Chapter 167

One hundred seventy-four, Looking back suddenly

"Miss, are you sure you really won't come over and take a look?"

"What did you say?"

"Look at these gifts. There is a tradition in the maid's hometown that birthday gifts are best opened by the birthday star themselves, which can bless the birthday star with everything going as they wish and smooth sailing in the new year." Sister Caishou suggests.

"Another day." Su Su Guoer's eyes don't leave the book, answering casually.

Sister Caishou tilts her little head, holding a stack of gift lists in her hand, and wanders around the pile of gifts like gift boxes, bottles, and plates that fill a table and chairs in the center of the room twice more.

She suddenly stops and turns around, her two hands behind her back, facing the back of Miss at the small tea table in the gallery outside the door, her little face full of serious expression:

"However, if it is inconvenient for the birthday star, it is also acceptable to let a close and trusted person like a personal maid do it on their behalf, and it can still bless the birthday star with everything going as they wish and smooth sailing..."

"..." Su Su Guoer. The air is quiet for a moment.

"Your hometown has quite a lot of traditions." She laughs lightly.

"Hmm, there are quite a few." Sister Caishou nods, her little face serious, warning like a little adult: "Miss, it is better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't!"

"You little girl, you speak in circles with your master now. This little abacus is clicking loudly; I heard it at the door. Who did you learn it from?"

Su Su Guoer pouts, shakes her head, and her onion-like fingers flip through another page of the book. She doesn't raise her head and says:

"Then follow the tradition of someone's hometown and trouble my personal maid to do it on my behalf, help me open them." The mocking words pause for a moment, then continue, her tone somewhat indifferent:

"Pick two you like and take them, I'll give them to you."

"Ah, Miss, this... this is not good..."

Sister Caishou, who had her hands behind her back and was twisting in place, has her eyes wide open, her face a bit embarrassed, but the next

second, seeing the pretty figure outside the door frowning slightly and moving as if to turn back, she turns around in a second and pounces on the gifts:

"Miss is the best, it's a deal! The maid will help Miss organize them, open them to take a look, and then classify them. Useful ones will be put into Miss's study, and useless ones will be put into the attic..."

The round-faced little maid's little face is happy.

While muttering, the birthday gifts on the table are picked up one by one, and she moves them upstairs with great effort. In terms of subjective initiative, it can be considered full.

She hasn't been this diligent for a long time.

Su Su Guoer shakes her head, too lazy to care about this stupid girl.

Without the jumping and noise of the round-faced little maid, the first floor becomes quiet. At one moment, Su Su Guoer's expression is slightly distracted, and she mutters between her lips:

"Everything going as wished, smooth sailing... I hope so... That old physiognomist from Maoshan Shangqing also said so after planchette writing, but how long has it been... Can that prophecy really come true, or is it just comfort..."

The new rain stops late, and the afternoon time seems to slip away if she dozes off slightly. Just when the plum-blossom-makeup young lady downstairs is sighing alone at the empty courtyard.

In the study of the Plum Shadow Studio on the third floor, decorated elegantly and lightly, Sister Caishou is buried in the pile of birthday gifts, and a white little hand is pulling a scroll of mulberry paper from a long, narrow wooden box.

Sister Caishou wipes the sweat from her forehead, stands up, and walks toward her Miss's desk.

She looks down at the mulberry paper that seems to be a manuscript while walking, her little face curious and muttering: "Hmm, finally found it. Is this the rhapsody calligraphy sent by Magistrate Ouyang Young Master?

"But why is it using paper from the Juxian Garden? Isn't this mulberry paper used by Su Dalang for practicing calligraphy? Several dozen knives were purchased from Hongzhou and haven't been used up, and they can't be bought in Dragon City.

"Eh, Magistrate Ouyang Young Master, your gift is sent too casually, really just a casual gift? It looks like this was still packaged by Su Dalang and sent over." Sister Caishou walks to the desk, sighs, and shakes her head:

"No wonder Miss is indifferent to you every time and not interested. No matter how I mention it, it's useless. Well, Miss doesn't seem interested in any men.

"However, look at the birthday gifts sent by others; the boxes are so exquisite that people can't bear to open them.

"It seems this Magistrate Ouyang Young Master shouldn't be very good at coaxing women. Hum hum, he grew up so handsome in vain. If it were me, I would have cheated many, many young ladies' hearts..."

Sister Caishou, who has read too many storybooks and comic strips under the covers at night, shakes her head and puts this scroll of mulberry paper on the table.

She casually takes the gift list and glances at the line of familiar names, muttering: "Return to the Fields rhapsody? What is it talking about..."

The mulberry paper is spread out by her small hands.

The paper is nine inches and five fen wide, and one foot and eight fen long.

At the entrance, the paper is covered with dense, elegant regular script.

However, in the eyes of Sister Caishou, who doesn't know many characters, it is like little tadpoles swimming in a lake, and she will feel dizzy after looking at it for a long time.

"Are there no pictures? Hmm, then forget it." Her tone is a little disappointed.

Sister Caishou opens her eyes wide and insists for three seconds, then shrinks her head, no longer making things difficult for herself, and casually rolls up this mulberry paper again and puts it away.

However, she doesn't throw it aside, but puts it back into the wooden box and places it beside her, as if preparing to take it away.

"Returning the umbrella another day, I can talk more... Young Master, your article is written so well that it makes the little girl enlightened... Speaking of which, men should all like to be praised by women, right? Hmm, Su Dalang is like this, I am very good at praising people..."

While muttering, Sister Caishou buries her head in the pile of gift boxes again, and finally, picks out a silk fan from an exquisite gift box.

The fan surface is woven with silk, and there is a silk fan painting outlined with ink lines on it. In the painting, there is a court lady with beautiful makeup, whose clothes are so cool that Sister Caishou's little face turns slightly red, and she turns her eyes away self-deceivingly.

"Too indecent, I'd better keep it for Miss." The round-faced little maid criticizes and nods, putting it away. Miss said, she can pick two and take them.

Sister Caishou immediately cleans up the study and stores the birthday gifts in categories.

Some famous calligraphy and paintings or rare ink treasures that Miss might like or be interested in are placed on the bookshelf or beside the desk. As for other expensive bottles, plates, gold, silver, and jewelry, they are all put into the attic on the top floor.

The afternoon time passes in a flash, and Sister Caishou finally finishes cleaning up.

However, while she was just organizing the bookshelf, she unexpectedly discovered something quite strange. "When did Miss ask for a fortune stick? This color, could it be a marriage fortune stick?"

Sister Caishou curiously examines the bamboo stick wrapped in red paper in her hand, which she found from between the pages of a thick book that fell and overturned while she was organizing the bookshelf.

This thick book also contains quite a few maple leaf bookmarks and note papers, which seem to be a book dedicated to the owner of the study for casually placing idle things.

This bamboo stick wrapped in red paper looks quite brand new and should have been stuffed in recently, and looking at the creases, it seems it has never been opened.

"Miss's marriage fortune stick? When did she ask for it? Miss actually cares about marriage? Why can't I see it usually? Could it be..."

Sister Caishou stands by the bookshelf, muttering to herself, and then her little face shows a little excitement, "Hey, let me see."

But at this time.

"What are you doing?"

A cold voice suddenly comes from behind.

Sister Caishou's little shoulders tremble in fright, and the thick book falls to her feet. She hurriedly bends down to pick up the book, stuffing the fortune stick, bookmarks, and everything else back into it, but just halfway through, it is snatched away by Su Su Guoer.

"Miss, why did you come up? Why is there no sound when you walk, Miss?" Sister Caishou says in a low voice.

"If I didn't come, would you have turned my study upside down?" Su Su Guoer holds the book in her arms and pouts.

Sister Caishou smiles sheepishly, her voice stops, and she looks down to see her Miss walking barefoot on the soft Persian carpet in the room.

Sister Caishou is also not surprised by her Miss's casual barefoot state in her boudoir.

"Miss, the gifts are all organized, and the gift list is on the table. By the way, it seems there is something I haven't done this afternoon, the maid...

... the maid will go down first."

Sister Caishou looks around, finds an excuse, and leaves the study with the wooden box and the silk fan in small steps, slipping away. Su Su Guoer turns her back to the door without looking back, standing by the bookshelf and shaking her head lightly, too lazy to discipline this stupid girl.

She lowers her head and takes a look.

Hua Xuanji, the thick book is stuffed back into the bookshelf.

The bamboo stick wrapped in red paper is also casually thrown into the wastebasket beside the desk.

After cleaning up, Su Su Guoer puts the Tao Li Qian poetry collection in her arms back to its original place on the bookshelf, pulls out a new poetry collection from somewhere on the bookshelf with her fingers, turns around, walks barefoot, and sits back by the desk, looking down and flipping through it.

That was the marriage red stick that Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang asked for her for no reason; she gave it to her when they were chatting on the roof that night. Su Su Guoer is not very interested in these things, so she just stuffed it into the thick book before.

As a result, it was almost seen by Sister Caishou, the girl. If that happened, she would definitely go around talking about it. Being embarrassed is secondary; the main thing is that it is troublesome to explain, especially if it makes Father and Mother misunderstand...

And for Chenjun Xie sister, who meddled in her affairs and asked for a fortune stick for her, Su Su Guoer is quite annoyed. Behind the desk, Su Su Guoer rubs her temples with her fingertips, clearing her mind.

She flips through the book with her fingers, occasionally catching a glimpse of an open gift list on the desktop, which seems to have been left open by a certain round-faced little maid after flipping through it.

Her eyes sweep over it, and she reaches out her plain hand, preparing to close it. However, the next second.

The woman in front of the desk seems to have been pressed with a pause button. A plain hand stops above the gift list.

Hovering motionless.

If it weren't for the wind from the double-door window in the evening blowing open, causing the rice paper on the desk and the pages of the gift list to flip, it would have almost made people mistakenly think that the scene in front of the desk was a static and solidified picture.

Until a "bang" sound, a heavy sound of a palm hitting the table.

As if turning from static to motion, Su Su Guoer drops her palm eagerly, stopping the flipping of the gift list and fixing it on the original page. Two trembling slender fingers press dead on a line of regular script characters on the page.

The plum-blossom-makeup young lady's black hair, slightly scattered on her forehead, falls onto the desktop, because she is leaning forward, her eyes almost stuck to this line of characters, extremely close, extremely close.

Su Su Guoer lowers her head, the falling black hair temporarily covering her flower-like expression, only her blank muttering sound: "Return... to the Fields rhapsody? Magistrate Ouyang... Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan!"