The daily life of a concubine's daughter

After all, the lady was old, and she had been stimulated early in the morning. After playing more than ten rounds, she could not hold on any longer. Her eyelids drooped, and she played the cards intermittently.

Rong and others advised her to go and have a rest, so the lady gave her seat to Rong.

Shi Yaocai didn't want to sit face to face with Rong, so she quickly threw away her cards, and pulled her fourth sister-in-law Gong Xuan to sit down, holding the lady's arm, and said with a smile: "I am also a little tired, grandma, leave a side for me, let me lie down for a while, and when I have enough sleep, I will get up and continue to stay up to watch the New Year."

"Okay, let's go lie down for a while." The lady hooked Shi Yao's nose lovingly, and the smile lines at the corners of her eyes deepened.

After entering the wing room, the lady pointed at the money bag that Mu Jin had collected and said with a teasing smile, "I know you've suffered a loss. Look, grandma has kept all the money you won and is keeping it for you. Mu Jin, give it to the second young lady quickly, or she will be very upset after losing all the money."

Mu Jin smiled and handed the purse containing silver to Shi Yao.

Shi Yao took it, her cheeks flushed, she snuggled into the madam's arms, and smiled shyly, "Grandma still loves me the most."

She gently grabbed a handful, and a full bunch of silver ingots slipped through her fingers. There were silver melon seeds, silver ingots, silver peanuts, silver steamed buns, silver dates, etc. The sound was particularly pleasant to the ears and her heart was particularly satisfied.

The lady patted her on the shoulder and said, "This is all you have to offer. How can I let you down? Go to sleep! When you are done sleeping, go out and play with your brothers without waking me up."

"it is good."

Shi Yao responded, handed the purse to Muxiang, asked her to keep it, and then fell asleep next to the lady.

The lady patted her gently and slowly fell asleep.

After Shi Yao and the lady left, the men went out with the old duke to play archery, and the old duke took the opportunity to test his grandsons' martial arts. However, the atmosphere among the female members was obviously not as good as before.

The three of Rong's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sat at one table, with Tao Ziyi from the second room also joining them.

Rong had always been aloof and aloof, so her daughters-in-law were very respectful and solemn in front of her and didn't dare to joke.

Seeing that they were silent, Tao Ziyi did not dare to say anything either. She deeply regretted not following Shi Yao. She should have been thicker-skinned and slept at the lady's feet.

Gradually, playing cards became less and less interesting. Rong cleared her throat. There was really no way to liven up the atmosphere, so she called Qi Wan to replace her: "I'm tired too. Go take a rest. You guys play at your leisure."

As soon as she left, the atmosphere became a little more relaxed, but not much.

Wang Fan was very good at dealing with people, but if she was the only one doing it and the other sisters-in-law didn't respond, she would be like a clown on the stage, feeling embarrassed all alone.

After a while, the four girls went their separate ways.

The flower hall of Ganlu Hall was suddenly empty, and the lively atmosphere of the New Year was completely gone.

The maids and old women came to clean and sighed secretly.

Last year, things were really not going well for the Duke's Mansion. I hope things will be better in the new year.

Shi Yao's face flashed through everyone's mind at the same time.

Even though they knew that Shi Yao had done nothing and was innocent, they still felt that the second girl was quite weird.

The atmosphere in the Duke's Mansion began to change from the day Shi Yao came to Beijing.

Not only the servants below had this idea, but the masters above also had this idea.

Fireworks and firecrackers blasted across the capital city until midnight.

Shi Yao woke up after sleeping for an hour, and tiptoed out. Seeing that it was quiet outside, she realized that the men had gone to the martial arts field to practice archery and target practice, while the women had returned to the yard. The older babies had also gone to the martial arts field, while the younger ones had already been taken back by the nurses to sleep.

Shi Yao thought about it, returned to the warm room, and sat under the lamp to practice calligraphy.

She wrote down all the blessings from everyone today that she remembered. If she forgot something, she would ask Aunt Liu Hua about it. The two of them leaned over and whispered to each other, and finally they remembered most of it.

After finishing writing, she called the maids to play cards together. They didn't gamble with money. The loser would tell a joke or a folk story.

The old Duke and others came back and stood outside the curtain and listened for a while.

The old Duke showed relief on his face. Shi Yao was a girl who knew how to enjoy herself. Wherever she was, the place would be lively.

My old wife was in a bad mood today, but with this girl making jokes, she felt better.

Others felt uncomfortable that Shi Yao was so comfortable in Ganlu Hall.

The old Duke whispered, "You guys go play first, and come over to eat dumplings at midnight."

Everyone agreed and dispersed in groups of three or five.

Shi Yao heard the noise and came out from behind the curtain: "Hey? Grandfather, you guys are back? Why did they leave?"

The old Duke came in and said, "They have been freezing for an hour. Tell them to go back and warm up and come back at midnight. Yao girl, why don't you see your grandmother? What are you doing now?"

Shi Yao recounted to him what she had done that night: "It was cold, and I didn't want to go out in the cold, so I wrote, played cards with Aunt Liuhua and Sister Mujin, and listened to some folk tales from the capital."

The old Duke asked with interest: "What did you write? Show it to me."

Shi Yao began to feel a little nervous, probably because of the aftereffects of being punished to copy the family rules and handing in her homework to the old man for inspection every day.

The old man had high requirements and expectations for her calligraphy. If he had free time, he could comment on every word and could talk about every stroke for half a day.

Shi Yao brought a stack of clearing mind paper.

The old Duke was about to comment on the first one, but when he looked at a few words at the back, he recognized that it was a toast from Shi Mingzhu. He was slightly stunned and flipped through the pages. Surprisingly, it was all what the younger generations said when they toasted him and his old wife tonight.

Among them is Shi Yao's toast.

He read through them one by one, and his heart was slightly touched. His expression was quite gentle: "Yao girl, you are really thoughtful. Mu Jin, collect them all and send them to my study in the outer courtyard tomorrow. Find Mr. Li and ask him to help bind them into a book."

Hibiscus took it in response.

Shi Yao looked shy but was chuckling in her heart: Hey, old man, it’s your first time experiencing the “classmate directory”, you must be feeling great, right?

"My dear girl, how about we play a game of chess?" the old Duke said with a smile on his face.

"I'm just starting to learn from Aunt Liu Hua, and I only understand the basic rules," Shi Yao said modestly. She was not shy and took out the chessboard and chess pieces. "Grandfather, please go easy on me. Once I learn well, I can play chess with grandma."

The old Duke clenched his fist and laughed softly: "You are always thinking about your grandmother."

"My grandmother always thinks of me, so I must think of her in every aspect." Shi Yao smiled brightly when she thought of the bag of silver ingots.

The old Duke lowered his eyes to hide the thoughtful look in his eyes, picked up a black piece and said, "Let me, you go first."

Shi Yao played the white piece and made the first move without hesitation.

This is a massacre.

The old Duke was in high spirits, or perhaps too bored, and was playing with his granddaughter, sometimes giving her a way out, sometimes blocking her way to death.

Shi Yao was caught in a dilemma, unable to take care of the whole thing, and was led by the nose the whole time.

Although she was defeated miserably, there was no sign of unhappiness on her face.

The old Duke picked up the chess pieces one by one and asked with a smile, "Are you happy after losing?"

Shi Yao smiled and said, "As for studying, I enjoy the process of learning and acquiring knowledge. Besides, we are not gambling, so if I lose to my grandfather, I will neither lose face nor money."