"You should know, right?" Ye Zhuo hesitated and said, "Young Master Nie said that he asked Master Nie the night before last and got his consent to take me as his apprentice." After finishing speaking, as if wanting to prove something, he hastily added, "I had a match with Brother Nie Boyi a few days ago. Young Master Nie said that if I won against Brother Nie Boyi, he would take me as Master Nie's apprentice on his behalf. And in that match, I coincidentally won, so..."
"What? You won against Fifth Brother?" asked Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song in unison.
Ye Zhuo nodded slightly and looked at them with some confusion: "What's wrong?"
Zhangzi Qing looked Ye Zhuo up and down, saying: "Fifth Brother is ranked among the top three of our twelve brothers. Except for Eldest Brother and Third Brother, no one can surpass him. Moreover, Master was not at home two days ago, he went out on a long journey." After finishing speaking, he asked doubtfully, "Who did you used to take as your master?"
Ye Chou shook his head: "No, I only studied jade carving with my grandfather for half a year, and never had a master."
"What? More than half a year?" Zhang Zi Qing's expression was as if he had seen a ghost, and even Zhao Song widened his eyes to stare at Ye Zhuo.
Ye Zhuo was somewhat anxious, and loudly said: "When we competed, apart from a senior with extremely high jade carving skills, there were also County Magistrate Yuan of Nanshan County and Old Man Feng, whose son is an official in the capital, present. I really did win against Nie Bao Yi Shixiong, if you don't believe me, wait until he returns and ask him."
Autumn Moon followed behind them, hearing this, frowned and looked at Ye Zhuo in surprise. She was still clear about the temperament of her own daughter, who usually spoke and acted very steadily and thoroughly, knowing what to say and what not to say. But now Ye Zhuo's words made her incomprehensible. To know that the previous competition involved the Nie family and even Master Nie's reputation. The Nie family must have been unhappy about someone bringing it up; and losing to a girl who had only learned jade carving for less than a year, it was also a great shame for Nie Bao Yi Ping Sheng, he absolutely did not want anyone to mention this matter again.
These principles are clear even to a young and inexperienced maid like her. It's unreasonable that Ye Zhuo wouldn't understand.
However, the girl just said it in front of Nie Zhongkun's two disciples. Isn't she afraid of Nie Daoshi's dissatisfaction and Nie Boyi's resentment?
If she hadn't been following Ye Zhuo and never left him, Qiu Yue would have suspected that the person in front of her was someone else's impersonation.
Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song saw Ye Zhuo Yan's words were indeed true. Moreover, if such a thing was fabricated, as long as Nie Bo Yi and Nie Bo Wen returned, it would be exposed. Blowing such a horn for Ye Zhuo had no benefit whatsoever, so they already believed her words in their hearts.
Zhang Zi shook his head and sighed: "It's really unbelievable."
Zhao Song looked at Ye Zhuo with a pair of small eyes, asking with great interest: "The craftsmanship of my fifth senior brother is already considered to be extremely outstanding in the jade carving world. I didn't expect that little junior sister would actually defeat him. Does little junior sister have any jade carvings on her body? Take them out and let us appreciate them, learn from them."
Ye Chou shook his head, lowering it somewhat embarrassedly and said: "Our family's workshop has limited funds, the jade materials we buy are not daring to be tried by me, fearing that they will be wasted. Therefore, the jade carvings are extremely few; moreover, my craftsmanship is not refined, the jade carvings I produce are really not presentable, so I didn't bring any with me. Besides, I've only been learning jade carving for such a short time and have never had a master to apprentice under, there are many things that I don't understand, how could I dare to be called 'Twelfth Shixiong' by the two of you? It's rather that the two shixiongs should instruct me more."
Ye Chou's words were extremely humble and polite, but to Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song, Qiu Yue, they felt an inexplicable strangeness. Nie Bo Yi was their fifth senior brother. He had entered the sect early and had a high innate talent, one that the two of them, who had yet to leave the sect, couldn't even catch up to. Yet, such a person had actually lost to Ye Chou. However, this Miss Ye kept saying that she hadn't even paid respects to her master, and that her time spent learning was short. She also didn't have many carved jade pieces. Wasn't this just indirectly scolding them for being stupid? They had learned from famous masters, practiced for so long, and used a lot of jade materials, yet their skills were far inferior to Ye Chou's?
"Little sister is too modest. You can even win against Fifth Brother, and yet you say this, it's really making us lose face!" Zhang Zi Qing smiled awkwardly, having made up his mind to ask clearly about the situation of that match when Eldest Master or Fifth Brother returns. This little sister in front of him, no matter how he looks at her, doesn't seem like someone who can defeat Fifth Brother, and her words and actions seem somewhat inexperienced, not like someone with great wisdom.
As they spoke, several people had already passed through several archways and arrived at the entrance of a small courtyard. Purple Lotus stepped forward and said: "Miss Ye, this is the Wind Welcome Courtyard." After finishing speaking, seeing that Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song did not seem to have anything to say, she pointed to a doorway about 7 or 8 zhang away: "Going out from there and turning left, you can see a courtyard with three characters 'Pu Yin' written on the door, where Master Zhang and Master Zhao reside."
Ye Chou glanced at the gate of the courtyard, then looked at the door, and suddenly her face turned red as she stuttered: "T-t-that... two senior brothers, I don't know if Master Du is living in your courtyard?"
Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song raised an eyebrow, their gaze towards Ye Zhuo became even more peculiar. After a long while, Zhang Zi Qing finally asked: "Does little junior sister know Du Gongzi?"
"Uh-huh." Ye Zhuo nodded, "At Guangneng Temple in Nanshan Town, I once played chess with Master Du. We can be considered acquaintances. Later, when my family encountered difficulties, he helped us many times. This time, my grandmother specially made some small pastries and said she wanted to thank Master Du."
Qiu Yue heard this and scratched her head, feeling that her brain was really not enough. Before leaving the house, Guan Shi had indeed put some snacks in the bundle, but it was only because she was worried that Ye Zhuo would be hungry on the road, or when she arrived at Nie's house, Nie's family might not take care of her and starve their precious granddaughter, so she packed a box of green bean cakes for Ye Zhuo to fill her hunger. How did this become a gift for Du Gongzi now?
"Oh, I see." Zhang Zi Qing seemed to let out a sigh of relief and pointed in one direction, "Du Gongzi doesn't live with us, but his residence is not far from Pu Yuan. Once you arrive at Pu Yuan, head east for a while, and you'll see a pond surrounded by bamboo trees. In front of the bamboo forest, there's a house with a sign that reads 'Zhu Yi' - that's Du Gongzi's place." He added with kind intentions, "However, Du Gongzi likes his peace and quiet, and doesn't like to be disturbed. Little Shifu, it's best if you don't go looking for him unless necessary."
"Yes, little sister remembered." Ye Zhuo smiled and nodded.
At this time, several people had entered the Wind Welcome Courtyard. This courtyard was small in Madam Nie's words, but this "small" probably only referred to the other courtyards in the Nie Manor. For Ye Zhuo and Qiu Yue who lived in the small courtyard of the Ye family, this place was actually big enough: the courtyard alone was about one mu (approximately 0.165 acres) in size, with a small pond on the left side, and a fake mountain beside the pond, with water flowing around it; many precious flowers and trees were planted inside the courtyard, and the peach blossoms on the wall flowed down like a waterfall, with bright yellow flowers blooming all over the branches, very beautiful; the red flying eaves of the houses appeared and disappeared among the trees, and you could see that there were not few houses either.
"Miss Zihe." An old woman saw someone coming in and hurriedly came forward to greet her.
Zi He stopped in his tracks and said to the old woman, "This courtyard has already been given to Ye Gu Niang by the mistress. Ye Gu Niang is the master's newly accepted disciple, you should serve her well." Then he turned to introduce Ye Zhuo, "This is Liu Yi Jia's family member, originally left in this courtyard to tidy up flowers and trees and sweep the yard. In the future, if there is any rough work, Miss can just order her to do it."
Liu Yijia hurried forward and greeted Ye Zhuang with a bow.
"Boil some water and make a pot of tea. Bring it to the hall." Zi He instructed Liu Yi's family again, seeing that Ye Zhuo didn't say anything.
"Two seniors come to the hall and sit down for a cup of tea." Ye Zhuo turned his face to Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song.
Mrs. Nie ordered Zhangziqing and the two to send Ye Zhuo to Yingfengyuan, at this time the task was completed, Zhangziqing and Zhao Song had no intention of staying for a long time, smiled and said: "No need, little sister has come from afar, and also needs to arrange her room, it's really busy, my brother and I won't disturb you. Our courtyard sisters all know about it, if there's anything, just let someone tell us, we'll do what we can, no excuses."
"Thank you, two senior brothers. After I've settled in, little sister will come to visit the two of you again." Ye Zhuo didn't keep them either. He sent them off at the gate and then followed Zi He to take a look at the house she was going to live in.
"After receiving the news from the young master, Madam ordered the servants to redecorate the house. The bedding and curtains are all new. If Miss Ye needs anything, just tell me and I will ask Mother Wang to get it." Zihua saw her looking around the room and smiled again.
"All these are already very good, and there's nothing else needed for now. If anything is lacking later on, we can just add it then." Ye Zhuo nodded her head, walked over to the table and sat down, feeling the water in the teapot was still warm, obviously freshly brewed tea.
Zi He hurriedly stepped forward and poured her a cup of tea.
Ye Zhuo nodded secretly in her heart.
It seems that Mrs. Nie is a very capable housewife, managing the household in an orderly manner, and the servants are also well-trained. From the arrangement of this courtyard and the clothes worn by Zhang Ziqing and Zhao Song, it can be seen that Nie Zhongkun is quite good to his disciples.
However, there is no free lunch in this world. Nie Zhongkun's relationship with his disciples was not like those between masters and apprentices in the folk, where the master only wanted to find a successor to inherit his skills; while the disciple had a duty of filial piety towards the master, but that relationship was equal and mutually beneficial. The Nie family was different, they were involved in the struggle for the throne, as long as the Nie family needed it, these people who had received material benefits from the Nie family would become pawns in their hands, sacrificing everything for the Nie family. If they disobeyed, the Nie family would ruthlessly wield the knife in their hand and make them ghosts under the blade.
Yue Zhuo stood up and said to Qiu Yue, "Take the box of pastries made by our grandmother, let's go visit Du Gongzi."
Thank you to the master of Guang Han Palace for the peace charm and Zhou Xiao Reng's pink vote! (If you like this work, welcome to cast a recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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