My rigid, jealous husband has fallen for me, even though I'm a hopeless romantic.

Chapter 185 Garden Renovation

Su Yide and the Ministry of Works were traveling day and night, so they arrived in Ningcheng earlier than Gu Peiyan and the others.

Therefore, when Gu Peiyan and her group arrived, the situation in Ningcheng was better than they had expected.

At least for now, the lives of the people in the city are gradually returning to what they used to be.

Gu Peiyan and Qian Duoduo arrived at their resting place and, after a short rest, set off for the area most severely affected by the disaster.

Seeing this, Wei Dongning still asked Xiao Wu with some concern, "The flood should be completely stopped now, right? Gu Peiyan shouldn't be in any danger if she goes over there now, right?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, all the leaks have been plugged now, and the Third Prince is leading people to reinforce them. Besides, the floodwaters have long since receded, so your Gu Peiyan will be safe."

"That's good." Wei Dongning was relieved. "As long as the flood stops, that's all that matters. I'm going to the garden later, do you want to come with me?"

"Okay!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wu immediately got up from his nest and walked over to Wei Dongning's side.

Of all the Gu family mansions, besides their own residence, this garden was their favorite spot.

Although it has never seen the flowers bloom here, it simply loves to stay here.

In Wei Dongning's words, the place is big enough that she can run around as much as she wants.

Aunt Zhang estimated the time and figured Wei Dongning must have finished eating, so she came over to clear away the plates and bowls.

This time, she didn't rush to leave. Instead, she looked at Wei Dongning with a hint of hesitation.

"Aunt Zhang, is there anything else?"

"It's really nothing big." Aunt Zhang rubbed her hands together. "The other day, my martial arts master praised Xiao Hu for his good learning. I think it's mainly thanks to the master's excellent teaching, so I wanted to give the master something to express my gratitude. But I don't know anything about martial arts and don't know what would be appropriate to give. I was thinking of asking the young mistress if she has any good suggestions for May Day?"

Wei Dongning hesitated for a moment.

She thought sending some wine would be fine, but then she thought it wasn't appropriate.

She did arrange for Xiaohu to attend a martial arts school, but she didn't really pay attention to which master was in charge of teaching him.

There are also two martial arts instructors in the martial arts school who never drink alcohol.

If it happens to be one of those two, then sending wine as a gift would be somewhat inappropriate.

"Aunt Zhang, do you know who Xiao Hu's master is?"

“I remember. He was a master surnamed Yang.”

Wei Dongning mentally checked the situation and found that she had no recollection of this martial arts master surnamed Yang.

But he is definitely not one of the two who don't drink.

"Go to the tavern and get some wine, and also some food. The braised pork knuckle and pig's trotters at Manxianglou are quite delicious. If you don't know what to choose, you can pick one of these two."

"Okay, thank you so much, young mistress." Aunt Zhang thanked Wei Dongning and left with light steps.

Wei Dongning seemed to have thought of something and turned to look at Xiao Wu: "Do you want to eat pig's trotters?"

She hadn't intended to, but after talking to Aunt Zhang, her cravings were stirred up.

Especially at night, you can enjoy watching TV shows while munching on pig's trotters – it's just too awesome!

Xiao Wu tilted its head to meet its gaze: "You just successfully lost weight not long ago, aren't you planning to maintain it?"

Wei Dongning probably didn't realize that since successfully losing weight, she has become increasingly unrestrained in her eating, basically eating whatever she wants.

Xiao Wu didn't care; it even thought she was too thin.

Gu Peiyan also felt that her original appearance was just right.

I just don't know if she can accept it.

Wei Dongning noticed that Xiao Wu's behavior had been questionable lately, with a strong tendency to attack. She pouted and muttered in defense of herself, "I'm still growing."

"Those are all excuses. Who was it that said, 'Drink water when you're hungry, and slap your mouth when you're craving something'?"

"Who is it? I don't know them. I'm going to the garden, do you still want to come with me?"

After saying that, Wei Dongning got up, grabbed her things, and left.

He ignored Xiao Wu's "disdainful" voice.

As long as she runs fast, Xiao Wu isn't talking about her.

Upon arriving in the garden, the gardener was turning over the soil.

Upon seeing her arrive, he assumed she was there to supervise, and immediately stopped what he was doing to report the progress to her: "Young Madam, we will be able to turn over all the soil soon."

"It's alright, just pretend I'm not here. I'll take a look around first." Wei Dongning waved her hand, signaling them to continue.

She only has one idea for now: to renovate the garden, but she hasn't figured out exactly how to do it.

Walking into the pavilion in the center of the garden, Wei Dongning put down what she had been holding.

Xiao Wu jumped onto the table, looking at the things on it with a puzzled expression: "Why did you bring paper and pen here?"

"Draw a sketch."

She doesn't have a strong ability to imagine things out of thin air, so she feels more at ease drawing them on paper.

With a few quick strokes, she sketched out the basic outline of a garden on the paper.

It just doesn't quite match the actual shape of the garden.

But it's not a big problem, as long as she can understand it herself.

Wei Dongning would occasionally look up at the garden, then lower her head to doodle on the paper.

Occasionally, he would bite the end of his pen and ponder for a moment.

His earnestness made Xiao Wu reluctant to disturb him.

Once the gardeners had finished tidying up the soil, Wei Dongning stopped painting.

Actually, she didn't make too many changes to the garden. She basically just replaced two of the crabapple trees with osmanthus trees and replaced the lilacs with hibiscus trees.

The reason is simple: the original owner was allergic to cloves.

I can't help but sneeze if I get too close.

In severe cases, the eyes may also itch.

For her own health, it would be safer to change it.

Finally, she turned the corner into a small pond, intending to place lotus flowers in it.

You can also keep a few small fish inside.

I just don't know if this method is feasible.

Wei Dongning handed the "blueprints" in her hand to the gardeners standing in front of her: "Could you please take a look and see if this modification is too much trouble?"

The blueprints passed around among the group before finally returning to the leader.

The man looked at it carefully again before replying, "No trouble at all. We'll go and take care of those two crabapple and lilac trees right away."

"Then I'll have to trouble you all." Wei Dongning left the blueprints with them, packed up her pen and inkstone, and left the garden.

They left all the creative freedom to the gardeners.

She never intended to stay here indefinitely.

After all, she doesn't like being watched when she's working.

Xiao Wu followed Wei Dongning's footsteps and slowly walked towards other parts of the mansion.

As they approached the west courtyard, he suddenly spoke up. "Ningbao, once that pond is finished, could you keep a few fish in it?"

"What? You want to eat at the pool buffet?" Wei Dongning stopped and raised an eyebrow at Xiao Wu.

Am I that kind of kitten?

"uncertain."

"Okay, actually I'm not sure either." Xiao Wu smiled guiltily.

It knows best what kind of person it is.

The construction of the pool was more complicated, and it took half a month for the garden to be completely renovated according to Wei Dongning's ideas.

Gu Peiyan has been away from home for more than half a month.

Although she could see what Xiao Wu was doing every day, she still couldn't help missing him.