Chapter 98: Happy New Year
Translator: Antonia
Ever since Ji Xuyao arrived, Tong Zijing still refused to go back home, but he seldom followed Mo Qianxue everywhere.
They would meet at meals and ate together, but Ning Shaoqing was there too. Due to the cold air that Ning Shaoqing constantly spread, Tong Zijing was still a little daunted by him, because at that time, sister wouldn’t be biased towards him.
Therefore, at meals, Tong Zijing acted very obedient and didn’t talk much.
For the rest of the time, Ji Xuyao played with him while learning something.
Yet, Tong Zijing still suddenly thought of Mo Qianxue and insisted to take a look at her. If Mo Qianxue was doing accounts in the study room, he would call her sister in a sweet voice and gain Mo Qianxue’s respond.
Then, under the urging of Ji Xuyao, he went back to class and continue to learned.
But for most of the time when he became reluctant to learn, he played naughty, sat opposite Mo Qianxue, and carved his loved wooden piece.
At those moments, a resourceful man as Ji Xuyao had nothing to do with him.
On Tong Zijing, only soft methods could be used.
That being said, his behavior had made great progress.
He used to have a vague idea about the relation between men and women, but now he could act with proper etiquette, on which Ji Xuyao had spent a lot of effort.
Moreover, Tong Zijing was getting smarter in that he already knew how to deal with the tutor, how to get along with Ning Shaoqing and how to please Mo Qianxue.
He was no longer the boy who only tittered all day long nor the boy who pulled Mo Qianxue outdoors to play. His mind developed rapidly.
For these, Ning Shaoqing was very satisfied, yet his face turned darker and darker. Only Mo Qianxue hadn’t discovered yet.
Ji Xuyao was very puzzled as to why Mr. Ning could tolerate and even help this young man who stuck around his own wife and invited a tutor for him.
However, with the puzzle in his mind, he played his part diligently.
As long as he teached Tong Zijing well, lord Lu would give Ji family a big favor. Also, Mr. Tong paid him a good tuition fee. There was also a good opportunity to gain Tong Zijing’s trust, which would lay a foundation for Ji family’s future rise.
The days of leisure passed fast. Snowflakes thick as goose feathers floated in the sky. In three days, it would be New Year.
The river water was almost frozen, and as the weather was so cold and New Year was approaching, there were few ships anchored at Tianyou dock.
The porters on the dock didn’t come for several days. The whole dock was sparsely visited.
Two days ago when Mo Qianxue came here, manager Tang and other officers had already taken the New Year’s leave and returned to the city. Therefore, Mo Qianxue asked Yunyao to clean up the restaurant and got ready to close the door for the New Year.
Yesterday, nearly all the restaurants on the dock had officially halted operation. Mo Qianxue had wanted to come to pick up Yunyao yesterday, but Yunyao said that she needed to do a thorough clean up of the restaurant and make a perfect end to many other staff, so she came on the next day.
Yesterday, Mo Qianxue had let Nizi clean the vacant room in Ning’s house. Today, Awu drove the horse carriage and picked up Yunyao and Xixi, her daughter, back to the Wang village.
At the dock, it was windy and cold. Since there were no ships or managing officers there, Mo Qianxue really feared that anything bad might happen to those poor mother and daughter.
She had always liked them very much.
More and more people had come to the Ning’s. The first were Asan and Awu, then Tong Zijing, then Ji Xuyao, and finally Yunyao and Xixi. In the back courtyard, except for the three main rooms Mo Qianxue lived, all six wing-rooms were occupied.
The three main rooms were the living room, the bedroom and the study.
Now the yard was unprecedentedly lively.
Xixi had no sisters, so sister Fang let Yaya play with her. The two little girls had great fun, but Nizi was a little bothered because they always took away and hide her loved things such as her purse or embroider threads, so that she always had to search for her things.
Tong Zijing was a bigger weirdo. He forbad the approaching of not only grown-up women, but also little girls. Once, Yaya accidentally ran into his room, he should let Tong An throw her out.
The little girl fell in the snow outside and cried for quite a long, keeping yelling bad uncle, bad uncle, but the so-called bad uncle wasn’t moved at all. Finally, Mo Qianxue showed up and coaxed her with delicious snacks before she finally smiled again.
In the face of Mo Qianxue’s accusation, Tong Zijing only replied that he didn’t like her and that he would throw out anyone that he didn’t like. Then, he said nothing else.
Thinking of his past, Mo Qianxue didn’t blame him too much and only threatened not to give him delicious snacks later and turned away to cook for Yaya.
What was trauma? This was trauma. Mo Qianxue cooked while cursing that stupid old Mr. Tong. How did he in hell think of an idea like that?
To let women rape his tied up son when Tong Zijing was in that psychological state.
As she cursed, she suddenly began to worry about Tong Zijing. If he hated women so much, how could he get married and have children in the future…
Mr. Tong had sent people many times to take Tong Zijing back home, but the boy just wasn’t willing to.
So butler Tong had to seek help from Mo Qianxue.
Since the butler was a poor loyal old man, she agreed and promised that on the New Year’s Eve, she would find a way to let Tong Zijing go back home.
Getting the promise, butler Tong became all smiles and overjoyed, hurriedly returning back to report to Mr. Tong.
However, such a report strengthened Mr. Tong’s former idea.
He must try every means to help his son get Mo Qianxue.
He was a merciless man that fulfilled whatever idea in his mind, so he immediately employed more guards to track the strange doctor.
The children had fun, but Mo Qianxue and Yunyao were exhausted.
On the 27th before New Year, Mo Qianxue went downtown to go shopping. She bought sugar, sunflower seeds, pork, beef and so on. Yunyao stayed at home and meticulously cleaned the house again.
On the 28th, Mo Qianxue led the group of tofu workshop to make fried tofu, gave out salaries and New Year purchase. Then, they boiled pork, killed chicken and let sister Fang prepared a feast for the workers.
Those wives or unmarried women never thought that they could both get money and expensive New Year purchase and at the same time enjoy a good feast. Each and every one of them wore a grinning face and expressed heart-felt gratitude towards Mo Qianxue.
On the 29th, she was busy with making steamed buns, fried meatballs, fried dough twists and other snacks.
Ning Shaoqing gave the students leaves, painted some New Year pictures and wrote couplets.
He also re-made the topographic map of the valley for soy sauce and vinegar factories, which was much better than the one she sketched. Every aspect was thought through.
Since Yunyao, a female, was helping Mo Qianxue in the kichen, it would be improper for him to get there too often, so when everything was finished, he could only stay in the study and read.
Tong Zijing didn’t care whether there was a woman or not, as long as he remembered, he would follow Mo Qianxue around everywhere.
Now he become thick-skinned and naught. While Mo Qianxue was making food, he stood near and constantly stole a bite.
Yet, the hand was either burned due to his eagerness or beaten by Mo Qianxue’s punishing chopsticks.
In short, poor hands to have that master!
Every time this happened, Ning Shaoqing’s brows above the resting eyes couldn’t stop twitching from time to time.
Finally, the 30th (New Year’s Eve) came. Under Mo Qianxue’s guide, everyone finished pasting the couplets. By then, butler Tong had been waiting for long. He didn’t dare to mess with Tong Zijing, so he turned to Mo Qianxue again.
Mo Qianxue pushed Tong Zijing into the carriage, but he prevented Tong Zhan to drove when she left.
In the end, Mo Qianxue gave him a box of cakes she had made and promised him that he could come back after the New Year. Only then did he allow Tong Zhan to drive the carriage out of the Wang village.
As Tong Zijing left, the number of people in house suddenly reduced by five. Mo Qianxue was reminded of her parents and younger brother in modern time and instantly felt a sense of loss.
Ning Shaoqing’s eyes were revealing a rare smile, and his lips irresistibly curled up in the corners.
After Tong Zijing left, Mo Qianxue got busy again with the New Year Eve dinner.
Fortunately, the ingredients were well-prepared long ago. With these semi-finished ingredients, it wasn’t very troublesome to cook.
This New Year Eve dinner, with Mo Qianxue as the chef and Yunyao as assistant, included twenty dishes which spread all over the table.
Under the insistence of Mo Qianxue, Asan, Awu, Yunyao and Xixi had the dinner with the couple. Otherwise, among a room of people, only she and Ning Shaoqing sat there to have the New Year Eve dinner while the other four standing by the side would be too strange.
After the dinner, Mo Qianxue and Ning Shaoqing was sitting in the living room and sipping tea, Yunyao, together with her daughter Xixi, seriously kneeled and kowtowed to them as New Year’s greeting.
Mo Qianxue had wanted to stop her, but Ning Shaoqing gave her a look.
She was reminded that she now lived in ancient times, this formality was nothing but normal. A society needed certain rules to keep going smoothly. Also, In the future, she planned to buy a few servants to liberate herself from all the hard work.
If this was the case, just let the rules practiced on Yunyao first.
Thinking it through, Mo Qianxue sorted her clothes and seriously accepted the greeting.
When Yunyao and Xixi got up, she took out the red pockets that she had prepared and gave out to them.
Afterwards, Asan and Awu came over too. They kneeled on one keens, and Mo Qianxue gave them each the same pocket.
The six people stayed in the living room waiting for the new year to come and felt very bored, so Mo Qianxue took out a mini version of Monopoly and played with Ning Shaoqing.
She flung the dice, and it was retreat, yet she didn’t want to, so Ning Shaoqing called her a little cheater, reaching out his fingers to pinch her nose.
In view of this, Asan and Awu exchanged a look and left the room. Yunyao had already sensed the air and run away with Xixi.
On the drum of twelve o’clock, the sound of fire-crackers rang to the sky.
The fire-crackers in this world were the most primitive version.
On the 27th, Mo Qianxue had bought a lot in the city since she had never seen this kind of firecrackers. Certainly she prepared much to enjoy it.
The firecracker looked very dangerous, so Ning Shaoqing didn’t allow her to get too near.
Finally Asan and Awu had something to do. Xixi also woke up and made things worse for them.
After so much tiring and troublesome things, at last the New Year’s Eve passed.
Early in the morning on the first day of the new year, Mo Qianxue got up and set off firecrackers again based on the customs of Tianqi.
She also offered up red dates, melon seeds, sugar and peanuts and then burnt golden paper with Ning Shaoqing to worship heaven and earth and ancestors.
After all this and breakfast, the couple went out to pay a New Year call to the village head.
Originally, Ning Shaoqing didn’t want to go because he had always waited at home for others to visit him. The village head wasn’t qualified to let him send New Year’s greetings personally, yet Mo Qianxue insisted him coming with her.
On a second thought, he was no longer a noble lord, and Mo Qianxue’s words made sense. A powerful dragon couldn’t suppress a local snake. After all, the village head was the person of highest integrity and prestige as well as a senior, so he unwillingly agreed to go.
To their arrival, the head displayed due respect and politeness. His wife was hospitable too. While Ning Shaoqing and the head chatted, his wife pulled Mo Qianxue into the inner room to talk intimate staff.
The topic was nothing more than when she would have a child and so on…
Mo Qianxue quite enjoyed chatting with the head’s wife, while Ning Shaoqing didn’t have a good time outside with the head.
Ning Shaoqing directly told him that from this new year, he wouldn’t be going to school anymore.
Certainly, the head felt annoyed by it and quickly asked whether Ning needed a higher payment. If so, he could let the children pay more.
Ning Shaoqing only shook his head disdainfully and replied that it had nothing to do with payment.
His understated expression made the head surer and more worried. Of course he worried because it was a huge event that would influence the children’s education.
Hence, immediately he asked Ning Shaoqing whether he could teach one more year or so if the tuition fee raised.
Hearing this, Ning Shaoqing almost spat out the tea in his mouth. Would he care the little payment?
With disdain in his heart, he still replied with courtesy and added with a sigh that even though he quitted being a teacher, the children could still get education because the village could hire a teacher from a private school.
The head became uneasy and restless. Of course he knew he could hire a new teacher, but it required real money to pay the teacher.
In the end, Ning Shaoqing promised that he would afford half of the new teacher’s salary as his gratitude to the villagers for having saved his life. Then, the expression on the head’s face looked much better.
As he chatted with Ning Shaoqing, he pondered to himself that after the vacation, the Wang clan would convene a meeting, not only to select new elders but only to give a solution to the children’s education.
On the second day, the Ning’s was even more lively and the gate never stopped receiving people, including the workers at the tofu workshop, the students at the carving workshop, Juniang, Yunniang and Wang Xiaolei at the restaurant as well as Ning Shaoqing’s students. They all showed up to send New Year’s greetings.
On this day, the couple were exhausted from receiving guests, their mouths parched and tongues scorched.
They thought that they could have a good rest on the third day, yet unexpectedly an honorable guest dropped by.
A person who still held a fan in winter. Yes, it was Su Qi.