The morning after saw Chu Lian rising much earlier than usual, as she had gone to bed early last night.
She had already decided what to make for breakfast the night before. It was going to be refreshing vegetarian wraps, paired with a light and salty vegetable porridge.
After breakfast, Chu Lian noticed it was still early and went back to her little study to practise her calligraphy.
She had some talent in calligraphy already, and she had experience in writing simplified Chinese words with pens. Now all she had to do was learn to use a brush and write in traditional Chinese words instead. She wasn’t used to it at first, but after practising for a few days, she had no problems writing most of the commonly used words. However, it was impossible for her to write exactly like ‘Chu Lian’ had.
Firstly, she wasn’t good at copying. Secondly,there weren’t many examples from the former host of this body that she could reference. Besides, she was herself and she wasn’t going to try to imitate the original ‘Chu Lian’. They were two completely different people in the first place!
Although using a brush and writing in traditional Chinese words were easy enough, she still had a long way to go before her calligraphy could be anywhere close to passable.
Chu Lian was more used to using pens instead of brushes. She got Xiyan to find some goose feathers and made her own feather pens. When she wanted to practise writing fancier characters, or writing for longer amounts of time, she would switch to the feather pens.
After filling up two sheets of paper with her calligraphy practice, Chu Lian made her way over to Qingxi Hall to give her daily greetings to the matriarch. Afterwards, she intended to stop by her mother-in-law’s courtyard for a visit.
Who could have known that Chu Lian would receive something she hadn’t expected at all- a letter from He Changdi all the way from the northern border!
Matriarch He had a wide smile on her face as she passed the letter over. She was acting just like she was watching her cute pair of grandchildren being lovey-dovey right in front of her.
The corner of Chu Lian’s mouth twitched. She kept her expression neutral as she took the letter, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. The matriarch mistook this as Chu Lian simply being shy, so she dismissed her with a wave of a hand to let her read the letter in private. Matriarch He even reminded her to write a reply after she was finished reading. The man who had brought them the letters was still waiting to send everyone’s replies back together to the northern border!
Seeing Matriarch He’s pleased expression, Chu Lian felt like she was out of her depth. When she recalled what Senior Servant Liu had told her last night while escorting her back to Songtao Court, Chu Lian’s mood took a turn for the worse.
Senior Servant Liu’s words played again in her mind. “Third Young Madam, please don’t blame this old servant for speaking up about this. The countess hasn’t been in the best of health since the birth of Third Young Master, so this old servant was the one who took care of him from childhood. This old servant feels warm just watching the two of you interact so well. But now, Third Young Master must be suffering over at the northern border, and our Master can’t help him either. He’s all alone over there without a companion he can share his troubles with. Although it’s been so hot as of late over here in the capital, it’s actually terribly cold over there, especially at night. I’ve heard that it’s impossible to survive without a jacket on. Third Young Master left in such a hurry, this old servant doesn’t know if he brought enough supplies…”
After Senior Servant Liu had dragged on and on in this vein, Chu Lian instantly understood. She only had one purpose; that was to make Chu Lian, as Sanlang’s wife, send more care for the He Family’s lonely, suffering Third Young Master.
If she could be a caring and considerate wife and prepare some changes of clothing and such for her dear husband, it would be great.
As much as Chu Lian wanted to roll her eyes, she couldn’t say anything to Senior Servant Liu. She could tell that Senior Servant Liu genuinely cared for He Changdi. She treated him like her very own son.
There was nothing wrong with those kinds of feelings.
Chu Lian agreed to it. Despite how terribly He Changdi acted in front of her, she was still his legitimate wife. There were expectations she had to fulfill according to that role. As for that crazy husband of hers, pfft. As long as he wasn’t around to disturb her, there was nothing to worry about.
Chu Lian’s thoughts were plain and simple.
When she returned to her study, Chu Lian sat alone at her desk. She measured the thickness of the envelope with her fingers; it seemed pretty thick. There must be quite a few pieces of paper in there!
