Do you know? Do you know? It should be Green Fat Red Thin Chapter 11

  Minglan was not always so negative and lazy. In her early years, she was a diligent and hardworking student who wore a red scarf, joined the Young Pioneers, and entered the Communist Youth League. She was often among the first to be selected for various roles, such as propaganda committee member, organization committee member, English class representative, and study committee member. As propaganda committee member, she won awards for her blackboard newspaper work. As organization committee member, she led her classmates in visiting sick teachers. As English class representative, she led her classmates in daily early morning reading sessions. As study committee member, she successfully organized a homework copying activity. Except for that one time in fifth grade when she was ousted as entertainment committee member, she was generally a well-behaved student liked by both teachers and classmates.

  It never occurred to her that things would turn out this way, and when Minglan moved from the Wang's residence to Old Madame Sheng's place, only a younger and more foolish servant girl named Xiaotao was willing to follow her. The other servants either feigned illness or asked for leave as soon as they heard they were going to Ruijun Manor; some even got their families to make excuses for them, while the wet nurse had been complaining of back pain several days in advance and claimed she couldn't be used.

  "Xiao Tao, why are you willing to follow me?" Ming Lan asked hopefully.

  "Can't I... just not go with you?"

  The sea has become a mulberry field, and a sense of emptiness and despair is approaching. Minglan takes Xiaotao's hand and leaves with a gloomy face. She feels that this is an injustice, just like being assigned to a family business where only relatives are trusted, no matter how hard you work, you're still a second-class citizen, what's the point of striving? Ah, might as well go take a look at the new unit.

  The main house of Rongguo Mansion has five upper rooms, the central one is called Ming Tang, and the two sides are successively Goujian and Cijian. In front and back, there are several rooms for maids and servants to live in, which is a typical ancient quadrangle courtyard building. Ming Tang is similar to the modern living room, Goujian and Cijian are leisure rooms or bedrooms. The old lady sleeps in the left Goujian, and Minglan is settled in the left Cijian, because the partition in the middle is made of Huangli wood carving flower screen door, where Minglan lives is also called Li Hua Tong.

  Last night, Fang's mother had just tidied up the room. The decorations were simple and unadorned, all in cold tones - stone blue, crow blue, dark blue... Only the warm pavilion where Minglan slept used a bright apricot yellow.

  Just settled, the little maid Cui Ping from the old lady's room came to deliver a message, saying that the old lady wanted to see Minglan. Minglan followed her over and saw the old lady wearing a dark-colored eight-bat flower-patterned thick brocade jacket, half-reclining on the kang, with a volume of scriptures and several strands of sandalwood rosary beads on the kang table, and a small white jade incense burner inlaid with gold wire and cloud-shaped.

  She saw Minglan, beckoning her to come over. After greeting a few times and knowing the etiquette, she first paid her respects, then stood by the side of the bed at a 45-degree angle in front of Old Lady Sheng, looking up for instructions. Old Lady Sheng looked at her awkward appearance like a little adult, smiled and pulled her onto the bed, saying warmly: "You are the fourth child I have raised, the previous three had no fate with me, I don't know how you will be? Let's talk, you don't need to be polite, say whatever you want, even if you say something wrong, it doesn't matter."

  Minglan opened her big eyes and nodded, she didn't plan to lie either. Compared with these ancient women who had been in the inner house all their lives, her little cleverness was not even enough to mention.

  "Have you read books?" Old Lady Sheng asked.

  Minglan shook her head and whispered, "Big sister was originally going to teach me 'Voice Law Enlightenment', just taught the first two sentences, she was locked up to embroider dowry, Liu's mother watched strictly, big sister couldn't sneak out."

  The old lady's eyes sparkled with a smile and asked: "Can you write?"

  Minglan smiled wryly in her heart. She was originally able to write, but it wasn't necessarily the case here. So she said softly: "I only know a few words."

  Old Lady Sheng had Cui Ping bring over paper and brush, telling Minglan to write a few characters. The ink was already prepared, Minglan rolled up her sleeves on her short arms, stretched out her small palm, and held the brush with slight trembling. In her childhood, she had attended a calligraphy class at the Youth Palace for two summers, but only learned how to write poorly and hold the brush properly.

  She used her five short fingers to press, squeeze, hook, push and resist, steadily grasping the pen, writing a crooked "person" character on the plain paper, then wrote several simple characters, such as "of", "also", "not", "already", etc.

  The old lady looked at Minglan's gesture and secretly praised her in her heart. Although the child was young, her arm and wrist were very straight, with a suspended wrist and a straight back, her eyes focused, but because of her small strength, the characters didn't look good. Minglan finished writing all the characters she remembered, and finally wrote a messy ink ball, the old lady leaned over to carefully identify it, and it was actually a complex character "Sheng".

  "Who taught you how to write?" The old lady asked, remembering that Wei's wife was illiterate.

  Minglan wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand and said, "It was Fifth Sister, she taught me to draw red."

  The old lady burst out laughing: "Teach you to draw red? I'm afraid it's to let you write for her, so she can go flirt around."

  Minglan's face turned red and she didn't speak, thinking to herself that these ancient women were really formidable.

  "Who taught you this 'sheng' character again? You didn't even get it right on the tracing paper." The old lady asked, pointing at the indistinguishable ink blot.

  Minglan thought for a moment: "There are everywhere at home, on the lanterns, on the seals, hmm... and also on elder sister's dowry box."

  The old lady nodded in satisfaction, went to touch Minglan's small face, and immediately frowned after touching it. At this age, children who can eat well are all chubby, but Minglan's small face couldn't pinch out a bit of flesh, so she said sternly: "From now on, you must eat well and take your medicine while staying with me, no laziness is allowed."

  Minglan felt compelled to defend herself and said softly: "I'm eating too, but I never leave any food over, it's just that I don't gain weight."

  The old lady's eyes were warm, but she still had a stern face: "I heard that you often spit out your medicine."

  Minglan felt wronged, rubbing her clothes and softly defending herself: "I don't want to vomit, but my stomach doesn't listen to me, I have no way, this... those who have vomited before know!"

  The old lady's eyes sparkled with amusement as she went to smooth out Minglan's clothes, calmly saying: "Not only does your belly not listen to you, I'm afraid even your maid doesn't listen to you; I heard that this time only one little maid followed you here?"

  The old lady had been lonely for a long time, and today she received one after another visit, her smile was triggered, and she couldn't help but tease. Unexpectedly, the thin and weak little man in front of her replied with a serious face: "I heard my sister say before, water flows to low places, but people should go to high places. No matter where I go, there's no one who wants to follow me."

  "Then why are you willing to come? I'm a vegetarian, there's no meat to eat here." the old lady asked.

  "It doesn't matter if you don't eat meat, as long as you can eat with a clear conscience." Minglan shook her head.

  The child's voice was tender, and my intention was to sigh. The old lady looked at the little girl for a while, then shook her head too, hugged Minglan and sighed: "Only one bone is left, still eat meat."

  Actually, the old lady's heart is saying that they are all the same.

  Mrs. Sheng introduced Minglan to a new nanny, surnamed Cui, who had a round face and was very gentle when holding Minglan; Mrs. Sheng also gave Minglan a little maid named Danju, who was only one year older than Minglan but was very mature and took good care of Minglan's daily life.

  Mrs. Sheng was from the Hou Mansion, although she lived a simple life, but her rules were very strict, every word and deed had a fixed method, the little maids and old ladies here looked more honest than elsewhere, Minglan was an adult soul, naturally would not make mischievous and playful gestures, Cui's mother just took over and told Fang's mother that Sixth Miss was kind and good at serving.

  At night, before going to bed, Danju had already warmed up the quilt with a hot water bottle. Minglan let Cui's mother change into her nightgown and then snuggled directly into the warm quilt, where she was gently patted and coaxed to sleep. If she felt thirsty or needed to use the bathroom at night, all it took was one call for someone to come and attend to her needs. The next morning, as soon as Minglan opened her eyes, a warm towel was already prepared, and a thermos of warm golden silk red date tea was waiting in the warming basket. First, she used the towel to gently wipe her forehead and cheeks, and after waking up a bit, Cui's mother helped her drink some tea, then washed her face, dressed her, and combed her hair. Little Danju was by their side, helping with the buttons on her clothes, putting on her socks and shoes, before going out to pay respects to Old Lady Sheng.

  A series of movements flowed smoothly, naturally and perfectly, without any stiffness. Xiaotao watched from the side with wide eyes and couldn't intervene at all. Minglan didn't come back to her senses until she stood in front of the old lady's kang to pay respects, feeling warm and cozy in her stomach, wearing thick clothes, and not feeling uncomfortable at all on this cold winter morning.

  Heavenly Bodhisattva, Minglan has been in this world for so long, and for the first time, she's enjoying such honor without lifting a finger. Ah, fallen, Minglan deeply repents her corrupt life.

  After paying respects to the old lady, the old lady had Minglan sit on the kang again, letting her warm up while waiting for everyone to come and pay their respects. Not long after, Wang Shi arrived with the children, but Molan and Chang Feng were absent due to illness. Wang Shi looked worried, but when Minglan stole a glance at the old lady, she saw that her expression hadn't changed in the slightest.

  "Both of them fell ill together, isn't it due to wind and cold? This illness is most contagious, I've already sent someone to invite the doctor, just hoping that Buddha will bless us and the two children will be fine." Wang said with a worried expression.

  Minglan secretly gave Wang a thumbs up in her heart, this year Wang's acting skills have improved greatly, that gaze and expression, if you didn't know better, you'd think Changfeng and Molan were her own children.

  Old Mrs. Sheng suddenly said, "Turn back and let Master go take a look. With the two children together, it's easy to get sick and infect each other. Fangge is also grown up, so it's better to separate them early."

  Wang's heart skipped a beat, but he was also delighted. He was surprised that the old lady had not mentioned this for many years, and now she suddenly brought it up. He was happy because the old lady was giving Lin a chance to intervene, which was better than him doing it himself. He quickly said: "What the old lady says is true, Feng and Mo are the most favored by Master. Now that they're both ill, Master should go see them."

  The old lady glanced at her lightly, lowered her head to drink tea. Wang Shi smiled and turned her head to look at Minglan, only to see that she was wearing a brand new pink feathered cloak, standing neatly beside her. After asking a few questions about the cold, Minglan talked about her feelings about moving into the new house, Hualan interjected with a few jokes, and everyone laughed happily for a while before leaving.

  After the man left, Housekeeper led a string of maids carrying octagonal food boxes into the room from outside. She helped Old Lady down from the kang and Cui led Minglan to the right wing room. The maids had already arranged the breakfast on a black lacquered six-sided table with carved flowers. After Old Lady sat down, Cui placed Minglan on the round stool. As soon as Minglan sat down, she saw the breakfast on the table and jumped up in surprise - no way, bird gun changed cannon!

  A sumptuous table, with a large plate of red date paste cake, a purple yam cake, a steaming hot sugar-glazed millet cake emitting a fragrant aroma, crispy golden fried dough fritters, small steamed buns wrapped in a bamboo steamer, and even a bowl of buckwheat skin dumplings sprinkled with chopped scallions. In front was a sweet and fragrant sorghum rice porridge, accompanied by over ten small dishes of various pickled vegetables.

  Minglan held her chopsticks, looking a bit silly. She still had a deep impression of the frugal breakfast at Shou'an Hall that time. She raised her eyes to look at Old Madam and said softly, "......there's so much."

  The old lady didn't even raise her eyes, and began to savor the porridge carefully. Fang's mother smiled and continued: "Yes, today the old lady suddenly wanted to try it." She had been advising for so many years but wouldn't listen, now it seemed like thanks to Liu Yiniang's blessing, the old lady finally agreed to stop living such a simple life.

  Minglan's heart was moved, and she looked at the old lady again. Her small mouth moved slightly as she lowered her head, then raised it to glance at her with a faint smile, saying in a low voice: "Thank you, Grandmother. I'll make sure to eat more meat to grow strong for you."

  The old lady only smiled in her heart when she heard the first half of the sentence, but couldn't help but giggle when she heard the second half. What's with 'giving you more meat', is she raising a pig? Fang's mother even turned her head to cover her mouth and laugh.

  After breakfast, the old lady took out a copy of "Three Character Classic" and asked Minglan to recite two sentences to test her knowledge. Minglan felt embarrassed and decided to pretend not to know, so she started reciting: "Ren zhi dao, sheng mu yang, sheng mu jin, xi mu yuan..."

  The old lady almost spat out a mouthful of tea, coughing repeatedly for several times. Minglan was startled and hurriedly went around the kang to pat the old lady's back and help her catch her breath. At the same time, she asked innocently and anxiously: "Old lady, did I read it wrong?"

  The old lady took a few deep breaths before recovering, looking at her granddaughter with a confused face, and forced herself to say: "You recited... very well, just got a few words wrong, it's okay, take your time learning."

  Only twelve characters were correct, less than 20% accuracy. Minglan felt deeply distressed in her heart, thinking that as a university student, it was easy to pretend to be illiterate?

  That evening, it wasn't just Minglan who was distressed. After Sheng Hong returned home from the government office in the late afternoon, Wang Shi immediately reported to him what Old Madame Sheng had said, adding her own understanding. Without even changing out of his official robes, Sheng Hong stormed off to Lin Mama's place with a dark face. With the door closed behind him, no one outside knew what was happening inside, but they could vaguely hear sounds of crying and shouting, accompanied by the clear sound of porcelain shattering...

  About half an hour later, Sheng Hong came out with a pale face. When the maid went in to serve her, she found that Lin Niang's room was in disarray, and Lin Niang herself was lying on the kang, crying so hard that she was almost unconscious.

  After learning this, Wang's spirit was lifted and she drank three cups of strong tea in a row. She then lit an incense stick each for Yuanshi Tianzun and the Buddha, muttering to herself. Even knowing that Sheng Hong had gone to the study to sleep, her good mood didn't diminish; as they say, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", Wang decided to be doubly filial to Old Lady from now on.