Chapter 241: Phenomenon
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
‘Whoosh—”
Outside, the snowstorm was getting heavier. A strong wind blew, and white snow fell. Snowflakes covered the sky and fell, as dense as fog. Everything was hazy as far as the eye could see.
The sky darkened, as if night had arrived early.
Madam Gu fell ill again.
Gu Yanfei didn’t know how sick she was. In any case, several doctors had come. Even the matter of entering the palace to congratulate her on the first day of the Lunar New Year had been taken away.
Because Madam Gu was seriously ill, the Marquis Mansion’s New Year was a little cold. There were no fireworks, no laughter, and no festive atmosphere.
Gu Yuan was on duty and had been in the palace since New Year’s Eve. He had been missing for a few days.
Hence, Gu Yanfei stayed leisurely in Yuheng Garden every day.
It was only on the eighth day of the new year that Wei Jiaoniang suddenly visited.
Her arrival brought vitality to the quiet courtyard.
‘Yanfei, I brought you the date pastry from Jinshi Store. It’s freshly baked and still hot!”
Before Wei Jiaoniang’s arrived, her laughter had already arrived, and she was still as energetic as ever.
She gestured for the maidservant to bring up the box of date pastries. She was in no hurry to sit down and looked around at the furnishings with interest.
The small study wasn’t big. Against the west wall was a row of multi-treasure pavilions and bookshelves. The tall bookshelves almost reached the roof, and all kinds of books were filled up.
To the north was a six-panel rosewood-carved porcelain screen. Behind it was a beauty couch and a rattan cat bed. On the wall hung a bow and a sword. To the east were two bright windows. There was a huge desk, a chessboard, and a few round chairs. In addition to brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone, there was also a large blue and white porcelain vase the size of a washbasin. There were three or four goldfish, decorated with a few strands of water grass and five or six pebbles.
Wei Jiaoniang chose a round chair that leaned against the fish tank and sat down. The few red and white-striped goldfish in the fish tank immediately swayed their tails and swam towards her, stirring up layers of water.
‘Yanfei, your place is really good!” Wei Jiaoniang said with a smile.
Obviously, the layout of this small study was very different from that of an ordinary young lady’s bedroom. There was no zither, lute, incense, beaded curtains, coral jade bonsai, Guanyin jade statue, or Three Pure Paintings. The books and paperweights on the desk were placed casually. It could be seen that the owner was carefree, making people feel extremely at ease.
Juan Bi opened the box of snacks that Wei Jiaoniang had just sent over and plated it again. At the same time, Gu Yanfei took out a box of fish food from the drawer.
Wei Jiaoniang took out some fish food from the box and fed it to the fish excitedly. The fish chased after the fish food and swarmed over.
Wei Jiaoniang was overjoyed and laughed happily. “Yanfei, your fish really has good taste. All of them like me, unlike my fish and the dog who runs away when they see me!”
‘Of course!” Gu Yanfei agreed shamelessly. The two of them looked at each other and smiled.
The girl’s tinkling laughter echoed through the house.
Juan Bi, who was at the side, naturally heard this conversation. The corners of her eyes twitched.
Juan Bi knew best that Qing Guang liked to drink “fish soup” and always came to the fish tank to drink water. It didn’t eat live fish, but the gold fishes were afraid of it, so they liked to hide in the direction of humans.
Goldfish didn’t like people as much as they hated cats.
Wei Jiaoniang couldn’t sit still. After feeding the fish for a while, she ran to the bookshelf to see what books Gu Yanfei had here.
What she saw stunned her.
‘Yanfei, why do you have so many military arts books here? ‘Six Secret
Teachings’, ‘Classic of the Bright White Yin’, ‘The Internalization of the Tiger Talismans’, ‘Strategies of the Warring States’ ... ‘t Wei Jiaoniang recited a series of military titles, and her eyes lit up.
Even their Wei Manor didn’t have so many military books. Some of them had already been lost.
‘My Big Brother gave them to me,” Gu Yanfei said with a smile.
When she first returned to the Marquis Mansion in the capital, Gu Yuan wished he could move all his things over for her to use. These books were also one of them.
The books here were very varied. There were military books, The Four Books and The Five Classics, calculation scriptures, horse scriptures, astronomical books, and so on.
Gu Yuan said that most of these books were left behind by their father.
Gu Yanfei also flipped through some books and saw annotations left behind by her father, Gu Ce. Some of the handwriting was frivolous, some was strong, and some was calm and open... Clearly, there were some years between them..