0125 Wish-Fulfilling Laughingthrush (IV)
As dawn broke, the servants in the Shu household rose to sweep, wash, and cook, each with their own duties.
A young maid in green walked slowly from the gatehouse, carrying a water lily in her arms. Seeing that there were few people around, she brought her fair face close to the white petals and smelled them. She felt the fragrance fill her lungs and a faint smile appeared on her cheeks.
Seeing a middle-aged maidservant approaching from afar, the maid in green immediately composed herself and quickly went to meet her.
"Good morning, Granny Li."
Granny Li nodded indifferently: "Isn't there anything else for you to do in the manor? What are you doing standing here so early in the morning? The masters will be getting up soon."
The maidservant hurriedly replied, "We were just looking for you, Granny."
She took out a booklet from her bosom and handed it to Granny Li: "This was delivered to the gatehouse this morning by the head of the estate, Yu, who said he wanted to ask Madam to check the accounts." After thinking for a moment, she handed over the water lilies from her bosom: "These were also sent by the tenants of the estate through the head of the estate. They said that thanks to Madam's kindness, last year's harvest was quite good, so they offered these fragrant flowers and asked Madam to accept them."
Granny Li nodded, tucked the account book into her lapel, and then took the water lilies, frowning slightly: "Madam is not well, and the fragrance of these flowers is so strong, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to place them in Madam's room."
"Then please leave it to me, Granny. I'll take care of it when I have time," the maid said quickly.
Granny Li was about to hand the flowers back, but then she seemed to remember something and withdrew her hand.
"Alright, go ahead and do your own thing. I'll take care of the flowers."
...
Upstairs at the Spring Festival Gala, birds chirped merrily, and Shu Fu opened her eyes amidst the chirping of morning birds.
She instinctively reached out to touch what was beside her, but unsurprisingly found nothing. A moment later, she suddenly remembered that Zhan Yaoguang had left yesterday, leaving her all alone again.
A slight stinging sensation came from her finger. Shu Fu raised her hand and saw a tiny, pinprick-sized cut on her soft, white fingertip. It was almost impossible to notice unless you looked closely.
It's probably from something I accidentally scratched yesterday.
She didn't take it to heart. She stared at the top of the misty tent for a while before slowly getting up, taking off the outer garment from the cangue and draping it over herself. Then she went to the cubicle to wash up.
After washing up, she returned to her room, sat down in front of the mirror, picked up the comb on the table, and began to comb her loose, slightly disheveled black hair bit by bit.
At this moment, she could, of course, call A-Jian up to do her hair, just like before.
But from now on, will we have to do this every single day?
A-Jian is a person, not an object, and won't be by her side every moment, day and night.
She talks about self-reliance in her policy essays, but if she can't even manage her own daily trivialities, it seems a bit ridiculous.
Fortunately, combing hair is a simple task, but tying it into a bun is a bit difficult. She will learn it one by one in a few days. Today, she will simply follow the style that Zhan Yaoguang combed for her yesterday and braid it into a simple braid.
Shu Fu braided her hair herself, then tied it tightly with a soft silk ribbon. She looked around and, finding it fairly neat, stood up contentedly.
She mentally pointed out several of her usual hairstyles, roughly arranging them from simple to complex. Just as she was about to take a few sheets of paper to write them down, she froze on the spot as soon as she entered the west room, her gaze falling directly on the table.
It was a tiny silver moon, no bigger than a fingertip, a bright, curved dot, lying quietly on her table.
Shuf recognized what it was, of course.
When she first saw Zhan Yaoguang, she was immediately drawn to this little object. She thought to herself, "How could anyone have such an ingenious idea? This tiny silver moon tucked into his black hair, paired with his pair of sparkling eyes, is truly captivating."
He tried to give her the silver moon several times, but she politely declined each time. Unexpectedly, after many twists and turns, the item ended up in her hands.
Shu Fu picked up the silver moon to examine it closely, but found that a thin piece of paper was pressing down on it.
She picked up the paper and held it up to her eyes, and saw that it was written on it—
Seeing this object is like seeing the person; I must return quickly and not forget you.
Shu Fu laughed at his youthful mentality, which was terribly childish. She was about to fold the paper and put it away so she could laugh at him when he came back, when she suddenly noticed that there were two lines of writing on the back of the paper.
She turned the paper over and saw the line at the top that read: "May Shu Erniang be happy and successful."
The girl was startled, a slight heaviness rising in her chest. She looked down again and saw that it was written there—
Only one hibiscus flower blooms in the whole world.
...
On the other side, Granny Li delivered the account books and water lilies to Madam Luo's Yunxian Residence, and then hurriedly rushed to Chunwan Tower.
When they got downstairs, they saw A-Jian about to go upstairs, so they called out to her, "Miss A-Jian."
A-Jian turned around and saw that the person who came was Granny Li. Her heart skipped a beat, and she roughly guessed what she had come for.
"Granny Li." A-Jian stopped where she was and reluctantly bowed.
"Miss A-Jian is up very early," said Granny Li with a smile. "I wonder if the Second Miss is up yet?"
“The young lady usually doesn’t allow us to enter her bedroom. I don’t know if she’s up yet. I was just about to go to the door to ask.”
"In that case, you should go and urge the young lady. She has been staying with Princess Huayang these days, and the lady is all alone at home. She misses her very much and is waiting for the young lady to come and pay her respects."
A-Jian frowned, guessing that Madam Luo was going to send the young lady to scold her.
She was heartbroken, and knowing there was no way to change the situation, she could only drag herself upstairs, weighing her strength as she went.
—I wonder if the girl would agree to move out?
It was quite shocking to persuade an unmarried young woman to leave the manor and live elsewhere, but A-Jian was capable and hardworking, and her needlework and embroidery skills were excellent. At least she could support the girl, which was better than her living like this in the manor.
A-Jian moved heavily to the door, struggled for a long time, and then reluctantly bent her finger and knocked on the door.
There was no response from inside for a long time. Ah Jian's brows relaxed, and just as she was about to go downstairs to report to Granny Li, the door creaked open.
"Ah Jian?"
The girl peeked out, her black hair braided and hanging to one side. Her face was still fair and bright, like a lotus flower. Her eyes were slightly moist, as if they were filled with a light morning mist, but she was radiant, as if the sun was peeking out from behind a ray of light.
“Miss…” A-Jian hesitated, unsure why she was so happy, and unsure whether she should tell her the truth about Luo’s visit to find her in the past.
"Did Mother send someone to find me?" Shu Fu asked, seeing her hesitant expression.
A-Jian pursed her lips tightly and nodded vigorously.
Shu Fu slowly exhaled: "Then let's go. There are many things I've wanted to tell my mother for a long time."
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