Chapter 311: Chapter 311: Hurry Up! Your Daughter Is Thirsty!
The twilight deepened, making the moonlight appear even more luminous.
Tonight, however, felt unusually prolonged.
Cui Yun saw that the girl was brimming with energy and suspected she was up to no good. He glanced at the time.
"Not sleepy yet?"
The girl tiptoed and said, "How about I recite some lessons for you?"
Such words coming out of her mouth were truly unprecedented.
He suppressed his expression: "Recite the Hundred Surnames or Thousand Characters Text?"
These were texts for basic education.
"Who are you looking down on?"
The girl’s eyes swiftly turned, and soon, her clear and melodious voice filled the room.
"Su Embroidery techniques are divided into nine major categories, totaling forty-three kinds."
"These include flat embroidery, stripe embroidery, Point Embroidery, Bian Xiu, net embroidery, gauze embroidery, auxiliary needlework, Bingwen Embroidery, and solid embroidery."
"Among them, just flat embroidery is divided into even stitch, qiang needle, needle set, and cross-stitch."
"Stripe embroidery includes Connecting Needle, rolling needle, cut needle, braided thread, lock stitch, flat gold, and Pan Jin."
"The colors of the flowers are rich and vibrant, suitable for the freely turning scattered set needlework. The stitching lines intersecting are most appropriate for animal fur."
Each needle technique has distinct characteristics. The more detailed the classification, the greater the challenge for the embroidery lady, and the more things she has to remember.
Besides needlework, one must also pay attention to the shape and contours of the embroidery, the twists of the silk threads, the thickness of the lines...
To embroider a good work is not a simple matter.
Therefore, those without talent might study for five, ten, or even thirty years and still not master it.
Only by choosing the most suitable needlework can the texture of the embroidery be highlighted. Not to mention the whole; even a tiny detail might require six or seven or even thirty or forty needle techniques. The more complex it is, the more fullness the embroidery appears from the details.
Cui Yun: ...
His brow twitched involuntarily as he recalled years ago when Ji Ge visited, unfolding that century-old imperial phoenix and asking him to find someone to authenticate its authenticity.
In his eyes, the origin of Xue Tuan’s paw insistently touched the embroidery.
Seeing Cui Yun looking distracted, Shen Hua’s voice reciting the lessons faded on her lips.
She questioned discontentedly, "How can you not listen?"
Shen Hua scoffed: "You’re neglecting me already, what will it be like later? It’s clear I can never agree to you."
The girl obviously wouldn’t let him off. Catching a slight mistake of Cui Yun, she wished to magnify it several times.
"Easily promising with a mere word, not bothering your heart. Who can’t speak beautifully? Do you really think that just by sweet-talking me a bit, I’ll surely marry into Marquis Yangling’s Mansion?"
She said triumphantly: "I have plenty of money, and I never care about worldly views, why would I fear not being able to support a child?"
She no longer called him "cousin."
"With how you are, how can I expect that once I am heavy with a child, you will take care of me?"
"There are heartless and fickle men in this world. What if, just when I’m about to give birth, you are not in the mansion but entangled with some other enchantress? In that case, wouldn’t I suffer greatly?"
The more the girl spoke, the clearer her mind became.
Indeed, she originally thought about finding a husband she could control.
Shen Hua seemed to have found the right path. She raised her noble hand and lightly tapped Cui Yun’s chest, almost wagging her tail.
"Right now, you should be behaving properly."
"After all, who can be sure; maybe one day your daughter will call someone else ’Daddy’."
Cui Yun’s expression turned completely pale. The warmth in his eyes also dropped to the lowest.
"You truly know how to provoke my anger."
With a chilly tone, Shen Hua wasn’t frightened; the girl haughtily lifted her head and fiercely threw down four words.
"Control your temper!"
Cui Yun’s brow twitched, and he raised his hand to adjust her outer garment.
"So ... shall Miss Shen continue?"
"How can Marquis be so thoughtless?"
Shen Hua languidly looked outside the window. Lifting her chin tenderly and pretentiously in a coaxing tone, she said.
"After all this talking, I can’t help but get a dry mouth."
Cui Yun thought, indeed, if there ever was a child, she could probably turn the entire Marquis Yangling Mansion upside down.
The man was both amused and annoyed, as he caught the girl cautiously glancing at him, immediately turning her head away as if afraid of being caught. Even her head movements carried a hint of coquetry.
Shen Hua didn’t speak, but Cui Yun read a silent message from her.
——Hurry up! Your daughter is thirsty!
Soon after, Cui Yun poured water for her and said indifferently, "Drink this and go back to sleep."
"I——"
"If you don’t sleep, she needs to sleep too."
Shen Hua fell silent.
She took the cup from Cui Yun’s hand and obediently stepped outside. Footsteps followed behind her; clearly, he intended to walk her back to the neighboring room.
Somehow, Shen Hua just had to be contrary.
She suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Are you rushing me?"
"Why should I go back! I’ll sleep here."
She tilted her head back to drink the water and handed the empty cup back to Cui Yun. She briskly walked toward the bed, took off her robe, and slid her entire body under the covers. After settling in, she asked very amicably,
"Do you have any objections?"
Cui Yun chuckled, his voice elusive and echoing with the after-rain tranquility: "How dare I."
Shen Hua’s slender eyebrows lifted, satisfied with his response. Then she suddenly remembered something and couldn’t help but inquire,
"Do you know what the conflict is between the Governor Mansion and Duke Fu’s Mansion?"
Being a top-ranked official and a seasoned minister, it truly wasn’t fitting for him to bow and scrape before Xie Xun.
Indeed, bowing and scraping.
As if unable to straighten his back.
Cui Yun lit some calming incense. A wisp of smoke spiraled upwards.
"Yan Kun had an affair with the younger sister of Duke Fu."
Yan Kun is Commander Yan.
This was a matter from over twenty years ago.
Back then, Yan Kun was but a commoner and climbed to the rank of Deputy General by his skills at the side of the late General Jin.
Later, Emperor He promoted him and kept him in Shengjing.
At that time, he hadn’t yet assumed the position of Commander.
"Old Master Xie once said that Yan Kun was destined for greatness, so he betrothed his beloved daughter to him."
Yan Kun was strikingly handsome in his youth, and adept at winning hearts, rapidly capturing the affections of the girl.
"The wedding was imminent, but then complications arose — a former wife appeared."
That is now the Governor’s wife.
Shen Hua frowned, "Isn’t that just like what Old Master Jing did?"
But Cui Yun shook his head.
"Old Master Jing, in his desire for power, spun huge lies and remarried without regard for his first wife. Yan Kun’s situation was different."
"After joining the army, there was a landslide back home. By the time he returned, his home was in ruins. After much search, believing his wife to be dead."
Shen Hua pursed her lips.
"Then what happened?"
"The two families called off the wedding."
"However, one month later, the Xie Family girl fell into the lake and died while boating."
Shen Hua gasped, "Was it an accident?"
Cui Yun: "That, you’ll have to ask your brother."
What he said wasn’t a secret in Shengjing, and Cui Yun, not being one to concern himself with others’ affairs, especially those of the older generation, didn’t pay it much attention.
Shen Hua: "I think, there must have been something else that happened."
"About Commander Yan—"
Shen Hua coldly said, "A father who could sell his daughter—unless something had happened at that time, I don’t believe such a man could live with guilt for ten years straight."
As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something.
No wonder... no wonder Yan Mi never strove for more. It turns out to be like this.