Delicate Flower – Chapter 144

Chapter 144 – Grand Madam

Sit down and talk?

But where to sit?

Sit on the luohan couch?

It wasn’t really appropriate, was it?

As Yu Tang was agonizing over this, a maid already brought in an embroidered black lacquered wooden chair with jujube-red velvet cushioning.

She got a little flushed, should she address her as Grand Madam… no, PeiYan’s mother’s appearance was markedly different from what one would expect from someone titled “Grand Madam”. However, to call her Mrs. Pei was not right either… Madam Pei… Grand Elder Pei only held the rank of Provincial Scholar, so she could not be called a Madam. …… but Eldest Master Pei passed away while serving in the Ministry of Public Works, which was of third rank. Did he not request a title for his mother? If anything, it should have been a fourth-ranking title too, right?

Unaware of the struggle written on her face, Yu Tang was still sitting there with her knees slightly bent, as she paid her respects, before awkwardly half-sitting on the embroidered chair.

Grand Madam, on the contrary, watched on with amusement.

This young girl, although not all of her emotions and thoughts were visible on her face, they could still be seen clearly if one was slightly more perceptive.

It is no wonder that Xia Guang found her interesting. Upon seeing that she was always alone and bored, he asked this young lady to come over to relieve her boredom.

Grand Madam sat down on the Luohan couch and Chen Daniang personally served tea.

She then raised her hand which held the tea cup and said, “Try some of the autumn tea that was sent over from Xinyang a few days ago. See if it suits your tastes.”

Yu Tang took a sip. It was just an ordinary taste of tea leaves and she couldn’t taste what kind of tea it was. The aftertaste was sweet and mellow and the tea had a clear, fresh fragrance, so it should be tea of a good quality.

The room was a little warm, so she had another sip.

Grand Madam saw it and smiled, “How is it? Do you think it’s good?”

Of course she could only say it tasted delicious!

Yutang was just about to reply as such when she suddenly remembered her mother’s words. Examining Grand Madam’s demeanour, she reckoned that there was still plenty of things which she was unaware of, and even if she succeeded in making an eloquent answer to this question, she might not be able to do the same for the next one.

She decided it was better to be honest with her feelings.

“It’s quite refreshing.” Yu Tang answered politely, “The aftertaste is sweet and mellow. I wonder what kind of tea is this? I’m not too knowledgeable about tea.”

Grand Madam was a little surprised by her answer, but seeing how honest she was, she nodded secretly in approval and said with a smile, “It’s from Xinyang, so naturally it’s Xinyang MaoJian Tea. This tea was freshly plucked in autumn, and thus is commonly known as autumn fall tea.”

Yu Tang did not know much about this.

From time to time, they would serve guests Longjing, Biluochun, Lushan Yunwu and the like, and she wasn’t familiar with any other teas. The Pei family was wealthy and had generations of descendants who served in the imperial court, so they certainly must have seen all kinds of local specialties. Moreover, Grand Madam herself was from an affluent and distinguished family, so her knowledge would be even more comprehensive.

She was immediately struck by a desire to learn more, and said respectfully, “Does Xinyang only produce Mao Jian Tea?”

Grand Madam was startled by her question.

She had no idea whether Xinyang only produced Mao Jian tea. However, the tea that was delivered here should only be Mao Jian, right?

Was this young lady deliberately challenging her? Or was she just ignorant?

Grand Madam glanced at Yu Tang.

Her large almond eyes were clear and distinctively black, shining bright like stars, twinkling and sparkling, and she really seemed curious.

Grand Madam coughed uncomfortably and said, “I’ll have to ask Hu Xing and the others about that. The only thing I’ve drunk over the years is Mao Jian Tea.”

That was only natural.

If one was to send gifts, of course it would be of the finest quality.

Yu Tang nodded earnestly.

Grand Madam felt that the conversation should stop circling around their family’s affairs, otherwise the conversation would become too passive, so she asked, “I heard that you are good at making snacks, what kind of snacks are you skilled at?”

Yu Tang blushed as she replied, “It is my mother who is good at making desserts and sweets, I am merely helping out. I dare not accept Grand Madam’s compliment.”

Grand Madam was surprised and remarked, “Didn’t you make the peanut brittle that was delivered earlier? It tasted quite good to me.”

Yu Tang felt somewhat guilty.

Although she made peanut brittles, this was not her original idea. It was only because she had eaten them in her previous life and heard about the recipe from others, and after careful research and experimentation, she came up with her current creation.

“I made that peanut brittle .” Her face turned slightly red, as she continued “But controlling the fire and everything else, it was my mother who helped watch over the cooking.”

Grand Madam was a little disappointed.

She didn’t really call her here just to eat a few pieces of peanut brittle. In fact, she didn’t even have to mention it, as long as she expressed the slightest inclination to taste peanut brittle, there would be plenty of people readily offering varieties of peanut brittle in efforts to flatter her. The first reason she saw Yu Tang was because her son suggested it, and she didn’t want to upset him, so she wanted to put his mind at ease; the second reason was that since she was no longer the patriarch’s wife, and living here as a widow in He Ming Hall, she was not used to the sudden quietness in her life and wanted someone to talk to. However, now that she has met Lady Yu, she found that apart from a beautiful face, there wasn’t anything particularly striking about her, whether in her speech or her temperament.

Then, after having some tea, she would dismiss her with a few presents to take home.

Grand Madam contemplated and asked Yu Tang what she did at home, what she studied, and how her parents were doing.

Yu Tang replied her questions one by one with a smile.

That smile, with her expressive eyebrows, looked incredibly sweet.

The more one looked at her, the better she appeared.

The young ladies in her family were really no match at all.

Even among her in-laws, she was the first.

However, pretty girls were easy to find, but intelligent ones were a rarity.

Grand Madam smiled faintly. After all, her son was the one that recommended her, which meant that she had to find something praise-worthy about her, so that Lady Yu would garner higher respect in front of the servants, and in future, she would be seen in higher regard when she came to the Pei residence.

She immediately noticed the silk camphor velvet lily headpiece on Yu Tang’s hair.

“This is a unique floral piece.” She said with a smile, “Did you buy it from Suzhou? Or do they sell silk flower headpieces in Suzhou’s style in Lin’an nowadays?”

Yu Tang smiled as she touched the silk flowers around her bun and said, “I made them myself. Indeed, it was modelled after the Suzhou style. Grand Madam has a discerning eye.”

“Oh!” Grand Madam was intrigued and remarked, “I didn’t expect you to have such skillful hands.”

She herself couldn’t even embroider a handkerchief, so she was especially fond of young ladies who were good with handicrafts.

Yu Tang shyly responded, “It’s not exactly anything elaborate, just something I do to occupy my time when I have nothing else to do.” After saying this, she suggested tentatively, “If you like them, I’ll go back and make some for you. What colour would you prefer? And the style? I can also make bees, butterflies and other things that can rest on the flowers. Do you want me to make a few separate pieces for you and you can hang them on lapels and sleeves? I feel they would be nice as well.”

“You even know how to make those?” She asked with surprise, “Hang them on your lapel? How do you hang them?”

Yu Tang explained in greater detail, “For example, I can make a dragonfly, the size just like a real one. Using some glass beads for the eyes and fine gossamer silk for the wings and adding a tassel, you can attach it to the lapels of your clothing like an ornament.”

Grand Madam listened with great interest and enquired, “What else can you make besides these?”

Yutang grinned, “I’m good at making various types of headpieces. I also made for my mother a headband with jewelled flowers.”

A widow was not allowed to dress up ornately, but as long as one loved beauty, it was impossible to completely refrain from dressing up even a little.

Grand Madam replied, “Then could you make me a few plain silken flowers? In a few days it will be the Double-Ninth Festival, and several juniors of the family will be coming over to say their greetings.” After speaking, she remembered that it was already the fifth day of the ninth month, so she thought it might be too late, so she added with a smile, “Just send them to me before the first day of the tenth month. I will be going to Zhaoming Temple with XiaGuang and QiMing to perform funeral rites for their father.”

After saying this, her eyes dimmed slightly and she let out a small inaudible sigh.

Yu Tang watched with sympathy.

In her past life, although she and Li Jun had little affection for each other, but when she was widowed in the Li family, she would feel sorry for Li Jun’s parents as she reflected on his untimely death. By comparison, Grand Madam and Grand Elder lived together for over thirty years and had three sons, so when Grand Madam thought of her deceased husband, how painful it must be for her!

She quickly replied: “I like to make silk flowers when I have nothing to do, so I still have a few at home that are almost finished. I’ll have someone bring them to you to take a look. After the Festival, I will make some new ones for you.”

Yu Tang previously made several dark green and pink chrysanthemums. The pink ones were inappropriate for the occasion, but the dark green ones should be fine for Grand Madam to wear, right?

She pondered this over in her mind.

Grand Madam said, “If you’re busy, your family’s maid can send them over. If you have the time, you can bring the silk flowers to me and stay for a chat.”

Yu Tang respectfully acquiesced. She pondered over Grand Madam’s words, if Xia Guang was Pei Yan’s ‘Ji’ Name, then Qiming should be the Second Master, Pei Xuan’s ‘Ji’ name. I wonder if they could also follow along to the temple on the first day of the tenth month and offer incense to Grand Elder Pei?

She stayed at the Pei residence conversing with Grand Madam Pei for a while, and when she saw a matron come in to ask for instructions, she rose quickly to say her goodbyes.

Grand Madam did not ask her to stay and told her to drop by again once the silk flowers were ready. She pointed out Ji Daniang, saying “If you need anything from now on, feel free to ask her for help.”

Yu Tang assented in a respectful manner and followed Ji Daniang out of the Grand Madam’s residence.

Only then did Ji Daniang express her joy and exclaimed, “Lady Yu is blessed. When you go back, remember to speak of this to your mother.”

From now on, Yu Tang would have someone to help her with whatever she needed.

Yu Tang was used to speaking with Pei Yan directly, so she didn’t think much of it. She thought that Ji Daniang was just happy that she won Grand Madam’s favour, so she smiled and thanked her, and told Madam Chen all about it.

Madam Chen was overjoyed at this and urged her to quickly gather all the plain silk flowers she made and send them to the Pei family as soon as possible. She even sent for a seamstress to make several simple plain clothing for Yu Tang, and said, “It is a sign of respect to dress grandly for your first visit to someone’s home, but if you are a regular visitor, you have to follow the customs, and not dress too fancily when meeting Grand Madam.”

Yu Tang felt that Grand Madam, was just like Pei Yan. She was not someone easy to get close to, so if she was inadvertently valued by Grand Madam for her silk flowers, she might lose favour at some point in the future, so there was no need to make clothes specifically for this purpose. However, Madam Chen did not agree, thinking that it would be good to make a few more outfits to wear even if Grand Madam’s interest wore off after a few days.

However, she didn’t bother to argue with her mother, as long as her mother was happy!

Yu Tang picked out a few silk flowers from the box and placed them in a red lacquered round box and went to the Pei residence.

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