Chapter 2 Maid- Lan’er
That day, the elder lady sat by the window of the study room for a long time and suddenly called me: ” Lan’er, can you bring Tiaotiao here?”
Tiaotiao is an oriole, who landed on the elder lady’s windowsill on a stormy day. I don’t know what’s so special about this oriole, but our elder lady likes it very much. She often made fun of it in her spare time for many years.
I removed the bird cage from the hook on the edge of the window and gently passed it to the elder lady. The appearance of this bird cage was very strange. It was dark and made by unknown material. It was longer than ordinary bird cages. The hollows were engraved with various patterns. I remember that there were no bird cages on Oriole Island that year. It took half a day for people to find it from the warehouse.
Our elder lady looked at the bird cage, flashed her eyes, and then smiled: “Lan’er, didn’t I mention it to you? Don’t underestimate the cage. It was inconspicuous, but my father sent someone to West Shu to look for ancient dark bamboo. Later, he called the most famous craftsman in the capital city to only takeout a section of it with foreign techniques. Daddy was afraid of others to imitate. So after he got this cage, he destroyed all the other ancient dark bamboos, and crippled the craftsman’s arm. Therefore, there is only one in the world, golden agate can’t even compare with it. “
As she said, the elder lady went down, clasped the cage with her fingers, and sighed softly to the bird in the cage: “Tiaotiao, you are so blessed to live in the best cage of the world. It’s just … “It might be some mechanism was touched, the bird’s cage suddenly split into four petals, but the oriole was ignorant and still leaping on the standing beam.
“Even if this birdcage is so expensive, how can it be compared with the boundless sky and the sea?” The lady stood up suddenly, opened the window, and the sea breeze rushed into the house, blowing the paper on the desk around. I hurriedly lowered my head and picked them up. When I looked up again, the oriole was gone. Maybe it flied away from the window.
The elder lady still stood in front of the window, as if she was stunned. Different from the younger lady, the elder lady never wore a silk dress with narrow waists nor the old-fashioned blue robe white skirt. At that time, the wind blew her wide robe’s large sleeves up, like a bird with beautiful wings , gone with the wind.
“Miss!” I was so anxious that I stepped forward and pulled her dress.
“Lan’er?” The elder lady frowned and looked around. She probably saw me anxious, so she smiled calmly: “It’s okay, I’ve watched the scenery of the cliffs facing the sea for twelve years. It looks as novel as before. “
“This oriole Island, I am destined to leave …” The elder lady looked out of the window, and a strange smile suddenly appeared on her face, plating her eyes with a radiant color. Her face was so gorgeous at the time that it can be compared with our younger lady.
I looked at the elder lady and somehow burst into tears.
That day was the third time I saw the elder lady show such smile.
That day was the last day the elder lady stayed on the island before she got married.
…
I am 18 years old, and I’ve never left the Oriole Island.
I heard the elder lady said that Oriole Island is a small island on the South Sea. It only takes half a day’s boat trip to the mainland. I don’t know why they call this island Oriole Island. Doctor Wu in the village said it was because the island was full of orioles a few hundred years ago, but Uncle Wu, who often went to sea, said that it was because he saw the island like a oriole in the nest on the sea, the head of the bird was the mansion of Murong family.
When I was young, I often looked at the majestic house on the mountain in the distance and asked my mother, “Mom, is there the Bodhisattva lived in?” My mother shook her head and told me that it was the ancestral home of the Murong family. All of us on the island have been Murong’s family’s housemaids for generations.
It was only then that the house had been empty for many years. I heard that the master of the Murong family was an important officer in the capital city and had not returned for many years. Others said that the master of Murong is very rich and his house is everywhere in the world. The Oriole Island is just a small one.
I was not concerned about these words at all at that time. The people in Murong’s family were like the Buddha in the temple, too far away from me.
But one day, the Murong family returned. Not the master, but the wife and two young ladies.
On the day they returned, people across the island and ran to see them.
I was six years old then. I couldn’t run as fast as the other children, and I was short and couldn’t squeeze into the crowd. I could only hear adults talking overhead.
“Well, it’s the Murong family. This big ship is really beautiful! I think Dragon Boat is almost like this, right?”
“Look, there are dozens of people, and too much luggage occupies the half space of the ship. Rich family is indeed different.”
“Ah, that’s Madam Murong, isn’t it? But she is wearing a veil, we can’t see what she looks like.”
“Well, what’s Madam Murong’s identity? She is the prime minister’s daughter! People like you aren’t noble enough to see her!”
“They are really from the capital city. Those girls are really gorgeous like fairies.”
“Oh, is taht the lady held in the maid’s hands? Just like the doll in the New Year’s painting, she must be a big beauty in the future!”
“Uncle Wu said that’s the younger lady.”
“Oh? Where is that elder one?”
“Look … uh … there.”
“Well? Why is her so much worse? She looks so normal. I thought she is just a maid if you don’t tell me.”
I jumped and bounced under the crowd, but no one noticed me. When the crowd gradually dispersed, let alone the lady of the Murong family, even the legendary ship was gone! I was anxious and annoyed, sitting on the ground and crying.
“Why are you crying?” A voice sounded overhead.
“I … I didn’t see the dragon boat!” As soon as I looked up, I saw a young lady in a green and white dress standing there. She was smiling softly at me.
“Where’s the dragon boat? Oh … you said it was just a passenger boat rent by Murong’s house, but it was relatively normal.” The elder sister laughed, pulled me off the ground, and wiped my face with a handkerchief.
“But I haven’t seen the girl from Murong’s house!” Everyone on the island has seen them. I looked at this strange girl and suddenly understood: “I know, you’re the maid from Murong’s house, right?”
“Maid?” The girl touched my head and smiled again, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Er Ni. What about you, sister?”
“Qiang, my name is Qiang.” She looked up at sky and said, “Er Ni, it’s late, hurry up and go home. Your mother will be worried.”
Oops, I looked at the sky, the sun was going down! I quickly jumped up and ran to my home, and even forgot to ask her what Murong’s young lady looked like.
A few days later, the servants of Murong’s family came to my house and asked me to be the elder lady’s maid. My father and mother were so happy that they even said that this was a blessing that they had repaired in their lives. So, I came to Murong House on the top of the mountain, which I used to feel so far away.
Aunt Zhong, I heard that she used to be the younger lady’s wet nurse, but now she is the head of all maids in the family—though I later learned that there were only 9 maids on Murong’s family including me. Aunt Zhong led me to a study room with sea views. A small figure was leaning on the table and writing. I knew it was the lady, and quickly knelt down as my mother taught.
The figure smiled softly again, and the voice turned out to be very familiar: “Er Ni, who taught you to kneel? Murong’s family doesn’t want these lavish etiquette. By the way, there isn’t orchids on the island, so I will call you Lan’er (which means orchid) from now on. “
So, I became Lan’er, and I have been with the elder lady for twelve years.
I already knew Mr. Xu before I saw him.
The elder lady is different from the younger one. The younger lady is like fire, while the elder lady is like water.
Our younger lady is very beautiful. I have never been to the outside of this island and I have never seen any lady outside the island, but these foreign teachers, who were invited by the elder lady to teach on the island, always praise the younger lady’s beauty, and after those who occasionally stop at the island met our younger lady, they seemed to lose their soul. So I think our younger lady is very beautiful, right?
The younger lady loves to go around the island in fiery red dress, laugh loudly and speak loudly. Aunt Zhong always said angrily that girls can’t do this. But as soon as our younger lady smiled at her, Aunt Zhong had to sigh with laughter and let it go. She is so cute and naive that people feel sad if they say something out loud to her, let alone dislike her.
My father always said that our younger lady is the treasure of this island. But my mother said that our younger lady won’t stay here for too long because she is too gorgeous.
But none of us thought that my mother’s words would come true in such an occasion.
The elder lady is actually beautiful, too. But no one noticed it when she stands beside the younger lady. She always smiled and talked softly. So many people on the island forgets about her, and forgets about that the current master of Murong family is her.
The younger lady will say aloud: sister, I want this, I want that! It’s all reasonable.
The elder lady will speak softly that the little sister’s clothes should be prepared by Master Zhang in capital city within three days. Well, the price is not a problem; the book the little girl wants must be published in Guangyang Bookstore the other day, and Uncle Wu hastened to go to buy it back; younger lady wants to learn the calculations of foreigners, our elder lady will ask housekeeper Zhang to find a gentleman out of the island … As long as our younger lady wants something, the elder lady will always satisfy her.
It seems that our elder lady has never asked for anything for herself.
She always wore blue and white cotton clothes and stayed in the study room. She quietly checked the account books and arranged Murong’s family’s expense.
When the gentleman came to the island to give a lecture to the younger lady, the elder lady would bring us maids together to listen. Unlike the younger one, who was arguing loudly with teacher, she just sat there quietly with a constant smile on her face. Aunt Zhong sighed, who always thinks that girl shouldn’t be knowledgeable. But our elder lady smiled and turned the globe sent by foreigners, “This world is too big. Oriole Island is nothing to it. We all should learn something about outside of the island?”
In fact, I didn’t care about the outside. For me, as long as there is elder lady, it’s the whole world to me. Oriole Island, I thought I would live here forever.
The elder lady always stood quietly by the sea, watching the younger lady and Madam go to the mainland in a boat, and then sitting quietly in a chair, listening to the younger lady cheerfully talking about the outside world. I think the elder lady wanted to go, but she had too many things to worry about, so she couldn’t go.
One day, the elder lady came back for a walk, but it became different.
She spread a picture in her hand on the table and looked over and over again. She smiled as her watched it, and her eyes were bright.
“Lan’er, come and see it.” She saw me carrying some tea, and nodded at me.
This is nothing more than a black charcoal painting on a white piece of paper, depicting a woman standing by the sea and looking into the distance. I’ve heard Foreign teachers say this technique is called sketching. I didn’t understand why the elder lady was so happy. I looked again and suddenly understood.
“Miss, isn’t this you?”
“Yes, it’s me. Don’t you think this picture is really good?” The elder lady laughed again in a low voice, but there was something different in her voice: “I saw this artist today. He was only on the island for a few days, I begged him to reluctantly teach my sister to paint for a long time … She always said that she wanted to learn Western painting, but unfortunately I couldn’t find a good teacher. But today, I was bumped into it. Lan’er, Go to tell her. “
I replied, and slowly walked back down, looking back again, the elder lady was carefully putting the picture into the box in front of the desk, and locked it carefully.
A few days later, I finally met Mr. Xu.
Since the emperor issued a trade decree, the number of merchant ships transiting on oriole Island has increased. I have seen many men who often accompany the elder lady to the dock, but no one was handsome and young like Mr. Xu.
He has a long figure. Although he painted western paintings, he wore the blue robes of the old days. So he walked in like a nobleman in the opera.
He looked at me dull and smiled. With this smile, I suddenly felt the spring breeze was blowing and the flowers were blooming, and my tongue was knotted so that I could not utter a word for half a day.
When he saw that I was not talking, he opened his mouth: “I am Xu Zihui, Murong’s elder lady invited me to teach painting in your house as few days ago. Could you do me a favor to inform her?”
Before I could answer, I heard hurried footsteps behind me. I thought to myself, it’s the younger lady. But before I turned around, I heard the lady behind me said softly: “Sorry for the waiting, Mr. Xu. Oriole Island is a vulgar place, and the subordinates would have lost sight, please forgive them.”
I was a little surprised. The elder lady was always so gentle and soft. why was her so unusual today?
Mr. Xu originally said that he only taught the younger lady painting on the island for half a month, but he didn’t leave after three months. The elder lady didn’t take it seriously, just instructed her servants to be careful, and all requests of Mr. Xu should not be neglected.
In the afternoon of one day, I came to the study room, but saw the paper all over the floor. The elder lady was not sitting at the desk as usual, but stood looking down at the painting, with a slight smile on the corner of her mouth.
When she saw me come in, she didn’t put away the painting, she just pulled me down and pointed to one of the paintings and asked, “Lan’er, do you think this painting is good?”
I looked down at the scrolls on the ground, and found that only a few could be called paintings, and the rest were just Mr. Xu’s graffiti. Suspicions grew in my heart, and I didn’t have time to look at the painting carefully, so I replied, “Yes.”
“Not just good, it’s awesome!” The elder lady’s voice actually improved a lot. I was horrified. Looking at the smile that the elder lady had never had before, I felt that the afternoon sun seemed to dim.
“Miss … I saw the younger lady and Mr. Xu in the garden just now.” I looked at her smile and knew it was disrespectful, but I still wanted to test it out: “I don’t have the right to say, but the younger lady seems to like Mr. Xu very much! “
“Oh?” The elder lady’s smile remained the same, but the brightness in her eyes gradually faded away. She slowly leaned down, carefully closed the scrolls and put them in the cabinet near the desk, then locked them carefully, and raised her head. Her tone was as usual: “Think carefully, my sister is sixteen, she should know the difference between women and men already.”
Half a month later, another distinguished guest came on the island. Aunt Zhong said that he is the son of the first business man today, and he was the officer of the Ministry of War in capital city. When Aunt Zhong said this, she seemed like disdainful, but she was not willing to tell me the reason.
I had only met Mr. Ren twice. Unlike Mr. Xu, he was a man dressed up in a western style, with short hair and a sword on his waist. He always wore valiant foreign uniforms. Later, I heard from folks on commercial ships that the clothes he wore were the military uniform of the newly built navy. In fact, Mr. Ren was very handsome, with a sharp eyebrow and a nasty nose, but the eyes … The eyes are cold and sharp, just like the vultures used to circle on the island. When he glanced at me, my whole body strength all seem to fade away.
The elder lady probably knew my feeling. Later, when Mr. Ren came to the island, she didn’t let me serve him again. I could only hear from other maids how Mr. Ren fell in love with our younger lady at first sight. I also heard from them that he came to the island frequently and often gave the younger lady gifts.
Our younger lady was such a fairy-like figure, anyone who sees her will fall in love with her. Sure enough, within half a month, he came to propose. I remembered that the elder lady’s eyes were shining that day. Although she didn’t speak, the smile was exactly the same as when she mentioned Mr. Xu. I think the elder lady was really happy for the younger lady.
After a few more days, it was getting late. At this time, the elder lady was still in the study room, and I had supper for the elder lady as usual. When I entered the room, I was scared that it was dark. Then there was a quiet voice in the corner calling me: “Lan’er?”
“Elder lady?” I figured out that’s the elder lady’s voice and rest assured. I put down the plate and lit the candle.
The room was bright, and I quickly turned around to see the young lady sitting half-relied on the window, supporting her cheeks with one hand. With a few sketches scattered around her, she looked lazily at the sea outside the window. The elder lady had always been gentle and courteous, and even after hard work on weekdays, she had never lost her manners, but at that time she seemed to be motionless in a magic barrier, just staring into the distance. I hurried over and held her: “Miss, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”
“Lan’er… I’m okay.” The elder lady finally looked up at me and smiled. The smile was as gentle as usual, but at this time I didn’t understand the meaning of the smile, It was a smile, but it was like crying.
“How can you say you are okay! Your face is so pale… No, I have to ask Xiaoming to go to the land to ask a doctor!” I was anxious, and hurried out.
“Don’t go … I’m okay, seriously.” The elder lady took my hand and sighed quietly: “You should change your caring nature, or you might suffer in Guangyang in the future. “
“Guangyang?” I froze, why did her suddenly mention the capital city? Could it be that … I thought of a possibility, and I was inexplicably frightened, and then knelt down suddenly: “Miss, I don’t want to go with the younger lady, I want to stay on oriole Island and serve you for my life!”
“She (he) is gone.” The lady no longer looked at me, but turned her head and continued to look into the distance.
I looked at her in confusion, without answering, but looking out with her gaze. A ship was slowly leaving oriole Island. On the dark sea, the lights on the ship were extremely bright.
“My little sister likes Mr. Xu, and they ran away already.” The elder lady still didn’t look back, and there was no trace of ups and downs in her calm voice: “That’s fine.”
“Oh my… what to do! And… wedding… Mr. Xu … Miss, you…” There was a roar in my mind, and I couldn’t even say a complete sentence. elopement? How could a lady from the Murong’s family do such silly things? Besides, there was still a marriage contract. I sometimes heard what the younger lady said about “freedom in marriage”. Mr. Xu left like that, then, what about our elder lady? …
All sorts of thoughts came to my mind and I didn’t know how long I had stood, and the young lady also didn’t look back. She watched the boat drift away until it was caught in the mist of the sea. Then she seemed to be awaken and said: “It’s too far… When will we meet again?”
After that, I heard Mr. Ren made a mess, he asked our elder lady to marry him. I remembered his hawkish eyes and could not help shivering. Our elder lady would suffer if she get married with him!
One day, the elder lady let the bird Tiaotioa go, and stopped at the window for a long time. She suddenly turned around and laughed: “Lan’er, Remember to remove the painting on the wall and take it tomorrow.”
“Miss…” Her smile was as usual, but my heart was broken for her. There was a sourness in my heart, and I choked with sobs.
A western oil painting hung on the wall: the woman lowers her head and smiled. She is teasing the oriole in the golden bamboo cage.
littlemonster 