Changying The Lady

Wei Boyu, who had devoted his whole life to cursive script, could stand the coldness and solitude of living on Little Bamboo Hill for decades, so he didn"t have a gorgeous inner room. These three yellow mud huts were simple and crude. He was not one of those arty-crafty people who showed people the shabby outlook of their huts but decorated their inner rooms beautifully.

After Wei Boyu died, the Wei Family took back Little Bamboo Hill and the hut. They didn"t add much decoration to it. Every small thing was the same as it was when Wei Boyu lived here and remained unchanged for a hundred years.

After coming in, they saw the mud floor and the cob walls. In the main hall, although there were several couches and a desk made from rock wood, a good material, the style was very simple. Obviously, the craftsman hired at that time was average, so it was plain and without decoration.

In several places, the paint color fell off and there were obvious traces of repair.

On the opposite side of the hall, the whole wall was pasted with mulberry paper, with several calligraphy and paintings hung on it, including The Little Bamboo Hill. But they were all imitations. The real ones were hidden in the treasure-house of the Wei Family, and would never be placed here at will.

There was one room on the left and one on the right. The east room was the study. Seeing that Song Zaishui was looking at the study, the clever maidservant hurriedly moved to roll up the curtain. In the room, the books were placed on a shelf on the wall and the long desk was placed in front of the window. The lamp on the long desk was newly wiped and shining. Under the lamp, there were bamboo slips spread out half at will. As if the owner of the hut had been still living there, but he just happened to go out and would come back soon.

The east room was the study, so the west room should be the bedroom.

Although Wei Boyu was the elder of these three people a hundred years ago and had pa.s.sed away, Song Zaishui and Wei Changying were young girls so they would never go to spy on the elder"s bedroom.

After sitting in the hall for a while, Song Zaishui had some tea and snacks and regained her strength, but she didn"t mention going down the mountain. Looking around, she suddenly sighed, “If someone can live peacefully in the mountain, although there is just a crude hut and no meat in every meal, and he has to make hair clasps from woods and weave his own clothes, won"t it also be good?”

Wei Changying remembered Madam Song"s reminding that she should pay attention to Song Zaishui. When she heard the words, her expression changed slightly. She said tentatively, “If you come to such a place once in a while, you will feel amazed. But if you spend too much time here, I"m afraid, you will feel bored.”

Song Zaishui said faintly, “I"d like to live here for decades, listening to the waves of the bamboo sea every day, but it"s a pity….”

“Decades will be too long. If you really like here, let"s send someone back to report to the elders that we"re going to stay here for a couple of days. Maybe you will change your mind after that.” Wei Changying reluctantly smiled. She thought that Song Zaishui"s sudden proposal to travel was weird. Now listening to Song Zaishui"s envy of Wei Boyu"s former residence, she felt more and more strange.

After a brief silence in the hut, Song Zaishui said lightly, “Forget about it. In two or three days, the envoy of the Emperor will arrive in Fengzhou. How can I delay you?” She closed her eyes. A moment later, she raised her sleeves and stood up, “Let"s look around outside.”

Wei Changying and her brother looked at each other and agreed.

There were just three yellow mud huts. Even with two narrow rooms for young servants, the house was so small that they walked around it in a few steps. Song Zaishui still didn"t mention going back to the city, saying, “Let"s just go to the top of the mountain and have a look.”

There was a spring on the top of Little Bamboo Hill. The quality of the water was not so high, but the water was very clean.

Wei Changying looked down at the reflection of herself in the small pond formed by the spring water. Because she and Song Zaishui didn"t want to attract the attention of the pa.s.serby, they chose to wear clothes of light colors today. She was wearing a lilac jacket with broad sleeves and b.u.t.tons down the front and with tangled branches and peonies embroidered with ultramarine silk threads. Because of the summer heat, inside the jacket, she only wore an ultramarine strapless with embroidered dark cloud patterns, a light cyan fairy skirt, and an apricot red brocade belt around her waist, on which a hollow-out golden hook with an auspicious-cloud-shaped jade pendant was hung.

The water was so clear like a mirror, reflecting her white and bright face, which was like jade. Her eyes were like paints and her temples were like a crow"s wings. She was really a beauty.

She thought to herself, “Zaishui told me that after I get married, there will be no such relaxing time. I don"t know if I go to the water bank again after years, whether there will be such a time when I can look at my reflection in the water and feel proud of it.”

Song Zaishui, who stood two steps away from her, also looked thoughtfully at the bamboo forest on the opposite side of the pond. The lineal daughter of the Song Family, on the one hand, was less gorgeous than Wei Changying, but on the other hand, she was dignified and had the temperament of a lady from a n.o.ble family, which was beyond Wei Changying"s reach.

The mountain wind came from the bottom of their sleeves. In the flying clothes, these two girls looked like fairies, as if they would have gone back with the wind.

The servants around were frightened by beauty of these two girls, and could not help but keep silent.

Wei Changfeng grew up with Wei Changying and was also her lineal brother. He always treated his cousin Song Zaishui with courtesy. He just turned 15 and was always urged by his elders to study. After studying hard for many years, he hadn"t thought about girls, so he didn"t feel anything about the scene that his sisters looked at their own reflections in the water and sighed about their marriages. Instead, he was interested in these happy fish in the pond. No matter how hard he tried to act like a knowledgeable scholar, Wei Changfeng was just a 15-year-old boy. Although he studied hard, when he traveled, he could become naughty unavoidably. When he saw that his two sisters were lost in thoughts on the top of the mountain and they were surrounded by maidservants, he thought he had nothing to do at that time. He couldn"t help but turn around and ask Wei Qing in a low voice, “Third brother, can you get a fishing rod?”

Wei Qing ranked the third in the peers of his branch. Although he was now serving as a bodyguard of Wei Changfeng and needed to call him “the fifth young master,” Wei Changfeng got strict family education and was very kind to everyone, so he always called him third brother according to the family book, which was also with the intention of getting close to him.

Wei Qing had been serving Wei Changfeng for two or three years. He knew about this young master"s temperament very well. When he glanced at the pool, he immediately knew Wei Changfeng"s mind. His mouth was slightly c.o.c.ked, and then he said seriously, “I"m afraid there is no such thing on the mountain, but I can make one now.”

When so many people went out, servants were always ready. When Wei Qing asked for a sewing needle, Xinli immediately put out a sewing kit. After finding a stone beside the pond, he bent the sewing needle on it, and then took the silk thread and rubbed it up. Wei Qing tested its strength to make sure it would work, and cut a green bamboo nearby. A fishing rod was ready.

Seeing that his sisters were still in their thoughts and didn"t seem to leave now, Wei Changfeng took a breath of relief, dug out the earthworm from the wetland by the pond and put it on the needle, found a higher Boulder, lifted up his robe and sat down, and started fishing happily.

“Are there fish in the pond?” Song Zaishui seemed to come to her sense, or she paid attention to Wei Changfeng"s behavior before. When Wei Changfeng just sat down, her eyes suddenly turned, and she asked gently across the pond.

Wei Changfeng was concentrating on the fish in the pond. When he heard the words, his hands shook, so the fish coming by were scared off. But he didn"t have time to feel pity. He stood up embarra.s.sedly and said, “You are right.”

With the order to accompany his two sisters on this trip, he lost his mind and went fishing here. Although Madam Song wouldn"t scold him for such a small thing when she knew it, Wei Changfeng, who always attached great importance to etiquette, felt a little guilty. Looking at the fishing rod he just got in his hand, he wanted to throw it down but hated to give it up, so he had to hold it in a slight way. When he did not know what to say to Song Zaishui, Song Zaishui said, “Interesting. I"ll make one too. There are ready needles. I"ll pick a suitable fishing rod.”

At that time, Wei Changying was also awakened and said without thinking, “I"m in.”

“You can pick one there. You"re strong. I"ll pick a thinner one.” Song Zaishui heard it. She turned to her with a smile and said, “I"m afraid that the bamboo here is not suitable for you.”

Wei Changying looked at the direction she was going. There was really a thicket of thin bamboo. They were too thin for her wrist strength, so she smiled and said, “OK.”

But…

In just two steps, Wei Changying suddenly felt something was wrong. With that thin bamboo, which was not as thick as her little finger, could it catch fish? Song Zaishui was weak, but… Couldn"t she hold a fishing rod as thick as a little finger? With a fishing pod thinner than a little finger, even if a fish of ordinary size was hooked, she might not be able to lift it. How could such a bamboo be used for a fishing rod?

Due to this, her heart beat faster for no reason. She suddenly turned around!

The sudden move surprised Lvfang and others following them!

But she didn"t have time to say anything to them. Wei Changying took a deep breath, picked up her skirt and ran towards Song Zaishui quickly!

At this time, Song Zaishui walked slowly to the edge of the bamboo thicket with the maidservants. Listening to the footsteps, she did not stop, but walked faster to the thicket! Seeing this situation, Wei Changying knew it was not going well. She suddenly shouted, “Chunjing, Xiajing, stop her!”

Chunjing and Xiajing only thought that their master was just walking faster, but maybe the master was excited by the fishing scene of the fifth young master and could not wait to choose the suitable fishing rod. Although they heard Wei Changying"s voice, they weren"t Wei Changying"s maidservants after all and were stunned for a while at the order of the lady of the Wei Family. At that time, they only saw Song Zaishui, who had already stepped into the thicket, suddenly crumpled and seemed to reach out to something to lean on. However, the bamboo in the thicket she chose was thinner than the young girl"s little finger, and could not support her at all. On the contrary, the bamboo bent down deeply when Song Zaishui crumpled!

Song Zaishui lost her footing and naturally fell to the ground!

“Miss Song?!” When Chunjing and Xiajing were thinking about whether to listen to Wei Changying, they were shocked by this scene. Although the terrain of the bamboo thicket sloped gently and the ground was covered with bamboo leaves, which was very soft to step on, it was still a bamboo thicket! Under the bamboo leaves, there were old bamboo roots, sharp stones and gravels, and thin bamboo branches that were blown off by chance.

Maybe it was nothing to step on these things, but now Song Zaishui was falling down on them. She had such a beautiful appearance. How could it be able to bear even a stroke of the edge of a bamboo leaf?!

These two maidservants rushed to catch her, but they were already one step behind Song Zaishui. When Wei Changying shouted, they were a half more step behind because of thinking. Now, how could it be easy for them to catch up?

Seeing Song Zaishui was about to fall to the ground, both Chunjing and Xiajing were as pale as dying! If the First Miss fell in front of them, they would be punished. Now in this messy bamboo thicket, if Song Zaishui"s face was really hurt, not to mention her future ident.i.ty as Crown Princess, the Song Family would never forgive them!

At the moment when the maidservants were in despair, they saw that a person ran past them swiftly and almost flew at Song Zaishui. She held her by the waist suddenly and pulled her body back forcefully. With a b.u.mp, Song Zaishui was lying face down in the arms of Wei Changying, and these two girls fell on the ground of bamboo thicket together. Wei Changying, lying on her back, hissed and seemed to get hurt. Song Zaishui also called out shortly in surprise. This accident made all the servants a little overwhelmed and confused. After a pause, they rushed up quickly, “Help the ladies up!”

Before, when Wei Changying shouted an ordered Chunjing and Xiajing to stop Song Zaishui, Wei Changfeng looked over somehow surprisedly. Now when he saw the accident in the bamboo thicket, he was not in the mood to fish. He even threw the fishing rod into the pond in panic. When he ran to the edge of the thicket, he found that his sisters could not get up by themselves and needed to be supported carefully by several maidservants to get up. Wei Changfeng was shocked and angry. He scolded Lvfang, Chunjing and others for their poor service. After scolding them, he saw that Wei Changying was pale and stroking her back. Song Zaishui, who was said to be saved by Wei Changying, couldn"t help shivering, with her lips shaking and her left arm drooping inconspicuously!

Wei Changfeng took a cold breath. But he was the one who was highly expected by Old Madam Song, after all. Although he met the accident suddenly, he quickly calmed down after the shock. He sent people to go down the mountain for the doctor. At the same time, he asked whether these two girls could walk. If they could, he would take them to the huts to settle down first. After the doctor saw them, he would make the decision to leave.

After listening to his plan, Wei Changying nodded with a pale face. Her voice trembled slightly, “Alright.”

Seeing her acting like this, Wei Changfeng looked fl.u.s.tered. He didn"t care about the manners of the so-called n.o.ble family. He snapped at Wei Qing, “Third brother, please go and call a doctor yourself! Be quick!” He knew about his elder sister very well that Wei Changying had always been domineering and practicing martial arts since she was a child so she could endure much more pain than ordinary people. Now her voice trembled because of the pain, so she must be in so much pain!

His lineal sister Wei Changying was about to meet her future husband"s elders. How could Wei Changfeng not be anxious?

Wei Qing knew the importance and nodded solemnly, “I"ll go back to the city on your horse!” Wei Changfeng"s horse, of course, was the best and fastest.