Upon hearing this, the ladies exchanged smiles. Xiao Wan shook her head and said, "I didn't realize you had such a mischievous side. With just this painting in your hand, who would dare to laugh at you for overestimating yourself?"

Isn't this a blatant admission that you have no vision?

Although Zhu Jiayu's paintings cannot compare to those of the famous masters, they excel in their vividness and lifelikeness, and achieving a lifelike resemblance is always more difficult than achieving a mere physical likeness. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge would not say that Zhu Jiayu's paintings are bad.

They chatted and laughed for a while, then asked Zhu Jiayu to choose whose flower arrangement was the best.

Zhu Jiayu did not avoid suspicion and chose Xiao Wan's work, saying, "Ayu doesn't know anything about flower arrangement, but she feels happy when she sees Aunt's flower arrangement. The calamus and lotus flowers are placed together, with Taihu stones underneath. The flowers and trees have the posture of floating on the water and the posture of swaying in the wind, and also have a bit of quiet charm. Ayu thinks it is very good."

After she finished speaking, she added, "Of course, the flower arrangements of all my aunts are also very good. After seeing the flower arrangements made by your skillful hands, I now understand what it means to say, 'A room need not be large to be elegant, and the fragrance of flowers need not be many.' I have learned a lot today."

The ladies were just here to enjoy themselves and pass the time, and they didn't really intend to compete. But when they heard Zhu Jiayu say that, they all praised her for being sweet-talking and frank, and then went along with her and gave the prize to Xiao Wan.

Xiao Wan accepted the prize and smiled, "I am grateful for the kindness of you sisters today, but I have an appointment with A-Fan at her residence, so I will not stay here with you sisters for long."

The "A-Fan" she mentioned was another close friend, Ye Yunfan, who is now the wife of a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Rites.

After bidding farewell to the ladies along with her, Zhu Jiayu went downstairs, boarded a carriage, and headed to the residence of the Ministry of Rites official.

She had thought her aunt would let her stay in the carriage, but to her surprise, when they arrived at their destination, her aunt made her get off the carriage and go to the mansion to pay her respects to the lady.

However, compared to that, this was not particularly surprising. What surprised Zhu Jiayu was something else—the ladies she had just met, although they were not very happy with the affairs of the inner quarters, at least it was clear that they still held absolute power. Otherwise, they would not be so cheerful, as they had neither the favor of their husbands nor the power to manage the household.

People say birds of a feather flock together, and she assumed this Mrs. Afan would be the same. But to her surprise, upon arriving at the flower hall, she heard a woman weeping mournfully:

"...Madam, since you and Master are from a distinguished family, you hold the title and authority of the mistress of the house. You and Master live in harmony and respect each other. I do not seek power or money, but only a little bit of Master's favor. We keep to ourselves and do not interfere with each other. How can you not tolerate me?"