bayedsolid Chapter 258 The Little Visitor
Chapter 258 The Little Visitor
Li Xiaonuan suddenly didn't quite understand what the young princess meant. But she wisely didn't ask.
On this day, another visitor arrived.
While Li Xiaonuan was discussing with the little princess what medicinal herbs to add to the soap to achieve skin whitening and softening effects, a little visitor arrived.
"Sister, please help me deal with this. I'm really scared of that Miss Liu. She's completely unreasonable and always causes me trouble," Xiao Gang suddenly rushed into Li Xiaonuan's room and pleaded.
"No, I'm not going. They're here to see you, not me. What would I do there? Besides, it's a good thing that a young girl like her would come to you to exchange skills. You can learn a lot from her." Li Xiaonuan replied without looking up.
"Sixth Miss? Is she the little troublemaker from Qi Ji's family?" the young princess asked curiously.
“Yes, that annoying brat,” Xiao Gang replied, his round face scrunched up.
"That's going to be interesting. How did you offend them?" the young princess asked with great interest.
Xiao Gang didn't want to go out and greet people, so he took the opportunity to sit down and recount the events of that day in detail.
Seeing that the two were about to have a long talk, Li Xiaonuan reluctantly got up, packed up the medicinal herbs in her hands, and went out to greet the guests.
"Li Xiaogang, where are you hiding from me? Let me tell you, even if you hide in a mouse hole, I'll still find you."
As soon as Li Xiaonuan stepped out of the room, she heard a strong, resonant voice coming from outside the courtyard. Of course, it might have sounded better if one could ignore the childishness in the voice.
"Oh dear, my lady, you can't be so rude. This is someone else's home; a young lady should be modest and courteous." Judging from the voice, it must be the wet nurse I met the other day.
"Mind your own business. I'm Li Xiaogang's senior, his martial uncle. What's wrong with me calling him that? My dad calls him 'brat,' and he still responds." The childish voice rose an octave, expressing extreme dissatisfaction.
Li Xiaonuan quickened her pace and walked out, just as she met Miss Liu and her group at the courtyard gate.
"Sixth Miss, what brings you here?" Li Xiaonuan asked politely.
"It's nothing. My second brother asked me to supervise Li Xiaogang for a few days, in case he's lazy and doesn't memorize the medicine recipes." Miss Liu didn't mince words and rattled off a reason.
Li Xiaonuan glanced at the wet nurse behind the sixth young lady and, sure enough, saw the wet nurse's lips twitch suspiciously.
"Sixth Miss, please come in quickly. You didn't even send someone to let us know you were coming, so we could have met you at the gate." Li Xiaonuan didn't think much of it and quickly invited the people into the courtyard.
"I'll stay in your courtyard for the next few days. Sister Xiao Nuan, please give me a room." The Sixth Miss then walked into the courtyard without any hesitation.
The seven people behind her, including her wet nurse, quickly followed.
Only then did Li Xiaonuan realize that, apart from the wet nurse, everyone else was carrying large and small bags.
Left with no other option, Li Xiaonuan had to call the matron in charge of the courtyard and ask her to arrange a room for the little girl.
As for the seven maids and servants, young and old, Li Xiaonuan left it to her mother to handle.
When Li Xiaonuan moved into this courtyard, she didn't move into the main room directly, but instead stayed in the west wing. This way, the main room was conveniently assigned to the Sixth Miss.
The sixth young lady had someone tidy up her room with a rather imposing air, while she herself went to Li Xiaonuan's room with great style.
Just now, Xiao Gang was peeking around at the door of Li Xiao's room, and she spotted him.
As soon as she entered Li Xiaonuan's room, the Sixth Miss saw the Little Princess sitting at the table.
"Sister Qingning, what are you doing here? I knew it! This is your family's courtyard, you certainly wouldn't let outsiders stay here. You're here to keep an eye on these people, aren't you?" The sixth young lady, without a care in the world, went straight to the little princess's side, curtsied, and sat down next to her.
"Yes, I'm so worried about you, you troublemaker, so I came to keep an eye on you. Tell me, why did you suddenly decide to move into my villa?" Qingning covered her mouth and chuckled as she asked.
"Hey, it's all because of my second brother's stupid apprentice. Tell me, how long has he been an apprentice, and he hasn't even memorized a single book yet," the sixth young lady said, shaking her head like a little adult.
Her affected, adult-like demeanor made Li Xiaonuan and the young princess unable to suppress their laughter. The wet nurse, standing behind the sixth young lady, secretly wiped away her sweat.
The sixth young lady is ten years old this year, and she is as beautiful as a porcelain doll. Her pretty, delicate face has perfectly proportioned features. Her almond-shaped eyes are always darting around, and she has a mischievous and clever look about her.
In addition, her mother doted on her, and she was meticulous about everything from clothing to jewelry.
A little girl, as beautiful as a fairy, sitting at the table with a chubby baby face, speaking like an adult in a serious manner—that's not funny at all.
"Sister Xiaonuan, Sister Qingning, what are you laughing at? Isn't that right? I could recite it all when I was four years old. But Li Xiaogang is already eleven years old, how could he not even be able to recite it? He's just stupid." The little girl was upset when she saw everyone laughing at her.
“Yes, yes, Xiaogang is really slow. But he only became an apprentice half a year ago. Before that, he couldn’t even write a few characters. How could he memorize it? Besides, every day, in addition to practicing writing and recognizing books, he also has to pick and grind medicine. Tell me, how could he possibly memorize such a thick book in such a short time?” Li Xiaonuan couldn’t help but explain for Xiaogang.
After hearing this, Miss Liu tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said confidently, "That's because he's stupid. If he had just memorized it, he wouldn't need to do those things that junior apprentices do."
Li Xiaonuan chuckled and continued to explain, "Xiaogang is picking and grinding herbs to learn how to process and identify medicinal materials. It's good to memorize them, but if you don't recognize them, it's all for nothing."
Hearing this, Miss Liu reluctantly nodded and said, "Alright, I'll leave this matter aside for now. But why doesn't Li Xiaogang even have a single copy? That's an essential book for any doctor. He actually wanted to borrow it from me, saying he'd copy it himself. Isn't that stupid? He could have bought one for just two hundred taels of silver."
This time, even Li Xiaonuan was taken aback. Xiao Gang had never mentioned any of this to her.
Li Xiaonuan assumed that all the knowledge Xiaogang would need to learn in the future would be taught by Qi Ji. But she forgot one essential thing for learning—textbooks.
"Besides, everyone gets a copy, right?" Li Xiaonuan had no choice but to ask.
"That's right. Don't you all know? There's also Hua Tuo, and Wu Pu. Do you know who Wu Pu is? He's Hua Tuo's disciple..."
Next, Miss Six launched into a long and eloquent promotion of various medical books.
"Sixth Miss, where can I buy those medical books you mentioned?" Li Xiaonuan asked as soon as the Sixth Miss finally stopped to take a sip of tea.
Who would have thought that this sixth young lady would be such a chatterbox? No wonder Xiao Gang avoids her.
“Only Tsinghua Bookstore in Beijing sells them. But you have to pre-order these books before they will be made for you. There are two kinds of books: printed editions and handwritten copies. You can choose the font and have someone handwrite them. However, that will be slower,” Miss Liu explained patiently.
At this moment, Xiao Gang, who had been hiding in the inner room, came out. With a stern face, he said to Li Xiaonuan, "Sister, don't buy those books. I can just copy them myself. I can remember them longer if I copy them once."
"Hmph, with your hand speed and those chicken-cut-like handwriting, you might not even finish copying one book when you're old." Miss Liu got angry as soon as she saw Xiao Gang.
Li Xiaonuan rubbed her forehead in exasperation and said, "Thank you so much, Miss Six, for telling me the truth. Xiaogang, I've bought all the books for you. You can copy them whenever you want. In the future, your handwritten copies can be passed down to the next generation, and you can keep the books I bought for your own collection. Is that alright?"
Xiao Gang twisted his fingers in grievance and replied helplessly, "Okay, I'll listen to my sister."