At the family dinner in the evening, everyone knew what Xiao Yao had done today. Xiao Jingyan circled around his niece, checked her from head to toe, and asked, "Where did you hide the fleas? Find one and show it to me. I haven't seen one in years, and I miss it."
"Fourth Uncle, you should have a conscience. Who am I doing this for? My image as a lady has been ruined, and you are making fun of me. Seriously."
"Ping'an, you're overthinking it. No one thinks you have the image of a lady anyway. Let it be ruined. We won't laugh at you." Ten-year-old Xiao Rui comforted seriously.
Xiao Yao was about to fight back when she heard Xiao Yuan's pleasant voice: "Fourth brother, is this how your teacher taught you to comfort people? I can do it too. Listen, cough cough." Xiao Yuan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and said seriously: "Xiao Rui, your calligraphy is very elegant. You can post it outside to show it off. It's a masterpiece of a master." Xiao Yuan shook his little head from side to side and said arrogantly.
Xiao Rui hated writing the most, and the words he wrote were always perfunctory. For this, he had been spanked countless times by his teacher. As his sister, Xiao Yuan was undoubtedly rubbing salt into his brother's wounds!
"Are you still my biological sister?" She didn't look like one when she was a child, and now she looks like a traitor from the inside out. Was my biological sister switched?
"This is called..." Xiao Yuan couldn't think of the right words to describe it for a moment. He thought hard and looked at his elders for help.
"It's better to sacrifice relatives for the sake of justice." Xiao Jingyan kindly reminded him. In fact, he knew that "helping the gang instead of relatives" was more appropriate, but he just wanted to make trouble. The more chaotic the scene, the more relaxed he felt!
Xiao Yuan obviously did not trust his fourth uncle. After getting the answer, he did not speak immediately. While observing his fourth uncle's expression, he turned his inquiring eyes to his biological father, asking, "Please help me quickly!"
General Xiao watched his grandchildren having fun with a smile on his face. As for his youngest son who was eager to create chaos in the world, he simply ignored him. Forget it, he was in a good mood today and didn't bother to argue with him.
"Don't you guys have gifts for grandpa? Why don't you take them out quickly?" Xiao Jingtai was very curious about the gifts prepared by the children.
Starting with Xiao Lang, they presented gifts they had prepared themselves, including exquisite wine utensils and fine wines. Xiao Yang presented a hand-painted album of Five Animal Exercises, hoping that his grandfather would not forget to maintain his health and exercise even after leaving the battlefield.
Later, Xiao Rui also remembered that his grandfather was illiterate, and put away the "military book" with regret. Although he was naughty, he was not completely useless, because he liked riding horses very much, and knew that his grandfather also loved riding horses, so he made a horsewhip for his grandfather with his own hands. Although the style was a bit simple, it was polished very smoothly, and it was obvious that a lot of care was put into it.
In fact, what everyone is looking forward to is the performance of the four youngest children.
Xiao Jun and Xiao Qi also sent gifts in a collaborative way, participating in the selection and production of the chess pieces.
Before Xiao Yao could make a move, Xiao Jingyan spoke first, "Ping'an, today is your grandfather's birthday. We can't just do it perfunctorily like we did in the past. So we need a proper gift. What do you think?"
Xiao Yao silently decided in her heart that the next time Fourth Uncle got into trouble, she would not only stand by and watch, but also applaud from the sidelines. Humph, it was a good thing she was prepared, otherwise Fourth Uncle would have laughed at her.
"Bring me my gift." Xiao Yao waved her hand proudly.
"And me, I have a share too." Xiao Yuan was afraid that he would be forgotten. It was not easy to get a ride. It seemed that he had to put more thought into preparing a birthday gift that belonged to him alone next year.
Xiaofu and Xiaohui brought up a scroll and unfolded it in front of General Xiao.
The whole family gathered around to find out what was going on. Xiao Yao had never shown her talent in painting in front of others, and no one had even seen her hold a paintbrush. Yet, she dared to present her paintings in public on such a solemn occasion. Everyone was extremely curious and waiting for the moment to witness the miracle.
A small, unframed painting was slowly revealed in front of everyone. The picture showed a heartwarming scene of grandparents and grandchildren having fun together. The old man was the spirited and majestic General Xiao; the little girl was the cheerful and smiling Xiao Yao. The picture was simple, generous and clear at a glance.
"I didn't realize my little niece is such a talented girl." Xiao Jingyan finally said the only meaningful sentence of the whole evening.
"Ping'an's painting is really good, very lifelike." General Xiao admired it for a while and nodded in agreement.
This statement really needs to be further studied. Not to mention that Ping An's painting is okay, even if the paper is full of ink, in your eyes it is no worse than that of a national artist.
Seeing that the rest of the people just nodded but showed no intention of praising, General Xiao felt dissatisfied. These people must be jealous, jealous of Ping An's good looks and dexterity. Even if they agreed in their hearts, they refused to say it or admit it.
"Hey, Ruyi, where's your share?"
Xiao Yao really wanted to ask Fourth Uncle, "Are you afraid everyone will forget you?" He popped up every now and then to stir up trouble. I wondered how you managed to maintain that elegant demeanor in front of outsiders. It must have been hard.
"Xiao Fu, Xiao Hui, lower yourselves a little. Right, just like that. Come here and I'll show you." After everyone gathered, Xiao Yuan pointed to the two lines of crooked words next to the picture and proudly told them, "I wrote this."
"May you be as blessed as the East Sea and as long-lived as the Southern Mountains" was written by Xiao Yuan herself. She practiced it many times on paper and only wrote it next to her sister's painting after she felt satisfied with it.
Yuan Yutong smiled apologetically at Tong Mingyu. Her daughter's obvious act of borrowing chickens to lay eggs was truly shameful. Tong Mingyu's mind was completely elsewhere. She hadn't expected her daughter to have such talent. It seemed that even if she couldn't become an all-round talent in the future, she would at least have a specialty.
A woman needs more than just good looks; morality, appearance, speech, and workmanship are all essential. Although few people can be all-rounders, as long as conditions permit, parents hope that their daughters can master more skills, the better the better.
"Hello Ping'an, Hello Ruyi, grandpa likes this gift very much. Ping'an, learn painting well, Ruyi, learn calligraphy well, and then draw a picture for grandpa in a few years, okay? Butler Feng, ask someone to frame this painting and hang it in my study. I want to admire it every day." General Xiao smiled and twirled his beard and ordered.
I knew that this would be the result in the end. Xiao Rui sneered and turned his head away. He worked hard for several days but was not as good as his sister who took advantage of the situation to please his grandfather. It was unfair, it was unfair.
"Grandma, my sister and I entertained those young ladies in the garden today, but they all disliked my sister and stayed away from us." Xiao Yuan complained.
This was outrageous. General Xiao was the first to be offended. Someone dared to bully his precious granddaughter Ping An when she was a guest in his own home.
"Ruyi, tell me which young lady dares to bully your sister." General Xiao stood up suddenly, as if he was going to count the number of people and then go to hold them accountable.
Not only General Xiao was surprised, but everyone in the family was in disbelief. Ping An was kind and sensible, and few people could get along with her. But she was actually disliked by others in her own family, and everyone was very angry.
"Ping'an, did you say anything that could easily cause misunderstanding among the young ladies?" Tong Mingyu tried to figure out the reason.
Xiao Yao knew that the girls were simply jealous of her looks, and that the Ninth Prince and his men had later misunderstood her. She knew these reasons, but couldn't voice them out loud. She didn't know if anyone believed her, but it was very likely that her mother would mistake her for a monster.
"Ping'an is not a person who doesn't know the importance of things. These ladies must be jealous because the prince and others came to our house to attend the banquet." Li Jiaoying said angrily.
Second Aunt, your guess is very close to the truth. Go on, go on, Xiao Yao thought to herself.
It wasn't until everyone left Ninghe Hall and was about to go their separate ways that Xiao Jingyan suddenly realized, "I know why."
"Why?" everyone asked in unison.
"They ignored Ping'an because of his appearance. I'm so happy that there's finally someone at home to keep me company." Xiao Jingyan said happily.
Everyone fell silent after hearing this reason. Such a young child is so jealous that it makes people speechless.
General Xiao snorted coldly and turned away angrily. It was unclear whether he was angry about his son or dissatisfied with those young ladies.
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