"…After taking inventory of the storerooms, Lady Yu went to see the matron borrowed from the Jiedushi and inquired about the merchants who exclusively supply the Jiedushi Residence. She met with several merchants in one afternoon and spent five hundred taels of silver in one go to place orders."
Speaking of the money Mi Yao had spent today, Pu Qing still couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. It was only the first day after the wedding, and she was already spending so lavishly. If this continued, how could his master afford to keep her?
"Is that all?"
Xiao Chu had already finished handling official business and was standing by his desk practicing calligraphy, brush suspended mid-air.
Hearing Pu Qing's words, his expression remained completely unperturbed, clearly not giving the five hundred taels a second thought.
Sensing that his master didn't share his view that Mi Yao was overstepping, Pu Qing added fuel to the fire: "While taking inventory of the storerooms, Lady Yu had servants move anything valuable to her quarters as soon as she saw it. She even rewarded her own servants generously. Just now, she went to the accounts office and requested a hundred strings of cash, saying she needed it to reward the household staff when she meets them tomorrow."
Such extravagance already warranted punishment.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one outraged in the room. When he finished speaking and heard no response from his master, he knew these matters still didn't concern him.
In that case, he'd have to join the commotion tomorrow when Yu Shi distributed rewards.
This would let Lady Yu know that everything she did was being watched by his eyes on behalf of the master.
By the time Xiao Chu returned to the main courtyard, Mi Yao had already moved into the side room. His sleeping quarters had been restored to their original state, with no trace of the offensive red decorations, and even that heavy sweet fragrance had completely dissipated.
However, as he stood in the courtyard, hearing the sounds of musical instruments coming from Mi Yao's room nearby, he frowned slightly.
He had forgotten that Mi Yao was a living person who would create noise. He should have had her stay in the neighboring courtyard instead of sharing this one with her.
Meanwhile, in Mi Yao's room…
After her bath, Mi Yao lay wearily on the red sandalwood mother-of-pearl inlaid daybed, too lazy to even read her casual books. Her gaze drifted over the items she had brought from the storerooms: the glass storm lantern, the gilded ruby-inlaid incense burner, the Tang tri-colored phoenix-head vase…
Her hand occasionally reached out to pinch Xiao Shan's cheek.
Xiao Shan wasn't wearing her hat indoors, her dandelion-like hair loose as she intently played with the small jade flute she had just acquired. Each time she managed to produce even the faintest sound by pressing her lips to the holes, she would excitedly nuzzle against Mi Yao to show she could make noise.
"Our young lady Xiao might become a master instrumentalist someday," Mi Yao praised encouragingly.
Hearing this, Xiao Shan became even more enthusiastic, puffing her cheeks as she happily blew into the flute. Inspired by the moment, Mi Yao decided to teach Xiao Shan how to speak.
Being close to Xiao Shan, information about the girl naturally came to her without needing to ask.
The matter of Xiao Shan's muteness wasn't something Xiao Chu had ignored. When Xiao Shan was two, he had hired physicians for her—more than one.
Every physician reached the same conclusion: there was nothing wrong with Xiao Shan's vocal cords. Her inability to speak was either due to delayed language development or some undetectable mental deficiency given her young age.
The frequent visits by physicians to Xiao Manor sparked some gossip outside, most claiming that Xiao Chu's killing intent was too heavy, that he had killed too many people, so heaven had taken away his youngest daughter's ability to speak.
Whether angered by these rumors or not, Xiao Chu subsequently neither hired monks to dispel the negative energy nor continued seeking medical treatment for Xiao Shan.
Mi Yao was certain there was nothing wrong with the little turnip's mind, which naturally meant she was just a late talker.
"Flute—" Mi Yao pointed at the small jade flute in the little turnip's hand, slowly enunciating the two syllables.
Xiao Shan stared wide-eyed at Mi Yao's movements. Seeing her say "flute," Xiao Shan nodded and raised the jade flute in her hand to show she understood it was a flute.
When Mi Yao slowly uttered the two syllables again, Xiao Shan realized Mi Yao wanted her to learn. Obediently, she opened her mouth and mimicked Mi Yao's mouth shape, though without making any sound.
Mi Yao wasn't impatient. She casually pointed at objects around the room, slowing her speech for Xiao Shan to imitate.
This method of teaching speech was something her two older brothers had tried with her before. But every time she made "ah-ah" sounds, she'd discover drool would escape her lips, making her unwilling to open her mouth again.
Now with Mi Yao as her teacher, she became interested. First, she mimicked Mi Yao's mouth shapes without making sound.
Seeing Mi Yao lose interest and reach for a book on the table, Xiao Shan still wanted to play with her. She pointed at the objects Mi Yao had just taught her, going through them one by one with "ah-ah-ah" sounds.
The sounds weren't purely "ah" either—the tones somewhat resembled the actual names.
Mi Yao raised an eyebrow and rewardingly rubbed Xiao Shan's cheek: "What a clever young lady. Shall I teach you again?"
Xiao Shan nodded vigorously.
Mi Yao taught her once more, but this time at the end she pointed at herself: "A—niang—" (Mother)
She suddenly remembered a saying—the easiest words for children learning to speak are those for parents.
Since "ma" wasn't used as an address in this era and "muqin" (mother) was too difficult to pronounce, she taught "niang" instead.
Xiao Shan clearly showed great interest in this address, tossing the jade flute aside and starting to point at Mi Yao while making "ah-ah-ah" sounds.
Even when Mi Yao's hair had nearly dried, she was still making those sounds.
"The young lady's calls somewhat resemble 'A-niang' now."
Shuang Hua entered the room to extinguish the candles. After listening for a while, she felt Xiao Shan's sounds were already quite close to "niang."
"Mmm…"
Mi Yao responded weakly, already beginning to regret teaching Xiao Shan this address. First, she was being tortured by the incessant sounds, and second, she started worrying that if Xiao Shan learned this address, she might call her that for everything.
Xiao Shan was immersed in her progress. Mi Yao resisted interrupting her until it was time to extinguish the candles, then pinched her cheek.
"Sleep now. We'll continue tomorrow."
Xiao Shan obediently responded with "Mmm."
The sound was quite well-formed, giving Mi Yao a sense of accomplishment. After putting her to bed behind the ebony gilt jade orchid-patterned screen and seeing her obedient appearance, Mi Yao kissed her forehead.
Xiao Shan had already been reluctant to part with Mi Yao. Even in bed, she kept her eyes wide open watching her. When kissed, Xiao Shan's eyes widened even more, round and sparkling like gleaming pearls.
She touched her forehead, then her own lips.
Seeing Xiao Shan becoming energetic again, Mi Yao pinched her cheek and warned: "Close your eyes! Sleep!"
Only when Xiao Shan closed her eyes did Mi Yao return to her own bed.
Though she didn't know that the moment she left, Xiao Shan opened her eyes again, continuing to touch the spot on her head where A-niang's fragrant, soft lips had touched.
The next morning when Mi Yao woke, the first person she saw was again Xiao Chu.
After two consecutive days like this, Mi Yao felt she would develop a phobia from his startling appearances.
Glancing at the soft quilt that should have been covering her but had fallen to the floor, and touching her slightly sore cheek that had likely been pinched, Mi Yao grumbled: "Xiao Lang, is this how you awaken a delicate flower?"
When it was time for morning meal, Xiao Chu still hadn’t seen Mi Yao and knew that her promise to him yesterday was nothing but empty words meant to brush him off.
Knowing that having her maid call her wouldn’t teach her a lesson, he came in person.
Who would have thought that once asleep, she was like a dead pig? He pulled the covers off her, yet she remained sound asleep with her eyes closed, showing no sign of waking up.
Seeing her now, her speech slurred, eyes bleary with sleep, yet her skin flawless and pure, like a delicate flower awakened by the morning dew.
The more he looked at her, the more he wondered if she had woken up early, washed up, and then climbed back into bed pretending to sleep, just to put on this act to tease him when he arrived.
“Why is Shan’er here?”
Xiao Chu ignored her words and instead lowered his gaze to Xiao Shan by the bedside.
Only when he reminded her did Mi Yao realize that Xiao Shan had somehow crawled from her own small bed onto Mi Yao’s couch. Fortunately, Xiao Shan had brought her own little blanket, or else she would have been left shivering with cold in her sleep, just like Mi Yao, hugging her arms and trembling.
“Xiao Lang, I’m cold.”
Mi Yao stretched her arms toward Xiao Chu. “Either carry your wife over to fetch her clothes, or bring your wife’s clothes to her.”
Not to help her, but to help his wife.
Xiao Chu’s narrow, cold eyes swept over the thin fabric covering Mi Yao’s body. He could even see the chill raising the embroidered cherries on her undergarment over her chest.
Such behavior from a daughter of the Yu family’s main line.
And yet, the daughters of their noble families appeared as lofty ice lotuses to the outside world, while at home, they were like this.
Before Xiao Chu could move, he saw Xiao Shan, who had woken up at some point, slip on her shoes and patter over to fetch clothes for Mi Yao.
Unfortunately, halfway there, she was picked up by Xiao Chu, who stuffed her back behind the screen into her own small bed and threatened, “If you don’t want to be hung up, lie still and don’t run around.”
“Ah—da—”
Hearing Xiao Shan speak, Xiao Chu was momentarily stunned. Before he could figure out if she was calling him “A-da,” he saw the wide-eyed little girl raise her hand and slap his face.
Xiao Shan’s strength was nothing to speak of, but it successfully darkened Xiao Chu’s expression like gathering storm clouds.
What had the Yu family taught Xiao Shan!
Catching the cloak Xiao Chu tossed onto her, Mi Yao saw his face as black as the bottom of a pot and assumed he was simply unwilling to serve her. She had no idea that the sound she heard, like someone swatting a mosquito, was actually Xiao Chu being slapped.
“I’ll give you half a moment. If you’re late, you’ll face military punishment.”
Hearing “military punishment,” Mi Yao blinked innocently, lowering her soft, delicate voice. “I’m not a soldier, so how can I face military punishment? Could it be that Xiao Lang is speaking sweet nothings between husband and wife, and the rod meant to spank me is Xiao Lang’s…”
Mi Yao meaningfully glanced at Xiao Chu’s lower body, but before she could finish, Xiao Chu grabbed a nearby cup and threw it at her shoulder.
“Shut up.”
Xiao Chu controlled his strength, but Mi Yao still felt the pain. She hadn’t expected him to resort to force when he couldn’t win the argument. She flopped onto the bed, her body wrapped in the cloak trembling uncontrollably.
As if she were crying bitterly from the grievance.
“What’s wrong now?”
“Before marrying me, Xiao Lang called me a delicate flower. Now that I’m yours, you bully me so. I used to think only the most wicked men would use their strength to hit women, but I never imagined Xiao Lang would be like this too…”
Mi Yao spoke between sobs.
Hearing Mi Yao's cries, Xiao Shan, who was tightly wrapped in the quilt, broke free from her restraints and ran to the bed to touch Mi Yao. After glaring at Xiao Chu for a moment, she seemed to realize she couldn't defeat him either. With no other options, she could only open her mouth and start crying.
One woman wailed sharply while the other sobbed as faintly as a mosquito's buzz. Xiao Chu gritted his teeth: "Did I actually hit you with my strength just now?"
If he had truly struck her, her shoulder would have been too fractured to lift—not like now, where she could raise her arm to cover her face while pretending to cry.