CHAPTER 622: CHAPTER 622: AN INDENTURE

It must have been the sight of Mrs. Cui and her poorly kept home that brought her to tears.

However, Lady Xia often wept and whined; Gu Jinli had grown accustomed to it and couldn’t be bothered, merely asking: "What brings Lady Xia to me? I am quite busy and have no time to chat with Lady Xia."

After listening, tears threatened to spill from Lady Xia’s eyes again, but she held them back and said to Gu Jinli: "I am here today to deliver a letter to Xiao Yu. May I come in to speak?"

"Deliver a letter? From Master Hu?" Gu Jinli mocked: "It’s always the same routine: Master Hu writes a letter to make amends after something goes wrong. This trick has been used twice; you might not be tired of it, but I certainly am."

"This time is different; I implore you to read it," Lady Xia pleaded.

Gu Jinli said, "Bring the letter to me."

Ah?

Lady Xia was a bit puzzled.

Gu Jinli continued: "Bring the letter. Aren’t you here to deliver it? Give me the letter and then you can leave."

Lady Xia had lived a life of respect, but since coming to Qingfu Town, she had faced several slights from Gu Jinli. It would be a lie to say she felt no grievance, but what could she do?

"Here you are." Lady Xia took out two letters, handing them to Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli raised an eyebrow and accepted them all.

Seeing that Gu Jinli had taken the letters without any indication of inviting her in to sit, Lady Xia had no choice but to take her leave.

Before leaving, she offered Gu Jinli a deep bow, bending so low that Gu Jinli almost feared she would topple over and land on the ground.

"We overstepped before; please, do not hold it against us... My husband and I had no intention of taking the child. We have now realized and only hope to continue instructing Brother Cheng," said Lady Xia, then without further delay, she turned and left. Staying would be futile; it was up to Gu Jinli and Gu Jin’an to decide.

Lady Xia’s nanny, seeing her speak so humbly, felt very sorry for her. After leaving the workshop, she suggested: "Madam, the eldest daughter of the Gu Family seems approachable. You might do well to get closer to her. Once you win her over, Second Sister will naturally hesitate to mistreat you."

Lady Xia had initially thought of winning over Gu Jinxiu, to teach her the ways of a noble daughter, in hopes of later finding her a suitable match. But after meeting with Gu Jinxiu today, she began to have doubts... It was clear Sister Xiu wasn’t keen on getting closer.

"Let’s wait and see; it’s best not to rush," she decided.

For now, the Gu Family was displeased with her and her husband; they wouldn’t become close. She would wait a couple more years; by then, she thought, she might get along well with Sister Xiu.

After leaving the workshop, Lady Xia visited the Gu Family for a short while before departing.

Gu Jinli, in the workshop, examined the two letters: one was personally written by Master Hu, and the other contained an indenture.

The indenture had yellowed, looking quite old, and the name on it was Xia Yusheng.

Master Hu wrote in his letter that Xia Yusheng was Xia Gu’s great-grandfather, previously a servant of the Lu Family who, due to his scholarly prowess, was recommended by the Lu Family for an official position.

Although the imperial examination system emerged during the former dynasty, it wasn’t the only means of recruiting officials; an older system of recommendation existed, not dissimilar to the Han Dynasty’s method.

Many noble families would recommend their servants or guests for official positions; it was through this that the Xia Family rose to prominence.

Grateful for the Lu Family’s kindness, Xia Yusheng decided that the men born into his family would serve as guests in the Lu Family, working for them.

Master Hu gave this indenture to Gu Jinli to reveal the true identity of Master Xia to her, to put her mind at ease, and to give her something to hold over Master Xia.

Master Hu finally made it clear: They wanted Brother Cheng to become the adopted heir of the Lu Family, to carry on the family line, but ultimately promised Gu Jinli: If the Gu Family did not agree, they would not insist, only hoping that the Gu Family would continue to allow Brother Cheng to attend classes at the Xia Family, and have Master Xia instruct Brother Cheng and guide Gu Jin’an to success. As long as the brothers succeeded, whether they carried the Lu surname or not, she would die with no regrets.

If it had been Master Xia saying this, Gu Jinli would surely have thought it was nonsense, but since it was Master Hu who said it, she believed it to be fifty percent true.

Even though Master Hu was also related to the Lu Family and had his own motives for helping her, Master Hu, having cultivated in seclusion for many years, had seen through much of the world’s affairs and truly would not be insistent about the matter of the heir.

Gu Jinli put away the letter and the indenture, then got busy making Convenient Medicine, working until the afternoon before taking Xiao Ji to find Ah Jiang: "Are the egg whites and yolks beaten yet?"

With Brother Qin not around, she could only ask Ah Jiang and the rest to do the beating.

"Done, Young Master, here you go." Ah Jiang, like a fool, had beaten eggs for four hours, his hands so sore he was nearly in tears. After handing over the beaten egg whites and yolks to Xiao Ji, he asked, "Young Master, what are you using the beaten eggs for?"

Hurry and tell me, or I will die without peace.

Gu Jinli: "I’m making a cake to eat."

Ah Jiang nearly cried: "You spent four hours beating eggs just to make a cake?"

He was too slow-witted to understand why one would need to beat eggs for so long just to eat a cake.

"... Young Master, I will work hard in the future, please don’t make me beat eggs again, okay?" Ah Jiang felt that he must not have done his job well and had angered the Young Master, who then used the task of beating eggs to torture him.

Gu Jinli smiled: "We’ll see. If you work hard and practice martial arts well, we can talk."

Having said that, she ignored the despairing face of Ah Jiang and took Xiao Ji to return home.

"Second Sister, you’re back. Let’s make a cake." Brother Cheng couldn’t wait any longer and immediately pounced over as soon as he saw Gu Jinli arrive home.

Gu Jinli held the bowl with the egg yolks up high and told him: "Alright, I’ll make it now. Come help in the kitchen."

"Yes!" Brother Cheng was extremely happy and followed her to help make the cake in the kitchen.

Gu Jinxiu also tidied up the embroidery frame, changed into a coarser jacket, and brought Sister Li and Zhu Chahua to the kitchen to help.

After bustling in the kitchen for two hours, they finally finished making the cake.

"We’ll keep one at home, and cut this one up to send to Aunt Luo’s, Granny Yan’s, Aunt Tian’s, and Brother Wang’s families." Gu Jinli divided another cake into four portions and asked Xiao Ji to send them to several households.

By the time Xiao Ji returned, he had two more baskets in his hands, containing birthday gifts for Brother Cheng from the four families.

When country children celebrated birthdays, they wouldn’t give too expensive gifts, just customary items like eggs and flour.

"This red cotton hat was made by Tian Xiaohua from Aunt Tian’s Family; she said it’s a gift for Brother Cheng." Xiao Ji specifically took out the hat made by Tian Xiaohua.

Gu Jinli took the hat, touched it, and smiled: "The hat is really thick, filled with a lot of cotton, Xiao Hua is thoughtful."

Even though Tian Xiaohua was young, she was sensible and capable. After stopping the preparation of spices, she either helped at the shop or went to the village to find wasteland, saying she wanted to cultivate more Mingya Grass to save silver.

"Here, let’s put it on you." Gu Jinli put the red cotton hat on Brother Cheng’s head.

Brother Cheng bashfully said: "Don’t want to wear red, that’s for girls, Brother Cheng is a boy."

Gu Jinli: "Today is your birthday, you should wear a red hat, it’s festive. Put it on, you’re not allowed to take it off."