Chapter Eighty-Five Coincidence

  Seeing Qingyao enter, Qingjin put down the book in her hand and said: "I'm ready, I don't know what the Empress Dowager likes, but a few days ago, I got an Eastern pearl, which I think is quite good, so I plan to give it to the Empress Dowager on her birthday. What gift has Fourth Sister prepared?"

  Upon hearing that Qing Jin had prepared a rare Eastern pearl, Qing Yao thought to herself about the gift she had prepared and felt secretly delighted. She opened her mouth and said: "The gift I, Yao, have prepared is all thanks to Second Sister's reminder earlier. I heard that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager believes in Buddhism, so I prepared two volumes of Buddhist scriptures written in my own hand. Compared to Sister's gift, mine is hardly worth mentioning!" Although she said this with her mouth, the joy and pride on her face couldn't conceal her true thoughts.

  Seeing Gu Qingyao's expression, Qingjin tactfully didn't press the issue and instead praised: "Fourth sister is really clever and thoughtful! I only mentioned it briefly before, but Fourth sister actually thought of copying Buddhist scriptures by hand. I originally thought that preparing a valuable gift was enough, but now compared to Fourth sister's handmade effort, mine seems inferior." Qingjin said with a tinge of disappointment.

  "Second sister, the eastern pearl you've prepared is very good. I also wanted to give Empress Dowager some precious things, but after searching high and low, I couldn't find anything worthy of being presented. If I had a rare treasure like your eastern pearl, I wouldn't have to rack my brains to prepare something myself."

  "I know that's what Fourth Sister is trying to comfort me with, but if I still have time, I'll quickly change the gift." Qing Jin decided to tease Gu Qing Yao a bit.

  As expected, Qing Yu heard that Qing Jin was exchanging gifts. Qing Yao immediately turned her head and asked Qing Jin: "Second sister, do you want to exchange gifts? What are you going to exchange it for?"

  "What about exchanging it? Since Fourth Sister has given the Buddhist scriptures, I might as well... give a statue of Guanyin to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager!" Qing Jin nodded in satisfaction after finishing speaking.

  Upon hearing Qing Jin's words, Qing Yao immediately looked at Qing Jin with some resentment and said: "Second sister, you..."

  "Fourth sister, don't you think my idea is especially good?" Qing Yao opened her mouth, and Qing Jin looked at her with a smiling face.

  "I think the Eastern Pearl that Second Sister gave is already very good. Why do we need to change it to something else? Moreover, Her Majesty's status is noble and dignified, perhaps someone has already given her a Buddha statue before. The Emperor must have already given Her Majesty a Buddha statue, as the Emperor possesses all four seas, so the Buddha statues he gives are definitely the best ones. Yes, the Emperor must have already given Her Majesty a Buddha statue before, Second Sister's Eastern Pearl is already very good."

  "Is that so? Has His Majesty already given the Buddha statue to Empress Dowager?" Qing Jin asked with a pretended look of disappointment, turning to face Qing Yao.

  Qing Yao saw Qing Jin's gaze and looked away, opening her mouth firmly: "Of course, the Emperor must have already sent the Buddha statue to Empress Dowager."

  "What a pity! I had just obtained a precious Jade Guanyin the other day!" Qing Jin said dejectedly.

  "Second sister has a jade Guanyin, why not give it to grandma? Second sister you also..." Qingyao heard Qingyan say that there is a jade Guanyin, and immediately looked at Qingyan with disappointment.

  "How could I? I originally got two, and have already given one to Grandma. Fourth sister wouldn't think that I'd give it to others but not to Grandma, would she?"

  "Ah, Second Sister has already given Grandmother one, so Yaoyao knows that Second Sister is the most filial. But since you've already given Grandmother one, it wouldn't be suitable to give another on the Empress Dowager's birthday..." Qingyao said hesitantly.

  "Is it? Sending it to Grandmother and then sending it to Tai Hou is a bit inappropriate?" Qing Jin asked in puzzlement.

  Qing Yao nodded repeatedly and said, "Second sister, think about it. The identity of the Empress Dowager is how noble. Since you gave one to your grandmother, if you give another identical thing to the Empress Dowager, if the Empress Dowager finds out... can she be happy?"

  "Fourth sister said it's true, fortunately fourth sister reminded me, otherwise I would have really sent the Buddha statue away. If people found out later, it wouldn't be good." Qing Jin said gratefully to Qing Yao.

  Qing Yao nodded hastily and repeatedly.

  "Fourth sister said I should change to something else, originally I still thought sending Dongzhu was pretty good, but after hearing the gift that fourth sister sent, suddenly felt that my gift compared to fourth sister's is really too insincere. Fourth sister help me think about it, see what I can change to be better." Qingjin said seriously to Qingsao.

  "By the way, Second Sister, I remember that I still have half a piece of embroidery unfinished. In a moment Mother will ask Nurse to come and inspect it, so I'll take my leave first." Qingyao bid farewell to Qingyan.

  "Embroidery?" Qing Jin asked in puzzlement.

  "Yes, Mother arranged homework for Yāoér, but Yāoér hasn't finished it yet, and now Yāoér is going to..."

  Qing Jin excitedly jumped up and grasped Qing Yao's hand, saying: "Fourth sister, you're really my lucky star, thank you for reminding me! How could I not have thought of it? I can give embroidery as a gift! But fourth sister knows that my embroidery is actually not very good. I've seen your embroidery work, fourth sister..." As she spoke, her eyes shone brightly, gazing at Qing Yao.

  Qing Yao suddenly understood Qing Jin's meaning and couldn't help but speak up: "Second sister, I'll leave first and not disturb you..." After saying that, she quickly left.

  Watching Qingyao leave hastily, the brightness and eagerness in Qingjin's eyes dimmed.

  In her previous life, because she liked Long Hanshan, she spent a lot of effort before the Empress Dowager's birthday to create a thousand-year-old picture, hoping to win the Empress Dowager's favor and be valued by her when she married Long Hanshan. At that time, she didn't hide anything from Gu Qingyao when preparing the gift, but she couldn't remember Gu Qingyao's reaction at the time. However, the thousand-year-old picture she presented did indeed win the Empress Dowager's praise, and she was overjoyed and full of confidence. But all this changed when Gu Qingyao's gift was smashed to pieces. Gu Qingyao had also prepared a Buddhist scripture like the one being prepared now, but that scripture was actually a double-handed lotus seal.

  In the grand view of the aristocratic families, who doesn't know that the Empress Dowager believes in Buddhism and loves plum blossoms? Originally, if what was presented were Buddhist scriptures, although they would have been sincere, it wouldn't have been surprising enough to make the Empress Dowager lavish praise. What made her greatly admire was the Plum Blossom Seal, which has the characteristic of: "From a distance, it looks like flowers; up close, it looks like words; there are words within the flowers, and flowers hidden within the words, with the flowers and words blending into one entity, and the strokes being strong and powerful." And in this world, those who can write in this style are few and far between, let alone with both hands.

  It was only natural that the Empress Dowager, after seeing Qing Yao's transcription of the Buddhist scriptures in plum blossom script with both hands, could no longer see any other gifts in her eyes. The final result was naturally that Qing Yao monopolized the limelight, while she was eclipsed among the crowd and the painstakingly prepared Thousand Years Picture became a mere accompaniment.

  Afterwards, she was naturally a bit angry, but when Gu Qingyao explained to her with a humble and apologetic attitude, although she was furious, she also believed Gu Qingyao's explanation, believing that Gu Qingyao was unintentional, just coincidental.

  Now that she thinks about it, she really didn't understand Gu Qingyao at all. She couldn't comprehend the Gu Qingyao who followed behind her, affectionately calling her "Second Sister", and gazing at her with eyes full of admiration and reverence. The Gu Qingyao from childhood, whose handwriting wasn't even as good as hers, when did she become capable of writing such beautiful, almost lost characters? Qingjin closed her eyes, unwilling to think about it anymore.

  Half a moment later, Qing Jin opened her eyes. The emotions in her eyes had retreated cleanly. Yes, this was a new life now. No matter what kind of person Gu Qing Yao was, she didn't want to know anymore.

  Thinking of what her father, Gu Huai Li, said to her in the study a while ago, Qing Jin's eyes flashed with a hint of darkness. She would help her father send her younger sister to Long Han Yuan's mansion when necessary.

  If between Long Hanshan and Sixth Prince Long Shuyuan, one of them was destined to sit in that position, then she bet on Long Hanshan winning.

  She had been hesitant at first, but today's visit from Gu Qingyao made her finally make up her mind. How could she entrust the rise and fall of her family to Third Uncle and Gu Qingyao?

  Qing Jin wanted to exchange birthday gifts, originally just wanting to play a joke on Qing Yao. Unexpectedly, two days later, Yuan Yang told her that Dong Zhu couldn't be given as a gift anymore. It turned out someone had already decided to give Dong Zhu, and their gift happened to be slightly bigger than Qing Jin's.

  Qing Jin was taken aback by Yuanyang's words, and after a moment of stunned silence, she hastily asked: "Then do we have anything else suitable as a birthday gift?" With the time almost up, how could something like this happen?

  Yuan-yu heard Qing-jin's question, and after thinking for half a day, she shook her head helplessly at Qing-jin: "Originally, there were still several precious things suitable as birthday gifts, but because the young lady had decided to give Dong-zhu before, those few things were sold at a high price. The last two items were also bought by someone this afternoon."

  Qing Jin heard Yuanyang's words and looked at her speechlessly for a moment, "Isn't there anything left?"

  The mandarin duck shook its head ruthlessly in response to Qingjin's hopeful gaze, causing Qingjin to instantly become disheartened. Changing the longevity gift at the last minute was truly a terrible thing to do.

  "By the way, Wang Baolou still has something, which was just obtained a few days ago. The slave originally thought of making a set of jewelry for the young lady."

  Upon hearing Yuanyang's words, Qingjin's eyes lit up immediately and she spoke to Yuanyang: "What good thing is it? Tell me about it."

  "It's a South Sea divine wood, I happened to get it recently, I was thinking of keeping it for when you get married, to give to you..."

  "Alright then, let's have someone polish 108 Buddhist beads and present them to the Empress Dowager as a birthday gift!" Qingjin decided.

  Hearing Qingjin's words, Yuanyang was somewhat reluctant, "Miss..."

  "It's all right, what's there to be reluctant about? I'm not getting married now, let Wanbaolou pay attention slowly. Since we can get it now, we'll definitely get it in the future. Besides, using Nanhai divine wood to make accessories is too luxurious!" Qingjin said casually.

  Upon hearing Qingjin's words, Yuanyang followed Fu out of the room.

  A few days later, a string of 108 Buddhist beads made from the sacred wood of the South China Sea was sent to Qingjin. At first glance, Qingjin thought that the beads looked ordinary too!