The expression on Ye Weilai's face was a little strange.
Watching Xie Lingjiang disappear into the night, she hesitated at the door for a while and did not go back to the house immediately.
Ye Weilai breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a familiar soft "ah" sound coming from the room behind him, which seemed to be a reminder.
With a "clunking" sound, she closed the courtyard door tightly and turned back into the house.
Ye Weilai cast curious eyes.
On the couch, the embroiderer was sitting on the head of the bed with her legs bent. Ouyang Rong's head was resting on her thigh. The embroiderer gently held him in her arms and gently massaged and kneaded the temples on both sides of his head with her slender fingers. .
Occasionally she paused with her fingers and closed her eyes slightly, as if she was sensing and conveying something.
For some reason, Ye Weilai always felt like a medical doctor checking the patient's pulse.
In addition, the embroiderer's clothes were a little messy, and the sheets under her legs were also wrinkled, as if they had just been rolled and tossed.
When Ye Weilai saw this, her little face showed a look of confusion.
Miss Xie just entered the house. The master's sleep talk may not have been groundless. He may have been vaguely awakened by Miss Xie's two words of "elder brother", but he was vaguely awakened by the body of the embroiderer who was hugging him for some reason. As a junior junior sister.
But I don't know why, the master is so sleepy in this sandalwood, and he still hasn't fully woken up after all the trouble just now.
I don’t know if the embroidery lady used some special technique on the master when she was not in the house just now...
The doubts in my mind were somewhat cleared up.
Ye Weilai pursed her lips slightly.
She now vaguely understood something. This mute girl named Xiu Niang should be a legendary Qi practitioner like Miss Xie.
Otherwise, Miss Xie should have discovered the embroiderer just now. If she didn't, then there is a possibility that the embroiderer in front of her might be more powerful than Miss Xie...
However, Miss Xie is a child of the world-famous Qi Wang of the Five Surnames, and her father Xie Xun is a great scholar in the academy. He has plenty of teachers and resources, so it is normal for him to learn Qi refining at an early age.
But what is going on with this embroiderer, and what is her relationship with the master or the Nanlong Ouyang family? The master seems to have never mentioned it...
In the darkness, Ye Weilai's frown temporarily relaxed as she approached the bed. After entering the inner room, she turned around and lit a candle first.
An old yellow halo lit up in the center of the back room.
It's a warm color.
The darkness beside the bed was dispelled.
Illuminating the silhouettes of the three people in the back room.
Ye Weilai raised her hands to the back of her neck, lowered her head slightly, and retied her bellyband embroidered with pink and white lotus flowers.
But when she reached the bed, she paused:
"what you do?"
Xiu Niang lowered her head and closed her eyes, put her two fingers together and gently pressed against Tan Lang's Shenting point in her arms. She seemed to be exploring it through induction. She silently retracted the two fingers that calmed the mind and lifted the energy. She turned over her hand and took out a golden pill. She lay down on it. In the palm of your hand.
She lifted Ouyang Rong up and carefully put it into his mouth.
Judging from this set of procedures and appearance, he is quite skilled.
Ye Weilai was stunned for a moment, then stepped forward anxiously: "You..."
The embroiderer put Ouyang Rong's head back on the pillow and lay down to sleep. She turned her face, shook her head and palms towards Ye Weilai, who was full of worry.
"How can you feed your master random things..."
Ye Weilai stamped her feet in anger, but when she saw the mute girl named Xiu Niang on the bed looking at her master's sleeping face, her eyes were full of tenderness, and her words were stuck in her mouth, so she had no choice but to ask:
"Did you often do this to the master while we were sleeping?"
The embroiderer looked at her and nodded without any secret, as if she didn't feel that she had done anything wrong.
Ye Weila was about to speak but stopped.
The embroiderer seemed to see the white-haired maid's embarrassment, and pointed to Ouyang Rong on the bed. She gently raised her index finger to Ye Weilai's lips:
"Shhh."
The mute woman had a light figure. She put on her shoes and got out of bed. She took the young girl with silver hair and waist length who was wearing a white lotus bellyband to the desk, leaving the young man with his eyes closed who was sleeping sweetly on the pillow without disturbing her.
Ye Weilai took down the only oil lamp in the house and followed the mute woman.
The back room was once again invaded by darkness.
The orange "halo" followed the two women to the desk, covering the desk where papers were piled up in an orderly manner.
The embroiderer stretched out her hand, as if she was about to spread paper and grind ink, but Ye Weilai suddenly stopped her.
"Wait a minute, come on, the slave family. The master is smart and has the obsessive-compulsive disorder that he often claims. He arranges his things in a regular way. It is easy to find outsiders rummaging through his things... The slave family is more familiar with it."
The oil lamp was placed on the table, and Ye Weilai stepped forward to take over from the embroiderer, spreading paper and grinding ink.
The embroiderer silently stepped back and gave way.
However, she turned her face to stare at Ye Weilai, who was chattering and having extremely familiar hands.
Tanlang is smart, and this white-haired maid next to him is not smart either.
Xiu Niang's eyes were a little bright and a little dark.
I don’t know whether I am happy or sad.
"alright."
Ye Weilai tidied up the details on the table and turned around to get out of the way.
The embroiderer came to her senses and walked to the table.
On the table, there are paper, ink, pen and inkstone.
The embroiderer rolled up her sleeves and picked up her pen.
Ye Weilai noticed that although Xiu Niang was missing the little finger on her right hand, she was not left-handed and still wrote with her right hand.
It's just that writing with a pen using four fingers except the little finger is obviously more difficult and requires more sweat.
However, as the mute woman in front of him started writing, Ye Weilai's eyes flashed with surprise.
The embroiderer's calligraphy is very beautiful.
The words are like the person, graceful, graceful, fresh and elegant.
Just like a cup of misty scented tea in the morning, just one glance will refresh your heart.
Recently being punished by Ouyang Rong, Ye Weilai, who had been practicing calligraphy copybooks, couldn't help but take a closer look.
It is hard to imagine that this pair of plain hands, stained by Yang Chun Shui and excellent in cooking skills, could write such good calligraphy with only four fingers.
Ye Weilai's eyes became more and more curious.
"You ask."
On the paper, Xiu Niang wrote.
Maybe it’s because he can’t speak, but he can’t even write concisely.
Just answer.
Ye Weilai blurted out: "Do you like Tanlang?"
The girl obviously had many questions in her mind before, but when the time came, she asked this first.
The embroiderer glanced at her, lowered her head at the table, lightly touched the hair beside her ear with her little finger, and silently wrote:
"If I don't see you for a day, I miss you like crazy."
Ye Weilai couldn't help but ask: "Is this kind of feeling... Then how did you and Tan Lang meet?"
The embroiderer paused for a moment while holding the brush between her slender fingers.
fall:
"He never knew I was here, and he... never said anything to me before."
"Then how did you get in touch?" Ye Weilai's tone was puzzled, and he added: "You can't speak either."
"dream."
"What?"
"Dream, I dream about him every night.
“I’ve known Tanlang for a long, long time.
“I spoke to him in a dream.
"I dreamed about him last night."
Ye Weilai fell silent, looking at the mute woman at the table who curled up her mouth with a faint smile, and said softly:
"But he doesn't like you, or... doesn't know you exist."
"I know."
The embroiderer didn't raise her head:
"But he is my husband, and I promise to take care of Tanlang for the rest of my life."
Ye Weilai's little face was stunned. She lowered her head and looked repeatedly at the line of Juan Xiu's handwriting that was still wet with ink on the paper. She then raised her head and couldn't help but glance at the profile of the embroiderer.
"ah?"
The white-haired maid wearing only bellyband and underpants at the table late at night has a big mouth and seems to be mute. She can only utter a single syllable.
"etc."
Ye Weilai turned to look at the sleeping Ouyang Rong and asked quickly:
"Tan Lang seems to have never been married. Madam Zhen and Miss Xie were worried about his marriage a few days ago. Did they make a mistake, or did Tan Lang divorce his wife?"
The embroiderer shook her head and nodded again.
She turned her head and looked in the direction of someone sleeping in the room. After staring for a while, she lowered her head and dipped in ink to write again.
Immediately, a few words on the paper fell into Ye Weilai's eyes, making the latter's breath suffocate for a moment.
"I was a child bride. I once took care of Tanlang. I committed a sin and was betrayed by my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen."
"this……"
Ye Weilai had a look of astonishment on her face.
"Is there still such a thing...eh..."
However, she tried her best to think for a moment, and seemed to vaguely remember hearing Madam Zhen mention something.
It seems that a few days ago, when Mrs. Zhen took her to chat on the bow deck on the passenger ship returning to her hometown in Nanlong, she faintly mentioned it.
It's just that Ye Weilai was absent-minded at the time and only wanted to return to Longcheng County, but he didn't pay much attention and didn't ask much.
In front of the desk lit by candlelight, the atmosphere fell into a brief silence.
The pen in the embroiderer's hand dropped weakly to the rice paper, and the ink on the tip of the pen blackened a large piece of white paper for no apparent reason, spreading out and forming an ink circle.
Ye Weilai scratched his white-haired little head and nodded thoughtfully:
"It seems that there is such a thing, so you are from the eldest lady's natal family? You were adopted by the eldest lady and then became Tanlang's child bride?"
The embroiderer nodded and picked up the pen again. Ye Weilai thoughtfully replaced her with a piece of clean rice paper.
"Tanlang was weak and sickly when he was young. He needed someone to take care of him on his sickbed and accompany him day and night."
After a pause, another line of Juanxiu regular script appeared on the paper:
"Tan Lang often fell into a coma during his illness. He may have no memory of me. He only remembers the pain of acupuncture... Miss Ye, has Tan Lang ever mentioned me to you?"
Ye Weilai was speechless for a moment, facing the embroiderer's eyes full of expectation, she hesitated for a moment, nodded gently, and deceived in good faith:
"I mentioned it a little bit...but Tan Lang really didn't have a deep impression. Mainly because he heard Mrs. Zhen mention it after dinner."
The mute woman standing by the table raised her left hand and gently brushed the hair beside her ear, and glanced at his sleeping couch in the back room. She lowered her eyes and lowered her head. The crystal ear beads exposed by her ears were bright red, like a shy love heart.
Ye Weilai paused in her words and looked at Xiu Niang with strange eyes, who seemed to be suddenly happy just because the master still remembered her. She reminded in a low voice:
"It's just that the eldest lady left early, so we can only listen to Mrs. Zhen's words on these matters. What Mrs. Zhen said does not seem to be a good thing... Of course, now it seems that something is indeed wrong. Don't blame the embroiderer, Mrs. Zhen His character may be a bit aggressive..."
When the embroiderer heard this, she swung her hands vigorously in the air, and even reached out to cover Ye Weilai's mouth.
Ye Weilai was a little surprised. All she saw was that the mute girl's little face in front of her was full of fear and panic.
The embroiderer quickly grabbed a pen and wrote:
"It's not Aunt Zhen's fault, it's not my mother-in-law's fault. It's the embroiderer who is useless. She can't take care of Tanlang well, which goes against the moral code of a woman."
Ye Weilai was stunned. The mute girl's reaction made her, who had always been indifferent to outsiders, feel a little distressed. Ye Weilai held her four fingers and said seriously:
"You are a girl from the eldest lady's family, and you should be from Nanlong. I heard that the clan customs in Nanlong seem to be very serious, and they have high requirements for women's obedience and four virtues, and they value chastity... Mrs. Zhen was on the boat a few days ago. This is also what I warned the slave family, asking them to be honest when they return to their hometown to worship their ancestors...
"So, Xiu Niang, did you do something wrong at the beginning, or did you violate any taboos? Madam Zhen didn't make it very clear. It seemed that you were not good to Tan Lang and stabbed him secretly with an embroidery needle... and then she and she The eldest lady has no choice but to sell people, and Mrs. Zhen also said that you are a wolf that is not well-raised..."
"Ah." The embroiderer seemed to have no strength to even lift the pen, unable to open her mouth.
The dim candlelight fell on a delicate oval face with two lines of clear tears.
Ye Weilai looked at the tearful, lovable mute girl in front of her and shook her head vigorously:
"The slave family feels that you are nothing like what she said. Could it be that there is some misunderstanding... Yes, Xiu Niang, you are mute. If there is a misunderstanding, you cannot speak. You should not be able to write when you were young. It’s not unreasonable that the eldest lady and Madam Zhen have a misunderstanding.”
The embroiderer sniffed and started writing. However, the back of her hand was trembling and she pinched the pen wrongly twice. After adjusting it:
"How could this happen? How dare you do this."
The owner of Juanxiu's small characters seemed to be a little excited, and the characters were a lot crooked:
"How dare I hurt Tanlang? That year, I was guarding Tanlang by the couch and working as an embroidery girl. A white ape with a sword slipped out of the window. It was very naughty. Not only did it offend me, but it also grabbed the embroidery needle and pricked Tanlang's arm.
"The white ape is extremely sensitive, and I can't stop it. I look for my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen, but it disappears again, leading to a misunderstanding.
"In this way, the white ape sneaks in every day, stabs Tanlang every day, the concubine cannot be driven away every day, and the mother-in-law and aunt become increasingly suspicious.
"Then one day, I finally managed to beat it with an embroidery needle. It screamed loudly as I pricked it, and I didn't dare to hurt Tanlang again. But that day, my mother-in-law and Aunt Zhen still took me to the ancestral temple. The elders of the clan testified, and I was sold out. out……"
Ye Weilai had a big mouth and was speechless. It took a long time to swallow and said:
"Is there such a strange thing? Is there really a psychic white ape in this world? The embroiderer is too unfair..."
Ye Weilai's voice became softer and quieter, because she suddenly realized that Mrs. Zhen was still too kind to her now. If it were left in the past, she might have to kneel at the ancestral memorial arch...
The embroiderer bowed her head.
She is as quiet as a virgin.
When he was young, he attracted an active white ape, which caused such disaster.
Fortune plays tricks on people.
And later, the embroiderer faintly heard from her master and senior sister that the sect was able to find her because of this white ape with a sword on its back...
Ye Weilai didn't ask about these matters about the master's sect, and naturally the embroiderer wouldn't talk about them either.
The atmosphere was silent. After a long time, Ye Weilai expressed some concern and comfort, and the embroiderer forced a smile.
"So Xiu Niang, do you know how to refining Qi?" Ye Weilai suddenly asked.
Perhaps it was the heart-to-heart talk just now that brought the two women closer.
The embroiderer nodded gently.
Ye Weila wanted to ask again, but Xiu Niang avoided her eyes and wrote on the paper:
"Everything is over, and it's useless to talk about it. Can Miss Ye not tell Tan Lang? I'm afraid that he will know, which will only increase his worries. Tan Lang has big things to do, how can I add worries to him? Besides... concubine I’m in a special situation and it’s hard to talk about it.”
Ye Weilai was silent for a while, then lowered his eyes and said:
"Sister Xiu Niang told the slave family that she naturally trusts the slave family...but the master is the slave's guide and does not affect the master. The slave family does not need to talk about it, but if something is necessary, it must be said. The slave family will definitely talk about it, but it will also talk to you in advance. Come on."
"I can't thank you enough." The embroiderer smiled suddenly.
Immediately, the two women spoke a few more words, the sky outside the window gradually became brighter, and a lot of the sandalwood fragrance dispersed in the room.
From the direction of the bed in the back room, there was a faint sound of a man turning over.
"Sister Xiu Niang, please go back first. The rest of the matter will be handled by the slave family."
Ye Weilai comforted softly.
The embroiderer suddenly looked back at the direction of the inner room and left quietly.
(End of chapter)
