Chapter 242 – A Strange Embroideress
Wen Tianyao felt that this was the first time he had seen such a smart and intelligent girl!
What happened today reminded him of the scene at the city gate. He was shocked by not only her beautiful face but also her excellent reaction and quick and accurate decision!
Marquis Hua Yang actually had such an outstanding daughter. This was truly too unexpected!
His heart uncontrollably beat twice, but when he saw Wei Yuewu’s childish face, he said gently, “Sixth Miss Wei, you’re not going to tell this to others, right?”
“No, I’m only here to look for a suitable embroideress today. I didn’t see anyone! Of course, I didn’t talk to Your Highness.” Wei Yuewu replied knowingly.
“Fine!” Wen Tianyao smiled with satisfaction. He slowly stood up and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, he turned around and smiled at Wei Yuewu. “Sixth Young Lady, you really didn’t think of entering the Crown Prince Mansion?”
“Your Highness, please take care along the way!” Wei Yuewu said respectfully, as if she didn’t understand the implied meaning of Wen Tianyao’s words. “Your Highness’ carriage is too inconspicuous. If possible, you should have more guards around you! Your Highness’ safety is the most important thing!”
Although he was a little displeased that Wei Yuewu pretended not to understand his words, Wen Tianyao was still in a good mood when he heard that Wei Yuewu cared about his safety. He gave Wei Yuewu a meaningful glance and turned around to leave with large strides.
After Wen Tianyao left, Jin Ling helped Wei Yuewu up and asked, “Miss, what does the Crown Prince mean? Could it be that His Highness doesn’t like the Fourth Young Lady and doesn’t want her to enter the Crown Prince Mansion?”
“No!” Wei Yuewu shook her head. She flashed her long eyelids twice before slowly lowering her eyes. Wei Qiufu? She didn’t think that Wen Tianyao would give up on Wei Qiufu. When Wei Qiufu was playing the tune Confession of Love in the Plum Blossom Nunnery that day, she clearly saw Wen Tianyao was impressed.
Moreover, the qin score and qin were both from Yan Huaijing. Considering how cunning and scheming Yan Huaijing was, it was impossible for him to simply help Wei Qiufu attract Wen Tianyao’s interest.
“Then what did the Crown Prince mean? Why did he ask you to find a portrait of Madam for him? Even if Madam’s portrait was left behind, it should be a portrait of her in her youth. Perhaps she looked somewhat similar to you. If people saw the portrait in the Crown Prince’s hands, they would definitely gossip about you!” Jin Ling said anxiously.
For ordinary people, if the portrait of a young lady appeared in a man’s room, people would definitely suspect that the two of them were having an improper relationship. Both of them would have a bad reputation. But now the man was the Crown Prince Wen Tianyao, so no one would dare to criticize the Crown Prince. People would only point their fingers at Wei Yuewu.
“No worry! I also want to find out about my mother!” Wei Yuewu shook her head. She had already made up her mind. Since the Crown Prince had specifically asked for a portrait of her mother, it meant that he was suspecting something. Today, his carriage arrived first, but he did not get off. Instead, he waited for her to enter the store before coming in with a eunuch.
In the end, when he left the store, he was also satisfied with her saying that she didn’t see him. This meant that this Crown Prince did not want anyone to discover that they met!
Since the Crown Prince intentionally kept their meeting a secret, it must have a subtle connection with the fact that she also wanted to find out about the relationship between the Crown Prince and her mother. Even if she had to take some risks, she would still do it!
Jin Ling was accustomed to seeing the seemingly weak but actually tough side of Wei Yuewu, and she knew that it was useless to persuade her. Therefore, she just reminded her, “But Lord Marquis doesn’t necessarily have a portrait of Madam, and even if there is a portrait, Lord Marquis will definitely keep it in a safe place. It’s impossible for you to easily take it away and give it to someone else!”
“I’ll find an opportunity to ask my father about it!” After thinking this over, Wei Yuewu no longer felt at a loss what to do. At this time, she was confident that the best result was that there was such a portrait. If not, she would also find a way out…
A light knock came from the door. Wei Yuewu sat down at the table again and Jin Ling said to the door, “Come in!”
This time, the door was opened by that smart shop assistant. He came in with a plate in his hand, and there were some exquisite handkerchiefs and sachets inside.
“Young lady, I have sent someone to fetch our best embroideresses here. Please wait a moment and take a look at these handkerchiefs and sachets. If you are not satisfied, I will go down and bring over more.” The shop assistant put the plate in front of the table, stood properly, and smiled.
Wei Yuewu reached out and casually picked up a handkerchief. Indeed, it was embroidered with very unique embroidery skills. However, although the flowers on the handkerchief looked strange and exotic, they made her feel somewhat familiar.
Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat, but her face did not reveal anything. She asked casually, “What kind of flower is this?”
“Young lady, I don’t know, but I heard that it’s from the embroideress’ hometown. I heard that there are a lot of these flowers in that place, and they are also very beautiful!” The shop assistant looked at the handkerchief that Wei Yuewu had picked out and rubbed the back of his head. He said embarrassedly, “But the other embroideresses said that they had never seen such flowers before. I thought that the flower is pretty, so I specially brought these handkerchiefs for you.”
“Isn’t this flower an ordinary one?” Wei Yuewu flipped through the handkerchiefs twice and asked casually.
“Probably not. However, no one can tell where that embroideress comes from. I heard that she used to be a madam from a wealthy family in the past. She was displaced and came here because of the war. However, she doesn’t like to talk about the past. None of us know exactly where she is from!” The shop assistant replied with a smile.
“She’s really good at embroidery!” Wei Yuewu glanced at the shop assistant and said.
After hearing Wei Yuewu praised the embroideries, the shop assistant immediately became enthusiastic. “Exactly! She is one of the best embroideresses here. Her embroideries are not only beautiful, but also extremely exquisite. They are quite popular and sell well. I will invite three embroideresses over later, and she is one of them. If you are interested in the flower she has embroidered, you can personally ask her later!”
Wei Yuewu no longer spoke. She only nodded slightly. She picked up a stack of handkerchiefs and looked at them. Actually, there weren’t many similar designs. Only a few of them had that flower and they were all picked out by Wei Yuewu.
Seeing that she was interested, Jin Ling picked out a sachet from the side. Only this sachet was embroidered with this flower.
“Eh? Why is it here?” The shop assistant muttered in surprise when he saw the sachet that Jin Ling had picked out.
Jin Ling’s ears were sharp, and she immediately heard the shop assistant. She held the sachet in her hand and asked, “Is there something wrong with this?”
“This…nothing!” The shop assistant hesitated for a moment.
“What do you mean by nothing? Don’t tell me something else a while later when our miss buys it. I tell you, our miss is from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. You can’t afford it if anything happens!” Jin Ling’s expression turned grim as she said coldly.
She was not an ordinary maidservant. As she put on a stiff face, she looked quite awe-inspiring. The shop assistant was shocked. After hearing the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, he was more terrified and didn’t dare to hide anything. He hurriedly explained, “This sachet was just embroidered. I saw Embroideress Yun carefully embroidering it that day, but she said at that time that she didn’t intend to sell it in the store. How come it appears here?”
The shop assistant had picked a lot of items just now, and he didn’t notice that this sachet was mixed up in those items. After Jin Ling picked it out, he became surprised.
Wei Yuewu received the sachet from Jin Ling and looked at it. Then, she looked up and asked, “She didn’t plan to sell this sachet?”
“That’s right. At that time, a few other embroideresses liked the sachet she embroidered and expressed their willingness to buy it at a high price. However, she did not agree. One of the embroideresses even quarreled with her.” The shop assistant hesitated for a moment, but he still told the truth.
“So, this sachet wasn’t sold by that embroideress, but it accidentally dropped into the pile of sachets?” Wei Yuewu smiled sweetly and asked leisurely.
“This… seems to be the case… ” The shop assistant didn’t dare to conceal it and said.
Wei Yuewu nodded and said, “Alright, then put these things down first. When Embroideress Yun comes over, I’ll ask her myself!”
The nervous shop assistant hurriedly thanked Wei Yuewu. “Yes, yes, young lady. You are so reasonable. I am sorry for the trouble caused by my negligence!”
Wei Yuewu shook her hand to motion the shop assistant to take it easy. She picked up the selected handkerchief and looked at it again. The embroidery really made people’s eyes light up. The flower was as beautiful as clouds and looked extremely eye-catching. In addition, it was such an exquisite embroidery as if the flower could be taken off the handkerchief.
This kind of craftsmanship was indeed superb. Not only was the color of the flower amazing, but even the stamens could be clearly seen. Compared to the entire flower that was much larger, the stamens looked extremely amazing.
Was this flower the same as the one embroidered on the sachet sent to her by Wei Yuejiao? However, because the flower on the sachet was too blurry, she was unable to confirm it for a moment.
Besides, the pattern on that book wasn’t as clear as the one on the sachet in front of her eyes. For a moment, Wei Yuewu felt it difficult to decide whether they were the same flower.
Just as she was pondering, another knock came from the half-closed door.
“Young lady, they’re here!” The shop assistant’s eyes lit up as he rushed forward to open the door. Three women about in their thirties walked in.
Wei Yuewu only glanced at the first two women but didn’t care much. However, she fixed her gaze on the third woman.
The first two women had a polite smile on their faces before they spoke and behaved decently. Because Wei Yuewu didn’t ask anything, they just saluted and smiled as they stood aside waiting for Wei Yuewu to speak.
Apparently, they both knew well how to deal with their customers.
The last one, however, was rather different and she was also smaller than the other two. When she entered, she raised her head and looked at Wei Yuewu. Then, she bowed along with the two embroideresses in front of her and stood at the side. Although she acted in unison with the other two, she was actually very absent-minded. She appeared slightly worried as if she was preoccupied with some troubles which she couldn’t get rid of. When she looked at people, she also seemed to be in a trance.
Wei Yuewu took a sip of the tea in her hand and looked sideways at the three of them. Then, she asked, “Which one of you is the best at embroidering?”
“My skills are not bad!” The first embroideress replied with a smile.
“My skills are similar to those of the other two sisters!” The second embroideress replied politely.
The last embroideress, however, did not seem to notice Wei Yuewu’s question and she only lowered her head speechlessly.
Of course, Wei Yuewu knew the result. Anyone who encountered such a question would basically give the same answers. Her gaze fell on the last embroideress and she smiled slightly. “Since you didn’t say anything, it means that you are the most skilled. I will pick you!”
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