Extra: 4.2
Song Qingyun got up early in the morning with a pair of scissors hidden in his sleeve and a small pouch tied to his waist as he headed to the back garden. Song Qingyun thought, in any case, he"s already losing his image at home so there"s no need to be afraid of being laughed at. However, for an old man to pick flowers? Haa, he still felt it was a little hard to take, so if it was possible to hide, then it"s best to hide.
Song Qingyun clasped his hands behind his back as he slipped into the back garden while avoiding all the servants that were cleaning at dawn, then headed straight towards the Chinese roses. Song Qingyun hung the pouch over a spray of Chinese roses and in the slight dawn light swiftly clipped down the crimson Chinese roses.
"Dad?" Song Qingyun"s hand shook and he almost cut his own finger.
"Dad sure woke up early." Song Qingyun walked over to greet him. When he saw the scissors Song Qingyun hid to the side along with the flower head that dropped to the ground, he smiled as he said, "Dad"s tr.i.m.m.i.n.g flowers? I heard Xiaoqi say that Mom also liked red Chinese roses, but she seems to want ones with long stems. I heard she wanted to put them in a flower vase."
Song Qingyun gave a cough and pretended as if nothing had happened as he continued cutting flowers. However, this time, he left a length of flower stem.
"Your mom said she wanted to arrange a flower vase. I couldn"t sleep so I"m helping her cut a few flowers."
Song Liangzhuo smiled as he nodded. Then he walked around looking at the Chinese roses for a while. He chose the one with the largest bud and a thick, solid stem and cut it down.
When Song Qingyun heard the sound of a scissor, his hands trembled again. From the start, there weren"t enough crimson flowers in this courtyard. If he had to share with his son, how was he supposed to get those ninety-nine flowers? It couldn"t be that he has to run to the government office to steal some?
Fortunately, Song Liangzhuo only cut one flower. After he trimmed the two leaves at the end, he nodded towards Song Qingyun and left. Song Qingyun exhaled in relief. In order to avoid allowing Song Liangzhuo to try something like a sudden back thrust, he hastily swept all the flowers regardless of color into his pouch.
When Song Qingyun returned to the room holding half a sack of Chinese roses, Mother Song had just woken up. Song Qingyun was slightly embarra.s.sed as he poured the flowers onto the table and picked out the crimson ones to put to the side. He counted multiple times, but there were only twenty-seven red ones. With the addition of the pink and yellow ones to the side, there were only fifty-seven flowers altogether including the two flowers that he had cut badly and fixed by using cut slips of paper to prop them up.
Song Qingyun sorted the flowers by color. When he lifted his head, he saw Mother Song walking over. His brains quickly whirled and then he gave a light cough as he said, "Five seven(wu3qi1), my wife(wu2qi1)! It"s much more meaningful than ninety-nine."
Mother Song saw his dew-soaked clothes and shot him a rebuking look. "You really went to cut them? I was just talking about it casually. How old am I? Would I really compete with someone?"
Song Qingyun was stunned speechless and only after a long while did he wipe his forehead and said, "I really wanted to give you some. Wife can just look at them and decorate some vases."
Mother Song"s facial color turned a bit brighter again. She separated the flowers into three bunches by color and happily instructed a servant girl to find three vases, then sat down next to the table to trim them. She pinched a few petals off the ones that were blooming too much and stuck the unopened buds in the middle as decoration. In the end, she got three vases of flowers so there was a cheerful cl.u.s.ter of red next to the bed, a cl.u.s.ter of pink on the table, a cl.u.s.ter of bright yellow on the dresser.
In comparison, Song Liangzhuo seemed much more intelligent than his dad. Song Liangzhuo only brought one blossom back. The flower in his hand, without question, was the most perfect one in the entire back garden. Even if Xiaoqi and Mother Song collided, Xiaoqi would be able to defeat Song Qingyun"s entire half pouch with this single blossom. Not to mention, this fresh flower was gifted in a situation where Xiaoqi wasn"t expecting it.
Song Liangzhuo lifted open the canopy and placed the flower next to Xiaoqi"s pillow before picking up Kexin who was already awake to go out for a walk. Kexin had already gotten into the habit of waking up early with him and taking a walk. The pair of father and daughter, one going "yiyiyaya" as the other read aloud verses, had already become a unique scene of the Song fu.
After Song Liangzhuo and the daughter finished their exchange of words and returned, they walked in right as Xiaoqi was grinning towards that large crimson Chinese rose with a wide foolish smile. Song Liangzhuo carried Kexin as he walked over and hooked the corner of his mouth. "Alright, don"t smile anymore, hurry and wash up. Xin er is probably hungry as well."
Xiaoqi jumped up and got a slender vase from the shelf. She poured the fresh water from the washbowl into the vase, then took another big sniff of the fragrance, a bit reluctant to put the flower into the vase. Afterwards, she placed the vase on the dresser. Xiaoqi looked at it from the left, then the right and felt it wasn"t quite right. She then placed it on the short table next to the bed. However, after looking at it a while, she still didn"t feel like it was good and was about to move it somewhere else when Song Liangzhuo wrapped an arm around her.
"Putting it here is perfect. While you"re sleeping, you can still smell the fragrance." Song Liangzhuo said with a smile.
"Really?" Xiaoqi smiled as she lifted her head.
"Really." Kexin was shifting around restlessly in Song Liangzhuo"s embrace so he propped her up a little and his chin ended up being smeared with saliva by Kexin"s bite. Kexin seemed to be unhappy that she couldn"t suck out any milk and started wailing.
Song Liangzhuo didn"t panic though. He just pinched Xiaoqi"s cheek, indicating for her to wash up first, then carried Kexin and walked another round inside the room. This daughter was very cute and Song Liangzhuo hugged her the most. The two sons were mostly carried by Mother Song or the beautiful missus when they were little, but he was the one that looked after this daughter from start to finish. The more he looked after her, the more he liked her and the more he discovered of this daughter"s cleverness.
For instance, when little Kexin wailed, she would always wrinkle her nose and squeeze her eyes, but never actually shed tears; for instance, Kexin always liked grabbing his, this dad"s ear and always wanted to stuff it in her mouth after she got it; for instance, when she wet the bed, she would be especially well-behaved and would even giggle at Song Liangzhuo who was changing the diaper; for instance, when he read aloud verses, she would echo with "yiyiyayaoh" and it seemed to have some level and oblique tones of cla.s.sical poetry to Song Liangzhuo.
In any case, Song Liangzhuo felt that this daughter not only had Xiaoqi"s looks, but also had Xiaoqi"s mischievousness and cuteness, and even had intelligence and cleverness that Xiaoqi couldn"t reach. In the future, she would definitely be a unique, mischievous little spirit.
Xiaoqi swiftly washed her face and sat on the side of the bed, still beaming. Song Liangzhuo smiled with understanding as he walked over to place Kexin on her leg and helped her undo her b.u.t.tons. He waited until Kexin started drinking milk while looking at him before smiling and saying, "The back garden is probably ruined."
"Hah?" Xiaoqi didn"t understand what that meant.
Song Liangzhuo also didn"t explain any further. He extended a finger for Kexin to hold and quietly waited until the child drank her fill before picking her up again. As he helped Xiaoqi fasten her b.u.t.tons again with one hand, he said, "Drink a bowl of hot soup first. We"ll probably be eating in a little while."
Xiaoqi"s eyes whirled as she thought, then she obediently drank the jujube soup the servant girl carried in before wiping her mouth and running off towards the back garden. Song Liangzhuo shook his head as he watched Xiaoqi"s back figure. When he shifted his gaze, he saw his two sons walking in side by side. With a slight smile, he headed out to welcome them while carrying his daughter.
"Daddy, let me look at meimei." Song Yu clung to Song Liangzhuo"s sleeve as he swayed softly.
Song Liangzhuo rubbed Song Yu"s head. "Go to the dining hall first. Meimei has just finished eating so she"ll play with Yu er later."
Song Yi glanced at the chubby little hand Kexin was flailing and asked, "Where did Mom run off to?"
"She went to look at the scenery."
Song Liangzhuo retrieved his hand and then rubbed Song Yi"s head. Song Yi didn"t seem to like it but also didn"t dodge it either.
At the dining hall, Song Yu held onto Kexin"s hand without letting go but Kexin kept staring at the expressionless Song Yi and "yiyiyaya"ing at him. Song Yu looked towards Song Yi and said, "Meimei likes gege. Gege, pat her a little."
Song Yi flattened his lips and took one step forward to squeeze her little hand.
Song Liangzhuo supported Kexin and sat her on his leg. With this, her height was just right to face Song Yi directly. Song Yi looked at his baby sister"s black agate-like large eyes. Before he could react, Kexin leaned forward and "muwah"ed his nose.
Song Yi was stunned, but it was when he saw the long trail of saliva coming from Kexin"s mouth as she giggled happily that he completely turned petrified. Song Liangzhuo used a handkerchief to wipe his nose clean and smiled as he said, "Xin er is just playing with you. Yi er can"t scold meimei, alright?"
Song Liangzhuo"s words had just fallen when Xiaoqi burst in like a storm. She looked towards Mother Song and Song Qingyun that had just come in and quickly said, "Dad, Mom, our back garden was looted by someone."
Song Liangzhuo"s mouth twitched and Song Qingyun felt extremely awkward. Mother Song gave a light cough and said, "What nonsense are you saying? Who would loot your garden?"
Xiaoqi pointed outside as she said, "There"s not a single flower left. The only flower buds that were pa.s.sed over were ones that are only about the size of a toe."
Mother Song looked towards Song Qingyun who was obviously embarra.s.sed and found it amusing. She lightly touched his arm as she said, "I"ll go take a look."
Xiaoqi energetically led Mother Song to the back courtyard. When Mother Song saw that Chinese roses display that was shaved bald by someone, she burst out laughing, laughing so much that tears came out. Mother Song thought, if it"s bald, then just let it be bald. In any case, it"s Chinese roses and every month they would bloom for a season*. There"s the saying "when flowers can break, then you must break; do not wait to break an empty flowerless branchT/N", wasn"t it so?
The name for Chinese roses, 月季, translates pretty much to "monthly season".
Xiaoqi pouted as she said, "Mom, who stole them?" And she had been planning to collect one flower a day too. Now this was great, there wasn"t even a single flower left.
Mother Song wiped the corners of her eyes as she laughed. "Blooming once a month, having flowers to look at every month. It"s pretty good like this, pretty good."
Xiaoqi puffed up her cheeks and watched as Mother Song left the garden. Her line of sight moved around and she spotted an overlooked large flower bud in the middle of a cl.u.s.ter of green leaves. Xiaoqi carefully pushed the flower bud inside again to hide it, then gently patted the leaves as she said, "You guys guard it carefully, alright? Once it blooms, I"ll have Husband come for it."
Five days later, Xiaoqi came to check on its growth ahead of time. When she saw that it was stark empty beneath the leaves, she howled angrily towards the sky. That same day, she went to Mother Song"s room in the afternoon and saw a large red Chinese rose in full bloom within a flower vase at the corner. She also saw that the short table, dresser, and table were crowded with fresh flowers. Xiaoqi was stunned for a moment before she understood.
Oh, Mother-in-Law Mom wants to celebrate spring!
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Proofread by Ocelot
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
T/N – "When flowers can break, then you must break. Do not wait to break an empty flowerless branch." The elaborated meaning is that you should pick flowers while they"re in bloom rather than waiting for them to wither. The implied meaning is that things don"t last forever, you should take advantage and seize the time you have now.
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