Delicate Flower – Chapter 145

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Chapter 145 – Silk Flowers

Ji Daniang greeted Yu Tang at the second entrance just as she had done the previous visit, and accompanied her the whole way to Grand Madam’s residence.

On the way, she said in hushed tones to Yu Tang, “Eldest Madam and Second Madam came over to pay their respects to Grand Madam, so I’ll have to ask Lady Yu to wait in the receiving parlour for a while.”

When juniors came to pay their respects, naturally she as an outsider shouldn’t get in the way, but Ji Daniang was too polite and said it so courteously.

Yu Tang thought about the time she came to the Pei Residence and encountered the Eldest Madam by coincidence, and the rumours that circulated when Pei Yan just took over the household. She not only responded with a smile, but also changed the subject as if to avoid suspicion, “Ji Daniang, tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival, so why haven’t the chrysanthemums been arranged at the residence yet?”

The Double Ninth Festival was the time when chrysanthemums were in full bloom. People in Jiangnan loved flowers, and even an ordinary family would display a couple of chrysanthemums for the occasion, not to mention a grand and wealthy family like the Pei family. it would be a great embarrassment for them to say they were celebrating the festival without displaying several bouquets of chrysanthemums or having a collection of different chrysanthemums.

Who knew that this comment would be inappropriate.

A trace of awkwardness flashed across Ji Daniang’s face as she replied, “It’s just that our Third Master doesn’t like flowers. Since the Grand Elder’s passing, Grand Madam wasn’t in the mood to enjoy flowers, and we, as the servants, are not in a position to take matters into our own hands.”

Yu Tang mentally wiped her sweat off and hurriedly backtracked, “Indeed. Since my mother was unwell from two years ago, our family wasn’t really in the mood to celebrate festivals. All the necessary festival sweets and pastries like water chestnut cakes and snowflake puffs were all bought from the market.”

Perhaps this comment struck a chord with Ji Daniang, as she sighed, “Exactly. Ever since Grand Elder passed away, it was as if the sky had collapsed for Grand Madam. In the past, she was so fond of beautiful things and the artisans at the Jewelry house would love to spend the whole year staying at the residence making jewellery for her, but this year they haven’t even made a single garment, let alone jewellery. It was only a few days ago that Second Eldest Master spent time with Grand Madam for a full day on her marriage anniversary with Grand Elder, and only then did her spirits gradually improve.” Speaking of this, she looked at the maid leading the way and lowered her voice to remind Yu Tang, “When you see Grand Madam later, please try to cheer her up. If you can get her interested in having jewellery and clothing made, there is no one in this whole household who wouldn’t be grateful to you.”

Yu Tang blinked.

It sounded like it’s not her peanut brittle they’re after, but rather, having someone to entertain Grand Madam!

Second Master seems quite filial, just as the rumours say. But what about Pei Yan? Why didn’t he console Grand Madam?

The entire household would be grateful to her; does that also include the Eldest Madam?

Yu Tang sat down at the receiving parlour and met an acquaintance, Lei Zhi.

She jumped up joyfully and asked, “Do you remember me?”

She smiled and replied, “I saw you the last time you came, but as I was on duty in the tea room that day, so I didn’t have the chance to greet you.”

Yu Tang saw her in a neatly dressed green silk robe, holding a red lacquered silver gilded tray decorated with begonia flowers, and she looked to be in high spirits.

She added with a smile, “I’ve been here for almost a year, but I’m still learning the rules. Isn’t it because I saw you coming over, so I found an excuse to come over?”

As the two of them conversed happily, Yu Tang learnt a lot about the Pei Family’s affairs.

For example, Grand Madam wasn’t someone who liked to set rules for her daughters-in-law. When Grand Elder was alive, both daughters-in-law followed their husbands’ direction. After his death, Grand Madam waived the Eldest Madam’s morning and evening visits, while the second Madam only came every first and fifteenth day to pay her respects. Today, Eldest and Second Eldest Madams came over only because the Double Ninth Festival was coming up, but Grand Madam suddenly decided not to celebrate the festival and wanted to spend two days at the temple. Second Master couldn’t persuade her otherwise, so he asked Second Madam to accompany her on the trip to attend to her, but Grand Madam refused. Therefore, Eldest and Second Madams had no choice but to bring the youngest members of the family to come and pay their respects in an effort to lift her spirits.

Then, why did Grand Madam still agree to see her?

Yu Tang was startled and asked, “When will Grand Madam be departing?”

Lei Zhi replied, “We will leave early tomorrow morning to go to Zhaoming Temple.” After saying that, she pursed her lips and smiled, “Otherwise, how could I be here serving tea? My older sister-maids are all busily packing for the trip!”

Yu Tang felt that she had come at the wrong time.

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind, a maid with a round face and a cheerful and docile appearance lifted the curtain and entered, smiling and curtseying, saying, “Lady Yu, Grand Madam knows you’re here and asked me to invite you over!”

Lei Zhi then introduced her to Yu Tang, “This is sister Zhen Zhu, who works in Grand Madam’s residence.”

This maid looked to be even younger than Lei Zhi. She was either blessed to have a younger-looking face or was one of Grand Madam’s first-grade maids, and the term “sister” was an honorific.

However, the name Zhen Zhu (TL: Meaning “Pearl”) suited this young girl very well, as she was indeed chubby and gentle.

Yu Tang greeted her as well by calling her “Sister Zhen Zhu”.

Zhen Zhu got so frightened that she took a half step back, saying she didn’t dare accept the title and blushed, “This is meant to be a joke, so please don’t take it seriously, otherwise Chen Daniang will punish me.”

Yu Tang wasn’t sure of the situation in Grand Madam’s household, so she didn’t reply and only laughed and made a few teasing remarks before following Zhen Zhu to Grand Madam’s residence.

Grand Madam looked to be in high spirits, as she sat in Luohan couch and beckoned towards Yutang, “Bring them over to me, let me see what silk flowers you have brought.”

The eldest and second madams and the others had all left, and the tea cups and fruit plates were all removed from the room, but several embroidered chairs were still left near the Luohan couch. It was unclear whether or not they had not been put away in time or that they had been placed there intentionally.

Yu Tang smiled and went up to Grand Madam and curtsied, before sitting down on the embroidered chair nearest to her at the young maid’s direction and handed the box to Zhen Zhu.

Zhen Zhu opened the box and presented the silk flowers inside to Grand Madam.

Her eyes lit up as she saw them.

Two camellias, two chrysanthemums, two lilies and two magnolias were displayed on in the red velvet lined box. They were made of Zhang velvet, which made people feel warm at this time of year, and the petals overlapped and were so life-like and vibrant that it would have been easy to mistake them for real flowers if they did not know about them beforehand.

“This is really ……” She picked up a camellia flower and looked at it carefully, saying, “Previously, I saw you wearing a lotus flower on your head and thought it looked nice, but I didn’t expect these flowers to be even better. How did you make them?”

Yu Tang smiled, “Actually, the ones sold outside are not inferior to what I made. It’s just that the ones sold were made by people who specialise in this kind of work, whereas I only make them to pass the time, so if I can make them as well as others, it will seem as though I’m quite good, but in fact we’re all pretty much the same.”

Grand Madam nodded her head, but suddenly she let out a gasp and ran her fingers across the petals of the camellia flower for a while before looking back towards Yu Tang.

This time, she peered intently at Yu Tang, which startled Yu Tang and she stammered out, “What, what’s wrong?”

Grand Madam chuckled at her words.

That smile, it was as if the ice and snow had melted away, the atmosphere surrounding her became warm and inviting.

“You’ve done a wonderful job with this silk flower.” She said with a smile that made her eyes crinkle, instead of just a shallow smile that pnly pulled at the corners of her lips like the previous time she was here, “I only noticed it just now. The Zhang velvet you used to make the silk flowers was much shorter and denser than normal Zhang velvet, and the petals looked like real flowers with the right thickness, smoothness and shine. How did you do that? Did you trim them again with scissors? Or did you do it some other way?”

She asked curiously.

Yutang suddenly got excited, with a feeling of joy at the prospect of finding a person who could understand her.

“You’ve found it!” she grinned. “When I was making silk flowers, I always wanted to make something different from the usual, either by making dew droplets on the petals or having a resting dragonfly or having glass beads for eyes, but later on, I found it increasingly difficult to make them real. How do the flowers bloom at midday, in the morning and at night …… When making camellias, I will buy the best quality Zhang velvet and find ways to cut it even shorter …… However, if it’s too short, the bottom of the cloth is sometimes exposed …… When I went to Suzhou, I asked the workers at the silk shop for advice…… and ordered a roll of fabric…… which was a little expensive. But the silk flowers made from that cloth were really good and very realistic. …… For example, the two flowers in your hand are camellias that bloom at midday. If it’s evening, these petals need to be curled a little more …… I’m still thinking about whether to match the flowers with clothing to be worn in the morning, afternoon and night.”

“You are right. When making silk flowers, they have to be as close to the real thing as possible.” Grand Madam further asked, “So these silk flower lilies bloom in the evening and the chrysanthemums bloom in the morning?”

“Exactly so.” Yu Tang smiled and her eyes turned into little crescent moons, “I figured if Grand Madam were to receive guests in the evening, it would be a nice to wear them differently.”

Grand Madam was once a patriarch’s wife, and all the madams of the Pei Family would come to her if they needed something, and there was no distinction between morning, noon and night.

“You, dear girl, are very clever.” Grand Madam praised her. Turning her head, she instructed Zhen Zhu to put the flowers away and said to Yu Tang, “I’m going to spend a few days at Zhaoming Temple. When I return, I’m planning to make some winter clothes, so you can come and help me then.”

Was this a sign that she passed the test?

Yu Tang found it interesting and replied, “I don’t know much about tailoring clothes.”

Grand Madam chuckled, saying “You are able to make silk flowers like this, so clearly you have some skills and insight into such matters. When the time comes, just pick out whatever looks nice to you. I will inform your family when the date is arranged.”

If this matter could keep Grand Madam happy, she was willing to do it.

After answering a few questions about silk flower making techniques, she politely declined the invitation to stay for dinner on the pretext that she had to return home to prepare for her family’s Double ninth festival dinner and got up to leave.

She was accompanied out by Ji Daniang, but as they walked along, they ran into Ah Ming.

“Lady Yu, I’ve been waiting for you!” He ran up to Yu Tang, “Our Third Master has invited you to join him in the cold pavilion for tea.”

Nowadays the weather was getting a little chilly, so shouldn’t they be heading to the warm pavilion for tea?

Yu Tang muttered under her breath, but did not say it out loud, as she followed Ah Ming to the pavilion.

This time, the pavilion was not the one by the lake that she had visited previously, but rather a pavilion that was built in a small alcove, called “Ti Cha”.

Yu Tang asked Ah Ming in a whisper, “How many pavilions are there?”

Ah Ming stretched his fingers and counted them for a while and said, “There should be seventeen. But I’m not sure either, I only counted the ones I remembered, so there might be some that I missed.”

In stark contrast, her family didn’t even have a single one.

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