Delicate Flower – Chapter 148

Chapter 148 – Young Miss

Yu Tang smiled as she replied “Although this fabric might be plain, this colour is quite rare. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen such a pale shade of green. I was just thinking that this fabric must be really expensive as the colour was so rare. If I chose this material, I would have felt unworthy of it; but if I had chosen something else, I would have regretted it so much that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I thought it over carefully and finally decided to shamelessly choose this material, in which case I would just repay you with more silk flowers later.”

Upon hearing this, Grand Madam laughed heartily.

The people serving in the room laughed as well.

The room was filled with lively laughter that was hardly heard before.

Chen Daniang turned away and quietly wiped her tears.

How long has it been?

Ever since Grand Elder passed away, Grand Madam was depressed, and all of them who served her, were careful not to say anything that would cause her to grieve or shed a tear. As a result, the whole atmosphere in the hall was heavy and tense.

Today, finally, we saw the smiling face of Grand Madam again, and there was the sound of laughter surrounding her again.

Third Master has done a great job!

It was good to have Grand Madam in high spirits and to move forward in life.

She went to the tea room and washed her face before checking in the mirror. After making sure that no one could see that she had cried, she then left with a smile on her face.

As soon as she stepped out of the tea room, she met the various young ladies who came to greet Grand Madam.

She hurriedly went forward to welcome them.

The one leading in front was the eldest daughter of the eldest old master of the third branch of the Pei family, who had just reached the age of marriage this spring. She wore a teal-coloured plain silk gown which couldn’t suppress her brilliant appearance. She asked Chen Daniang softly, “It was reported that the visitor was Lady Yu from Qingzhu Lane?”

Chen Daniang nodded with a smile, but had no intention of discussing further with the Pei household second-born young lady. Instead she smiled as she opened the blinds, saying, “It’s cold outside, so be careful of catching a cold. Grand Madam is waiting.”

The young ladies stepped aside to let one of the young girls, dressed in a white woven silk cloak, who seemed to be around eight or nine years old, enter first.

The little girl, however, modestly stepped aside and let the rest enter first.

The young ladies then entered the room in order of seniority.

The room was still warm and airy, but as the ladies were frequent visitors, they removed their cloaks to reveal the robes they wore underneath, so no one felt hot. It was only the second young miss who muttered, “It’s still the Grand Madam who knows how to enjoy herself” as everyone went into the hall in the east.

“Grand Madam!” The older girls were only fourteen or fifteen and the younger ones were eight or nine years old. They were all dressed in plain clothes, but were all as pretty as flowers and jades, making them a delight to look at.

Yu Tang was astonished.

Lady Wang also praised them outrightly, saying “Every time I come over, I feel like I’ve fallen into a flowerbed of beauty. So much so that when I look at other families’ young ladies, none of them could catch my attention.  All the beautiful and elegant young ladies are all here in your esteemed household.”

Grand Madam smiled faintly without replying. She then called them to come and greet Yu Tang, saying “This is Lady Yu, who is your senior, so you can address her as your older sister. She also introduced them, saying “This is Second Miss, Third Miss, Fourth Miss and this is Fifth Miss.”

Several young ladies greeted Yu Tang politely.

Yu Tang returned the greetings one by one, but her mind raced, as she matched up the information she gathered previously with the people in front of her.

The Pei family now has seven branches, with sub-divided families but all under the same patriarch and living together in Little Plum Lane, where there were more sons than daughters. Among them, the Eldest First Miss was the eldest daughter of the eldest old master of the second branch, who has already retired from court; the second eldest Miss was the eldest daughter of the eldest master of the third branch; the third Miss was the eldest daughter of the second master of the third branch; the fourth Miss was the eldest daughter of the eldest master of the fifth branch. The eldest daughter of the patriarchal branch, that is to say, the daughter of the second master, Pei Xuan, Pei Dan, was instead the youngest, the fifth in line, and was known as the fifth Miss. (TL: basically all the ladies were all from other branches, except for the 5th miss, who was the daughter of Pei Yan’s second eldest brother)

Pei Yan’s actual blood-related niece …… Yutang couldn’t help but pay a bit more attention.

She probably took after her mother, as she bore little resemblance to Grand Madam and Pei Yan.

Sensing Yu Tang’s gaze, she smiled shyly at her.

Yu Tang was relieved.

She was worried that she might not get along with the fifth young lady.

After all, she was Grand Madam’s biological granddaughter, so if Yutang had won the favour of Grand Madam, it could lead to the  granddaughter’s displeasure, which would have caused trouble in the Pei household.

Now it appears that the fifth young lady is quite a calm and gentle person, not the type to start trouble or get hostile, so they should be able to get along well. However, the Second young Lady, not mentioning her striking good looks, appears to carry a measure of haughtiness, so she seemed harder to get along with, so more attention and care needs to be taken with her.

The third young miss and the second young miss belonged to the same family branch, but they bore little resemblance to each other. She was about the same age as the second young lady, with a small face, with a dignified and proper demeanour befitting a lady of a noble house.

The Fourth Miss was probably two or three years younger than the Third Miss, with bright eyes and fair skin, her eyes twinkling as she looked around, and she appeared to be the most lively and mischievous of the brunch.

Grand Madam had them select the fabrics they liked and said, “Make some winter clothes along with your sister Yu.”

The fifth and third young ladies respectfully answered “yes”, while the second young lady glanced at Yu Tang with a trace of disdain. The fourth young lady, meanwhile, asked Yu Tang softly while the young ladies were picking out their favourites and Grand Madam was chatting with Madam Wang. “What colour fabric did sister choose?”

There was no one who didn’t adore a cute and cheerful little girl.

Yu Tang was not exempt from this.

She whispered, “I chose the pale green one at the side.”

Fourth Miss took a quick glance at it and remarked, “Sister has a good eye, that Bi Shui Qing was a gift from the imperial family a few years back. Grand Madam received several rolls and gave one to my maternal grandmother. Later, when my eldest sister got married, the Old Madam of the second house took one and made it into a garment for my eldest sister.”

Yu Tang knew that the cloth had to be expensive, but she never imagined that it would be so precious.

Fourth Miss whispered to her as if she could read what was going through her mind, “Think nothing of it, sister. Grand Madam is very kind and generous. When we arrived, she made us egg cakes and had the kitchen make us tofu soup using high quality bone broth.”

Yu Tang smiled slightly.

During the mourning period, one must abstain from eating meat and be a vegetarian.

This requirement wasn’t a problem for adults. However, as the children were young and still growing, so if some families were adamant on this point, and several mourning periods were held in succession, the children’s growth and bodies would suffer as a result.

Unexpectedly, Grand Madam was understanding and kind in this matter.

Especially so, since the one who died was the Grand Elder.

She then thought of Pei Yan.

Perhaps that was the reason why Grand Madam was so well respected, wasn’t it?

When she left the Pei residence, not only did Yu Tang receive an additional jacket of jade-blue fine silk and edged with a dark-green Pu Cao pattern, but she also had a dark-green skirt with ten panels embroidered with plum, orchid, bamboo and horses, a beautiful blue-purple edged with gold chinchilla-fur outer coat and a white mink fur hand warmers ……

Madam Chen quipped, “Such fine garments of clothing. Can I save all of them to be part of your dowry when you get married?”

This was a joke, of course.

According to customary traditions and propriety, she should wear this to pay respects to Grand Madam Pei on the first day of the coming New Year.

However, the Pei family’s residence wasn’t easy to enter, so even if Yu Tang wanted to go to pay her respects to Grand Madam on the first day of the New Year’s, she would still have to see if Grand Madam had the time to see her!

Madam Chen thought hard about how to repay Grand Madam Pei and said with gritted teeth, “No! Ah-Tang, you have to practice harder in the art of sewing and embroidery. Although you may not be able to sew clothes, but at least you could make a pair of socks for her, right?”

“Give me a break!” Yu Tang said with her head in her hands, “Grand Madam’s socks were also made by Madam Wang’s Golden Silk House, and they were embroidered with very intricate patterns! If you ask me to make socks for her, wouldn’t that make things difficult for her? She would have to decide if she should lower her standards to wear them, or not wear them and cause the Third Master to suffer a loss of face.”

Since she was brought into the house by Third Master, she realized that it wasn’t that Grand Madam lacked bright and witty girls around her, rather, the reason why she could stay here was because Grand Madam didn’t want to discourage her son’s filial piety and therefore kept her around.

Madam Chen laughed out loud and said, “Then, what do you suggest?”

Yu Tang touched her nose and said, “I’ll see if I can copy the Buddhist scriptures for Grand Madam.”

In her previous life, she was forced by Madam Lin to copy numerous Buddhist scriptures, and so she was adept in calligraphy.

Since Grand Madam was going to the Zhaoming Temple to perform funeral rites for Grand Elder, her help in copying a few volumes of Buddhist scriptures for Grand Elder should be appreciated by Grand Madam, right?

Hearing this, Madam Chen felt it was a good choice and could not wait for Yutang to copy several large volumes immediately, so she quickly called Shuang Tao, saying: “Go, bring the best paper in master’s house for Miss.”

Yu Tang didn’t know if she should cry or laugh.

The best paper in her father’s study was the Chengxin paper sent by the Pei Family previously, even her father didn’t dare to use it himself. However, she was so busy with her visit to the Pei Residence these days and haven’t seen much of her father.

“Mother,” she asked, “where is father?”

Madam Chen replied, “He’s gone out with Master Wu, saying that he’s off to buy some land.”

Yu Tang’s heart lurched.

Could it be the Li family’s fifty acres of field that could grow Bi Shi rice?

She intended to wait for her father to return, but Madam Chen became concerned about the Pei family’s young ladies. “Although they are younger than you, but they were raised in a wealthy and powerful family. How are they getting on with you? If there’s some friction, you should tell Ji Daniang and visit Grand Madam when they’re not around.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Yu Tang recalled her visit today and said, “Grand Madam is lonely all by herself, so I think the elders must have told the various young ladies to visit her often. However, fret not, although the personalities of the Pei ladies are all different, they are not the kind of people who would give people a hard time, so it wouldn’t be difficult to get along with them.”

She was speaking the truth.

Even the Pei Family’s Second Miss, although she could clearly sense that she did not think highly of her, and probably suspected that she had used some underhanded means to befriend Grand Madam. However, she was only treated coldly, and did not speak ill of her nor make things deliberately difficult for her. There was no need to even mention Fourth Miss, who was only curious about her. If it weren’t for her family’s noble upbringing, she would already be bursting with questions for her.

Madam Chen was still unsure and said, “As the saying goes, when one obtains benefits from someone, one should be more polite and forbearing of their actions. The next time you visit, I will make several delicious snacks for the young ladies of the Pei Residence to try.”

Yu Tang smiled and acquiesced.

Partaking of delicious food together could indeed bring people closer.

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