The Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan

Chapter 155

During the spring festival period, every official could have ten days off. Gu Tingye also got the chance to rest for a few days. Except for the days when he had to pay a New Year visit to his relatives, he spent the rest of his holiday chatting with his wife at home. Even when they didn't talk about anything, he could still stare at Minglan's flat belly for a long while. Still, the piles of papers on his desk took up a lot of his time. The study was cold and bleak, unlike the warm and lovely bedroom. Then Gu Tingye moved all his papers to his bedroom. With the warm stove in the room and Minglan's happy laughter, Gu Tingye even forgot about how tiresome his work was and didn't want to leave the room.

Gongsun Baishi couldn't help but sigh with emotion that the affection between men and women was able to make heroes irresolute. He even wished he could roll up his sleeves and compose verses right away. However, the weather was so cold right now and the dripping water had frozen now. Well, he then gave up the idea of exposing his arms in case he would get freezing limbs.

Gu Tingye was focusing on the official papers by the desk while Minglan was lying on the side to read a book with her body wrapped in a soft and thick quilt. As he raised his head, he saw her frowning slightly and giving an imperceptible sigh. Then he stood up and sat beside her while asking in a low voice, "It doesn't feel like Spring Festival, right?" Gu Tingye assumed that her families must have gathered together to celebrate the Spring Festivals in former years.

Minglan nodded, "Normally at this time of the year, my sisters and I would play cards with my grandma." Gu Tingye couldn't imagine the way Old Madam Sheng, that dignified and solemn lady, playing cards and found that would be quite interesting. So he asked casually, "How's your skill?" Minglan answered fluently, "I am second to none in my family except for Mama Fang." If Molan didn't play dirty and Rulan didn't cheat.

Gu Tingye couldn't help laughing, "You are good at playing cards?" Minglan shook her head, "I am great, but that's not the game I'm best at."

"Then which game is? Backgammon? Throwing dice?" "Pai gow." Minglan was quite proud of herself. If she and Rulan played Pai gow, she was confident that she would let the latter lose everything. Gu Tingye stared at her for a moment with a strange look. Minglan got nervous under his daze and said softly, "My grandma often told me to practice needle work more. I don't always gamble." As a matter of fact, Minglan really was interested in the gaming industry. Gu Tingye stood up and walked back to his desk. After he opened a drawer at the bottom of his bookcase, he took out something and poured the tea which was left in the bowl into the tray. Then, he came back to Minglan and sat down. Before Minglan could figure out what had happened, she saw him holding the bowl in his left hand and raised his right hand slightly. With a clear sound of porcelain clinking, there were three large dices rotating in the bowl. As they stopped, a triple of sixes was exposed. That was a full house!

"How's that?" Gu Tingye withdrew his hand gracefully and flattened his sleeves gently.

Minglan, mouth opened widely, was utterly shocked. Then her eyes flickered towards him with admiration inside. No wonder why this man used to be called the No.1 macaroni in the capital. She really wanted to cry out, 'Second Uncle, I'll be your buddy from now on.' "How, how did you manage to do that?" Minglan asked timidly. In the meantime, she took over the dices with excitement and weighed them with her hand, feeling her heart beating fast. Gu Tingye approached to her slowly and picked up the dices, saying gently, "My dear, do you really want to learn this?" Minglan nodded vigorously. It never hurt to learn another skill. However, Gu Tingye suddenly put on a long face and said with a stern voice, "No." Then he left straightaway, "What if you teach our child."

Minglan helplessly watched him putting the dices back in the drawer and then argued, "Then why did you store it in the place near you?" She wondered whether he still practiced from time to time. Gu Tingye glimpsed at Minglan and then put a dice on the desk with the one-point side up, saying, "Watch this, I have wanted to present this to you."