The next day, Du Xiaoxian got up at daybreak, put on her uniform and took a broom to clean the front yard.
The sky was milky white with a faint rosy horizon. The morning breeze was cool and moist, refreshing the body and mind of Du Xiaoxian after she took a deep breath. She stretched herself and turned around to look at the window on the second floor. It was tightly closed. Her view was completely blocked by the beige curtains. Du Xiaoxian rubbed her nose and thought, “Maybe the young master hasn’t gotten up yet.”
After cleaning up the front yard, she picked up the withered leaves in the bushes and then walked towards the gate along the tiled driveway. The road wasn’t dirty so it didn’t take much effort to clean it. When she reached the iron gate, she gathered the leaves on the ground and put them into a basket with a small shovel. Only when she finished all the work did she stand up straight and take a rest.
The leaves on the ground were cleaned up. But there were also leaves in the grass by the roadside, which were difficult to clean up with the broom, so she had to pick them up with hands. Du Xiaoxian carried the basket on her back, and squatted on the ground to pick up the leaves and garbage. Actually there were a pair of gloves and a rake in her toolkit. But she was not used to it and unwilling to use the precious gloves. Therefore, she simply collected the leaves and garbage with bare hands. Anyway, she was not a delicate lady. She would just wash her hands if they got dirty.
The dew in the grass wetted her shoes. Du Xiaoxian stamped her feet and looked around to make sure that no one else was around. Then she took off her shoes and put them on the tiles. Back in her hometown, she had always walked bare feet in summer and autumn, because she was afraid of wearing her shoes out. But now she was no longer worried about wearing out shoes, because the ground here was flat and clean and she was offered with two pairs of new black cloth shoes. Therefore, she wore shoes every day and gradually became accustomed to it.
It was comfortable to walk on the soft grass. Were it not for the fear that the dew would wet her clothes, she would sit down on the grass? The bright sun rose from midair, spreading out golden sunshine in every direction on the ground. Du Xiaoxian looked up at the sky. The sunlight was rather warm and pleasant than dazzling. She found Gu Nianbin’s window half open, leaving the curtains gently fluttering along with the morning breeze. The light in the room was not turned on, so it was a little dark inside. She narrowed her eyes and gazed at the window for a while, not being able to be sure whether Gu Nianbin had gotten up or not.
Looking down at her injured hand, she found that the scalded marks became darker red than yesterday. The burning feeling was gone. Since the scalds were already healed, maybe she needn’t to apply the medicine any more. She was strong and tough, such little injury was nothing for her. It was just that she had promised the young master last night that… Du Xiaoxian hesitated and looked up at Gu Nianbin’s window again. She let out a light sigh and lowered her head, continuing to pick up the leaves. She was a simple girl who would simply let it go when she could not work things out.
By the time she returned to the front yard, the basket on her back was already half-full of leaves. Her duty in the morning session was basically fulfilled. When she came back from school, she would clean up the yard again. That was a day’s work for her. She stood up, stretched herself, smacked her lower back and raised her head again, finding Gu Nianbin standing in front of the window, smiling and waving at her.
Du Xiaoxian blushed like a child who had been caught on the spot for doing something wrong, rubbing her fingers uneasily. However, her eyes were still fixating on Gu Nianbin. Her mind went blank again. She didn’t realize what he was waving at her for. She just felt a little shy when seeing him. It was different from her usual embarrassment. There seemed to be rabbit jumping up and down quickly in her heart.
Gu Nianbin smiled. The little girl got frightened so easily. But she was much better now, at least she dared to look at him when she was shy. In the golden sunlight, the little girl stood on the lawn that was as green as a blanket, looking up and giggling at him. Gu Nianbin got struck by a strange feeling when looking at her cute red face. It was as if he was overjoyed or…uneasy.
He waved at her again. Du Xiaoxian now realized something, put down the basket quickly and trotted upstairs. She was relieved to find there was no one in the hall and ran upstairs on tiptoe. She behaved like a thief when heading towards Gu Nianbin’s room. She rotated the door nob and dodged in, and then turned around to gently close the door before letting out a deep sigh of relief.
When she turned around, she was shocked again to find Gu Nianbin standing right behind her. She was almost about to bump into him. Du Xiaoxian was so surprised that she took two steps back and leaned against the door. She patted her chest, “Sir…sir, you scared me to death.”
Gu Nianbin looked at her with interest, arched his eyebrows and took a step closer to her, “How?”
He was almost breathing to her face. His breath was warm and itchy, as if there were feathers brushing her face gently. Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated again, making her face hot and even her neck turned red.
Gu Nianbin wiped the sweat on her forehead and said in a gentle voice, “Why do you run? Look at the sweat on your forehead, and it was still so early in the morning!”
Du Xiaoxian wanted to dodge but couldn’t. It seemed that his large hand was magical, which stopped her from moving. She was in a total trance. Gu Nianbin, who was standing so close to her, exuded the aura of a mature man. His charisma made her panic yet long for more. Somehow, she suddenly smiled at him.
Her stunning smile bloomed like an orchid in a deep valley. Gu Nianbin got lost in it for a moment. He even saw her little pink tongue behind her teeth for a moment. He took a step back and turned around to take out the ointment from his drawer.
Du Xiaoxian sat on the sofa obediently. When he came over, she reached out her hand and said, “Sir, the scalds have healed already, it doesn’t hurt at all now.”
Gu Nianbin sat down, took her hand and examined carefully under the light, “Let’s apply some again today. Just to be sure.” As he spoke, he squeezed out the ointment and gently applied a thin layer on her hand. The ointment was pleasantly cool.
Du Xiaoxian looked up at Gu Nianbin who was in a black waistcoat with messy hair., which was completely different from his usual appearance. But there was a lazy and unruly touch in it, making her feel that he was easy to get along with.
She remembered that when she cried last night, Gu Nianbin hugged her. His arms were very strong and his embrace was very warm. His heartbeat made her feel secure. Du Xiaoxian suddenly sighed inside. How she wishes she could stay by the young master all her life. He was nice to her and would always protect her. Staying with him, she would always be safe.
But she knew that this was impossible. The young master would marry Miss Xia and have children with her. When he had his own family, he would have no time to care about her anymore. And sooner or later, she would have to leave this place and live her own life. Thinking of this, Du Xiaoxian felt she was filled with a strong feeling of loss.
Gu Nianbin handed the ointment to her after applying some onto her hand, “Keep it. Don’t be rash in the future.”
Du Xiaoxian blushed and said yes. Gu Nianbin stood up and said, “Alright, now go downstairs and have breakfast. Then you should go to school.”
Du Xiaoxian agreed. She took the ointment and was about to leave when Gu Nianbin called her again, “Remember, stop helping others with their duties today.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You won’t lie to me, will you?”
“Yes.” Du Xiaoxian answered straightforwardly with her big clear eyes blinking at him.
Gu Nianbin smiled and gestured her to go.
After Du Xiaoxian finished breakfast, she told Butler Xiao that she was going to school. When she walked to the front yard, she saw the master and the lady taking a stroll and greeted them. Gu Guangxian smiled at her and nodded. Fang Yaru asked her to be careful on the way to school. Nothing special happened.
Du Xiaoxian walked out of the gate and took a deep breath. She didn’t expect that things happened last night were addressed so easily. The young master didn’t blame her because…Du Xiaoxian frowned and thought, because they were very familiar now, right? The lady actually scolded her last night but she became benevolent again this morning. The young master was right. The lady had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, she didn’t hold grudge at all although she was angry before. Du Xiaoxian would be extremely uneasy if nobody had blamed her through the whole thing.
She was in a particularly good mood today. She stood up straight and walked to school in high spirits under bright sunlight.
Now she became familiar with Yang Liying and others. They often played together and she would run errands for them nearly every day. However, she was not annoyed at all. Instead, she was very happy because she had friends now. The young master was right about being brave and making more friends. She did what he told her to, so she made friends and became happier.
Yang Liying and other girls also felt that playing with Du Xiaoxian was not bad. Although she was rustic and dumb, she took good care of them. It was as if they had brought a maid to school who would be at their services all the time.
But when Du Xiaoxian told Yang Liying that she couldn’t help her with her duty after school, Yang Liying was shocked, “Why? We have agreed on that! Besides, my hands still hurt!”
“My hand is also injured,” Du Xiaoxian showed her hand, “I got scalds.”
Yang Liying looked at her hand and said, “Your scalds have healed. You can help me with my duty now. Anyway, Wang Qian and I are going shopping. Bye.”
Du Xiaoxian stepped in front of her and said, “I really can’t help you do the duty today. How about tomorrow? I’m going to help you for a week anyway.”
“No, you must help me today. Otherwise…” Yang Liying snorted, “Otherwise, we won’t play with you anymore.”
She was just a pitiful bug. How dared she not obey her order!
Du Xiaoxian held the schoolbag tighter on her back and walked towards the door with her head down.
“Hey…” Yang Liying opened her eyes wide. Du Xiaoxian was actually ignoring her threat? Where did she get the nerve now?
She chased after Du Xiaoxian and asked again, “You really won’t do it for me?”
Du Xiaoxian shook her head, “I really can’t help you today. But I can help you tomorrow.” After saying that, she turned around and left.
Gazing at Du Xiaoxian’s back, Yang Liying was stunned. What a weirdo! She was as cowardly and pitiful as a mouse normally. But she did have guts once she got serious!
It was when she walked out of the school gate when Du Xiaoxian finally let out a long breath. Because of Gu Nianbin’s request, she once again refused others. Although it was a little difficult, she made it. She had always said yes to everyone’s requests and never refused anyone. She felt that refusing others would make them sad. Her feelings were less important anyway.
Today he refused Yang Liying decisively. It wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined. She even became a little bit confident. Du Xiaoxian stood up straight under the bus stop sign. She really became brave and confident, even being able to ignore the looks from others in the middle of a crowd.
When she was waiting for the bus, a streamlined white convertible sports car stopped in front of her. The man in the driver’s seat wore a pair of large sunglasses and revealed big white teeth as he smiled at her. Du Xiaoxian checked both sides and then realized that he was smiling at her. She was a little afraid, took several steps back and turned her face away.