Manbao sat with Madam Tang for half a day and received a list from her—names of powerful, influential, or wealthy ladies in Yizhou City who fancied peonies.
After leaving the County Governmental Office, Manbao hired an ox cart to leave the city.
Outside the city, there were flower farmers. Manbao stopped quite a distance from the flower fields and gave the hired cart driver a piece of silver, saying, "Please go into the village for me and buy two pots of peony flowers, red ones, any variety will do, just pretty ones. I'll wait here for my brother. You can come back to pick me up later."
The driver hesitated, "Don't you want to look at the flowers yourself?"
"No need, they're just for personal viewing. As long as they're red, I don't have much requirement. Buy two pots, and the rest of the money is for your trouble."
Hearing this, the driver immediately took the money and was about to drive off when Manbao said, "Leave the cart, my brother will need to load things on it later."
