The wind is gentle and the fun is endless

Unable to wait, I slowly followed Xiaoyu to the room where she lived. The room was very small, with only a single bed and a large cabinet, so Xiaoyu had always lived there alone.

As soon as she entered the room, Xiaoyu walked towards the only large chest in the room. After opening the chest's lid, she first took out the things in the chest and placed them on the bed beside her. Then she bent down and tried to reach something in the chest. Not long after, she took out a tightly wrapped bundle and handed it to Huanhuan.

He slowly took the bag that Xiaoyu had found after rummaging through the boxes and drawers, and opened three layers before he saw the pile of rouge that he had brought back from Heyang.

Huanhuan immediately rummaged through the pile of bottles and jars, and finally found two exquisite boxes. She held the two rouge boxes in her palms and raised them to her eyes, saying with a sparkle in her eyes, "That's it!"

Xiaoyu was very confused by Huanhuan's series of actions, so she asked, "Miss, what are you doing with the rouge? Are you going to Yihong Pavilion again?"

He slowly turned his head and looked at Xiaoyu with a mysterious smile, and said, "No, this time I'm not going to earn money, I'm going to earn intimacy."

The next day, Huanhuan rehearsed several times in her mind, anticipated several possible situations and her own responses, and finally felt that she was fully prepared, so she took two exquisite rouge boxes and set off for Jingyuan.

As soon as I entered Jingyuan, I happened to meet Mrs. Xie and my aunt standing in the yard chatting. I walked up to them and greeted them. After the three of them exchanged pleasantries, she slowly said, "Mother, aunt, I brought two little things." She took out two boxes of rouge that we had prepared long ago and said, "This is our rouge produced in Heyang. It is of high quality. I brought it here today for you two to try."

Mrs. Xie and the eldest aunt were a little surprised. After looking at each other, Mrs. Xie smiled and took the box of rouge and said, "Xuan Huan, you are thoughtful. This box is very exquisite."

She quickly replied, "It's just a small gift, not a token of respect. I hope mother and aunt like them." After saying that, she still raised her hand, holding the remaining box of rouge and looked at her aunt.

But the eldest aunt just raised her chin slightly and looked at Huanhuan calmly. She neither showed any intention of reaching out to take Yanzhi nor spoke a word.

Huanhuan, who got no response, stood there holding a box of rouge, and the scene was awkward for a while. Mrs. Xie saw this and secretly tugged at the corner of her aunt's clothes, but her aunt remained unmoved.

Just as Huanhuan was hesitating, not knowing whether to withdraw her hand, her aunt spoke with a faint smile: "Does the remote corner of Heyang produce rouge?"

Huanhuan quickly replied: "Yes, aunt, it started in the past ten years or so, and it has become a little famous and has a small scale."

The eldest aunt still raised her chin slightly and said with a hint of pride: "Oh? Then, what is this rouge made of?"

"It was Honglanhua who did it, aunt." She answered slowly and in detail.

"Well," said the eldest aunt, still smiling proudly, "Unfortunately, I only use flower dew rouge. So, forget about this stuff!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the gift-giving that she had been slowly trying to please turned into a self-indulgent act. She stood there with her eyes wide open, not knowing how to end the situation - this was the first time she had encountered such a ruthless rejection.

Mrs. Xie was obviously a little surprised by her aunt's response. She was stunned for a moment, but then she reacted and quickly reached out to take the rouge box from Huanhuan's hand, saying, "I like this exquisite little box very much. Since my sister doesn't need it, give it to me as well."

Huanhuan naturally knew that Mrs. Xie's move was to ease her embarrassment, so she said respectfully: "It's rare that mother likes it, so I can give it to you."

After that, Mrs. Xie changed the subject and responded slowly and tacitly. The two of them talked about this and that in tacit understanding.

Huanhuan tried hard to conceal her embarrassment while chatting, while her aunt, who was the instigator of her embarrassment, had an expression as if it had nothing to do with her and watched Huanhuan and Mrs. Xie chatting absent-mindedly.

Just as she was slowly trying to find a way to say goodbye, Xiangyue came to Jingyuan Courtyard with her personal maid Dujuan.

"Greetings to my aunt and mother. What a coincidence that my sister-in-law is here too." Xiangyue greeted and saluted the elders and Huanhuan in the courtyard, and Huanhuan also returned the salute.

Now that Xiangyue had just arrived, it was inconvenient for Huanhuan to say goodbye immediately, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, thinking that Xiangyue's arrival could divert everyone's attention and save himself.

Sure enough, everyone's eyes were focused on Xiangyue, who said, "Last time, my aunt said she wanted to see the flowers I arranged. Today, I specially brought two vases of flowers that I recently arranged to ask my aunt to evaluate them." After saying that, she motioned for Dujuan, who was following behind her, to come forward.

Dujuan walked up from behind Xiangyue, holding a flower basket in her hand. Inside were two small vases with flower branches in them, one was a celadon vase with a large belly and a small mouth, and the other was an open square white porcelain vase, both of which were sparsely filled with flower branches.

When the eldest aunt heard that Xiangyue had brought flowers to her, she was delighted. She stepped forward with a smile and looked left and right at the two porcelain vases, and finally fixed her eyes on the celadon vase. In the vase, two orange daisies of different heights were inserted randomly, and a long flower branch was leaning against it. There were two green leaves scattered on the flower stem, and a half-closed and half-opened bud was on the top of the flower branch.

The eldest aunt pondered for a moment and said, "Well, the flowers in this celadon vase are quite lazy, and the combination is very good. It is right not to fill such a small porcelain vase with branches. But this branch is too high. When arranging flowers in a vase, because the vase itself is tall, the height of the branch should not be longer than the height of the vase, otherwise it will appear too high and uncoordinated."

Xiangyue listened carefully, and as soon as her aunt finished speaking, she agreed, "Aunt, you are right. Xiangyue has learned a lot."

After hearing what Xiangyue said, the eldest aunt seemed even happier and said, "This is my opinion. You can also ask your mother for her opinion, and... and your sister-in-law." The eldest aunt turned her eyes to Mrs. Xie and skipped Huanhuan. At the end, she added, "Huanhuan, what do you think of Xiangyue's flowers? Feel free to talk about it."

Huanhuan had no idea about the intricacies of flower arrangement. She stood there with her mouth half open, not knowing whether to speak or not. Her face turned red and white, and she felt extremely embarrassed. She thought to herself: I thought Xiangyue's coming would save me from the embarrassment, but now I feel even more embarrassed.

Seeing this, Madam Xie said, "It's boring for so many of us to just stand here. Let's go inside and have some tea."

Madam Xie and Xiangyue walked in front, and the eldest aunt seemed to stay at the end on purpose. There was some teasing in her eyes. She raised her head slightly and smiled and said to Huan Huan: "Do you know what a woman relies on to earn reputation and status in her husband's family?"

"Huanhuan doesn't know. Please tell me, aunt." Huanhuan avoided her aunt's gaze and answered softly.

"It's not about roundabout schemes, nor is it about cleverness, nor is it about small favors, but about strength!" The eldest aunt's words were so loud that they created ripples on the slow lake of my heart.