The weather was unpleasant and the rain did not stop overnight, and by the next morning there was no tendency for it to stop. Wang Wu came over to discuss with Song Wan Yue, and if they insisted on hurrying, there was nothing they could do.
“We have nothing urgent to do, let’s wait for the rain to stop.”
Wang Wu thanked and thanked happily.
It rained unhurriedly for another day, and on the second day it still had no tendency to stop.
Sister Wu went over to open the door and was surprised to see that it was the woman, “Madam this is ……”
The woman was followed by two maids, holding something in their hands, hearing her question, she smiled back, “I went down to the boat that day and bought some local specialties of fruits, I came over to give them to your madam, I wonder if it would be convenient.”
“Please come in.”
Meng spoke.
Sister Wu moved aside and the woman walked in with her maids and blessed herself towards both Meng and Xu, smiling before she spoke, “My surname is Zhang, I’ve been trying to find an opportunity to thank you for being willing to give us a lift, but I just don’t know you well enough to come over and bother you. Now it’s raining outside and we can’t leave for the time being, so I thought it would look like we knew what we were doing if we didn’t come over, so I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
Looking at her face, Meng liked her three times, “Why would you disturb us? We’re bored too. Sister Wu, serve tea.”
Madam Zhang sat down and gestured for the maid to put something on the table, “They are all some fruits that we bought on the boat that day, bring them to Madam to try.”
“You have a heart.”
Madam Zhang’s eyes narrowed into slits as she smiled, giving people a very comfortable feeling, “Madam doesn’t mind as long as you don’t mind, my husband and I came back from a letter from home and didn’t have time to prepare anything, so we haven’t had the heart to come over to see Madam.”
“You’re welcome, everyone has an accident when they go out, we’re happy to help you.”
“Your Ladyship is kind-hearted and will surely be rewarded.”
“It’s just a handful, don’t take it to heart.”
Seeing how kind she was, Madam Zhang seemed to open her mouth, “These ten days have suffocated me, I wonder if you have anything to occupy yourselves with, Madam?”
Meng pointed to the spool of thread that she had wrapped, “What is there to do? No, I have wrapped so many spools of thread.”
“I’m afraid this will last you for six months.”
I also brought some material to make clothes for the children, but Yue’er said the boat was bumpy and hard on the eyes, so she wouldn’t let me do it.”
“Does madam know how to play the leaf card?”
“I have heard of it, but I have not played it.”
Madam Zhang’s eyes lit up, “I’ll teach Madam how, just so we can pass the time together.”
Meng smiled in response, “Sure.”
Madam Zhang instructed her maid to go back and bring over the leaf tiles, “You need four people to play leaf tiles, apart from the three of us, there is still one person missing.”
“Sister Wu, you come.”
Sister Wu smiled in response and stood to the side to listen to the woman talk about the rules.
Several people quickly listened.
Mrs. Zhang smiled as she led them through a few rounds, and when the three had fully learnt, she smiled and said.
“This leaf poker needs a bit of colour, otherwise it’s no fun, so how about we use this spool of yours and split ten per person to see who loses it all first.” …
“Good.”
Sister Wu shared ten spools of thread each and sat down again with great enthusiasm.
The first three hands were not yet fully mastered and each of them lost three spools of thread, and Sister Wu was anxious to see what cards Meng needed so that she could give them to her secretly. By the fourth game, Meng had won a hand, and Sister Wu’s face was so happy that the folds of her face were smiling.
Meng was also delighted, she had been brought up as a lady of the house and had never touched these things, so it was fun to be in contact with them for the first time.
Song Wangyue heard the laughter in the house as she reached the door, she pushed the door in, raised her eyebrows and asked with a smile, “What are you playing at, so happy?”
“Leaf cards.”
Meng smiled back at her, her eyes not leaving the cards in her hand, she had won several hands already and the spool of thread in front of her was clearly meeting more.
Hearing the voice, Mrs. Zhang immediately stood up, her round face all smiles, “Miss Song.”
Song Wangyue’s eyes fell on her naturally, sizing her up without a trace, her mouth smiling, “If I had known that Madam could play leaf poker, I would have invited you over long ago.”
Mrs. Zhang replied without a drop of water, “We were afraid of disturbing madam those days and didn’t feel like coming over, it’s been raining for the past two days and it’s really stifling, it just so happens that I also bought some fruit that day when we got off the boat, so I brought it over to madam.”
“Sit down quickly, it’s my turn to play my cards.”
Meng urged, and the woman sat back down and played a card.
“Touch!”
Xu flung out two cards.
Song Wan Yue stood next to her, and after only a moment of looking at them, she understood the rules, gesturing for Sister Wu to get up, she sat down and saw that several people had spools of thread in front of them, and lost her smile, “It’s still more enjoyable to play with money, let’s not play big ones either, how about one or two coins?”
Mrs. Zhang only felt that it was not good to play with money, so she did not propose it. Hearing Song Wan Yue say this, she agreed, “Yes.”
Meng and Xu didn’t have a problem with it, a handful of two coins at most, they couldn’t lose a hundred in a morning, so they asked Sister Wu to bring the coins over.
Mrs. Zhang also asked her maid to go back and bring over a bunch of coins.
With the coins as bets, the group played with more enthusiasm and laughter came out from time to time in the room.
As the morning wore on, Meng lost twenty coins and felt like playing.
The woman was not satisfied with this chapter, and invited the woman to come back in the afternoon, “It’s idle, just to pass the time.”
Mrs. Zhang was naturally happy to make an appointment and went back with her maid without even taking the leaf plate.
“This leaf sign is really fun.”
Meng looked all refreshed, Sister Wu smiled and came forward to help her squeeze her shoulders, “It’s rare that Madam likes it, wait until later for Miss to teach it to the aunt, we’ll accompany you to play it when Madam Zhang gets off the boat.”
Song Wan Yue poured two cups of water and brought them over to Meng and Xu, she also poured a cup herself and held it in her hand, “Madam Zhang looks very talkative.”
“Who says it isn’t ……”
Meng gestured for Sister Wu to stop and took a sip of water before answering, “She hasn’t gone out for more than ten days since she came on board, I thought she was someone who wouldn’t come around, but when I saw her today, it wasn’t like that at all.”
“She’s a smooth person.”
Xu saw clearly that from the time Mrs. Zhang entered the door to the time she proposed playing the leaf card, she had the right amount of proportion, neither appearing abrupt nor eager.
Meng nodded in agreement, “It should be from a merchant family, your aunt is such a person, eight-faced yet not allowed to be annoying.”
Xu had only met her aunt once when she was a child, she had little memory of her now, but she still nodded, “Yes, my aunt is very nice.”
“In that case, then invite them to join us in the dining hall for dinner, Sister Wu, you go and invite them.”
Song Wangyue said.