Yu Shu was startled by the old man on the bamboo bed and slipped to the ground. Half a bucket of water splashed on her and she was lying on the ground in a sorry state. Hearing a burst of laughter, she embarrassedly got up from the ground and wiped the water off her face. She glanced at the overjoyed old man with a gloomy expression and lowered her head to wring out the water on her body.
Yu Shu was depressed. "What's so funny? Why are you laughing so loudly? It's just a fall. Is it worth gloating so much? You're so annoying."
When the old man on the bamboo bed heard the noise, he only looked back a few times, but no one came forward.
The old man on the bamboo bed laughed enough. He supported his head with his palm, stretched out one leg, and bent the other. He lay comfortably and looked at Yu Shu. This casual posture did not match the moon-white Daoist robe he was wearing.
"Are you a descendant of the Ji family?"
Yu Shu wrung out the water on her body, picked up the rag, and squatted on the ground to wipe the water. When she heard his sudden question, she hesitated for a moment before answering,
"Sort of."
"If you are, then you are. If you aren't, then you aren't. What do you mean by sort of?"
"Then you aren't."
"You say yes, and now you say no. Are you or are you not?"
Yu Shu was annoyed by his nagging. She threw the wet rag into the bucket, said, and turned to the opposite corner to get a clean cotton cloth.
"If you are, then you are. If you are not, then you are not."
Yu Shu had good taste. To be able to put a bed in this place and make such a big commotion, no one came up to question him. This old man must have some seniority in the Ji family. The other party was just making fun of her. Even if she was not happy, she could not take it seriously.
When Yu Shu came back with a large ball of clean cotton cloth, the old Daoist changed his posture. He crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head. He tilted his head to look at Yu Shu and said with a smile,
"Who asked you to work here?"
"Old Lady Ji."
"Oh? Why did she send you here? "
"I made a mistake. The Matriarch punished me to clean here for a month."
Yu Shu answered him while squatting on the ground to suck up the water and wring it into the wooden bucket. Anyway, the wet floor wouldn't be cleaned in a short time, so she just chatted with him to kill time.
"Made a mistake? What mistake?" The old Taoist raised his eyebrows curiously.
"…" What does it have to do with you?
"What's wrong? Are you embarrassed to say it?"
Yu Shu rubbed the floor twice. "I hit Young Master Li."
The old Taoist must have known who the young master she was talking about was. When he heard her say that, he was instantly amused. He turned over and winked at her, saying,
"You're so young, but you've got guts. The old lady of the Ji family is the most protective. You hit her grandson, but she didn't whip you to vent her anger?"
Yu Shu thought to herself, "She didn't whip me, but the rattan was hit twenty times. Her hand still has the strength from the beating."
Then she thought, "That's not right. This old man isn't from the Ji family. Why did he call Old Lady Ji" the old lady of the Ji family "?"
Yu Shu was suspicious, so she asked him what he had asked her at the beginning,
"Old man, aren't you a member of the Ji family?"
"Me?" The old Taoist pointed at his nose and smiled strangely. He rubbed his nose. "I'm not a member of this family."
Yu Shu heard him call himself and looked at the old man carefully. She immediately understood. No wonder she felt that he was dressed differently. He was a Taoist priest.
"So you're a Taoist priest. Sorry for not recognizing you." Yu Shu put down the rag and cupped her hands at him, pretending to be respectful.
The Da 'an Dynasty respected Taoism and the Yi Xue. The Yi Xue was a study of practical application, while Taoism was a respected religious belief. The Yi Xue and Taoism were inextricably linked, but they were independent of each other. There were some Yi Xue families in the Da' an Dynasty that originally belonged to a branch of Taoism. Later, they broke away and started their own businesses.
In general, the biggest difference between the Taoist sects and the Yi Xue families was that one was not involved in the secular world, while the other was in the imperial court.
The old Taoist waved his hand politely. He turned his eyes and asked, "Since you're not a member of this family, where did you come from?"
Yu Shu thought that there was nothing to hide, so she answered truthfully, "My mother remarried to Third Master Ji as a concubine, so I moved in with her."
"How old are you this year?"
"Fifteen."
"How many months were you born?"
"Uh …" Yu Shu's mouth was stuttering. This, she really didn't know when "she" was born.
Seeing that she couldn't answer for a long time, the old Taoist's eyes flashed. He actually sat up and crossed his legs. His smile inexplicably became more serious,
"You can't remember when you were born, but you should at least know when you were born, right?"
"Of course, I know," Yu Shu blurted out.
The old Taoist's smile faded, and his eyes revealed some disappointment. He curled his lips and was about to lie down when he heard Yu Shu say proudly,
"Of course I was born fifteen years ago."
The old Taoist immediately sat up straight again. He rubbed the short beard on his chin, squinted his eyes and smiled, "Which year was fifteen years ago?"
"This …" Yu Shu was speechless again. She frowned and calculated silently. The Da 'an year was calculated according to the lunar calendar, right? What year was this year? Last time, she heard from Shopkeeper Cao that it was Jia Wu or Jia Wei?
She was so focused on calculating that she didn't notice the old Taoist's pair of shifty eyes sweeping over her body. When she looked over, he retracted them in time, cleared his throat, and teased,
"It seems that you're not good at arithmetic."
Hearing this, Yu Shu's breath was stuck in her throat. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. A dignified mathematical elite was actually laughed at by an ancient person for not being good at arithmetic. Shameful, too shameful.
"Your mother remarried. Do you have any sisters in your family?" The old Taoist asked again. His tone seemed to be chatting with Yu Shu, but his sitting posture was no longer as casual as before.
"I have a younger brother."
The old Taoist was stunned, and his face showed obvious disappointment. After a while, he wiped his face with all his might. His dry skin was rubbed red by him. He turned around and lay down on the bed again. With his back facing her, he waved at Yu Shu and said tiredly,
"Alright, go and play. This old Taoist is going to sleep. Don't stand here."
Yu Shu put down her hands and stared at the back of the old Taoist's head in confusion. Was this old man doing whatever he wanted to do when he was old? Just now, he took the initiative to ask her all sorts of questions, but when he turned his face, he didn't like her anymore.
Forget it, if he didn't like her, she still had a lot of work to do.
Yu Shu squatted back on the ground, pulled out a ball of dry cotton cloth, and continued to touch the water stains on the floor. Slowly, she occasionally looked up at the bamboo bed, but she didn't see the old Taoist moving. She just thought that he was asleep. Suddenly, she felt that it was meaningless, so she quickly cleaned up the floor and left with the bucket of water.
Without the rustling sound of friction behind him, the old Daoist on the bed sneakily turned his head to look behind him. When he did not see Yu Shu, he sneakily reached into his arms and took out something unknown. He placed it on his palm and looked at it over and over again. Finally, he pressed it on his chest and muttered to himself. One moment, he laughed foolishly, and the next moment, he let out two whimpers, as if he was hysterical.
"No … it's not it again. Senior Sister, I can't wait any longer. I really can't wait any longer …"
***
Because she fell in the middle, she wiped the floor for a long time. When it was almost noon, Yu Shu hadn't finished the work. The water in the bucket was dirty again, so she took it out to change. Before she reached the door, she bumped into Yu Xiaoxiu who came from the yard.
Before Yu Shu could ask why he was here, Yu Xiaoxiu questioned him unhappily, "What are you doing here?
"Didn't I ask you to stay in the house? I said I would do the work here. Why did you come? Your hand doesn't hurt anymore, right? "
Yu Shu didn't know how to answer him, so she simply handed the bucket to him. She massaged her waist and ordered, "You came at the right time. Go, pour the water and bring a bucket of clean water back. I'm so tired."
Yu Xiaoxiu glared at her, but he still took the bucket and slid it on her body. He frowned and said, "Why are your clothes so wet? You can't even do a little work. You're so sloppy. Alright, you can go back now."
Yu Shu automatically turned Yu Xiaoxiu's sarcasm into concern. She had been wiping the compass for the whole morning. Her body was sticky with sweat and dirty water. She really wanted to go back to take a bath and change clothes. Hearing what he said, she was tempted. After hesitating, she looked at the people inside who were still busy with their own work. She pulled Yu Xiaoxiu out of the door and said,
"Then I'll go back first. After you get the water, wipe the compass hanging on the back half of the west wall. The rag is in the box in the corner of the room. Wipe it with the wet one first and then use the dry one to clean the water —"
"I know," Yu Xiaoxiu interrupted her impatiently and pushed her shoulder to walk down the stairs.
"Come back early after you finish," Yu Shu winked at him. Thinking of the yellow-skinned mouse that stole the silver, she smiled wickedly and said, "I'll show you something good when I get back."
Yu Xiaoxiu was not interested in the good thing she said. In order to get rid of her quickly, he replied with a "hmm" and sent her away.
Yu Shu returned to the courtyard from the west courtyard alone. There was no one in the courtyard. The masters hadn't eaten yet. Aunt Liu was still helping to cook in the main kitchen.
The door was closed and opened with a push. Yu Shu was actually quite concerned about the situation where she couldn't close the door, so she planned to buy a lock.
Looking at the bowl behind the door, which was used to kill the mouse, Yu Shu closed the door while humming a nursery song. She went to the old wardrobe and took out a coarse cloth skirt and a short-sleeved shirt. She sat on the bed and changed while humming,
"Little mouse, climbed up the lampstand, stole oil to eat, couldn't get down, called daddy, called grandma, couldn't get down, fell head first, and rolled down."
After singing a few times, the bowl behind the door didn't move at all. Yu Shu thought that the mouse might have suffocated inside. No way, she still had to rely on it to find Yu Xiaoxiu's stolen money.
She felt relieved and hurriedly put on her belt. She ran to the bowl, covered the mouth of the bowl with one hand to prevent the mouse from suddenly running out, and opened the bowl with the other hand —
"It's an old lady's bowl!"
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