"Indeed..." Lian Manman carefully examined the two embroidery pieces. This was the first ti she had seen Lady Chiang’s large-scale embroidery works. She couldn’t help but nod silently; Lady Chiang’s skillful hands were well-known, and it was evident that she had put effort and thought into preparing the gift for Wu Lang.
"... It’s embroidered according to the dinsions of the screen. Really, it should have been accompanied by a fra to be delivered..." Lady Chiang said with a slightly flushed face. She had indeed planned these pieces to be used as screens and bed curtains; however, adding a fra required good materials and labor, which she couldn’t manage. This was because she already knew Lady Zhou wouldn’t support it. Moreover, for her own part, one reason was insufficient silver coin, and the other was that she feared upsetting Lady Zhou with too much noise.
"Child, enough said, I know everything." Lady Zhang laughed, "May I accept your kind thought."
Instead of embroidering common household items like curtains and wrapping cloths used by tenant farrs, she embroidered screens suitable for wealthy families, which demonstrated Lady Chiang’s cleverness.
Lady Zhang and Lian Manman looked over the items brought by Lady Chiang, praised her, and then called Duofu to co in and put the items away. Lady Zhang, unable to help herself, added, "You’ve gone to a lot of trouble."
"Fourth Aunt, please don’t say that, it’s nothing much." Lady Chiang replied with a bittersweet smile, "It’s rather us who should feel embarrassed."
"I understand." Lady Zhang said, "For you to have such thoughtfulness, I feel more comforted than if you had given gold treasures. No matter what a family has, we too have gone through tough tis. Material things are secondary, what counts is the thought."
Lady Zhang was quite happy, and thus began chatting with Lady Chiang about dostic matters. As they talked, inevitably the conversation turned to Lady Zhou.
Lady Chiang began to talk about Lady Zhou’s various eccentricities lately...
"...Fourth Aunt, you’ve lived in that courtyard for over ten years; there’s nothing you don’t know. Fourth Aunt, tell , wasn’t the old lady different in the past?"
"This is indeed the case..." Lady Zhang thought for a mont, then nodded. Lady Zhou had always been domineering and capricious, but compared to now, she was much better in the past, without so many eccentricities.
"Since the Old Master passed, she’s aged year by year..." This was the only reason Lady Zhang could think of. Generally speaking, this wasn’t really a reason.
"Fourth Aunt makes so sense. The old lady has that kind of temperant." Lady Chiang nodded as well, "But so things, I feel, don’t quite stem from her personality."
"...When there are people in the room, it’s as if she can’t see us. Yaya is right in front of her, yet she doesn’t see, calling out repeatedly. Yaya responds, yet she acts like she hasn’t heard. Only when soone else enters the room and talks to her can she ’see’ and ’hear.’
"...She looks at us with her eyes but calls out nas of people we don’t recognize with her mouth. Sitting alone in the room, she speaks as if soone is in front of her, the conversations she seems to have are eerie..."
"In the middle of the night, she insists soone entered the room. She wakes us all, we search for half a night, all saying no one is there, yet she insists soone is. Ask her what the person looks like, she gestures with her hands showing it’s a child."
"Suddenly sitting up midway through the night, talking to soone invisible, sotis cursing. We get up to ask, and sotis she says it’s the Old Master, other tis she claims not to recognize the person..."
Lady Chiang lowered her voice and shared with Lady Zhang many of Lady Zhou’s odd words and behaviors, which left Lady Zhang pale, and Lian Manman at the side feeling sowhat on edge. They hadn’t expected Lady Zhou to have developed so many issues; she might not seem troubled, but it was torturous for anyone timid around her.
But on reflection, this wasn’t surprising. Lady Zhou was such a person; no matter the situation, she always had ways to make those around her feel uneasy or suffer.
Lian Manman was pondering this and slightly lowered her head, just as Da Niuniu looked up at her.
"Oh dear, is Da Niuniu’s eye swollen?" Lian Manman examined Da Niuniu closely and asked.
Lady Zhang heard Lian Manman’s words, turned to carefully look at Da Niuniu.
"It is swollen, and a bit red." Lady Zhang said, "Did Da Niuniu cry? Who wronged Da Niuniu?"
Da Niuniu had indeed cried, but Lady Chiang had washed her face and tidied her up; unless looking closely, one couldn’t see traces of crying.
"...Didn’t cry, just rubbed my eyes." Da Niuniu lowered her head and said softly.
A child as young as her, no matter how clever, doesn’t quite know how to lie. Her eyes were full of grievance, betraying her true feelings.
"If you cried, you cried; no need to say you rubbed your eyes, scared I’ll laugh at you with Aunt Fourth." Lian Manman laughed.
"... It’s not..." Da Niuniu pursed her lips, shook her head, and quickly glanced at Lady Chiang as if seeking her guidance on whether to tell Lady Zhang and Lian Manman what had happened.
"There’s nothing to hide," Lady Chiang sighed, "This afternoon, not long after you left, Fourth Aunt, the old lady scolded Da Niuniu."
Saying this, Lady Chiang’s eyes turned red. Seeing her like this, Da Niuniu’s eyes reddened too; unlike adults, children can’t hold back, and even if consoled by Lady Chiang at the ti, she still felt ashad and wronged when thinking back, so she began sobbing quietly.
"What happened; Niuniu is such a sweet, well-behaved child, with such sweet words. Why did the old lady scold her?" Lady Zhang asked Lady Chiang.
Lady Chiang glanced at Da Niuniu.
"Mother, have Duofu take Da Niuniu to my room to play for a while." Lian Manman knew Lady Chiang had things she couldn’t discuss in front of Da Niuniu and suggested this.
"Let her go." Lady Zhang nodded.
Lian Manman called Duofu into the room, instructed her to take Da Niuniu to play nicely. Duofu agreed and led Da Niuniu out.
Once Duofu and Da Niuniu had left, Lady Chiang started to cry. She didn’t hide anything, and told Lady Zhang the reasons why Lady Zhou had scolded Da Niuniu. Lady Zhang listened and sighed; she knew Lady Zhou’s temper well, and wondered how many such incidents had occurred.
"She hasn’t been very mindful about these things." Lady Zhang comnted.
"If Da Niuniu says or does sothing wrong, and the old lady disciplines her, whether through scolding or punishing, I have no complaints. But... to scold a child like one scolds an adult, the words she uses make feel embarrassed, and I’d rather die than repeat them to Fourth Aunt and younger sister Manman for fear of offending your ears... Da Niuniu is little, but understands so things. When she asks what those harsh words an, I feel deeply ashad. How can I explain such things to a little girl?"
"In a couple of years, when the child grows older and becos more aware. We can be scolded however she likes, but a young girl’s skin is thin; how can she bear this, how can she carry herself moving forward?"
"The old lady wasn’t like this before. She would just scold Niuniu’s grandfather, and even then, not us. Just recently, for so reason, it’s as if she’s possessed," Lady Chiang remarked with seeming casualness.
...
Today’s update is relatively sparse, →_→ you all understand the reason, I’ll try to make it up with more updates tomorrow, sorry everyone!
Book Recomndation
"The Charming Policewoman of the Great Qing," by Yue Rong. A modern female detective crosses into the Qing dynasty, preferring solving cases over loving princes. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.)
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