Fragrant willow catkins

More than half a month has passed in the blink of an eye. Today, Lady Bai finally received a reply from the capital. She had been eagerly waiting in her mansion for a long time.

After receiving the letter, Concubine Bai anxiously sat down at the desk and excitedly opened the envelope. The maid also tacitly closed the door and walked to stand beside her.

Lady Bai looked at the reply letter, which said that everything was going according to plan, and Huai'an had to report any unusual events to Prime Minister Bai. The allocation of manpower in the capital was already in the final stages, and she must not attract the emperor's attention or dissatisfaction, and must not slow down the progress of the capital. All tolerance was for the future.

After reading it, Lady Bai happily held the letter to her chest, "Finally! Finally there is good news! After this, I can live my life without having to worry about other people's faces!"

The maid was delighted to see her reaction and said, "Congratulations, Miss."

“Oh, I wonder if that bitch Mo Xi dares to turn her back on me after this is done! By then, the entire Mo family will be waiting for death! Especially that maid named Rumeng, who is so contented acting as the Sixth Miss of the Mo family that she’s probably forgotten her status as a lowly person!” Concubine Bai looked out the window viciously, as if her enemies were right in front of her and she could tear them apart with her eyes.

At this moment, Ningxu sneezed for no apparent reason...

Ningxu poked her head out and looked around. She was the only one in the yard. She seemed to be worried that her master would come back and see her little tricks, so she did everything very carefully and fiddled with something furtively in her arms.

When the old master came back from the front hall, he saw Ningxu lowering her head and doing something, so he slowly approached her and asked, "Have you finished practicing?"

Ningxu was startled by the sudden sound. She quickly put down the tools in her hands and held the bunch of small things in her arms.

"Master...Master..."

"what are you doing?"

Seeing that the master was looking at her as usual, without any sign of anger, Ningxu took out a small carved plum blossom from her arms, "Hey, does it look good, Master?"

The small plum blossom is carved very realistically and even has holes punched in it.

The old master took the plum blossom and examined it carefully in his hands. "Well, not bad." "No, I asked you to practice your skills, but you secretly carved this?"

The old master returned the plum blossom to Ningxu, and suddenly remembered the task he had assigned to her. He looked carefully at Ningxu's arms and saw a pile of small things, all of which were plum blossoms of various sizes carved by her.

Ningxu: "Master, carving this is also a form of practice, and small things test your skills even more!"

"Oh..." The old master sighed, said nothing, turned around and left the yard.

Ningxu sat there in a daze for a while, and suddenly realized, "Master is not angry!"

Just as I was about to get up, the old master came in again with a book in his hand. "Here, these are some small wood carving patterns, you can carve what you like according to them."

Ningxu was extremely surprised. She put the gadget in her arms on the table and quickly stood up to take the booklet with both hands. "Thank you, Master!"

Looking at those happy faces, the master was filled with emotion. It turned out that the little girl was still favored...

"You can study it slowly, and I will be busy now."

"Ok!"

Although the Third Master was also busy, Ningxu would always find time to run to the Third Master and present her works to him for him to admire as if he were presenting a treasure every time she carved a new wood carving.

Today, the Third Master returned home early, which was rare. After dinner, Ningxu came to the Third Master's study with a bunch of things in her hands.

When the Third Master came, he was reading a memorial. When he saw Ningxu coming, he immediately put it down. Then he saw that Ningxu's hands were full of things, so he stood up and hurriedly took them.

"Meng'er, what are these?..."

Together, they placed the wood carving on the couch beside them.

Ningxu clapped her hands proudly, "These are all my masterpieces!" After saying that, Ningxu looked at the Third Master's desk and continued, "Are you handling official business? Are you busy? I can come after you finish."

The Third Master sat on the couch, carefully examining the wood carvings, and said gently, "I'm not busy. It's just some lists that Mr. He sorted out. I don't need to deal with them."

Ningxu happily sat opposite the Third Master, "Then let me introduce it to you!" She then picked up a medium-sized fat gourd, "This! This is the first one I carved independently!"

"and this!"

"This...this..."

Ningxu showed Sanye one by one what she had learned during this period. Sanye took over every item she explained, and was very cooperative, praising her from time to time.

Ningxu introduced all the things on the couch in one go. She was still in high spirits. She took out a purse from her bosom and poured the contents onto the small table. It was the plum blossom she had carved today.

Ningxu: “Look!”

Ningxu picked up a small plum blossom and handed it to the Third Master.

The Third Master was a little surprised, "It's so small? You carved them all? It must have taken a lot of time. Meng'er, your craftsmanship has improved a lot!" There was some surprise and pride in the Third Master's tone, and Ningxu couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear.

"Of course! Even the master gave me a booklet of patterns for carving small objects after seeing it! If I practice for a few more days, I will be able to carve exquisite wood carvings." Ningxu said with her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

"Meng'er is the best." The Third Master touched Ningxu's head lovingly, "When I'm done with my busy schedule, I'll accompany you to class every day."

"Okay, you know how to carve jade, so you can exchange ideas with the master!"

"Ah."

It was true what Ningxu said. A few days later, when Mo Xi heard that Ningxu could start carving her little kitten today, he insisted on going to the shop with her and keeping an eye on Ningxu in person.

Since the master gave Ningxu the booklet, he seldom paid attention to Ningxu and let her express herself freely. Most of the time, the two of them worked in the yard, each carving their own work.

When the master saw Ningxu bringing Moxi here today, he didn't say much. After the two of them met and greeted each other, the master turned around and continued to work hard.

Ningxu sat in her seat, and Mo Xi also sat beside her carefully, looking at the work in Ningxu's hands carefully.

Seeing Ningxu fiddling with her carving knives and not starting yet, Mo Xi became a little anxious and urged Ningxu in a low voice to start quickly.

Ningxu: "Why are you in such a hurry? Look!"

Ningxu pulled out a piece of wood from behind her back. The color was neither dark nor light, but brown-orange. "I carefully selected it for a long time. The color is just right, just like the color of a little orange cat."

The color of white plum wood varies with age, the older it gets the darker it gets, and it all has dark brown patterns.

Ningxu first carved out the general shape, which was a little orange cat lying in a ball and sleeping, with its ears standing up, as if it was alertly paying attention to the surrounding environment.

Mo Xi fell in love with it as soon as she saw its outline. She held it in her hand and looked at it from left to right, "So cute!"