Chapter Fifty: Effortless Acquisition

  Two sisters were laughing and talking, while Ning Chuo had already become impatient, pulling at Lan Niang's clothes and shouting "Eat...eat..." which made Lan Niang so embarrassed that her face turned red. She was truly angry and was about to scold Ning Chuo, but then Yu Shi spoke up in confusion: "What's going on? Ning Chuo is just a child, how can you, an adult, get angry with him? Come, Ning Chuo, come to Mother here, what do you want? I've been chatting and haven't paid attention for half the day."

  Third Aunt glared at her son, but since she and Yu Shi had always doted on him, Xuan Ge'er wouldn't pay attention. He pulled on Yu Shi's sleeve and said pitifully, "Let me have some snacks, Auntie and Big Brother brought a lot of sweet pastries, Big Brother said so."

  Yu Shi and Yu Yi Ma were taken aback, then both couldn't help but burst out laughing. Lan Yi Niang's face turned bright red as she said: "Madam is still laughing, this scamp is too disobedient, when Sixth Sister was his age, she had everything figured out in her mind, truly a crystal clear and delicate heart. How come her younger brother doesn't take after her at all, but instead is so clumsy and ignorant of etiquette?"

  Yu smiled and said, "What do you know? This is the heart of a child. Besides, this was also brought out by Peony, it wasn't that she mentioned to Shuang'er this morning that the pastries in Jiangnan are good, Shuang'er wouldn't have remembered until now."

  Before the words were finished, Jiang Jing had already personally brought up two packages of famous Yangzhou pastries, which were rolled sugar and spring rolls, as well as several pieces of lard white fruit filling mooncakes and a few pieces of peach crisp.

  Everyone ate a few bites and praised it as delicious. Then Yu Shi and Yu Niang continued to discuss the distribution of gifts, and also wanted to take them to see their living quarters.

  Here, Ning Xianbi thought that Ning Derong was also yearning for Jiangnan and was a gluttonous old man. These Jiangnan pastries must be to his taste. After saying a few words to Jiang Jing, he became familiar with him and asked him to help pick out a few portions of pastries, which he carried himself as he headed towards Xinglin Garden.

  Ning Rong was reading medical books in the house when he saw Ning Fenbi arrive, and couldn't help but smile: "Didn't you say that your aunt's brother-in-law would be coming over these two days, so you wouldn't come to my place? Why have you come now?" After finishing speaking, he heard Ning Fenbi laugh and say: "Don't think too much, old sir. It's just my filial piety. My aunt's brother-in-law brought some Jiangnan pastries, and I thought that Third Grandfather loves to eat them, so I thickened my skin and asked for a share to bring over, just in time to give you something fresh to eat. Although later Aunt and Brother-in-law will also send some over here, by then I won't be able to show my filial piety."

  The old man burst out laughing, looking at the exquisite pastries, took one and put it in his mouth, feeling incredibly crispy and melting instantly. He couldn't help but be overjoyed, nodding his head: "I've always heard that Jiangnan's pastries are delicious, indeed they are." After finishing speaking, he turned around, opened the cabinet, chuckled and said: "Since you're borrowing flowers to offer Buddha, first take these pastries to show respect to me. It wouldn't be good to eat your girl's things for free. Coincidentally, I also received something recently, so I'll give it to you."

  Just as the words were spoken, Bi Song, who was serving tea beside the old man, happened to arrive with a tray of tea. Seeing the large boxes Ning De Rong had brought out and hearing his words, he couldn't help but smile and shake his head, saying: "You're really bold enough to say this, it's clearly the Third Master giving gifts to the Sixth Young Lady, now you're turning it into 'borrowing flowers to offer Buddha'."

  Ning De Rong's true nature was exposed by the maid, and his face couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. He pretended to be angry and said: "What do you know? That kid clearly said it was to show respect for me, just because I said something useless, does that mean it's for Xiaoyao now? Hmph! If you don't understand, then don't talk nonsense, hurry up and go down!"

  Bi Song covered her mouth and smiled, walking out while saying: "Yes yes yes, I'll go down now. Otherwise, later on, I won't have the face to see Master Ning again, and that wouldn't be good." Before she finished speaking, she had already lifted the door curtain and left, without waiting for Ning De Rong to react.

  "These few girls are not easy-going at all. Humph! They serve me perfunctorily, but they're experts at arguing with me and taking the familiar road of being contrary."

  Ning De grumbled a few words, then looked at Ning Xianbi, but saw that her face didn't have any curious or joyful expression. She wasn't even looking at the boxes, just staring at the pastry plate and giggling: "Third Grandfather can eat slowly by himself, I still need to go back and chat with Auntie. I don't want this Third Young Master's stuff, since it was given to you, Elder, you can keep it."

  "Hey, hey……this……this isn't just for me, maybe Third Master knew you liked this thing and specially brought it back for you. Girl, where did you put the 'doctor's parental heart' I taught you every day? Third Master only said a couple of words loudly in the carriage that day, didn't he? He was worried about his grandmother, which is normal, so why are you being so stubborn? They're grateful for our lifesaving kindness, and they haven't given us few good things. If you keep making faces like this, I won't forgive you!"

  The old man opened the boxes while talking, and seeing Ning Fengyi not speaking, he continued to nag: "Is it good or bad? You also take a look and say, if you really don't like it, just throw it at this old man, it doesn't matter. It's just that San Gongzi has put his heart into it, you can't waste it. You two have grown up a bit, who knows how many times you'll see each other in the future? Can't you resolve this knot because of two words? Are you really so petty?"

  Ning Xianbi listlessly listened to the old man's chatter, thinking that even if she grew up, she would never want to have anything to do with him. As she thought about it, she couldn't help but sneak a glance at the box.

  Just one glance, and his gaze couldn't move away again.

  Ning De Rong was still chattering away, when suddenly he saw the six granddaughter who had been quiet until now, suddenly stood up and snatched a few boxes, looking like a little tiger that had its food stolen.

  "Oh my god, what is this?"

  Ning De was startled, but Ning Qingbi's face had changed with excitement, and her hand touching the small glass boxes was trembling slightly. The old man felt strange and looked at Ning Qingbi: "What? You're not in that state just now? Why are you so excited? Does Hua know what this is used for?"

  Ning De Rong's words pulled Ning Xian Bi's soul back from her ecstatic state, she looked up at Ning De Rong, only to feel her cheeks burning hot. Although she wanted to pretend to be calm, the joy in her heart was uncontrollable. After a long while, she softly said: "No... I don't know, it's just that these things look so beautiful, is this made of glass?"

  Ning De looked at her suspiciously, then glanced at the dozen or so items and curled his lip: "This is also called beautiful? Although glass is still a Western thing nowadays, it's not common on our side, but these few things can't be considered beautiful. Not to mention others, just that perfume bottle, which has color, isn't it a hundred times more beautiful than this? I saw you gave it to your grandmother without batting an eye, and now you're over the moon because of these things?"