Delicate Flower – Chapter 171

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Chapter 171 – Conjecture

The snow that stopped earlier somehow started again in a flurry, covering the ground in a thin layer and shimmering with a crystalline brilliance in the sunlight. The piercing wind blew across her face, leaving her feeling cold but also invigorating her.

Counting the days, she has stayed in Pei family’s courtyard for half a month, and in a couple of days, she would be heading back. She wondered if her parents, brother and sister-in-law at home were doing well. She also wondered if Grand Madam’s anger would have dissipated by tomorrow. She spent the last few days making silk flowers with fifth miss, not only were the quantities enough for fifth miss to use as gifts, she could also send some to the servants serving in the Pei family. Then, starting tomorrow, should she start on making a few pieces of garments for her brother and sister-in-law’s baby who would be born next spring?

Yu Tang’s thoughts were all over the place, but she couldn’t help but have her thoughts drift back to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan being such a proud person, if the Li family really withdrew the marriage, he certainly would have been upset internally. I wonder how he made it through that period? Then there is also the Li family. Pei Yan was strikingly handsome and talented, and although his temper was a little poor, it wasn’t violent and irrationally cruel, but rather it was because he was too smart and thus prone to impatience when dealing with others, so how could the Li family be willing to give up such a golden son-in-law?

YuTang was utterly perplexed.

Was it really as Mrs. Shen said, Pei Yan wasn’t satisfied with Lady Li, and thus procrastinated on proposing marriage, so the Li family had no choice as they didn’t want to lower themselves and beg Pei Yan to marry their own daughter, which led to the re-match of another husband for their daughter.

Or, what is it about the Li family’s young lady that made Pei Yan so dissatisfied?

Otherwise, why would Grand Madam say that Pei Yan’s marriage had to be approved by himself?

Yu Tang suddenly felt as if she had discovered something remarkable.

Surely that must be the case.

Since Pei Yan didn’t agree to the Li family’s marriage, although the Li family wanted Pei Yan as their son-in-law, Pei Yan didn’t agree and the matter was thus delayed then cancelled.

Thinking like this, both Mrs. Shen’s words and Grand Madam’s anger was understandable.

Yu Tang was satisfied with this conclusion. She closed the windows, went under her quilt covers, and thought about whether she should find an opportunity to ask Pei Yan tomorrow. After such a serious incident, Pei Yan must also be informed of it. Mrs. Shen’s words were certainly too much, but it was far more important to appease Grand Madam, and it would be even better if she could find out why the two families failed to form a marriage alliance.

She smiled and closed her eyes.

Even after falling asleep, she was still smiling.

Not far from Yu Tang, in Gu Xi’s inner room, Gu Xi jolted from her sleep.

Hexiang was startled, she quickly moved the lamp over, took a jacket and wrapped it around Gu Xi’s body, and said quietly, “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”

The medicine prescribed by the physician was of course quietly poured into the flower garden at the back, but this kind of waking up in the middle of the night only happened when Gu Xi was little. After Eldest Master obtained the title of provincial scholar, Gu Xi never had a nightmare again.

Gu Xi shook her head, her voice was a little hoarse as she said to He Xiang, “I’m a little thirsty.”

Hexiang went to pour a cup of tea and brought it over.

Gu Xi slowly drank a few mouthfuls before speaking, “The marriage between the Li and Pei Family was definitely cancelled because Pei Xia Guang was unwilling. Besides that, something else must have happened that we don’t know about, and because of that, the Pei family left matters pertaining to his marriage to him.”

So it was because of that.

Hexiang didn’t think much of it, and softly replied, “It’s getting late, and we still don’t know what will happen tomorrow. It’s better to rest early, so that you can manage tomorrow’s events.”

Gu Xi handed the tea cup to He Xiang and leaned on the pillow at the head of the bed, but she had no intention of going to sleep, saying, “Tomorrow is simple, I will pretend to be sick from beginning to end and will not go out. No matter what happens on Mrs. Shen’s side, we won’t interfere. I was just thinking about third master’s matter …… Since he can make his own decisions about his marriage, and Mrs. Shen has committed such a serious error, I’m also left in a difficult predicament. Perhaps we can find third master to talk about it, so that he can send a letter to my brother, and then have someone escort me back to Hangzhou City?”

Hexiang immediately understood what Gu Xi meant.

Her eyes lit up and she quietly answered, “Grand Madam is upset. It’s natural for you to fear Grand Madam after she got so angry, so asking Third Master to help you send a letter to Eldest Master and having him arrange for an escort to send you home is understandable. No one will be able to say anything about it.”

Gu Xi pursed her lips and smiled, saying, “Then it’s settled. Let’s wait for Mrs. Shen to leave and we’ll go immediately and ask Third Master to settle matters for us.”

Hexiang nodded repeatedly.

She believed that with her young lady’s looks and talents, if she took the initiative to show her interest, no man would be able to escape!

Gu Xi went to sleep feeling pleased.

The next day, she was awakened by noises in the courtyard.

When she opened her eyes, her room was empty and quiet, which only served to highlight the disturbing noises from Mrs. Shen’s side of the house.

Gu Xi thought about it and slipped on her shoes and pushed the window open a crack and took a peek.

She saw Shen Shanyan wearing a cloak of light brown mink fur, standing outside Mrs. Shen’s residence with a grim expression, with a few tough looking serving aunties carrying things away roughly.

Sounds of Mrs. Shen’s weeping were heard in the inner room.

Shen Shanyan sneered coldly, ”You still have the audacity to cry! If I were you, I would have quietly descended the mountains out from Pei family’s back entrance and rushed back to Hangzhou City overnight, never setting foot in Lin’an City again.”

Gu Xi was in shock.

She had not expected that Grand Madam would actually kick someone out when she said so, and that she would notify Shen Shanyan so quickly.

She thought that this matter would take a couple more days, until everyone was calmer, and Mrs. Shen to take the initiative to excuse herself and maintain some superficial measure of dignity.

Grand Madam seemed to be more agitated than she had initially thought, almost to the point of not allowing even a grain of sand enter her eyes.

Now, Mrs. Shen’s reputation is completely ruined.

Who knows what Shen Shanyan would do to Mrs. Shen when she returns.

She heard her stepmother say that the Shen family used to send errant wives and madams to live in the temple for two or three years.

She wondered if Shen Shanyan would do the same.

Gu Xi sighed.

Her heart turned cold.

She didn’t wish to continue watching further.

She turned around, went back and laid down, and even after Hexiang brought hot water in to serve her to freshen up, she still looked sickly, and for those who didn’t know, they would have thought she was really sick.

When Yu Tang got the news, Mrs. Shen had already left the courtyard, and Shuang Tao whispered to her, “It was said that Mr. Shen also made a special visit to apologise to Lady Gu, and said that Lady Gu should rest and get well, and that he would send someone in a few days to escort Lady Gu back to Hangzhou.”

Inexplicably, Yu Tang’s mood suddenly brightened immensely after hearing this.

She asked Shuang Tao, “Are things on Grand Madam’s side alright?”

“It should be fine!” Shuang Tao smiled somewhat uncertainly and replied, “They served breakfast at the usual time, and Grand Madam ate half a Golden Silk Flower Roll, drank half a bowl of Mushroom Soup, and ate a Red Bean Bun. Ji DaNiang said that this was already a decent amount of food for Grand Madam to eat.”

Yu Tang knew that Shuang Tao had gone to Ji DaNiang’s place early in the morning to obtain information, and was very pleased that Shuang Tao had been able to help her so quickly, saying, “Did Ji DaNiang say what Grand Madam had planned for today?”

“She didn’t mention anything about it.” Shuang Tao replied, “But when Mr. Shen came to bid farewell to Grand Madam, Grand Madam commiserated with Mr. Shen saying, “You too, had suffered greatly because of her.’

Yu Tang wasn’t interested in knowing about this, as she asked instead, “Then did Third Master come to greet Grand Madam this morning? Did they talk about it?”

“I didn’t dare to inquire about that.” Shuang Tao was in the midst of replying, when Liu Shu’s voice came from outside, “Lady Yu, fifth and fourth young ladies have arrived.”

These two girls were early!

Yu Tang quickly ended the conversation and went out with a smile, asking the two ladies who had entered her courtyard holding hands, “Why did you arrive so early? Have you had your breakfast yet?”

After a night’s rest, the two young ladies had already regained their usual composure, calling out “Sister Yu” in unison at her words, saying, “We’ve had our breakfast, and we want to go with Sister Yu to greet Grand Madam.”

From the courtyard where they lived to where she saw, they would have to go walk around the main courtyard where Grand Madam was.

Yu Tang giggled, “Why did both of you rush over? Where are second and third Misses?”

Fifth Miss replied, “They woke up today and went to their uncle’s grandmother’s place, and my mother went to the Flower Hall to listen to the serving aunties’ reports, so the two of us came to find you.”

As she said these words, her onyx-black eyes looked at her unblinkingly, like a tiny kitten afraid of being abandoned, both adorable and heart-breaking.

Yu Tang hurriedly placed her arm around Fifth Miss’s shoulder and said comfortingly, “You both are afraid of Grand Madam’s residual anger, I suppose? I am also quite afraid. However, there is strength in numbers, so let’s go over together, and we can be courageous together.”

The two young ladies cheered up and chirped all around Yu Tang, urging her to have breakfast quickly so that they could all go together to greet Grand Madam.

Fourth young lady also asked if they should invite Gu Xi to come along.

Only then Yu Tang realise that as all Pei family’s young ladies were living in the same compound as Grand Madam Pei, so what happened on Gu Xi’s side, they may not know of it yet, so she told them about Gu Xi’s illness, and that Mrs. Shen left with Mr. Shen and was no longer staying in the other courtyard.

Both ladies were dumbfounded after hearing this, while Fifth Miss said with a worried and sympathetic voice, “Poor Sister Gu, suffering from such untimely misfortune, we should go and see her.”

Yu Tang suspected Gu Xi was feigning illness.

In her previous life, that was how she was, she liked to pretend to be sick when she wanted to avoid something.

But this was also the tactic of most women of the inner courtyards, so it was difficult to say if it was good or bad.

She replied, ” Alright then. Let’s go see her first and then go to greet Grand Madam.”

The two ladies responded “yes” in unison, urging her to quickly have her breakfast, saying, “My grandmother on my uncle’s side gets up early every day, so if we don’t hurry, we’ll arrive later than them.”

Yu Tang quickly had her breakfast, and went with them to visit Gu Xi before going to Grand Madam’s place.

They were indeed a little late.

Grand Madam Yi, Second and Third Young ladies had already arrived, and second Madam was serving the two elderly ladies tea. When she saw them, she glared at Fifth Miss, but her voice was still gentle as she asked, “Why are you all so late? I was just about to send someone to call you!”

Fifth Miss quickly replied, “We went to see Lady Gu, she’s sick.”

Second Madam did not reply.

The fifth young lady quickly pulled fourth young miss forward to greet Grand Madam Yi, while Yu Tang followed with a curtsey after them.

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