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046 Birthday feast
Nangong Yue is deliberately using this incident to show
her ability in front of Lin Shi. She does not want to be treated as a
child by her mother all the time, she wants her mother to trust herself more
...... Then when there is something big happens in the future, her mother will
not deliberately hide it from her because of her young age.
Lin Shi was silent; she knew her daughter was
right. But when she thought that her daughter is only nine years old, she was
forced to grow up, forced to understand things, forced to be strong ...... all
because her this useless mother. If it hadn't been for her own uselessness, why
would her daughter have to be like this! Why should have to be like this!
Lin Shi's gaze closed and a rare determination
appeared in her usual soft eyes. Being a mother makes her stronger, and for the
sake of her children, she had to work harder too!
After a few more moments of
mother-daughter bonding, Lin Shi left.
Que'er had been guarding outside
Nangong Yue's room for a long time. As soon as she saw Lin Shi leave,
she entered the room and reported: "Miss San, this afternoon, Miss Su
Biao, she met the Fourth Master by chance in the back garden... Miss Su Biao's
maid Liu Rong was guarding at the entrance of the garden, so the servant girl
didn't dare to get too close."
On hearing this, Nangong Yue could not help but smile
coldly.She knew that this woman Su Qingping would never be an easy one to take
care of. Fourth Uncle Nangong Cheng had already come of age and had moved out
of the inner house long ago. Su Qingping must not have found it easy to "run
into" her fourth uncle, so she must have used some tactics.
Nangong Yue rewarded Que’er with a beaded flower and
instructed, "Que’er, you have done a good job. Continue to watch at Miss
Su Biao and if she does anything unusual, come back and tell me." Que’er
thanked her respectfully for the reward, answered "Yes", and then
withdrew.
Nangong Yue was left alone in the room
again. She sat quietly on the bed and thought of her fourth uncle, and also of
Qin'er, the concubine of her fourth uncle. Although she didn't know much about
her fourth uncle in this life, she remembered that in her previous life, he was
an amorous man, and almost all the maids in his courtyard who had a few good
looks had been approached by him. After he got married, he even became a
flirtatious seed, only pitying her that fourth aunt......
Nangong Yue secretly pondered, and a certain
possibility emerged in her mind: Could it be that the first person Su Qingping
targeted in her previous life was not actually her own father, but fourth Uncle
Nangong Cheng?
Based on the personalities of these
two people and the current development trend, it seems very possible.
Thinking of this, Nangong Yue was suddenly shocked to
realise that in her previous life, she had missed so much because she had been
lingering sick for a few months.
**◆**
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Today was Su Shi's
birthday, and extra money was given to all the servants in the house early
in the morning, so the whole Nangong Mansion was overjoyed and thanked the Lao
Furen for her kindness. The Guniangs were given three days off from
their studies, so that they could take time off from their busy schedules.
Early in the morning, people from
Dafang, Erfang, Sanfang and Sifang, as well as Su Qingping, they all went to
the main hall to give birthday greetings to Su Shi. Even Huang Shi, who
had been sentenced to confinement, was released today, but her voice was still
hoarse. It was heard that she had recited the female commandments under the
veranda all night that day, and by the next day her voice was so hoarse that
she could barely speak.
As soon as Huang Shi saw Nangong Yue and Lin Shi,
her eyes erupted with a strong resentment, but she also knew that today was Su
Shi's birthday, so if she made a scene, that would be the end of her, so she
could only meekly half-lower her eyes and stare deadly at her own toes.
The children and grandchildren, starting with the (Dafang) Eldest household, congratulate Su Shi one by one.
"May my mother (grandmother) be
blessed with long flowing water like the East Sea and live longer than the
ageless pines of the South Mountain."
Everyone was kowtowing and hand-delivering their own
carefully prepared birthday gifts of various colours: a Longevity of the Eight
Immortals Painting, Hundred Years of Life Embroidery, a dotted emerald
embroidered wipe( forehead band), a argarwood ...... Even Nangong Xin gave the
God of longevity picture he personally painted. When it was Nangong Yue's turn,
she gave a birthday gift that was not quite the same as everyone else's - a
pair of knee pads.
"This is ......" Su Shi was slightly
moved and looked at Nangong Yue a little differently.
"Grandmother, this is granddaughter's handmade knee
pads for you. Granddaughter has specially put herbs for rheumatism in it hoping
it will help Grandmother." The knee pads were said to be handmade, but in
fact she had only moved her lips, An Niang had helped with the cutting and
Yimei had helped with the sewing and embroidery. Only the herbs in them were
actually handmade by her which would indeed be very beneficial to Su Shi's rheumatism.
" Yue Jie'er really is thoughtful!" Su Shi
couldn't help but be delighted and praised without hesitation and also
attracting some envious or cynical or disdainful or shocked glances for Nangong
Yue.
Following this, the Sanfang and Si fang (third household and fourth)
also gave Su Shi their birthday wishes and gifts, and finally it was Su
Qingping's turn. Su Qingping had obviously dressed up carefully, took out her
best clothes and jewellery. Since she didn't have much jewelry, she had simply
chosen the one that suited her best, a gold butterfly flower pendant dangling
from her ear, the string of beads swaying slightly as she walked while looking
both elegant and pretty.
But her face looked unnatural, and the smile at the corner
of her mouth looked like it was forced. But she immediately adjusted her mood,
and when she raised her eyes again, she was smiling freely.
"Qingping wishes her Da Gumu a long and
prosperous life as three thousand years of peach*.(A long life of pine and a
thousand years of peach.)" Su Qingping respectfully bowed to Su Shi and
her maid Liu Rong helped her to present the birthday gift, "Qingping saw Da
Gumu suffering from rheumatism a few days ago, she thought of the same
thing as Yue Jie’er, and prepared a pair of knee pads for Da Gumu.
Although they are not as well thought out as Yue jie’er, Da Gumu
should not dislike Qingping." From the outside, the knee pads she had made
were much nicer and more delicate than Nangong Yue's pair, with a wonderfully
embroidered picture of a peach on a dark green silk cloth, edged in azure and
lined with warm rabbit fur.
It's just that Nangong Yue presented
the gift before and deliberately added herbs to the knee pads that it seemed
more thoughtful and a little more out of the ordinary.
So this time Su Shi was not flattered, but ordered
Wang mama to accept the birthday gift and said with a smile:
"Qingping, you are also thoughtful."
Su Qingping twisted her handkerchief and retreated to the
side somewhat reluctantly.
Not long after, a pozi came rushing to report that
Su Shi's eldest daughter, Nangong Yun, had arrived at the gate with her
husband Bai Yuxuan and daughter Bai Muxiao; not half an incense stick later, Su
Shi's concubine daughter, Nangong Shuang, had also arrived at Rong'anTang
with her husband and a son and daughter ......Looking at the room full of
children and grandchildren, even Su Shi, who normally does not smile, could not
help but smiling so much that her eyes were narrowed in relief.
After offering their wishes for birthday, the men from
each house and the two guye(son-in-law) left the inner courtyard and
went to the banquet seat in the outer courtyard together, except for Nangong
Xin who went back to the Qianyun yuan. Over the years, Lin Shi has
been very protective of Nangong Xin, rarely letting him show up in front of
outsiders, lest he be hurt by gossip. And Su Shi, moreover, is eager to
prevent this retarded grandson from coming out to meet people.
The ladies stayed in the main hall, talking to each other
and chatting about family matters, and it was a very lively time.
A short time later, a pozi came to inform us that a
certain family had sent congratulatory gifts ...... A few moments later, two
other families also sent congratulatory gifts.
Notes:
These are two classical couplets for the celebration of
longevity, both for the ag
This line means: from now on it is forty years old, and
there are still ten years to go before it is fifty. The second sentence is an
exaggerated, anthropomorphic wish for longevity, and a good wish for three
thousand years. The second line is an exaggerated, metaphorical wish for
longevity.
