Chapter 23: Busy Making Clothes for Spring's Return

  That night, Daiyu took Xueqi back to Visiting Plum Pavilion.

  Rong Ze stayed at Yun Xiao Hall.

  The next morning, Yan Rong brought a crimson embroidered jacket with plum blossoms and a pair of purple velvet padded pants.

  "Miss, I and Zi Juan looked for the original trunk last night, modified a few clothes from your childhood, let Cousin wear them temporarily, and I will choose materials today to make a few more."

  Daiyu took the flower cloak and Lin Daiyu's hands were indeed clever. In just one night, she had altered the clothes to fit her perfectly.

  She smiled and said to Yan Rong, "Don't worry about it, you worked all night yesterday, definitely didn't get a good rest, go take a break first. Zijuan's needlework is also good, just call Lao Da Niang to find a few people with similar skills, today rush out two or three pieces will be enough to wear, in a couple of days the shops on the street will open, then we'll ask someone to make new ones for Taitai and Shao Ye."

  Yan Rong thought for a moment and said, "When I have time, I'll go find Zong Lu. The young master's things are all made by her."

  "This is good too, you two discuss it among yourselves. I don't understand these things either. Just see what's needed and go find Old Lady Luo to come here and get the receipt."

  Two people were talking when Xueyan walked in: "Miss, your cousin is awake. She's not making a sound or calling out to us. You see..."

  Daiyu thought of last night when she helped Xueqi take a bath, that child's body had big and small scars all over, almost ten or so places, what kind of parent could bring themselves to hit their child like this, be ruthless enough to do such a thing.

  Daiyu said to Xueyan: "I'll come, you all go prepare food, and make some nourishing dishes, I see that Xueqi and Rongze's bodies are not good. Take out the old ginseng that my brother gave me and have the cook stew a chicken with it." Daiyu also remembered that she had a piece of cloud brocade given by her ancestors in her trunk, "Go call Zijuan to take out the good fabric that grandma gave me and give it to Yanyan, make a spring shirt according to young master's size, and wear it after a while."

  Xueyan hesitated: "But miss, young master said that ginseng was for you to regulate your body..."

  "You little scamp, I know my own body," said Daiyu, and with that she went off to the warm silken closet to look for Xue Ke.

  Xue Qi grasped the quilt tightly, her big eyes staring blankly at Chun Lai and the others, not allowing anyone to touch it.

  Bi Die and the others had never served such a young master before, and they couldn't dress him like their own younger brothers and sisters at home. They were worried about what to do when Cui Yu entered.

  "Miss, look, Miss Biao is..."

  Daiyu waved her hand and told them all to go out.

  "Xue Qi, did you sleep well yesterday?" The little girl was frightened when she saw Daiyu sitting on her bed and retreated backward.

  Daiyu put the clothes in her hand on the edge of the pillow: "Don't be afraid, I'm sister Daiyu. We met yesterday, have you forgotten? These are the clothes I made for you. Shall we wear them and go find Rongze brother?"

  Xue Qi heard her brother's name, and her lifeless eyes suddenly became spirited. She said timidly: "I want to protect my brother."

  These words made Daiyu feel so heartbroken, she couldn't bear it anymore and hugged Xueqi tightly, "Good sister, from now on brother and sister will protect you, and won't let you suffer again."

  At this time, young Daiyu truly understood her father's painstaking efforts.

  If it weren't for Dizhen Gege's care, I'm afraid I would have ended up like these two siblings!

  No matter how good her maternal grandmother is to her, it's still not her own home after all...

  Xue Qi put on her clothes, a red cotton-padded jacket with a purple velvet cotton-padded pants, and Xue Yan braided two buns for her and tied them with pearl flowers.

  Daiyu saw Xueqing staring blankly at the sparkling pearl flower, so she smiled and picked out another emerald pearl flower from her mirror case: "Here, take it and play with it!"

  Xue Qi carefully looked at Dai Yu, but didn't dare to take it. Dai Yu saw this and could only stuff it into her hand. Indeed, Xue Qi liked it very much, gently stroking it, afraid of damaging it.

  Daiyu got dressed and took the new little sister to Lengyuan House. On the way, the old woman sweeping the yard saw the young lady leading a small girl who was obviously not a maid, and they were all curious in their hearts. However, the Lin family had rules that what shouldn't be asked couldn't be asked, so everyone just did their work honestly and didn't dare to have any evil thoughts.

  Inside the Lengong Hall, the meal was already set up. Zhiyuan sat in the main seat, with Xiaobudian Ding Rongze on his left and two chairs on his right, where Daiyu led Xueqi to sit.

  Zhiyuan said, "This morning you asked someone to stew that old ginseng, let me send it back. Your body isn't well either, keep it for future nourishment. Moreover, those two are still young, eating that wouldn't be good for them. The other day our family's store got a batch of Mao Yan from Jiaozhi, which is even better than the blood swallow sent by Mrs. Jiang. I gave some to Teacher and also sent some to the Xiu family, the rest aren't planned to be sold, just bring it back for you all to eat."

  Daiyu's mother was still alive, she also often ate swallow nests. After arriving in the capital, she had already received her grandmother's favor, and mentioning eating swallow nests again would only lead to more criticism from others. Moreover, the three young ladies of the Jia family were not able to eat swallow nests every day either.

  Ever since returning to Jiangnan, these nourishing foods have been non-stop. Bi Die is afraid of getting tired of eating the same things, so she always changes up the dishes with new styles.

  Daiyu said to Zhiyuan: "Brother, just focus on studying with peace of mind. Although I'm young, I can take good care of my cousins."

  The maidservants attended to Xue Qi, Rong Ze finished his meal and Zhi Yuan had some business to attend to in the study with the housekeeper. As he was leaving, he couldn't help but take a glance at Dai Yu.

  Daiyu laughed and pushed him out, turned back to look at Xueqi again, Rongze's little head was already buried in his sister's arms, his little butt sticking out, really cute.

  "Would you like to go to a fun place with your sister? Your sister will give you lots of delicious snacks." Daiyu squatted down and stroked Rongze's head.

  Rong Ze turned his head, and Dai Yu carefully looked at him. A delicate and exceptionally pretty little face, if it weren't for her brother's words, Dai Yu would have thought this was a girl. Looking again at Xue Qi, he seemed much more ordinary, only the siblings' eyes were surprisingly similar, both being phoenix eyes.

  "I want to eat boat noodles!"

  Daiyu had heard the first words spoken by Rongzhe since yesterday. She smiled and took the two children's tender little hands: "Alright, let's go have some snacks. Sister has a lot of snacks, we can eat whatever we want."

  Rong Ze and Xue Qi tightly grasped Dai Yu's hand, taking small steps, but each step was very steady...

  She ordered Zi Juan and others to clean up a side house next to the Meiguan, and gave it to her brother and sister as a place to study. She also had the warm silk cabinet made into a temporary residence for Xue Qi.

  The two children didn't say much either, holding each other and carefully sizing up the decorations in the room.

  "Chun Lai, go and call Old Lady Luo and a few of the wives of the men in charge."

  Spring Bud listened to Daiyu's instructions and turned around to leave. Not long after, Old Mother Luo led a young woman in: "Miss, you're looking for us!"

  Daiyu smiled and invited everyone to sit down. On the side, Yan Rong had already poured tea: "Mrs. Luo, please have some tea, sisters."

  Old Mrs. Luo and several others did not wait for Yan Rong to come over before hastily getting up to greet her: "We've troubled you, Miss Yan."

  Several young wives sat on small stools, not looking around, Daiyu admired her brother's strict management of the household and the servants' adherence to their duties.

  "Today, I've invited Big Mother and a few sisters to come over. It's to introduce two people to you." Daiyu led the siblings sitting on the three-paneled screen wind Luo Han bed, "This is Brother Shu Jia's cousin Miss and Young Master. From now on, they will follow us in life. Also, please ask Big Mother and a few sisters in charge to tell the lower-ranking servants in the garden to take good care of these two little ones. Moreover, since Cousin Young Master and Cousin Miss came in such a hurry, there was no time to prepare clothes. I asked Yan Rong to rush and make two sets, but it's still not enough. We need Mother Luo to find a few skilled seamstresses to make some more first, then when the shops on the street open their doors, we can have them come in."

  Lady Wang had heard her husband mention the matter the night before, and she had already made up her mind. She said, "The young ladies all understand what you're saying. In our household, apart from Yinger who attends to your needs, and Zijuan who serves Master Bao, it's probably these four housekeepers who are in charge." Lady Wang pointed out the four housekeepers to Daiyu, who had just entered and were sitting quietly by the door.

  "Miss, this is Tang Xinfang's family. Originally serving by the young master's side, called Ping Meng, in charge of our mansion's rear courtyard account; This is Ping Yao, married to Zhao Guanshi, now doing kitchen management."

  Old Lady Luo pointed to the young woman wearing a plain fine silk jacket: "This is Ping Lan of the Miao Jin family, she has everything in her household under control. The youngest one is called Ping Lian, her husband's name is Han Sheng, he is in charge of taking care of the young masters and misses when they go out."

  Daiyu saw that these women were all as beautiful as flowers, with elegant demeanor and simple yet tasteful clothing that could not conceal their beauty. They were also all of the "Ping" generation, probably having served by her brother's side before marrying into the Lin family when they grew older.

  Daiyu smiled and said, "I've long wanted to meet a few of the elder sisters in charge. I haven't had the chance until now, but since my health has improved, I'm afraid that when it's time for me to take charge of the household, I'll have to trouble you elder sisters."

  The four young wives hastily declined: "Being able to share the burden for the young lady and master is the greatest honor for us, we absolutely dare not trouble the young lady with thanks."

  Lin Daiyu instructed Xiangyun to fetch her fine satins: "These were given to me by my late grandmother and brother; now that I'm in mourning, I won't wear these bright colors, it would be a pity to let them go to waste. Since you've all received praise from Aunt Xue, you should help me out - make some padded clothes for Cousin Bao and Cousin Daiyu."

  Ping Meng and others saw that these were all good materials, Hangluo, Yunjin, Suzhou brocade... silver red, sapphire blue, bamboo green, goose yellow, moon white... most of them were Sihe cloud, Ruyi cloud, entwined lotus, flowing cloud and hundred blessings.

  Four people discussed it and Tang Xinfang said: "These materials are all good, but I'm afraid that even if we make a full set of cotton-padded clothes, we won't be able to use them up. Besides, the weather is getting warmer day by day. Why don't we four each make a set of winter clothes and then each make a spring shirt for Young Master and Miss? I'm afraid they'll be able to wear them in a few days."

  "This is good, you all just go and do it, if you can't keep up, let me know, I'll get Zi Juan to help you. First hurry up with the winter clothes, the spring shirts can come later." Daiyu handed over the silk fabrics to several of the servant women in charge.

  These people were all busy and left after sitting for a short while.

  Daiyu personally escorted them to the gate and then had Xiangyun see a few people off at the Flowery Arbor Gate.

  P.S: I went to a meeting today, so the update is a bit late, ^_^ From now on, I'll start saving articles. The beautiful editor said that she can recommend me next week, ^_^, I'm so excited!