Chapter 166

One Hundred Seventy-Three: A Familiar Name on the Gift List (Thanks to "Most Love Dongshan Sunny" for the Alliance Leader reward!)

No way, even a gentleman guards against craftsmanship. One Hundred Seventy-Three: A Familiar Name on the Gift List. Rain.

Raindrops hit the umbrella.

Hit the wall.

Hit the bluestone slabs.

Hit the dark-colored eaves.

And hit the pink-white plum blossoms on the branches.

Water droplets hit them, jumping and splashing.

Splashing into patches of water mist, the mist connecting into one.

Looking down from a high place.

This courtyard with pink walls and dark tiles is hazy in the misty rain.

In the hazy water mist, there is an opened round umbrella.

The round umbrella is as bright red as a flame, moving slowly in the rain.

It is like a fire-red lotus leaf of a different kind floating ashore in a rainy pond.

The red umbrella moves slowly to a spot under the eaves in the center of the courtyard.

The rainwater from the roof is gathered by the Chinese-style eaves and flows down.

Between the eaves tiles and the steps below, it is as if a water curtain is hanging.

Behind the water curtain, a young girl wearing a peach-red, cross-collared ru-skirt is kneeling elegantly and quietly behind a tea table, lowering her eyes to flip through a book.

The young girl is at the age of fifteen, with a plum blossom painted on her forehead. The peach-red ru-skirt fits her symmetrically, setting off the curves of her waist and hips that are just beginning to show grace.

Over the short ru-shirt, she also wears an ink-black man-shirt embroidered with patterns, reflecting the touch of peach-red inside.

The layered outfit is eye-catching.

Looking up, her black, supple hair is tied into a hanging bun, her round, egg-shaped face is decorated with elegant, light makeup, and with that touch of plum-red pattern between her eyebrows, she looks extremely noble.

In the ancient towns of Jiang Nan, there is never a lack of hazy misty rain.

In the deep boudoirs of plum forests, there is never a lack of graceful beauties.

The round-faced little maid holds an umbrella in one hand and hugs a full stack of gift lists in her arms with the other, stepping over the steps two at a time and entering under the eaves.

She turns sideways to close the red umbrella, shaking off strings of water droplets.

The red umbrella leans against the wooden door.

A stack of gift lists is placed on the small tea table in the corridor.

In front of the door, Caishou bends down slightly, wringing her wet goose-yellow skirt hem tightly with both hands, twisting out a handful of cold rainwater like a twist.

She looks back at the rain curtain outside, mutters a few words, turns her face to the young lady who is listening to the rain and reading beside her, and says embarrassedly:

"Sorry, Miss, I just dozed off in the Madam's residence. Why didn't you call Nu-bi when you left, Miss? I thought you were going to talk to the Madam for a long time. Well, I had just finished lunch, so it was easy to get sleepy..."

Caishou scratches her head in annoyance, her mind still filled with the scene from not long ago when she woke up from her nap and opened her eyes to find the Madam and the sisters in the Madam's residence looking at her with half-smiles.

The little maid with a baby-faced, bun-like face asks dejectedly:

"Miss, is Caishou very stupid? I only know how to eat and sleep, just like a pig."

Behind the tea table, Su Guoer leans her elbows on the table, lowering her head to flip through the book.

She shakes her head and comforts her softly:

"Don't blame yourself for sleeping in, because being awake doesn't create any value either. If you can find joy in wasting time, then it's not wasting time."

"You, you have lived very fully," she nods and says.

"......" Caishou.

When chatting, the most feared thing is for the air to suddenly go quiet.

And Caishou's brain turned twice before she finished chewing on the Miss's words and discovered that the Miss had killed the conversation again.

Caishou puffed out her mouth and decided not to talk to the Miss for a hundred breaths, humph.

Although according to past experience, if she didn't talk to the Miss, the Miss wouldn't talk to her either. The Miss never took the initiative to find topics; it was always her muttering and asking some stupid questions...

Realizing this, the little maid with the bun-like face felt even more dejected.

"Sigh."

Life is not easy, Caishou sighs.

She bends down to wring out her wet skirt hem and wipes her hands. Since the Miss doesn't speak, Caishou has no choice but to wander around the room twice, not knowing what to do.

Finally, she can't help but turn her head and secretly observe the Miss under the same eaves.

The young lady is beautifully made up, frowning and covering the book, sitting alone under the eaves.

Outside the eaves is the endless rain curtain.

Caishou always feels that the silhouette of the Miss listening to the rain sideways is full of the charm of a beauty.

For the charm of a beauty, just being beautiful is not enough.

Because there are not a few beautiful women in this world; there are some in commoner families, and there are many beautiful ones among the maids in the Su residence.

But who can compare to her own Miss?

Leaving aside the noble aura she was born with, this charm of a beauty is born with talent, and talent comes from books, from the knowledge in the boudoir.

In this era, women knowing how to read already carries a kind of Confucian style.

Not to mention playing the zither, chanting poetry, playing Go, painting, calligraphy, copying rubbings, embroidery, and weaving brocade... In Caishou's impression, there is nothing her Miss cannot do; she is proficient in everything.

The Miss is elegant, getting up late every day, and everything she does has a literary charm.

Brewing new tea in spring, watching flowers at dawn in summer, chanting about catkins in autumn, and protecting orchids in winter.

Burning incense and bathing on sunny days, reading books and drawing on rainy days.

Occasionally getting up late from a nap, chasing butterflies and teasing cats, or dyeing her nails red, teaching the parrot to recite new poems.

But sometimes, the Miss will also be like this right now.

Suddenly covering the book, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, holding the book against her chest, staring into the distance at the misty rain outside the eaves.

Between her eyebrows, there is a lingering melancholy that is hard to disperse.

I don't know if she is adding a new sorrow to her gaze, or continuing an old worry.

Whenever she sees this scene, Caishou feels that the Miss's figure is a bit strange.

The carefree Miss who grew up with her seems to be drifting further and further away.

Replacing her is the Miss's calm eyes that make her a bit unable to fathom, familiar yet strange.

It's just that Caishou doesn't know what kind of worries the Miss is thinking about all day long.

Is it really worth a young girl waiting in the boudoir to be so worried?

This boudoir life in the ancient Jiang Nan town and the deep courtyard is slow and leisurely.

The Master, Madam, and the eldest young master all dote on her, and the family is harmonious.

Later, she can choose a husband according to her heart, someone who can love and cherish her, and after marriage, she will be happy and leisurely, isn't that perfect?

How many women outside are begging for this but cannot get it.

Caishou locks her eyebrows in confusion, her little brain seems unable to think it through, and she scratches her crooked double buns with her fingers.

Following Su Guoer's gaze at this moment, she looks out into the rain mist outside the eaves, which seems to be in the direction of Luoyang.

Well, is the Miss longing for the prosperous atmosphere of the Great Tang in the divine capital of Luoyang, where ten thousand nations come to pay homage?

That could also be explained slightly.

Caishou vaguely remembers that the Master and Madam seem to have been people from Guanzhong, but it seems that their family fell into decline years ago, and they hurriedly moved from the divine capital of Luoyang to this corner of the Jiang Nan Circuit. It's just that at that time, the Miss had just been born...

"Why haven't I seen Miss Xie for the past two days?"

Su Guoer asked suddenly without turning her head.

She didn't look at the little maid with the bun-like face who seemed to be peeking at her.

Caishou came back to her senses.

Eh, the Miss took the initiative to talk to her!

She tilted her head and thought for a moment. It seemed that the "one hundred breaths of not talking to the Miss" had already passed. The little maid who was not very good at arithmetic immediately sat back by the small tea table and answered crisply and quickly:

"Miss, Miss Xie has gone on a long journey. Nu-bi heard it from Xiuchun, the maid in Yilanxuan. Yesterday morning, Nu-bi also saw Miss Xie come back in a hurry, pack her things, and go out in a hurry."

"Is that so, a long journey..."

Su Guoer glanced outside the eaves, where the outlines of green mountains appeared and disappeared in the mist in the distance.

She suddenly felt a little envious of Xie Lingjiang.

She could leave anytime, anywhere, saying she would go.

And at the same age of fifteen, some people are trapped in a cage like a canary.

Even if she leaves the cage a little bit, it will attract countless gazes, and may even anger the hostess who set up the cage.

And the canary is precisely aware of this, so she is extra cautious and careful in everything she does.

Because she is not living for herself alone.

The canary lives under countless gazes from inside and outside the cage.

She needs to look ahead and behind, paying attention to her words and deeds at all times.

So Su Guoer sometimes actually quite envies Xie Lingjiang, who comes and goes freely. She has an enlightened Confucian father and no burden or pressure from her family...

Of course, Su Guoer would never say these things to Xie Lingjiang or anyone else, not even her personal maid Caishou.

But there are many things in the world that have a thread like this:

You clearly know that you will never be able to do such things, nor become such a person, but after meeting such a person, you will be faintly attracted to approach and talk, and gradually become best friends.

Then, by listening to chats, or by helping the best friend solve problems or offering advice, you can faintly peek into... or participate in her life. In this way, perhaps it can be considered that you have also experienced a trip yourself.

And if the other party has the same psychological journey towards you, then naturally, once you get to know each other, you will become best friends who talk about everything like magnets.

But Su Guoer and Xie Lingjiang did not completely follow this script.

The relationship between the two women is neither cold nor hot, neither far nor near.

They are friends, but not best friends who talk about everything.

Su Guoer knows clearly that this Miss Xie has other ambitions and does not envy her. Even compared to her, that senior brother who serves as a magistrate is more attractive to Miss Xie.

And Su Guoer, because of her personality, even if she asks Caishou about Xie Lingjiang's affairs daily.

But if there is nothing to do, she will not run to find Xie Lingjiang for no reason, like a naive little girl, gathering for a chat all day long, doing this childish thing.

Precisely because she sees this relationship thread too clearly, Su Guoer is too lazy to do it.

Perhaps this is the reason why she has had no friends in the boudoir since she was a child.

Only sheep flock together; those who live apart are either wild beasts or gods.

Caishou leans forward, pushes the stack of gift lists on the table forward, and smiles with dimples:

"Miss, there are so many, many gifts. Look, they were all sent to the residence in advance. It seems they were all sent by the Master and Madam's relatives and friends, and quite a few are from Luoyang."

"Miss, look quickly, this is a luminous constant-full cup, this is called a three-color phoenix-head pot... this is an eight-petal cluster-flower blue glazed plate... a gilded silver stick Bodhisattva statue... well, what is this, Miss, Nu-bi can't read these few characters..."

"Oh."

Su Guoer tilts her chin slightly, her onion-like fingers flipping through the book, looking absent-minded, sitting motionless in her seat.

She doesn't know if she heard what Caishou said later.

Caishou can't help but lower her voice, closes the gift list in her hand, and sighs.

Since a few years ago, every time her birthday arrived, more and more birthday gifts were sent from outside. If this happened to her, Caishou would wake up laughing in her dreams.

But the Miss seems to be less and less interested in this. Last year, she would at least pick a sunny day to take the gifts out, count them according to the gift list, and seem to remember some of the names of the gift-givers.

But this year, the Miss doesn't even want to lift her eyelids. She told her in advance to handle it on her behalf, copy a gift list, and as for the birthday gifts, they are all put away and shelved, too lazy to even look at them.

The little maid with the bun-like face regains her energy, grabs the gift list with her small hands, and chatters noisily for a while in the ear of the Miss who is flipping through the book as elegantly as an orchid.

The frequency of water droplets falling in strings from the eaves decreases.

The water curtain that connected into lines from the rain changes into a bead curtain connected by one raindrop after another.

The rain gradually stops.

"Miss, the gift lists are all here. Then Nu-bi will go and call the servants to move all the gifts over and put them in the pavilion. Miss, you can take a look and see if there are any gifts you like, take them out and look at them..."

Su Guoer nods gently, but remains motionless, lowering her eyes to read a certain poetry collection by Tao Yuanming, not touching the gift list beside her.

Caishou doesn't force her either, turns and leaves from under the eaves, carrying the red umbrella, braving the light rain, and goes out again.

Not long after, the little maid with the bun-like face holds the red umbrella and returns to the Plum Shadow Studio, followed by a crowded figure of Su residence maids.

The latter, holding or carrying or moving gift boxes, bottles, and plates, under Caishou's command, carefully move the birthday gifts sent in advance into the room.

Everyone is cautious, trying not to disturb Su Guoer, who is quietly flipping through a book under the eaves not far away.

She supports her chin with her hand, looking absent-minded.

After a while, the birthday gifts are almost moved, and a group of maids leave one after another.

In the courtyard, Caishou holds a red umbrella, standing at the very back, watching them go out.

Only she and Su Guoer are left in the courtyard again.

Su Guoer asks suddenly: "Why hasn't this umbrella been returned yet?"

Caishou shrinks her neck.

Su Guoer closes her eyes and raises her hand, rubbing her temples with the pads of her slender middle fingers.

"Didn't I tell you to find an opportunity to return it to Ouyang Lianghan last time?"

Caishou sticks out her tongue secretly, her eyeballs rolling around.

The little girl turns her head, her little face serious:

"Miss, didn't you teach Nu-bi that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring? Nu-bi wants to be more solemn."

"Pick a sunny day, bathe and burn incense, and wear a better-looking dress, dressing up solemnly and elegantly, so as not to lose face for you, Miss."

"Then pick a lakeside gallery with weeping willows, matching the scene of the meeting in the stories of talented scholars and beautiful ladies in books, and Nu-bi will meet Young Master Ouyang by chance, and then return the umbrella to him."

"How about it? Does this set not lose the momentum of our Su residence maids at all!"

Su Guoer's pretty face tightens, and she nods:

"Sunny day, bathe and burn incense, solemn and elegant, weeping willows, meeting by chance in a gallery... too many elements, it's really hard to ask you to return an umbrella. Well, are you returning an umbrella or going on a blind date?"

Caishou is serious, sighing:

"No way, who told the Miss to give this heavy responsibility to me? Naturally, I have to take it seriously and put in twelve percent of my spirit!"

Su Guoer can't help but ask: "Then why don't I see you taking other things seriously? You put all your energy into this kind of thing, right?"

"Miss!"

The little girl calls out with her hands on her hips, her little face very stubborn, seriously affirming:

"Spirit is limited. If I put twelve percent of my spirit here, then there will be two percent less there, and other things can only have eight percent of my spirit!"

Can't eat one bowl of rice and do two bowls of work, right?

This is not something a maid with a monthly salary of 180 wen should consider!

Su Guoer: "......"

She shakes her head, her mouth tasting a bit bland:

"Fine, just hurry up and return the umbrella to him, don't drag it out."

Caishou blinks:

"Got it, got it. Does Miss not want others to think too much? Cherish your reputation in the boudoir? Eh, Miss is too distant. If it were Nu-bi, if the other party were Young Master Ouyang, it wouldn't be impossible for Nu-bi to lose a little reputation."

"Young Master Ouyang is quite good, enthusiastic and handsome, and he has a very good relationship with the eldest young master..."

"Look at what you're saying, is that what a girl should say?" Su Guoer sighs.

Caishou puffs out her baby-faced, bun-like face, a bit righteous: "But he is handsome, he is really handsome."

Su Guoer lowers her head and continues reading, shaking her head gently: "Forget it, I won't worry about you, just remember to return it."

"Good." Caishou nods, her small chest patting with a thud: "Don't worry, Miss, Nu-bi has already found an opportunity. These past few days, Young Master Ouyang seems to come to find the eldest young master often, Nu-bi is preparing to ambush near the Juxian Garden on a chosen day..."

Su Guoer turns a deaf ear.

Seeing that the Miss doesn't pay attention to her, Caishou also quietly stops talking, sighing lightly in her heart.

Actually, most of what she said were funny words, half-joking, mainly to coax the Miss to relax a bit and not to worry about things all day long, otherwise even if she sits still, it is a consumption of heart and spirit.

This is called "wisdom leads to injury."

It can also be considered the Madam's daily entrustment to them, asking them, these maids, to accompany the Miss more and talk to her, to make her mood happier...

Caishou looks at the Miss's back as she reads quietly, then turns to look at the gift boxes, bottles, and plates piled up in the room.

They are all birthday gifts sent over.

It's just that the Miss doesn't seem interested in flipping through them.

The bored little maid with the bun-like face picks up the stack of gift lists on the table and walks into the room.

She lowers her head to read the list, muttering, and turns around the pile of gifts twice.

Caishou's gaze, reading with her head down, suddenly stops on a certain page and row near the back of the gift list.

It is a familiar name.

A certain little head tilts.

It's here! Thanks to "Most Love Dongshan Sunny" for the Alliance Leader reward, woo woo woo, I didn't see the reward last night, and the update was delayed at twelve o'clock. Ask for the psychological shadow area of brother Dongshan... It's okay, Xiao Rong is sticking out, come and fence!