"Second Brother…"
The little girl blinked back her tears pitifully.
Surrounded by so many servants, Xiao Yi wanted to save her face and so he said deeply, "Come to the study."
He turned around and left.
Nan Baoyi wiped her tears and hurriedly followed him from behind.
She closed the door of the study and looked fearfully at the teenager who was sitting by the window.
She walked unsteadily to the table and entwined her hands together uneasily, "Second Brother, it's my fault."
"Which part?"
"I don't have basic knowledge, I blew up the kitchen…" Nan Baoyi looked at him carefully, "But I wanted to repay Second Brother's huge grace and kindness…"
Xiao Yi coldly drank his hot tea, "The best repayment is that you don't cause problems for me."
Nan Baoyi said "oh" sadly.
She thought to herself that she would not fry fish for him next time, but maybe some desserts or vegetables should still be okay?
She saw a few unique flower pots outside the study. If she used it as decorations on the dishes it would definitely look beautiful.
While thinking about it, Xiao Yi suddenly casually picked up a few sheets of paper of the characters she wrote, and mercilessly threw it to her face, "Rewrite these."
Nan Baoyi hurriedly bent down and picked it up.
When she saw the different handwriting on the paper, she was immediately ashamed.
She blushed, "He Ye is really lazy, she should copy it for me alone and not find a group of people to copy for me. So embarrassing to reveal such a big mistake… Second Brother, I will teach her a lesson when I get back later."
Xiao Yi's stare was cold and ruthless.
Nan Baoyi felt terrified.
She took two steps backward and unsteadily hid the papers behind her, "I...I was wrong, I will write it myself, write it myself…"
So for the entire afternoon, Nan Baoyi was forced by Xiao Yi to sit in the study to practice her calligraphy.
When she finally finished writing twenty pieces of paper, it was already dusk.
She shook her sore hands and happily showed the papers to Xiao Yi, "Second Brother!"
Xiao Yi flipped through the papers one by one and circled those that were well-written and drew a cross on those that were ugly.
Nan Baoyi was copying a poem. In the poem there was the word 'Xiao'. In all twenty pieces of papers, all of the 'Xiao' words were badly written.
Xiao Yi suspected that she did it on purpose because of him.
"Come here," he said.
Nan Baoyi walked towards him timidly and Xiao Yi asked her to hold the brush, "Write my name."
Nan Baoyi stared in front of the table blankly.
Write Xiao Yi's name?
The strokes on his name were quite complicated, she definitely would not be able to write it nicely.
But the teenager stood behind her, his cold sweet scent encircling her. Under his cold and gloomy stare looking downwards at her, it was like a wild wolf eyeing on its prey, making her feel like she had no place to run.
She held the brush and trembled slightly.
Xiao Yi looked down. This little girl always liked to curve that little finger of hers, even right now when she was holding her brush.
Although the way she was holding her brush was not proper, unexpectedly…
He was delighted.
This was an unexplainable coincidence. He covered her hand with his from behind.
Nan Baoyi froze and looked up in surprise.
The outline of the teenager looked cold yet beautiful. The warmth from the setting sun spread over his cold fair skin, his narrow and dark eyes filled with emotions she could not understand…
Seemingly aware of her gaze, he said, "What are you looking at me for? Look at the paper."
Nan Baoyi quickly lowered her head.
But she stole a look at his hand over hers.
His palms were filled with callus, pressing painfully on the back of her hand.
She felt uneasy for some reason and unconsciously curled her little finger.
Xiao Yi's eyes grew darker.
The little girl's hand was fair and soft, holding it was more comfortable than holding good quality silk.
And that curved up little finger was slender. Her fingertip was broken and showed a bit of dry blood stains and was slightly swaying uncomfortably like it was scratching his heart, making him itch on the inside…
He forced his attention on the paper and held her hand to write.
"Xiao Daoyan…" Nan Baoyi murmured suspiciously the name on the paper, "Who is this?"
Xiao Yi recovered quickly. His face turned cold and he crumpled the paper into a ball.
Nan Baoyi did not understand why he was angry all of a sudden.
She stole a look at the crumpled paper and secretly remembered the name in her heart.
At this time, the sun was blood red.
While Nan Baoyi was busy practicing her calligraphy, her father was having a reunion dinner with his other family.
In a restaurant along the street in Jinguan City.
Nan Guang ordered a table full of dishes and it was all Nan Yan's favorite.
While both father and daughter talked and laughed, Madam Liu gracefully walked in with two maids carrying big and small bags following her from behind.
Madam Liu already gave birth to two children but she was dressed like a newlywed, with her hair rolled up in a bun and wearing a light green flowing dress. She walked with elegance, worthy of being a star actress in Spring Jade Hall all those years.
She sat down and took the cup of tea from Nan Guang, smiling, "There's still two weeks left before we get married so I went shopping and bought some makeup and gold jewelry. I don't have much family background. I heard that Second Sister-in-law came from a family of a bodyguard business. I'm afraid she will be more superior than me in the future."
"Second sister-in-law is so fierce and unfeminine, how could she be compared to you?" Nan Guang gently stroked her hand, "Poor thing, after you enter the residence, I will ask Mother to give you more jewelry."
Madam Liu said shyly, "I still have something to ask for."
"Just say it!"
"My relatives are all from other parts of the country and they would not be able to get here in time. So I would like to invite some of my friends to attend the wedding and support me. Do you think that's possible?"
She played mahjong often and befriended a group of sisters.
They were women from different backgrounds, such as brothel keeper, rich businessman's mistress, an officer's concubine, and so on.
They all could not believe that she was able to marry into the Nan family and become the third madam. She purposely asked them to come over and witness it themselves that she, Liu Xiaomeng was resilient!
Nan Guang agreed without even thinking about it.
When he went to the men's room, Nan Yan could not help herself and said, "Mother, those friends of yours are not fit to be seen in public, why did you invite them over? Isn't this an opportunity for people to make fun of us?"
Madam Liu took out a palm mirror and scolded, "This is a grownup's business, what do you know? I've already been your father's mistress for more than ten years but I can't even step into the Nan residence. People have been laughing behind my back! After many challenges, I finally got what I wanted now. Of course, I want everyone to see my good fortune!"
She put away her mirror, "Good daughter, how have you been in the residence? Did Nan Baoyi bully you?"
Nan Yan teared up, "Because she is loved dearly by all the elders in the residence, naturally she bullies me all the time! It's Mother's fault I have the status of a mistress' daughter…"
Madam Liu sighed and caressed her face tenderly, "Be patient, our good days will come. Wait till mother is an official madam, I will choose a good family for you to marry into."
Nan Yan thought of Nan Baoyi's future marriage.
Nan Baoyi really had a good life, being able to marry that governor's first wife's son in Shu Country…
She heard that Young Master Cheng studied in Chang An, his grades and looks were all very good. He would definitely become a minister and by that time, Nan Baoyi would be an official minister's wife, such an honor!
She lowered her voice, "Mother, I think Nan Baoyi's marriage is not bad."