While the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, Lian Qiao took the blankets from the house to the courtyard outside to dry them. The cotton in the old blankets was thin, almost a thin layer. It was extremely eye-catching among the thick and colorful blankets in the courtyard.
Chun Ying was instructing a few servant girls to hang the quilts in Zhang Lan's room on a rope outside. Compared to the ones in Lian Qiao's hands, the quilt in front of Chun Ying was embroidered with delicate peony patterns. It was stuffed with this year's newly plucked cotton, bulging and looked very thick. The quilt pressed down on the rope that was used to dry the clothes. Chun Ying said loudly, "Be careful, don't scratch the back, it is made of fine silk."
Lian Qiao did not even look at her and walked to the other side. She raised her hand and hung the quilt on the rope. The quilt was light and weightless, so it was very easy to hang. Chun Ying saw Lian Qiao and laughed, "Oh, Lian Qiao jiejie also came to dry the quilt personally." After saying that, he glanced at the quilt on the rope and said, "All of you come and learn from her. Look at Lian Qiao. She's really capable. She can dry the quilt by herself and it doesn't look like much effort. Unlike us, it's tiring to carry it with a few people."
The maidservants giggled. One of them smiled and said, "Perhaps the quilt in Young Miss's room is made of high-quality cotton. It doesn't look like it has any weight. This kind of quilt is very comfortable. It's not like our quilt, which is thick and heavy."
Lian Qiao smoothed out the wrinkles on the quilt and ignored their teasing. Seeing this, Chun Ying did not give up and continued, "Lian Qiao, why did you only sun Miss's quilt and not Baizhi's quilt? Let us see if your quilt is the same as Miss's and different from ours. "
A few servant girls laughed again. It was really too much to say that a mistress' quilt could not even be compared to a servant's. Lian Qiao raised her eyebrows and was about to get angry when she saw a servant girl with a sweet smile walking over hurriedly, "Lian Qiao jiejie, you asked me to find..."
"Lu Zhu," Lian Qiao interrupted her, "Wait a moment." She smoothed out the last wrinkle on the blanket before turning around and pulling the young servant girl's hand, "Come over and talk."
The two of them walked to the side and leaned very close to each other, not knowing what they were talking about. After a while, Lian Qiao picked up the empty wooden basin and left. After Lian Qiao left, Chun Ying called out to the young servant girl who was about to leave, "Your name is Lu Zhu, right?"
Dewdrop timidly looked at Chun Ying and said, "Yes."
"Don't be afraid," Chun Ying said, "What were you and Lian Qiao talking about just now?"
"No, nothing." Dewdrop shook her head and looked down at her feet.
"What's there to be afraid of? It's not like I'm going to eat you up," Chun Ying's voice was a little fierce, "Why would Lian Qiao look for you for no reason? And what were the two of you discussing so sneakily just now? I'm sure you know who's in charge here. If you don't explain yourself today, then don't stay in the manor anymore. "
"Don't," Dewdrop suddenly raised her head, a pair of helpless red eyes, "Sister Chun Ying, don't chase me out of the manor."
"As long as you explain yourself, I naturally won't do anything to you," Chun Ying said. "I'm not an unreasonable person. Seeing that you look unfamiliar, you should be a new servant girl. Work well and I won't let anyone bully you in the future."
"Really?" Dewdrop raised her head, a hopeful expression on her face.
"Why would I lie to you?" Chun Ying's tone became gentler, but she was sure that there was something fishy about Lian Qiao.
"Actually, Sister Lian Qiao did not look for me for anything," Dewdrop said, "She only heard that I'm good at embroidery. She wanted me to embroider a water lily on the torn part of Miss's clothes so that she wouldn't be able to tell."
Chun Ying looked at her suspiciously, "Just this?"
"Yes." Dewdrop nodded.
"This is really strange. Miss usually doesn't care about clothes. Why would she suddenly want to embroider a water lily?"
"This …" Dewdrop was a little hesitant.
"What else is there?" Chun Ying asked anxiously.
"I heard that a pot of 'Beauty under the Moonlight' was found outside. Tonight, Miss wants to go to the pear garden to admire the flowers. If you want to dress nicely, don't neglect the precious flowers." Dewdrop said everything in one go, "I heard that 'Beauty under the Moonlight' is extremely rare. It's also a rare species that can bloom on a winter night."
"Beauty under the Moonlight?" Chun Ying felt strange, "A pot of 'Beauty under the Moonlight' was found in the manor? I've never heard of this. "She looked at Chun Ying in front of her," Alright, there's nothing else. You can go and do your work. "
Dewdrop responded and turned to leave. After Dewdrop left, Chun Ying stood at the same spot and muttered to herself, "Now that it's already like this, why would she still have the mood to admire the flowers? Even if she had the mood to admire the flowers, why would she specially look for a nice dress? Usually, she cares about these things the most. There must be another reason for her abnormal behavior today. I must find out what exactly they are planning. "
In the room in the side courtyard, Bai Zhi was also taking out the books from the chest to dry. The chest full of books was spread out in the courtyard to dry. As Bai Zhi carefully flipped through the pages, she said, "Miss, this chest of books has been well preserved. After the New Year, the room will be damp, so you must often take them out to dry." She then thought of something, "In the past, when Furen was still alive, she was also extremely fond of books and would dry them every day."
"Mother came from a family of generals, yet she collected all these precious reading materials. It was only to coax people into liking them, but it ended up benefiting me." Jiang Ruan said softly as she looked at the books in the courtyard.
The ancestors of the Zhao family were generals who were accustomed to the sandstorms and bloody battlefields. The men in the family were all heroes in the army. Their only daughter, Zhao Mei, fell in love with Jiang Quan. The entire Zhao family strongly opposed this, but Zhao Mei insisted on marrying a man of lower status. Thus, the Zhao family severed all ties with their only daughter.
After Jiang Quan and Zhao Mei got married, Zhao Mei found out that Jiang Quan favored erudite and talented women. Thus, she collected many unique books from all over the world and carefully studied them. Who knew that not long after, Zhao Quan would marry the most talented woman in the capital, Xia Yan, as a noble concubine.
In the end, Zhao Mei did not live to finish reading this chest of books. However, Xia Yan had transformed from a noble concubine into the present Jiang Furen. Jiang Ruan laughed at herself. Even in death, her mother did not understand that if one really did not love, one would not be able to gain the other's favor no matter what. From the past until the future, the one Jiang Ruan loved was never the talented woman, but the talented woman, Xia Yan.
"Miss, are you thinking of Furen?" Bai Zhi looked at Jiang Ruan's expression, "If Furen was still alive, she would definitely be gratified to see Miss's current intelligence and sensitivity."
Jiang Ruan smiled slightly and declined to comment. Bai Zhi walked back and saw the book in Jiang Ruan's hand. She was stunned, "Miss, why are you reading military books again? Now that you don't have to go to the battlefield, why don't you read some poetry? "
"Even if I don't go to the battlefield, the enemy will still come knocking on my door," Jiang Ruan's gaze fell on a few words in the book of military strategy in front of her: Lure the snake out of its hole.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
