Happy Lantern Festival!

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  I didn't expect that Ruo Su, after returning home from my place, was scolded by Luo Hao Yan and became very disobedient, causing a commotion. In the end, she was locked up by Luo Hao Yan's mother who told her to learn discipline properly.

  Two days later, Luo Hao Yan's mother came to my house specially, accompanied by a girl named Luo Chuchu, who was said to be Luo Susu's sister. She was only nine years old this year, but she had already grown into a charming and elegant young lady, with a dignified and refined demeanor that was truly reminiscent of a noble maiden, completely unlike the spoiled and arrogant Luo Susu.

  I suddenly realized that Luo Hao Yan's return home must be a deliberate move. My mother said Luo Su Su was ill-mannered, but now she has brought someone with good manners, whether it's to provoke or show off, in any case, the intentions are not good.

  As expected, Mrs. Luo entered the house and found my mother. She first apologized and said: "Our Luo family's child is not well-behaved, I heard that she was rude to your son on the street, it's really sorry, Mrs. Lin. It's strange, my Su has always been obedient, how did she suddenly change her temper? But this has never happened before, I don't know what made her so angry? So, to punish her, I let her stay at home and learn some rules for a few days, so as not to lose the face of the Luo family."

  "My mother smiled and said, 'I don't know much about what's going on between you kids, but my Rui'er is older than your child, and he got hit because his skills are not good enough. There's nothing to complain about. However, your seven or eight-year-old child bullied my four-year-old daughter, that's why I scolded her. But she didn't know what was wrong and even wanted to fight me back. You also know, mothers in the world are more or less the same, I'm just a country woman, and we don't see such things happening in our village.'"

  I couldn't help but laugh secretly. What my mother meant was that Luo Yazi wasn't even as good as a country bumpkin, right? Now, Madame Luo will probably be even more furious.

  Indeed, Madam Luo listened and her eyebrows stood upright, staring with a pair of phoenix eyes, saying: "How dare you say that our family's daughter is not as good as your village's daughter? This is my eldest daughter, look at her, she's only nine years old and already famous throughout the capital. Poetry, music, chess, painting, there's nothing she can't do, nothing she doesn't understand. Today, this matter must be settled, either you bring your son and daughter to our Luo family to apologize, or we'll draw a line and have a good competition. I want to see where my daughter is inferior?"

  Lu Chuchu's face turned red as she listened, and she pulled on Lu Furen's sleeve, saying: "Mother, don't make a scene, we came here to apologize today, not to pick a fight."

  My mother looked at Luo Chuchu with a smile and said, "I've long wanted to meet the talented women of the capital. This young lady is indeed as beautiful as a flower and jade, and she's also knowledgeable and reasonable. I like her at first sight."

  Lu Chuchu probably didn't expect that my mother not only wasn't angry, but even praised her. After all, she was just a nine-year-old child, and she lowered her head with a red face.

  At this time, Yanran ran out and pulled on Lu Chuchu's skirt, looking up and smiling: "Sister is good."

  Lu Chu Chu listened and bent down to pick up Yan Ran, saying: "Are you Miss Yan Ran? You look really beautiful."

  "Sister is also beautiful." Yan Ran gave Luo Chuchu a peck on the cheek, leaving Luo Chuchu stunned. It seemed that she might not have been exposed to such straightforward expressions before, and her face actually turned red, which left me staring in surprise.

  My mother always says that children can best feel people's kindness towards them. It seems that Luo Chuchu and Luo Susu are not on the same wavelength after all.

  Madam Luo saw Luo Chuchu hugging Yanran and smiling, and said to my mother: "Don't think that just because you let your precious daughter out, I will soften. Let me tell you, this knot is not so easy to pass. Your daughter is young, we can wait for three years. In three years, if you can't teach your daughter to be a talented woman, it's up to you. If you're afraid of losing face by competing with a junior, I'm willing to accompany you."

  Madam Luo finished speaking and didn't wait for my mother to respond, pulling Ruo Chuchu to leave. Ruo Chuchu had no choice but to put Yanran down, hastily bidding farewell to my mother before hurrying away with Madam Luo.

  What I didn't expect was that the next day, Luo Hao Yan brought Luo Chu Chu to my place again. This time, Luo Chu Chu came with a guqin (a traditional Chinese zither). This girl actually came to teach Yan Ran how to play the guqin?

  I watched her pay respects to my mother and said, "Mrs. Lin, my mother has always been competitive, this bet, I'm afraid it's really going to be fulfilled, it's truly embarrassing. To express my apologies, I'll give Yanran a guqin, this was given to me by my father when I was young."

  My mother naturally wanted to decline, but I saw Luo Chuchu's embarrassed expression and unexpectedly added a sentence, saying: "Mother, since they've sent it all the way here, we might as well accept it. Besides, my sister should learn something too."

  Lu Chuchu nodded hastily and said: "Yes, yes."

  My mother stared at me for a moment, and I felt guilty, so I made an excuse to leave. Fortunately, that afternoon I was going back to school, so I hurriedly packed my things, and my mother didn't ask me anything.

  Later, during my occasional visits home, I would sometimes still see Luo Chuyi visiting our house. This was strange to me, and when I asked my younger sister about it several times, she couldn't explain clearly either. So I directly asked my mother, who said: "That girl isn't bad at all. Every now and then, she comes to keep Yanran company, teaching her how to play the zither and chess. I didn't take that bet seriously, but she actually took it to heart. Three years later, when I had already taken you and your sister back to Qingyuan, she managed to find me in Anzhou Prefecture."

  I know that my mother's way of thinking is different from others. She thinks that unimportant things are actually very important to those aristocrats, and if she or my sister can't keep up with them, I'm afraid they won't be able to mix in the circle of noblewomen in the capital anymore. However, I know that my mother definitely doesn't care about this.

  I could only advise: "Sister, no matter whether the competition exists in three years or not, it's always good for you to learn more things. In the future, our Lin family will also be able to change its door and become a noble family like Grandma's family. The family that you will marry into must also be an official family, and you will have to deal with those madams."

  My mother listened, hugged me into her arms, and smiled: "My son has really grown up, knowing how to plan for his sister's future. Don't worry, son, when you were in Anzhou Qingyuan, didn't I ask Mr. Liang to teach you piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting? Your sister will also be taught by someone, she's just four years old, I want her to play a few more years. And the same with all of you, I don't want you to carry too much burden, hoping that you can grow up happily and do what you like. Do you understand my meaning?"

  "This is what my mother has been teaching me since I was a child, how could I not understand? I was thinking about how to persuade her back, when suddenly, my mother smiled and said: 'However, that Chu Chu girl is really good, what do you think if mother brings her back as a daughter-in-law?'"

  I was only twelve years old, and she was only nine years old. I looked at my mother with some annoyance. My mother saw my expression and burst out laughing, pinching my cheek and saying: "You're really not interesting, you don't understand anything yet! Mom is just teasing you. Don't worry, in the future, you'll choose your own wives, as long as you like them yourselves."

  As I turned around, my mother shook her head and muttered: "Isn't it said that people in ancient times were mature at a young age? Why is my son reacting like this?"

  It seems that my mother's thinking is indeed different, and she doesn't seem to have considered the gap between our family and the Luo family. The Lin family is just a commoner family, although the current emperor has given my father some kind of "imperial merchant" identity, allowing him to go abroad with my younger uncle, but after all, we are still commoners.

  I don't know if the Luo family found out that Luo Chuchu often came to my house and forbade her from coming, or if Luo Chuchu herself felt that she was a big girl now and it wasn't convenient for her to go out. In short, afterwards, there was a very long period of time when I didn't see her.

  Little sister's guqin teacher was invited by Xiao Hui to help her, and little sister's Go chess was personally taught by Xiao Hui. There is also recognizing characters and writing characters. I wonder where this guy got all that time from. Almost every noon, he would stay at my house for more than half a day. Later, I found out that he had given up his own rest time.

  Two years later, I passed the Xiucai exam and was also admitted to the Guozijian attached school. One day, on my way back home from Guozijian, as soon as I entered the door, I heard a tinkling sound of the guqin, which was like a spring breeze, and it was really different from my younger sister's awkward playing. It's not that I'm belittling my younger sister, but Yan'er has made great progress in Go these two years. However, as for the guqin, I truly feel that she hasn't made much progress. These two years, we've changed several teachers, and my mother sighed, saying that talent is really something that can be encountered but not sought after.

  I quietly approached the piano room, wanting to take a look, and wondered what kind of elegant and refined face this girl who could play the piano so beautifully should have.

  As I approached the door, Yanran looked up and saw me first, calling out "Big Brother" and happily running over. I still did it like before, picking her up in my arms, and the sound of the guqin suddenly stopped. The pale blue figure slowly stood up, turned around slowly, and it was actually her, Luo Chuchu, with two maid-like people standing beside her.

  "Big brother, this is Chu Chu sister, don't you remember? Yi Ge said I'm not learning the piano well, it's because the teacher is teaching badly, so he invited Chu Chu sister to come." Yan Ran saw my dazed expression and rubbed my face with both hands, looking very dissatisfied.

  I saw Luo Chuzhu lower her head and giggle, so I said to Yanran: "Since you've invited a good teacher, follow him well and learn. Don't be naughty, otherwise, big brother will spank your butt." I patted Yanran's buttocks twice.

  "Big brother is so annoying, Yan'er has grown up, and you still spank her butt."

  "Really? Now that you've grown up, don't jump on your brother's body anymore."

  Lu Chu Chu looked at our sibling interaction, her eyes were filled with some envy, I hastily nodded and greeted her.

  "That's it for today, Yanran must have lost her mood to study too, and I should head home as well." Luo Chuchu said.

  I felt my face getting hot, fortunately Yanyan timely helped me out and said: "Sister, slow down. Brother, let's see sister off."

  I held Yanran and walked behind Luo Chuyi, her maid said something to her, she turned back and glanced at me with a smile.

  I finally understand why my father always said he liked to see my mother's bright smile, and Xiao Ye said he liked his little sister's sweet smile. And I, on this sunny afternoon, remembered a woman's gentle smile.

  PS: As promised to everyone, I've only posted two episodes so far, and this Chinese New Year holiday has turned out to be even busier than my usual workdays. Today, I finally managed to squeeze out another episode - not sure if it's up to par? Thanks for everyone's support, and if there are any pink tickets, that'd be great too! (Why does it seem like I'm only posting extras for the sake of getting pink tickets, haha, sorry about that.)