Gu Jianli gazed at Wujing, her clear eyes gradually becoming misty.
It was already embarrassing enough, and yet this person had to say it so blatantly… The grievance that had been bottled up in her chest felt both sour and overwhelming.
Gu Jianli bit her lip, forcing the moisture in her eyes to retreat bit by bit until they were clean and dry again. Unconsciously, she lifted her chin slightly, appearing both stubborn and proud.
Wujing pushed open the window and leaned out to shout, “Changsheng!”
Changsheng, who was shivering like a snowman at the gate of the small courtyard, responded immediately and ran to the window, shaking the snow off his shoulders with a smile on his face. “Fifth Master, what do you need?”
“Go knock on each room’s door and tell every lady to bring ten sets of new clothes here. They have one quarter of an hour to deliver them.”
“What?” Changsheng’s mouth gaped open.
Wujing glanced at him, and Changsheng immediately averted his gaze, responding with a quick “Got it” before dashing away.
Gu Jianli, holding a pair of scissors, stood dazed. Her anger towards Wujing dissipated, and she even felt guilty for having thought Wujing was mocking her. Lowering her eyes, her gaze fell on the scissors in her hand, and she felt a growing sense of gratitude.
Actually… Fifth Master hadn’t really bullied her. He had even helped her several times. Although Gu Jianli believed Wujing didn’t help her on purpose, but rather out of convenience, chance, or boredom.
But he had helped nonetheless.
People, once they recall someone’s kindness, tend to think more and more positively about that person. Gu Jianli, lost in her thoughts, felt her sense of gratitude swell.
However, this feeling of gratitude lasted only a quarter of an hour.
Wujing sat comfortably in a circle chair, legs crossed, with two tall piles of new clothes stacked on the table. He rested his elbow on the clothes, smiling mischievously. “Call me ‘Good Uncle,’ and you can take a piece.”
Gu Jianli almost bit her delicate lips through.
Wujing smirked arrogantly and said, “If you don’t call me, I’ll cut up all these clothes to make a carpet. Bright and colorful, wouldn’t that look nice?”
Gripping the scissors, Gu Jianli rose furiously and stormed off to the west room. She shut the door, took off her nightgown, and skillfully snipped with the scissors, adjusting the waist with needle and thread. Despite looking somewhat ugly, the nightgown at least fit.
She returned to the bedroom with a stern face, not sparing Wujing a glance, and got straight into bed. She’d be a fool to give up the warm, comfortable bed for the cold Luohan bed.
She turned her back to Wujing, facing the wall to sleep. Hmph, he couldn’t do anything to her anyway. If he really tried to do something, then she would… she would… squeeze his balls!
Gu Jianli’s soft cheeks puffed up in anger.
She climbed into bed out of spite, expecting she wouldn’t be able to sleep. But whether it was due to the sleep-inducing herbs in the cold remedy she had taken after dinner or not, she stared at the white wall, fuming, and eventually fell asleep. She didn’t even notice when Wujing extinguished the light and got into bed.
She slept soundly through the night.
When she woke up the next day, it was already late. Wujing was not beside her. She called for Lizi, who informed her that Wujing had ordered a part of the manor’s lake to be smashed and had gone fishing early in the morning.
“What is that noise outside?” Gu Jianli asked, rubbing her temples, her voice lazy and drowsy.
Her cloud-like hair was disheveled, and her snow-white nightgown slipped to one side, revealing a large expanse of her collarbone. The sleepiness from just waking up made her eyes look hazy and slightly intoxicated. When she looked over, her gaze was enchanting, her beauty extraordinary.
Lizi stared blankly for a moment before coming back to her senses, “The carpet! They are making a carpet!”
Gu Jianli walked to the outer room and saw two unfamiliar maidservants sitting on the floor, cutting the clothes that had been brought from the various ladies’ quarters the previous day.
They were really using those clothes to make a carpet!
A surge of anger rose in Gu Jianli’s chest, which had dissipated after a good night’s sleep.
“Is Fifth Madam in?” Nanny Song called from the courtyard.
Gu Jianli instructed Lizi to invite her in. Not only did Nanny Song come in, but she also brought two embroiderers. As soon as Nanny Song entered the room, she glanced at the two maidservants sewing the carpet, then smiled at Gu Jianli, “The manor has been busy preparing for the New Year, and the task of making new clothes was delayed. The Old Madam instructed me early this morning to bring embroiderers from Jinxiufang to measure you for new clothes!”
Gu Jianli allowed the embroiderers to take her measurements. As she turned around, looking at the clothes prepared to be sewn into a carpet, a sudden suspicion crept into her mind.
Last night, Wujing’s request was abrupt. The clothes the ladies sent over were probably old. Wujing’s actions must have spread throughout the manor, and today embroiderers came to measure her for new clothes…
Asking for clothes from the ladies was a ruse; making new clothes for her was the real purpose?
No, no…
Gu Jianli furrowed her brow and shook her head slightly. Wujing was too annoying to have put this much thought into it. It must have been another accidental coincidence!
“Madam, please lift your arm,” one of the embroiderers said.
Gu Jianli lifted her arm as instructed, her gaze casually falling on her right hand. She brought her fingertips to her eyes, staring in surprise at her thumb. The wound from the broken nail had healed.
How could it have healed overnight…
The scene of Wujing holding her fingertip in his mouth and licking it in the dim light last night suddenly flashed before her eyes. She immediately felt her fingertip burning. Her cheeks also grew a bit warm.
After the embroiderers left, Gu Jianli could still hear the snipping of scissors in the outer room. Finding it somewhat noisy, she got up and went to the backyard, intending to check on the two children.
As she stepped through the gourd-shaped door, she saw Ji Xinglou hobbling through the snow. Nanny Lin was bent over, constantly offering to carry him, but Ji Xinglou stubbornly refused with a series of “Go away.”
Gu Jianli, surprised, walked over just as Ji Xinglou reached the threshold. The threshold was quite high, and Ji Xinglou raised one small leg over it, his features contorting in pain. He sat on the threshold, catching his breath before moving his other short leg over.
“Nanny Lin, what’s wrong with Sixth Brother?” Gu Jianli asked.
Upon hearing Gu Jianli’s voice, Ji Xinglou glared at her with hostility before limping into the house.
Nanny Lin explained, “Yesterday, Sixth Brother got into trouble again and was punished to kneel in the Buddha Hall all night. He just returned.”
“What?” Gu Jianli was shocked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me last night?”
Nanny Lin was taken aback. She looked at Gu Jianli in surprise, wondering if the Fifth Madam intended to involve herself in these matters.
Seeing Nanny Lin’s expression, Gu Jianli suddenly understood. Wujing had been bedridden for years, hardly paying attention to the two children. Recalling the last time they dined together, Gu Jianli realized Wujing hadn’t spared the children a glance. It seemed everyone in the manor knew Wujing didn’t care for these children, so even if they were punished elsewhere, Nanny Lin wouldn’t report it.
“Why was Xinglou punished?” Gu Jianli asked as she stepped into the house.
“After you and Fifth Master left yesterday, Sixth Brother threw a tantrum and overturned the table,” Nanny Lin explained softly.
“Overturned the table? Why?” Gu Jianli asked in astonishment.
“I don’t know. Sixth Brother has always been like this, frequently causing trouble. Even after being punished, he doesn’t make a sound. No matter how the Old Madam punishes him, he continues to act out as he pleases…”
Ji Xinglou lay on the bed, covering his head with the blanket and plugging his ears with his small hands, not wanting to hear the conversation between Gu Jianli and Nanny Lin.
Suddenly, the blanket was yanked off, and Ji Xinglou sat up, glaring and shouting, “What are you doing!”
Gu Jianli sat by the bed and reached to roll up Ji Xinglou’s pant leg.
“Go away!” Ji Xinglou kicked out wildly.
Despite being only four years old, his wild kicking made it hard for Gu Jianli to hold him. She said sternly, “Nanny Lin, hold him down.”
Nanny Lin hesitated but then complied, holding down the squirming and kicking Ji Xinglou.
Gu Jianli rolled up Ji Xinglou’s pants and saw his knee covered in bruises. She looked up at Ji Xinglou, who had red eyes and was fighting back tears while yelling, and she suddenly thought of her brother.
“If you keep moving and shouting, I’ll ask your father to come and hold you down.”
Ji Xinglou’s cries stopped instantly, and he stayed still and quiet.
Gu Jianli withdrew her gaze and took out some ointment for pain relief and bruise healing. She slowly applied it to Ji Xinglou’s bruised knee. While applying the ointment, she asked gently, “Why did you overturn the table?”
“Because I wanted to!” Ji Xinglou replied through gritted teeth.
Gu Jianli wasn’t angry. Instead, she told Nanny Lin, “Next time something like this happens, let me know.”
“Yes, yes!” Nanny Lin quickly responded.
Gu Jianli instructed Nanny Lin to take good care of Ji Xinglou, then got up and went next door to check on Ji Xinglan.
Ji Xinglan was standing on a small stool, holding a pen and writing. She was very focused, though her grip on the pen was incorrect. The poem she was copying looked like a child’s handwriting.
Gu Jianli approached and asked, “Does Xinglan understand the meaning of this poem?”
Ji Xinglan’s smile froze, and she said somewhat shyly, “I don’t recognize these characters…”
So she was just copying without understanding?
Gu Jianli spoke softly, “It’s okay if you don’t recognize them. How many characters does our Xinglan know?”
Ji Xinglan lowered her voice, “I only know two characters…”
Seeing Ji Xinglan’s incorrect grip on the pen, Gu Jianli realized that the manor probably hadn’t provided any proper education for these two children. She smiled and said, “Which two characters? Can Xinglan write them for me?”
Ji Xinglan nodded, took a new piece of paper, and started writing each stroke carefully.
Gu Jianli expected that the two characters Ji Xinglan knew would be very simple, but she was surprised to see the strokes multiply on the white paper, resulting in two crooked characters.
“Ji Zhao!” Ji Xinglan smiled with her eyes curved, “Father’s name.”
Looking into those clear eyes, Gu Jianli suddenly felt at a loss. After a moment, she spoke gently, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach Xinglan how to write, okay?”
Ji Xinglan’s eyes lit up like the night sky after clouds had parted.
Gu Jianli spent the whole morning with Ji Xinglan before hurrying back to the front yard. Along the way, she gathered her courage, intending to talk to Wujing about the two children. Though it might be seen as meddling, she couldn’t bear it any longer.
Before she reached the door, she heard a strange man’s voice from inside.
“Master, in just three days, the poison in your body can be completely expelled. Why then… why then did you let all previous efforts be wasted, allowing the poison to consume your internal organs, worsening day by day…”
Wujing’s voice was as lazy as ever, “A cat woke me up.”
Gu Jianli stood outside the door, the cold wind brushing her face. Suddenly, snow began to fall, touching her eyelashes. She blinked slowly, the melting snowflakes fluttering down.