Chu Lian motioned Xiyan and Wenqing to pass the two plates of longevity peach buns around for the madams and young ladies present to taste.
The buns weren't very big; each one was about the size of an infants fist. They were cute and finely made, too — just about enough for two or three bites, so people wouldn't get sick of the taste.
Xiyan first brought some buns over to Imperial Princess Leyao before serving them to Madam Huang and the other madams behind her. As for Wenqing, she served them to Royal Princess Duanjia first, then Lady Yang and so on.
Once everyone had a peach bun in their hands, they could instantly tell that these were actually buns and not peaches.
Royal Princess Duanjia pinched the soft peach bun in her hand and examined it seriously, just as if it was a novelty to her. When she sniffed it, she was surprised to find that it not only looked like the real thing, but even carried the clean, fresh aroma of real peaches.
The ladies holding the adorable longevity peach buns couldn't bear to take a bite; instead, they wanted to keep them like souvenirs and put them on display to admire how realistic they were everyday!
Royal Princess Duanjia blinked and parted her red, tender lips. She lightly bit into the bun, enjoying the soft, sweet texture of the skin. After biting into it, there was an unexpected flavour.
Before Royal Princess Duanjia could think of what flavour it was, a young madam exclaimed in surprised joy, "Ah! There's a filling in this bun! It's soft, sticky and sweet, and it's not too heavy on your tongue either."
When Royal Princess Duanjia looked closely at it, she noted that the stuffing was indeed smooth and silky. It had the same colour as red beans, so perhaps the stuffing was made of that?
The women who had tasted Chu Lian's peach buns were all quiet. Even those who had been picking on Chu Lian had forgotten to speak. Why? Her peach buns were simply too delicious!
Imperial Princess Leyao and Madam Huang each took one bite. Their expressions simultaneously turned serious.
Despite the frustration in their hearts, both of them still finished every bit of the little longevity peach bun in their hands.
They couldn't help it. No matter how angry they were, their taste buds were begging for more!
It only took one bite to make Lady Yang's eyes light up. She also had a sweet tooth. Upon seeing two buns left on the plate before her, she didn't wait for anyone else to react and swiped both of them for herself. Then, she swiftly finished them off with a few elegant movements.
None of the ladies standing around Madam Rong were ranked highly enough to be part of the crowd that was tasting the buns. Madam Rong anxiously stared at the madams in the center. When she saw that Lady Yang had eaten three in one go, she finally relaxed. However, a pool of mixed feelings quickly replaced her previous anxiety.
She regretted it a little now. If she had been decisive enough to stand by Chu Lian, she would be able to boast right now.
Miss Su inwardly sighed in relief and smiled at Chu Lian. She had thought that this Sixth Sister of hers was too ambitious and arrogant in the past, and was too reckless in trying to make a name for herself. However, after this wild turn of events today, her opinion of Chu Lian changed a lot.
She hadn't thought that Sixth Sister had such hidden talent.
Miss Yuan had a death grip on the handkerchief in her hands. Her eyes were still locked on the accessories on the silver tray. Upon thinking that those were all Chu Lian's now, her heart was filled with jealousy!
She was the daughter of a second wife, so when it came to status, she was actually ranked a little lower than Chu Lian. Thus, ever since she was little, she had always tried to compete with Chu Lian in anything and everything, and in every competition, she was the one who won. But now, Chu Lian was on the brink of winning an entire tray of treasures that none of her accessories could ever hope to compare to. How could she possibly bear to see that happen?
Wei Fengzi finished eating the longevity peach bun in her hands. There was a spark of interest in the glance she tossed at Chu Lian. Her eyebrows raised as she said, "House Jingan's Third Young Madam has indeed made longevity peach buns that are more delicious than the ones made by Dean Restaurant's Mr. Wang."
Although the madams present already knew what the results would be, no one expected Wei Fengzi to be the one to announce it.
When Imperial Princess Leyao heard Wei Fengzi's words, she pouted unhappily. "Aunt! How could you side with outsiders?!"
Wei Fengzi looked at Imperial Princess Leyao affectionately and sat next to the princess. She stroked the princess's hair. "Princess, I'm just stating the facts. Don't you think that these longevity peach buns are delicious?"
Imperial Princess Leyao couldn't lie in front of the aunt who had always pampered her. Furthermore, Chu Lian had indeed made peach buns that had surpassed Mr. Wang's in both look and taste.
"They are." Imperial Princess Leyao was just an eleven year old child after all. She replied truthfully, as unwilling as she was.
Wei Fengzi smiled and turned to Madam Huang.
Chu Lian took a second look at Wei Fengzi. Although she had only said two sentences, that was enough to extract Imperial Princess Leyao out from the whole awkward fiasco.
She was trying to show that Imperial Princess Leyao was just a eleven-year-old girl, despite her unruly behaviour at the start. Now that she had admitted that Chu Lian's peach buns were delicious, her image had turned into an obedient child who knew how to change for the better. The arrogantly wilful image of her from before would then fade away.
Now that the situation was like this, the greatest blame now lied with Madam Huang.
Chu Lian had to admit that Wei Fengzi was crafty.
Those two sentences had fulfilled her promise to Madam Zou to take care of Chu Lian, and they had protected the princess image. It wasn't easy to please everyone, but Wei Fengzi had succeeded.
However, Chu Lian didn't take any of it to heart.
Since Wei Fengzi had spoken, Madam Huang couldn't do anything but admit to her defeat.
Furthermore, everyone had agreed on the taste of the longevity peach buns, so how could she go back on her word?
"I didn't expect House Jingan's Third Young Madam to have such talent at all. We've expanded our horizons today." After saying so, Madam Huang sent her personal maidservant to bring the tray of accessories to Chu Lian.
However, only she herself knew how conflicted she felt inside. That pearl bracelet was her favourite accessory!
When the maidservant held up the tray, Madam Huang narrowed her eyes purposefully at Chu Lian.
That look was a warning, loud and clear, telling her not to accept those accessories.
However, the young madam standing in the middle of the crowd had her head lowered, revealing her smooth forehead and her exquisitely fair nape. She reached out with her slender fingers and received the silver tray.
She didn't lift her head at all from start to finish. No one could tell if she simply couldn't feel Madam Huang's threatening gaze, or if she really hadn't noticed it at all.
Madam Huang wrung the handkerchief in her hands. She would've never expected Chu Lian to win the bet.
Imperial Princess Leyao couldn't bear to part with her golden qilin statue. She wanted to ask for it back, but Wei Fengzi stopped her.
When Lady Yang saw how frustrated Madam Huang was at losing, she felt extremely happy.
"What's wrong? Are you hurting for that pearl bracelet of yours, Madam Huang?"
Madam Huang was so annoyed she almost spat up blood. Although she really couldn't bear to give up the bracelet, she had to pretend to be magnanimous on the surface. "What are you saying, Lady Yang? It's just a bracelet after all. Didn't you put in a coral bracelet yourself?"
Lady Yang's eyes were crinkled up in a smile. She would give up any number of coral bracelets just to see Madam Huang eat her words like this.
Chu Lian gently smiled after receiving the silver tray and curtsied to each person in turn. "Many thanks to Imperial Princess Leyao, Royal Princess Duanjia, Madam Huang, Lady Yang, and noble madams for your gracious gifts."
Haha! She had struck gold this time!
When she looked up slightly and caught sight of the madams unwilling expressions, the smile on Chu Lian's face grew a little more pronounced.
She wasn't the one who started the bet! They were the ones who offered up their treasures to her; not accepting them would be silly.
The crowd watched as House Jingan's Third Young Madam smiled with her eyes twinkling before she passed the whole tray to her maidservant for keeping. The madams felt a pang of loss and were envious to the point of bleeding.
Even though Chu Lian had taken the entire tray of prizes without any pretense at modesty, no one thought her greedy. Some madams even thought that she was being genuine.
The moment Chu Lian looked up, her eyes met with Royal Princess Duanjia's gaze. Very strangely, Royal Princess Duanjia even smiled at her.
A maidservant dressed in green came rushing in from outside Mei Court. When she reached Madam Huang, she bobbed in courtesy before asking after the longevity peaches.
When Lady Yang heard so, she laughed and pointed at the remaining plate of longevity peach buns on the stone table. "Those are the longevity peaches that your Madam Huang has prepared. Bring them over."
The maidservant looked at Madam Huang in surprise. Madam Huang just felt terrible after the whole ruckus, so she simply waved and let the maidservant take the peach buns off to the banquet at the outer court.
The servant dressed in green walked over to the stone table. The moment she saw the realistic-looking peach buns, her eyes almost fell out from her staring. She quickly recovered her senses and carefully placed the plate into a box before leaving in a hurry.
Now that the entire farce was finally over, the madams present all heaved a sigh of relief. They also got an interesting story to recount to their family once they got back!
Chu Lian bobbed in a juniors greeting to Lady Yang before leading her maidservants out of the crowd and to somewhere less populated.
When Madam Rong saw that Chu Lian had come out of the crowd, she brought Miss Su and Miss Yuan over to welcome her.
Chu Lian frowned and bobbed in greeting to Madam Rong. "Eldest Sister-in-Law."
Madam Rong held onto Chu Lian's hand and, voice full of concern, said, "I'm glad you're alright, Miss Lian. You've frightened Eldest Sister-in-Law to death."
Chu Lian gently extracted her hand out from Madam Rong's grip. "Thank you for your concern, Eldest Sister-in-Law."
After saying so, she spotted Madam Zou rushing over with her servants in tow. Upon catching sight of Chu Lian, Madam Zou strode over quickly.
Miss Yuan's eyes remained on the wooden box in Xiyan's hands, greed shimmering in their depths. She tried to speak up, but was interrupted by Chu Lian.
"Madam Jingan has come to look for me. Eldest Sister-in-Law, why don't you bring Fifth Sister and Eighth Sister around a while longer?" With that, she curtsied to Madam Rong and went off to Madam Zou.
Madam Rong watched Chu Lian's slender back as she left, the light in her eyes darkening. It looked like Miss Lian blamed her after all.
On the other side of the pond, Heir Zheng was laughing with praise. "Hah! Is that true? House Jingan's Third Young Madam actually made longevity peach buns that are better than Mr. Wang's?"
"Heir Zheng, it's true. I heard that those buns looked exactly like fresh peaches, and even had the faint aroma of fresh fruit. After pinching them open, they even had some filling in them. They're something that no one has ever heard or seen before!"
Heir Zheng had tasted Chu Lian's waterdrop mochis before. Upon hearing the manservants description, he was almost drooling.
"Are they really that good?" Heir Zheng asked doubtfully.
The manservant chuckled. "This servant heard from the maidservants in Mei Court. They didn't get to see them personally, but Lady Yang ate three of them in one go. They must surely be delicious."