“Ah, this, according to your description, it shouldn’t be difficult to buy this kind of material and embroidery. How about I make one for you? Anyway, I’ve made quite a few of these before, and I can finish one in just a few hours!” Granny Ju said, picking up the basket.
Jiang Ling felt that Granny Ju's words made no sense, and it would be easier to ask her with the actual items.
"Alright, thank you Grandma Ju!" Jiang Ling nodded in reply.
Grandma Ju was delighted to hear that she had something to do and said with a smile, "No trouble at all! You rest, Madam, I'll get back to work!"
After saying that, Grandma Ju picked up the basket and ran back into the house.
Jiang Ling watched Granny Ju's departing figure and sighed helplessly, "Alas, daughters grow up and leave home! Which rascal just stole our Suihe's beautiful cabbage!"
Granny Ju truly lived up to her reputation as the best needleworker in the palace; within a short hour and a half, she arrived with the sachet that Jiang Ling had described.
Jiang Ling glanced at the sachet in her hand and nodded in satisfaction.
Just as Granny Ju was about to leave, Jiang Ling remembered something and quickly said, "Granny, please wait!"
"Mother-in-law, please don't tell anyone about the sachets, including our children!"
Grandma Ju nodded and replied, "Don't worry, Madam!"
Jiang Ling carefully placed the sachet, which was nearly 80% similar to the real thing, into her bosom.
The next morning, Jiang Ling arrived at the entrance of the embroidery workshop.
She took out the sachet that Granny Ju had given her yesterday and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you have sachets like this?"
After carefully examining the sachet in Jiang Ling's hand, the shopkeeper asked, "Madam, would you like the same design, color, or material?"
"Are they all the same?" Jiang Ling replied.
The shopkeeper stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before walking into the embroidery shop. After a while, he returned to the counter with several sachets similar to those in Jiang Ling's hand.
"I'm sorry, Madam, all the identical sachets are sold out! Would you like to take a look at some others?" With that, the shopkeeper placed all the sachets he had taken out in front of Jiang Ling.
It has to be admitted that the shopkeeper is very good at business. Jiang Ling pretended to be casually picking out items and asked, "Shopkeeper, it seems that your batch of pink butterfly sachets is very popular!"
"Oh dear, Madam, what are you saying? These silk sachets are very expensive to make; we're lucky if we can sell one a week!"
These words made Jiang Ling, who had been pretending to pick out sachets, immediately stop. She looked up at the shopkeeper and tentatively asked, "Shopkeeper, what do people who buy pink sachets usually do?"
Seeing Jiang Ling's nonchalant attitude, the shopkeeper assumed a big customer had arrived and didn't think much of it. He stroked his chin and recalled, "This? I remember only three pink ones were made recently. Two were bought by the eldest and second young ladies of the Li family, and the other one..."
At this point, the shopkeeper clicked his tongue and fell into deep thought, while Jiang Ling's heart began to race as she listened to the shopkeeper's recollections.
"Hmm... the other one seems... seems! Yes! It's the one that Li Erniu from the breakfast stall next door bought for his wife. Apparently, it was a birthday present!"
The shopkeeper's words made Jiang Ling's heart sink again. She sighed helplessly, casually picked out a light blue sachet, paid for it, and walked out of the embroidery shop dejectedly.
"Sigh, it seems there are no clues left in this place!" Jiang Ling leaned against the wall and began to think.
"Hmm, that sachet looks quite old. Suihe only returned from Linghui Academy a little over a month ago, so the problem must have occurred during the time Suihe was at Linghui Academy..." Jiang Ling used very little information to make a long, winding connection, then discarded some useless information, piecing together the clues in her mind like walking a maze, and finally came to a conclusion—Linghui Academy!
But Jiang Ling quickly dismissed the thought. After their last court battle, Jiang Ling hadn't shown any respect to Linghui Academy. The incident involving Jiang Suihe and Luo Miaoran had also caused Linghui Academy's reputation to plummet. If you went to Linghui Academy now, you'd be lucky if they didn't beat you up!
However, as soon as this thought crossed my mind, another thought popped into my head: Linghui Academy was in Guangping County, and Guangping County also had a Xiufang (a type of traditional Chinese workshop).
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling came up with a plan—to go to Guangping County.
Jiang Ling is a woman of action, and her thoughts quickly followed her footsteps to the oxcart heading to Guangping County. The oxcart moved much slower than the horse-drawn carriage, and this was the first time Jiang Ling had ridden in an oxcart in several days.
"Oh dear, isn't this Madam An?"
Last night, Jiang Ling never expected that she would be tossing and turning and unable to sleep because of Jiang Suihe's matter. Now, sitting on the oxcart, she could close her eyes and rest for a while, but she was woken up by a slightly surprised voice.
Jiang Ling slowly opened her eyes and saw a thin woman with dark skin looking at her excitedly.
Although the woman's scream wasn't loud, everyone on the oxcart heard it clearly, and their eyes fell on Jiang Ling along with the sound.
“Auntie Dashan, you’re so out of touch! She’s not a lady anymore, she’s a lady of high status. I heard she has ten servants and ten maids to serve her! And they even gave her a house made of pure gold…” Another woman, plump and with a ruddy complexion, leaned closer to Auntie Dashan and said.
"Anren? What's that? Is she more powerful than Ruren?" Old Lady Dashan asked with a puzzled look.
"Oh, you're right! I heard from our village chief that this Anren is even higher than the county magistrate!" the fat woman said excitedly.
Upon hearing this, Da Shan Niang immediately covered her mouth, revealing a surprised expression, and shut her mouth in disbelief.
Jiang Ling was speechless. How could the rumors be getting more and more outrageous? Just a few seconds later, Jiang Ling felt everyone's gaze. She casually glanced around and saw that everyone on the oxcart was staring at her.
However, due to her status as a concubine, everyone could only watch silently.
Jiang Ling grinned awkwardly and greeted everyone, then said, "Hello everyone!"
The old woman was the first to react. She rushed to Jiang Ling and knelt down on both knees, saying, "Greetings, Auntie!"
As soon as the mountain woman called out "Hello, Anren," everyone stood up in alarm, preparing to kneel down on the cramped oxcart to greet her.
Jiang Ling rubbed her aching temples and quickly stopped her, saying, "No need, no need, no need for formalities!"
After hearing this, everyone sat back down in their original positions, and the coachman who had been driving the carriage in front also knelt down before Jiang Ling.
Without the driver's guidance, the oxcart was about to go out of control and overturn into the wheat field next to it.
Jiang Ling was terrified. She shouted, "Car! Car! No need! No need for formalities! The car is the priority!"
The driver hurriedly got up and started pulling the oxcart again. Seeing the oxcart back on the road, Jiang Ling patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, she finally understood why celebrities used to cover themselves up so thoroughly when they went out.
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