Chapter 28: The Ling Family's Upper and Lower Floors

  Madam Lu heard this and coldly laughed, saying: "Your Miss's filial piety is indeed great, how could it be that you were sent here? This filial piety is really well done!"

  Wen Ping heard this and was shocked in her heart, not daring to hesitate any longer. With a "thud", she knelt down on the ground and hastily said: "Madam, please listen, our young lady originally wanted to come herself, but because the flowers bloomed too late, our young lady's body wasn't good to begin with. She caught a chill from staying up all night to see the flowers and was feeling unwell yesterday. At first, we thought she just slept too late and didn't take it seriously, but unexpectedly, she started coughing at night! When I, Cai Lian, and Hui'er came out to deliver some snacks, she was still lying in bed!"

  Madam Lu was intentionally provoking, and she didn't bother to pay attention to the reason Wen Ping gave. However, when she heard Wen Ping's last sentence, her eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, and she asked: "Where else did you send this pastry besides my place?"

  "Wen Ping hurriedly said: 'As for the gifts, they have all been delivered to the masters of each household! On this trip, I not only brought gifts for the mistress, but also for Master and Madame Wang, as well as Sixth Master. Since I came to the mistress's place first, those two households haven't received theirs yet!'"

  Ling Yu Qing was surprised to hear that there was still one of his own, and he hurriedly smiled and said: "It turns out that there is still mine! Come on, bring it over! I want to see what Ninth Sister has come up with this time?" As he spoke, he beckoned to Wen Ping.

  Wen Ping did not dare to get up, after hearing this, he just looked up at Mrs. Lu.

  Mrs. Lu, although filled with anger, heard that Wenping said everything had been sent to various places, and she could only suppress her anger and give up her plan to take advantage of the situation to vent her emotions. As the mistress of the Ling manor, she was not just a pretty face. At Chunhui Garden, she would normally go there every day, although Old Lady didn't say anything, but over these days, Mrs. Lu couldn't be completely unaware of Old Lady's intentions.

  Now Yuandai had the maidservants deliver pastries to various places, it wasn't just her place that the maidservant came to, even Old Lady Lao's and other places also had maidservants delivering them. If all the other places didn't have any issues, but only she was caught making a mistake by Yuandai, she would be in trouble no matter what. Therefore, although Mrs. Lu was annoyed in her heart, she still waved her hand to signal Wenjing to get up.

  Wen Ping got up and quickly took the food box that had been placed on the table when he came in, opened it, and first offered a bowl to his father.

  Mrs. Lu's trusted maid, Hu Mama, who had just entered the room with Wenping, was now standing beside Mrs. Lu. Seeing Wenping present the official kiln porcelain plum blossom three trick cover cup, she hastily reached out to take it. As soon as she took the cup in her hand, she furrowed her brow and scolded Wenping: "In this cold weather, you bring over food without even warming it with charcoal fire! To think that Ninth Miss has just returned not long ago, being careless is one thing, but you, a maid who used to serve Old Lady, are also so ignorant!"

  As soon as these words came out, Mrs. Lu's face, which had eased a bit, suddenly turned cold again.

  "Miss Purple has no idea, the dessert our young lady taught us is made from hibiscus and agar, after cooling it becomes a gel-like state, and its name is Hibiscus Gel. According to our young lady, this Hibiscus Gel not only clears heat and moistens the lungs but also nourishes the skin and beautifies one's appearance. On a dry and cold winter day in Beijing, eating this Hibiscus Gel is the best! Because of this reason, if the Hibiscus Gel is too hot, it won't be pleasing to the eye, and the taste will also be much worse. If madam doesn't like cold food, you can warm it up with hot water for a moment before serving!"

  Old Lady Hu found what she said reasonable and couldn't help but turn around to ask Mrs. Lu: "Ma'am, would you like to warm it up and have a taste?" Mrs. Lu shook her head slightly, indicating for her to put it aside for the time being.

  Wen Ping hurriedly turned to Ling Yuancheng and asked: "Sixth Master, do you want me to send this 'Huang Hua Bing' to Wu Tong Institute?"

  Ling Yuanchen smiled and waved his hand, saying: "It's just a lantern, why bother sending it back and forth? Take it!"

  Wen Ping was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help but smile as she took out another bowl of osmanthus flower jelly from the food box. Ling Yuqing took it from her hand, removed the lid, and scanned it with his eyes, exclaiming "Wow!" in surprise: "This looks great!" He said, looking at Hu Mama with a smile: "Trouble you to get me a spoon!" Hu Mama had no choice but to turn around and fetch a spoon.

  Ling Yuqing took the bowl of soup and, without hesitation, started slurping it down loudly. After finishing, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and handed the bowl back to Wen Ping, smiling: "It's delicious! When you get back, thank Jiu Meimei for me!"

  Wen Ping bowed and smiled in response. Madame Lu had been watching coldly from the side, her face expressionless, but now she raised an eyebrow and gave a signal to Hu Mama. Hu Mama understood and spoke up, excusing Wen Ping.

  After Wen Ping left, Mrs. Lu glared at Ling Yuancheng.

  Ling Yuan Qing saw that her face was filled with anger, and he couldn't help but chuckle and say: "To be honest, the iced dessert that Ninth Sister sent over is not only delicious, but also looks great!" As he spoke, he walked over to pick up the bowl of iced dessert that Hu Mama had placed on a nearby table, removed the lid, and handed it to Madame Lu. Madame Lu was initially unwilling to look at it, but since her son had brought it in front of her, she could only take a glance.

  At this glance, even Mrs. Lu was stunned for a moment. The frozen peony in the official kiln's powder-colored vase, set off by the jade-white inner wall, showed a sheep-fat-like color. This is still okay, but what makes people dizzy is that inside the jade-white gelatinous substance, there are threads of blue, fine, silky, and seemingly flowing, yet resembling starlight, objects.

  Ling Yuancheng saw Mrs. Lu stunned and couldn't help but laugh: "I lifted the lid of the bowl, and almost didn't dare to take action!"

  Madam Lu snorted: "I couldn't bear to take action, but you're devouring everything in sight!"

  Ling Yuan Qing smiled and handed the bowl back to Hu Mama, saying: "Son knows that mother has a weak stomach and should not eat cold food. Hu Mama, take it out and warm it up with hot water!"

  Old Hu's mother complied and backed down.

  …………

  As soon as he left Chang'an Inn, the cold wind outside blew on him, and Wenping only felt that his back was already soaked with sweat, and his whole body was cool and icy.

  In the mansion, among all the masters and mistresses, Mrs. Lu was undoubtedly the most difficult to serve, but it was also a place that could not be avoided. In fact, before sending someone over, Yu Dai had also been thinking repeatedly and found it hard to make a decision. Wen Ping saw her hesitant expression and took the initiative to come forward and volunteer. She knew in her heart that this trip would not be easy, but she also knew that among all those people in the West Wing, there was really no one more suitable than herself.

  Yuan Dai saw her go on her own, and in fact, also let out a sigh of relief for the eldest. So she carefully discussed with Wen Ping a set of words to say, but Yuan Dai naturally wouldn't have expected things to be so coincidental, that Ling Yuqing was actually at Mrs. Lu's place.

  Taking a deep breath, Wenjing calmed down and headed towards the Taoran Courtyard where Lingyuan and his wife lived.

  Ling Yuanhui married a wife from the Guo family, who also came from a prestigious and respected family. The Guo lady was originally gentle and soft-spoken, but with a strong mother-in-law above her, she naturally became even more cautious and adhered to traditional wifely virtues, focusing solely on supporting her husband and teaching their children. As for the affairs within the manor, she pretended not to hear or see anything.

  When Wenping came, she hurriedly invited her in, and the words were even more humble and gentle. After taking the food, she also asked someone to bring a pearl hairpin that she usually wore every day to give it to Wenping as a gift. Wenping thanked Guo Shi, chatted with her for a while, and then bid farewell and went out.

  Wen Ping returned to the Western Courtyard, but it was already late afternoon. Yan Dai was sitting cross-legged on the kang, and when she saw Wen Ping come in, she couldn't help but smile and say: "You really left at just the right time today!" From her expression, it was clear that she had already found out about Ling Yuqing being in Madame Lu's courtyard.

  Wen Ping smiled and said: "Isn't that so! This time if it weren't for Sixth Master, we would have been scolded severely!"

  Hui'er was the quickest to react, and upon hearing this, she immediately burst out laughing: "Wenping sister doesn't know that as soon as you left, Miss thought it over and didn't feel at ease, so she secretly sent me to Wutong Institute to ask Sixth Master to come and smooth things over for you!"

  Wen Ping was taken aback, and before he could speak, Yuan Dai had already laughed and said: "I was worried for a good while, but I didn't expect that your luck would be so good, Sixth Master has been waiting for you at the Changhe Institute!"

  Wenping smiled and began to tell Yanzhi about all the reactions of Mrs. Lu when they were in Chang'an Temple, and Yanzhi listened without surprise. Later, when talking about Guo's wife, Wenping took out the pearl hairpin given by Guo's wife and showed it to Yanzhi, who didn't seem to care much, glanced at it and said: "It's indeed a good quality Hepu pearl, although not big in size, but it wins in being uniform in size, shiny and smooth, not bad!"

  Wen Ping smiled and said, "This lady is from a wealthy family background, originally very generous, but she has a gentle nature and no strong opinions. Whatever the mistress says, she absolutely doesn't dare to refute. Even today when I went there, although she asked about Miss's well-being and thanked Miss for her kind intentions, and treated me with great courtesy, after talking for half a day, from start to finish, not one sentence was said that would allow Miss to go to her place without any worries!"

  Yan Dai smiled and glanced at Wenjing, saying: "Someone like Eldest Madam is truly intelligent!"

  Hui'er glanced sideways with a look of disapproval. Wenshuang just smiled on the side.

  Three people had a conversation, and the other side picked lotus and came over with a flying spirit. After entering the house and paying respects, he smiled and said: "The old lady saw the frozen hibiscus and was delighted, but there was no mouth to praise this thing for its good sales. After tasting it, she praised it as smooth, fragrant, and refreshing, just right for the spleen and stomach. And asked about the method, saying that she wanted to teach the people below, and in autumn and winter, they can make it from time to time!

  She said, and also took out the things that Xiao Lao Tai Jun and Luo Shi gave to show Yu Dai and others.

  Yan Dai just glanced at him lightly, nodded and said "good", but didn't say anything else.

  This time, sending the frozen lotus flowers, Wenping went to Changfang's family, while Hui'er went to Linghui's family in the second house. Only Chai Lian was sent by Yuandai to Shao Laotaitai and the third house. Shao Laotaitai now looks at Yuandai with different eyes, and the third house, from Luo Shi to Ling Yuanshan, are all on good terms with Yuandai. Therefore, this trip of Chai Lian's was the most rewarding.

  Although Wenjing was scolded and gained something, Hui'er didn't gain anything.