Chapter 85: Precious Gifts
“Auntie, our master is speaking to you.” The servant speaks to Jin Xiaodie, frozen there. Later on, Jin Xiaodie realizes and replies, “Just now, I was a little bit absent-minded. That’s my fault. You come here for Zheng Xue? He is in the dining room now.” Saying that, Jin Xiaodie leads Cheng Yu to the dining room. The noise outside has already attracted the attention of Zheng Xue and his mother. Zheng Xue walks out of the dining room and finds Cheng Yu standing outside. He is surprised about that and rushes to Cheng Yu holding his hands and says, “Hey, Bro. Why are you here?” “Though I haven’t gone to school these days, I still got the news that you are ranked the first in our school and are praised by our teacher. Today, I’m here to celebrate your success.” Says Cheng Yu.Content © NôvelDrama.Org.
These servants carry these two boxes to Zheng Xu, who is now confused about what is inside the boxes. At that moment, Jin Xiaoyan is stepping out. “My son, who’s there?” Asks Jin Xiaoyan, wondering who is that handsome young man. Zheng Xue makes an introduction, “Mom, he is my classmate, Cheng Yu.” Then, Zheng Xue turns to Cheng Yu and says, “Brother Cheng, this is my mom, and that is my younger auntie.” “That’s it. Nice to meet you aunties.” Says Cheng Yu, politely. “Good boy.” Jin Xiaoyan holds Cheng Yu immediately. Jin Xiaidie is about to hold Cheng Yu. However, seeing that Jin Xiaoyan has already stretched her hand to hold Cheng Yu, Jin Xiaodie draws back her hand. Without the high vision of Jin Xiaodie, Jin Xiaoyan knows nothing about Cheng Yu but his good appearance and excellent temperament. Then he notices that there are two boxes on the ground, knowing that these two boxes must be brought by Cheng Yu. Then she smiles, “There’s no need to bring gifts here.”
Smiling and waving the white-jade fan, Cheng Yu replies sincerely, “Zheng ranks the first in our school in the examination, and as his classmate, I should send him a gift as celebration.” “No, we can’t receive that gift.” Jin Xiaoyan waves her hand to refuse the gift. Zheng Xue wants to refuse the gift. However, Cheng Yu does not give him the chance to refuse his gift. Seeing that Zheng Xue intends to refuse, Cheng Yu says directly, “Nothing else, just some trifles.” Then, he orders the servant, “Open them.” Hearing the order, the four servants open the two boxes quickly. Everyone looks down upon the two boxes, which contain rice paper and two ink-stones. These are all the stationary that scholars of ancient Chinese need. “Zheng, now you can trust me.” Says Cheng Yu, making a joke with Zheng Xue.
Seeing the things contained in the two boxes are nothing but some rice papers and ink-stones, Jin Xiaoyan feels relieved. Studying in school needs a lot of rice papers and ink-stone. Besides, she thinks that these papers and ink-stones are not expensive. Thus, it doesn’t matter if she receives that gift. Thinking of that, she turns to Zheng Xue and says, “Since it is the kindness of your classmate, it is OK for us to accept the gift.” Jin Xiaoyan thinks that these rice papers and ink-stone are of the same quality as she brought to her son. However, Jin Xiaodie has already been stunned at the high quality of these rice papers and ink-stones. She knows that these rice papers and ink-stones are of high quality, because she is in charge of choosing these stationary for her son. She often boasts of her wealth so that she often goes to good shops instead of inferior ones.
However, she cannot afford the rice papers of the highest quality but those of medium quality. She often tells her son to be economical of rice papers even if they are of only medium quality. But now there exists a box of paper from Nan Yan Zhai, which is the most expensive rice paper and the ink-stone is Hui Ink-stone, also the most expensive ink-stone, costing thirty or forty taels of silver each. Zheng Xue cannot move his eyes from that ink-stone. There are almost four or five ink-stones in the boxes. There’s no man of letters who does not want to have a ink-stones like that. However, Zheng Xue thinks that a gentleman is a man of choice, which means that there’s something that a man can accept while there’s still something that a man cannot accept. Although he and Cheng Yu are close friends, he still thinks that he cannot receive such a precious gift from Cheng Yu. “No, bro. I cannot receive such a precious gift from you.” Says Zheng Xue, waving his hand, expressing that he cannot receive these expensive gifts. “Cheng Yu, I accept your kindness. However, these gifts are too expensive. If I receive that, that will defile our friendship.”
Cheng Yu has already thought that Zheng Xue would refuse to accept his gifts. Then, he stands in the dining room and says, “Zheng, if you refuse to accept my gift, I will not leave today.” Although his words are a little bit tough, his eyes are full of happiness and warmth. Hearing that, Zheng Xue is a little bit resigned. He knows Cheng’s thoughts. Although his family is not wealthy, he is unwilling to live on the financial support of his friend. However, considering the sincere attitude of Cheng Yu, he feels it hard to refuse the gifts.
Jin Xiaoyan known nothing about the gifts, which she thought are the common goods. The attitude of Cheng Yu pushes Jin Xiaoyan to persuade her son instead, “You can accept these gifts.” Cheng Yu smiles, “In school, I have a lot of things to ask you about my study. Zheng, You have to receive my small gifts.” Small gifts? They are nothing for Cheng Yu, however, they are really too expensive for him. The gifts have already been sent to his home. If he still refuses to accept the gifts, it seems that he is not taking care of Cheng Yu’s sentiment, because Cheng Yu is a man of his words. Zheng Xue signs, “Alright, I always obey your suggestion.”
“That’s right!” Says Cheng Yu, opening the fan and waving it with a smile on his face. Seeing the gentleman and that precious gift in the room, Jin Xiaodie is extremely envious of that. However, at the same time, her ambition is just like a flame blazing with the wind blowing. This gentleman Cheng Yu must come from a very distinguished family. His surname is Cheng which also belongs to one of the most prestigious family of Lin Shui County. Does this young man surnamed Cheng come from Cheng’s family? If so, she must strive to forge some links with him. If she succeeds, she can use his power to …. revenge. Her eyes burst with hatred when these ideas occur to her. Then her eyes start wondering when she thinks about whether Cheng Yu belongs to Cheng’s family or not.
However, it’s quite impolite to ask for the family background of the guest. She has to swallow her words. Then she squeezes a smile, “It’s lunch time now. Let’s have meal together.” Her small movements seem not eye-catching, which cannot escape from the eyes of Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu draws back his sight quickly with his thin fingers moving forward and backward on his white-jade fan. There’s no facial expression on his face but a slight smile.