Chapter 9: First Meeting with the Young Master
She shook her head. "I'm not sure yet. Just do your work first, help them clean up. When the young master asks, just say you can recognize a few words. That way he'll think you're being modest. It's better to delay it for a while."
Jiaoran pursed her lips, feeling somewhat discouraged. If she was driven away because of this, how would she continue to cooperate with Phoenix Chick?
The young master's study was cleaned very cleanly by the servants. Jiaoran followed Xiaoju's instructions to prop up the fork in the room. The morning sunlight poured in, and golden dust particles floated in the study.
After cleaning the study, Xiaoju took her to clean the outer room and wiped the ink stains on the desk.
"Jiaoran, go change the flowers in the vase." She lowered her voice.
"yes."
She walked over to the vase and carefully took out the flowers from the blue and white porcelain vase. She pulled out the flowers one by one, wiped the water off the stems, and placed the golden winter jasmine that Xiaoju had given her, which had not yet bloomed, into the vase. She then filled the blue and white porcelain vase with clean water.
Seeing her do this, Xiaoju's eyes widened and she stammered for a moment, "You just put the flower in directly?"
Jiaoran was stunned for a moment before he realized that this was not just about cutting a few flowers from the countryside and taking them home to arrange them. There must be rules for flower arrangement.
"I..." But Phoenix Cub only told her to learn how to behave politely and serve others, and didn't mention these other things.
The two people's movements were very light, like falling leaves, but the young master still heard them.
He stood up from the quilt, coughed a few times, and said in a hoarse voice, "You changed it to the winter jasmine, right?"
Jiaoran had never heard such a pleasant male voice. Where she grew up, the men were all very rough. Even her father, who was somewhat elegant, often cursed at people in a loud voice.
Hearing Mu Jin's voice, Xiao Ju lifted the curtain and moved the heater closer, "Young Master, you have a very sensitive nose."
This is really strange. There is a floor heater outside the study, but in the inner bedroom, there is only a stove. Besides, isn't Master Mu Jin afraid of the cold? Jiao Ran was puzzled.
Later, she asked the maid and found out that the young master's illness not only could not be treated with cold, but also could not be treated with dryness. If the floor heating was heated, the room would be too hot and the young master's throat could not bear it.
He is really like a flower in the sleeve, unable to withstand the wind or rain.
Xiaoju used a silver hook to hook the bed curtains, and under the brocade quilt, the thin, pale, sickly face with messy black hair immediately caught Jiaoran's eyes.
Weak, but not annoying. She thought she would be disgusted by this powerless man.
But he had an impeccable face; even though he looked sickly, it didn't make people want to avoid him.
Moreover, his skin was not the grayish white of a terminally ill person, but a kind of snow-white with a unique halo, like a newly forged sword. Jiaoran liked newly forged swords that were not stained with blood and were still clean.
When Jiaoran was still at home, guests often said that a girl with such a strong expression would have difficulty getting married in the future. A'niang would retort and tell them to stop talking nonsense.
She stood aside and saw the man's gentle features. If she had not known in advance that he was a young man, she would probably have rashly called him "maid".
Phoenix Cub said he was a year or two older than her, but perhaps because of his frail health, his physique and appearance were truly immature. He should be brought before his mother, father, and fellow apprentices to show them what a young girl really was.
"The time has come. I'm going to paint today. Please help me up," he said.
Jiaoran didn't dare to touch him easily. He was as beautiful as a painting or a jade Guanyin. His frailty had a unique charm. Jiaoran was afraid that if he used too much force, he would break him.
He looked at the new lady behind the curtain, and her pale face seemed to have some life on it.
"Come here, Jiaoran." He called her name and waved to her.
It was so intimate, as if they had known each other for a long time.
When Jiaoran heard him calling her, her scalp tightened, and then she felt dizzy, as if she had drunk some alcohol.
Did he know her name? Did Fenghuangchu tell him? Jiaoran thought so. Fenghuangchu said everything was arranged.
He spoke in a low voice, not as if he was deliberately lowering it, but simply because he lacked strength.
Jiaoran was reminded by Xiaoju and urged to come forward to answer. He was wearing underwear, with his collarbone and smooth neck clearly visible. Jiaoran could tell how thin he was by looking at his wrists, and wondered if the wind would blow him away if he ran too fast.
My father and mother would often adopt orphans from other places and bring them to Huiyingmen to be their disciples, teaching them martial arts to enrich the sect.
So when Jiaoran grew up a little, he often took care of the young disciples in the sect, dressing them, washing their faces, feeding them and making medicine for them. If this person had been brought into the sect by his mother when he was a child, he would definitely not have developed like this. Jiaoran thought of what his father often said, "A place of wealth and honor will destroy a person's bones," and it seemed to be true.
"Your name is Jiaoran, right? I didn't call you wrong?" he asked her.
Jiaoran came back to her senses from her wandering thoughts and stammered, "Yes, yes, yes, I... my maid's name is Jiaoran."
"You came yesterday? Why didn't I see you coming?"
Jiaoran imitated what Fenghuangchu had taught her at the inn and said, "My lord, it was already late when I arrived, so I didn't come to see you. I hope you will forgive me."
He said it was no problem and he had already gone to bed.
The young master looked at Xiaoju behind Jiaoran and said, "You don't have to stay here. The room has been cleaned. Why don't you go out?"
Xiaoju hesitated and said, "But the flowers haven't bloomed yet..."
"Jiaoran will arrange the flowers for me, right?" His eyes fell on Jiaoran.
She was about to say that she didn't know how to arrange flowers, but before she could open her mouth, the young master said, "The heater is too close. I feel hot. Remember to move it away when you leave."
Xiaoju's eyelids twitched and she moved the heater back to its original place awkwardly.
After she left, the young man got out of bed, looked normal and stretched out his arms.
Jiaoran knew that she was going to be asked to help put on clothes. People like them didn't even have to dress themselves after they were born.
What is that long arm for, Jiaoran thought.
She had practiced it countless times in the inn, having Zhuxing and even Bu Yue wear it.
While getting dressed, he asked Jiaoran, "I heard your former master was the governor of Longyuan County?"
Phoenix Young had some friendship with him, so he decided to put his fake identity there, "Yes, sir."
"What kind of person is he? Is he healthier than me?"
Jiaoran looked at his thin back, raised his head and stared at the back of his head, wondering how to respond to this nonsense. Who is not healthier than him?
"When I'm at the County Magistrate's house, I usually accompany the young master to practice swordplay and play, and I don't often serve the County Magistrate."
"So that's how it is..."
The jade belt the young master wanted to wear had a very slippery buckle and lead tail. Jiaoran fastened the belt around his waist, trying several times, but the semicircular buckle refused to obey. He smiled softly and took the jade belt from Jiaoran's hand. Her fingers were as soft as catkins, yet icy cold. Jiaoran quietly withdrew his hand as if he had touched a snake.
He wrote two words on the plain silk spread out on the table: Jiaoran.
"Is that what it says?"
Jiaoran recognized his own name very quickly, "Yes."
Although she didn't know how to appreciate calligraphy and painting, the words written by this person were hard and angular.
It's really unlike his temper. He is a very amiable person, but every stroke of his handwriting appears clean, neat, square and solid, with some edges and corners that are a bit too sharp.
He wrote a few more words: The bright moon shines in the night, and the crickets chirp on the east wall.
There were ten characters, but Jiaoran couldn't even recognize five of them.
"Is that what you got your name from?"
Jiaoran coughed and swallowed.
"This servant girl...can't read except for her own name."
His eyes widened, as if this was the most unbelievable thing he had heard today.
His eye sockets look a bit like A Niang's, but slightly deeper than A Niang's. It seems that he misses his mother.
Upon closer inspection, the young man's brow bones are more delicate than those of the average man. At first glance, his eyebrows and eyes seem a bit fierce, but in fact, when he smiles, his eyebrows and eyes are much softer.
The eyes made Jiaoran feel like the little animals hiding in the dark forests that she saw when she went to the mountains to play in the summer.
Then he couldn't help laughing intermittently, "How is it possible if you can't read?"
Just now when he approached her, the sweet fragrance coming from her clothes made her blush uncontrollably. Now his smile brought her back to her senses. Jiaoran's hands were circling on her clothes. This guy was so boring. He said he couldn't read, but why did he still keep harping on this?
"How about you read a few words and let me see if you are too modest to talk about the books you have read in front of me?"
Jiaoran thought to herself, if she could read, would she still be so embarrassed?
"Sir, I really can't read." Jiaoran puffed out her cheeks, and the unhappiness in her heart quickly returned to normal.
"Write a few words you recognize. I want to see how many you know."
There shouldn’t be as many as you, Jiaoran whispered.
She wrote one big, one small, one sky, one person, and then Jiaoran began to sweat on his forehead. What else was she going to write?
As she was thinking, she met the young master's focused gaze and blushed again, "I really won't do that anymore."
Why didn’t you learn a few more words before? It’s so embarrassing to make a fool of yourself now, Jiaoran bit his lip.
He realized he seemed to be embarrassing her, so he tried to explain, "Don't overthink it. I don't mean to laugh at you. It's just that the people my uncle assigned to serve me were all literate. It doesn't matter if you can't. You can learn slowly in the future."
Before he could finish his words, Xiaoju came through the door and said, "The governor wants you to come in."
After he finished speaking, a guard followed closely behind and said, "Subordinates, please wait for the young master."
The young man stopped smiling and asked Jiaoran to tie his hair up and insert a Ziwu hairpin.
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