Chapter 428: Just a Little Bit More Understanding Than Ruyi

Wang Sanniang had gotten quite busy these past few years. After the Prince of Xiang quelled the Rebel Army in Qingshan City, the seized lands were all returned to their original owners based on the old records.

Wang Sanniang’s family had owned three plots, left by her late husband. Two years ago, once the land came back, she threw herself into farming and silkworm-raising.

Only because of this could the household keep going.

The rice seedlings had started to grow tall. Now that the weather was getting hotter, it was time to focus completely on them. Wang Sanniang couldn’t help but put in extra effort.

She originally planned to ask Manager Lv from the pharmacy to look out for them. But now that Uncle Chen was back, and since both Ruyi and Ping’an felt close to Uncle Chen, she asked Chen Changsheng to watch over things instead.

Chen Changsheng agreed. He deeply admired Wang Sanniang. For a woman to raise two children on her own in these troubled times was incredibly hard, yet she’d managed it.

Plus, he really liked Ping’an and Ruyi.

Ping’an showed up every morning to practice swordsmanship. He’d practice for one hour, then rest for one.

Chen Changsheng left an extra strand of Magical Power within Ping’an to nourish his muscles and bones. This way, the soreness from yesterday wouldn’t carry over into today.

Ruyi had her own things to do.

Chen Changsheng noticed she brought an embroidery hoop this morning, holding a piece of silk fabric stretched tightly on it.

“Learning embroidery, Ruyi?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Ruyi nodded. “Mom says if I get good at this, I can become an Embroidery Maid at the Embroidery Workshop. It will help with expenses.”

“An Embroidery Maid…”

Chen Changsheng paused. “But Ruyi, you’re only eight?”

Ruyi blinked. “In two more years I’ll be ten.”

“And at ten you can work in the Embroidery Workshop?”

“Yes.”

Chen Changsheng was momentarily stunned. He thought, it made sense. In times like this, many girls married by the age of twelve or thirteen or fourteen.

Becoming an Embroidery Maid at ten didn’t seem impossible after all.

Chen Changsheng asked, “And Ruyi, do you really understand what becoming an Embroidery Maid means?”

“To help with the expenses?”

“But why help with the expenses?”

Ruyi thought about it, then shook her head. “…Don’t know.”

Just as Chen Changsheng expected, Ruyi didn’t know much. After all, what could an eight-year-old really understand?

“Well, Ruyi, do you want to be an Embroidery Maid?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Ruyi shook her head again. “Don’t know that either…”

She was just doing it because her mother said so.

Ruyi continued, “Mom didn’t make me promise to become an Embroidery Maid. She just said I should learn the skill. Ruyi doesn’t really understand why I need to learn these things, but whatever Mom says must be right.”

“That’s true,” Chen Changsheng nodded.

Wang Sanniang had a surprisingly open mind about many things.

Perhaps it was because she remembered her own hardships and didn’t want Ping’an or Ruyi to suffer the same.

“Good luck with your embroidery, Ruyi,” Chen Changsheng said.

“Yeah!”

Ruyi felt encouraged. But then, she remembered yesterday.

“I’m not talking to Uncle Chen anymore.”

“Huh?”

Chen Changsheng glanced at her, unsure what Ruyi was thinking now.

A child’s mind was the hardest thing to understand.

Ruyi picked up needle and thread and began embroidering on the fine cloth. The serious focus on her face didn’t look like her usual self at all.

She hadn’t been stitching for long.

Ruyi glanced at Uncle Chen, then at Ping’an practicing his sword.

Seeing neither was looking her way.

She secretly slipped her hand into her pocket, pulled out a Melon Strip, and popped it into her mouth.

The sweet flavor spread in her mouth. Ruyi squinted her eyes happily. After that, she practiced her embroidery with even more seriousness.

Chen Changsheng sat idly in the courtyard. His tasks mostly involved guiding Ping’an’s sword practice, and secondly, trading playful barbs with Ruyi.

Around noon, there was a sudden knock at the gate.

Chen Changsheng looked towards the door, then got up to open it.

As the door swung open, he looked down.

Standing at the doorstep, swaying slightly, was a little girl in a red dress. Her cheeks were flushed red, and a strong scent of liquor surrounded her.

A thoroughly tipsy Yu Hongjin didn’t even lift her head.

“I drank too much… too much…” she mumbled.

She let out a hiccup, then stumbled inside.

Chen Changsheng gently held her head steady. “Did you get the wrong house?”

“Huh?”

Yu Hongjin raised her head to look.

“Yah!!”

“Surnamed Chen?! What are you doing here?”

Yu Hongjin, still muddled, said, “Must be seeing things… gotta be the wine…”

She turned around to look behind her, then lifted her head again.

This really didn’t look like her own front gate.

Ping’an and Ruyi in the courtyard were both staring at Yu Hongjin.

“Hong Jin,” Ruyi piped up, “You’ve been drinking again! Sister Yun is going to smack you for sure!”

The sound of Ruyi’s voice seemed to jolt Yu Hongjin awake.

She shook her head, squinting at the young girl before her. “You… you’re Ruyi?”

Then she looked at Ping’an.

Her brow instantly furrowed.

Yu Hongjin seemed to realize this wasn’t a dream. It all felt very real.

Her eyes flicked between Chen Changsheng and Ruyi, back and forth.

Finally, after a moment, she processed it. She froze on the spot.

“Oh dear…”

An embarrassed smile spread across Yu Hongjin’s face. “Wrong house… definitely the wrong house…”

She backed out the door without daring to look back.

She didn’t breathe easy until she was back in her own courtyard.

“Huff… huff…” Yu Hongjin panted heavily. She peeked through the crack of the gate across the street. Seeing that their door was already closed, she finally relaxed fully.

“Little Miss, you’ve been drinking again!”

The maid stood with her hands on her hips, looking disapprovingly at Yu Hongjin.

Yu Hongjin looked at her maid. “Zhishu, don’t talk nonsense! I totally didn’t drink! Didn’t!”

Zhishu looked at her. “Miss Sister Yun is upstairs right now. Little Miss just wait for your spanking!”

“Ahem…”

Yu Hongjin coughed, then said, “I’ll come back later… much later…”

As she turned to go, as if remembering something, she suddenly ran back to Zhishu and whispered, “Hong Jin knows Zhishu is the best! You won’t tell Sister Yun, right? I’ll bring Zhishu something tasty later.”

“Shh!”

Yu Hongjin pressed a finger to her lips, signaling for silence, then slipped back out the gate.

Zhishu could only smile helplessly, thinking that “Little Miss” was really still such a child.

…

Back in the small courtyard, Chen Changsheng asked Ruyi about the commotion.

“Do you all know the family across the street?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Ruyi nodded. “Hong Jin moved here when spring began. We play together often. Before, I actually thought Sister Yun was Hong Jin’s mother by mistake!”

“They came in spring?” Chen Changsheng murmured.

Ruyi confirmed. “Hong Jin said Sister Yun came from really far away. She’s a young lady from a very rich family!”

She paused, then asked, “Uncle Chen, what’s different about a young lady from a rich family?”

Chen Changsheng countered, “But Ruyi knows Sister Yun, doesn’t she?”

“We haven’t talked much,” Ruyi said.

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment. “A young lady from a rich family… what does Ruyi think?”

“I’m asking you, Uncle Chen!”

Chen Changsheng replied, “If Ruyi doesn’t know, then Uncle Chen doesn’t know either.”

“Uncle Chen doesn’t know everything after all!”

“Just barely a little more than Ruyi understands.”

“A lot more than a little!”

“Maybe, I suppose.”