The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 40: For You

Chapter 40: For You

Song Yuyan reflected on the places where she had not done well and remembered that when she invited Tang Zhi to stroll through the flower market, she had not made it clear to her that she had arranged sketching activities. This was her oversight, so she sincerely apologized, “I did not discuss the itinerary with Miss Tang in advance; it was my thoughtlessness. How about I buy some gifts for the young lady to make amends? What does the young lady like?”

Tang Zhi came back to her senses, slightly surprised. She had not gotten angry over these matters. On the contrary, seeing her little sister and the two little radish heads full of high spirits, she could not help but look forward to it too, so Song Yuyan’s apology was beyond her expectations.

However, thinking of why Song Yuyan had such a reaction, it seemed it was because of her own preoccupied appearance today that made this person misunderstand.

From her understanding of Song Yuyan, rather than chattering on with so many explanations, it was better to directly state her own attitude to make things more comfortable.

With this in mind, she gave Song Yuyan a sideways glance. “What do you want to buy randomly? Do you have a lot of money?”

Song Yuyan saw her iron-mouthed and ruthless appearance and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled and said, “Not much, so Miss Tang must take care of my money pouch a bit.”

“Not much and yet you think of wasting money; what a spendthrift!”

“Buying gifts for Miss Tang, how can that count as wasting money?”

Tang Zhi: “…”

She raised her eyes to look at this person and thought that fortunately she was not a man; otherwise, this mouth would coax how many ignorant young girls into blooming with joy in their hearts.

However, even though she was a girl, she would unconsciously say words that made people’s hearts race, and yet she herself did not think those words were that ambiguous. It really made people itch with hate.

“You are like this to everyone.” Miss Tang muttered.

“What?” Song Yuyan did not hear clearly.

“I said you need to save a bit!” Tang Zhi explained to her. “Look, you only earn about one thousand six or seven hundred cash a month. On normal days, you have to eat and drink, and you have to buy brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones for Ye’er and the others, and you still plan to rebuild the house on the west side. Which of these is not a big expense? And I am not greedy for your gifts; just spend less on this unnecessary money!”

It was also fortunate that the three Song siblings had not yet come of age and did not count as “ding” under the household registration system, so the two taxes had nothing to do with them; otherwise, the Song family would have to pay a tax as well.

“And you also need to save for your dow— ” Tang Zhi almost let it slip but quickly changed her words. “Save for your household goods, right?”

Since Tang Zhi had said it this way, Song Yuyan felt that if she insisted on spending money, it would really be spendthrift behavior.

Actually, her money was all planned out for how to use it, so the portion for giving gifts to Tang Zhi was classified under “social obligations,” belonging to surplus funds. Even if used, it would not affect her quality of life. However, considering that the little girl did not know her family situation and had always been thinking for her, there was no need to explain it so clearly to the little girl.

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Because Song Yuyan and Tang Zhi had only looked and not bought anything, the so-called “strolling through the flower market” was just walking from the bustling street head to the street tail. However, although they did not buy things, they all felt the lively atmosphere.

Also influenced by this atmosphere, Tang Zhi had long forgotten her own words that “she preferred cauliflower” and pulled Song Yuyan to compare which flowers were more beautiful. However, she did not want to spend money to buy flowers, so after appreciating the flowers and trees vying for beauty on the flower market, she went with Song Yuyan and the others to Great Treasure Mountain two li outside the city.

There was an extremely clear spring on Great Treasure Mountain, named “Great Treasure Spring.” Plus, this mountain was known in Xuanxue sects as one of the feng shui treasure lands of Cixi, called “White Tiger Mountain,” so on a day like the Flower Morning Festival, it attracted quite a few literati to come for outings.

However, Song Yuyan and the others came not for that mountain spring, nor to borrow some luck from the feng shui treasure land, but for sketching.

It was just that the only pavilion at the foot of the mountain was always full of people, and they had no place to settle down at all. They had to go play at the mountain spring first and then come back. Finally, after waiting for the literati gathered in the pavilion reciting poems to leave, they quickly sat down, rested for a moment. Now there was no one else in the pavilion, so Song Yuyan spread out the paper again and began grinding ink and practicing writing.

The ones practicing writing were only Ye’er and Bing’er, these two little radish heads. From today on, Tang Ye was to start learning painting from Song Yuyan. However, Song Yuyan required her to first learn to observe external objects before picking up the brush.

Tang Ye asked doubtfully, “There are so many external objects; what to observe?”

“Still objects are always easier to engrave in the mind than dynamic ones. No matter what you learn, you have to go from shallow to deep, so first observe simple things. To put it close, like the pavilion in front of you, like this flower, like this tree, or like this stone…”

Tang Zhi sat on the side listening to Song Yuyan give the lesson, and suddenly in her mind, she remembered what her little sister had mentioned: when Song Yuyan taught lessons, it was like she had changed into another person. Whether to Tang Ye learning bamboo carving or to the two little radish heads of the Song family, the requirements were equally strict.

She looked at this person’s demeanor and actions; it was not fierce, nor as stern as an old scholar, and she would not scold the students, but she just did not give them the chance to slack off. For example, Bing’er had just picked up the brush not long ago and shouted to ask her, “Big Brother, can I eat steamed cakes?”

Being hungry and wanting to eat was fake; wanting to slack off was real.

Song Yuyan saw through it and said, “Before going out, you just ate two steamed cakes, and now it is not yet evening; you have to finish writing the characters first before you can eat.”

The little radish head pouted her mouth and bent over the desk to write characters.

This commotion from the little radish head made Tang Ye slightly distracted, so Song Yuyan asked her, “Have you finished observing this flower?”

Tang Ye nodded with a stiff scalp, and Song Yuyan then hid the flower in her sleeve, her tone calm. “Then tell me, how many petals does this flower have? What color is it? Does it have stamens? What is the shape of the leaves?”

After this series of questions, Tang Ye no longer dared to say that she had observed it meticulously.

Over there, Ye’er also began to space out. Song Yuyan knew what he was thinking and said, “I know you cannot settle down to practice writing; right now, you are definitely pondering going back to weave baskets. Let me tell you, however long you delay here, you will make up that much time when you go back.”

Ye’er calculated in his heart that the time for weaving baskets would all be used for practicing writing, so how tired would he be! Therefore, he quickly focused his mind and only concentrated on practicing writing.

Now that the three children had all settled down, Song Yuyan leisurely sat down next to Tang Zhi. Miss Tang, who had not interfered with Song Yuyan’s teaching, now had the thought to test her and said, “If I did not know you were Song Yuyan, I would think you were a schoolteacher.”

Song Yuyan did not take the bait but smiled and said, “Then I will take it as the young lady praising me.”

The test did not succeed, so Miss Tang pouted her mouth a bit, and with that aggrieved expression, in Song Yuyan’s eyes, it looked like a child unhappy because she could not get the toy she liked.

Song Yuyan smiled faintly, stood up, took out her own paper and brush, then picked up the brush and drew a painting. Tang Zhi leaned over to look and found that the scene was somewhat familiar—the mountains shrouded in clouds and mist, the clear and cold spring, the pavilion standing at the foot of the mountain, and the people resting in the pavilion.

She thought carefully; was this not them? Song Yuyan had drawn all of them in!

However—

“Why did you not draw yourself in?” Tang Zhi counted the number of people and felt it was not right.

Song Yuyan said, “I cannot draw myself.”

Tang Zhi felt a bit regretful.

And Bing’er came over at this moment and said, “When I learn to draw, I will draw Big Brother in.”

Song Yuyan’s smile was especially sincere. “You want to learn drawing? Good then; I will put this painting at home first. When you grow up, draw Big Brother in.”

The innocent little radish head had not yet realized what kind of changes this sentence would bring to her life… Anyway, Tang Ye, who had already experienced how difficult the path of learning literature and art was, silently lit a candle for her in her heart.

When the sun was setting in the west, the pedestrians on the road were all hurrying home one after another. Only then did Song Yuyan and Tang Zhi and the others clean up the pavilion and set off on the road home.

When they returned to the alley entrance, Ye’er and Bing’er could not help but quicken their paces to run home. One wanted to hurry home to weave bamboo baskets, the other was purely tired and wanted to go home to rest. Tang Zhi gently patted her little sister’s shoulder and said, “Little Ye, go watch them a bit.”

Tang Ye nodded and also quickly followed the two little radish heads. Song Yuyan smiled and said, “We are almost at the doorstep; they will not get lost. No need to have Little Ye specially go watch them.”

Tang Zhi rolled her eyes; say this person was smart, but sometimes she was quite lacking in common sense. Say she was dull, but most of the time her mind was clever! She did not know if she really did not know that she had deliberately sent Tang Ye away or was pretending not to know.

She had gone out to play for a day and returned, and some things she had also figured out. Regarding the matters between Song Yuyan and her big brother, rather than one person blindly pondering there, it was better for her to directly ask this person. But it depended on whether this person would cooperate.

“Your older brother has been coming to your place often lately; what is it for?”

Song Yuyan was secretly startled; she did not expect that this little girl did not believe her previous excuse at all and seemed not easy to fool.

“The young lady cares a lot?” she asked in return.

Tang Zhi said, “After all, he is my older brother. If he has something, whether good or bad, I cannot pretend to be completely unconcerned.”

Song Yuyan expressed understanding. After all, they were siblings who had depended on each other for many years and cared deeply for each other. It was just that Clerk Tang was a闷骚 type, often reporting only the good and not the worries. If not for borrowing the chance of drinking to pour out his bitterness, no one would know how many things he had bottled up in his heart.偏偏 Tang Zhi, this little girl, was also quite mature early and felt that she had grown up and should worry about family matters.

Tang Zhi saw her not speaking, and her heart went up and down, afraid that Song Yuyan would suddenly reveal her background and then say she wanted to be her sister-in-law.

Song Yuyan said, “Then after you hear it, do not get angry.”

Tang Zhi’s heart beat like a drum.

“Actually, Clerk Tang did it all for you.”

Tang Zhi’s heartbeat skipped a beat, and then her mind gradually could not turn around. “Huh?”

Song Yuyan said leisurely, “Clerk Tang is really a good older brother. He feels sorry for you having to help manage family affairs at such a young age and feels very guilty that he cannot help much, to the point that it makes you worry about livelihood all day and have no time to make more friends…”

With each sentence Tang Zhi heard, her face darkened a bit.

Song Yuyan saw her complexion and did not dare to continue saying more. She only sighed in her heart. Sure enough, although she had said it very tactfully, unfortunately, it still hurt the sensitive and fragile self-esteem of a fifteen-year-old little girl.

Who would have thought that Miss Tang would breathe a sigh of relief as if a burden had been lifted, then give her a sideways glance. “Just for these matters?”

“…Or what?” Song Yuyan had already forgotten what her own thoughts were like at fifteen, so she was also a bit unable to figure out Miss Tang’s mind.

Tang Zhi’s mood was complex. “Sure enough, Big Brother is also unexpectedly blind.”

She had even thought that her older brother running to the Song family so diligently was because he had discovered Song Yuyan’s identity. Unexpectedly, she had overestimated her older brother’s insight!

Song Yuyan thought she was refuting Clerk Tang saying she had no friends, so she advised her, “Actually, Clerk Tang is always out early and back late and has not seen with his own eyes you interacting with young ladies from other families, so having this mistaken perception is normal.”

Tang Zhi unconsciously curled up the corners of her lips and said, “I know; I will not get angry with Big Brother over this!”

After figuring out this matter, she felt her heart a bit more relaxed. As for whether her interactions with Song Yuyan, who was always recognized as a young man by everyone, would cause people to think randomly, she did not think about it, because even thinking could not figure out a reason, so why seek trouble for herself.

When the two people were about to reach their own door, suddenly from ahead came Ye’er’s angry shout, “Let go of me!”