Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 630 Inquiry

At the railing on the second floor of the cabin, a maid in a pink shirt was leaning against the railing, holding a round fan embroidered with orchids in her hand, half covering her lips and smiling softly.

She bent down, her eyes moving between the two of them, then glanced at the pale yellow leaf in Song Ying's hand, and asked again, "Are you two from the south? Don't leaves in the south turn yellow?"

The grain ship they were on was an official transport vessel, divided into three floors. The top floor had a watchtower for lookout, the middle floor had passenger cabins, and the bottom deck was the cargo hold, used to load cargo or ballast.

Generally speaking, people are not allowed to go up to the top floor of the watchtower at will. Song Ying did not expect that there would be someone there. The tips of her ears suddenly felt a little hot, and she subconsciously tightened the leaves in her hand. She didn't know how much she saw.

Yuan Qing's expression remained normal. He only slightly turned sideways, silently blocking the maid's inquiring gaze, and said softly, "Many trees in the south are indeed evergreen all year round."

The woman became even more curious. "Will the leaves fall off if they don't turn yellow? If they don't, won't new leaves never grow?"

"In the spring, the new leaves push the old ones out."

"Is that so?" the maid stretched out her voice, and suddenly her eyes turned, and she said with a smile: "My maid Zhu'er is the cook on this ship. Judging from the way you two are dressed, you don't look like officials..."

Song Ying's gaze paused and fell on her hands resting on the railing. Her fingers were slender, her nails were trimmed neatly and smoothly, and there was no trace of oil smoke in the gaps between her nails. She didn't look like she was used to doing kitchen work at all.

Yuan Qing also saw that the maid was trying to find out their true feelings, so she simply replied, "It's definitely not true."

Zhu'er waited for a long time but heard nothing further. She felt annoyed and was about to ask a few more questions when someone shouted from the cabin below.

"Little hoof, you climbed up quite high. Is that a place you can go? Come down quickly. Madam is looking for you."

Zhu'er responded, not showing any embarrassment at having her lie exposed, and her smile remained unchanged: "The soup is still stewing in the stove. I will take my leave first."

After saying that, he hurried downstairs and quickly entered the cabin.

In the women's cabin at the stern, a young woman with a big belly was leaning on the soft couch by the window.

Zhu'er stepped forward, gently fanning her with her round fan, and said in a crisp voice, "Those two were quite cautious and didn't say what they did. But from the way the young man behaved, I felt he was a scholar."

The woman stroked her belly and smiled gently: "You guys are just worrying about nothing. How can two teenage boys and girls be bad people?"

Another maid disagreed, "Bad people don't write bad words on their faces. It's better to be safe than sorry. Now that we have understood clearly, we can rest assured, and so can the master."

The beautiful woman smiled helplessly, thinking of her husband, and asked, "Is everything settled properly, Master? Yanqiu, you're attentive, go take a look and see if anything's missing. We can send someone to buy anything we didn't bring after we dock tonight."

"Yes, madam." The maid named Yanqiu responded and turned to leave.

On the deck, Song Ying and Yuan Qing had no interest in looking at the scenery. Several boatmen kindly led them to the cabin, their footsteps sometimes deep and sometimes shallow on the damp wooden boards.

The boatmen had already seen how respectful the captain was to Doctor Lin. Although they knew they were not officials, they did not dare to neglect him.

A slightly older man bowed and said, "Please come this way, my dear ladies. You will be staying in the women's cabin at the stern. Don't worry, there is a special maid guarding the door. She is an old veteran of our Cao Gang who knows us well and will not allow any strangers to disturb you. Your luggage has been placed in this gentleman's cabin."

"Thank you." Yuan Qing nodded slightly.

Yuan Qing's cabin was located in the middle of the ship. When he passed by, he pushed the door open, took out the package that Song Ying needed for daily use, and then sent her over.

When I arrived at the door of the women's cabin, I found that there was more than one old woman guarding the door. There were also two sturdy old women sitting on low stools with two short sticks in their hands.

Seeing them coming, they both stood up.

The boatman who led the way pointed at Song Ying and explained, "This girl is the guest staying in room number one."

He then explained to Song Ying and the others, "Besides you, there's also a Hanlin Academy editor and his family on this ship. They're returning home for mourning. These two maids are from his household, so they're the safest bet."

As they were talking, the curtain was suddenly lifted, and a maidservant wearing a similar style of clothes as Zhu'er was about to come out. When she saw them, she was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Zhu'er doesn't know the rules. If she offended you earlier, I am here to apologize on her behalf."

He smiled at Song Ying again and said, "Miss, you are staying inside, right? Come in quickly."

Song Ying smiled at her and took the package from Yuan Qing: "Just send it here, I'll go in by myself."

Although Yuan Qing was a little worried, he had no choice but to ask, "Call me if you need anything."

Song Ying agreed and lifted the curtain to go in. The light in the cabin was dim, and a scent mixed with tung oil and incense hit him in the face.

In front of me was a long and narrow corridor with four cabins on both sides. At the entrance was a connecting cabin, about two meters long and less than ten meters wide. Six narrow wooden beds were placed side by side against the cabin wall, with various colored towels hanging on the head of the beds. It must be the maids' residence.

Her room, Room No. 1, was hidden at the innermost part. The door was three inches narrower than usual and made a slight creaking sound when it was pushed open.

The cabin was irregular in shape, as if it had been forcibly squeezed out of the ship's structure, but the furnishings inside were surprisingly exquisite: a nanmu step-out bed was placed by the window, with a gauze curtain embroidered with lotus patterns; a dressing table was placed diagonally in the corner, with a bronze mirror polished to a shine; even the washbasin was made of sandalwood, with a ruyi cloud carved on the lid.

Come to think of it, after all, it is for officials' families to live in. The space can be small, but the utensils and supplies cannot be inferior.

Although the boatman had already cleaned the cabin in advance, Song Ying was still a little worried. He took out a rag from his bag and cleaned the cabin carefully. He changed the cabin into the moon-white bedding he brought with him and put an wormwood sachet under his pillow. After all this cleaning, the cabin looked brand new. A few rays of sunlight shone in through the carved window panes, casting flickering spots of light on the ground.

Song Ying was very satisfied. This was much more comfortable than riding in a carriage!

It was almost noon now. The porridge he had eaten in the morning had long been digested, and his stomach was rumbling. Since there was nothing important to do at the moment, Song Ying would not let his stomach suffer. He immediately straightened his clothes and pushed the door open to find the canteen.

There was a faint fragrance floating in the corridor. Following the smell, I saw a cabin on the left with the door half-open. An indigo curtain hung inside, completely blocking out the scene inside.

The curtain swayed gently with the boat, and several figures were vaguely visible, seemingly talking in low voices.

Song Ying glanced at him and then looked away. He walked across the corridor, went to Yuan Qing's cabin and called him to have dinner together.