The Virtuous Wife

Chapter 39 Gu's Birthday Banquet

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed. The gauze on Jingyi's head had been removed long ago, and the scabs on the wound had fallen off, but there was still a pink scar at the temples. Fortunately, the bangs could cover it, so it was not visible without careful observation.

Today is Gu's birthday. Early in the morning, Jingyi got up and washed up, and then went to Gu's yard with Su Qing and Su Ming to celebrate Gu's birthday.

The three brothers and sisters knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times in unison. Gu hurriedly called them up, and called Jingyi to her side, took a closer look at her injuries, and then reminded them: "There will be many guests coming today. You two brothers should help your father more in the outer courtyard, and don't let him drink too much! Take good care of him!"

"Yes, mother, don't worry!"

As soon as she agreed, Su Jingwei and Su Qian came to celebrate Gu's birthday. Gu stood up and was accompanied by several children to the hall. Soon the hall was full of people.

The children began to present gifts one by one. Su Qing was supposed to present first, but when they looked around, they found that Su Qing and his three siblings had all gone to some unknown place. Gu didn't think much about it, so Su Qian started first.

Su Qian presented a longevity character. Gu saw that the calligraphy was well written, so she praised it and asked someone to show it to the old man and Su Wei. Gu naturally had to reward them.

Next, it was Su Jingwei. She presented a sachet she embroidered herself, with longevity characters embroidered on both sides with gold thread. It looked like she had done a good job of embroidery, so Gu accepted it with a smile.

Still, Su Qing and the other two didn't come back, so she heard Madam Liu whisper, "I've sent someone to look for them, and there should be news soon." Gu nodded, and although there was anxiety on her face, it was only fleeting.

Next was the third room. Su Cheng had two sons and two daughters, the eldest son Su Yuan, the second son Su Shan, and the eldest daughter Jingmei. These three siblings were all born to Liu. There was another daughter, Jingrou, who was born to Liu. The four of them presented gifts one after another, which were nothing more than paintings, calligraphy, embroidery and the like.

At this point, the younger generation, even her own children, had not presented gifts. Gu was a little anxious, and the old man and Su Wei also had some anger on their faces!

"Hey, what's wrong with these nephews and nieces? It's already so late, why haven't they come yet? Did they play too much last night and get up late?" Liu, who was standing aside, spoke in a sarcastic tone, not caring about Gu's expression at all.

Gu glanced at her and ignored her. If it wasn't for her birthday party today, how could Liu and her daughter leave the yard! Gu heard the sarcasm in her words, but didn't want to argue with her, lest she lose her status.

Su Wei was also a little anxious and said, "Didn't these three children come in with you just now? How come they suddenly disappeared?"

Gu was about to say something when she saw Su Qing, Su Ming, Jingyi, and Qingtian enter the hall, followed by two servants carrying a red painted wooden box.

Su Qing ordered people to open the box, and Jingyi, Su Ming, and Qingtian took out the things inside with him, and slowly unfolded it, and it turned out to be a longevity screen!

This screen has six sections and can be folded, which means six sixes are very smooth! Looking at the screen again, there are longevity characters of different sizes written in various colors and pens!

The most eye-catching are the various patterns made up of longevity characters: the first section has several longevity characters forming a mountain shape, which means longevity is as long as the southern mountains; the second section has a row of longevity characters with winding and complex lines, which means continuous life; the middle part of the third section is made up of several pink longevity characters forming a peach shape, which also means longevity; the top of the fourth section is made up of nearly a hundred longevity characters forming a blessing character, which means blessing; the middle part of the fifth section is made up of red longevity characters forming a pattern that looks like a bat, and the word "bat" and "blessing" are homophones, which also means longevity; the last section is made up of emerald green longevity characters of different sizes forming a verdant pine and cypress, which means longevity is as long as the southern mountains and never old pines!

In addition, there are many longevity characters on each section that seem to be random, but they decorate the screen very decently and beautifully, some of which are brightly colored and some are as small as tadpoles. And from these words, it can be seen that it should be written by three people!

Not only Gu, but everyone in the hall was shocked!

The old man and Su Wei even stood up from their seats and took a closer look. Su Wei looked at the people and asked, "Where did you get this?"

Su Qing scratched his head with his hand and smiled embarrassedly, "This is made by the four of us. The wooden planks of this screen were obtained from a farm in the suburbs. Qingtian made the frame, and the three of us wrote the word "longevity", which was decorated by Qingtian, and the four of us painted it together."

Su Ming had a proud look on his face and asked Gu, "What does mother think? Are you satisfied?"

Gu's face was full of joy, with tears in the corners of her eyes. She smiled and said, "Good, good, good! It's rare that you have such a thoughtfulness. Satisfied! Satisfied! Mother is very satisfied!"

The old man looked at the four people in disbelief, and then looked at the screen. Yes, judging from the workmanship of the screen, it was indeed not made by a famous craftsman. The corners of the screen were obviously not made in a detailed manner, and the lines were not smooth enough. Looking at the word "longevity", it was indeed the handwriting of the three children!

The old man nodded and praised: "Good! You are really good children! It's hard for you to come up with such a good idea for your mother! It shows your filial piety."

Su Wei also shook his head and said: "I didn't expect that the four of you could have such patience to make something. And it's so clever and amazing! How long did it take you to make this?"

Su Qing thought for a while and replied: "I started working on it after my son came back. The idea was from Yiyi, and most of the words on it were also written by her. My second brother and I just helped, and it's all thanks to Qingtian! If it weren't for him, we don't know where to find a carpenter!"

Gu stood up, and at this time, her eyes were red, "Yiyi, but you didn't stop preparing this gift when you had an injury on your head?"

Jingyi didn't say anything, but smiled brightly, as if the sunflower was blooming, which made people feel warm. Gu felt that the room was suddenly sunny and warm. As soon as he stretched out his hand, he pulled Jingyi into his arms, and she began to sob softly.

Su Wei hurriedly advised: "Look, the children are kind enough to make you happy, but who would have thought that you would cry? Today is a good day, don't let the children laugh at you." After that, he turned to the housekeeper waiting outside and said: "Go, find two people to put this screen in the hall of the outer courtyard, and everyone who comes to the house to celebrate the birthday can see the style of my children!"

Compared with the excitement of Su Wei and the old man, Su Cheng had a gloomy face. It was also a birthday gift, how could other people's children spend so much effort, while his own children? Su Cheng looked at his four children and couldn't help but become more annoyed. He snorted in his heart, none of them lived up to expectations! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glared at Liu again.

Liu noticed Su Cheng's anger and couldn't help but feel uneasy. She left the yard on the pretext of Gu's birthday. If Su Cheng was unhappy and asked her to go back, wouldn't it be a waste of effort? She turned her head and glanced at the old lady.

The old lady signaled her with her eyes to be at ease, and Liu was relieved.

At this time, guests began to come to celebrate the birthday. Everyone was busy. The old man, Su Wei, Su Cheng and several boys went to the outer courtyard.

Gu washed up again, and someone came to report that the aunt of General Weiyuan's mansion had arrived. Gu hurriedly took Jingyi out to greet her.

For a while, the backyard was also very lively.

"Sister Jingyi!" A clear and beautiful voice came, and Jingyi looked over and saw that it was Cui Qianqian. She stood with the wife of Duke Dingguo, and when she saw Jingyi looking over, she hurried over.

"Sister Cui, I haven't seen you for just over ten days, but you've become even more beautiful." Jingyi joked.

"You bad girl, you love to make fun of me!" Cui Xixi blushed and glared at her.

"By the way, I just came in with my mother and saw a screen with a longevity painting in the front hall of your house. I heard that it was made by you three brothers and sisters?"

"Not entirely, and Brother Qingtian also helped a lot. It should be made by the four of us."

Cui Xixi looked her up and down, "I also heard from Lord Hou that it was your idea. Look, our Jingyi is really smart and capable!"

Jingyi smiled embarrassedly, "Sister, stop making fun of me. It's just a little cleverness, how can it be considered smart."

Jingyi looked at the sky, "The banquet is about to start, let's go over." Then she pulled Cui Xixi and went to the hall together.

The two found a seat and sat down. Jingyi looked around and saw that the feast was about to start, but there was still no sign of Liu. Jingyi walked to a osmanthus branch in front of the hall. The little sparrow on the osmanthus branch jumped to the end of the branch, then flew to Jingyi's shoulder and chirped. Jingyi rolled her eyes, stretched out her hand to beg Haitang, and whispered a few words to her. After hearing this, Haitang covered her mouth and laughed a few times, then got up and walked towards Gu's yard.