Volume 1-A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated

Gu Fang Bu Zi Shang Vol01 Ch02

The weather was relatively good, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and it wasn't as hot as the last two days.

Pingting had already finished washing the assigned clothes and was wiping the sweat from her face when Mother Chen approached her.

"Hong, are you busy?"

"I've just finished washing. What do you need, Mother Chen? I've done yesterday's washing too, except I still need to fold them..."

"Don't worry about that." Mother Chen followed Pingting to the washing line and chuckled, "You can put that down for now, I need to talk to you."

Pingting put down the bucket of washing, "Yes?"

"You fixed the two holes in my clothes, didn't you?"

"I saw them so I did do the mending. Is it no good?"

Mother Chen gave another chuckle, "It's not 'no good'. I could hardly tell that there was a hole there! I never guessed you had such nimble fingers!" She grabbed Pingting's hand, studied it and asked, "Why didn't you tell us about your skill? I'll tell you this, My Lady's wedding is coming up and we're in a rush to prepare the clothes. Only three girls in our entire Residence are proficient with needlework, so I'm worried we won't finish in time. From today on, you don't need to do manual work anymore, come and help sew!" She was Lady Hua's nurse, so she was extremely excited when it came to her wedding.

"This is..." These days, her health had greatly improved and she was planning to escape soon. It would've been a lot easier to escape if she was still a laundry maid.

"This is what? Do you still want to do manual labour?" Mother Chen patted Pingting's hand, "It's a great opportunity. I'll tell the housekeeper about this. Inside you go and don't worry about anything else for now." She bounced away happily, before Pingting could answer.

Pingting had no choice but to pack her things up and go inside.

The Hua family was one of the most famous commercial families of Dong Lin. The head of the family had one daughter and so her wedding was extremely important. Her clothes required at least four seamstresses and now they had a new addition.

As a seamstress, Pingting's food and clothing had greatly improved from the time when she was still a manual labourer. However, Pingting had been spoiled for a long time in the Jing-An Ducal Residence, so she took no notice in the changes. Though her lifestyle had very much downgraded, she was flexible and therefore she didn't complain.

For unknown reasons, the seamstresses had been scheduled near Lady Hua's building.

"What beautiful fabric, I wish I could wear something like this when I marry. I can't imagine how beautiful I'll be!" The seamstresses sat inside, in their own corner. Their heads were bent over while their needles weaved across the fabric.

"Don't be stupid, how lucky can you get?"

Ruo'er, the girl who spoke first, had been promoted to a seamstress at the same time as Pingting. Seeing how Zihua was mocking her, she retorted, "How can you be so sure about that?"

"Okay, okay, hurry up and get back to work." Mother Chen was in the room too and seeing how Pingting was so absorbed in her work, she couldn't resist tip-toeing over to see what she was doing. "Wow! That's amazing needlework!"

Pingting jumped back in surprise, momentarily losing control of her needle, pricking herself.

"Hong, your hands really are amazing." Mother Hong took Pingting's sewing and studied the lively, realistic phoenix. She had worked in the Hua Residence for many years yet this was the first time something had sparked her interest. Suddenly, she had a thought. "This technique...I doubt you could find two with the same capabilities in Dong Lin. Yeah, I think your phoenix's wings is not typically like Dong Lin's traditions, I think it's more like..."