Gou Sheng quickly plastered on a smile and said obsequiously, "Indeed, indeed. Lord Ji, you are majestic and mighty. It was my poor eyesight and shallow understanding. I apologize to you."
Ji Chenghe snorted and put on an act, "Verbal apologies lack sincerity. If you truly wish to apologize, then teach this official how to win a woman's heart, to make a woman... fall in love with me."
Gou Sheng chuckled, "Lord Ji, to be frank, I've only recently learned to read and understand romance. I have no special skills. It's just that you must be devoted to her, be sincere, and actively care for and cherish her. That's all."
"That's it? This... this is as good as saying nothing!" Lord Ji spread his hands, quite disappointed.
Gou Sheng scratched the back of his head, rolled his eyes, and added, "Treat the young lady sincerely. See what she needs most, and help her get it."
"See what she needs most..." Ji Chenghe mused silently, a smile gradually appearing on his lips.
It was surprising that the old iron tree, Lord Ji, had finally blossomed and found a girl he liked. Gou Sheng was quite curious. But, he wondered, could it be the same person he liked?
After all, he had heard the Madam say that some cultured men liked women who had been married, like that person called Cao Cao.
If that were the case, he would be completely outmatched by Lord Ji. Just standing before the County Magistrate, a mere servant named "Gou Sheng" instantly felt a hundred thousand feet shorter in presence.
He wasn't even worthy of being Lord Ji's love rival.
Gou Sheng felt it was necessary to clarify the situation immediately. "Lord Ji, you... you have a girl you like?"
Ji Chenghe's eyes were full of affection, and he nodded slightly, "Precisely." Ah, thinking of that person filled his heart with joy!
"Then, may I boldly presume to ask, which young lady is so fortunate as to have become Lord Ji's beloved?" Gou Sheng's heart pounded nervously.
Lord Ji's lips curved unconsciously, "Bai Jing."
"So it's Miss Bai Jing. Lord Ji, you truly have discerning taste!" Thankfully, thankfully, it wasn't the same person. Gou Sheng breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It was truly miraculous. The Madam had bought two people, one for him and one for Lord Ji.
If the Madam's luck hadn't been blessed by the gods, he wouldn't have believed it.
Ji Chenghe looked at Gou Sheng and solemnly instructed, "My relationship with Bai Jing hasn't even begun. You must not spread this around, lest it harm Bai Jing's reputation."
"Please rest assured, Lord Ji. I believe you and Miss Bai Jing are a match made in heaven." Huang Gou Sheng gave two thumbs up, crossed them, winked, and smiled ambiguously.
The first batch of products for the workshop had begun trial production. Du Min and the other four had written down all the problems they encountered during the trial production in their "Work Manuals" for Bai Sheng to review.
Lu Hao was not very literate, and her manual used many circles and crosses to represent things, but Bai Sheng could understand the general meaning.
Bai Sheng would select the issues worth addressing from their records and then discuss solutions.
One day, the weather was pleasant.
Bai Sheng was sitting under the bamboo pavilion, perusing their written manuals. Ji Chenghe walked out with a grin, rubbing his hands, and stammered, "Little sister, that... that, could you let me see the notebook Bai Jing wrote?"
Ji Chenghe felt that he needed to understand Bai Jing's work better so he could find ways to help her and thus slowly get closer to her.
Bai Sheng glanced at him and praised readily, "Not bad, elder brother. You've made great progress. From now on, you can help review Sister Jing's work manual too. Perhaps you can offer many constructive opinions from a man's perspective."
As Bai Sheng spoke, she drew out Bai Jing's work manual and handed it to Ji Chenghe.
"Absolutely no problem!" Ji Chenghe took it excitedly and even managed to flatter Bai Sheng, "Thanks to your excellent guidance, little sister, elder brother now has a clear direction. From now on, I want to be Bai Jing's support, waiting for her in her future."
Bai Sheng extended her index fingers on both hands and wagged them at him, playfully smiling, "Elder brother, I have high hopes for you!"
Ji Chenghe grinned and left with the manual, his steps uneven.
"As if we were there," Ji Chenghe looked at Bai Jing's delicate and neat handwriting, his heart overflowing with love.
His mouth remained curved upwards, and he picked up a pen to make annotations on Bai Jing's manual.
When Bai Jing retrieved her work manual again, she found it contained many marginalia in a handwriting different from her own, and a letter was tucked inside.
Curiously, she opened it. The letter read: "Bai Jing, today I was invited by Sister Sheng, and together we reviewed your work manual.
You've done very well, detailed and thoughtful, but I have a small, humble suggestion to offer.
Your problem records are very thorough, but due to a lack of categorization and summarization, the issues appear somewhat disorganized.
If you could categorize various problems according to work stages and then summarize them, it would look much more noticeable and convenient.
I've drawn up a table for you. As I am not very familiar with the workshop's work, there are undoubtedly many omissions. Therefore, these suggestions are for reference only. Ji Chenghe."
Bai Jing smiled. She began to read Ji Chenghe's annotations carefully and found his suggestions very insightful.
Especially the problem categorization table. After organizing all the issues into different categories, everything became much clearer, and Bai Jing was deeply inspired.
In the past, she had been a woman confined to the inner chambers and had hardly ever truly done any work like this. Furthermore, she had no experience in resolving problems that arose in her work. So, when she started her new job, she felt very flustered and anxious.
She felt that despite having read so many books, they were of little use in actual work. Everything had to be learned anew.
Ji Chenghe's suggestions gave her a sense of direction and purpose in her work.
Bai Jing was particularly moved. She immediately wrote a reply to Ji Chenghe, expressing her immense gratitude and asking for his continued guidance.
In the middle of the night, Ji Chenghe lay in bed, rereading the reply letter, his smile stretching to his ears.
Finally, he kissed the letter and placed it over his heart, only falling into a deep sleep as dawn approached.
From then on, they began this mode of communication through letters. Although they saw each other every day, both were happily engrossed in it.
As the intermediary for their letters, Bai Sheng rediscovered the nostalgic feeling of passing notes between classmates during her school days.
Huang Gou Sheng was not to be outdone.
Whenever he had time, he would accompany Man Man in studying and playing. Until one day, Man Man asked him a question that brought him to tears.
Man Man asked him nervously, "Uncle Gou Sheng, I don't want my biological father to be my father. Can you be my father?"
Gou Sheng was so moved that tears streamed down his face, "Yes, I absolutely can. It's just... I don't know if your mother agrees."