Chapter 112: Someone Else’s Library
Returning to Academy Street, A Wu and Wang Yuting led the horses and put the cloth into the tea house, while Li Xiaonan returned to Cai Lian Lane.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, she saw Wan Jing.
“You’re finally back!” Wan Jing’s shout conveyed a sense of relief.
“You’ve been waiting here for me?” Li Xiaonan asked in surprise.
“I’ve been waiting for over an hour!” Wan Jing frowned.
“You don’t need to wait; go back if I’m not here.”
“What kind of talk is that? Is this how you do your task?” Wan Jing retorted unhappily, then turned to look at Mei Jie.
Mei Jie was pursing her lips, looking at the two with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
“I’m leaving, Mei Jie. Thank you for the tea.” Wan Jing curtsied to Mei Jie.
“No need, no need!” Mei Jie quickly returned the bow.
“I won’t be back for lunch. Stir-fry those two eggs for me. If Eldest Sister notices the eggs are gone, she’ll know I snuck out again,” Li Xiaonan whispered to Mei Jie.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry,” Mei Jie nodded repeatedly.
Li Xiaonan and Wan Jing came out, got into the cart in the tea house courtyard, and headed for the Prince’s Estate villa.
Li Xiaonan got into the cart first. Watching Wan Jing get in, she pulled out an incredibly small stool from somewhere, skillfully tucked it under her skirt, and sat down with her knees bent.
“Huh!” Li Xiaonan pounced over and lifted Wan Jing’s skirt, looking at the small brocade stool placed beneath Wan Jing’s backside. “Ha! So you need a stool! No wonder I couldn’t sit still. I’m so silly, I thought…”
“What are you shouting about!” Wan Jing yanked her skirt back fiercely, glaring at Li Xiaonan speechlessly.
“Are there any more? Give me one,” Li Xiaonan looked around.
“No! You’re not on a task,” Wan Jing tidied her skirt, leaned over, pulled out the small table to secure it, picked up the small food box from a corner of the cart, opened it, and her eyes widened.
“What’s wrong?” Li Xiaonan leaned over.
Inside the small food box, on a silk-wrapped agate dish about half a foot square, were three milk candies.
“This small food box was given to me by Shi Gun, it wasn’t handled by me,” Wan Jing quickly explained.
The pastries for guests didn’t even fill the bottom of the dish; this was too embarrassing!
This wasn’t her doing!
“It wasn’t Shi Gun, it was your Young Lord. Hmph!” Li Xiaonan snorted, reached out, took a milk candy, and threw it into her mouth.
“Did you offend our Young Lord again?” Wan Jing’s heart leaped into her throat.
“What do you mean ‘again’? When did I ever offend him? How would I dare to offend him! See what else there is,” Li Xiaonan gestured for Wan Jing to continue.
Wan Jing took out the agate dish. On the next layer, in a fine white porcelain dish, were two very small pieces of sheep’s milk jelly. On the layer below that, in a glazed bowl, were five candied lotus seeds.
Wan Jing took them out one by one and placed them on the small table. Looking at the now empty agate dish and then at the calm Li Xiaonan, she picked up the teapot and poured tea.
Alas, she had only been away for one day, and trouble had already occurred!
Forget it, no point asking. It would be useless anyway. This incorrigible girl had no sense of proportion! Looking at Shi Gun, it seemed like nothing major had happened.
The Prince’s Estate cart was both steady and fast.
Li Xiaonan got out of the cart and looked around.
Before her stood a cluster of two-story small buildings, with blue stone, blue bricks, and blue fish-scale tiles.
Covered walkways connected the buildings, with many large windows on the first floor. All the windows used translucent paper, with colored translucent paper sheets inlaid in the large areas of white, almost transparent translucent paper, giving Li Xiaonan the feeling of seeing the white and colored glass in European architecture.
The second-floor windows were fewer and narrower, all using white translucent paper sheets.
This cluster of small buildings was surrounded by water on three sides. The side where she stood was paved with blue stone, and a wide blue stone path extended into a camphor tree forest.
Li Xiaonan looked around carefully and exclaimed.
This was a medium-sized library. The scenery was truly beautiful. Having money was truly wonderful!
“Thanks to you, I’m also here for the first time,” Wan Jing stood beside Li Xiaonan, turning and looking around in sync with her.
“Your first time? Is it far from where you live?” Li Xiaonan asked as she walked towards the library.
“It should be quite far,” Wan Jing replied casually.
“How big is your villa, really?” Li Xiaonan sighed.
“I don’t know,” Wan Jing, holding up her skirt, quickened her steps to meet the middle-aged steward who came running out of the library.
“Are you Miss Wan Jing?”
Before Wan Jing could speak, the middle-aged steward greeted her with a smile.
“Yes, I am here on the Young Lord’s orders to bring Miss Li to see the books.” Wan Jing quickly curtsied.
“Uncle Hong personally came to deliver the Young Lord’s instructions. Miss Li, please come in. Miss Wan Jing, please come in.” The middle-aged steward stood by the roadside with his hands clasped, bowing to usher Li Xiaonan and Wan Jing inside.
“The books are all upstairs. This is the catalog of all the books in this library,” the middle-aged steward said as he followed them in, smiling obsequiously. “Miss can go upstairs to choose herself, or she can pick from the catalog and give an instruction for someone to fetch it from upstairs.”
The middle-aged steward pointed to the servant standing by the door with his hands clasped.
“The rules of the library are that books can only be viewed inside. If Miss wishes to copy them to take away, just give him instructions.”
“I understand. Thank you,” Li Xiaonan bowed to the steward.
“No need, no need,” the middle-aged steward bowed repeatedly. “I won’t delay Miss any further. Miss Wan Jing, if you need anything, just give him instructions.”
The middle-aged steward stepped back a few paces and left the library.
Li Xiaonan watched the middle-aged steward leave, then rushed forward, leaning into Wan Jing’s ear and saying excitedly, “I can even copy them to take away! It’s free, right?”
Wan Jing rolled her eyes speechlessly.
Free? How could she even think of that!
“Let’s go! Let’s go up and see!” Li Xiaonan rushed upstairs, not noticing Wan Jing’s eye-roll.
The second floor was very high, with rows of nanmu bookshelves reaching the ceiling, densely packed with books.
Li Xiaonan stood in the middle of the bookshelves, slowly turning to look around, sighing with immense envy.
This was her dream study room, from her past life to this one.
Li Xiaonan scanned each bookshelf one by one, picked up five or six books, and brought them downstairs. She kept one and handed the rest to Wan Jing, “Ask them to help me copy these.”
Watching Wan Jing hand the books to the servant, Li Xiaonan chose a spot by the window overlooking the water, sat down in a comfortable chair, and began reading.
Wan Jing finished making tea and sat beside Li Xiaonan, spacing out.
Next time she was assigned the task of bringing someone to read, she should bring her needlework.
Li Xiaonan was engrossed in her reading when Wan Jing, sitting beside her, suddenly jumped up, poked her head out of the half-open window, and rushed back to pat Li Xiaonan.
“What!” Li Xiaonan was startled.
“Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress are here!” Wan Jing whispered, sounding somewhat flustered.
“Who is Fourth Mistress?” Li Xiaonan put down her book, rushed to the window, and leaned out to look.
“The eldest daughter of our sixth maternal uncle.”
“Educational Commissioner?” Li Xiaonan reacted quickly.
“Shh! Keep your voice down! Don’t shout!” Wan Jing reached out to cover Li Xiaonan’s mouth. “They’re coming this way! Why are they coming this way! Oh dear! What should we do!”
Seeing Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei heading straight for their building, Wan Jing became anxious.
“Let them come. You were ordered by your Young Lord to bring me here, not sneaking in, so what are you afraid of?” Li Xiaonan watched Miss Shi intently.
This Miss Shi was truly beautiful, so beautiful she could almost be a match for that Young Lord.
“Miss Shi is very shrewd. Every sentence she speaks has seventeen or eighteen hidden meanings. We should leave and avoid meeting her!” Wan Jing pushed Li Xiaonan towards the side door.
Yesterday, a little darling mentioned that five chapters were still owed. So after this chapter, there are four chapters owed.
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