The Fourth Lady novel Chapter 150

Early morning of the next day, when Su Qingyan woke up, she found that the sun was already past the third pole*. After she put on her outer clothing and pulled open the door, she saw Zizhu and the others currently busying themselves in the courtyard. Looks like the once in a year Laba rice porridge festival was almost here.

(*T/N: This is converted to around 9am in modern time; it's also considered to be waking up very late at this time, since ancient people wake up at the crack of dawn, so this phrase both has a figurative and literal meaning in this context.)

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Zizhu opened her mouth with a smile, "Miss, you're awake. This servant saw you were sleeping soundly early, so didn't wake you."

Qingyan smiled, seeing them being busy in the courtyard, "No matter. Besides, I haven't rested like this in a very long time either."

"Miss, quickly go in. Look at this sky, maybe it'll be snowing soon." Baizhi said as she pushed Qingyan into the room. "Miss don't catch a cold."

Qingyan looked to Baizhi and patted her head, "No harm, this Miss's body is very healthy."

"Miss, today the young master even ordered us to make sure Miss keeps warm." Huangcen said as she took down the things hanging from the clothes line. "Young master said, there might even be a huge snowstorm today."

The sky was getting more and more dark, as if it was precisely the calm before the storm. And shortly after, fluttering snowflakes floated about the sky. Afterwards, the snow got heavier and heavier, and in the short time to burn an incense, the ground was already covered in a layer of silver.

"Wah, it really did snow. Thinking about it, the snow this year, seemed to have fallen early." Huangcen stood under the eaves watching the ground get covered in snow, "This servant remembers that Miss used to hate snow the most in the past."

"Qingyan was afraid of the cold, so naturally hated snow very much. But the her now, quite liked the snow, because she once heard her father say that she was born during a snowy day. And that snowy day was exceptionally cold. She survived, but her mother wasn't able to pull through that coldest winter.

"Miss, what are you thinking about?" Zizhu said while she placed a cloak onto Qingyan's shoulders. "If you feel it's cold outside, this servant will go prepare a hand furnace for you right away."

Qingyan looked to Zizhu and shook her head, "No need, I'm fine." She still stood in that spot, absentmindedly gazing out into the scenery in the distance.

She thought of what she promised Yaochi yesterday and looked to Zizhu with a smile. "Zizhu, in a moment, go prepare some things, we're going to go out and look around in the streets."

Zizhu looked to Qingyan in confusion, "Miss, such a cold day, what are you going out for?"

"See if the commoners are starving or freezing. See if those commoners need our help, and give our humble effort." Qingyan said still with a smile on her face. Last night, she'd already used a pigeon to inform them on how she was going to let them enter the General's manor. And now, she naturally needs to go search for her bodyguards.

"Miss really has a kind heart." After glancing at Qingyan, Zizhu pulled along Qingdai and Chishao to go prepare things with her.

Qingyan, along with her servant girls, didn't chose to ride the horse carriage, but instead chose to go on foot. Although the General's manor already had people sweep away the snow at the entrance, it was still a bad idea to ride the horse carriage in this kind of weather.

"Miss, look, those commoners look like they're having a hard time."

When Qingyan followed Qingdai's line of sight and gazed over, she saw a bunch of beggars in tattered clothes sitting in front of a tavern's door, under the eaves, shivering.

"Qingdai, you go share with them the food we brought. We didn't bring much, but help however few we can." Qingyan looked to those people and plainly spoke.

"Yes." Qingdai said as she walked over with the bag and handed them the steaming hot buns in the bag for them to eat. Those beggars, when they saw the buns, without even thinking, all went up to pillage. How could they still bother with whether it was clean or not.