At this moment, Jiang Yaoyao, who had changed her clothes, came out to play a piece on the zither for the old lady. She then saw Jiang Yuwei actually bringing two pots of flowers to present as a birthday gift to the old lady, and couldn't help but sneer:
"Oh, you're giving away something like this as a gift? What do you take the old lady for?"
"Exactly, even if you're poor, you can't fool people like this."
"Of course, can the old lady be fooled?"
Jiang Yuwei glanced at the disapproving expressions on everyone's faces, then looked at the old lady's calm demeanor, and smiled:
"My flowers are different from ordinary flowers. I can make them bloom now. Would you like to see them, madam?"
Upon hearing this, the old lady immediately became interested and carefully examined the unassuming flower buds in front of her:
"I think this is a peony plant. How can you make it obey your commands and bloom immediately?"
"Tsk tsk, you really know how to brag, you can actually say things like that."
What if these flowers don't bloom?
"Yes, you can't fool us with just words."
At this moment, Jiang Yaoyao also hurriedly went up and said with a smile:
"You may not know this, but Jiang Yuwei is just a village woman. She has no ability to make flowers bloom immediately. I think you should not be fooled by her."
Upon hearing this, the old lady raised her eyes to look at Jiang Yaoyao and said in a deep voice:
"I'm not in the mood to listen to the zither right now. I'm just curious whether these flowers will bloom or not. Manager Li, please take the zither player to the front yard to play for the guests."
Upon hearing this, Manager Li hurriedly walked up to Jiang Yaoyao and gestured for her to leave.
Seeing this, Jiang Yaoyao could only grit her teeth and leave the inner room in a huff.
After Jiang Yaoyao left, everyone turned their attention to Jiang Yuwei and began to speak:
"The old lady said she wants to see the peony bloom, so hurry up and make it bloom."
"That's right, let's not let him be someone who just talks big and makes the old lady wait in vain."
Jiang Yuwei calmly smiled and looked at the person who spoke, saying:
"Of course, we won't wait in vain."
Having said that, he took out the spiritual spring water he had prepared beforehand from his bosom and slowly watered the two pots of flowers. Then he looked up at the old lady and said:
"Today is the birthday of the old lady. You must tell her to let the flower bloom before it dares to bloom. Please tell us, old lady."
Although the old lady was somewhat skeptical, since Jiang Yuwei had said so, she didn't want to offend her, so she spoke up:
"Let the peonies bloom, let them all bloom."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the two pots of peonies placed in front of the old lady slowly bloomed. Upon closer inspection, each petal was a different color, and the various colors blended together in a novel and beautiful way.
The old lady hadn't expected them to bloom, but to her surprise, both pots of flowers actually blossomed after she opened them, so she clapped her hands in delight:
"Haha, good, good, these flowers are blooming beautifully, Yuwei, I really like this gift you gave me, it's very good, very good."
The crowd, who had initially looked down on Jiang Yuwei, were stunned when they saw the two pots of peonies in full bloom. Even though everyone present was from a prominent family in Ping'an Town, they had never seen such beautiful peonies before, nor had they ever heard of a single plant possessing so many colors.
Seeing that the old lady was happy, Jiang Yuwei was relieved and smiled:
"These flowers are so beautiful because they have received the grace of the old lady. Please, old lady, name these two flowers."
The old lady was even happier to hear Jiang Yuwei's words, and laughed heartily:
"Haha, these flowers are quite peculiar. There are so many colors on one plant, yet they don't look tacky when combined. The light coming through the window shines on them and they even have a subtle sheen. They're very beautiful. How about we call them Seven-Colored Peonies?"
Jiang Yuwei nodded and smiled:
"It is indeed a good name, Seven-Colored Peony, very fitting!"
"Yes, the old lady chose a good name!"
"It's a blessing for this flower to be named by the old lady!"
Everyone had long forgotten how they had looked down on Jiang Yuwei earlier, and now they all praised the old lady for choosing such a good name.
The old lady smiled and said:
"Let's move these flowers outside and show them to all the visiting guests. Today, we're fortunate to have seen such wonderful things that we've never seen before, all thanks to Yuwei."
As she spoke, the old lady waved to Jiang Yuwei and smiled:
"Yuwei, come here. The manor has hired an opera troupe today. Let's go to the front and watch the show together."
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei nodded to Ning Huaizhi, signaling him to take good care of the fool, before walking to the old lady's side and helping her to the stage in the front yard.
These relatives who stayed in the inner room had hoped to take advantage of the birthday banquet to curry favor with the old lady, but who would have thought that Jiang Yuwei's two seven-colored peonies would steal the show? The old lady didn't even care to look at the gifts they had prepared at great expense, and now she even had an outsider accompany her to watch a play in the front yard.
Everyone was dissatisfied, so they didn't give Ning Huaizhi and the fool a friendly look either. Fortunately, the two of them didn't care about the gazes of others. With a clear goal in mind, they went straight to the front yard, found a corner, sat down, and started eating.
The old lady pulled Jiang Yuwei and Ning Wan to sit at the front. Sun Yuanwai, who was busy in the front yard, saw that his mother liked the two very much, so he didn't say much. After all, it was the old lady's birthday banquet, and it was fine as long as the old lady was happy.
Jiang Yuwei was watching a play with the old lady when she suddenly saw a familiar figure following behind the second young master of the Xu family, serving him busily. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle.
Isn't this the old geezer that Xu Qianqian was looking for? What Master Xu? Turns out he's just a servant of the Xu family. No wonder he said he was from the Xu family. Tsk tsk, Jiang Yuwei felt a little sorry for Xu Qianqian. Xu Qianqian must have thought she had hooked up with some rich man, so she wanted to take him to Ningjia Village to show off.
Jiang Yuwei thought about what Xu Qianqian's expression would be if she knew the true identity of this Master Xu, and her smile deepened.
The old lady noticed that Jiang Yuwei was smiling and asked curiously:
"There's nothing funny about this play, Yuwei, what are you laughing at?"
Jiang Yuwei coughed a few times and smiled faintly:
"It's nothing, I'm just very happy to be able to stay by the old lady's side today."
The old lady smiled and nodded upon hearing this, saying:
“I really like your family, especially Wan’er. She’s so well-behaved and sensible. Unlike my naughty boys, who are always crazy and never still. Look at Wan’er, she’s so good to me, watching the play with me.”
As she spoke, the old lady reached out to stroke Ning Wan's hair.
Jiang Yuwei smiled and said:
"If the old lady likes it, I will bring Wan'er to keep you company often in the future."
Upon hearing this, the old lady was delighted and said:
“Great, great! I’m getting old and I love a lively family atmosphere. How about this, I’ll take you as my goddaughter? I love daughters the most, but unfortunately I only have sons.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com