Chapter Six: The Return of an Old Friend

  The room fell silent for a moment, and then Yu Zhen sighed again: "Miss's tea is now known to outsiders and has even flowed into Pingjing. I just hope it won't bring trouble to Miss!" There was no lack of worry in his words.

  Yi Lian smiled faintly and shook her head, saying, "Those few people all have extraordinary backgrounds, so they probably don't take such things to heart. It's just that they happened to see something rare and coincidentally had the opportunity." As she spoke, a hint of cold smile appeared at the corner of her mouth: "Even if they were momentarily moved by pity for me, they would still have to weigh the pros and cons. For my sake, offending the Lu family wouldn't be worth it!"

  She was born to Ling Zhao, who married Lu Shi. The Lu family in the Great Zhou also belonged to the top aristocratic families and had a Qin Jin relationship with the Xiao and Ling families for generations. Therefore, Yuan Dai did not think that some tea leaves could change her fate.

  Yu Zhen thought for a moment, and indeed felt that it made sense, so she put her mind at ease and asked instead: "Miss, you mentioned the new house in Xijiao earlier, are you thinking of returning to Beijing?"

  Yuandai nodded, then pointed to herself with a smile that was not quite a smile and said: "I'm not young anymore, it's time for me to find someone to marry, what do you think, Yuantian?" Whenever women in the inner chambers discussed marriage, even if the person was their heart's desire, they would always pretend to be shy and evasive on the surface, showing elegance and refinement. But when Yuandai mentioned this matter, her expression was casual, her tone careless, and she even seemed to be teasing herself, which was quite unusual.

  Yu Zhen suddenly heard these words and couldn't help but sigh, for a long time she remained silent and didn't utter a word.

  Yuandai ignored her sentimental words and asked: "Now that it's deep autumn, shouldn't scholars from all over the country be arriving in the capital?"

  Yu Zhen was taken aback for a moment before quickly regaining her composure: "Miss means..."

  Her slender eyebrows rose slightly as she said from afar, "These days, you can help me take a look around and see if there's anyone suitable!"

  Yu Zhen nodded slightly and sighed after a while: "The scholars of this subject are indeed fortunate!"

  Yuandai smiled faintly, without responding. The two of them chatted for a while longer, and as the sun was already high in the sky, Yuandai invited Zhentian to stay for lunch. Knowing that after lunch Yuandai would take her usual afternoon nap, Zhentian didn't linger any further, finished lunch, and bid farewell before leaving.

  After a short nap, Yuandai opened her eyes and looked around the inner room. Seeing no one, she lazily called out: "Wenping!"

  The maid paused for a moment outside the door, and then came the voice of little Hui'er: "Miss, Wenping sister has gone to the garden!" As she spoke, she lifted the curtain and entered the inner room.

  Yuan Dai had already sat up and listened to these words, her eyebrows slightly raised: "What's the point of going to the garden at this time?"

  Hui'er smiled and said: "Just now, Hongying jie came over and said that Yiniang wanted to eat the osmanthus cake made by Wenshu jie. She asked if she had time now. Wenshu jie agreed and called a few people to go to the flower garden to pick osmanthus flowers, leaving only me in the house to attend to Miss!" As she spoke, she quickly took out the outer garment that was stacked on the edge of the bed and helped Yuandai put it on. Then she fetched water and attended to her washing.

  After washing up, Hui'er brought out the apricot kernel tea that had been prepared earlier. Yuan Dai casually took some and, seeing that there was nothing else to do, also became interested and smiled at Hui'er, saying: "Since there's nothing else to do, why don't you come with me to take a look at the flower garden?"

  Hui'er was only fourteen or fifteen years old, and was at her most lively and active age. Upon hearing this, she repeatedly agreed, and then happily followed Yu Dai to the flower garden.

  The garden of Lingjia Miaofeng Mountain Villa was not very large at first. More than two years ago, Yuandai moved from Beijing and almost didn't touch the house, but put a lot of effort into the garden. In two years, she renovated the garden to make it look brand new. Inside, there are small bridges, flowing water, and artificial mountains with flowers and trees that show great craftsmanship everywhere. Although the scale is not large, it captures the essence of "a scroll replaces the mountain, a scoop replaces the water, and a few inches of forest". On the west side of the artificial mountain in this garden, there are more than ten osmanthus trees planted. At this moment, several maids were carrying baskets, laughing and chasing each other while picking osmanthus flowers that were still fragrant from the trees.

  Hui'er had just seen the crowd, and had already thrown Yuandai to one side. With a shout of joy, she rushed over. Wenping and the others suddenly saw her coming, and were shocked, hastily turning their heads to look, only to see Yuandai leaning against the artificial hill with a smiling face.

  The maidservants bustled about, laughing and curtsying to Yuandai. Yuandai waved at them and smiled, asking: "How many have you picked?"

  Wenping raised her hand to tidy up the slightly disheveled hair on her temples, and replied: "If I had known earlier that these girls were so lazy, I wouldn't have called them together. Now it's already late, but we've only picked this much!" As she spoke, she tilted the basket on her arm, showing Yuandai inside. The basket was lined with a thin layer of white silk, and the osmanthus flowers didn't even cover the bottom of the silk.

  Yan Dai couldn't help but laugh, and didn't seem to mind at all. She simply waved her hand and said: "It's still early, there's no rush, you can continue picking! Today the sun is shining brightly, and the wind isn't strong either. I'll sit on the artificial hill for a bit, just pretend I'm not here!"

  Having said that, Yuandai turned around and sat down on the white stone beside the artificial hill where she usually sat. Because this garden was too small to plant lotus flowers, there were only some water lilies in the pool, and some goldfish were raised. In the past, when Yuandai had nothing to do, she would also throw some fish food into the pool to tease the goldfish, so there was still some fish food left in the box inside the artificial hill. Taking out the fish food, Yuandai casually threw it into the water, attracting countless goldfish to gather around her, floating or sinking, with their colorful scales looking very beautiful.

  A voice suddenly rang out: "Ling's sister is really carefree!" The voice was crisp and pleasant, like a pearl falling onto a jade plate.

  Yan Dai was lost in thought at this moment, when she suddenly heard the sound and couldn't help but be startled. The small snuff bottle in her hand wasn't held steady, and it fell into the water with a "plop", startling a group of fish to scatter instantly.

  "Ah!" she exclaimed, and then slightly shook her head as she gazed at the small box floating in the water. Only after that did she turn around, smiling: "So it's Elder Sister Shaoyang who has arrived!" But when she turned to look again, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. Because at this moment, behind her, several meters away, were not only Xiao Xianyun, but also Ling Yuqing and Xiao Xianyan, as well as Baili Yi.

  With a casual pat of her hand, she brushed off the remaining fish food from her palm and only then did Faraday walk over with a gentle smile and a courteous bow.

  Ling Yuan nodded and looked at Yuandai, saying: "Is Ninth Sister's body much better?"

  Yan Dai listened to his words with concern, and her heart was secretly surprised, but her face remained calm and expressionless. She only smiled and said: "This body of mine can't be said to be good or bad, it's just that sometimes the spirit is good, and sometimes the spirit is a bit worse!"

  Ling Yuan's expression became somewhat unnatural as he listened, stunned. As for the matter between Zhou Niang and Far Dai, although he didn't know the details, it wasn't like he was completely unaware either. However, since Zhou Niang was his father's concubine, Ling Chao's concubine, even as a son, he wouldn't dare to get involved in that muddy water. It was also because of this that he hadn't paid much attention to Far Dai, this half-sister who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If things had remained that way, he probably wouldn't have thought much of it either. But now, the situation seemed to be forcing him to pay more attention to this sister of his.

  After a slight cough, Ling Yuqing finally said: "The medicine your sister Xiao gave you last time, can you eat it now?"

  Yan Dai gave him a thoughtful glance, then smiled and said: "I've also eaten a few, and now I feel much more spirited than before!" As she spoke, she turned back to face Xiao Zhengyan and curtsied: "I almost forgot to thank you, sister!"

  Xiao Chengyan hurriedly returned the courtesy: "Sister is being polite! It's just a small effort, why mention thanks!"

  Because Ling Yuancheng and others had not passed by the Osmanthus fragrans forest, and the maids were still having fun, at first, no one noticed their arrival. But after a few people spoke, Wenping and others finally noticed them here, and they quickly stopped laughing and chatting. Wenping hastily handed over the osmanthus flowers she had picked to someone nearby, sent away the group of young maids first, and then hurried over herself.

  Yan Dai saw her coming over and couldn't help but smile, saying: "Can you pick enough osmanthus flowers?"

  After Wen Xing finished paying his respects, he smiled and said: "I had already picked enough earlier, but I saw that the osmanthus flowers were blooming well these past few days, so I thought of picking some more, drying them out, and storing them for use in winter!"

  Yan Dai nodded slightly and said, "You don't have to wait on me here either, just go make your Osmanthus cake! I'm looking forward to serving it to our guests!" Wen Ping smiled in response and then bowed and withdrew.