"I wonder what is in here?" Akui couldn't help but ask.
Shouming shook his head and said with a smile: "This was sent to the capital from my family's descendants from Ningyang. I just arrived in the capital this morning. They just said it was a New Year's gift for Miss Xu - of course we can't open it at will."
of."
Akui's eyes were bright: "New Year's gift? Did it just arrive today? It happens to be the first day of the Lunar New Year, what a coincidence!"
Shouming smiled noncommittally.
There are so many coincidences in this world. Many coincidences are just the result of thoughts.
"This box looks heavy, so you have to be careful. I have to ask someone to carry it." Akui said, and explained to the servant guarding the back door.
The servant immediately ran to find someone.
"Brother Shouming, would you like to come in and have a cup of tea to warm yourself up?" Akui invited.
"There's no need to have tea..."
Shouming's eyes were a little dodgey as he spoke, but in the next moment, he still took out an object wrapped in red cloth from his arms and handed it to Akui.
"It's hard to come empty-handed on the first day of the new year. This is my New Year's gift to Miss Akui."
For her?
Akui took it over unexpectedly.
Since the red cloth was simply wrapped outside, she took it and spread it halfway, revealing the blue book cover inside.
"It's a book." She said with a smile: "How did Brother Shouming know that I like reading?"
Could it be that her learned and progressive temperament was too exposed?
"You guessed it." Shou Ming said with a smile: "This is not an ordinary book, but some new and rare things. I took some new and old things in Beijing as examples, changed my name and identity, and made it up. You can
Use it as a storybook to relieve your boredom!"
"You actually wrote this?" Akui's eyes widened: "You can also write a storybook!"
Oh my god, in the circle of servants in the capital, has anyone appeared who is more knowledgeable, progressive and ambitious than her?
Shouming coughed lightly and said a little embarrassedly: "I have nothing to do, just passing the time."
Aoi held the booklet in front of her very dearly.
The book of stories written by Brother Shouming must be the only one that cannot be bought outside, and it is also a true story!
but……
"I didn't even have time to prepare a New Year's gift for you." Akui was a little stunned and subconsciously fumbled in the purse around her waist - she didn't bring any New Year's money.
So he said seriously: "Just wait a few days, and I will prepare well!"
Shou Ming smiled and scratched his head: "How embarrassing..."
As we all know, the meaning of this sentence has always been - I just accepted it after being polite.
The two talked for a while, until they saw the servant returning with someone.
Shouming looked over and saw only a maid following him. He was feeling puzzled. However, when he took a closer look, he saw the appearance of the maid - oh, it turned out to be another maid next to Miss Xu. That's okay.
A-Zhu walked over alone, without letting A-Kui help carry it, he easily put the box on his shoulders, turned around and left.
Akui waved to Shouming and trotted to follow.
In Xiyuan, Xu Mingyi looked at the box and was surprised for a moment.
"Girl, this is the key."
After Akui handed the key to her girl, she took Azhu out.
This is something Wu Shisun gave to the girls. It would be bad if they saw something they shouldn't.
Xu Mingyi knelt down, opened the box and looked at it, with a look of surprise in his eyes.
It is actually an extremely exquisite long bow!
It should be that in order to prevent collisions, the bottom of the box is specially made with a groove that fits the bow body.
The girl took out the bow tied with a piece of red cloth and looked at it, then tried to stand up and pulled the bow string - with a little force, you can see that it is a very good beast mixed with beating.
The tendons and thread wrapping are also very particular, and they must have been made by experts who are very good at making bows.
But...how did Wu Chao know that she liked to use a bow?
She never mentioned it to him, and she never used a crossbow or anything in front of him.
Could it be——
Xu Mingyi glanced at the thin calluses on the pulps of his fingers and the tiger's mouth.
However, at most this only proves that she often practices archery. She has practiced martial arts since she was a child and must have dabbled in archery - how can he be sure that she will really like it?
And if this bow is just a gift he chose at random, it can be seen everywhere that he put a lot of thought into it.
And there seems to be words engraved on the bow arms——
Xu Mingyi took a closer look and saw a line of four characters in seal on it: Mingyi Anshun.
Anshun...
Does it mean stability and smoothness?
She couldn't help but think of the time when he asked her what kind of life she liked when she was in Ningyang, and she answered him with the word stability.
The fingertips rubbed over the well-proportioned seal characters with hidden edges, and the smile on the girl's cheeks grew stronger.
She likes this bow very much.
However, she suddenly wanted to carve one more line of words...!
As soon as the idea came to his mind, Xu Mingyi hurriedly rummaged around the room enthusiastically.
But the carving knife she put in the box was nowhere to be found, and even the scissors Akui usually kept in her sewing basket were missing.
"Aoi!"
"Hey, the maid is here." Akui walked in quickly.
"Where's my carving knife?"
"Ah, the girl's carving knife..." Akui took his eyes away from the bow held by his girl, and said hurriedly: "Girl, you have forgotten, today is the first day of the new year, and the maid naturally took these things early
It’s all put away.”
According to Daqing customs, it is taboo to touch these sharp objects on the first day of the new year.
Only then did Xu Mingyi react, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded.
"Then let's wait until tomorrow."
"Girl, there is another letter here." Akui pointed to the big open box on the ground and reminded.
Xu Mingyi casually hung the bow on the wall, took the letter from Akui and opened it to read.
Between reading and replying to the letter, most of the day passed.
…
The next day on the second day of the lunar month, early in the morning, Xu Mingyi went to find his second uncle in the courtyard.
Hearing the news that his niece was here, Xu Yun felt miserable in bed.
Why is my niece here again?
Didn’t everyone already celebrate the New Year yesterday! - Could it be that she wanted to celebrate the first day of the new year again?
Or do you think the New Year's money he gave you yesterday was too little?
But my niece's treasury is so rich, how could she care about him?
"Let people come in."
Xu Yun sighed, sat up and leaned against the head of the bed, yawning as the servant put on his coat.
"Second uncle?"
The girl entered the house and did not rush closer. Instead, she stood outside the screen and shouted.
Xu Yun said helplessly: "Come in, come in..."
Xu Mingyi just walked in, with his hands behind his back, and explained his purpose with a smile: "Second uncle, I have something to ask you for help."
help?
Xu Yun raised his dry and groggy eyes to look at his niece.
In his sight, he saw the girl take out a bow from behind and wave it towards him.
