Chapter 492: Back to the Mansion for the 184th time
Returning to the Residence
In the evening, Yueyao led Tingzheng in the study to practice calligraphy, and Mingzhu also came over. The candlelight in the room stretched their shadows long and slender.
An hour later, Yueyao instructed Tingzheng, "You’ve been on the road for most of the day and didn’t get your afternoon rest, so go to sleep early."
Though Tingzheng was seven years old, since at seven boys and girls should not sit together, he stayed in the front courtyard. After escorting Tingzheng to the front courtyard, Yueyao talked with him for quite a while before returning to the back courtyard.
Mingzhu came over and said in a soft voice, "You’re not angry anymore." It had been so difficult for her to endure the tension every day; she thought it best not to pick a fight with Yueyao over trivial matters in the future.
Yueyao laughed lightly, "I’m not that petty. It’s late, you should go to sleep."
Yueyao asked Xiang Wei, "Is it good to practice martial arts before I go to sleep?" Perhaps it was because she had been holding a pen too much recently, but her shoulders felt sore. Yueyao thought that if she practiced martial arts before sleeping, it might have some effect.
Xiang Wei laughed lightly, "If you want to practice martial arts, just go ahead, there’s no rule stipulating you can only do so at certain times."
After Yueyao finished her practice, she was drenched in sweat, which Xiang Wei observed and shook her head at, indicating that Yueyao’s form was still not proficient; otherwise, she wouldn’t be like this.
Yueyao sat down and took a towel to wipe her sweat, while Xi Yu fanned her on the side. Xiang Wei sat leisurely eating watermelon, utterly at ease.
Seeing Xiang Wei eating, Yueyao smiled but did not join her. Instead, she said to Xi Yu, "It’s hot today, go have a slice of watermelon to cool off." Yueyao had noticed over time that Xiang Wei had a particularly keen appetite for delicacies of all sorts, behaving more like a foodie than possessing any semblance of a master’s poise. Yueyao trusted Marquis Jingning’s Residence wouldn’t deceive her, otherwise, she might have doubted whether Xiang Wei was a master at all.
Xi Yu had also noticed long ago that Xiang Wei did not behave with the propriety expected of a servant— for instance, she would help herself to tasty treats that arrived without considering whether the young mistress had eaten or not. Usually, unless called upon, she either chatted in the yard or holed up in her room without taking the initiative to do anything.