"You don't know him? How could it be? I heard that he is a wizard among the staff. I heard that he carved the jade Guanyin that the Duke took away last time and gave it to the Empress Dowager. !”
Cui Ying shook his head.
"You don't know? What a pity."
He calmly wrote on the paper, "Why?"
"He is my fiancé."
"What!" he blurted.
Both of them were shocked.
"Sister... uh... you're not my sister?" Nan Xiu hesitated.
Compared to her, Cui Ying was much more agile and revealed his identity as a man. "Yes, I have always been a man. It's just that you called me sister, and I couldn't remind you because I was worried that you would be shy."
Ordinary women may not believe this, but she is Nanxiu, and her brain is not as sharp as her embroidery hands.
"Oh, that's it. Sister is really kind-hearted, no, brother, brother is really kind-hearted."
"You..." When he first heard the woman call him brother, it was indescribably inconsistent.
"Aren't you older than me? I am fifteen this year and will be sixteen next year."
He struggled a few times and said slowly, "No, I'm two years older than you."
"So my brother is seventeen?"
"Um."
"Brother, your handwriting is so beautiful. Who taught you this?"
"You talk a lot." He finally said this complaint.
"Oh, then I won't say anything." Then she asked no more questions.
When she didn't ask, he continued, "You don't care at all whether I'm a boy or a girl, or what I look like?"
"Didn't you say I talk too much?"
"I..." She was obviously not as smart as him, but in front of her, he was just like a child arguing with her.
"Are you angry, brother?" she asked.
"No."
"Actually, no matter you are a boy or a girl, I like you very much. I like the words you taught me to write, I like you to correct my sitting posture, and you corrected my typos. So, it doesn't matter whether you are a boy or a girl. What? As for your appearance, I think you no longer have rashes, and you should be a good-looking man. Even if you are not, I will not like you any less. "
She liked every word, and he felt uncomfortable no matter how much she listened to it.
"shut up!"
"What's wrong, you're angry again?" Nan Xiu felt that he was really easy to get angry, and he liked to sulk even more than Sister Ruan.
"No."
"Oh well."
"Just now you said that your fiancé is Cui Zhonghe?" He turned around and asked.
"Well, I told my wife that I have reached the age where I should be betrothed, and I asked her to help me find a suitable husband in the house for the sake of my great achievements last time."
"So Madam helped you find Cui Zhonghe?"
"Yes, I heard that he is a handsome man." Nan Xiu continued writing.
"Heard? Then, you haven't heard anything else?" he asked hurriedly.
"Others...what?" She was puzzled.
"No, it's nothing. Just keep writing."
"Look." She wrote the words Zhonghe on the paper.
Cui Ying's face turned red, but it was hidden by her veil, so it couldn't be seen.
"When did you learn to write these two words?"
"When you taught me to write Zhongchun and Mengchun, I wrote down the character Zhong. When you taught me to write peace and kindness, I wrote down the character "和". How about it, am I smart? I don't know if his name is like this. I only know the pronunciation of the two characters, but not the characters."
He didn't say yes, and he didn't say no.
"He doesn't like what others call him." Meng Ying said.
"Why?"
"No reason." Because it was taken by the Duke, and every time others called him, it would remind him that he was the Duke's support.
"You know him?"
"I've seen him a few times."
"Then you still say you don't know him."
"When did I say that?"
"I asked you if you knew him, and you shook your head!"
"I shook my head because when I lowered my head and saw that the words you wrote were wrong, I shook my head and thought you were a dead wood."
"Then can you tell me what kind of person he is?"
"Madam didn't tell you?" He wanted to find out the details of this silly girl first, but he also wanted to see what the Duke's wife was planning.
"The lady said that he is a gentle and humble person, loves to laugh, and treats everyone well, so I think he is a good person."
"..." He was speechless.
"I just want to know what else he does besides these, what he likes, what he hates, and what he does in his daily life."
"You haven't married him yet and you've already thought about it so much?" Cui Ying couldn't laugh or cry.
"Yes, I have even thought about what our future children will be called. If a boy is born, he will be called -"
"Stop!" he interrupted her, "I don't really care about that."
He suddenly felt upset, as if a game of chess had been broken up by a wild cat.
"Well, can you give him this letter."
"What?"
"This is what I wrote to Cui... Cui..." She didn't know his name, only his handwriting.
"Cui Ying." He sighed.
"It turns out his name is Cui Ying. If you give him the letter, he will know what I want to say to him."
"This... is inappropriate..." He hesitated.
"There is another letter. Please help me deliver it to the end of the alley not far from Wusang Bridge. There is a small house there. My grandpa lives there. I can't leave the house. I have saved these gold and silver for two years. I don’t dare to entrust anyone else with my money, but embroiderers can’t go that far. It’s different for you. You are a man, you have fast feet and can ride a horse. If you can When you leave the house, don’t forget to give these to my grandpa.”
"Do you believe me?"
"Yeah, I trust you."
"What should you do if I steal the gold and silver?"
"I..." She was a little worried, "Are you short of money recently? Then... I'll give half to you and half to my grandpa."
"Didn't you say you saved these for two whole years? How could you give me half of it so easily?"
"You are my teacher. You have taught me all these years and treated me very well. I have no brothers or father, and I have never dated or talked to a man. You are the only one who has helped me a lot."
"I'm not your teacher. I'm going to teach you a few words. What kind of teacher am I?"
"Then... you are my friend."
Cui Ying did not continue to deny it.
He accepted the money and said, "I will accept the items sent to Wu Sangqiao Alley and will deliver them to you. However, I cannot accept the items sent to Cui Ying."
Nanxiu nodded, "Then I will wait until the day I see him and give it to him personally." She smiled and put the letter back into her sleeve.
Nam Soo had a terrible dream one night.
She returned home alone, carrying a lot of roast duck that grandpa liked to eat and bamboo leaf green that grandpa liked to have a few drinks with. However, the toon tree in the yard had lost its leaves, and the persimmon tree not far outside the yard had also lost its leaves. Already broken.
She walked through the silence in the courtyard and called her grandpa one after another. It was so quiet in her dream that she couldn't even hear her grandpa coughing like before.
She searched for a long time and called Grandpa countless times. She wanted to tell Grandpa that she had a fiancé who also learned to read and write. Although the man who taught her to read and write was very cruel, he was a very kind person. .
When she woke up from the dream, her pillow was soaked.
(End of chapter)