Chapter 6: The Mountain Villa

  At 7 o'clock in the morning, the sunshine has become charming and affectionate, teasing the May morning breeze to come alive, running around everywhere, bringing a layer of sweet dew wherever it goes.

  Tian Nuoyu stood in front of the bedroom window, pushed open the window and immersed herself in the freshness of this morning.

  The surroundings are quiet and peaceful, just like the name of this villa, as quiet as the snow on the mountain top.

  Today is the seventh day Tian Nuanyu has spent in the mountain villa, and the first five days were uneventful, repeating the routine of picking up Mu Yuexin without any accidents or mistakes, which made her secretly let out a sigh of relief.

  In these days she also had some understanding of the mountain villa.

  The mountain villa is not too big and can't be called a mansion, it's more like a country house.

  The villa has three floors. On the second floor, in addition to Mu Ao Yun and Mu Yu Xin's bedrooms, there are two guest rooms. One of the guest rooms is currently occupied by Tian Nuan Yu, and the other one is empty.

  The first floor is divided into three parts, with a bright living room in the middle. On one side of the living room is an open kitchen, next to which is the dining room. On the other side is Mu Ao Yun's study, where he spends half his time at home.

  The third floor was mysterious, seemingly a spacious whole room. Tian Nuoyu vaguely saw that there was only one door. She had never gone up before, nor had she ever seen anyone else in the villa go upstairs and enter.

  There are very few people living in the mountain villa, except for Mu Ao Yun and his daughter, Zhong Shu and Gui Sao, now with Tian Nuan Yu, there are only five people in total.

  Uncle Zhong and Aunt Gui are a couple, they have been serving in the mountain villa for over ten years, their ages are not far apart, both have passed fifty, so many years, people in the mountain villa have become accustomed to calling them this way, their names are rarely called.

  Gui Shu was a woman of medium build, with a kind face and benevolent eyes, and a fortunate demeanor. She was very humble and affable, and also quite talkative. On the first evening that Tian Nuanyu arrived, she had already warmly chatted with Tian Nuanyu about family matters.

  Zhang Shu was tall and slender, perhaps spending most of his time outdoors, his skin had turned a dark brown color, but it made him look simple yet capable. Unlike Gui Sao, Zhang Shu was a man of few words, in the seven days Tian Nuanyu had been at the mountain villa, she hadn't exchanged more than five sentences with him. Tian Nuanyu could tell that Zhang Shu was a doer rather than a talker, and she liked people like that, they gave her a sense of stability and reliability.

  The daily chores in the mountain villa were basically left unattended by Mu Ao Yun, and were all handled by Zhong Shu and Gui Sao.

  Zhang Shu took care of the outside, while Gui Sao took care of the inside. All matters outside the house were handled by Zhang Shu, and all the flowers and plants in the garden were neatly tended to by him. All household chores were taken care of by Gui Sao, including the cleanliness of the villa, daily expenses, and the daily life and meals of Mu Ao Yun and his daughter, which were all carefully attended to by Gui Sao.

  Tian Nuoyu's bedroom window faced the backyard of the villa, which was slightly larger than the front yard. Near the bottom of the window, there was a neat lawn with a white flower trellis in the middle, covered with purple wisteria flowers. Under the trellis hung a swing, and this seemed to be Mu Yuexin's private spot. Tian Nuoyu had seen Mu Yuexin sitting on the swing reading twice through the window.

  A semicircular flower bed next to the lawn, with a variety of flowers in different colors, but not randomly planted, rather layered like stairs in a very regular manner.

  Next to the flower bed is a circle of white fence that reaches the knee, with a small gate in the middle. Outside the gate, there is a bluestone path that can accommodate two people walking side by side towards the west. On both sides of the path are two white trellises. At the end of the path is a row of three connected brick-red bungalows, which is where Uncle Zhong and Aunt Gui live.

  Mu Ao Yun had once let Zhong Shu and Gui Sao live in a villa, but both Zhong Shu and Gui Sao felt uncomfortable living in the villa. Later, with Mu Ao Yun's consent, Zhong Shu built this row of bungalows himself. Gui Sao took Tian Nuan Yu to visit their residence, where all the facilities were complete, clean and tidy.

  Guizhen also took Tian Nuanyu to the white trellis and turned around, originally the trellis was a vegetable garden, where various varieties of vegetables were planted, and the vegetables eaten on the mountain villa's dining table every day were all picked from this vegetable garden.

  This idea was proposed by Zhong Shu, who said that eating one's own vegetables is both safe and convenient. Mu Ao Yun knew that any suggestion or idea put forward by Zhong Shu had been carefully considered, so as soon as he spoke out, Mu Ao Yun agreed.

  Gu Sao told Tian Nuanyu that not far from the mountain villa, there was a very large fruit garden. It would take 15 minutes to walk there. Every morning, Zhong Shu and Gu Siao would go for a stroll and buy some fresh fruits back.

  If it weren't for the daily contact with the outside world, Tian Nuoyu really felt that this place was like a paradise on earth, which was vastly different from her previous imagination of the life of the rich and extravagant. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart, thinking that even the wealthy lived such simple lives.

  Jiashu and Guishu did not show any displeasure or strong rejection towards Tian Nuanyu, the new member. Instead, they were very friendly. When Guishu saw Tian Nuanyu, she repeatedly said it was good, saying that Mu Yuxin was indeed too lonely by herself and should have someone to accompany her.

  It's true that in such a large manor, Mu Yu Xin often stayed alone.

  Tian Nuanyu spent the past seven days at the mountain villa, where she only saw Mu Ao Yun twice. Each time was already close to 10 pm when he returned home and went into Mu Yu Xin's room for about ten minutes before heading straight to his study, not returning to his bedroom until nearly dawn. By the time Tian Nuanyu and Mu Yu Xin woke up in the morning, he had already left the house for work.

  Tian Nuanyu felt that Cui Shu and Gui Shu were more like the masters of the mountain villa, while Mu Yuexin was like a guest who had come to sit, and Mu Ao Yun seemed like a mysterious and elusive traveler.