Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 119 Maids of Various Households

"The manor has a total of six courtyards of varying sizes, the largest of which is Qionghua Pavilion. This poetry gathering will be held in the Nine-Bend Pavilion within Qionghua Pavilion. The invited mistresses, such as Madam Yun and Madam Sun, will be personally received by Princess Yongping at Lianxinzhai, which is located next to Qionghua Pavilion."

Remember what I told you before, especially pay attention to the second young lady of the Marquis's mansion and the young lady of Minister Liu's mansion, to prevent any mishaps. Winter Melon, you…”

Hua Yan rattled off a string of words, and Dong Gua patted his chest and assured her, "Okay, I'll keep a close eye on it."

Ruizhu, standing to the side, didn't think so. After all, it was a banquet hosted by the princess, so what could possibly go wrong?

Hua Yan seemed to see through Rui Zhu's thoughts and reached out to pull her along. "Rui Zhu, you're the smartest. Once we enter the manor, the Second Miss will meet up with Miss Su. At that time, you can stay by Miss Su's side and be with Cai Yue and Cai Xia."

"Why do you want to be by Miss Su's side?"

Ruizhu was quite puzzled. If it weren't for her unwavering trust in Huayan, she probably would have already jumped up and down, unable to curry favor with the Su family. Huayan patiently pointed to a spot on the map and explained, "The Nine-Bend Pavilion overlooks the lake, and on the opposite bank is the banquet for the Prince Consort and other young masters..."

Autumn in Beijing is cool and mild, and the city feels more expansive and distant than Lin'an.

The road to the gate of the manor was not wide. From a distance, you could see many carriages blocking the way. The most conspicuous were the Lu family of the General of Fuyuan's Mansion, followed by the Duke's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion. Then came the noble families such as the Marquis's Mansion and the Earl's Mansion, followed by the families of officials of the third and fourth ranks. The Sun family barely made it to the threshold. As for the Tang family, they considered themselves to be in the last place.

As a sign of respect, one must always wait for the distinguished person in front to go first; this is a customary rule in the capital.

Madam Yun asked Wei Mama to pass on a message to Madam Sun, telling them to go ahead, as it was still early and the Tang family should wait by the roadside.

Before Wei Mama returned with the message, Hua Yan heard the rumbling of a carriage approaching from afar. The coachman, Old Jiang, peered over and quickly whispered that they had arrived at the Rongxing Earl's residence.

Aunt Zou clearly recognized the Tang family's carriage as well. Despite her doubts, she still wore a smug expression.

After all, such a good opportunity is not something you can come across easily.

She hurriedly ordered the coachman to move the carriage forward, and personally lifted the curtain, her tone extremely arrogant: "It's truly unexpected that a residence like yours could receive an invitation from a princess. However, Brother Lin's official rank is still too low, so he'll probably have to wait until the very end to enter. Rather than waiting here in vain, why not follow behind our Earl's residence? That way, we'll save some time, won't we?"

However, before Madam Yun could respond, a maidservant suddenly appeared. The maidservant stepped forward and respectfully asked, "Madam Yun and Miss Tang, are you waiting here?"

Madam Yun and the Second Miss exchanged a glance, then alighted from the carriage. Upon seeing this, Hua Yan quickly followed and stood behind the Second Miss.

Madam Yun nodded and bowed to the nanny, who hurriedly stepped aside, took the invitation from the head maid without checking it, and bowed slightly to Madam Yun and the second young lady, saying politely, "The princess and Mr. Lin invite you, please go ahead, Madam and young lady."

The commotion was quite loud; some maids and servants had already come to investigate after hearing the noise. Now that they had a general idea, they all returned to report to their mistress. Madam Yun, along with the second young lady and her entourage, followed the nanny forward.

Aunt Zou, startled and suspicious, twisted her handkerchief in anger, "Why should the princess treat her so well, given that she comes from a small family in Lin'an?"

Zou Xiuer, dressed in a very bright and colorful manner, was tidying her appearance in the carriage when she heard the voice and said, "Mother, why bother getting angry with them? The Tang family is just a family with some money. What can they possibly do in the capital where there are powerful and wealthy people everywhere? The princess is probably just trying to take advantage of Aunt."

Aunt Zou thought about it carefully, felt relieved, and smiled, "Xiuer is right. Your aunt will have to spend a lot of money today, otherwise, if she offends the princess, Lin Ge'er's career will be over."

The nanny leading the way was eloquent and, according to her status, was only half a step behind Madam Yun. On the way, she briefly explained the itinerary of today's banquet to Madam Yun—some things were naturally not appropriate to write on the invitation.

The young ladies were indeed attending a poetry gathering, but the princess's gathering of the ladies from various households was at the behest of the imperial harem, allowing the powerful and wealthy of the capital to spontaneously provide disaster relief by donating grain and silver.

The national treasury is empty, and there are precedents for this. The wives of each family are all shrewd and have seen this kind of scene several times before.

The Lu family and other dignitaries at the front had already entered the estate first, while the other officials' families were getting out of their carriages and walking slowly. They couldn't help but take a second look at the group of people led by the nanny beside the princess, who seemed quite unfamiliar.

Madam Yun had been taught the rules of aristocratic families since childhood, and her elegance remained undiminished. As for the second young lady, she was used to being dignified and virtuous in public, so she walked this path without any pressure, which made the Sun family and Zhuang family nod in approval.

After entering the Qionghua Pavilion, the flower hall was no longer a place where Hua Yan and the others could serve; maids led them to wait aside. The Second Miss followed Madam Yun inside to greet the Princess and the other ladies.

Almost every banquet in the capital had a consistent theme. Besides fostering relationships, it also served two purposes: firstly, to allow the daughters to make an appearance before the ladies of the house; and secondly, to let the daughters get to know some like-minded noble ladies. If they could become close friends, they would have intimate companions to spend time with in their private quarters.

Hua Yan and the others followed the servants to a side courtyard to wait. Before long, Caiyue and Caixia, who were by Miss Su's side, and the maidservants of the second young lady of the Marquis's mansion entered.

“I saw you come in with the nanny at the door just now. Our young lady also sent someone, but she was a step behind the princess,” Caiyue explained, holding Huayan’s hand.

"It doesn't matter. Our young lady is also thinking about Miss Su. They must have gotten together by now."

Cuiqi wanted to go up and talk to Huayan, but Cuihu grabbed her arm and said, "Why bother with them? Their mistress has won the favor of the princess, so she probably doesn't recognize our Marquis's family as relatives."

Cuihu's voice was quite loud, and the originally noisy chatter immediately quieted down. The people in the courtyard were all personal maids of the young ladies from various families. Upon hearing this, they all pricked up their ears and looked in this direction. Those who paid special attention to the Tang family had gossipy and inquisitive expressions on their faces.

Hua Yan let out a sigh of relief. It was bad enough that Cuihu had repeatedly caused trouble within the manor, but to dare act like this in front of outsiders! She stepped forward with Mingyue, forming a pincer movement, and threatened in a low voice, "Words can be dangerous. Sister Cuiqi, you'd better keep an eye on this blind girl beside you, otherwise..."

Not wanting to say much in public, Hua Yan winked at Mingyue. With her back to everyone, Mingyue quickly removed the pearl flower from Cuihu's hair. Before Cuihu could react, she bared her teeth and said fiercely, "If you say another word, this is what you'll end up with."

With a flick of his fingers, he crushed a bead into powder, then casually put the beaded flower back on Cuihu's head and patted Cuihu on the shoulder.

Cuihu couldn't help but shiver. She had never encountered someone as reckless and unconventional as Mingyue!

Hua Yan said coldly, "The Marquis has treated the Tang family with courtesy, so he certainly wouldn't care about the life or death of a mere maid."

Cuihu stood there dumbfounded, shaking her head vigorously like a rattle-drum, then shrank into a corner and didn't utter another word. Cuiqi opened her mouth but didn't dare to say anything.

Mengzhu found a seat and invited Caiyue, Caixia, and the maidservant beside Miss Sun to sit down. The second young lady and Miss Sun got along well and had met twice in the past month, so they were quite familiar with each other.

Seeing that the people around her were still staring at her, Hua Yan smiled and walked up to the maidservant beside the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion. The maidservant beside the eldest daughter was very perceptive and warmly pulled Hua Yan and Mingyue to talk.

Seeing that the excitement had died down, the crowd stopped paying attention and gathered together in small groups of three or four.

Social status is reflected in every aspect of life, and the relationships between maids are closely related to the young lady's family background. With so many people gathered together, there are naturally those who climb the social ladder and flatter those who fawn over others, as well as those who are strict with the rules of the household, who don't talk much, but still manage to guide others to talk about random things.

Of course, most of the maids followed the rules and dared not speak out about their masters' private affairs.

After about half an incense stick's time, Hua Yan listened carefully to everything and verified the information she had received from Madam Yun and Huan Yun one by one, and thus knew which people served which young lady.

For example, the maidservants around Miss Lu of the Fuyuan General's Mansion were dressed and adorned with exquisite jewelry, and they were surrounded by the most people. The maidservants in the Duke's Mansion were the most well-behaved and polite, and their actions and speech were extremely orderly. Among them, Hua Yan thought the most outstanding were the maidservants of the Jiang family in the Xunhui General's Mansion. They were the ones who had just led the others in conversation, without revealing anything related to the General's Mansion.

Compared to this, the people from the Ministry of Rites' residence, especially Miss Liu's, were truly unbearable to look at.

The two maids, dressed in turquoise, kept staring at Caiyue and Caixia without any attempt to conceal their gazes.