In the evening, Yu Shu walked home happily with a few pieces of hemp paper under her arm, a small bag of ink pieces in her bosom, and two copper coins in her hand. She hummed an abacus incantation that she had randomly made up, and walked home happily.
Cao Zixin was a good person. After knowing that Yu Shu was illiterate, he asked her to stay. The two of them worked together. One used the abacus, and the other kept the books. In the time it took to eat a meal, they had settled all the accounts he owed today.
Before closing, Yu Shu helped him clean up the shop. She saw some waste paper and ink pieces in the corner and offered to buy them with her salary. Shopkeeper Cao generously gave them to her, saying that they were useless and would be thrown away in the end. So Yu Shu got the paper and ink without spending a penny. She made an appointment with Cao Zixin to come back tomorrow afternoon to help him settle the accounts.
Yu Shu imagined Yu Xiaoxiu's reaction when he saw the paper and ink. She was so happy, just like when she bought a basketball for Yu Lei when she got her first salary.
She hid in the back room and changed back into her female clothes. She folded Yu Xiaoxiu's clothes and stuffed them into the tree hole. As soon as Yu Shu entered the yard, she shouted,
"Aunt Liu! Aunt Liu, I'm back! "
"Huh? Where is she? "
Yu Shu looked around and didn't find Aunt Liu in the yard. Usually, at this time, Aunt Liu should have finished cooking and was washing clothes.
Yu Shu walked into the house suspiciously. She heard hurried footsteps behind her. She turned around and almost bumped into someone.
"Ah! Miss, Miss, where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere. Go, go, go with me. It's too late. " Aunt Liu had a bad habit. When she was anxious, she would talk to Yu Shu and Yu Xiaoxiu. She would say that she would confuse "me" and "servant".
Yu Shu was dragged out by the flustered Aunt Liu. She couldn't stop and had to ask,
"What's going on? What's going on? Where are you taking me? Where is Xiaoxiu? "
"You forgot what day it is today." Aunt Liu kept walking and talked about her, "On the fifteenth night of every month, all the members of the Ji family have to go to the front yard for dinner. Young Master has already gone there. Come with me quickly. If you are late, Old Lady will be unhappy and will scold Third Master. Third Master will be angry and will scold Aunt. Aunt will be wronged and will beat you to vent her anger."
What was going on? Yu Shu's mouth twitched. At the thought that she would be the one to be beaten up in the end, she quickened her pace. In the end, the master and servant ran hand in hand.
Along the way, the scenery gradually changed. When they came out of the row of simple houses in the backyard and ran across a small bridge with flowing water, the world changed little by little.
From the gray tiles of the huts to the tall pavilions, from the potholes to the long cobblestone path, from the low walls to the stone wells, to the small bridges and flowing water, to the flat green grassland, the clusters of flowers, the rockeries, and the rugged rocks. After passing through the wisteria waterfall, the fragrance of the wisteria spread all over the body.
The ancestral house of the Ji family was like a painting that slowly unfolded in front of her. It showed her the most intuitive view of the beauty of the courtyard of a rich family in ancient times. She was still in a daze until Aunt Liu took her to the door at the other end of the garden and stopped to catch her breath.
What villa? When she was rich, she would buy such a beautiful big house and enjoy the pleasure of living in the park.
While Yu Shu was secretly envious, she heard a delicate rebuke.
"Why are you blocking the way? Get out of the way."
Aunt Liu quickly pulled Yu Shu to the side. Yu Shu looked at the young girl who raised her chin and led her maidservant past them. She tried hard to remember the name of this young lady from the Ji family who went to the same private school as her.
What did Yu Xiaoxiu say her name again? Ji Su? Ji Ru? Ji Chu?
"Phew, thank goodness we made it in time. Miss, you can go in by yourself. This servant will go help in the kitchen."
Aunt Liu left Yu Shu behind and left. Yu Shu looked at the classmate in front of her who she couldn't remember the name of. She turned around and followed her. She rolled the hemp paper under her armpit into a roll and stuffed it into her sleeves with great effort so that she wouldn't lose it.
After exiting the door, he saw a courtyard with a spacious corridor on both sides. A red lantern hung from the eaves of the roof. In the middle of the courtyard, there were more than ten round tables covered with red and yellow patterned tablecloths. There were six plates of cold dishes and two plates of pastries arranged in the shape of a flower. It was a very exquisite sight.
Most of the people sitting there were men and women, young and old. They were all dressed in beautiful silk and silk with jade and gold hairpins. At a glance, it was obvious that they were not the same kind of people as Yu Shu, who lived in a low house.
Yu Shu didn't care about other people's gazes. She looked around and found Yu Xiaoxiu sitting at a table on the side looking around. She quickly walked over.
As soon as Yu Shu came over, Yu Xiaoxiu turned his head away and didn't look at her, as if he wasn't the one who was waiting for someone.
Yu Shu laughed in her heart. She didn't forget to look at the people at the table. There were three beautiful women in their twenties to thirties. They should all be her stepfather, the third master of the Ji family, Ji Hyotani's concubines, including their biological mother, Aunt Cui.
"You're here. Why don't you sit down? Do you want to show off by standing?" Aunt Cui glared at Yu Shu and waved her handkerchief at her, gesturing for her to sit down. Among the women, she was dressed shabbily. She only had three to five hairpins in her hair. Compared to the old lady at the table in front of her, whose head looked like a jewelry counter, she was really not good enough.
"Oh." Yu Shu sat down next to Yu Xiaoxiu and glanced at the children of the concubines. They were the biological children of the third master, so they were dressed in brocade and didn't lack anything. Yu Shu and her brother sat here like dog meat on the wrong table.
Yu Shu secretly elbowed Yu Xiaoxiu under the table. When he looked at her impatiently, she whispered to him,
"After dinner, I'll show you something when we go back."
"What?"
Yu Shu winked at him, "I won't tell you now."
Yu Xiaoxiu snorted. When he saw Aunt Cui turn her head and stare at them, he quickly sat down obediently.
After a while, all the people came. The old lady with the jewelry counter head whom Yu Shu had criticized previously stood up with the help of two maids and gave an opening speech. Yu Shu knew that this was the Old Lady Ji of the Ji family, who was below one master and above hundreds of people.
The group of people stood up and listened to the leader's speech obediently. After that, they all sat down and the food was served.
This meal was very good. Chicken, duck, fish, and fish were all seen. Yu Shu, who had been eating vegetarian for a while, had her eyes shining. She forced herself not to put the braised fish head in front of her and ate obediently.
At the dining table, Aunt Cui and the other two concubines in the third master's room bickered and pinched each other. Yu Shu listened as she ate and almost laughed out loud several times.
Finally, the Old Lady was full and left the table. A few filial sons and daughters stood up to send her off. When Yu Shu, who had been full for a long time, saw that she could leave, she quickly pulled Yu Xiaoxiu up and wanted to go back to their small bungalow.
"You go back first." Yu Xiaoxiu pushed Yu Shu's hand away and looked in the direction Aunt Cui left in. He jogged to catch up with her.
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