Her brow immediately furrowed, and just as she was about to ask what happened, he had already run away, his back looking hurried. Tao Yu chuckled softly, then looked down at the table and froze.
There was a small cloth bag, sewn somewhat roughly, but clearly made with care. Tao Yu picked it up in a daze, and the yellow beans inside trembled. Looking closer, she saw multiple needle holes, suggesting he had sewn and unsewn it many times to achieve this result.
Tao Yu remembered the incident of sewing a cloth bag with the scholar and meeting Yue Linze, and couldn’t help but smile slightly.
That evening, Tao Yu walked to Niannian and handed her the cloth bag: “Here, the cloth bag you wanted.”
Niannian cheered, playing with it for a long time before happily looking up: “Madam, this is the prettiest! My prettiest!”
“This wasn’t sewn by me, I bought it,” Tao Yu winked at her.
Niannian was still happy, having long forgotten her initial demand for Tao Yu to make it herself. Tao Yu watched her clumsily tossing the bag around, then went to the inner room to remove her facial disguise and change out of her heavy clothing, revealing her original beautiful appearance.
Looking at her distinct features in the copper mirror, she felt a bit nervous, afraid of scaring Niannian. But if she changed in front of her, wouldn’t that scare the child even more? So Tao Yu decided to remove her disguise first.
…She wondered if Niannian would hate her because of this, and if she would no longer like her, it would hurt her heart.
Tao Yu bit her lip, took a deep breath, and went out. Niannian was still looking down, playing with the cloth bag and hadn’t noticed her. She paused, mustering courage, and called out: “Niannian…”
Niannian looked up in confusion, her eyes wide when she saw Tao Yu, dropping the cloth bag. Tao Yu’s heart raced, wondering how to explain, when Niannian climbed up and asked loudly: “Madam, why have you gotten thinner?”
“Huh?” Tao Yu was surprised.
Niannian trotted over, worried: “Grandpa says being thin means being sick. Are you sick, Madam?”
“Oh… no, I’m just this thin,” Tao Yu tried to explain, “It was just very cold before, so I was wearing thick clothes, making me look a bit plumper.”
