Chapter Eighty-One: The Honorable Guest with the Surname Li

  Time always flies by like a flash of light, easily slipping away from between the fingers, and can't be stopped. More than ten days have passed in the blink of an eye, and Qin Dai has also experienced her first Spring Festival in Dayong Country. Although she was not interested in traditional festivals before, she had learned about many local customs through osmosis, but after arriving in Dayong, she was amazed to find that the customs here were completely different from what she had known before.

  She remembered that the last time Ruyi mentioned a few words to her, but she thought it was too tedious and didn't pay attention. Now that she wants to ask, she's afraid of being seen through, so she doesn't ask anything and just follows everyone's arrangement, thinking that she'll understand everything next year after experiencing this once.

  On the twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month, He Danni personally delivered eight sets of brand new clothes. The fabrics were all good quality, including apricot yellow satin sleeves with a small jacket and a dark green embroidered auspicious cloud patterned skirt; pomegranate red flower satin sleeves with a small jacket and a same-color flowing tassel long skirt; sapphire blue wide-sleeved small jacket paired with a moon-white silk edge small apron; pearl white soft satin jacket with embroidered plum blossoms, and a dark-colored bat-shaped lace skirt. There was also a lake blue plain flower small jacket with a white jade button at the collar, paired with a hundred-pleated butterfly skirt with silk embroidery of peach blossoms; a bright purple red plain face small jacket with a same-color auspicious knot pattern embroidered on the chest, paired with a wide-hemmed long skirt with an embroidered hundred-flower pattern. There was also a lotus-colored short-sleeved silk jacket with gold thread embroidery, paired with a high-waisted long skirt in cyan color with a twisted branch pattern; and a set of misty-colored dark-patterned jacket and skirt, the top being a sleeveless small jacket that only had a common flower knot embroidered at the collar and cuffs. The hem of the garment was embroidered with large peonies using gold thread, while the lower body was a same-color same-pattern long skirt with an embroidered peony on the front hem, but with a different gold-edged embroidery and four or five kinds of bright and dark red embroidery at the bottom. There were also decorations made from tassels and flowing silk threads at the waist, which would swing back and forth with the movement of the body, showing off its beauty. In addition to these, there were ten pairs of embroidered shoes in different colors and flower patterns, including six pairs made into Qin Daihe's favorite short boot style.

  When the clothes were delivered to Changxiaoyuan, not only did Ruyi and Chunli look at them with admiration, but even Qindai also showed some surprise. These eight sets of cheongsam fabrics were exquisite, finely made, and beautifully patterned, which was beyond the capability of ordinary craftsmanship. While admiring He Dainiang's skills, Qindai also lamented that ancient people liked to wear bright red and green clothes, and didn't understand what "simple elegance" meant. It was hard for her to believe that He Dainiang thought these cheongsams were plain and elegant!

  "Miss, these clothes are really beautiful. The madam is so generous this time, even the 'Weaving Jade Workshop' smoke and rain brocade is used to make your clothes. He Dama said that Weaving Jade Workshop is the number one silk store in Beijing, all of their products are for high-ranking officials and nobles, just one piece of smoke and rain brocade probably costs several hundred taels of silver."

  Qin Dai Xin knew she was referring to the dress with peony patterns, although she also felt that it was a bit different from others, but she didn't expect it to be so unusual.

  As she helped put the clothes away in the trunk, she said, "Our mistress also got this one by chance, I heard that even with money, it's hard to buy."

  Just then, a voice outside said, "The steward has sent someone with jewelry for the young lady."

  Ru Yi hurriedly put the clothes into the trunk, carefully tidying up, and complained: "Why do they all seem to have conspired together, rushing to come on the same day?" While saying this, she didn't dare to slack off, and rushed out like a gust of wind.

  Qin Dai Xin's eyes sparkled as the servant sent by the housekeeper came in with Ruyi, first paying their respects to Qin Dai Xin, then having the maids bring over the trays and lift off the red cloths covering them, revealing several four-cornered red lacquer boxes adorned with copper nails.

  "Third Miss, these are the pieces of jewelry made for the young ladies in the mansion this year. There are five sets in total. Please take a look and if there's nothing wrong with them, let the maids record it in the ledger. I'll be leaving now."

  Qin Dai'er saw that the man was only about forty years old, spoke quickly and decisively, and seemed to be a straightforward person, so she thought there wouldn't be any problems and didn't even look at him before letting Ruyi give her a red envelope as a reward.

  The pouch was heavy with money, and since Chinese New Year was approaching, the reward was more generous than usual. Ruyu had already put a small silver ingot weighing five taels inside.

  The old woman was also a shrewd person. As soon as she took it in hand, she knew the weight of it and got a considerable amount of foreign money. She was overjoyed and left with a thousand thanks.

  Ru Yi sent the old woman out and then opened each of the jewelry boxes one by one for Qin Dai to see.

  The box was filled with newly-made jewelry, each one shining brightly with gold and silver, adorned with various colored gemstones, jade flowers, and butterfly-shaped hairpins. There were also white rice grain-sized emerald earrings, pearl pendants, agate ear decorations that filled an entire box, not to mention the gold and silver chains, jade bangles, and four or five strands of different-colored pearl necklaces. Fortunately, Qin Dai's heart was still young and innocent, so these ornaments' styles were mostly lively and delicate, yet elegant and refined. Although they were precious jewelry, they didn't look old-fashioned, which showed the exquisite craftsmanship and unique designs.

  "Miss, these are all very valuable items. You've never had so many pieces of jewelry before!" Ruyi was a bit stunned, what's going on this year?

  Even Ruyi felt it was unusual, apparently something had indeed happened at home.

  "What about the things I asked you to investigate?" These external things, she didn't take them seriously, and her reaction was naturally calm. In comparison, she cared more about the secrets behind these unusual events.

  Ru Yi was stunned for a moment before remembering that Miss had asked her to visit Fang Wanru's courtyard and socialize with the maids a few days ago.

  "Miss, those maids are tight-lipped and won't reveal anything. Haitang is even more cunning and evasive, I asked her a few times but she dodged the questions every time, so I didn't dare ask again for fear of arousing suspicion. However, it was an old woman who guards the corner door who revealed some information, which might be related to this household's affairs."

  "Oh?" Qin Dai's interest was piqued, and she let Ruyi tell her about it in detail.

  After getting Qin Dai's instructions, Ruyi went to Fang Wanyu's courtyard to chat with the young maids, sometimes borrowing flower patterns and sometimes pretending to pass by, all in an attempt to extract some information about the household from them. She knew that this matter was likely related to her own mistress, so she asked in various ways several times, but unexpectedly, these maids did not reveal any useful information, nor did they know whether Fang Wanyu's strict management or their own ignorance was the reason. After Ruyi returned in failure, she thought carefully for a few times and felt that even if the household was managed more strictly, it could not stop private discussions, so those maids must have really been unaware of anything. With this thought, she calmed down a bit and took advantage of Qin Dai's visit to pay respects to ask Haitang, the head maid, several times in a roundabout way, but unexpectedly, not only did she fail to get any information out of her, but also nearly exposed her own purpose, which scared her so much that she dared not try to gather news again.

  It just so happened that one day she went out and returned to the mansion, coming back from the corner gate when she heard a few wives chatting together. Originally, Ruyi wasn't very interested in this kind of gossip about other families, but unexpectedly, she overheard a segment that made her ears perk up, and her heart suddenly felt joyful. She immediately stopped in her tracks and started chatting with these wives. As the head maid beside the young mistress of the mansion, she was also a person of importance, and if it were any other time, perhaps she wouldn't have given these wives a second glance. Now, thinking about the task entrusted to her by the young mistress, she forced out three parts of a smile and started getting familiar with them. Those wives were overjoyed and all fawned on her, trying to get close to her.

  "By the way, what were you all talking about just now? Why was it so lively? You might as well tell me too."

  These women had no idea what she was thinking, so they repeated everything they said earlier from start to finish.

  Originally, Zhao's wife, who was in charge of the corner gate, had a son who followed Qin Zongwen. Everyone would often make fun of her, and although her son had been following Master for many years, Master couldn't even remember his name. Zhao's wife wasn't angry, she just felt that her son had brought honor to herself, and although he hadn't made a name for himself yet, one day he would have his moment in the spotlight.

  To prove that her son was special, she told this story.

  That day, her son followed Qin Congwen to look at the shop and met a person. This person was young and had the appearance of a rich family's son, with a big-bearded martial artist by his side. The young master was originally there to buy things, but when he heard that our old master was surnamed Qin, he came over to greet him. Qin Congwen was a shrewd businessman, although he didn't know this young master, but seeing that he was dressed in an unusual way, he politely exchanged a few words with him. Who knew that this young master whispered something in Qin Congwen's ear, and his face changed greatly, as if he didn't believe it, and looked surprised. The expression on his face was wonderful. He hastily ordered his son to go to the Drunken Fragrance Building to order a table of good dishes, inviting the young master to drink wine. During the meal, the young master rewarded his son with a silver ingot, saying that the food and drinks were well arranged. Who knew that when the old master was pleased, he also rewarded his son with a silver ingot, and said, "Li Gongzi's words are naturally not in vain."

  Mrs. Zhao was overjoyed and couldn't stop talking, saying: "After that Mr. Li left, the old master drank a few more cups and got slightly drunk before letting my son escort him out of the wine house. He muttered a few sentences on the way out, which my son didn't quite catch, but it sounded like something about having noble guests coming to our home after the new year. My son may not be one of the old master's confidants, but he has seen his fair share of grand scenes." Mrs. Zhao's words were full of pride and she didn't notice Ruyi's expression at all.

  "Miss, this happened after you escaped and came back." Ruyi dared to be certain that this Mr. Li must have some connection with the mansion.

  Could it be that this Mr. Li is really related to me? Qin Dai thought for half a day, but still couldn't figure out what kind of person this Mr. Li was, so she simply let things take their course. When the noble guest arrives, everything will become clear.

  PS: Hurry up and collect it!