Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn - Chapter 10
"Sister, it's sister." The familiar child's voice reached my ears like heavenly music. I turned my head to look in the direction the voice came from. Who else could that little angelic boy be but my dear Zinuo? I rubbed my numb legs and stood up with difficulty, looking happily at my aunt and Zinuo walking towards me.
"What are you doing squatting here? Are those people that good-looking?" Zinuo asked me irritably. "Do you know how long your mother and I have been looking for you?"
"Hehe," I chuckled dryly, then held up the groceries in front of him with a fawning expression. "I'm buying groceries for Zinuo, and also to experience life here and see how other people live." Only a fool would tell him I was lost.
Zinuo looked at me with disbelief, then blurted out, "You're not lost, are you?" My smile froze on my face as I watched him walk home without looking back.
Why is it that usually I leave others speechless, but I'm always the one who gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Zinuo? That little devil!
After eating the first lovingly prepared meal in our new home, my aunt and I had a serious discussion in the yard about the issue we had discussed several times before.
I peeled an orange and put the segments into my mouth one by one, enjoying the sweet and sour taste while asking indistinctly, "Auntie, how long can the money the eldest young master gave us last at this rate?" After another fruitless discussion, I changed my approach.
"Ten or eight years is no problem." The aunt took a sip of tea.
After finishing the orange and wiping my mouth, I snuggled into my aunt's arms and said, "Then let's not worry about it anymore. Let's talk about it again in ten or eight years. By then, Zinuo and I will have grown up."
My aunt smiled and nodded. I stretched lazily and said, "From today onwards, we're going to enjoy life to the fullest!"
Having cast aside our worries and concerns, life in our new home was like a fish in water. We spent our days coming and going, constantly remodeling the layout to our liking. We added many more flowers and plants to the yard, all of which Zinuo and I dug up from outside the city or begged from our neighbors. After a while, we had a great relationship with our neighbors. Auntie was beautiful and sweet-talking, and Zinuo and I were loved by everyone. The older women, aunties, and young wives doted on us, and even the children loved playing with us. All of this made me feel incredibly successful, often basking in the glow of my own strong personal charm.
It was another rare beautiful day. Auntie helped Zinuo move his little desk under the locust tree so he could practice calligraphy, while she sat beside him embroidering. Aunt Wu, who lived on the front street, worked as an embroiderer at an embroidery shop. Seeing how well Auntie embroidered, she often brought patterns over for Auntie to embroider, paying her a small fee. Auntie was very happy about this, as it helped supplement the family income.
"Huai'en, it's been a long time since you've read or written anything, hasn't it?" My aunt was embroidering a lotus flower picture and asked me, who was idly sitting next to her, without even looking up.
"Didn't they say that because I'm a girl, I don't need to study so much?" I muttered.
"Then why did you go to the trouble of going to the study every day when you were eating and drinking well at the Marquis's mansion?"
“It’s different. There are many people in the Marquis’s mansion. I tried to strive for the top, thinking that the Marquis would care more about us and we would be bullied less. But it’s still the same. There’s no need for it now.” I sighed helplessly.
My aunt finally glanced at me and said with a smile, "It's good that you don't study. Let me teach you embroidery."
"Huh?" I quickly shook my head. "No, no!"
"Girls should all learn embroidery," the aunt said patiently.
I ran up behind Zinuo and said in a serious tone, "I'm going to supervise Zinuo's calligraphy practice and teach him to read." My aunt had no choice but to give up.
A little while later, Auntie said again, "Huai'en, let's get your ears pierced. You're over six years old now."
I covered my ears and shook my head again, "I'm afraid it will hurt, I'll wear it when I'm older." What's wrong with my aunt today? She keeps picking on me.
"Huai'en, is your aunt really that useless?" the aunt suddenly blurted out.
I looked at her, puzzled. She was acting so strangely today.
My aunt glanced at me and said softly, "If your mother were still alive, she would be twenty-four years old today." I see.
"Your mother died because of me, and I should have taken extra good care of you. But in reality, it was you who sought protection from the eldest young master to take care of us back in the Marquis's mansion. You could have lived a good life in the Marquis's mansion under the eldest young master's protection, but you were implicated because your aunt accidentally offended Madam Ji. Even now, everything your aunt and Zinuo have is still thanks to the eldest young master's concern for you." Your aunt said a lot in one breath. These words must have always been in her heart, right?
I hugged my aunt's neck from behind and said coquettishly, "How can you say that, Aunt? These past few years, since Mother passed away, haven't you been taking care of Huai En's daily needs? Huai En is naughty and disobedient, and you've worried a lot about him. Without you, I don't know what Huai En would have become."
Auntie looked at Zinuo, who was engrossed in practicing calligraphy, and said, "Huai'en is very capable. He has taught Zinuo so well. None of the children who go to private schools are as good as Zinuo."
"Auntie, are you praising me or Zinuo?" I said, feigning anger. Auntie then realized what I meant and smiled, "You are both very clever children."
I gently stroked my aunt's hair with my fingers and whispered in her ear, "Aunt, please don't say things like that again. We are a family that depends on each other for survival. Everyone has contributed a lot to today, including Zinuo. We must strive to live a better life." My aunt smiled and nodded.
After dinner, I took out my mother's portrait. It was my only memory of my mother in this world, yet I deeply loved this kind, loyal, and beautiful woman. My aunt also looked at it with great care, gently stroking the portrait inch by inch.
I stared at my mother's face for a long time, and another face overlapped in my mind. I looked at my aunt carefully, but the image couldn't overlap.
“Auntie, may I ask you a question?” I asked nervously.
"Ask away." The aunt's eyes didn't leave the portrait.
Have you met all the ladies of the Marquis's mansion?
"Why ask if you haven't seen them all?" My aunt turned to look at me with a puzzled expression.
“There’s something strange,” I said after a pause. “The other day in the punishment hall, I saw the First Madam and several other ladies. They all looked somewhat like the First Madam. And just now, when I looked at my mother’s portrait, I noticed that her eyes also resembled the First Madam’s.”
"Everyone in the Marquis's mansion knows that the Second Miss Hanyan's mother, Madam Wen, looks most like the First Madam and is also the most favored."
“That’s what’s strange. The Marquis dotes on his first wife so much, so why does he marry so many other women who look like her? It doesn’t make sense.” My unease grew. “There are probably many stories behind this, just like my mother’s death, which was very suspicious.”
The aunt's expression also changed slightly. "Who knows what's strange about that place?"
“But Auntie doesn’t look like the First Madam at all, so how did she become Madam Jing? Is Auntie the only one who doesn’t look like the First Madam?” I joked when I saw that Auntie was a little nervous. But Auntie’s face turned even paler.
I panicked and quickly asked, "Auntie, are you alright? It's all Huai'en's fault. I'll never mention the old stories of the Marquis's mansion again." As I spoke, I called to Zinuo, and together we helped Auntie to sit down on a stool.
"Auntie, I won't mention it again. You should get some rest." I poured a glass of water for my aunt.
The aunt took the water and said weakly, "Huai'en, go to sleep by yourself. I'm fine, I'll be alright in a bit. There's still Zinuo here."
I turned and went back to my room, regretting what I had just said. Why did I have to bring it up when I was already gone?
Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn. Chapter 010
Chapter word count: 3181 Update time: 09-07-25 11:05
As the weather grew colder day by day, my aunt began to carefully prepare our winter clothes. After what happened that night, my aunt did not do or show any abnormal behavior or expression, which gradually calmed my remorseful heart, and everyone tacitly stopped mentioning the Marquis of Qiyun's mansion.
That day, we were carrying the quilts and other things from inside the house to the yard to air them out when Aunt Wu's loud voice rang out from outside the door. My aunt quickly went to open the door.