CH 23

Chapter 23: Spring Breeze

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the sky is cloudy and dreary, and the rain are about to arrive.

Could it be that today will be the first spring rain in three years of Yongsheng’s?

Qingfang led Zhu Yue, and Zhui Yun to guard outside the main room of the masters. She was looking up at the sky with some anxiety, only seeing the dark clouds but not the sun, and was unable to judge the time. She was hesitating whether to urge her master’s to get up.

Will the brothers and sisters of the Mo family come to the door on time?

What will happen then?

Qingfang actually didn’t quite understand why the mistress invited those two people over to the house as guests, especially that Mo girl. Is she out of her mind?

She and Shishu, witnessed the girl sitting in the alley of the Mo’s house that afternoon, Shishu then explained to her while patting her back, “It won’t be easy, if Madam wanted, Miss Mo, to come to the door.”

“Madam is literally stating her claim, she wants to show her that Master is hers! So for Mo girl sending shoes and socks, is just a waste of her time!”

Qingfang has seen the changes of the master during this time. He went to the Natal house alone to give gifts, and pick up others. He even earned money and took the lady out to go shopping, and never left the mansion just to accompany the lady back to the Tao’s Manor for a short stay. Not to mention expanding from outside the boudoir to everywhere. His thoughtfulness and gentleness made the servants blush when they saw him, and Qingfang was happy for the lady from the bottom of her heart.

Therefore, she agrees with what Shishu said, the master and the lady are a well matched and equal pair, and no one can intervene between them.

As for the fact that the lady wanted those guests to know who belongs to her, Qingfang doesn’t think so. If the lady is angry, she will only vent her anger to the master, and will not reveal it to outsiders.

Hearing the summons in the room, Qingfang stopped her thoughts, called the little maids to file in together, and waited for the master and mistress to get up.

On the male master’s side, they only need to put hot water, prepare Gu Ningxi’s clothes, and wait for orders. He doesn’t allow servants to get close to him at all.

While the Lady’s side, Tao Xinhe has been wearing a ginger-yellow shirt for three years, aloe Incense, and a combed tail bun, which means that both hair accessories and jewelry just needed minor changes.

It was easy to serve them, since everyone is already familiar with the process, which helped the masters to tidy up quicker.

“Husband, you wrote the right time on your post, right?” Tao Xinhe lazily stared at the high collar on her neck, her cheeks were bright red and charming, her voice was slightly hoarse for some reason, she looked at Gu Ningxi from the mirror with her wonderful eyes, confirming that the guests will come to the door in an hour.

Gu Ningxi nodded, and said with a little worry:

“The brothers of the Mo family have not responded to the post, I don’t know if they have neglected or forgotten it. In the past few days, we haven’t sent anyone to check and greet them for the new year. Let’s wait till today.”

The husband’s palpable concern is like a pebble drilled into an embroidered shoe, which made people feel uncomfortable. After all, besides the Mo family brother, his righteous friend, there is also Mo Qiqi who is ‘unique’ to him on the other side of that concern. Tao Xinhe opened her mouth, but didn’t make a sound.

The mood faded just like the unknown weather. Tao Xinhe tried hard to recall the side profile of Mo Qiqi she saw that day, coupled with Qingfang’s description of her appearance. She inexplicably gave rise to a feeling of comparison, and she couldn’t taste the delicious breakfast at all.

To Tao Xinhe, Mo Qiqi is like tofu falling into hot ashes. She can’t hold or beat it, and she can’t be too light or heavy. So it made her entangled on how to deal with her.

She took a look at Gu Ningxi who was eating slowly. He was the standard template for the behavior of children born from an aristocratic family. Tao Xinhe swallowed a sigh, picked him up with her elbow as if venting her anger, and kicked him, the force was much lighter than what she imagined in her mind.

Gu Ningxi turned his head to look at her with a bright smile. He was also holding the porridge bowl firmly. His eyes were like stars, lips were like the moon, and he said softly:

“Today you have to work hard again to take care of the guests.” Then he added porridge and dishes for her, then raised a spoon and gently coaxed her to take another bite.

Forget it, if it’s not for this ingrate…Tao Xinhe lowered her head, while chewing on her own thoughts.

God was probably feeling sorry for him, and pity him, that he would even arrange a person who could make him see their appearance clearly, and as the person next to his pillow, she was so soft-hearted that she even hoped that he could see someone else’s face clearly a few more times.

It’s just that this one happened to be a young unmarried woman.

Tao Xinhe consoled herself, then gritted her teeth and added in her heart that she was still an unmarried girl who had an ambiguous feelings for her husband.

However, as long as Gu Ningxi sticks to his promise and devotes himself wholeheartedly to herself, Tao Xinhe has the confidence to shatter the little girl’s dream quietly while talking and laughing secretly.

Today is the time for Tao Xinhe to make her debut, and there are two scenarios in which she expected to take the lead before facing the ‘enemy’.

If Mo Qiqi is interested, she would treat her as a foster relative, it would be a good thing, and it would be considered as a fulfillment of the fate of her face being recognized.

If not, Her husband should not blame her, Tao Xinhe for smashing his ‘clear’ bronze mirror. She will definitely set rules for him and separate these two people.

At that time, let’s see if my husband dares to go to see that Mo Qiqi behind her back again, but if there is just one time, she will make Gu Ningxi regret it.

It’s a pity that Gu Ningxi couldn’t see the changes on the expression of the beloved lady beside her, so he didn’t notice anything peculiar. He went to stare at the clock after breakfast.

Seeing that the scheduled time  is about to arrive. A few servants came to report, but it was not the Mo family who came to visit, but Ji Changbo’s mansion who invited his wife to visit their mansion.

Tao Xinhe was slightly surprised, she frowned and concentrated on recalling, what details were not settled with the man yesterday, but she couldn’t figure it out.

The people from Jichangbo’s mansion who came to send the letter were vague about it, they only said that it was related to the marriage of the young master, and begged Madam Gu to go.

Tao Xinhe was entrusted by others to preside over this, and she really didn’t want to let Gu Runing’s marriage preparations to go wrong, so she comforted Gu Ningxi and said:

“It’s not too much for Cheng Sicheng to be nervous and cautious when preparing for his son’s marriage. I’ll go and have a look. I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

The guest is about to come to the door, but the mistress is leaving the house, which actually seemed a bit disrespectful. But when Qingfang was busy preparing Tao Xinhe’s travel package, she thought to herself, it just happened to be a mishap, but it could be regarded as a blow to the girl of the Mo family, maybe the lady also had this idea.

After Tao Xinhe hesitated again and again, she only took Liu Guang, to the Ji changbo’s mansion. She had Qingfang, Zhu Yue, and Zhuiyun focused on their duty, and follow behind their master to entertain the guests. The maids understood and replied to her in unison.

Zhuiyun even had a slipped of tongue:

“Madam, don’t worry, we will never let the master get along with the guests alone.”

Tao Xinhe reprimanded Zhuiyun twice, that’s all. She then left quickly took a carriage and traveled all the way to the Jichangbo Mansion.

It happened that some spring rain was falling when she was getting off the carriage in front of the door. Tao Xinhe’s vision was hazy for a moment.

However, it does not prevent her from seeing that Ji Changbo Cheng Shicheng, whom she met yesterday, was standing beside the stone lion with his hands behind his back, then he walked towards her quickly, looked at her with a smile, said “Madam Gu” for some reason, the word “Gu” was inaudible, as if he was calling her “Madam” instead.

The light rain was crisp, and the air was moist and refreshing, which made people feel cool.

Tao Xinhe smiled kindly, she nodded in response, thinking to herself that Ji Changbo really loves his adopted son, look at how much he cares about the woman’s representative, she is far inferior to him.

She quietly adjusted the reluctance she felt earlier. She tried her best to get rid of the imaginary picture of her husband and Mo Qiqi looking at each other in the Gu mansion at this time in her mind. Following Cheng Shicheng’s leading steps, she walked slowly towards the flower hall in the mansion. Her mouth was watertight:

“Old Sir greets me personally, I feel ashamed.”

After walking a few steps, the butler of the Sir’s house handed over a pure ink-colored oil-paper umbrella, which was a circle larger than the bamboo bone umbrellas used by ordinary female relatives. It was not at all fancy.

Liu Guang, who was a distance behind, just found Tao Xinhe’s smoky blue folding umbrella from the carriage, and was about to catch up to open it for her mistress, when she saw the mighty sir, who was more than a head taller than her mistress, opened an umbrella with one hand. The black umbrella firmly covered himself and her mistress.

Tao Xinhe had an intuition to avoid it, after all men and women are different, even if this Sir is impotent, she is afraid that this man has other ideas, it would be inappropriate to look at him.

Looking sideways, she could only see Cheng Shicheng’s serious and tight jawline, and the pleasant smile just now had long since disappeared. He slightly raised his head. She can naturally see that the slender umbrella handle held by his big rough hand is tilted a lot. Most of the umbrella surface falls on her side, and his hair on the other side of his temples was stained with rain, and there are sporadic small drops of water hanging on it. Not to mention his shoulders were also covered with a dense amount of water.

The distance between the two is more than enough for one more person.

Maybe this is sir’s gesture of favor to his future in-laws?

Tao Xinhe is not sure whether the division of men and women in the circle of generals is not as rigid as that of civil servants.

The Sir’s steps were big and fast, Tao Xinhe unconsciously raised the hem of her skirt to follow, seeing the flower hall in front of her, she hesitated for a moment, and then she just swallowed the words she wanted to say about holding another umbrella.

Letting Tao Xinhe step into the house first, Cheng Shicheng handed the umbrella to the person behind him, and followed closely behind.

His eyes drooped, and he noticed that the corners of the beautiful lady’s skirt were soaked with water, the color became darker, and a few strands of mud similar to the color of the skirt hung slightly. He was annoyed that his mansion was not paved with bluestone slabs. He couldn’t help but ask:

“Are Madam Gu’s shoes wet? Are there any replacements?”

Tao Xinhe was slightly taken aback when she heard his words, and couldn’t help looking at Cheng Shicheng. She met a pair of focused clear eyes.

She was sure that her gait did not show any abnormality. Today’s skirt reached the ground, so others should not be able to see her wet shoe tips.

Could it be that it’s is a skill brought from the battlefield, being so observant and meticulous?

However, what the other party said still seemed presumptuous.

Tao Xinhe, who was seated for the first time, ignored the discomfort in her toes. She straightened the pleated skirt, smiled, and revealed the topic of privacy under her skirt:

“Thank you Sir for your kindness, it’s okay. Sir didn’t invite me the Second aunt to come over as well?”

With an order from Cheng Shicheng, his servants dug out the small charcoal stove that had already been put in storage, and put it at Tao Xinhe’s feet, saying:

“The rain is cold, Madam Gu is exhausted for this Sir. So it’s okay to heat it up for a while.”

Then, the servant girl who was ordered by the master to serve ginger tea came over, and

Cheng Shicheng introduced, “Please take a couple of sips to dispel the cold. They added powdered sugar, so it must not be too spicy.”

An unusually fresh feeling rushed into Tao Xinhe’s heart. She is the eldest daughter and a good wife. She was always the one taking care of others comprehensively, and she has never been cared for by anyone so meticulously.

It turned out that “like a spring breeze” was indeed true, and Cheng Shicheng gave her such a feeling, but this spring breeze was a little too attentive.

At this moment, Tao Xinhe suddenly hoped to deal with the man’s female relatives instead of this Sir himself. She was a little at a loss as to how to deal with him properly. What is the right thing to do? She needs to find a division between accepting everything calmly and rejecting it in a serious manner.

Cheng Shicheng also ordered someone to fetch a thin cashmere blanket, and handed it to Liu Guang next to her politely, persuading Tao Xinhe to put it on her knees, and said inadvertently:

“When Meng’er was young, if he was exposed to the rain, he would definitely get sick, so he had to wipe it dry. It would be better to drink ginger tea and wrap in a blanket.”

Tao Xinhe smiled. She had done a lot of homework regarding the Jichangbo Mansion, she naturally knew who that the so-called “Meng’er” was, It was Cheng Meng, the Sir’s youngest adoptive son, who was about seven or eight years old this year.

It turned out that this Sir personally brought up the adopted sons. Did he develop the temperament of nurturing a child already? Could it be that he is caring for me as a younger generation like his adopted son?

Thinking about it, I am twenty-four years old, eight years younger than Sir Cheng. In a prosperous family with such an age gap, there are many uncles and nephews or aunts and nieces.

With the uncle’s physical condition, it can be compared to an ‘Aunt’ and a niece.

Tao Xinhe suddenly felt at ease, and finally thanked Sir Cheng kindly, and took the blanket, feeling warm.

***

TL NOTE:

I don’t like it. It’s like jokes are being played on the both of them. Gu Ningxi is Face Blind but can only see Mo Qiqi’s face, Cheng Sicheng is impotent but he would react to Tao Xinhe. I don’t like this at all.

Like can’t they just have a peaceful life? What the hell is that system doing?