The original owner’s mother had left behind some items, such as a basin, scissors, a ruler, an embroidery frame, and others. Now, Jiang Ning had stored them all in the space for easy access whenever needed.
As she poured the used face-washing water onto the vegetable garden, she noticed that the spiritual spring water didn’t replenish as expected. It had decreased by nearly half. What was going on?
Could it be that it needs time to recover after being used?
Jiang Ning made a note of it, planning to check again when she woke up the next morning.
Back at the bamboo house, she found that there were already bed sheets and blankets on the bed, made of satin fabric. Jiang Ning thought she could make the bed sheets later, so she observed the original owner’s chest measurement.
It was one size smaller than her own, but that was because the original owner had been very thin. Perhaps after gaining some weight, it would return to normal.
She thought to herself that she should make two small undergarments first. A woman must always take care of herself on the inside.
She made a design for the undergarment in the style of a sports tank top, adding an extra layer of fabric on the chest area. She sewed a half-finger-wide edge line around the top and bottom to make it more fitted.
For the lower half, she decided to make normal long pants, using a thin elastic band at the waist. She decided against shorts, as they were impractical without stretchy fabric, and she couldn’t make triangular panties without it either.
After making her decision, Jiang Ning took out some white cloth and began cutting it. She was familiar with her own body measurements.
Even though the original owner was thinner than her, she could still estimate it accurately.
Once the cloth was cut, she started sewing. Her fingers moved skillfully between the fabric and needle, quickly and neatly stitching with tight and even stitches.
The undergarments were simple to make, and within an hour, the top and pants were done.
Since it was still early, she decided to take out the art supplies she had bought earlier in the day.
Jiang Ning hadn’t designed any clothing sketches for a while. She spread out the paper and took out the brushes, heading to the kitchen to fetch some warm water to prepare the brush.
While waiting for the brush to soak, she started to think about what to draw.
It was late spring, the perfect time to design summer clothes.
In this era, clothing mainly consisted of straight-cut robes, and the ruqun (a traditional dress consisting of a skirt and top) hadn’t appeared yet. Therefore, she decided to first draw a lady wearing a waist-length ruqun in a jade-green color.
Once the brush had soaked enough, she discarded the water and, for convenience, used the spiritual spring water to rinse it. Chinese gongbi painting required ink and dyeing, so water was essential.
She opened the pigments, laid them out, and then picked up the outline brush to start sketching the design she had conceived.
Outlining was a meticulous job, and it took Jiang Ning over an hour to complete the lines, especially the details of the hair, which took a lot of effort.
As it was getting late, she decided to wait for the ink to dry and continue coloring the next day.
The next morning, the first thing Jiang Ning did after waking up was check on the spiritual spring water.
However, it had not replenished as expected. She suddenly became anxious—what was happening?
Although the spring water hadn’t replenished, Jiang Ning noticed that some of the seeds she had planted the day before had already sprouted. That was incredibly fast. Jiang Ning immediately felt a surge of happiness.
Thinking about having to prepare medicine for Lu Huai’an, Jiang Ning quickly left the space, rushing to the kitchen to wash up. She didn’t mind the cold stares of the others, colder than winter itself.
After getting ready, Jiang Ning took a basin of warm water and brought it to the west wing for Lu Huai’an.
Today, Lu Huai’an seemed to have recovered significantly and was able to sit up and wash by himself.
At that moment, Jiang Xiu appeared outside the window quietly, head lowered, calling out in a sweet voice, “Sister, I’ve brought breakfast for Lu Xiucai.”
Jiang Ning immediately felt a chill down her spine. Seeing Jiang Xiu’s expression, as though afraid of being scolded, Jiang Ning couldn’t help but feel speechless.
She walked to the window, took the tray, and said, “Alright, you can go now.”
Seeing that Jiang Ning had blocked her view of Lu Huai’an, Jiang Xiu was furious but suppressed her anger. In a soft voice, she asked, “Sister, I’m going to wash your clothes later. Does Lu Xiucai have anything that needs washing? I can do it all at once.”
Before Jiang Ning could turn to ask Lu Huai’an, his impatient voice came from inside.
“No need!”
Hearing that, Jiang Xiu’s face instantly changed, and with a hurt expression, she walked away.
Jiang Ning held the food tray as though presenting a treasure to Lu Huai’an, teasing, “Look at this treatment. For your ‘big fish’ they’ve really gone all out. Last night it was a luxurious meat porridge, and this morning it’s even upgraded to egg custard and white rice porridge. Tsk, tsk, even my grandfather didn’t get this treatment!”
“You’re not angry? I’m still your person.”
Lu Huai’an was furious.
This bad woman took advantage of him and still didn’t think highly of him.
“What’s there to be angry about? If you were so desirable, you wouldn’t have ended up with me,” Jiang Ning said, curious about what the Jiang family was planning.
Lu Huai’an was the type of person who didn’t even care about the richest girl in the capital, so what could Jiang Xiu possibly do?
Lu Huai’an didn’t want to respond and lowered his head to eat.
Jiang Ning’s eyes fell on Lu Huai’an’s old and dirty clothes. She couldn’t help but ask, “How long have you been wearing this outfit?”
Lu Huai’an paused drinking his porridge, his face turning red. He glanced away and muttered, “What’s it to you?”
“Aren’t you embarrassed by the smell?”
“Hmph, I hope it smells bad to you,” Lu Huai’an grumbled, irritated that this woman was actually disgusted by him.
“How about I buy you two sets of clothes?”
“I have no money.”
“How is it possible that a scholar like you is so poor?”
In the original owner’s memories, Zhuang Yunqing seemed to wear reasonably good clothes, unlike him, whose clothes were so old they could hardly be called decent, though they didn’t have patches.
Lu Huai’an didn’t want to respond. This annoying woman was only here to make him angry.
Jiang Ning thought she would just make him a set of clean clothes later, since it wouldn’t take long. Otherwise, he’d really stink.
After Lu Huai’an finished his meal, Jiang Ning went to the dining hall, but the Jiang family had already left, and naturally, no food was left for her.
Luckily, there was food in the space. She went to the kitchen, made a simple meal for herself, and then prepared medicine for Lu Huai’an.
Once the large fire brought the water to a boil, she added two pieces of firewood and turned it to a low heat. After half an hour, she strained the medicine and served it to Lu Huai’an.
The medicine bowl covered Lu Huai’an’s face.
He drank the medicine while raising an eyebrow slightly.
Sure enough, the problem lay with the water used to brew the medicine. No wonder he felt he was recovering faster than expected.
This woman was suspicious.
He had said so much last night, but aside from getting angry, she didn’t seem afraid.
She still dared to do such things to him—something didn’t seem right.
Now that he needed her medicine to get better quickly, he decided to pretend not to notice anything strange.
After finishing the medicine, Lu Huai’an took out a small purse from his chest and handed it to her.
“Here’s the money for the clothes. This is all I have for now. I’ll pay you back when I’m better. Also, could you get me a set of silver needles?”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t have money? How about I make you some clothes instead? It’s cheaper than buying them.”
Jiang Ning was stunned. She hadn’t expected him to voluntarily offer her money.
“Up to you.”
Lu Huai’an’s ears grew slightly warm. This woman really wasn’t shy, always offering to make clothes for men.
The image of her making clothes for herself suddenly flashed in his mind. He closed his eyes, annoyed, and tried to push her image out of his thoughts.