Chapter 62 It Rained Suddenly
Liu had been picking and choosing for Meng Juan's marriage for almost a year but had not found one she was satisfied with. The mother and daughter were not in a hurry, but Song and the others were very anxious. They wanted Meng Juan's marriage to be settled as soon as possible so that Liu could return to the northwest. They stayed in the mansion like two Buddhas every day.
But recently, the mother and daughter have been going out more often, and they are always smiling. Song Shi wondered if they had taken a fancy to her. Of course, she never took the initiative to ask.
That day, after everyone had paid their respects to Song, Liu smiled and said, "The Third Master found some jade from the northwest. The quality is very good and the color looks bright. It is very suitable for the girls. I thought why not give them three sisters some jewelry." As she spoke, she took the box from the maid and opened it. Sure enough, there were many jades of different sizes inside, round, square, long, flat..."
Obviously, Song and Liu did not expect that Wang, looking at the jade in the box, thought that the quality was mediocre, but it could be worn outside.
"What can we do about this? Since it was obtained by the Third Brother, we can just keep it for Juan."
"My father said that he got a lot, so naturally there were some left for me at home. These are for my sisters." Meng Juan said as she took the box and handed it to Meng Qi and Meng Xiu.
Hearing her say this, Meng Qi turned away with disdain to look at Meng Xiu. But Meng Xiu had to say something, and nervously looked at Song, and only when she saw Song nod did she breathe a sigh of relief, take it, and thank Liu again.
Meng Qi thanked her reluctantly after hearing Wang's cough.
Song smiled and said, "In that case, why don't we go to Defenglou in a few days to see what kind of jade can be made into anything? I'm sure they have new styles there that are better than what we want at home."
"Grandma, shall we go in person?" Upon hearing this, Meng Qi ran to Song and sat next to her, saying coquettishly.
"Why do you have to go there in person? Just ask them to come and bring some samples for you to choose carefully."
"No, you said you wanted to pick new styles. Who knows how many kinds they have? We can't just take them all. Good grandmother, please let us go, let's go."
Just as Wang was about to speak, she heard Song laugh and say, "This girl, she's already making a fuss after not going out for three days. Okay, okay, go, go... Good girl, stop shaking me."
Meng Juan pulled her handkerchief and looked at the way Song hugged Meng Qi, thinking that maybe, possibly, it was something similar, and she couldn't help but smile.
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Su Qing, who was sitting in the second car, was chatting with a second-class maid next to Meng Juan.
"Sister Su Qing, the story you told last time was so funny. How do you know so many stories?"
"I also heard about this from my father before. To be honest, I can't remember a lot of it. I just made it up myself."
"That's amazing, we couldn't make it up even if we wanted to, right, Wanxiang?"
Wanxiang didn't respond, but just smiled, thinking of the day when she met Meng Shao outside Canglang Courtyard.
During this period, she was the one who ran errands for Canglang Courtyard. Finally, one day, she saw Meng Shao walking alone on the path. She mustered up her courage and walked towards Meng Shao, thinking about how to speak, how to respond, and what expression to make. But before she could think it through, she heard Meng Shao calling her.
Wanxiang was extremely surprised. Her hard work during this period was not in vain. Meng Shao actually called her. Although Meng Shao called her, "Who is that? Are you from the fourth sister's yard?"
It doesn't matter if I don't remember my name. Meng Shao knew that I was from the fourth young lady's courtyard, which proved that she had paid attention to me.
Wanxiang stepped forward shyly, not performing the salute that a maid would perform towards her master. Instead, she leaned sideways, tilted her head, raised her eyes slightly, and had a perfectly surprised expression on her face.
But before she could say anything, Meng Shao asked her if Su Qing was in the yard. Before she could answer, he said forget it, he would let the maid in Canglang Courtyard go and find her herself, and then he strode past her. She maintained that awkward posture for a long time before she came to her senses. When she looked back, Meng Shao had already gone far away.
When she returned to Qinyuan to ask about Su Qing, she was told that she had just been called away by the maid in the eldest young master's courtyard. She sat on the bed with her mind racing. Was it the eldest young master who called Su Qing or the eldest young mistress? What was he asking her to do? Did the eldest young master have something to ask or was he telling a story to Young Master Lang?
Looking at Wanxiang's constantly changing expression, Su Qing, who was sitting opposite her, didn't know that in just a short while, after he was called by the eldest young lady to Canglangyuan to tell the story of Yugong moving the mountains that day, the maid beside Master Yue copied it again. This incident made Wanxiang miss it for many days.
"Defeng Building" is located at the junction of the east and south of the city. It has a large frontage and two floors. The carriage went directly into the back door of Defeng Building, and the housekeeper led the three young ladies directly to the second floor. Soon it started to rain outside, starting with a drizzle, but then it became more and more heavy.
By the time the young ladies had chosen their styles, the rain, although light, had not stopped. The housekeeper hurried over with an umbrella and carefully escorted everyone to the carriage.
Turning out of the back door of "Defeng Building", you can get onto the bluestone road, but the carriage stopped as soon as it turned. Mother Liu lifted the curtain and asked what happened. The driver got off the carriage and went to the front to check. After a while, he came back and reported that because of the heavy rain just now, the firewood piled up by someone at the entrance of the alley was washed down and blocked the road.
Mother Liu looked at the young ladies who were obviously feeling a little cold because of the sudden rain, and turned around and asked, "I wonder how long it will take to finish?"
"I checked and found that all the shop assistants are helping. I'm afraid it will take about another stick of incense." the driver replied.
Madam Liu and Nanny Meng Juan discussed it and asked, "Is there any other way?"
"Yes, let's go back and go out from the other side, but there is no cobblestone road there, and we have to walk a little further.
"Let's go, let's go. It doesn't matter what road it is. Just don't waste time here." Meng Qi said impatiently. The driver turned his horse around and the two carriages behind hurriedly followed.
As the driver said, the road here was obviously not as smooth as the bluestone road we walked on when we came here, and it was raining, and many yellow soil was splashed with small pits by the rain, and the people sitting in the cart were shaking.
Just when they were about to turn onto the bluestone road, the carriage that Su Qing and her friends were riding in got stuck in the mud, and no matter how hard the driver steered the horses and pulled, he couldn't get it out.
In the end, there was really no other way but to spread the people in this car to the other two cars. But obviously there was not enough space. Su Qing looked at Liu Ma who looked embarrassed and said, "I will stay here. Liu Ma will go back first and send someone to help."
Wanxiang looked at the two of them and said, "I'll stay with Qing'er too."
Mother Liu really didn't have any better idea. She couldn't let the young ladies wait here together, so she gave some instructions and left.
Two people sat in the carriage and no one spoke. There was only a coachman and a servant in the carriage. At this time, the two people were pushing hard from below, but obviously to no avail.
"Su Qing, is there any misunderstanding between us? I always feel that you have a deep hostility towards me. We are from the same family and are of similar age. I actually want to get along well with you and be good sisters, but now it seems that you don't think so." Wanxiang looked at Su Qing expressionlessly.
"Haha, sister? Did you recognize the wrong person? Shouldn't your best sister be Ruchun? You helped her prove it even though you didn't lose the earrings. You were afraid that my throat would feel uncomfortable, so you specially got some Sterculia lychnophora for Ruchun to make water for me to drink. You knew I was on duty in the first half of the night, so you specially locked the door... I can't count the number of such things. It turns out that this is how sisters get along with each other."
Wan Xiang blushed when she heard Su Qing talking about this, and then she said, "I've said that those are all misunderstandings. If you want to hear my explanation, I can tell you one by one. But I don't understand what you just said about Pangdahai."
"Yeah, I don't understand either. How about I go ask Ruchun? See if she understands it?" Su Qing leaned forward and said with a smile.
Wan Xiang really didn't know how much Su Qing knew about that matter. Looking at her current expression, could it be that she knew that she was behind him... But then she thought it was unlikely. It had been so long, so what difference would it make if she knew? Even if Ruchun said anything now, no one would believe her.
Besides, she needs me now. Ruchun saw her parents coming to the East Palace and begged me to bring her parents in as well. Wanxiang has already agreed. As for whether she can get them in, there has to be a chance.
This annoying guy might as well make things clear all at once today.
"Wanxiang, listen carefully, my goal is not as big as yours. I am content with my current situation and just want it this way, do you understand? So, don't provoke me again, then maybe we can really be a pair of peaceful 'sisters', otherwise, I can't say what will happen." After saying that, without even looking at Wanxiang's expression, he opened the car door and jumped out.
Target? What did she mean? Could it be that she knew her target? Wanxiang looked at Su Qing who was walking into the rain with an umbrella, and felt a little helpless for a moment.