Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 32 The Poetry Gathering Incident 1

On the third day after Green Willow was transferred to Fuliu Courtyard, she was quickly promoted to a second-class maid. When she came to Yunyi Courtyard with Miss Tang, Meng Shu's hand, which was grinding ink, trembled and she almost lost control of her expression.

The changes are happening too fast! To the point that I'm starting to feel a little worried for some reason.

As the eldest daughter of the Tang family, the second young lady was often visited by the eldest young lady at Yunyi Courtyard. Sometimes she would visit the second young lady on her way to pay her respects at Fu'an Residence, sometimes she would bring fresh tea and snacks for the second young lady to taste, and sometimes she would simply come over to chat about the interesting things that happened among the young ladies of Lin'an, or play chess and music together.

But she was always very perceptive and rarely came to the door just past noon.

At this moment, the second young lady had not yet finished writing a large calligraphy piece. Seeing that her eldest sister was covered in summer heat, she hurriedly invited her to the flower hall. The maids below brought two more ice basins, but the second young lady still felt it was not enough, so she called Meng Shu to go and prepare some cold drinks.

The main reason is that she really liked the chrysanthemum drink that Meng Shu had made before, and she even asked the small kitchen at Fu'anju to make it for the old lady to try.

Meng Shu received the order and went to prepare. Green Willow stood behind the young lady, but had no chance to speak.

Although Yunyi Courtyard was not as opulent as Fu'an Residence, all the everyday utensils were exquisite. The chrysanthemum tea poured into the crystal-clear glass cup looked particularly beautiful, with a few crushed ices added. Two or three fresh snacks were also prepared before Meng Shu carefully carried it to the flower hall.

"Second sister's handwriting is getting better and better. No wonder Mr. Lin always praises it to Mother. Look at this handwriting, it is elegant and refined, yet it has a strong and resilient quality. It is truly excellent. I, as the older sister, lack your patience."

Meng Shu placed the cold drinks on the rosewood table next to the soft couch in the flower hall. Turning around, she saw the eldest young lady speaking as usual. This was the daily life of sisters in wealthy families. There was a distinction between the legitimate and illegitimate daughters. They seemed to have a deep sisterly bond, but in reality, it was just an act.

The second young lady spends a lot of time studying poetry and literature, but she is clearly much worse than the eldest young lady in dealing with people and situations. Moreover, she is not very good at speaking and is very... straightforward.

"Eldest sister's handwriting was also good when she was studying, but she really shouldn't have been so lazy. Now she just stays in Fuliu Courtyard and rarely goes to Muyunzhai anymore."

Meng Shu quietly rubbed her forehead, just as Green Willow looked over with a surprised expression. Their eyes met, and they quickly lowered their heads again.

The eldest young lady was clearly immune to such 'direct' talk after hearing it so many times. She seemed very interested and chatted with the second young lady about calligraphy, about the ink from Huizhou and the brushes from Huzhou. Then she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the invitation peeking out from the table.

"Which young lady has invited my second sister to the poetry and flower-viewing banquet again?"

The young lady casually picked up the invitation card bearing the Qin family crest and asked a question as if it were unintentional.

"It's the third young lady of the Qin family. She recently acquired a manor and plans to hold a poetry and literature gathering the day after tomorrow. She invited me to attend."

"Is it the village at the foot of Phoenix Mountain?"

The second young lady nodded and instructed Mengzhu to put away the writing on the table.

"I've heard that the estate is a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains, a rare cool retreat in Lin'an." The young lady unconsciously curled her fingers on the table, revealing a look of great envy.

The second young lady disagreed, walked to the flower hall and sat on the couch, inviting the eldest young lady to drink tea to cool off. "Phoenix Mountain is nice, but it is far inferior to our old lady's estate in Daming Mountain. If you want to escape the heat, I will mention it to the old lady tomorrow."

The young lady choked, knowing that she could talk to anyone but not her younger sister. She had no choice but to speak frankly: "Sister, you know that I've reached the age for marriage. If I get married, I certainly won't be as carefree as I was as a young lady. Miss Qin's poetry gathering is quite interesting. Seeing this invitation has made me want to see the elegance of the young ladies of Lin'an."

The second young lady frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said, "If eldest sister wants to go, that's fine, but Third Miss Qin usually invites mostly people her own age, and in previous years the poetry gatherings were mostly attended by the legitimate daughters of various families. I'm afraid eldest sister will feel uncomfortable."

The second young lady was speaking from the heart; she believed that people with different values ​​didn't necessarily have to come together.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, from kings and nobles to farmers and scholars, it was generally believed that it was enough for daughters to know a few characters, and those who were proficient in poetry and literature were mostly the favored legitimate daughters of their families.

The young lady was stunned on the spot, her eyes twitched involuntarily, and a surge of anger rose in her heart.

But for the sake of her plans, she had to go to the poetry gathering, which was the only opportunity in the near future. Since the tea cake incident, although there were indeed praises from the upper-class women in Lin'an, her stepmother had never mentioned the Qin family again.

"Second sister, your words are inappropriate. I heard that Third Miss Qin also invited the two daughters of Magistrate Song. I have always been on good terms with Miss Song, so I won't feel uncomfortable. Could it be that Second sister doesn't want to take me along, or that she thinks that eldest sister's lack of literary knowledge will embarrass you?"

The second young lady herself did not have this intention, so she waved her hand to explain, and finally it was decided that they would go to the poetry gathering at Phoenix Mountain together the day after tomorrow.

In Meng Shu's opinion, her master was quite stubborn.

As the eldest daughter of the royal family, she was taught from a young age to be dignified and gentle. Furthermore, having been pampered since childhood and never suffering any hardship, coupled with the rare tranquility of the Tang family's inner quarters, she naturally spoke without restraint, often unknowingly hurting others with her words. To put it more politely, she was simply straightforward...

But when these two peculiar temperaments are combined, they are most easily manipulated by words. The young lady was well aware of this.

In just over twenty days since Meng Shu came to Yunyi Courtyard, she has watched helplessly as the young lady took away many fine things from the courtyard. For example, the new gauze dress that came out of Yongxiu Cloth Shop just two days ago was made of a fabric called cloud mist gauze, which was worth a thousand gold pieces.

The old lady gave a bolt of cloth to the madam and the second young lady, and then the eldest young lady came over and praised it at length, saying how good the material was, how well her grandmother treated her younger sister, the legitimate daughter, and how she treated them, the illegitimate daughters, in a way that was different from them. Then she sighed sadly and revealed her reddened eyes.

"Sister, I really envy how much the old lady loves her younger sister. We remaining sisters are not so fortunate. It's a pity that you've reached the age of marriage. If you could have a dress made of cloud-mist silk when you get married, you would have no regrets."

The second young lady was speechless and immediately gave her half a bolt of cloth, which made Mengzhu and Mengshu feel heartbroken for a long time.

Mengzhu truly felt sorry for that half of the cloud-mist silk, while Mengshu was heartbroken that her mistress was so... naive, and if she were to marry in the future, wouldn't she be completely taken advantage of?

Because she was worried about Green Willow, and also felt that the eldest young lady's behavior was very suspicious, and since it involved the second young lady, Meng Shu found an opportunity to meet Green Willow.

Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to responding calmly.

Meng Shu didn't explicitly ask what was lost, but through subtle probing, Green Willow still revealed a lot of information.

Aunt Liu knew that her status as a concubine's daughter was not high enough to be considered a member of the prefect's family, but she believed that she could still reach the rank of assistant prefect if she worked hard. Since Miss Qin was closest to this concubine's son, she encouraged the eldest daughter to spend more time with Miss Qin.

Meng Shu originally thought that the young lady insisted on going to the poetry gathering for this reason, but she never expected that a huge storm would break out on the day of the poetry gathering.

It was only then that I realized that it wasn't that the concubines in the Tang family's backyard were well-behaved; they were probably using their methods to scheme for their children!