, am I really that stupid?"
Under Miao Si's upturned, unwavering gaze, Huang Xuan thought for a moment, nodded, and mimicked someone's speech:
"Yes, without a doubt."
"..."
Huang Xuan asked softly, "Are you lost and can't find the place, or did the literary energy not work?"
Miao Si lowered her head: "I didn't get lost. I found the Xie family's noble lady's courtyard, and Wen Qi left behind as well. It just so happens to be your basket of red leaves..."
Huang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, thank you for your hard work."
Miao Si whispered, "Does Xiao Xuan care about them that much?"
Huang Xuan said somewhat seriously, "Great kindness needs no words of thanks, but it cannot be forgotten." She paused, then added, "Why do you ask that? Are you unhappy? Are you jealous?"
Faced with the curious gazes, Miao Si avoided eye contact and said, "No." At the same time, she changed the subject: "Why isn't Xiao Xuan asleep yet? Is it a holiday tomorrow?"
It was the fifth watch of the night, and it was pitch black outside the window.
Huang Xuan shook her head:
"I can't sleep. I'm also a little worried about you. The Xunyang Prince's Mansion in Xiushuifang is too far away, farther than Hanlei Mozhai. You're going out alone... After thinking it over, I decided to get up and cook some porridge. Father needs to eat early in the morning. He works hard during the day."
"Oh." Miaosi nodded.
Huang Xuan added, "You'll have an even harder time tonight."
Miaosi glanced at her, then lowered her head.
Seeing that he was still staring blankly with his head down and not saying anything, Huang Xuan closed the cabinet door, turned around and went to the kitchen to continue cooking porridge.
A short while later, Huang Xuan heard the sound of the kitchen door being pushed open behind her. Without turning around, she knew who it was and continued burning firewood.
The little girl nimbly hurdled and jumped over the threshold, then strolled around the kitchen with her hands behind her back.
Two figures, one tall and one short, were seen, one doing housework and the other strolling around in silence, seemingly doing this often, appearing quite in sync.
Miaosi stopped as she passed the rice jar, lifted the lid, and peeked inside. She grabbed a handful of rice mixed with husks, her eyes fixed on the thin stream of rice flowing between her fingers. After a moment, she suddenly spoke:
"Xiaoxuan, why don't you get a hamster?"
"Then what will you do?"
"Pick up your bedding and get out of here."
"Oh, so you want to go somewhere else and eat and drink the good stuff, right?"
"No! How could Xiaoxuan say that..." She said angrily, but then realized what she was doing and her voice softened: "Don't try to provoke me, be serious."
"Then why would you want to leave in the first place?"
"Can't one just have a dream of wandering the world?"
"Wandering the world, storing ink in warehouses one after another, right?"
"Can you please stop bringing up things that are hard to talk about?"
"You're not exactly good at expressing yourself either."
"I'm not going to banter with you anymore. Seriously, sometimes when I look at the impoverished, barren, and unchanging state of affairs around me, the pitch-black night sky with its Milky Way hanging outside the door seems particularly attractive."
"Suddenly, I really want to throw away all my worries and troubles, plunge into the night, and fly away. When Xiao Xuan returns after half a lifetime of wandering, covered in snow and with white hair, she will see me and burst into tears, filled with regret and self-blame. She will think that she said something wrong and drove me away, and live half her life in regret. However, I am already calm and indifferent. As a great spirit of the Zongheng Mountain, I am too lazy to explain. I just comfort you with tenderness... Ah, it feels so good."
"..."
"So, after hearing this, do you feel heartbroken and guilty?"
"Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
"This fairy is serious!"
"You've been serious about this many times."
"This time is different, because it's really better to run away now... Never mind, I'm too lazy to talk to you."
As Miao Si spoke, it seemed as if she had plunged into a rice jar that was only three-tenths full, and her voice echoed with a hollow quality.
Huang Xuan paused in her rice-rinsing motion and looked back.
At dawn, when it was the darkest time outside, only one candle was lit on the stove in the kitchen, its dim light faintly illuminating the mud floor between the two people.
A small female Taoist priestess, no bigger than the palm of a hand, sat on the edge of a rice jar, her two little feet swinging under her robes. The golden alms bowl she held in her hands was not filled with ink as usual, but with rice.
When Huang Xuan turned around, she saw her pick up a grain of raw rice with her little hand and put it in her mouth to bite it.
"Can you eat it?" Huang Xuan asked curiously.
Miao Si smacked her lips and tried to swallow, but in the end... she gave up. All the rice grains in the bowl were poured back into the rice jar. She covered her cheeks, which were sore from the pain, and looked miserable. Her two short little legs, which were hanging down from the edge of the jar, stopped moving.
Huang Xuan didn't show any disappointment. She lowered her head and continued diligently rinsing the rice, while whispering:
"I was just joking before. Don't force it. If you have to eat ink, then so be it. There's always a way to overcome difficulties."
She paused, then asked:
"Did something happen to you tonight? You seem a bit strange. You've had your fill of ink, so why aren't you happy?"
Miao Si frowned, her brows furrowed like a tangled mess, and sighed, "Why are there so many troubles in the world?"
Huang Xuan thought for a moment, then, with a serious expression, replied:
"Then you should eat less. When a person is hungry, they usually only have one problem, but once they are full, they will have countless problems. So many problems are just caused by being too full."
Miao Si: "..."
That makes so much sense.
The young girl in Confucian robes sitting on the rice bin was speechless, silently turning her head to look at the seemingly carefree little girl in red jacket washing rice.
"Xiaoxuan, do you have any dreams?"
"have."
"What."
"I would be very happy to have a big house, my own big house, and to clean it up every day."
"Then what?"
"Then I'll bring you all here to live, and we can have fun together."
"And then what?"
"And then..." she said, bending down to wash the dishes, "I haven't dreamt about that place yet. I'll tell you when I do.
"You're so pathetic. You'd be better off leaving this fairy maiden halfway through your life and crying your eyes out."
"Didn't you say before that it's dangerous outside and you might encounter bad guys who want to kidnap you?"
“That’s right, but it seems that even if we’re careful hiding here, trouble still comes knocking… By the way, be careful of that old Taoist priest who’s been coming to see you lately, and try to avoid him.”
"Master Lu? Why?"
"I hate Taoist priests the most, especially those from the Three Mountains of Talismans. They even tried to trick you into going up the mountain. Ugh, they don't even spare little girls. They're shameless."
"Master Lu doesn't seem like a bad person, but I won't be fooled either..."
After chatting for a while, Miaosi remained silent for a long time, then suddenly spoke:
"Xiao Xuan, you're right. This fairy shouldn't have gone out to steal food. It was the stupidest thing I did tonight."
"It's okay, it's all in the past. Just don't do it again."
Hearing Huang Xuan's comforting words, Miao Si hesitated to speak.
Huang Xuan suddenly turned around and said, "Oh, right, I have some good news."
"What good news?"
“Father raised my wages, and he said that we’ll be allocated a newly built shantytown redevelopment house someday, with cheaper rent. We’ll have more money in the future, and we can live more comfortably in the new house. You won’t have to hide in the closet all day, afraid of being discovered by Father and the other residents…”
Huang Xuan spoke with a happy tone, her voice filled with anticipation for the future.
Miao Si listened silently for a while, then looked up and asked in a weak voice:
"But this fairy has a big appetite and only eats the best ink. What if this money is still not enough to buy ink?"
Huang Xuan replied earnestly, "Then let's think of some other ways to earn more money. Anyway, we're hardworking, so we won't starve. At worst... I can work a little longer at the ink shop, or go to other places where there's no shortage of ink and pick up some ink. We'll always find a way."
Miao Si's eyes were filled with emotion, but then, as if remembering something, her face turned pale, and she quickly advised:
"Xiaoxuan, don't blindly trust bad people and go to work in brothels or singing houses. Be careful of being deceived and cheated. Those brothels and singing houses are not good places. Even if you do odd jobs there, you can easily be corrupted by bad influences. In that kind of environment, you can be subtly led astray by bad influences."
The young nun jumped up and paced around the edge of the rice jar, waving her snow-white whisk back and forth. Every now and then, she would turn to look into the clear, bright eyes of the little girl in the red jacket, and whisper a word of advice:
"You have a talent that is rare even in a hundred years, mainly because of these eyes. They have the ability to see through illusions. It was thanks to them that you were able to find me, and it was also the beginning of our destiny. There are many intricacies to this eye. It has corresponding names in the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism... In short, you have a wide range of paths to follow. You are an excellent candidate. You can succeed in all three schools of thought, not to mention other lineages. So do not ruin your future. Remember this well."
Huang Xuan didn't quite understand these things, but she could hear the seriousness in Miao Si's words, and nodded somewhat foolishly: "Oh, oh."
Miao Si stopped speaking, looked at her quietly for a while, and then asked:
"Xiao Xuan, why are you always so good to this fairy? You even rescued me and brought me home back then..."
Huang Xuan thought for a moment and answered casually:
"There's no reason why. Just like when that nobleman helped me out, did he have time to think about what he wanted? Probably not. He just thought about it and did it. It's that simple. There's no need to ask why."
Miao Si was silent for a moment, then suddenly nodded heavily:
"Okay, I understand."
"Is it because I'm hungry again, and all my worries have come together?"
The young woman in Confucian robes didn't answer. Instead, she waved her little fist at the air in front of her and muttered to herself, "The smartest, without a doubt!"
What is the smartest thing?
Huang Xuan turned around in confusion, but the little nun was nowhere to be seen on the rice jar; she had disappeared somewhere.
"What's going on tonight? It's strange..."
It's February, and the Spring Festival is just around the corner. After a busy year, everyone should take a good rest and treat themselves well!
(End of this chapter)
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