swear not to be concubine

Chapter 47

But Jian Yan still continued to act dignified and elegant in front of Xu Zhongxuan.

When Xu Zhongxuan said the words, "You have sweat on your forehead and the tip of your nose, wipe it off quickly", although Jian Yan was a little annoyed and her face was a little hot, she still said thank you for the reminder, Eldest Young Master, and then turned away. With his back to Xu Zhongxuan, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead and nose.

At this time, Xu Miaoning asked Xu Zhongxuan in surprise: "Brother, why are you here?"

Xu Miaojin usually would come to her West Courtyard to play with her when she was free, but Xu Zhongxuan had never been here again, so Xu Miaojin was surprised and happy to see him coming suddenly.

While letting Xu Miaojin and Xu Zhongxuan sit in the room, she ordered Qing Ya to serve tea and get a box in one voice.

At that moment, everyone was seated, and Xu Zhongxuan looked at Jian Yan without any trace, and saw that she had a slight smile on her face, her head was slightly lowered, and she was just holding a teacup and drinking tea slowly , and I couldn't see what was going on in her heart.

Xu Zhongxuan thought, just now she was kicking the shuttlecock so nimbly and lively, with a wanton smile on her face, but this meeting is like this.Sure enough, when she was facing him, she always had a generous and decent attitude, but also polite and alienated.

Several people sat in the bright room for a while, most of the time it was Xu Miaoning who was talking there alone, while the other three listened.

Xu Miaoning was really happy today.In the morning, I saw my younger brother who I hadn't seen for several days, and I just learned how to kick the shuttlecock with Jian Yan, and now Xu Zhongxuan and Xu Miaojin also came to her place, isn't it very lively?

So when she was happy, she dragged Xu Zhongxuan to her study, saying that she was learning to write and draw with her cousin recently, and she wanted to ask Xu Zhongxuan to comment on it.

The layout of Xu Miaoning's study room is the same as Xu Miaojin's, it is separated by a round mask, next to the window is a black lacquered wooden Kang, on the other side is a black lacquered bookshelf, and next to it is a black lacquered flat-headed bookcase , A rosewood armchair was placed behind the desk.It's just that Xu Miaoning's temperament is more lively, the pink gauze curtain embroidered with various flowers, birds, grass and insects is hung on the round light shade, and the pink and purple curtains are half rolled and half placed on the diamond window, looking very bright and warm.

Xu Zhongxuan followed Xu Miaoning to her desk, Xu Miaoning picked up the words and pictures she wrote these days and showed them to him, then looked at him eagerly, waiting for his comments.

Xu Zhongxuan looked at them one by one, finally raised his head, nodded to Xu Miaoning, and praised: "That's right, it really is very beneficial."

When Xu Miaoning heard it, she immediately burst into a smile, she didn't know where to put her happy hands.

At this time, Xu Zhongxuan was holding the stack of papers in his hand again, turned around and asked Jian Yan: "Miss Jian, what do you think of Ning'er's handwriting?"

His original intention was that since he had asked such a question, Jian Yan would come over and look at Xu Miaoning's writing together with him, so wouldn't the two of them get closer?Instead of the current situation, he was standing at the desk, while Jian Yan was sitting with Xu Miaojin on the wooden kang by the window and talking.

But Jian Yan didn't have any intention of getting up after hearing his words.She was still sitting on the kang, but turned her head and said with a smile on her face: "Ning'er's writing is naturally good, and the paintings are also good."

Xu Zhongxuan was naturally a little disappointed.However, Xu Miaoning was very ungrateful, and she smiled from the side: "Brother, my calligraphy and painting are all taught by my cousin. How could she not know how my calligraphy and painting are?" How about the painting? You don’t even need to look to know it.”

Xu Miaojin listened and just wanted to help her forehead.

Her elder brother wanted to invite sister Yan to go over to see the third sister's calligraphy and painting, but what he said was too subtle.Why don't you say this directly and clearly, Miss Jian, come over and look at Ning'er's handwriting with me, and the paintings are beautiful?But do you have to turn a corner like this and say it in a nonchalant manner?When he was with her just now, wasn't he very straightforward?He also bluntly said to himself that he Xinyue Yan sister, and only wanted to see her happy every day, so he would not have the courage to speak out in front of Yan sister?And the third sister, can she not be so blind.

Xu Miaojin immediately felt that it was necessary for her to help her elder brother, otherwise, if her elder brother talked around the bush, people would not know his intentions for 100 years.

She thought about it, so she got up and got off the kang, beckoning to Xu Miaoning: "Come here, third sister, when I came to you just now, I saw that the lotus in the pond was in bud, let's go and have a look together. "

But Xu Miaoning was so excited by Xu Zhongxuan's praise just now, she wished she could write another word or draw a picture for Xu Zhongxuan to see, why would she still be so interested in going out to see if the lotus has budded? ?So she waved her hand and said, "I won't go, you can go and see for yourself. I want to write another letter and draw a picture for elder brother to see."

The veins on Xu Miaojin's forehead twitched cheerfully, thinking to herself, your elder brother only wants to look at your cousin, who would bother to look at your writing and drawing?Even if you look at it, you don't care about it.

Seeing that Xu Miaoning really had the tendency to sit in the armchair behind the desk and write and draw, Xu Miaojin simply took two steps forward, grabbed Xu Miaoning's sleeve, and pulled it out, while saying: "Good third sister, you accompany me to see the lotus buds, and I will treat you to some candied fruit from Liuxiangjuli in Beijing."

She was also worried that Jian Yan would walk away later, leaving only Xu Zhongxuan here alone, so she turned around and said: "Sister Yan, Sanjie and I will be back in a while, don't leave. I I have something to tell you when I get back."

Jane Yan: ...

Can we not put her in such a dilemma?

She was about to leave, but Xu Miaojin didn't wait for her to answer, and dragged Xu Miaoning away like a gust of wind, without giving her a chance to speak at all.And if he left so abruptly, what would Xu Zhongxuan think?Although she didn't want to get too close to him, lest everyone gossip, but if it was too unfamiliar and polite, if Xu Zhongxuan, the Buddha, got angry, to be honest, she probably wouldn't be able to bear the consequences.

But if she doesn't leave and spread the word, she doesn't care about the shitty reputation of this lonely man and widow living in the same room, but she is afraid that Mrs. Jane will find out, and she will push the boat along the way, and half-heartedly ask Xu Zhongxuan to accept herself as a concubine... …

Jian Yan now only hoped that Xu Zhongxuan would find it boring to stay here, and he would leave first, so she would not be in such a dilemma.

It's just that she took a peek at Xu Zhongxuan, and saw that the big Buddha had no intention of leaving at all, but was looking at the books on Xu Miaoning's bookshelf with great interest.

Jian Yan sighed secretly, and turned her head away to look at the camphor tree outside the window.

In the camphor tree in early summer, the old dark green leaves have all been replaced by young yellow-green leaves.The golden sunlight shining on these young leaves is so dazzling that people dare not look directly at them.

In her previous life, when she was young, she lived at her grandmother's house for a period of time.There is such a camphor tree in the yard of her grandmother's house.In the summer night, grandma would sprinkle water on the ground, and then put a bamboo bed under the camphor tree, let her lie on it to enjoy the cool and sleep.At that time, she was looking at the shining stars in the sky through the gaps in the leaves, while listening to her grandmother humming ancient songs to her, and occasionally fireflies flew around her with their bright tails.

It's just that when I think about it now, those things in my previous life have gradually become blurred.She even sometimes wonders if what happened in her previous life was just a dream she had?Maybe there is no such thing as time travel at all, she originally existed in this era, and sometimes she would have some absurd dreams.And those dreams were dreamed a lot, and gradually they became real, thinking that I had really lived in that era.

"what is this?"

Jian Yan was thinking about those things in her previous life, when she suddenly heard a soft voice.

There are only the two of them in this room right now, so Xu Zhongxuan must be asking her.

Jian Yan then turned her head to look over, and saw Xu Zhongxuan holding the beckoning cat she gave to Xu Miaoning in his hand, facing her direction and asking.

Because she just remembered those things in her previous life, Jian Yan felt a little melancholy in her heart, so she didn't want to pay attention to Xu Zhongxuan.So she replied impatiently: "The Lucky Cat." Then she turned her head and looked at the camphor tree outside the window.

The disgusted Xu Zhongxuan: ...

She seemed a little unhappy, did he just annoy her?

So he thought about it carefully, since he entered the Xikua courtyard, he had only spoken three words to her in total.She definitely wasn't unhappy with the previous two sentences, and that was the sentence he asked just now?

But even if he crushed the four words just said one by one, he still couldn't figure out what annoyed her.

Xu Zhongxuan couldn't figure it out, but he didn't dare to ask Jian Yan rashly, so he had no choice but to put the beckoning cat in his hand back on the shelf, then took a random book, sat on the armchair and read it.

It's just that although he was reading the book, he didn't read any of the words on it, and he was only thinking about why Jian Yan was unhappy.

He stealthily glanced at Jian Yan, but saw that she was no longer looking out of the window, but was embroidering something with her head down on the kang table.

The room is very quiet, and the sound of needles threading through silk can be clearly heard.Xu Zhongxuan saw a small embroidery needle picked up between her slender fingers, moving it back and forth on the silk, with skillful and graceful movements.

Today she is wearing a light pink gilded floral shirt, a beige horse-face skirt embroidered with folded branches of flowers, and only a cloud-headed tassel hairpin on her head, and two light blue piles of gauze and silk flowers the size of copper coins, nothing more.There was wind blowing in from outside the window, and the pearl tassel on her hairpin swayed slightly.

At this moment, Xu Zhongxuan felt that he would rather be the embroidery needle in her hand and be held by her like this, embroidering thousands of flowers and butterflies on the silk, than just sitting here withered and not It's good to know exactly what to say to her.

A little maid came in to add tea, and when she was about to bow out at the end, Jian Yan raised her head and stopped her, and ordered: "Go to my courtyard and call Bai Wei over."

Because Xu Miaoning lived close to her, it was only a matter of lifting her feet to come here, so she didn't bring Bai Wei or Si Yue with her at all, but came alone.

The little maid agreed, then turned around and went to the opposite Dongkua courtyard to call Bai Wei.

Jian Yan's heart relaxed.She thought, waiting for Bai Wei to come, she took advantage of the opportunity and called a little maid from Xu Miaoning's place to serve in the study, so no matter how you say it, it's not like she and Xu Zhongxuan are living together in the same room.

Of course Xu Zhongxuan also knew what she meant, and instantly understood her discomfort, so he simply took the book in his hand and stood up, nodded to Jian Yan, and said: "The room is not too bright, I Go to the yard and read a book."

But it's just after noon, the sunlight outside is fine, and the two windows of Xu Miaoning's study are nailed with bright tiles, so the light can't pass through, so how could it be possible that the room is not bright?Jian Yan naturally knew that Xu Zhongxuan meant that she was afraid that she would be uncomfortable, so she found an excuse to go outside and stay in the yard.

She was still a little touched.So when Xu Zhongxuan passed by her and asked her what she was embroidering, she replied with a smile on her face: "Brother An asked me for a fan cover two days ago. If nothing else, I'll embroider one for him."

Xu Zhongxuan raised his eyes and looked over, and saw that the beige plain forging was embroidered with broken branches of woody flowers and vines, with white or light yellow woody flowers in bloom, and larks, thrushes, and yellow vines stood from top to bottom on the flower vines. Sparrow, very elegant.

He nodded and praised: "What a delicate fan cover."

In fact, he really wanted to ask Jian Yan for one.Just thinking about it again, Jian Yan has avoided him like this now, if she asks her for a fan cover, will she get bored with herself even more in her heart?So he didn't dare to say it.

And Jian Yan listened to his praise, and said: "It's just some gadgets, it won't be in the eyes of the eldest son."

Yin asked again: "I don't know what the eldest son's fan cover looks like?"

Xu Zhongxuan's heart moved, he quickly shook his head, and said, "I don't have a fan cover."

Jian Yan then smiled: "That's right. The eldest son is noble and elegant, and I think he doesn't like fancy things like fan covers."

"No, it's not," Xu Zhongxuan hurriedly denied, and then lowered his voice, saying, "It's just that no one helped me do this."

Jian Yan felt a little surprised.But if you think about it, you'll know what's going on.

Xu Miaojin's health is not good, and she doesn't use needles and threads very much in daily life. Even some of her own things are made by Qingya, so it is impossible to help Xu Zhongxuan with these.And Xu Zhongxuan is not married at the moment, I heard that there are not even half of the people in the room, and there are only two guards, Qi Sang and Qi Hui, who are accompanying him...

Jian Yan glanced at Xu Zhongxuan, and saw that he lowered his eyes, with his long eyelashes down, looking a little lonely for no reason.

She suddenly felt a little sympathy for him.Thinking about what the maids said these days, I know that Xu Zhongxuan is just a concubine, his father is an official outside all the year round, and he is not liked by his aunt Qin, he has suffered all kinds of supercilious glances since he was a child, and has read all the warmth and coldness of the world.Later, the biological father and the biological mother died one after another, leaving a younger sister who was born weak and needed him to take care of.Fortunately, he became famous at a young age, and Qin's attitude towards him gradually improved.It's just that the hurt and indifference a person suffered when he was young, when he grows up, no matter how good he is, it will not be able to make up for it after all.

Jian Yan thought, if you look at it this way, this Xu Zhongxuan will look like everyone is afraid of him on the surface, but in fact he is just a pitiful person.At the same time, I felt a bit of compassion in my heart, and at the same time, I thought about how carefully he was thinking of her just now, so I couldn't help but blurted out and asked: "If I help the eldest son make a fan cover, don't you know what the eldest son is?" Will you dislike it?"

But as soon as she said the words, she felt very annoyed and regretted.

I've only heard of people begging others to help them make things, but she is good, but she chases people and asks if they want her to make things?

She was trying to find something to bring back what she just said, but Xu Zhongxuan nodded and said, "No."

And even bowed to her and said very sincerely: "Please trouble Miss Jane."

Jian Yan was so embarrassed, she hurriedly got up to return the gift, and said a little at a loss: "Don't bother, don't bother. It's just a little effort."

After thinking about it, I felt that what I said in these two sentences was really ill-considered, so my face became a little hot.After trying to gather herself together, she asked again: "I wonder what color and pattern the eldest son likes?"

Seeing her dizzy cheeks, Xu Zhongxuan's heart moved.So his tone couldn't help but softened a bit.

"Anything is fine."

In fact, what he originally wanted to say was that as long as it was done by you, you can do whatever you want.But thinking about it, I felt that saying this sentence was a bit meng lang. I was afraid that Jian Yan would not like it, so when I said it, I cut off the first half of the sentence and only said the second half.

Now that he has said so, Jian Yan can't ask any more questions, she just said: "Then I will figure it out. If the eldest son is not happy then, please don't blame him."

Xu Zhongxuan said with a smile that of course he would not, then took the book and sat on the stone bench of the camphor tree to read it.

So when Xu Miaoning and Xu Miaojin came back, what they saw was Jian Yan sitting on the wooden kang facing the window in the study, hanging her head, doing embroidery work, while Xu Zhongxuan was sitting on the stone bench under the camphor tree in the courtyard, reading a book, the two Do not disturb each other.

Xu Miaojin was very disappointed, she felt that she had put in so much effort to pull Xu Miaoning out so that Xu Zhongxuan and Jian Yan could spend a while alone, and if she spoke from her heart, maybe Jian Yan would be able to fall in love with her eldest brother.Unexpectedly, the two of them turned out to be one doing embroidery work in the house, the other reading in the yard, and neither said a word.Then what is it that she has been busy for so long?Who likes to run against the sun to see some lotus buds?

So when the two of them were on the way back, Xu Miaojin's tone was somewhat complaining.It can be seen that her elder brother has been smiling since he came out, and even a blind person can tell that he is very happy, so she couldn't help being surprised, and asked: "Brother, why are you so happy?"

Obviously when she went back first, she saw that one of them was in the house and the other was in the yard, they were not together.Moreover, in the past Xu Zhongxuan mostly kept his emotions and anger indifferent, and it was rare for her to see all the joy in his heart displayed on his face like this.Moreover, even though she was his own sister, she really wanted to say something fairly, Xu Zhongxuan really looked a bit stupid like this.

Xu Zhongxuan didn't know that he had equated himself with a fool in his sister's heart, so he just turned his head and smiled at her: "Miss Jian said she would make me a fan cover."

Xu Miaojin: ...

Just a fan cover, is it worth your joy?

So she joked: "It's just a fan case, what is it worth? It cost a tael of silver, and you can pick it at random from the fan case shop outside. If you are happy, you can spend some more money, and you can wear it every day." A unique fan cover."

"That's different," Xu Zhongxuan shook his head, looking at the endless green lotus leaves in the pond next to the sky, and the slim lotus buds in between, and said softly, "She made it herself, how can it be the same? ?”

(End of this chapter)