Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

Soon they arrived at the entrance of the Begonia Garden. The maid bowed and left. The three of them entered the garden hand in hand. What they saw was the weeping crabapples that were blooming all over the garden. Clusters of white flowers on the branches looked like clouds and rosy clouds, so beautiful.

Under the blossoming trees, noble ladies in colorful spring gowns gathered in groups of three or five, appreciating the flowers and reciting poems, or sipping tea and chatting. The gentle spring light caressed their faces, making them more beautiful than the flowers, overshadowing the spring beauty in the garden.

The three of them first admired the flowers for a while. Lan Xue and Lan Zhi grew up in Jiankang and each had a lady they knew well. After not seeing each other for a few years, they naturally wanted to socialize with her. Lin Xi never liked these things and knew that she was in an awkward position, so she told them not to worry about her. She saw a pavilion not far away and said she would go there to rest. Although Lan Zhi and Lan Xue did not want to leave her alone, they had to agree when they saw Lin Xi's firm attitude.

Lin Xi took Xue Yun and walked towards the pavilion. When they got closer, they found that there was already someone in the pavilion. However, the lady was wearing a pink dress and was not noticeable among the flowers, so Lin Xi did not notice her.

Seeing her leaning lazily against the railing, reading a book intently, and with no maid serving her, Lin Xi did not go forward to disturb her and walked to the other side of the pavilion and sat down.

After Lin Xi sat down, she was bored and started to play with the gilded hollow flower and bird incense ball hanging on her belt. This was something from Lin Xi's dowry. When she divorced Wang Zhuo, she brought with her eighty loads of dowry, except for the damaged and large furniture that could not be taken away. The rest were checked one by one by the people sent by Xie according to the dowry list and brought back in full.

Eighty loads of dowry were not outstanding in the wealthy Jiankang City, and even seemed a little shabby, but they were all bought by Lin Xi's parents with most of their fortune. From the large carved and hollowed-out canopy bed that took three years to make to small clothes and accessories like the aromatherapy ball, all were exquisitely made, showing the parents' deep love for their daughter.

Unfortunately, the Lin family's parents had an accident on their way out last year, and their only daughter almost died in a rebellion half a year later. If Lin Xi hadn't traveled through time, she would have ended up dying of depression like in the original plot.

"Which girl are you from? Why have I never seen you before?" A crisp voice sounded, interrupting her thoughts.

Lin Xi looked up and saw that it was the girl in pink shirt who had just sat opposite her. She had put down her book and was squinting her eyes, looking at her curiously.

"My last name is Lin, and the wife of Duke Anguo is my aunt." Lin Xi showed a calm smile and replied softly.

"Lin?" The pink-shirted girl lowered her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "You are the lady Lin who went into battle with a knife and scared off the rebels!"

Lin Xi didn't understand why she was so excited, but she nodded anyway, "Yeah."

Seeing her nod, the girl's eyes lit up. She put down the book in her hand, walked to Lin Xi's side, and quickly scanned her from head to toe. She was amazed. "I heard that Madam Lin was fearless in the face of danger and chopped off several heads with a big knife. I always thought she should be a heroic woman like Mulan in the book. I didn't expect that after seeing her today, she turned out to be such a fairy-like figure."

Lin Xi shook her head upon hearing this, and a helpless smile appeared on her face. "Thank you for your compliment, sister. However, I just acted in an emergency and went into battle."

Seeing her modest attitude, the woman felt more approachable. She sat down next to Lin Xi and began to introduce herself. "Sister Lin is as brave as a man. I admire her very much. I am the daughter of the Chengnan Wei family. You can just call me Guannan."

Lin Xi knew who she was. The Wei family in the south of the city, whose ancestral home was in Hedong, was a prominent family on par with the Wang and Xie families. Unlike the upstarts like the Anguo Mansion, the Wei family passed down poetry and etiquette from generation to generation, and their children were well-known for their literary talents. The current head of the family, Taifu Wei Yan, was a great scholar who had served in three dynasties and had many students all over the world.

And this Wei Guannan is none other than the granddaughter of Taifu Wei. She was personally educated by Taifu Wei since she was young, and was well-versed in poetry, books, etiquette and music. In the original plot, she met the original owner at the Spring Banquet and became a close friend.

The original owner wrote "Elegy for the Begonia Flower" after she died of depression. The sentence "As for her quality, gold and jade cannot describe her preciousness; as for her nature, ice and snow cannot describe her purity; as for her spirit, stars and sun cannot describe her refinement; as for her appearance, flowers and the moon cannot describe her beauty" is the most praiseworthy quatrain in the world and is regarded as the most famous quatrain to mourn the dead.

Her fate was the same as her name. After her husband passed away three years after their marriage, she remained a widow and devoted herself to writing until her death at the age of 42. She wrote 12 volumes of books and countless poems and essays handed down from generation to generation. Her calligraphy work "Huaiyuan Tie" surpassed all other men and was regarded as a model for students of later generations to learn regular script.

Thinking of this, Lin Xi's smile became more sincere. She took Wei Guannan's hand and said in a friendly tone, "So you are the younger sister of the Wei family. I have always heard that your sister is very smart. After meeting you today, I find that you are indeed a beautiful woman with a wealth of knowledge."

Seeing Lin Xi praising him like this, Wei Guannan felt a little embarrassed. His cheeks turned red and he lowered his head shyly. “I’m not as good as my sister said. I’m just a fool who only knows how to study.”

She was introverted by nature and didn't like to socialize. She wanted to hide in a corner every time she attended a banquet like this. At first, because of her family background, the ladies would call her whether they were drinking tea, arranging flowers, or reciting poems and enjoying the moon, but Wei Guannan politely refused them all.

As time went by, no one called her that anymore, and some even secretly nicknamed her "little nerd." However, this was exactly what she wanted, so every time she would read a book alone in the corner.

Today, she took the initiative to talk to Lin Xi for the first time because she had just finished reading the book she brought with her. Her eyes were sore and she looked up to see Lin Xi in a dazzling red dress, but she couldn't see her face clearly, so she took the initiative to speak.

Lin Xi knew her character and wanted to get closer to her, so she acted like a gentle older sister and spoke to her in a soft voice at first, narrowing the distance between the two of them.

Then he described to her in vivid detail the dangers of the battle of Langya. Wei Guannan, who had never been out of Jiankang, was stunned. In addition to his admiration for Lin Xi, he also felt a little distressed.

"How can there be such an ignorant and incompetent man in the world? He has tarnished the reputation of the prince." Wei Guannan was indignant and wished he could write a manifesto immediately to scold Wang Zhuo for seventy-nine times.

Lin Xi also deeply agreed with this. Now that the clans were suppressed by the emperor, many of the children of the noble families were frustrated. Some of them were drunken and dreaming, while some placed their hopes on illusory metaphysics and behaved in a dissolute manner. However, there was still no one like Wang Zhuo, a "genius" who treated the common people of the county as nothing.

"It's not worth getting angry at such a person. You might as well ruin your health." Lin Xi patted Wei Guannan's hand and comforted her for a while. The two continued to talk affectionately.

Lin Xi chatted with her from the stars and the moon to poetry and songs, and was about to talk about love and romance when a sudden noise not far away interrupted them.