The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 38: Hairpinning

Chapter 38: Hairpinning

From the winter solstice at the end of last year to this year’s Lantern Festival, these one and a half months were the most relaxed time for the common people, and also the liveliest days in the streets and markets. Because the folks who had been busy for a whole year could only take it a bit easier in winter.

They happily celebrated the winter solstice, Laba, Spring Festival, and Lantern Festival, and after spring arrived on the earth, the common people had to start the new year’s work one after another.

But in the small alleys of the county town, it was still full of festive cheer. The colorful ribbons hanging on the archways had not been taken down, every household had put up new peach wood charms, and there was an atmosphere of joy and harmony everywhere.

The Song household, which had always been quiet even during the New Year in the past, looked completely different this year. The house had been cleaned up spotless and tidy, and not only was it spacious, but people coming to pay New Year visits kept arriving one after another, adding much more vitality.

First, Song Bing and Aunt Fierce were worried that Song Yuyan, a young fellow, would not know how to arrange the house with two little radish heads, so they planned to take them back to Jinchuan Village for the holiday. But after Song Yuyan politely refused, they simply came to the door themselves to help the three siblings with the preparations.

Next was Lin Yongming. Over the past half year of cooperating with Song Yuyan, he had earned quite a bit, especially since later someone came personally to the Song house to poach people, and Song Yuyan’s attitude in refusing made him very happy, so he gave Song Yuyan a bit more money than before. In addition, during festivals, he would always bring some holiday gifts when he came to visit.

Then there was Meng Shuituan. Although the Meng family did not dare to sell wine so openly as before and had suffered some losses, later the Meng family parents saw with their own eyes a small wine seller in the neighboring township who did not believe the warnings, went out to sell wine, got reported by a neighbor, and after the liquor authorities fined that small wine seller until he lost everything and his home was ruined, they completely gave up the idea of privately brewing wine to sell. At the same time, the Meng family parents felt some gratitude toward Song Yuyan, so they no longer stopped Meng Shuituan from associating with her.

And although Bai Can had only cooperated with Song Yuyan once to make and sell candles, later there was no chance to make so many candles together again because of the lack of white wax raw materials, he did not reduce his visits to Song Yuyan because of this. On the contrary, whenever he had the chance, he would go to the Song house to discuss with Song Yuyan the “sustainable development plan for the white wax insect breeding industry.”

Besides them, there were also those scholars who came and went. Although Song Yuyan did not associate closely with these scholars, the friendship among scholars was not measured by the number of visits. Occasionally, a scholar would invite Song Yuyan to go out for a spring outing, and in the eyes of the neighbors, Song Yuyan thus became half a scholar.

Of course, the last to come for New Year visits naturally included the Tang family, with whom she had the closest relationship over the past half year.

Tang Ye was learning bamboo carving from Song Yuyan, so Song Yuyan naturally had to require her to start with studying calligraphy and painting first. Only after laying a solid foundation in the basics could she pick up the carving knife. So over this half year, she had been reading books, recognizing characters, and practicing writing just like the two little radish heads.

Clerk Tang, who spent more time reading than anyone in the Tang or Song families, had originally worried that Song Yuyan’s handwriting was not good and would teach his little sister incorrectly. But he was afraid that saying it directly would hurt Song Yuyan’s face. So he waved his own writing in front of his little sister and said he could teach her to recognize characters, so there was no need to trouble the very busy Song Yuyan.

Tang Ye could not see through her older brother’s intentions, so she refused straightforwardly.

Clerk Tang felt hurt by his little sister’s “ingratitude,” until he picked up the copybook that Song Yuyan had given to Tang Ye for tracing. He fell silent, then sank into deep confusion… Why did Song Dalang’s handwriting look better than his own?

He had studied for many years and always paid great attention to practicing calligraphy. It was precisely because his writing was neat and proper that he had been spotted by the county magistrate and recruited to be a clerk. And Song Yuyan’s handwriting, although it was not as bold and grand as a man’s, was elegant and proper, with a touch of unyielding resilience shining through its delicate grace.

Truly good handwriting had both structure and form. Most people could only achieve “form,” while those with true structure were rare. At least Clerk Tang thought he could not achieve it yet.

But he also did not notice anything wrong, after all, the original owner had not written in front of people for those years, so even when Song Yuyan boldly wrote some characters that the original owner could not have written at all, no one would suspect it, because everyone only knew that the original owner had studied before, but no one knew her real level.

When Tang Zhi saw that copybook, she also leaned over and looked at it for a long time, but she did not say anything.

At night, when she saw her little sister hiding in bed and rubbing her wrist, she asked, “Is it hard work?”

Tang Ye said, “Writing characters is so tiring.”

What she did not say was that Song Yuyan seemed quite amiable on ordinary days, but she was very strict in this regard. When Song Yuyan was tired, she would grit her teeth and not speak, but the little radish head Song Yuzhuan could not hold on; she would cry with a miserable face and several times wanted to slack off.

And she herself sometimes almost could not persist, but every time she thought about needing to set an example for the little radish head, she would grit her teeth and hold on.

Song Yuyan had told her that the real hardship was still to come. Because calligraphy and painting followed the same principles, if she did not need to carve characters in learning bamboo carving, she could neglect calligraphy, but painting had to be mastered solidly, so sometimes for one painting, she had to trace it more than a dozen times, even dozens of times. That was when it truly tested patience and carefulness.

“Then do you still want to learn?” Tang Zhi asked again.

Tang Ye hesitated a bit and said, “I do.”

“Then grit your teeth and persist.” Tang Zhi did not want to indulge or pamper her little sister. If she advised her little sister to rest just because her little sister said it was tiring, then she would be irresponsible.

Tang Ye also had no intention of giving up. She wriggled to her older sister’s side and hugged her older sister, then chatted about Song Yuyan. “Big Sister, when Song Dalang teaches, it’s like he has changed into a different person… No, it should be said that compared to before, he is like a completely different person. Don’t you think so?”

Tang Zhi’s heart skipped a beat in fright. She had thought that if she thought about it for long, someone would eventually notice, but she had not expected that the first to detect the anomaly would be her own little sister so soon.

“Then what does Little Ye think, is Song Dalang like this good or not?”

Tang Ye was a bit sleepy, but upon hearing her older sister’s words, she still answered honestly. “I was not familiar with Song Dalang before and did not really understand what he was truly like. But Big Sister must understand for sure. However Big Sister thinks he is, that is how he is, and it is definitely not wrong.”

Tang Zhi smiled and did not speak.

When Tang Ye’s eyelids grew heavy from the sleepiness, she suddenly remembered something she wanted to say, but she really could not open her eyes, so she said in a hazy way, “But the Song Dalang from before was more annoying and did not match with Big Sister. Now the Song Dalang…”

She slept right next to Tang Zhi’s side, so even though she spoke hazily, Tang Zhi heard it clearly. Tang Zhi was stunned and did not understand why her little sister would suddenly bring up the topic of whether they matched or not. Yet her heartbeat in her chest grew faster and faster under the dim lamplight.

Tang Zhi turned her head to look at her little sister, originally wanting to ask what the current Song Dalang was like, but seeing that her little sister had already fallen asleep, she did not wake her little sister again.

She was already considered to have reached hairpinning age this year, but ordinary common families would not hold any grand ceremony for a girl’s hairpinning. At most, they would buy some red eggs to eat, and that would count as having held the ritual.

Last autumn, when her older brother mentioned the matter of her dowry, she still felt that she was too young and there was no need to talk about marriage so early. But once she reached hairpinning age, in the eyes of the left and right neighbors, she would be seen as a grown young lady. Even if she did not mention it, there would always be aunts and gossips coming to the door to propose marriage.

She had not thought about getting married, probably because she could not feel at ease leaving this family behind—her older brother was too kind, and the pay for being a clerk in the county yamen was not high. Her little sister was too young, and one person could not take care of the vegetable garden. If she married away, her siblings’ days would be very hard.

Fortunately, her older brother had not mentioned anything about her lifelong matters recently, though the number of times he went to the Song house had increased compared to before.

Thinking of this, a vein at her temple throbbed again. “Could it be that Older Brother has noticed something?”

She recalled Song Yuyan’s changes over the past half year. First, her complexion had become more and more normal, her features more and more inclined toward the softness that a girl should have. Her eyes were bright and spirited, not to mention that her teeth had become whiter. Before, she looked like a skinny monkey from a poor family, but now she had some of the gentle demeanor of a young lady from a wealthy household…

In addition, Song Yuyan’s height had shot up fiercely. A year ago, whoever saw her would think she was only thirteen or fourteen, but now, even if someone said she was seventeen, people would believe it.

Moreover, this person’s chest had gradually become more prominent, but she had no intention of covering it up. Every time she saw this person interacting with others, she had to worry that others would see through her identity.

But she did not know what was going on with everyone, as if their eyes were blind. Clearly Song Yuyan’s neck was very slender and fair, but in those people’s eyes, she became the image of a frail scholar, saying things like “Little Brother Song, you must pay more attention to your health and not overwork yourself.” It made her start to doubt her life. Could it be that the one who was blind was her?

Her older brother had lately always loved going to the Song house, so she could not help but think that her older brother, like herself, had recognized Song Yuyan’s identity. And this year her older brother was also nineteen, which was truly the time when he should start discussing lifelong matters…

____

Miss Tang was troubled by these trivial matters and had not slept well for several nights. Clerk Tang saw that she had no energy during the day and sighed inwardly—his little sister had finally become like him from back then.

Back then, he too had been stirred up by the charming dreams, his mind full of ripples, but the next day when he got up, he was like he had been drained of essence by a demon, listless all day long.

But based on his observations of Song Yuyan over the past half year, he believed that this person had truly reformed and would not repeat old mistakes. Plus, after she became diligent, the money she earned each month just from grass weaving and bamboo weaving was a bit more than an ordinary household.

Although there was still some gap compared to the Tang family’s income, as long as Song Yuyan could continue to be so diligent and down-to-earth, her days would surely get better day by day.

Furthermore, Song Yuyan had no devious tricks, and on ordinary days, she was not seen flirting with any little girls, nor did she frequent the pleasure quarters. She could be said to be very self-respecting.

What satisfied him even more was that he had accidentally learned that ever since his little sister disliked the other drinking, the other had really rarely touched alcohol. She listened to his little sister so well that he was not worried his little sister would be wronged after marriage. It was also for this reason that although he would call Song Yuyan to drink on ordinary days, in the end, the one drinking was him, while Song Yuyan only drank tea.

Based on the above observations, Clerk Tang became more and more annoyed. He was annoyed that he should not have observed Song Yuyan back then, resulting in not finding any reasons to oppose these two people in the end. On the contrary, the more he looked, the more satisfied he became, to the point where he felt he would be very regretful if this person did not become his brother-in-law.

Since things had come to this point, it would be pointless for him to interfere anymore. It was better to wait until one day he warned Song Yuyan a bit, to make her take the initiative to ask a matchmaker to propose marriage, so that his little sister did not have to take the initiative. That would be more proper, wouldn’t it?!

So in mid-February, when Song Yuyan was preparing to think up some new ideas for bamboo weaving and innovate on the old, she was criticized by Clerk Tang, who had appointed himself as the big brother-in-law. “During the Lantern Festival, you were busy making flower lanterns to earn money, and I won’t say anything about that. But for the Flower Morning Festival on the fifteenth of the second month, you have to do something, right?”

Song Yuyan: “???”

During the Lantern Festival, she had made quite a few pretty flower lanterns to sell at the lantern market. Because the workmanship was fine, the shapes were mostly animals and flowers, and the outer paper was colorful, they were very popular with children and young girls. In just one day, she had earned quite a bit.

But she could not understand what Clerk Tang meant by this. What did “do something” refer to? Was this hoping she would do some business during the Flower Morning Festival, or not do business?

Clerk Tang saw her looking stunned and felt his head ache greatly. This person was good in every way, just a bit slow on the uptake.

So he reminded her, “A Zhi is busy from spring to winter every year without stopping to rest, and on ordinary days, she rarely has the chance to go out and stroll idly.”

“She had heard before that Shaoxing’s Kaiyuan Temple has a lantern market on the fourteenth of the first month. Not only the cities near Shaoxing, but even overseas merchants join in, and it is very lively, so she has wanted to go see it for a long time. But Shaoxing is some distance from our Cixi… The far one cannot be gone to, but the near one should be possible, right?”

“The Flower Morning Festival is also good. With a hundred flowers blooming together, it is no worse than the lantern market at Shaoxing’s Kaiyuan Temple…”

Song Yuyan listened as Clerk Tang chattered on, and finally understood—he felt that Tang Zhi had been busy for the Tang family all these years, with no friends her age, and no chance to go out and play, so he hoped she would take Tang Zhi out to visit the flower market.

For the people of this era who were accustomed to expressing things so indirectly, Song Yuyan had gradually gotten used to it. She said, “All right. It happens that I also plan to stop and rest for a day or two. I will invite Miss Tang to go to the flower market together and have a look.”

Clerk Tang felt that her reply was a bit different from what he had imagined, but he thought he had hinted obviously enough. Otherwise, which family’s elders would allow two young people, one man and one woman, to go out alone together? He had subconsciously ignored the fact that Song Yuyan and Tang Zhi had gone out together many times before.