Chapter 64 Rouge
The rain during the Qingming Festival can start anytime soon. Qiao Mianmian had just finished sighing when a gust of wind blew in fine, continuous raindrops.
"Ugh, this rain is so annoying!" Lin grumbled. "Why didn't it come later, and let it rain after everyone got home?"
"Mother, stop scolding, hurry up and tidy up." Qiao Mianmian had already learned from experience. The pots and pans were stacked together, and the chairs and benches were for her brothers. After tidying up, her brothers went to pull the cart. Because there weren't enough umbrellas, she and Lin Shi waited under the eaves.
"It's gotten much colder after the rain." Seeing her daughter reaching for the water, Lin quickly pulled her back. "It's so cold, be careful not to catch a cold."
"How could that be?" Qiao Mianmian rolled up her long sleeves, letting the water droplets fall into her palm. The rain pattered. On days like this, one should lie in bed, reading novels and watching dramas while eating iced cola.
It's a pity there's no cell phone, no computer, and no iced cola at this time. But sitting by the window, watching the rain wash the moss, is quite comfortable and pleasant.
Lin frowned and said, "Where won't it be cold? Hey, isn't that Scholar Xu?"
The rain was getting heavier, and Xu Mingxuan ran over to take shelter from the rain. When he saw the Qiao family mother and daughter, he quickly greeted them, "Auntie, how are you? Fifth Miss Qiao, how are you?"
"Don't worry, someone will bring us umbrellas later. You can come back with us." Madam Lin smiled and looked over. "It's only been two or three months, but you've lost a lot of weight. It seems studying is very hard."
Without thinking, she wondered, "You and Wang Chuang were classmates, how is he?"
"Brother Wang is doing well. We came back together. The academy gave us a ten-day break. You should be home by now." Xu Mingxuan was some distance away from the Qiao family mother and daughter, and the sound of rain made him have to raise his voice to speak. But he was a refined man, and even when he spoke loudly, he still had a scholarly air about him.
Hearing that her son-in-law was alright, Madam Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that her daughter was still playing in the water with her arms exposed, she really pulled her back this time and lowered her daughter's long sleeves.
Xu Mingxuan also caught a glimpse of that fair skin, and he couldn't help but think of the phrase "jade bones and ice-like skin".
Qiao Mianmian didn't think too much about it. After all, she wasn't a pure ancient person. She subconsciously exposed her arm without feeling anything was wrong. "Mother, if it rains again tomorrow, let's take a break. On rainy days like this, there aren't many people in the market, and it's time-consuming and tiring to set up a stall."
Lin looked up and said, "If it continues to rain like this, you can rest if you want, but you still need to sell the braised food. After all, we need to cook all the pork offal we collected this morning."
“Okay, then I’m going to lie down for a day. What a lovely rainy day. Just listening to the pattering rain makes me feel so comfortable,” Qiao Mianmian said.
Lin snorted, "What's so good about it? Rainy days are such a hassle. But it's about time it rained, otherwise the crops in the fields won't sprout."
Xu Mingxuan was also watching the rain in the market and thought the sound of rain was romantic and pleasant.
Not long after, Qiao Jiaxing came to deliver the umbrella, and he took Xu Mingxuan with him on his way back.
When they arrived at the Xu family's door, the rain had stopped. Lin said politely, "Come visit us sometime. We haven't finished the tea you sent yet."
“Yes, Auntie, I will definitely come to visit.” As Xu Mingxuan spoke, Xu Kuan had already run out. He bowed respectfully and greeted his father, “Father, your son has returned.”
"Good to see you back. Come inside quickly. We knew you'd be back in a couple of days, so we've all been waiting for you. Yunzhu, quickly make some ginger tea for the young master. It's raining, and even the wind is damp and cold." Xu Kuan only had eyes for his son and didn't notice that the Qiao family members at the door had already left. "How's school? Did you have any quizzes? How's the food?"
“I can eat my fill, and I got an A in the quiz. My teacher said my handwriting was good, and I said it was thanks to my father. If you hadn’t been supervising my calligraphy practice, I wouldn’t have received your praise.” Xu Mingxuan said this with some pride. His teacher was a man who rarely praised people, but he wanted to share the praise with his family as soon as he got home.
Xu Kuan nodded calmly, "It's just a small test, don't be too proud. When studying, you must remain humble and steady in accumulating knowledge. Sit down, you must have had a long journey back."
At this moment, Madam Xu came out of the house and said, "My son has lost weight."
"It's alright, Mother, I've eaten my fill," Xu Mingxuan said. "However, the writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones are going through quickly at the academy, so you'll need to buy me some more to take with me. Also, summer is almost here, and my old clothes are worn out from washing..."
Hearing their son's requests, Xu Kuan and his wife smiled and agreed. Mrs. Xu, in particular, looked at him with gentle eyes and said, "Have some water and tell me one by one."
"That's all," Xu Mingxuan said. "Just now, I saw some unfamiliar faces living across the hall from my house. Have we got new neighbors?"
Madam Xu said yes, and briefly explained the Zheng family's situation, "That's how it is when people get old. Old Madam An has been taking medicine since the New Year. The day she came to have your father write his will, she couldn't even stand up straight. Who would have thought that she would pass away that very night? Fortunately, her grandniece arrived in time and didn't discover her body before it started to smell bad, otherwise it would have been even more pitiful."
As she spoke, Madam Xu silently chanted "Amitabha," hoping that Old Madam An would soon ascend to the Pure Land.
Xu Mingxuan didn't remember Old Mrs. An, but hearing that she had died alone at home still made him feel a little lonely. However, this feeling quickly dissipated because it started raining again.
He couldn't help but think of Qiao Mianmian playing in the rain with her arms outstretched under the eaves.
At this time, Jiang was worried as she watched the rain falling in the courtyard of the Zheng family. She earned some money by washing clothes for others, but if it rained continuously, no one would hire her to wash clothes.
Moreover, the clothes washed today can only be dried over a charcoal fire since there's no sun to air them out.
Jiang asked her fourth daughter to fetch charcoal, thinking to herself that the weather was not cooperating and that a pot of charcoal would cost a lot of money.
After lighting the charcoal fire, Jiang put down the clothes and instructed her daughter, "Sihua, keep an eye on them. Turn them over every now and then, and don't let the charcoal burn too brightly. These are other people's clothes."
Zheng Sihua nodded, and when her mother turned around, she gently tugged at her mother's sleeve, "Mom, it seems my third sister hasn't eaten yet."
"I wonder who she takes after for her bad temper. I'll go check on her." Madam Jiang pushed open the door, but couldn't wake her daughter. Terrified, she cried out, "Four...Four Flower, quick...quick, go find someone!"
Upon hearing that her third sister had fainted, Zheng Sihua rushed out the door, but remembering the clothes at home, she hurriedly grabbed someone and pleaded, "Brother Chunsheng, could you please go and fetch a doctor for me? Please! My third sister..."
"Sure," Chunsheng said quickly when he saw Zheng Sihua trembling. "Don't cry, I'll go right now."
He ran to fetch a doctor, and when he returned, he felt the old doctor was walking too slowly, so he carried him all the way back.
When the doctor arrived at the Zheng family, after examining Zheng Sanhua, he fed her a bowl of rice porridge, saying, "She fainted from hunger. How can you be such parents? No matter what happens to a child, you shouldn't let her go hungry."
Without bothering to explain, Madam Jiang held her daughter, who had just woken up, and said, "You silly girl, why are you so stubborn?"
Her daughter didn't eat a single bite of the food she brought, nor did she drink any water.
As soon as Zheng Sanhua opened her eyes, she grabbed her mother's sleeve. Before she could figure out what was going on, she said, "Mother, I want to make money."
"Make money, make money, why can't you let go of this?" Jiang muttered in the room. The doctor was unaware of the Zheng family's situation. He prescribed a medicine for Zheng Sihua, but seeing that Zheng Sihua was too young, he gave it to Chunsheng instead, mistakenly taking Chunsheng as a member of the Zheng family.
"Take good care of him, don't let him go hungry again." The doctor frowned as he finished speaking, then took a deep breath. "You rascal, where do you get the strength to carry me so fast?"
Chunsheng scratched his head and said he didn't know either.
After seeing the doctor off, Chunsheng waited for Jiang to come out and then handed her the prescription.
Jiang then realized her oversight. "Thank you so much, Chunsheng. I thank you on behalf of Sanhua. But don't tell anyone about this. I'll remember your kindness. If you need anything in the future, just let me know."
"It's nothing, I'll head back now." Chunsheng went back.
When Zheng Ming returned home in the evening, he learned that his daughter had fainted. He looked at the rice in his bowl but had no appetite.
He stood there stunned for a long time before pushing open his daughter's bedroom door and squatting down in the doorway.
The sun was setting, its last rays casting a dim glow. Zheng Ming was half-shadowed. "It's because your father is incompetent and can't earn much money. But Sanhua, even if your father and mother are incompetent and can't afford to feed you and your sisters well or make you new clothes every year, we haven't let you go hungry, have we?"
Zheng Sanhua lay on the bed with her head down, not uttering a sound.
Zheng Ming sighed, "You want to earn money for the family, and I understand that, but delivery work is really not an option. When you were five, your mother went to deliver clothes, thinking that you and your sisters were sleeping, so she went quickly and came back. But when she returned, she bumped into a cripple hugging your fourth sister. She was a woman, but she clung to the man's leg tightly, and even after being kicked and bruised, she wouldn't let go. If something happened to you now, how would she live?"
“People say daughters are a waste of money. Since we’re poor, they want us to send you and your two sisters away. Even if we can’t have sons ourselves, we can adopt a son from the family. But we didn’t agree. Who knows if the other party is a good person? If we take them back to be child brides, or sell them to be maids, or send them to a filthy place, wouldn’t that ruin you?”
No matter how poor or miserable they were, Zheng Ming and Jiang never considered selling their daughter.
"Dad, please stop talking, I won't make a fuss anymore." Zheng Sanhua bent her knees and buried her head in them.
“Actually, you’re not wrong. You just want things to be a little easier for the family. But Sanhua, your parents raised you all, and you are all our lifeblood. We can’t afford to gamble.” Zheng Ming stood up, leaning on the door frame. He had been running around all day and his back was a little sore. “Let’s go out to eat. There are other ways to make money besides food delivery. Let’s eat first and then think of other ways.”
"Mmm." Zheng Sanhua's nose was stuffy, and after her father left, she quickly wiped away her tears and snot.
After the meal, Zheng Sanhua took a rag and buried herself in her work.
Xu Mingxuan came over to say he wanted to buy firewood, and Zheng Sanhua immediately said, "I'll deliver it to you!"
Without pausing for a moment, Zheng Sanhua carried a roll of firewood to the opposite door. She only stopped to look at it when Madam Xu was teaching Yunzhu embroidery.
"Sanhua?"
"Um?"
“Sanhua, why are you stunned?” Madam Xu asked.
"Ah? I... I've never seen embroidery before, I was just curious and looked at it a bit more. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal it, I'll go back now." Zheng Sanhua stammered nervously.
Madam Xu quickly stopped him, saying, "I haven't given you the money yet. Besides, it's alright. I'm not a seamstress who makes a living from this. I just give Yunzhu some pointers when I have nothing else to do."
“But Sister Yunzhu’s embroidery is so beautiful.” Zheng Sanhua stared in amazement. “These lotus flowers look just like the real ones, they’re so beautiful.”
Yunzhu was pleased by the praise and added, "My wife embroiders even better, but she doesn't have the energy to do it herself and can only give me pointers."
Madam Xu had learned embroidery since childhood, and her skills were no less than those of the embroiderers in the embroidery workshop. Her family lived across the street from the Zheng family, and she knew about the Zheng family's visit to the doctor today.
She didn't know what had happened to the Zheng family, but as she had said, when there was nothing to do, the days would seem endless. Seeing that Zheng Sanhua seemed interested, she casually asked, "If you want to learn, you can learn with Yunzhu. However, I don't have that much energy, so I can only teach you some basics."
"Yes, I can!" No matter what it is, as long as someone is willing to teach, Zheng Sanhua is willing to learn.
Upon receiving this news, I smiled when I returned home.
When Zheng Ming and Madam Jiang found out, they felt extremely embarrassed. Madam Jiang said that Madam Xu was not in good health, "How can we trouble her?"
“Madam Xu said she will only teach when she has the energy. Anyway, we live right across the street, so she can just call out when she wants to teach Yunzhu.” Zheng Sanhua praised Yunzhu’s embroidery, “You didn’t see it, but Sister Yunzhu’s embroidery is so beautiful. I heard that good embroidery can cost one or two taels of silver for a single handkerchief. If I learn it, I might be able to earn that much money!”
The thought of making money immediately gave her hope, and she became more energetic.
Jiang and Zheng Ming exchanged a glance, thinking that embroidery was not so easy to learn, and it required a lot of effort; it couldn't be learned overnight.
However, seeing their daughter's renewed energy, they said nothing. The next day, when Yunzhu came to call for help, Madam Jiang had her daughter deliver a bundle of firewood, as it wouldn't be right to let someone teach her for nothing. Her other two daughters also curiously followed along, as it was raining that day and they had nothing to do at home.
Because of the rain, Qiao Mianmian didn't set up her stall.
She moved a wooden stool over, sat on the windowsill, and looked at the goji berry trees in the courtyard.
Her mother was practical; she didn't plant any flowers, only a goji berry tree and a row of chives. In a corner, she also planted loofah seeds, which sprouted a couple of days ago, but with the continuous rain, she didn't know if they would survive.
"Mianmian".
Hu Qianqian came in and walked to Qiao Mianmian's side. "If you leave the window open like this, the room will get damp."
“It’s the same even if it’s closed, it’s all damp here. Sister-in-law, please sit down too. It’s rare to have a moment of peace today, let’s chat.” Qiao Mianmian pulled over a wooden stool, and the two sisters-in-law sat down together.
"On a rainy day like this, I wonder if we'll be able to sell all the braised food?" Hu Qianqian asked worriedly.
Qiao Mianmian told Hu Qianqian not to worry, "Our braised food has always been in high demand. Even if we can't sell it all, there won't be too much left. Sister-in-law, don't think too much about it. That's how business is. There are good times and bad times. As long as it adds up to something good, that's fine."
"Mianmian, you have such a good attitude." As she spoke, Hu Qianqian pursed her lips and took out a box of rouge from her sleeve. "This is for you."
She was a little embarrassed, feeling that it wasn't something she could really share, and her face turned red after she finished speaking.
Qiao Mianmian saw that it was a rouge box and asked in confusion, "Why are you giving me this, sister-in-law? You can keep it for yourself."
“I have a child now, so I don’t need this,” Hu Qianqian said. “Although I have used it before, it was bought by my mother from the rouge shop before I got married, so please don’t look down on it.”
Qiao Mianmian opened the lid and took a look. The powder was delicate and the color was vibrant. It was obviously not a cheap product. The Hu family must have bought good rouge for her sister-in-law.
“You’re at the prime of your life, a little bit of rouge would make you even more beautiful,” Hu Qianqian said, looking at Qiao Mianmian, afraid that Qiao Mianmian would refuse.
Qiao Mianmian noticed the cautiousness in her sister-in-law's eyes and accepted it with a smile. Ordinary people don't use rouge and face powder; everyone is thinking about having enough to eat and wear. Besides, a box of rouge like this isn't cheap, costing at least four or five hundred coins. "How could I possibly look down on it? I've never even used such fine rouge before."
As she spoke, she touched her lips, instantly turning them bright red and brightening her complexion. "How is it, sister-in-law? Does it look good?"
The jade dragon cream and this box of rouge that she recently received made Qiao Mianmian realize that in addition to making money, she can also pay attention to beauty in life.
Seeing her sister-in-law nod, she took out a bronze mirror and looked at herself; she was indeed very beautiful. "I'll go get a piece of charcoal." Since she had nothing to do today, she decided to dress up for fun.
"Hey!" Seeing her sister-in-law run off and then run back, Hu Qianqian laughed, "Mianmian, you're so cute."
"That's true. My parents both say I'm good-looking, and I think I'm cute too." Qiao Mianmian would never be modest and say, "Oh no, I'm just average-looking, not as good-looking as you say."
She genuinely felt she was beautiful and sincerely praised others, saying, "Sister-in-law, you are very beautiful too. Your eyes are dark and bright, like gemstones. And your eyebrows are so well-shaped, you don't even need to trim them."
Hu Qianqian was embarrassed by the praise. She felt that her relationship with her sister-in-law had become closer. "This was done before the wedding. It wasn't like this originally."
"Who has such good skills? Let me learn from them!" Qiao Mianmian was drawing her eyebrows in front of the bronze mirror. She couldn't control her strength well because of her charcoal-colored eyebrows. If she used too much force, the color would be too dark. "Oh dear, this won't do. I'll go and dip it in some rainwater to lighten it a bit."
She ran to the eaves and casually stretched out her hand.
At this moment, Qingjiu trotted in from behind the door, followed by Lu Zhao, who came gracefully with an umbrella.
"Miss Qiao, why aren't you setting up your stall today?" Qingjiu asked, carrying a rack of lamb chops. "A colleague gave us these lamb chops. You know, neither my husband nor I know how to cook them. Could you cook them like you always do... Hmm... You look different today?"
Qiao Mianmian looked over expectantly, "What's different?"
Qingjiu looked at it again and again, thinking for a long time. "I can't remember. What's the word again? I can't think of it right now. What do you think, sir?"
He turned around and called out twice before his family members looked at him.
Lu Zhao asked, "What did you just say?"
"I can't think of a way to describe it. What do you think? What's different about Miss Qiao today?" Qingjiu looked at her master and then at Qiao Mianmian.
Lu Zhao's gaze fell on Qiao Mianmian for only a moment before he turned his head and walked towards the eaves. The rain blurred his expression, and Qiao Mianmian could not see Lu Zhao's eyes.
"I've got it! It's radiance!" Qingjiu clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Miss Qiao, you look absolutely radiant today! What did you eat to make you look so much better?"
Hearing the praise, Qiao Mianmian was happy. Although Qingjiu hadn't finished speaking, she knew what Qingjiu and Lu Zhao meant. She smiled and took the lamb chop from Qingjiu's hand. "I didn't eat much. Maybe it's because I didn't do anything today, so I look good. I'll cook the lamb chop for dinner tonight. It'll be the same as before. You provide the ingredients, and I'll cook. We'll split it 50/50."
The lamb chops in my hand weigh about seven or eight pounds, which is perfect for braising. Eating something spicy on a rainy day and sweating it out will feel very comfortable.
"Okay, we'll be going now." Qingjiu said, swallowing hard. "I'll come back to pick it up this evening. We can have a good meal today!"
He finished speaking and left, but when he got to the door he realized his master hadn't followed, so he poked his head out from behind the door and urged, "My lord, please hurry up, or those old men in the City God's Office will start nagging you again."
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