Chapter 119 All of Danqing's Past Events Were Worth It
Mei Shiyu noticed that Guan Ye was staring at him without blinking, and instantly turned his gaze away. "It seems your eyesight isn't very good. You've been looking for so long and still can't see what I look like? Why don't you come closer?"
Guan Ye obediently took a few steps closer, and seeing that Mei Shiyu seemed about to lash out, Xiao Ma quickly said, "Guan Ye didn't mean it. She was just thinking about you and missing Young Master Pei on the island."
"—You're also a visitor from Canglang?" Mei Shiyu looked Guan Ye up and down with interest. "Guan Ye, the Guan of Guan Yunchang, and Ye?" Mei Shiyu smiled, revealing a shallow, almost imperceptible dimple at the corner of his mouth. "This Ye character?"
Guan Ye nodded firmly, smiled at Mei Shiyu, revealing her dimples, and pointed to her lips, saying, "A gentle smile with dimples, that's the dimple."
"What a lovely smile with dimples." Mei Shiyu showed an approving look. "It seems Canglang Island is full of people, a place where hidden talents abound. You don't look like a swordsman, you are..."
“Let me guess,” Mei Xiaojing insisted on beating her cousin. “Judging from your extraordinary demeanor and the fact that you can pull a little horse halfway down the street, I guess you’re the manager of Xingguo Ward, right?”
Xiao Ma, holding his sword, pouted and muttered, "We already have a Manager Pei, so why is there another Manager Guan? Something's not right."
Mei Shiyu looked at Guan Ye again with a deep gaze. His dark eyes slid down to Guan Ye's half-clenched hand. Seeing the thick calluses on the tiger's mouth, he had a rough idea in his mind. "Xingguo Workshop is a major weapons workshop. I guess Guan Ye is a blacksmith."
"A blacksmith?" Mei Xiaoqing exclaimed. "Blacksmithing is hard work, can women do it too?"
"Why not?" Mei Shiyu retorted. "Others say that a girl like you shouldn't be a manager at a money exchange, but you've not only done it well these past few years, you've done it very well. So why can't Guan Ye be a foundry master? Just now you said that she can drag Xiao Ma half a street. Xiao Ma is a man, but isn't he completely subdued by her?"
Xiao Ma's face flushed, and he clasped his hands in a fist salute to Mei Shiyu, saying, "Young Master Mei has a good eye. Guan Ye is a blacksmith, and the best blacksmith in Xingguo Workshop."
"Ah." Mei Xiaojing was both surprised and delighted. She turned around, took Guan Ye's arms, and looked her up and down and left and right. "Women blacksmithing, you are really amazing."
“There are countless professions in the world, and both men and women can do them. Those who are capable should hold those positions, regardless of gender,” Mei Shiyu continued. “Xiao Jing, why don’t you invite our guest to sit down and talk?”
As Mei Xiaojing moved a stool, she exclaimed, "Then I want to learn blacksmithing too! I want to be a blacksmith!"
"You?" Xiao Ma sat upright on the stool, looking at Mei Xiaojing's thin arms and legs. "You should... forget it."
Before Mei Xiaojing could retort, Mei Shiyu smiled and said, "Being a blacksmith is not easy. Having strength is not enough. You also need to understand the properties of various ores and adapt them to their characteristics in order to create a treasure. You are already too late to start now, and besides..." Mei Shiyu looked at Xiao Ma, "Xiao Ma is just feeling sorry for you."
"Really?" Mei Xiaojing's eyes suddenly lit up. She glanced at Xiao Ma's handsome face, pulled up a stool for herself, and moved closer to Xiao Ma. "Just pretend my cousin is telling the truth."
Xiao Ma said sincerely, "Young Master Mei knows so much. Guan Ye is no ordinary blacksmith. The Golden Sword that was tested before the Emperor was Guan Ye's idea."
"But..." Mei Xiaoqing hesitated, her mouth moving faster than her brain, "I heard... that your family's Golden Sword was... cut in half, wasn't it?"
Xiao Ma smiled faintly, "It's true that the sword is broken, but Xingguofang has not lost. The road ahead is long and broad, and we still have many opportunities to prove ourselves."
“Well said.” Mei Shiyu’s complexion improved even more. “My father said that the most important thing in life is to be open-minded. Your magnanimity is just like that of an old friend my father talked about.”
"An old friend?" Xiao Ma and Guan Ye were both taken aback, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure of what Mei Shiyu meant.
"My father's old friend is quite interesting. My father and he have known each other since childhood and are like brothers. What my father admires most about him is that he is open-minded and easy to understand. He never gets stuck on things. He doesn't like doing the family business, so he doesn't do it. He is a well-known playboy in Rongdu. He secretly went to Jiangnan alone and fell in love with the eldest daughter of an embroidery workshop at first sight. He listened to her recite poems and compose love poems and songs, and boldly went to propose to her. He actually brought her back to Rongdu."
"A family business, can you just quit like that?" Mei Xiaoqing asked, puzzled. "I don't want to do the money lending business either. Cousin, do you really want to? If this person can do it, why can't we?"
“People are different, which is why I admire his magnanimity the most,” Mei Shiyu said with a gentle smile. “This old friend told me that his family has been in this business for three generations and has accumulated enough wealth to live off for several generations. He believes that his descendants should do what they want and that others should be allowed to enter the business and share the profits. He believes that if one family is the only one in power, it will benefit the individual but not the business. He does not want to be the one who eats all the food; he wants to be the one who shares the profits.”
"—He...did he really say that?" Xiao Ma asked, stunned.
This is what Dad said to his wife and children. At that time, Xiao Ma laughed at him, saying that his own pancakes had been stolen, and he was still talking nonsense to save face. He was a big fool who wouldn't eat the pancakes. Dad, you are that big fool.
Father wasn't angry. He casually picked up a bamboo leaf and began to play a soft, melodious tune. After the song ended, he lingered for a while, savoring the memory. He said, "Lingnan isn't bad. At least there's an abundance of lychees. Lychees are precious; by the time they reach Rongdu, most of them rot, and the rest lose their flavor—it's such a waste. So, the candy merchants pickle them into candied lychees. Even the nobles in Rongdu can only eat candied lychees. All candied fruits taste the same; you can't tell the difference. We're much better off here; we can have as many lychees as we want. A hundred lychees a day..."
—His nosebleed was so bad it could flow into the Yellow River. Little Ma added insult to injury, making his mother laugh so hard she almost fell over.
Yes, that's how my dad is—so optimistic. Even when he's stuck in the mud, he can still pull out a rotten leaf and play his favorite tune. As he plays, the whole family is together, and no matter how difficult things get, it's all good.
Xiao Ma lowered his eyelashes and said softly, "When he said that, did he ever think that his child wanted to eat this pancake?"
Mei Shiyu coughed a few times and said in a deep voice, "My father said that he later realized that although he seemed like a playboy, he was actually the most insightful person. He knew all along that he had already eaten the last bite of this pie, and if he ate any more, he would choke to death... It's just a pity..." Mei Shiyu's voice fell sadly, "The disaster came faster than he expected. Before he could give up the pie, it was forcibly taken away. Fortunately, he survived. Although we don't know where he is, my father said... he will live well wherever he is, and one day, they will be reunited."
“Yes.” Xiao Ma’s eyes reddened, “People like that will live well no matter how they fall on hard times. As long as they live, there is hope.”
“That’s why I said you look a lot like the person my dad was talking about.” Mei Shiyu stared at Xiao Ma’s twitching face. “The first time I saw you, I felt… you look a lot like him.”
—The first time I saw Xiao Ma, I felt...he looked a lot like him?
Guan Ye pondered Mei Shiyu's words and suddenly looked up. When Xiao Ma's parents were exiled, Xiao Ma hadn't even been born yet, and Mei Shiyu should have been an infant as well... How could he think... the two looked alike?
Xiao Ma clearly sensed something amiss in the conversation, his dark eyes fixed on Mei Shiyu's pale face, unsure how to respond.
"Xiao Jing, bring me my cloak and overcoat. I already said I need to take the guest to the main room, and we still have to go there." Mei Shiyu called to his cousin, who was listening intently, and gestured for her to hurry up.
It was midday, the sun was bright, and all four windows of the main hall of the Mei family were open. As soon as Guan Ye stepped inside, a faint fragrance wafted out. She took a deep sniff and found the aroma rich and distinctive, clearly not from ordinary sources. Two paintings hung on the wall, depicting mountains, rivers, forests, and seas, grand and majestic. Guan Ye stopped to look at them and marveled at the artist's exquisite brushwork.
“This wasn’t painted by an ordinary artist.” Mei Xiaojing saw through Guan Ye’s thoughts. “Can you guess whose work it is?”
Guan Ye shook her head. "I don't know anything about painting. I just think these two paintings are magnificent. They must be masterpieces by a master to be hung in the main hall of the Mei family."
Mei Xiaojing and Mei Shiyu exchanged a smile and said, "He's not a master painter, it was just painted by my uncle."
Mei Junhe? Xiao Ma's heart stirred slightly, and he couldn't help but step forward. Seeing the ink flowing freely in the painting, and the unrestrained spirit, he couldn't help but admire it. The brushwork revealed his personality. Xiao Ma had only heard his parents mention Mei Junhe before. Judging from his paintings, this person must be an extraordinary figure.
“My father prides himself on being a skilled painter. He prefers painting to accounting. All the paintings you see in my house are his work.” Mei Shiyu led Guan Ye and Xiao Ma closer.
Guan Ye raised her head and saw a gilded plaque hanging high on the north wall, with the four characters "Gongcheng Jubao" written on it. Mei Shiyu followed Guan Ye's gaze and said softly, "This plaque was personally bestowed by the Great Emperor Taizu of the Great Jin Dynasty, meaning that Gongcheng Money House gathers treasures for the country."
Guan Ye admired him in her heart, thinking that Xiao Ma was indeed very thoughtful. He had specially instructed her to change into new clothes. Seeing the plaque bestowed by the late emperor, which was almost as good as meeting the emperor, she thought it was worth the new clothes.
"Young Master Mei brought us here despite his illness, surely not just to show us these things?" Xiao Ma looked at Mei Shiyu.
Mei Shiyu gave his cousin a look, and Mei Xiaojing immediately understood. She closed all four windows and the main door, plunging the brightly lit hall into darkness. Mei Xiaojing quickly walked to the long sandalwood table under the plaque, lit the tinderbox, and ignited the two bronze censers on the table. The flames ignited, and the hall was brightly lit.
"Xiao Jing," Mei Shiyu called softly, "tear down my father's two paintings."
"Huh?" Mei Xiaojing thought she had misheard, but still obediently walked closer to her uncle's paintings. She glanced at her cousin and saw his determined look. Mei Xiaojing took a deep breath, grabbed one painting in each hand, and tore them off forcefully.
The scroll fell to the ground, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the wall—in Mei Junhe's landscape paintings, there were actually two portrait paintings hidden inside.
"Father..." Little Ma called out in a daze after only looking at one person's face.
"Dad?" Xiao Ma called the man in the painting "Dad"... Guan Ye wasn't deaf. Not only Guan Ye, Mei Xiao Jing also heard it clearly. The two of them looked at the bewildered Xiao Ma.
Guan Ye stared intently at the paintings again. The man Xiao Ma called "Dad" was handsome and refined, with a gentle smile between his brows. Upon closer inspection, he did indeed resemble Xiao Ma in many ways, especially Xiao Ma's facial features, which were practically identical to those in the painting. In another painting, there was an older man with a long beard and a resolute and unruly face, completely different from Xiao Ma's refined and elegant demeanor. However, upon closer inspection, their facial features were strikingly similar. Although the three men had vastly different temperaments, they looked exactly alike, clearly a family.
It seems that Guan Ye already has the answer in her heart. The two men in the painting must be Xiao Ma's father, Ma Yanyu, and his grandfather, Ma Yi.
As Guan Ye was thinking, she suddenly heard a "plop" sound. When she turned her head, she saw that Xiao Ma had already knelt in front of the painting. Looking at his father and grandfather in the painting, tears welled up in his eyes in the blink of an eye.
“Grandpa…” Xiao Ma cried out, “Dad said Grandpa and I don’t look alike. But it turns out, Grandpa looks really…so majestic.”
In a daze, Guan Ye felt that the stern eyebrows and eyes of the older man in the portrait suddenly softened. He stared intently at the kneeling Xiao Ma, his face filled with relief. Yes, Ma Yi had also failed to see his unborn grandson. Today, although the portrait and the person are separated, Ma Yi would surely feel gratified in the afterlife to see Xiao Ma grow up safely, able to wield a sword, and with his heart still burning with passion.
All that happened in the past was worthwhile.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
