Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Yong Ruo opened her tearful eyes and looked at the door, and unexpectedly saw a figure that looked very much like Feng Liao.
She wiped her tears in disbelief, and when she looked closely, it was indeed Master Feng!
Master Feng was very low-key today, wearing a plain green cloth robe, a Confucian scarf on his head, and a blue silk belt around his waist, just like those ordinary scholars who gathered in the capital to prepare for the Spring Examination. What was more special was that he was carrying an exquisite two-layered large food box in his hand.
There were two people following him, one was Su Mingjian, and the other was the guard Luo Bu who sent her back yesterday. Su Mingjian carried a full cloth bag on his shoulder, and held a few bacon and sausages in his hand; Luo Bu held a fresh lamb leg in one hand and a large bamboo cage in the other hand, which contained several live chickens.
Master Feng walked quickly to Yong Ruo and squatted down. He put down the food box, and seemed to want to reach out and wipe away the tears on Yong Ruo’s face, but when his fingers were about to touch Yong Ruo’s cheek, he suddenly stopped.
His hand froze in the air for a while, then clenched into a fist, and withdrew it somewhat embarrassedly: “I was reckless!”
His eyes drifted around the yard twice, then he coughed slightly uncomfortably and asked softly: “What happened?”
The Yong siblings had stopped crying because of the sudden entry of the three people. After he asked this question, Yong Qiao and Yong Miao started crying again, but they cried much softer and kept wiping their tears. Yong Ruo stood up and bowed to Feng Liao: “Thanks to the nobleman’s kindness last night, today we invited a very famous doctor to see my mother…” Her voice was a little choked, “In the end, the doctor returned the consultation fee to me and refused to prescribe a prescription!”
What does it mean for a doctor to refuse to prescribe a prescription? Even people like Yong Qiao and Yong Miao understand it, so Feng Liao and others naturally knew it clearly.
Young Master Feng opened his lips slightly, then turned around and pulled Su Mingjian aside, whispering in a voice that Yong Ruo couldn’t hear: “Go in person and invite Doctor Xu.”
Su Mingjian hesitated: “But… Young Master’s safety?”
“Rob is here, and there are many people outside. I am a free and easy person. What are you worried about?” He solemnly reminded, “Tell Doctor Xu not to reveal my identity.”
Su Mingjian had no choice but to agree, and walked over to ask Yong Ruo: “Miss, where is the kitchen?”
Yong Ruo looked at the things on his shoulders and in his hands, and felt a little numb on her scalp.
She felt at ease with the five taels of silver and the clothes yesterday; the ten taels of silver was a reward for eating and chatting with him, and packing the leftovers was fine since they would just go to waste, so she didn’t have any psychological burden.
But now Young Master Feng came to her door with so many things! Knowing that he was interested in her, she could no longer accept his financial support with a clear conscience – because this was not just a noble young man doing charity out of boredom!
“Mr. Feng, what are you doing with these things?”
She was a little entangled in her heart: Should I explain it to Mr. Feng? How should I say it? Mr. Feng is not the Jin Sanbao next door, whom she can just refuse. If she refused Mr. Feng, first of all, her plan to have a backer would definitely fail, and secondly, would this Mr. Feng be angry and do something to rob women? Feng Liao looked at her expression, suddenly put his hands behind his back, and said reservedly: “I give them to you as a reward!”
The word “reward” choked Yong Ruo’s entanglement and most of it ran away. “Why are you ‘rewarding’ me for no reason, young master?” She emphasized the word “reward” very much.
Feng Liao’s sight fell on the plum blossoms in the yard, and he said, “The plum blossom you presented to me yesterday was too small, only big enough for my hairpin. The plum blossom has a very beautiful color and shape, so I want to ask for a big one to put in a vase. With my status and position, I can’t take your things for free, so I picked up some things to reward you!”
Yong Qiao and Yong Miao looked at Master Feng in surprise, and then at the plum tree. They never thought that the plum blossoms that they usually didn’t care about were so valuable! If all the flowers on this tree were sold, how much bacon, sausages and lamb legs could be exchanged! Yong Miao looked at Yong Ruo attentively, hoping that she would not refuse this “business”; But Yong Qiao, who was older, frowned.
Feng Liao acted so arrogantly, Yong Ruo was not so entangled in her heart. She thought: If a noble man like you is willing to reward me, I dare to accept it, but don’t expect me to marry you!
She raised a polite smile on her face: “In this case, I am ashamed to accept it. This plum tree is as you like. Even if you dig it up with its roots, that’s fine.” After saying that, she took the lunch box and led Su Mingjian and Luo Bu to the kitchen. After Su Mingjian put down his things in the kitchen, he hurried out.
Yong Ruo came out of the kitchen and saw that Master Feng had put down his hands behind his back and stood under the plum tree to appreciate the flowers.
Seeing Yong Ruo coming out, Feng Liao bowed to her: “Miss, can I go to pay my respects to your mother?” His expression and tone were quite peaceful again!
Yong Ruo felt that Master Feng’s ability to change his face was quite amazing! Where did he practice it?
“My mother is sleeping now, and she looks sick and haggard. I’m afraid she will scare you. You should go to the main hall to talk!” She declined Feng Liao’s kindness and told Yong Qiao and Yong Miao to watch over Mother Zhou.
As for the basic etiquette of serving tea to guests – forget it! Because there was no such thing as “tea” in her house.
She couldn’t pick a few bamboo leaves and plum blossoms to boil water for him to drink, right? What if he drank it to upset his stomach that had been spoiled since childhood? Wouldn’t that be looking for trouble!
Feng Liao didn’t force it and followed her to the main hall.
In ordinary people’s homes, the main hall was the main hall.
There was an old shrine on the north wall of the main hall, where the “Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teacher” were worshipped; under the shrine was a simple offering table, where the tablets of several ancestors and Father Yong were worshipped. In the middle of the main hall, there was an eight-immortal table surrounded by four benches. Apart from this, there was nothing else in the main hall.
Feng Liao did not disdain the shabby main hall, but sat down on the bench calmly, took out a business card box from his sleeve, opened the box, and pushed it in front of Yong Ruo.
“This is the business card promised to the girl. There is an address on it. If the girl has any problems, she can take the business card and go to this address to tell me. I will definitely help you!”
Yong Ruo looked at the business card box in front of her, and her mood became complicated again.
In the business card box, on a very beautiful snow-white paper, Yong Ruo couldn’t name it, the two characters “Feng Liao” were neatly written in the middle, an address was written on the right, and at the bottom was a hand-painted red plum blossom. On the snow-white background, the flower color was particularly delicate, and the posture was particularly… cold and aloof!
“Did the young master draw this plum blossom?”
“Yes! I just hate that my painting skills are mediocre and I can’t fully show the style of the red plum blossom.”
Yong Ruo fell silent.
After crossing over, she had never seen other people’s business cards, but she had seen Qing Dynasty business cards preserved in history on the Internet in her previous life. She had never seen anyone draw flowers on business cards! Was this the custom of this world, or was this young master Feng ingenious? Or was he particularly attentive?
She was not a slow person, so she believed that her feeling should be correct. This young master Feng was interested in her!
After weighing it seriously, she decided to make things clear to young master Feng as soon as possible. Since she didn’t want to be his concubine, and he couldn’t marry her, this relationship was doomed to have no result. It was better to make a break as soon as possible while his feelings were not deep enough and he could let it go! This was better for him and herself!
But how to say it?
First, if she wanted to reject a nobleman’s feelings, she had to reject him before he expressed his feelings clearly, otherwise where would he put his face? Second, the rejection should be said tactfully, it was best not to let the nobleman realize that you know his feelings and are rejecting him, but to let him realize the huge gap between the two of you and back off!
This was a little difficult! But Yong Ruo felt that she still had a chance to do it.
“What are you thinking about? Don’t you like me drawing plum blossoms on my business cards?” Feng Liao asked her.
“No!” Yong Ruo looked at the plum blossoms and smiled somewhat reluctantly, “I just thought of my mother. My mother’s temperament is very much like this red plum blossom, not afraid of frost, and not breaking her proud bones!”
She pulled the corner of her mouth and asked Feng Liao, “I remember I told you, right? I once thought of working as a maid in a wealthy family, but my mother didn’t want me to be a slave again.”
“Yes.” Feng Liao said, “I don’t know your mother. But I think your temperament is quite like that of a red plum – pretending to be the color of a small red peach and apricot, yet still having the lonely and thin appearance of snow and frost.”
Yong Ruo recited these two lines of poetry in a low voice and couldn’t help but smile faintly. She thought to herself: You know me very well!
“My mother is just like this!” Yong Ruo said in a very sentimental tone, “She has been a slave in a wealthy family since she was a child, and has seen many dirty things in the backyard. Other maids would intentionally or unintentionally get close to the young master and the old master, thinking about becoming a concubine or something. My mother was just the opposite. She avoided the tasks around the young master and the old master as much as possible, and if she couldn’t avoid it, she tried not to attract attention. Others said that my mother is stupid and doesn’t know how to plan for the future, but my mother always laughed it off. Later, my mother finally found an opportunity, begged for grace to redeem herself, and married my father.”
She had a faint smile on her face: “I once asked my mother: Why don’t you want to be a concubine? Even if you are a concubine, you are a concubine of a wealthy family. You usually have fine clothes and food, and can have servants. Your life is better than that of the main wife of an ordinary family. But my mother said: She can kneel down to beg for life, but she doesn’t want to kneel down to be a human being.”
The last sentence, she said with particular force.
Feng Liao was still smiling, listening with great interest.
After hearing the words “I can kneel down to survive but I don’t want to kneel down to be a human being”, the smile on his face faded away little by little…
There was no trace of blood on his delicate face!
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