"Xue Zhilan?"
Xu Ranyun sat up suddenly and asked sharply, "Why did she go to see Xue Zhilan?"
Fengxian also became nervous and murmured, "In the past, the eldest grandmother was quite good to Grandma Lan, but Grandma Lan was used to being humble in front of her. Now she must feel that she can't deal with Grandma, so she is going to join forces with Grandma Lan. If this is true, the mistress also likes Grandma Lan, Grandma, this will be very disadvantageous to you."
Xu Ranyun was also a little flustered, but she forced herself to remain calm and said, "I don't believe it. Xue Zhilan has always been weak towards others. The reason why I appointed me as the housekeeper was because she was too weak. Now that the eldest lady wants her to be the housekeeper, I will not agree. Moreover, if she really has the ability to change the situation, why doesn't she be the housekeeper herself? Why does she have to pull Xue Zhilan to do it?"
"Grandma also said that what the eldest grandmother did in the past was not kind, so the old lady is hesitant. If she had asked Grandma Lan to support her, the attitude of the madam and the old lady would not be so firm." Fengxian turned into a dog-headed military advisor, actively analyzing Su Nuannuan's psychology for Xu Ranyun. The more she analyzed, the more panicked Xu Ranyun became. She had no choice but to say to the little girl in a stern voice: "Go and watch outside Qiuyun Pavilion. If the eldest grandmother and Grandma Lan have any movements, come back and report to me."
After saying this, Fengxian also said to the little girl, "You don't have to do any work on weekdays. You are only asked to interact with people in the mansion. Don't you have many sisters? Now think of a way to sit in Qiuyun Pavilion. It would be best if you can get some useful information. Grandma will definitely reward you when you come back. Go."
The little girl quickly agreed and went. When she arrived at Qiuyun Pavilion, she saw a friend named Qiao'er who she usually called sister come out. When she saw her, she smiled and said, "Mei'er, why are you here? Doesn't your grandma need you to do anything?"
Mei'er smiled and said, "We are very busy in the courtyard. Today it is my turn to boil water. I have already finished it, so I came out for a walk. What are you busy with?" As she spoke, she walked forward and looked at the main room with pearl curtains with hidden joy. She was thinking about how to get in this corridor. If she pricked up her ears, she might be able to hear people talking inside.
"How dare I compete with you? Didn't I just prepare some bird food to feed the birds? Since you're here, we can have a chat." Qiao'er said, and took a small spray bottle to water a row of bird cages under the corridor.
This was exactly what Mei'er wanted. She pricked up her ears, but after listening for a long time, she didn't hear any voices in the room. She couldn't help but be surprised. She thought to herself, how could Grandma and Grandma Lan not talk when they meet? Are they playing dumb? Did they know I was coming?
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Qiao'er say "Huh?" "Why is Grandma here?"
"where?"
Mei'er called out. Following Qiao'er's gaze, she saw Su Nuannuan and Aunt Jing coming out of the side room and heading straight to the backyard. She was speechless: Why did these two go together? Did the eldest grandmother condescend to come here? Was it to see Aunt Jing? Not Grandma Lan?
As soon as she thought of this, Mei'er said quickly, "Oh, I suddenly remembered that I have something to do with Xiaoyu. Is she in the backyard now? I'll go see her." Without waiting for Qiao'er to speak, she hurried around the corridor. Qiao'er sneered here, but didn't expose her, and continued to feed her bird water.
"Grandma wants to use roses, but it's a little late now. The roses are at their most fragrant in late spring when they first bloom. They are great for making rose tea, rose gel, or rouge cream."
The backyard of Qiuyun Pavilion was planted with various flowers and plants because of Aunt Jing's preference, and the fragrance drifted all the way to the front yard. When Su Nuannuan entered this sea of flowers, she immediately fell in love with it. Looking at the branches full of roses in front of her, she nodded repeatedly and said, "This is great, it's enough to make flower cakes."
"Flower cake?" Aunt Jing smiled slightly. "I've always heard that grandma is a good cook. Your desserts are praised by the old lady. Are you going to make new desserts? I have eaten food decorated with flowers, but this is the first time I've heard of flower cakes."
Su Nuannuan smiled and said, "Of course we can't just wrap some petals in it. There are still several steps to go through. When it's done, I'll treat you to a meal." After she said that, she saw the wild rose tree not far away. She felt a mixture of emotions. The time and space before her overlapped with the world she had lived in not long ago. The familiar faint fragrance made her walk towards the trees involuntarily.
"Grandma also likes this wild rose?"
Aunt Jing saw her coming to the wild rose and taking a deep breath, and couldn't help but smile and said, "This flower is everywhere. When I first planted it, Grandma Lan said it was not worthy of being planted in a formal hall. But I prefer its delicate fragrance and beautiful appearance. The most pitiful thing is the thorns on the branches. Everyone in the mansion says that the flowers I planted are good, but no one will take a second look at this flower. Why does Grandma seem to have a special liking for it?"
"What can be worthy of being in a refined place? What can be worthy of being in a refined place must be good?" Su Nuannuan took a deep breath, and her slender fingers brushed across the familiar bright petals, and she said softly: "I also planted a few trees of this at home before. I didn't think much of it at that time, but seeing it now, it is really familiar."
The wild rose that Aunt Jing mentioned was called thorn rose by Su Nuannuan in her previous life. She never knew its scientific name. Its fragrance was the same as that of Damascus rose. Because of its wild nature, easy growth and long flowering period, it was very popular among ordinary people. Almost every family would plant a few in the front and back yards. But because of this, it became an abandoned child of the rich and powerful. The reason why Aunt Jing planted this was probably related to her life experience. Just by listening to her saying that the thorns on the branches were pitiful, you can understand her feelings: those thorns are not a part of her pride in surviving in the world. Although they stand upright and unyielding, they may be broken at any time.
Aunt Jing is a flower lover. Su Nuannuan, who loved flower arrangement in her previous life, also studied many flowers and plants. She originally came here today just to personally inspect Aunt Jing's character, but unexpectedly, with flowers as a medium, the more they talked, the more they got along. In the end, when they talked about flower arrangement, they were both very interested. Aunt Jing told the maid Zhu Xiu beside her, "Go and get the pair of beauty vases in my room."
Zhu Xiu turned and left. Aunt Jing smiled and said, "As soon as I heard what Grandma said, I knew you were an expert in this area. Since we are here today, why don't you let me open my eyes as well?"
"Okay." Su Nuannuan was also very happy. Even if she was a foodie, she couldn't study food every day. She needed some changes, right? Since Aunt Jing said so, she was happy to learn from her.
Zhu Xiu brought the beauty bottle back after a while. Su Nuannuan saw that this girl was very beautiful and more lively than the maids in the mansion. She unconsciously showed some charm in her words and actions. She knew in her heart that this was probably a maid in Aunt Jing's brothel. After all, 20,000 taels of silver was too much of a rip-off to redeem a person. Buy one get one free or buy one get two free was reasonable.
The two looked at the bottle, then carefully patrolled the sea of flowers, and then went their separate ways. After a while, they had picked the flowers they needed, long and short. Su Nuannuan also gave her advice seriously, "Sister, you pay too much attention to flowers. In fact, everything in the world has its own characteristics. Since you like flower arrangement, some plants are also indispensable. For example, I don't see any baby's breath in your garden. You probably think it's too ordinary. But if you make a flower basket, it's a very good embellishment..."
Aunt Jing nodded and said excitedly, "Grandma, you are right. In this case, I will ask someone to find some seeds for me. Please take a look. If there is anything missing, just tell me and I will plant it. Although I am not good at anything, I am good at planting flowers and grass."
"In that case, let's take some time to go to Meiyue Tower. I have already had the place completely leveled. It's about 20 to 30 acres of land. We can build a large greenhouse and plant all kinds of flowers and plants in addition to vegetables. Wouldn't we have everything to eat and see? We can kill two birds with one stone and not waste anything."
Aunt Jing couldn't help but be overjoyed when she heard Su Nuannuan say this. She nodded and said, "Thank you, grandma. I heard that the land there had been razed two days ago, so I went to take a look. It's really a great place. But I heard that grandma wanted to grow vegetables there, so I didn't dare to say anything. Now that you said so, I will naturally do my best..."
The two of them were talking, but they didn't stop arranging flowers. Suddenly, they heard a laughing voice behind them saying, "Hey, what are Grandma and Sister Jing talking about so happily? I want to hear it, too."
The two looked back and saw Xue Zhilan walking slowly towards them in a light-colored shirt. Standing in the sea of flowers, she looked quite different. So they both stood up and said with a smile, "You want to listen now, but we've already finished talking. Are we disturbing you by talking here? So you're here to chase us away?"
Xue Zhilan rarely saw Su Nuannuan so friendly. She was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly smiled and said, "Grandma, you are too kind. How could I think so? I heard from the maids that you came to look for Sister Jing. I thought you might have something to do, so I didn't dare to disturb you. I thought I would pay my respects to you when you left, but you didn't come out no matter how long I waited. I was really anxious, so I came here by myself."
Su Nuannuan smiled at Aunt Jing and said, "Listen, what you said is trying to drive me away. Do you have something secret to do? Do you think I'm an eyesore?"
Xue Zhilan hurried forward, took Su Nuannuan's arm and said, "Grandma, you really wronged me. I always look forward to your coming but never see it. Since that's what you said, I might as well not leave today. I've eaten a lot of your food these days, so I'll cook a few side dishes for lunch. Of course, they're not as delicious as yours, but I think they should be edible. I'll say this as a thank you for taking care of me these days."
Her warmth and humility surprised Aunt Jing who was standing by the side. She thought to herself that before, Grandma Lan had been fawning on the eldest grandma because she was powerful and the Duke Ping's Mansion was prominent. But after the Duke Ping's Mansion fell, she had not been respectful to the eldest grandma anymore. Even when the eldest grandma moved back, she did not show any respect or fawning to her. Why did it change today?
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