readsfreenovel Chapter 440 The Flower of Barrenness (15)
Chapter 440 The Flower of Barrenness (15)
With charcoal pencils in hand, Tian Laosan immersed himself in them, showing great interest in exploring such things.
Wangyou was busy admiring her new home. The house had five courtyards, with artificial hills, gardens, lotus ponds, and other features. It was probably left by the previous owner, but Wangyou felt that she had gotten a bargain.
Wangyou's courtyard faces south and is bathed in sunlight. There are also newly planted peach trees in the courtyard, all of them large and mature. The interior decoration of the rooms is also based on Wangyou's courtyard in the prefectural city, except that the house is much larger and feels a bit empty.
Next door is her study, and outside the study window is a small patch of bamboo, which is very elegant.
However, the courtyard was still short of people, so Song hurriedly contacted brokers to buy maids, servants, and old women.
Song specially bought two maids for Wangyou.
"Wangyou, take a look and see if these two maids suit your taste?"
"Mother, I don't want a maid."
“If you don’t like being served by others, then this room needs to be cleaned. Besides, this courtyard is too big, and I’m worried about you living alone. I’ll feel more at ease if someone takes care of you. In addition, you’re seventeen this year, and it’s time for you to have a maid.”
"Alright, Mother, I understand. I'll go see the person."
Wangyou glanced at the two maids and found them acceptable, so she kept them and named them Chuntao and Zhuzhi.
"Chuntao, Zhuzhi, you two serve Miss well."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Forget-Me-Not, Mother will go and attend to her business now."
"Mother, you go ahead and do your work. Don't worry about me here."
Life in the capital was no different from before, except that the space for forgetting worries and indulging in pleasures had become much larger.
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, they welcomed their first New Year in the capital.
"Mom, I want to go out and see the lantern festival during the Lantern Festival."
"Really, that's great! At least you're willing to go out now."
"Then I'll quickly have someone reserve a spot. We need to choose a good location to watch the lantern festival that day."
"The best spot is the Observatory, but I heard that the Emperor was there with his concubines that day," Tian Ye said with a smile.
"Then let's forget it. It sounds like a place of trouble. Let's stay away from it." Wangyou said with a smile.
“We ordinary people can’t reach that high-class status yet, but ordinary people have their own way of life, right?” Tian Zhuang added, explaining that he didn’t go home for the Spring Festival because he had to prepare for the imperial examinations.
But it won't be long; Tian Zhuang and his family are also planning to move to Beijing.
"Miss, please wear this red one. It will make you look radiant," Chun Tao said, holding up a red dress.
"No, the light blue one with the veil will do. Red is too eye-catching."
“Miss looks beautiful in blue too, just like a fairy,” Zhuzhi said, taking the blue dress from her.
After changing their clothes, the family went out.
"Sister, that lantern is so beautiful, I'll go and win it back for you."
"Okay, then I'll wait for my brother's lantern."
The two broke away from the main group and headed towards the place where they were solving riddles and getting lanterns.
Forget-Me-Not's maid Chun Tao and Zhu Zhi, and Tian You, Tian Ye's servant, quickly followed.
"Lonely peaks and layered clouds disperse, what character is this?"
"It's the character 'jue' (崛), meaning 'to rise'!"
"One in a thousand, one in a hundred, what character is it?"
"Uncle."
"Half a lifetime in love, yet no regrets. What Chinese character does this represent?"
The character "清" (qīng).
"Why must we have known each other before we met?" (Guess the Chinese idiom)
"It felt like we'd known each other forever."
"Talking incessantly, guess the name of a medicinal herb."
This stumped Tianye, but in his spare time he helped Wangyou process the medicinal herbs. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's Changliushui."
……
The riddles got harder and harder as they went on, but finally we arrived at the last riddle.
"Entering the cave like a dragon, exiting like a phoenix; the phoenix gives birth to a hundred characters, and the hundred characters form a dragon. Guess the name of the animal."
"I know, it's a silkworm."
"Congratulations to this young master for winning the title of King of Lights this time."
"Thank you!" Tianye took the lantern and ran towards Wangyou.
"Sister, the lantern!"
"What a beautiful lantern." Wangyou picked up the lantern and examined it closely. Her eyes, full of smiles, shone brightly.
"Yes, it's so pretty. Do you like it, sister?"
"Of course I like it." Wangyou picked up the lantern and left, and Tianye quickly followed.
"Those eyes are so beautiful. I wonder what kind of stunning beauty lies beneath the veil."
"Young Master, what's wrong with you? You seem so absent-minded. What's wrong? You fainted just from looking at that girl?"
"Boring!" The young man called Xiao Guan walked to the side, sat down, and drank tea, but his tightly clenched hands betrayed his inner turmoil.
The lantern festival lasted a long time, and Wangyou enjoyed herself for a long time as well. However, a human trafficking incident occurred in the middle of the festival, which made it less than perfect.
"Son, did you see any girls you liked at the lantern festival today?"
"Just look at him, he's got no chance. He's so handsome, yet he can't even win over a daughter-in-law. What a waste of your looks," the princess said, rolling her eyes at the young official.
The official looked at the parents helplessly and said, "I'm going back to my room now."
Back in his room, the young official anxiously awaited the return of the secret guards.
"Something's not right with the junior official."
"Something's not right. It's not like usual."
“What do you mean, ‘same’? If I said that normally, he would definitely roll his eyes at me, but today he didn’t react, and his ears even seem a little red. There’s definitely something wrong,” the princess said with certainty.
"Really? I didn't notice that." The Duke of Fuguo looked bewildered.
"You've found nothing! No one knows a son better than his mother. Our son might have his eye on some girl at the lantern festival, who knows?" the princess said with a smile.
The Duke of Fuguo nodded in agreement. It didn't matter whether his daughter-in-law was male or female, as long as his son liked her and she wouldn't die alone.
……
Wangyou played all night and was tired. She went back and fell asleep immediately. Then, unsurprisingly, an accident happened. In the middle of the night, Wangyou developed a high fever.
The family stayed up all night and into the morning, and the fever didn't subside until the afternoon.
Although Wangyou's emotions are usually very stable, the strenuous exercise still put a strain on her heart. In addition, the weather was cold, and Wangyou was playing happily and sweating a lot, so she developed a fever.
Old Qiu took Wangyou's pulse and breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, the fever has subsided, so you'll be fine."
With Old Qiu's diagnosis, Tian Laosan and Song Shi breathed a sigh of relief, but they were still heartbroken.
"Master, Madam, there's a young master outside who says he's brought the imperial physician," said the steward, Uncle Wang, as he entered.
"Quickly, invite them in."
The young official led Physician Hu in, saying, "I live next door to you. You made quite a commotion in the early morning, so I thought you might need a physician."
The junior official spoke at length, leaving the guards beside him speechless with astonishment.
"Thank you, young master. My daughter's fever has subsided, but I would still appreciate it if the imperial physician could take another look." Tian Laosan led the imperial physician to take her pulse.