Chapter 219: Lan Ruomeng’s Invitation
Translator: Antonia
The pictures were on the desk, but the box wasn’t empty. The plain silver hairpin was lying quietly in it.
He only had these to be his company!
In the bamboo groove, he had heard the flicking-fingers of Ghost and the noises created by hidden guards. When Mo Qianxue presented him the box, he had already anticipated everything.
Ning Shaoqing had always been narrow-minded and would definitely come to ruin the pictures.
It was also a coincident that someone from the Su Army had sent him a military map which he had planned to have a good study when he went back and to give his father and brother. And in the Founder Mansion, Mo Qianxue gave him the box of cute pictures.
Therefore, on the way walking Junzhu Susu back home, he had a flashing of wit and exchanged the pictures with the map.
Ning Shaoqing wouldn’t give up until he saw with his own eyes the pictures were destroyed.
If he didn’t give up, Su Qi wouldn’t have a good time either. Hence, he had taken the risk of getting injured, of the destruction of a military map, of being punished by his brother and father…only to make Ning Shaoqing believe and only to protect the last thing he had about her.
Every of the pictures was vivid and lively.
It must require full attention to make such pictures. Su Qi looked at the pictures and imagined how Mo Qianxue had drawn them. The thought that Mo Qianxue also stared at the man in the pictures with her full attention gave a current of warmth in Su Qi’s heart.
It was enough for him to ever get her attention.
**
Time fleeted. In a blink it was May and the Dragon Boat Festival. Lady Lan Ruomeng of the Lan family had an invitation sent to Mo Qianxue, inviting her to appreciate flowers in her garden.
At dawn when the sky was edged red by the rising sun, Mo Qianxue got dressed up by nanny Mo, Chuyi and Shiwu, and set off for the Garden of Hundred Flowers in the Lan Mansion.
Mo Qianxue really had no interest in the activities among the ladies like appreciating flowers! Yet, it was an important part of the upper class society in every age and place of the world!
As long as she built good connections with the ladies, got in touch with more nobilities, obtain the approval of the madams, she would get more inside news and the inclination of each party in the court…
In this way, she, while winning herself a good reputation, could be a great help to her husband and make everything easy for the future.
If she failed to do so, being calculated, trapped, mocked or made fun of was also a common case, and her husband would become a joke too.
The madams in the inner courtyards were masters at all sorts of means, even extreme means. There was an invisible battlefield without sword or spears, but it was more complicated and crueler.
Now that Mo Qianxue had already decided to marry Ning Shaoqing to be the madam of the first super family, then all these were what she must set herself to!
To gain the recognition and approval of the future madams, the current ladies, she had to take the first step and try to build friendship with them.
Today, Mo Qianxue wore a moonlight-white skirt and a apricot-yellow jacket, a graceful princess bun with the priceless hairpin that Ning Shaoqing had given her when she first came to the capital.
There was a low-key luxury in her which made her special and refreshing like a lily in full bloom, pure, elegant, and forbidding.
With a comfortable mat underneath, Mo Qianxue leaned languidly in the carriage. It wobbled his way on the street, giving her a daze of mixed ages.
Ever since she came to this world, or to the capital, she had only gone to parties for once and incurred such a huge trouble for herself.
This time, on Lan Ruomeng’s invitation, was her second party. She wondered what kind of storm was awaiting her over there.
Thinking of this, Mo Qianxue’s lips had a disdainful curve. She hadn’t been intimated in the Jinluan Hall by the Emperor. Why should she fear the games between women?!
She only feared that the troubles weren’t enough to make her name known in a more shocking way. She was ready to take any opportunity to put down those with malicious intentions so that they wouldn’t dare to fabricate plots behind her back ever again.
Today, Mo Qianxue took with her Chiyi and Shiwu. None of the ladies would take a nanny to a party, so nanny Mo stayed at home.
Chuyi and Shiwu sat on both sides, their back erect, ready to take orders from her at any time.
No wonder they were like this. Every time they went out, there must be troubles thrusted upon them.
However, even if they wanted to bring nanny Mo, nanny Mo wouldn’t like to come either!
The two ‘sisters’ were living in the Founder Mansion! And over these days, the two sisters had made many attempts to please her.
Every day before dawn, they waited at the door to serve her.
If they weren’t allowed to come in, they became tearful like wounded bunnies, and in their plain clothes, they twisted their handkerchiefs at the door, like two frightened flowers, but wouldn’t go.
Mo Qianxue didn’t mind and only took it as a drama, but nanny Mo pissed off, cursing them sluts, and was afraid that they were only trying to imitate Mo Qianxue so that Master Ning would take more glances at them when he was here.
With these two greedy-eyed sister in the Mansion, nanny Mo wouldn’t rest assured to go out! She would only have a peaceful mind when she kept her eyes on her.
For this, Mo Qianxue didn’t know either to cry or laugh. Even though she didn’t care what kind of drama the two sisters would make, she never worried because she wasn’t a wax in their hands, and she only took interest in whether these two hypocritical Mo girls had clever tricks or not.
However, she wouldn’t turn down nanny Mo’s good intention.
Returning from her thought, Mo Qianxue took a glance and saw Chiyi and Shiwu sitting upright like a pole! Mo Qianxue found it a little amusing.
Her current identity was already the madam-to-be of the first super family. Who would dare to stand at odds against her on the surface?
On a second thought, she found the two girls very loyal and would be trusted with important missions after more training. After all, although they had served Xue for many years, Xue was cowardly and seldom went to parties, let alone to take them to.
Making up her mind, Mo Qianxue spoke leisurely, “Do you know what are the appreciating parties, like those appreciating flowers or snow? What’s the purpose of them?”
Hearing the questions, Chuyi and Shiwu exchanged a look, both looking confused. Shiwu was straightforward, and when she didn’t understand, she wouldn’t think too much but take the things as her rough brain guessed.
“Aren’t they for the appreciation of flowers? To make some poems and draw some paintings?”
Mo Qianxue didn’t answer and took a look at Chuyi.