Poor Lady Chapter 72: Guest
"Rong, I'm going on a long trip, there's something wrong with the shop in Liancheng." Jin Yun said to Qi Surong.
"What's wrong?" Qi Surong asked worriedly.
"It's hard to say the specific situation, you have to go and see for yourself."
"How long will it take?"
"If there are no accidents, I will be back in ten days and half a month."
Qi Surong helped him change his clothes, and said in a gentle voice: "Be careful on the road, I will wait for you to come back."
"Yeah." Gu Jinyun looked at her with a look on his face. If he hadn't cared about her health and was not suitable for a long journey, he really wanted to take her along.
"Are you reluctant to part with your wife?" Qi Surong hugged his waist, raised her head and smiled at him.
Gu Jinyun nodded honestly.
"Xiaobie is better than a newlywed. It's only half a month, and it will pass soon."
"We are newly married now, and we don't want to say goodbye."
"Hey." Qi Surong pinched his ear and teased, "Who told you to be busy? You should train more capable assistants."
"It's hard to find a trustworthy person." Gu Jinyun grabbed her hand and played with it.
"That's true." Qi Surong leaned into his arms, "It's a pity that I'm a woman, so I can't share the burden for you."
"If you were a man, I would be troubled."
"Haha." Qi Surong was overjoyed.
The two are about to part, and it is inevitable that they will be extremely lingering at night, and they are inseparable.
Three days later, Gu Jinyun dressed up and went out, leaving the business in the capital to Gu Yufeng for the time being.
Qi Surong was a little worried about Gu Jinyun's safety, so he quietly sent a letter to the Digital Gang, asking them to send someone to pay attention to the safety of Jinyun and his party.
Jin Yun had only been away for two or three days, and she was worried about it, and couldn't sleep well at night. In order to divert her attention, she began to prepare the embroidery promised to the envoy of Aluoba. For Qi Surong personally, getting two or three finished works every year is somewhat difficult. She has limited energy, and it is impossible for her to focus on embroidery for a year and ignore everything else. Qi Surong plans to hire a few embroiderers with outstanding embroidery skills from Jiangnan, and with a little training, they should be able to handle it on their own. Double-sided embroidery was originally popular in the south of the Yangtze River, but Qi Surong integrated the experience of later generations and innovated a more exquisite embroidery art in advance. However, Xiuniang's character needs time to be tested, and within the past two years, Qi Surong has to do it herself.
The training of the servants of the Gu family has been going on for more than two months. Even though there are some complaints, but with generous rewards in front of them, their performance is remarkable. When all the new clothes are ready, the training is over.
On the day when the new clothes were distributed, all the servants of the Gu family were in high spirits, as if they were celebrating the new year, because Qi Surong distributed eight sets of clothes, two in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Whether it is the texture, color or cut of the clothes, they are all very good. This made Father Gu and the brothers and sisters of the Gu family a little jealous. Why did the servants have new clothes to change, but they didn't have any? Daughter-in-law, you can't treat people differently!
"Father, don't worry, how can my wife forget you?" Qi Surong held two sets of ready-made clothes to Gu Chang with her own hands, and said with a smile, "I asked the old tailor who made clothes for you about your size to see if it fits you. Doesn't fit?"
Papa Gu immediately smiled.
Then, Qi Surong gave two more sets to his uncle.
"Me too?" Gu Yufeng pointed at himself, his face full of surprise.
"Of course, why do you favor one over another?"
"Shuangshuang, and Shuangshuang!" Shuangshuang raised her hands and shouted eagerly.
Qi Surong pinched her face: "Didn't Shuangshuang already have several sets of new clothes? But those are all sewn for you by your sister-in-law. Don't you like it?"
"I like it." Shuangshuang nodded repeatedly, but still looked at Daddy and Second Brother enviously.
"Little greedy ghost." Qi Surong whispered, "If both of you have new clothes to wear every day, then father and brother will be sad, do you want to see them sad?"
Shuangshuang quickly shook her head, twirled her fingers and said, "That Shuangshuang doesn't need new clothes."
"Good boy." Qi Surong patted her head appreciatively.
Shuangshuang laughed happily again.
Gu Chang and Gu Yufeng smiled and looked at them.
In addition to the Gu family, Qi Surong did not forget her parents. It was almost late autumn, and the weather was getting colder. Qi Surong personally sewed two sets of autumn clothes for them, and bought some supplements along the way.
Half a month passed, Gu Jinyun did not return as scheduled, but sent someone to deliver a letter, telling his family that his return would probably be delayed for a while.
Qi Surong was worried in his heart, so he could only urge him to come back soon in his reply letter, and asked the messenger to send him two sets of autumn clothes.
"Father, some young ladies will come to our house as guests in a few days, and Su Rong wants to entertain them well." Qi Su Rong said to Gu Chang.
"Okay, please treat me well. When is the specific time, I happen to be out to visit."
"Two days later."
"Well, I'll take that kid Yufeng out as well, so that he won't disturb the petites."
"That's not necessary, my uncle has also reached the marriageable age..." Qi Surong seemed to be pointing.
Gu Chang suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, yes! Hahaha... I will leave it to you. You young people can communicate more and don't pay attention to me."
He walked away happily.
Qi Surong shook her head with a smile, the father-in-law really thought she was going to introduce someone to Yufeng face to face? That's too abrupt, at most let him look at it from a distance.
The ladies invited this time include well-known ladies and wealthy daughters. They were quite curious about the gift that Queen Aloba gave her, so they decided to meet at the door to appreciate the treasure.
It's rare for this group of delicate guests to take the initiative to meet, Qi Surong would not refuse, and arranged for people to prepare one day in advance.
On that day, all the daughters arrived as scheduled, and the maids respectfully led them to the flower hall.
The flower hall is elegantly arranged, and the hanging beads at the door swing gently with the wind, making crisp sounds. The window panes are entwined with vines and clusters of flowers. There is an incense burner in each of the four corners of the room, and the green smoke is lingering, which makes people smell it, and there is a sense of peace and tranquility.
There are no ordinary footstools, tables and chairs in the flower hall, but cushioned lacquer tables, on which are placed small cups and exquisite snacks.
The daughters took their seats one by one, and the maids poured tea respectfully, with smiles on their faces and steady movements, without any splash of tea. Uniform clothing, light pink color, quite pleasing to the eye.
All the charming guests originally thought that the Gu family was just a merchant's family. Very happy. After all, it can be seen from some details whether the host family values the guests.
This kind of small gathering does not have many red tapes, Qi Surong said after a few pleasantries, "It's rare that the weather is sunny today, how about we drink a cup of green tea before appreciating the treasure?"
"Of course, I will listen to Madam's arrangements." A few of them had only heard Qi Surong's name for a long time but had never seen him in person. Now that they can see him, apart from other things, just their appearance, demeanor and clothing decoration are quite admirable.
Qi Surong ordered people to set up the tea sets one by one, a woman in her thirties bowed out, bowed to everyone, then sat on the soft cushion, cleaned her hands, and started to make tea.
Most wealthy families like to taste tea, so the tea ceremony is quite popular among them. Qi Surong naturally wouldn't use the tea ceremony to elevate his status, otherwise he would be playing tricks and making people laugh.
It's just that the tea she uses is the unique Qingwu tea in the world, and the water used to make the tea is Yunwu ice spring. Qi Surong usually doesn't want to drink it, so the few taels left over are now used to entertain these delicate guests, although it hurts, it's worth it. After all, this was the first time she officially received a female guest of considerable status after she married into the Gu family.
The charming guests chatted and laughed with each other while waiting, mostly girls' topics. Qi Surong is good at observing words and expressions, adjusting the atmosphere in a timely manner, trying to take care of everyone's emotions, and often one or two words can make people happy.
As the ice spring boils, a faint tea fragrance permeates the flower hall.
When the clear mist tea is cooked, the maid pours it for the guests one by one.
Just smelling the fragrance of tea makes people feel refreshed. They may not be able to tell the pros and cons of it, but they can also feel that this tea is different.
Several people wanted to ask about the name of the tea, but they didn't ask because of face. Qi Surong is just a merchant's wife, who can afford the tea she can afford? When I get home, I will buy several more teas to try, and I can always find out which kind of tea it is, so I won’t be rude next time. It's a pity that they are doomed to be disappointed. Before the Gu family's tea garden was built, Qingwu tea could not be bought at all, and the one they drank was even more exquisite.
After tasting the tea, the main show finally took place. Qi Surong said with a smile: "I was honored to receive a gift from Queen Aluoba. I don't want to cherish myself, so I will show it to you for a look."
All the girls looked forward to it.
Qi Surong clapped his hands, and several servant girls came in with five gift boxes in their hands, arranged the gift boxes neatly, took off the lid, and stepped back to the side.
The five treasures are full of brilliance, not only beautiful in shape, but also auspicious.
Everyone couldn't help getting up, and watched closely, amazed and commented enthusiastically. In the end, he was even more envious of Qi Surong.
Qi Surong accepted everyone's half-truths and half-fake compliments with a smile, neither humble nor overbearing.
"Madam Gu's embroidery skills are truly unparalleled in the world, even Queen Aloba is so sought after." A female guest suddenly asked, "My little girl is very interested in embroidery, I wonder if Madam can give me some pointers?"
"Miss Wang is interested in this, and I welcome it. If you have free time, you can come to the mansion to talk and exchange ideas at any time."
"Thank you so much, I hope Madam will give me some advice." Miss Wang smiled meaningfully.
When other people heard the words, they also expressed their desire to ask Qi Surong to "give me some advice".
Qi Surong nodded in agreement one by one. She never knew what they were thinking, and she just wanted to learn some skills from her, so that she might be able to embroider amazing embroidery in the future. In fact, each embroidery method has its own characteristics, and if you specialize in one of them, you can achieve something. Double-sided embroidery is not superior to other embroidery, but this group of ladies probably don't have the patience. In Qi Surong's last life, she had no choice but to study embroidery skills in order to make a living. It's a pity that she was poor at that time, and even the best embroidery could not be sold at a high price.
After appreciating the treasures, Qi Surong took all the girls to visit the garden again. The autumn colors were strong and the chrysanthemums were in full bloom, making the garden extremely lively.
When the girls were admiring the flowers, Gu Yufeng was secretly watching not far away. I saw a group of young women chatting and laughing happily in the garden, they are really more charming than flowers.
His eyes swept over each woman, subconsciously comparing them with his sister-in-law. Hmm... this is not tall enough... this is too plump... this temperament is too vulgar...
"Tsk, why is there no one comparable to sister-in-law?" Gu Yufeng shook his head, curled his lips and said, "Forget it, don't watch it, go play with Shuangshuang."
Qi Surong raised her head and saw Gu Yufeng turn around and leave, not only wondering, is there any woman around who can catch your eye?
At dusk, all the girls enjoyed themselves and said goodbye one after another. Qi Surong saw off with a smile. The meeting ended without any surprises or dangers, and it was a successful start. The previous training was indeed not in vain, and one can detect it from the change of attitude of these female guests. Presumably, they will not refuse to invite them as guests in the future, and that is enough.