Guzheng
Fu Mei Li decided to plant all of her seedlings within the inner courtyard for now. As for the raised garden beds in the back courtyard, she planned to fill those with vegetables.
There was enough room and the soil all over Shenghuo Village was of good quality, so this was not a problem.
Mei Li spent the rest of the afternoon taking an inventory of the gardening tools available to her.
When she was rummaging in the storage room beside the main room (her bedroom), a long and elegant wooden box caught her attention.
Curious, she opened it. Within it lay a wooden guzheng with thirteen strings. It looked to be in good condition.
This stringed instrument has been well-loved in China since ancient times. It is appreciated for its beautiful timbre and expressive sound.
Mei Li was surprised. Did someone in this family play music? She took a mental note to ask someone later.
At dinner time, everyone ate the dishes that Aunt Li cooked. Mei Li abstained from cooking because she was exhausted from her afternoon's work.
She sat there silently chewing on food as Shufen and Weimin recounted to Mingyu what happened that afternoon with their uncles.
Mingyu listened with an inscrutable look the whole time.
When Shufen finished talking, he turned to Mei Li. "Mei-er, you don't have to worry about the uncles. Just ignore them and let us know if anything happens."
Mei Li nodded. The more she knew about the Sheng family, the more she didn't want to interact with them either.
"Forget about it big brother," she waved her hand in dismissal.
"Oh right, big brother Mingyu, are you still changing rooms each night?" Mei Li changed the topic. She was reminded about Mingyu's situation when she was checking the storage rooms that afternoon.
Since she occupied the main room where he used to live, Mingyu was forced to transfer rooms each night. Whichever of the brothers who will accompany her at night will have his room vacant, and so Mingyu would sleep there.
"Why don't we clear one of the storage rooms and temporarily convert it to a bedroom?"
Mingyu finally smiled. "You don't have to worry about this. The room beside Aunt Li's will be cleared soon. Shufen and I already planned to move his herbs there and I will take up the current medicine room as my bedroom."
"Oh that's good!" Mei Li was happy to hear this. She didn't want the eldest brother to hop rooms each night.
"By the way, I found a guzheng in one of the storage rooms. Who owns it?"
When they heard Mei Li's question, they fell silent and looked awkward.
After a long pause, she heard Longwei's quiet voice. "That... it's mine…"
"Really, you know how to play the guzheng?" Mei Li was excited as she appreciates people with talent. "Can you play for me one of these days?"
Longwei, who was put on the spot, bowed his head. He stopped playing a long time ago but did not want to disappoint his wife, especially when she was giving him an admiring gaze.
Sensing his brother's predicament, Shufen changed the topic. "Xiaomei, do you like the guzheng, too? Don't noble ladies in the capital like learning the four arts?"
"Which one are you best at? Music, painting, go, or calligraphy?"
Mei Li didn't know exactly what's going on, but she knew that Shufen often jumps in to help if his twin brother was in trouble. So she realized she must have touched a sensitive topic.
She didn't pursue the matter but answered Shufen's query. "I'm not really good at playing instruments but I prefer to dance. My painting skills are also passable. I'm not really good with calligraphy or go. Oh, and I like poetry."
Mei Li liked dancing when she was in the modern times. To relax, she often went out with friends to have a few drinks and go dancing. She also joined some dance groups and attended dance lessons.
She learned different ancient and folk dances as well, as they were related to her field of study and she was curious.
Over the years, her favorite mode of exercise was dancing aside from yoga. Running and going to the gym just didn't interest her.
As for calligraphy, she really wasn't used to it. She can read traditional scripts, but using a brush and producing elegant or powerful strokes wasn't something she had the time to practice. The same went for the game of go (Chinese chess).
When it comes to painting, meanwhile, she has dabbled. So she can still produce something good to look at when required.
When Mei Li mentioned dancing, Weimin's attention was instantly captured.
"Wife, can you dance for us? I really want to see!"
Mei Li suddenly thought of dancing modern moves to her husbands. What would their faces look like if she did those raunchy hip shakes and waves, or Beyonce's signature booty jiggles?
She almost choked on her food in an attempt to stifle her laughter.
"Sure, I'll dance for you one of these days! Maybe I'll even do a lap dance or pole dance for you." She said with an air of mystery and laughter.
The men were confused. "What is a lap dance or pole dance?" They never heard of these things before.
Mei Li smiled enigmatically. She gave them a quick overview of what these dances looked like.
"A lap dance is when a wife dances on her husband's lap. A pole dance requires a tall pole and one dances around or up and down it."
The five brothers were dumbfounded. They stared at her as if she had grown two heads. What did the wife just say?
The men's imaginations went wild. As a result, their faces started burning hot. Haoran downed a few more cups of tea while Weimin and Shufen looked at her with blazing eyes filled with the light of desire.
Longwei was beet red and even Mingyu, who had excellent self control, had pink ears.
"Xiaomei, how in the world do you know these dances?" Shufen was really curious. Was this something a noble lady would know?
"Haha, I read it from a book!"
"Wife, do a lap dance for me tonight!" Shufen shouted in excitement.
Mei Li simply smiled at him. "No way. You have to work hard first. If you treat me extremely well, then maybe I'll perform these dances for you."
The five Jin brothers secretly made a promise to themselves right then and there that they would be very good to their wife!