Li Hui walked a few steps and couldn't help but look back and saw Gu Qingning still standing by the lotus pond in a daze, looking very disappointed.
I couldn't help but think in my heart: "In order to celebrate her grandfather Gu Qian's birthday, this little girl probably thought hard for a long time before coming up with this idea, but she couldn't realize it. She must be very disappointed. Why can't she be as beautiful as an adult?
Granted her wish? A large fountain cannot be built, and it’s not that there is no other alternative."
Thinking of this, Li Hui turned around and walked back.
Gu Qingning was sighing and annoyed when he saw Li Hui leaving and coming back, and looked at Li Hui in surprise.
Li Hui said in a deep voice: "Miss Qingning, I have an alternative plan. I might as well tell you about it. If you think it is feasible, I can help you complete it quickly."
Gu Qingning said in surprise: "Come and listen."
Li Hui nodded, walked slowly to the lotus pond, reached out to pick up a branch, dipped it in the pond water, and began to draw on the bluestone beside the pond. Gu Qingning walked over and stood there, bowing his head and listening. Li Hui explained while drawing
, the explanation was quickly finished. He looked up at Gu Qingning and found that she was in a daze, with a strange expression on her pretty face, as if she was absent-minded.
"What do you think of Miss Qingning? If you're not satisfied, I won't say anything." Li Hui stood up and said.
"No, no, no, it's perfect. Qing Ning was just imagining that scene. If it's what you said, wouldn't it be like a fairyland? But do you really think it's so simple? It sounds like it's more complicated than what I said.
Here." Gu Qingning said, waving her white and tender palms.
Li Hui smiled and said: "It just sounds troublesome. For me, it's easy."
Gu Qingning was overjoyed and clapped his hands repeatedly. Li Hui breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: I am a soft-hearted person, but you are happy. I have to be busy for at least two days.
…
For two days in a row, Li Hui followed Gu Qian out, leaving early and returning late, leaving no time at all. So he had no choice but to give up on the promise he made to Gu Qingning.
On the morning of the third day, Gu Qian went out to attend a banquet hosted by the Lu family in Wu County. Li Hui originally wanted to go with him, but Gu Qian noticed that Li Hui's face was a little pale and ugly, so he asked Li Hui what was wrong.
Li Hui reported back that he slept in the yard because of the cold last night. He seemed to have caught the wind in the middle of the night and felt a little unwell. After hearing this, Gu Qian asked Li Hui to rest for a day and left with his other entourage.
As soon as Gu Qian left, Li Hui washed his face and removed the white ash on his face, and his complexion returned to normal. He had played a trick and deceived Gu Qian once.
Li Hui didn't mean to deceive Gu Qian, but it was because he promised to deal with Gu Qingning's matter as soon as possible. In the past two days, Gu Qingning was extremely anxious. He secretly sent a maid to Li Hui's home last night.
A message was sent, saying that if we don't hurry up, it will be too late.
Li Hui learned from Gu Qingning that Gu Qian's birthday was June 11th and there were indeed only a few days left. So he came up with such a bad idea and wiped his face with white ash and wiped some pot bottoms from his eyes.
He was so gray that he looked like a consumptive ghost. Unless Gu Qian was blind, how could he not tell that something was wrong with his face?
As soon as Li Hui entered the second entrance, Gu Qingning rushed out of the flower hall, extremely happy, holding Li Hui's sleeve and walking into the inner hall. It looked like they were a lovesick young couple reunited after a long separation.
Gu Qian's wife, Gu Qingning's grandmother Lu, is not in good health and rarely goes out in this hot weather. As long as you are careful when entering the main room after three days and don't disturb her, you don't have to worry about being discovered by her.
After following Gu Qingning into the back garden like a thief, Li Hui immediately started working. The day before yesterday, he made a list of materials for Gu Qingning, and Gu Qingning had everything ready, which saved him a lot of trouble.
.
Li Hui started to implement the previous idea. In fact, the alternative plan he proposed was very simple, which was to turn the large fountain that Gu Qingning hoped to make into dozens of small fountains. Install these small fountains in the lotus pond, and then put them in the fountain.
Install a waterproof shadow puppet lamp nearby, and paste various pigments such as red, yellow, green, blue, and purple on the sheepskin lampshade to create the effect of a fountain and lotus pond with colorful lights and shadows.
Of course, this idea was not a temporary idea, but came from the memory of the fountain in the small square in the city where I lived as a child. At that time, the colorful light tubes under the heart-shaped pool in the square illuminated the small fountain that spewed out, which was the most beautiful dream I thought as a child.
scene.
This kind of lantern fountain is easy to make. Just use some bamboo poles to open the bamboo joints, connect them to lay a channel in the lotus pond, and then install a small wooden shower head as a water spout.
The principle is naturally still that of a water tower connector, but there is no need to build a tall water tower. The rockery in the middle of the lotus pond is a natural water tower. The rockery is hollow inside and is several feet higher than the water surface of the lotus pond. Three large wooden barrels are placed inside to fill it.
Just connect the water to the outside pipe.
All the big wooden barrels are surrounded by mud and moss, so there is no trace of anything fishy.
With the capacity of a large wooden barrel, three large barrels of water can support the amount of water spraying for an hour. This is enough. After all, it is just for the occasion. If you want to extend it, it is very simple, just have people fill the wooden barrels with water manually.
But after all, Li Hui was working alone, and his body was not strong enough. It was quite busy and hard to complete all the work quickly. In midsummer, the weather was very hot, so it was really difficult.
Li Hui was busy all morning, climbing up and down, swinging axes and chisels, and sweating profusely. Gu Qingning was there and wanted to help, but how could Li Hui let her intervene? That little girl with delicate skin and tender flesh, accidentally
Injured flesh and sprained legs and feet were her own grave sin. Moreover, she didn't know how to operate, so she had to re-examine what she was doing, and maybe rework it, so there was no need to make things more complicated.
In order to save time and finish it before everyone came back in the afternoon, Li Hui didn't take a break at noon. Gu Qingning brought some snacks, Li Hui ate a few pieces and drank some water, and then he dealt with it.
Gu Qingning felt very guilty and promised to repay Li Hui with a banquet in the future. Li Hui thought to himself: There is no need to drink wine. Just don't ask me to do such busy work in the future. You eldest lady, open your mouth. We people
Broken leg running.
Working under the scorching sun was naturally very hard. However, the process of working was not boring. The girl from the Gu family accompanied her throughout the whole process, and Li Hui chatted with her all the time, which was quite interesting.
Gu Qingning is only fifteen years old this year, in her prime, with a lively and charming personality. Although her words and thoughts are a bit childish, this is what makes her cute. Li Hui chatted with her and felt no pressure at all.
Very comfortable.
During the conversation, Gu Qingning accidentally asked about the Zhang family girl he met a month ago. Gu Qingning did not hide anything and told her everything in a gibberish voice.
"You are talking about Tongyun. She is the same age as me and two months older than me. I have a birthday in September and she has a birthday in July."
"Tongyun and I are cousins. Her mother was married to our Gu family. She lived in our house for a long time when she was a child, and we had a good relationship. Later, my cousin Xuanzhi... Oh, Tongyun's brother is named Zhang Xuan.
When he was the prefect of Wuxing County, he took Tong Yun to reunite with him. I followed my parents to other counties and stayed there for a long time. We didn't see each other for several years."
"This time Tongyun came back specifically to see me, and she also brought me good things from Wu Xing. You see, the pair of colorful glazed earrings I am carrying was given to me by her. Wuxing's glazed earrings are very beautiful.
It’s famous. Look, there’s a plum blossom shape inside.”
"..."
Gu Qingning doesn't seem to care much about the defense between men and women. Of course, he doesn't pay much attention to it these days, because there is a saying these days that "the poor learn Confucianism, the rich learn metaphysics." The noble families respect metaphysics, and Confucianism
It is not popular in Jin Dynasty. Many moral principles that suppress human nature do not apply here.
However, when she lifted up her hair and exposed her round, white and small ears for Li Hui to see the colorful glazed earrings on her earlobes, Li Hui was still shocked. Do you not regard yourself as an outsider?
But then I thought about it, she was just a fifteen-year-old innocent and lovely girl, she had no other ideas at all, but she seemed to have a heart.
From what Gu Qingning said, Li Hui confirmed something. Zhang Tongyun's brother is Zhang Xuan, who is a famous scholar in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Zhang Xuan has a good friend named Xie Xuan, who is known as the "North and South Xuan". This
Xie Xuan is famous, he is Xie An’s nephew. Xie Xuan has a sister named Xie Daoyun!
Thinking of it like this, Li Hui couldn't help but feel some magic in his heart. It turned out that those high-ranking and famous people seemed not far away from him. Such a turn of events actually connected them, and they were not illusory. Maybe, he could really meet Xie
An Xie, Daoyun and others are also unknown.
In the late afternoon, Li Hui completed all the preparatory work for assembling the fountain pipes, and the rest was to install them in place.
Li Hui rolled up his trousers and sleeves and went down to the lotus pond to start the installation. The sun was scorching hot and the lotus leaves were airtight, making him covered in sweat. The half-deep lotus pond was full of mud, and the smelly bubbles rising were disgusting.
.
That's all, the most terrifying thing is the lotus stems with dense thorns, which are streaked with blood across the skin. When Li Hui installed all the fountain pipes and climbed ashore, he almost collapsed and was naked.
The blood marks on his arms and calves were shocking. A scratch on his wrist was bleeding out, and it looked like he had been seriously injured.
Gu Qingning turned pale with fright when she saw those scars.
"How could this happen? I have harmed you, I have harmed you like this. What should I do?" Gu Qingning exclaimed.
Li Hui smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, it's just a few shallow scratches. It will be back to its original state after a few days. It's nothing to make a fuss about."
Gu Qingning almost cried. She felt guilty for causing Li Hui to suffer so many injuries.
Li Hui didn't care. He washed his hands and feet and sat under the shade of a tree, drinking water and wiping his sweat. He thought in his mind that he could conduct a test in a while. After the test was successful, he was done. In the end, he only needed to let Gu Qingning buy some shadow puppets.
The colorful lights are decorated near the water spout, so there is no need to operate it yourself.
After drinking a bottle of water, he turned around and found that Gu Qingning had disappeared at some point. Just as he was about to get up and look for it, he saw Gu Qingning walking quickly from the direction of the back garden gate, her little face flushed with heat.