A few days later, that Gu Chengzhi came again. This time, he came in a carriage with a beautiful woman.
The carriage stopped at the edge of the village. Then the woman, surrounded by two maids, walked towards Gu Liyue's house.
Gu Liyue was trimming flower branches in the yard. Seeing the gorgeous woman, she was a bit dazed.
Although the woman looked noble and unapproachable, her attitude was very kind. "I'm the wife of the Lin family in Cangyun County. A few days ago, was it you who saved my son A Jie?"
Gu Liyue invited them in and was about to move chairs. But the attendants were quicker. They moved out the tables and chairs and made her sit on a chair opposite Mrs. Lin.
The maids brought out tea sets and water pots. They made tea in a smooth and skillful way, which made Gu Liyue dazzled.
She was very nervous and behaved in a constrained manner.
When she saw Mr. Gu beside them, she felt a bit calmer. After all, she had met him once, even though that encounter was not very pleasant.
Mrs. Lin smiled gently. "Don't be afraid, girl. My son wasn't fully recovered a few days ago, so I've only managed to come today. I'm here to thank you for saving my son's life."
Gu Liyue sat there like a quail. She nodded woodenly and then quickly shook her head. "It was just a coincidence. In your son's situation, anyone would have helped."
Mrs. Lin heard her speaking in the official language. Unlike ordinary villagers who were vulgar, she smiled again. "Have you studied?"
Gu Liyue was stunned. After thinking for a while, she said, "I should have studied before I was six. I can recognize some characters, but that's all."
Mrs. Lin nodded and sized up Gu Liyue. For some reason, she always vaguely felt that her eyebrows and eyes looked familiar.
"So it is. I haven't asked your name yet."
Gu Liyue quickly said, "You're too polite, madam. You can just call me Liyue."
"Liyue, the pale moon and pear blossoms, coming in dreams..." Mrs. Lin's eyes showed a strange look. In the end, she just smiled. "Your parents must have been deeply in love."
Gu Liyue didn't understand. She just lowered her head and said nothing.
Seeing that she didn't want to say more, Mrs. Lin didn't ask anymore. She smiled again. "You're my son's savior. If there's anything you want, as long as I can do it, I'll definitely satisfy you."
Gu Liyue thought for a while and then said, "I want - silver."
Mrs. Lin laughed. "A life - saving grace is priceless. Liyue, you can just name your price."
Gu Liyue nodded. "Ten taels."
Mrs. Lin waved her hand and asked a maid to hand over a purse. "Here are twenty taels to repay you for saving my son's life."
Gu Liyue took the purse respectfully. "Thank you, madam."
After seeing off Mrs. Lin, Yunniang was a bit surprised. She made a gesture and asked: You didn't want the money that day. Why do you want it today?
Gu Liyue replied, "That Mr. Gu wasn't sincere that day. Moreover, he looked down on people. Naturally, I didn't want his money. Today, this madam is here to thank me on behalf of her son. A family like hers pays a lot of attention to etiquette. If I don't accept it, she'll owe me a favor, which will be troublesome. Twenty taels is nothing to her. It's better to take this money to end this debt of gratitude and avoid entanglement."
Yunniang asked again: Why didn't you tell her your surname?
Gu Liyue was silent for a long time and just shook her head.
After Mrs. Lin and Gu Chengzhi returned, they saw Lu Jinchen accompanying A Jie in practicing martial arts.
Gu Chengzhi immediately walked over. "Jinchen, I really opened my eyes today. I originally thought that although that girl was a village girl, she had some backbone. It turns out that she just looked down on my five taels of silver. When the princess went today, she directly asked for ten taels."
Lu Jinchen raised his eyebrows. "Ten taels?"
Mrs. Lin sat down in the corridor. Seeing that Lu Jinchen showed no sign of being unhappy, she smiled. "That girl is quite smart."
Lu Jinchen smiled. He asked someone to take A Jie to wash up. He took a handkerchief to wipe his hands and then sat in front of Mrs. Lin. "I've got a wonderful piece of music. Would you like to listen, aunt?"
Mrs. Lin shook her head. "Forget it. People here don't pay much attention to these things. Let's talk about it later."
"Aunt, do you have something on your mind?"
Mrs. Lin thought for a while and then said, "You've also seen that girl. Do you think she looks familiar?"
Lu Jinchen shook his head. "No. I think it's because she saved A Jie that you think she looks kind - faced."
"You're right." Mrs. Lin sighed slightly. "A village girl who can recognize characters has a good personality, but she looks a bit petty. Let's not talk about her. Jinchen, what do you think of your uncle's case this time?"
...
With the extra twenty taels of silver, Gu Liyue didn't let Yunniang go to work anymore. She asked her to stay at home and help her with embroidery.
Yunniang was originally not very willing. But Gu Liyue's embroidery skills were very good. Unlike in the Liu family before, where they had to rush to finish the embroidery day and night and the embroidery products were a bit rough. Now she embroidered much more slowly but much better. A small purse could be sold for fifty wen, and an embroidery handkerchief for thirty wen.
Moreover, Gu Liyue was very thin. Since she fell into the water at the beginning of the year, her health had not been very good. Yunniang thought that earning a dozen wen a day while leaving all the housework to Gu Liyue was not worth it. It was better to go home and take good care of her.
So, Yunniang quit her job outside. She went to the street to buy some vegetable seeds to plant and also raised a few chickens and ducks.
A few days later, Gu Liyue looked through the embroidery works. After more than a month's accumulation, there were quite a lot of them. "Yunniang, tomorrow, we'll go to the county town to sell the embroidery works."
There would be traveling merchants in the county town who would go to each town to collect goods. It wasn't necessary for the embroidery women to go to the county town themselves.
Gu Liyue propped her face. "That Mrs. Lin asked me if I could recognize characters. Yunniang, I can recognize characters, right?"
Yunniang nodded and gestured: Your father could recognize characters. When you were a child, your father taught your mother to read and recognize characters. You also learned with them and learned quite a few poems.
At that time, whether in the city or in the countryside, as long as a family had a little extra money and their sons or nephews had some talent for studying, they would try their best to support them, just hoping that they would be successful in the future and the whole family would prosper.
However, in an ordinary family, they would only support one or two sons. Women didn't take the imperial examinations, and ordinary girls didn't know how to read.
Gu Liyue remembered that when she was a child, she used to speak in a very literary way and was once laughed at by Liu Qinting. But she didn't think there was anything wrong with it and didn't change. She just spoke less.
So when she was a child, her father's family should have been well - off. After getting married, he still had the energy to teach his wife and daughter to read. Presumably, he was also a very good man.
Gu Liyue said, "I want to go to the bookshop in the county town to see if there are any books I can buy."
There was a small bookshop in the town, but there were very few books in it. Moreover, there were too many acquaintances in the town, and Gu Liyue didn't want to be gossiped about. It should be much better to go to the county town.
Yunniang nodded repeatedly. Now that there was some extra money in the family, it was great that she had such an idea. Her father in heaven would also be very happy.
Gu Liyue didn't think so much. She just remembered that when she was a child, she once picked up a book. It was clearly her father's book, but she was scolded by her cousin Liu Zhenghui, who said that girls were not worthy of touching books.
She remembered her eagerness at that time and the unfairness in her heart. Things she couldn't do before, she always wanted to give it a try now.