Lady Jin sat down her tea cup and sighed. This time, there might not be any surprises.
After another cup of tea, the Provincial Governor's wife happily arrived. The moment she entered the room, she said, "I must thank you, this clothing is absolutely perfect."
Lady Jin froze. She saw that the Provincial Governor's wife's smile was not fake. She was confused as she studied her dress.
The dress was not very colourful, but the effect on her body was extremely good. The dark green patterns brought out the Provincial Governor's wife's slender waist. She looked very light and free. Just this simple design was actually more eye-catching then those more heavily decorated clothing.
"If Lady likes it, then it is that girl's good fortune. I will reward her heavily when I see her again."
The Provincial Governor's wife caressed her clothing, the expression in her eyes was incredibly warm and friendly. "The next time you come, bring the girl along with you. I want to see just what type of girl she is to have such a great talent."
"Alright, in a few days, I will definitely bring her here."
Even till she left, Lady Jin was still extremely confused. When she got into the carriage, she could not help but turn to Yin Hong, "Were you able to see anything special in that clothing?"
"Replying to Lady, this servant is also very curious. Although it looked good on her, it just looked good. There was nothing there that would make the Provincial Governor's wife that happy." For the whole of the four hours after, the Provincial Governor's wife did not stop smiling.
Lady Jin smiled, "Looks like we will have to find a time to ask her."
She had initially thought that the Provincial Governor's wife only asked to see Mu Yunyao for the sake of politeness. She never would have guessed that in just two days, letters of invitation arrived at her residence. One of them was for Mu Yunyao.
After thinking for a moment, Lady Jin called Yin Hong over. "Go and personally give this letter to Mu Yunyao."
"As you wish, Lady."
When Yin Hong arrived at the Su residence, Mu Yunyao was explaining to the ten girls embroidery techniques. When she saw Yin Hong, she immediately got up. "Sister Yin Hong, what brings you here? Quick, come and take a seat."
Yin Hong studied the beautifully decorated garden. "I admire these girls for being able to do their learning in this garden. It is such a peaceful place."
Mu Yunyao poured her some tea. "Sister is the one that we should all admire. We all want to be by Lady's side, yet we do not have the chance. Sister, does Lady have any orders?"
"Take a look at this," Yin Hong said as she took out the letter. "The Provincial Governor's wife is extremely satisfied with your clothing and specially gave an invitation to you to attend her flower banquet."
Mu Yunyao appropriately put on a slight expression of terror on her face. "This...how could I dare?"
"Oh, and these silver notes are also from the Provincial Governor's wife."
All the notes were of value one hundred. There were about five to six of them. Mu Yunyao, however, only took out one note. "Sister Yin Hong should take the rest."
Yin Hong froze, the jealousy in her eyes immediately changed to excitement. "What...but why?"
Mu Yunyao smiled as she pointedly glanced over to the ten girls at the side.
Yin Hong bit her lip slightly. She put the notes back into her sleeve with lightning speed. "You should hurry back to your work, I won't disturb you further. I will chat with you again another day."
After sending Yin Hong away, Mu Yunyao calmly set the invitation aside and returned back to her sewing. Su Qing brought out the snacks and glanced at the invitation worriedly.
"Yao Er, stop making clothes. You should hurry and think about what you are going to wear on that day. Everyone attending the Provincial Governor's wife's banquet have high statuses. Do you want to get laughed at?"
Mu Yunyao saw that Su Qing was panicking. She quickly went up to calm her, "Mother, don't worry too much. In that kind of banquet, I am a mere side character, who on earth would waste their time and energy to make things difficult for me? Plus, the fact that the Provincial Governor's wife even invited me to go must mean that she wanted to talk to me about her clothing."
"Clothing? Could it be that she was unsatisfied with it and wants to punish you?"
"That is not possible. Mother, you're really thinking too much, she definitely just wants me to make her a few more."
"So it's like that?" Su Qing was still uneasy. She continued to nag until Mu Yunyao started to say that she was hungry. That was when she stopped and went to make food for her.
The two chicks chirped as they ran around Mu Yunyao's feet, annoying Mu Yunyao. She moved towards the side as an attempt to avoid them. In just a few days, they had already started to grow out some feathers. They were no longer round and furry and cute. "If you come near me, if you come near me! I! Will! Cook you! Liu Liang, send them to Mother."
Liu Liang stood before the two chicks and unleashed his murderous aura without saying a single word. The two chicks ran for their lives towards the backyard.
Seeing this, Mu Yunyao laughed, hard. Her laughter was like bells, like music to the ears. Her clear gaze was filled with laughter, lighting up her entire being.
Liu Liang turned around and saw her like this. The corner of his mouth raised just a tiny bit.
It was the day of the flower banquet. Mu Yunyao did not specially dress up too much. She picked out a pink top with embroidered orchid grass. She matched it with a skirt of similar colour. She also pasted a silk flower onto a silver hairpin and poked it through her hair, so as to not seem too underdressed. Immediately, she seemed like a pure and refined little lady.
Lady Jin sent a servant to inform Mu Yunyao to report at her Cao residence. She wanted to go to the banquet with her. Of course, Mu Yunyao did not reject this act of goodwill from Lady Jin. Before she left the house, she went to grab a bottle of rose cream.
Lady Jin, who received that very bottle of rose cream, was ecstatic. "I had already run out of that cream you gave me the other time. I was just thinking of how to ask another from you."
"Does Lady find it decent?"
Lady Jin caressed her own face. "It's better than I could ever imagine. From today on, I will not be buying the cream from Auspicious Treasure Pavillion anymore. I will only buy it from you." In just a few days, her skin had become especially soft and smooth.
"I feel a little embarrassed from Lady's praises. Use this first. If you run out, you can just inform me."
Lady Jin smiled as she nodded her head. "Oh, right, I have not asked you yet. What kind of surprise does that clothing that you gave to the Provincial Governor's wife have? Why does she like it so much?"
"Actually, it was all thanks to Lady."
"All thanks to me?" Lady Jin was taken aback. "I do not remember helping you?"
Mu Yunyao softly explained to her, "Before, Lady had mentioned that the Provincial Governor's wife really likes to eat ice bowls. She would start to eat at the end of the fourth month."
"I did say that, but what has that got to do with the dress that you made?"
"Jiangnan's weather is very hot. However, at the end of the fourth month, the heat is still quite manageable. Then, Lady mentioned that the Provincial Governor's wife would already start to eat ice bowls at this time, thus I concluded that she must suffer more than the average person in hot weather. By the time the six month comes around, wouldn't it be pure torture for her? The Ladies' are all very particular about their clothes. To make it it look nice and presentable, I cannot use cloth that is too thin. So, I had to experiment a little to make the clothing more cooling."
Lady Jin widened her eyes in realisation. In the past, when she had seen the Provincial Governor's wife, she would secretly wonder why she always perspired so much, yet she did not think too deeply. Who knew, this little girl was so much more clear-minded than her. "You have such an exquisite mind to be able to find the key point in my words."
So this totally explained why the Provincial Governor's wife was so happy. Perspiring was the bane of women. Women who host guests will always put on makeup. Is one were to apply makeup and only to have it destroyed in the next second due to the sweat, how terrible would that be?
"It really was all thanks to Lady giving me that information." Mu Yunyao still had a modest and unassuming manner, improving Lady Jin's impression of her even further.