The sky is always gloomy on rainy days. Gu Liyue lit a lamp and practiced calligraphy at the table.
Yunniang carried in a basin of water. Seeing that the room was rather dim, she walked to the table and was about to open the window.
Gu Liyue quickly stopped her. "No need. If it gets too dark, we can just light another lamp."
She looked up at the window and murmured as if to herself, "Just to avoid trouble."
The rain had lasted for five days straight, and finally the sky cleared. They should have taken one more day to rest, but Master Feng was worried about his business outside, so he urged the servants to pack up their luggage and set off early.
Gu Liyue was following behind Hongyu and Ziyu. Just as she was about to get into the carriage, she saw Feng Sui coming towards her.
"Miss Gu."
Gu Liyue was a bit stunned for a moment, then nodded and saluted. "Young Master Feng."
Feng Sui said with a big smile, "Miss Gu, I saw your embroidery work the other day. It's really excellent. It's so hot these days. I was wondering if you could embroider a handkerchief for me?"
Gu Liyue looked nervous and hesitated. "But, Master Feng said that we don't have much time today and we need to hurry on our journey. It's bumpy on the carriage, so it's not suitable for embroidery. I'm afraid this handkerchief..."
Just then, Mrs. Feng poked her head out of the carriage. "Sui'er, why aren't you getting in the carriage yet?"
"Coming right away." Feng Sui waved to his mother, then smiled at Gu Liyue again. "It doesn't matter. I just think ordinary handkerchiefs are too plain. I'm not in a hurry. Just give it to me when you're done."
Then he turned around and went to his own carriage.
Gu Liyue felt extremely embarrassed. When she was about to get in the carriage, she saw Hongyu in front of her slam the carriage door shut, almost hitting her.
Along the way, Hongyu and Ziyu ignored Gu Liyue as usual. But it seemed like they were doing it on purpose. Whenever Gu Liyue wanted to lean on Yunniang and take a nap, they would start talking loudly, making it impossible for her to sleep peacefully.
Gu Liyue lowered her head and thought for a while. Then she looked up and smiled at the two of them. "Sisters..."
No one responded.
But Gu Liyue didn't give up. She continued to complain. "Sisters... I've been so busy these days. Just now, the young master asked me to embroider a handkerchief for him..."
Hongyu couldn't help but sneer. "Isn't that your only skill? Even the young master has noticed it..."
Ziyu pulled her back, and she shut up, turning her face away from Gu Liyue.
Gu Liyue nodded carefully and forced a smile. "You're right, sister. Maybe the young master knows I can't do much else, and this is my only skill, so he asked me to do it. But unfortunately, I sprained my wrist when I got up yesterday. Now I can hardly even hold chopsticks, let alone do embroidery... If I end up disappointing the master later, that would be bad. After all, I'm counting on the master to recommend me to be an embroideress. There's nothing I can do. You two sisters look so kind. Liyue dares to ask you for help."
Hongyu reached out and pinched Gu Liyue's right wrist. Seeing her change expression, she asked, "Are you really hurt?"
Gu Liyue nodded. "Yunniang even fed me breakfast this morning."
"Well..." Hongyu's eyes flickered, and she reluctantly said, "Alright. We've been together for half a month anyway. I'll embroider it for you."
Gu Liyue immediately beamed with a big smile. "Thank you, sister. Thank you so much. Later, I'll ask Yunniang to make a pair of insoles for each of you. I hope you won't mind."
Hongyu snorted, which counted as her agreement. After that, she really stopped disturbing Gu Liyue's nap.
Two days later, Hongyu handed the handkerchief to Gu Liyue. Gu Liyue thanked her again and again. Looking at the handkerchief, there were two peach blossoms embroidered on the edge. If you looked closely, you could even see a small character "Hong" in the corner.
It seemed that Hongyu was afraid that Gu Liyue would take credit for her embroidery work, so she deliberately left a little mark.
Gu Liyue didn't expose her. Although Hongyu could do embroidery, her skills were far inferior. Gu Liyue didn't want to cause any trouble. How could she take credit for someone else's work?
After breakfast, before they set off, Gu Liyue gave the embroidered handkerchief to Feng Sui.
Feng Sui was very happy. Without even looking at it, he put it in his sleeve and bowed. "Thank you, Miss Gu."
Gu Liyue replied vaguely. Afraid that Feng Sui would say more, she quickly changed the topic. She pretended to be curious and asked, "By the way, you also have the surname Feng. I used to know someone with the same surname. I wonder if you're from the same family?"
Feng Sui asked, "Oh? Who is it?"
Gu Liyue answered, "It's Feng Lanqing from Yangxin Town. He passed the imperial examination and became a scholar this year."
Feng Sui's face darkened a bit. After thinking for a while, he explained, "Our ancestors were from the same family, but we separated a long time ago. Our family is in business, while theirs is focused on pursuing an official career. There were conflicts between our ancestors, so we can't really be considered the same branch anymore."
Gu Liyue was just asking casually. After hearing this, she nodded. "I see."
Feng Sui added, "I've met Scholar Feng a few times. He's quite arrogant. We don't get along well. I didn't expect you knew him?"
Gu Liyue didn't want to say too much. She casually explained, "Yes, we were neighbors before. We just know each other."
After getting in the carriage, Hongyu immediately pulled Gu Liyue and asked, "Did you give it to the young master? What did he say?"
Gu Liyue looked embarrassed. "Sister, what should I do? I originally wanted to explain to him that you embroidered this handkerchief. But he started talking about something related to the madam, and I didn't have a chance to interrupt. By the time I wanted to say it, he had already left..."
Hongyu smiled meaningfully and patted Gu Liyue's hand. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."
After that day, Gu Liyue almost always stayed with Hongyu and Ziyu during the day. If Feng Sui came looking for her, she would look embarrassed and say she was busy, then ask Hongyu to go instead.
After this happened three times, Feng Sui stopped looking for her.
At night, Gu Liyue sat on the bed in a daze. It was really hard to live under someone else's roof. She started counting on her fingers. In just five days, they would arrive in the capital. But then what? She would just go to the inner courtyard of a wealthy family and do her job well. She didn't want to care about anything else.
When they arrived in the capital, the Feng family didn't send Gu Liyue away immediately. Instead, they let her stay at their house and even invited a nanny to teach her how to handle things in the inner courtyard.
Mrs. Feng was even nicer to Gu Liyue. In return, Gu Liyue embroidered many rare double-sided embroideries for her.
"Your double-sided embroidery is really exquisite. It's even better than that famous embroideress, Qingniang, in the capital. Haven't you ever had a teacher?"
Gu Liyue answered honestly, "I haven't had a teacher. One day, I embroidered it backwards and couldn't fix it, so I tried hard to make both sides look good. Later, I saw some other double-sided embroideries in your business. I got some new ideas and improved my skills a lot, and that's how I got to where I am now."
Mrs. Feng was even happier. This Gu Liyue not only had excellent embroidery skills but was also smart and honest. Even if she couldn't catch the eye of Mrs. Jiang, she definitely wouldn't cause any trouble. If she was really favored by Mrs. Jiang, the Feng family would surely rise to even greater heights in the future.
"Mother, look what I've brought for you."
Feng Sui pushed open the door and walked in quickly. He was smiling and acting coquettishly as he came over.