Four Seasons Brocade – CH 039

Chapter 39 ☆、Unable to Repay the Kindness of Spring

The eldest son of Princess Fuhui was already married and had children, so the way they addressed each other in the mansion changed from “Eldest Young Master” and “Second Young Master” to “Master” and “Second Master.” As for the Duke of Wei, Ah Wu’s father, he became “Big Master.”

In the Duke of Anguo’s Mansion, Ah Wu’s current father had long since become Third Master Rong, but Lady Cui was used to calling him “My Lord,” and since her two sons were still young, Ah Wu often referred to him as Third Master Rong. She could not imagine anyone calling Rong Yin “Seventh Master.” They still habitually called Rong Jie and Rong Yin “Brother Jie” and “Brother Yin.”

However, the Imperial Princess was extremely particular about etiquette, so Gu Tingyi became “Second Master” at a very young age.

Ah Wu turned to look at Gu Tingyi. She should have kept in mind the proper distance between men and women and avoided him. In this life, they were strangers, but Gu Tingyi happened to be her second brother. When Ah Wu looked into his eyes, she forgot all her concerns and only felt that he was still her second brother.

Fortunately, Ah Wu still retained some sense and said, “Second Young Master.”

“Just call me Second Brother like Sister Hui did.” Gu Tingyi knew his words and actions were inappropriate, but he could not control his legs. He watched them go to Lanchi Pond from afar, hesitated for a moment, and then followed.

Fortunately, the maids of the Duke of Wei’s mansion were very tactful and reminded him, “Second Master, the eldest young lady and the others have gone boating and will not be back for a while.”

Gu Tingyi gave the maid who spoke a cold look. “Why are you so talkative?”

Gu Tingyi was different from his brother Gu Tingrong, who was gentle; he was always cold-faced, and most maids were afraid of him. This talkative maid was specially left by the Imperial Princess to look after the noble ladies. Since she came from the Imperial Princess’s quarters, only she dared to mention such a thing in front of Gu Tingyi.

Even so, seeing Gu Tingyi’s cold face, she trembled in fear.

But the maid’s words jolted Ah Wu awake, and she awkwardly turned her head away, no longer looking at Gu Tingyi.

Gu Tingyi then withdrew his gaze from Ah Wu and handed the box in his hand to the maid who had spoken. “When the eldest young lady returns later, please give this to her as a birthday gift.”

A birthday gift—it should have been given to Gu Xihui personally. Anyone with common sense could guess that this was just an excuse. Ah Wu’s heart skipped a beat. Remembering Gu Tingyi’s words, could it be that he recognized her?!

Ah Wu was both happy and heartbroken, but she could not acknowledge Gu Tingyi before the Imperial Princess; otherwise, who knew how much trouble it would cause? After all, to outsiders, they were just the Second Master of the Princess’s Mansion and the Sixth Young Lady of the Duke’s Mansion, completely unrelated.

After Gu Tingyi left, he walked a distance away, turning back in the distance, unsure of what had happened to him. He simply could not believe that his exceptionally intelligent and obedient younger sister was gone, her beautiful soul buried in a mound of earth. Upon meeting Ah Wu, Gu Tingyi inexplicably felt a surge of affection. However, he knew he had been somewhat presumptuous that day and would need to be more patient in the future to avoid frightening her; she was still just a young girl, even younger than Ah Wu.

Gu Tingyi also felt his heart was somewhat impure, wondering if he had some unspeakable flaw. This year, the Imperial Princess had begun arranging a marriage for him, but he had completely disregarded it, prompting the Princess to complain that he had become foolish from practicing martial arts.

Gu Tingyi returned to his room. The two head maids had gone to watch the festivities of Gu Xihui’s birthday, leaving only a young girl, barely out of school, to guard the door. Seeing him return, she sweetly greeted him, “Second Master is back. Sister Ming-Yu and Sister Ming-Zhu went to watch the boating. This servant will make you some tea.”

Gu Tingyi usually only had two head maids serving him; he disliked women being close to him. But today, he was somewhat mesmerized, staring at the young girl who spoke.

“What’s your name?”

“This servant is called Qian-Shi.” Qian-Shi was a little uneasy. Although she wanted to curry favor with the Second Master, his gaze was somewhat cold. She knew that this Second Master usually would not even give them a second glance.

Gu Tingyi looked at Qian-Shi for a long time. The girl was indeed pretty and charming, but Gu Tingyi had absolutely no feelings for her. He let out a long sigh, concluding that he was still acting normally. “Go ahead; I do not need your help here.”

When Gu Xihui and the others returned from their lake trip, Jin Ling was the first to speak upon seeing Ah Wu. “Oh, I saw Second Brother Gu coming from afar. What did you say to him?” Jin Ling’s words carried an aggressive tone.

Ah Wu remained silent; anything she said now would be suspicious.

The maid Lan-Xin, who was standing nearby, spoke up, “Second Master came to deliver a birthday gift to Eldest Young Lady, but it turned out she was out boating.” This Lan-Xin was the same one who had reminded Gu Tingyi earlier.

Gu Xihui nodded and smiled. She did not think Gu Tingyi and Ah Wu could have anything going on. She knew Gu Tingyi fairly well. From childhood, apart from his younger sister, Princess Kangning, whom he could barely speak to, Gu Tingyi was never warm to the Imperial Princess and even disliked women.

Jin Ling, hearing the maid’s words, felt somewhat embarrassed and glared fiercely at Lan-Xin.

Ah Wu smiled gratefully at Lan-Xin, who had just come to her rescue. She was grateful Lan-Xin had reminded her, even ignoring Gu Tingyi’s cold expression, showing she was a maid who cared for her master. Ah Wu sighed, “What a good maid.”

Ah Wu felt honored to have such a maid under the Princess’s command, thinking she should quickly train Zi-Yan and Zi-Shan upon returning home, learning from Lan-Xin.

Lan-Xin was a kind person. Ah Wu and Gu Tingyi had not communicated well. She thought Ah Wu was sweet and lovely, quiet and well-behaved, and did not want that Young Lady Jin to cause any trouble. Not only would she humiliate herself, but she would also implicate her own master.

This Young Lady Jin always found excuses to visit the mansion, as if afraid people would not see her interest in the master. Lan-Xin had never liked this aggressive young lady.

It was easier to appease the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings. If Jin Ling truly offended the maids in the mansion, it was absolutely impossible for her to gain favor with Gu Tingyi. They would all “inadvertently” sow discord between her and Gu Tingyi. Unfortunately, Young Lady Jin did not understand this.

Returning home to the Duke of Wei’s Mansion, Ah Wu felt both happy and bittersweet. Happy to see her Princess Mother again, but saddened that it seemed the Princess did not seem to have any affection for her.

Ah Wu could not distinguish her feelings. She knew the Princess’s affection for her daughter stemmed from blood ties. Now that they were no longer related by blood, how could she dare to expect the Princess’s maternal love? Although she could clearly analyze this, she was ultimately unwilling and resentful. She remembered everything. Even without blood ties as a bond, the events of her past life, the Princess’s love and protection, and every little detail were still etched in Ah Wu’s heart. How could she let go?

When Ah Wu returned to her room, Lady Cui was not there; she had gone to serve the Old Madam. The Old Madam was already annoyed by the third branch of the family and did not usually keep Lady Cui around. But after Rong Yin’s incident, she started making Lady Cui serve her, which was a form of torture.

However, it was a daughter-in-law’s duty to be filial to her mother-in-law, and Lady Cui could not refuse. The Old Madam had used this tactic well. Ah Wu advised Lady Cui to feign illness, but Lady Cui retorted, “How can you feign illness to serve your mother-in-law? If people find out, what will happen to your father’s reputation and your own?”

Afraid that Ah Wu was too clever, Lady Cui added, “After you get married, you absolutely must not feign illness to avoid serving your mother-in-law. People will point fingers and curse you.” Fearing she would not intimidate Ah Wu, Lady Cui added, “You might even be sent back after you get married.”

Ah Wu blushed. Who wanted to discuss marriage with her? She could only nod perfunctorily.

Today, with Lady Cui absent, Ah Wu returned to her room dejectedly and instructed Zi-Yan to fetch her zither.

The zither, named Qing Yuan, was a gift from Cai Guan-Yan, a literary friend of Third Master Rong. The Cai family had been making zithers for generations; the renowned heirloom zither Ah Wu once owned, Ming Luan, was crafted by an ancestor of the Cai family.

Although this Qing Yuan was made in modern times, its body was elegant and its sound mellow, round, clear, and even. In the hands of a skilled, discerning, and adept player, it would surely become a masterpiece in time.

Since acquiring this zither, Ah Wu enjoyed playing it to express her feelings, whether troubled or joyful.

Seeing Ah Wu about to play, Zi-Yan quickly fetched the zither and placed the incense ash from the previous day into a crab-shell-shaped, three-legged Xuande incense burner, placing it on a small table beside the zither.

Ah Wu took an incense shovel from the incense holder and smoothed the snow-white incense ash. She poked a small hole with her chopsticks, leading directly to the charcoal below. Then, slowly and deliberately, she took a silver fire-straining plate from the silver leaf jar and placed it on the stove. She sighed inwardly, wishing she had a fire-resistant cloth fire-straining plate; gold and silver were unusable, yet Zi-Shan had received a silver plate from the steward.

Ah Wu sighed for a moment, realizing the stove was lacking, the fire-straining plate was subpar, and only her homemade incense cakes were acceptable.

Ah Wu used her chopsticks to take a homemade incense cake from the blue-and-white fish and lotus incense jar and placed it on the fire-straining plate. Then, she carefully swept away the surrounding incense ash with a feather duster.

Zi-Shan rested her chin on her hand, leaning on the table, her eyes glued to Ah Wu burning incense. She found an indescribable beauty in the way Ah Wu meticulously brushed away the ash with the feather duster; beauty alone could not adequately describe it. There was an ineffable charm to it, and Zi-Shan felt that simply watching her was a pleasure.

Every time Ah Wu burned incense and played the zither, Zi-Shan would watch longingly, refusing to go out even when a little maid came to play.

Finally, Ah Wu placed the specially chosen Song Yu hat-shaped cap on the incense burner, and it was complete.

The incense cake heated up, gradually releasing a delicate fragrance, faint and ethereal, almost imperceptible without a breeze.

“Miss, what kind of incense is this?” Zi-Yan asked. Ah Wu chose incense according to her mood, and although Zi-Yan accompanied Ah Wu in blending the fragrances, she did not know their secrets.

Ah Wu took a breath. “Let’s call it Cun Hui,” she encouraged herself.

Who said that the heart of a blade ^(Cun) of grass could repay the warmth ^(Hui) of spring?