Chapter 055
Chapter 55: A chance meeting fails, and making the first move backfires
Zheng Xiu Yun knew better than anyone how harsh the world was to women.
If you wanted a good life, you had to climb.
And this Heir Apparent Manor was the highest, nearest branch.
If she could grab Lin Qing Xuan, she could rise in a single step and trample everyone else underfoot.
Men, after all, how many could resist a beauty who tried on purpose to tempt them?
She wanted Lin Qing Xuan to notice her first, and then step by step, make him sink into her net.
The first move to win the heart was an arranged “chance” meeting.
She had already won over a little maid in the Old Madam’s courtyard.
With steady little gifts and careful hints, she slowly got the answer out of the girl: every three to five days, Lin Qing Xuan would come to Green Briar Court to pay his respects.
From his Auspicious Cloud Residence to Green Briar Court, he had to pass the small garden.
That place was a stage sent by heaven.
Zheng Xiu Yun had already painted the perfect picture in her mind: a beauty standing shy among a riot of flowers, the young lord passing by, stunned at a glance, remembering her ever after. [Prettier than flowers. That must be me.]
She smiled with pride at the thought.
On that day, she got up at first light.
The autumn morning air bit with cold.
Her maid urged her to put on another layer, but she waved her off with impatience: “What do you know? I’m after that tender, pitiful look.”
She chose a new pink spring blouse of fine gauze, thin as a cicada’s wing, the best for showing off her slim figure and pale skin.
She spent even more on makeup, using the best powders and rouge. She worked at the mirror for half an hour to paint what she believed was the perfect “chance-meeting face.”
It was pure but also a little sweet, with a tease at the corners of her eyes and brows.
When everything was ready, she took her personal maid and went early to the little garden to “admire the flowers.”
The autumn wind sighed through her thin blouse and raised bumps all over her arms.
She hugged herself, stamping her feet to keep warm, and her teeth chattered.
Her maid whispered with worry, “Miss, should I go get your cloak? Your face has gone pale with cold.”
“Quiet,” snapped Zheng Xiu Yun, glaring. “Pale is good. That makes people feel sorry for me. What do you know.”
Her mouth was tough, but her body was honest. She shook like a leaf.
To keep her makeup perfect, she didn’t dare sneeze, not even once. She held it in until her eyes watered.
[Hurry… hurry and come… if you don’t, I’ll freeze into an ice statue.]
She screamed in her heart while she still kept the look of a calm, gentle girl among the flowers.
At last, the lookout maid at the path came running, breathless and excited: “Miss, he’s coming, he’s coming. The Eldest Grandson Young Master is here.”
Zheng Xiu Yun’s spirit leaped.
He was here.
She let go of her arms, fought the cold, and struck the pose she believed most charming.
She stood by the pebbled path, one hand lightly touching a branch, the other holding a chrysanthemum in full bloom. She turned a little to the side, showing the graceful line of her neck and jaw.
Her eyes shone and her lips held a smile, the very picture of peace and beauty.
She had even planned what she would say.
One shy, soft “Cousin” would surely make his bones go soft.
Footsteps came closer.
Zheng Xiu Yun’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it.
She lowered her lashes in a shy pose and watched the figure with the corner of her eye.
A green-blue robe flew in the morning breeze. The figure was tall and straight, his steps light and quick.
It was him.
Now.
Zheng Xiu Yun eased her breath and deepened her smile.
But that figure did not slow at all.
Lin Qing Xuan kept his eyes straight ahead and moved fast, rushing by like a gust of wind.
He didn’t spare even a sliver of a glance. It was as if she wasn’t a living beauty, but a tree, a stone, or simply air that did not exist.
“…”
The “Cousin” she had prepared stuck in her throat and would not come up or go down.
By the time she realized what had happened and tried to speak, Lin Qing Xuan’s back had already slipped through the moon gate at the far end of the garden and into the Old Madam’s yard.
He was so quick that she didn’t even have a chance to recover.
“…”
The autumn wind lifted a few fallen leaves and spun them past her feet.
The garden held only her and her two maids, staring at one another.
Silence spread like frost.
[Hahaha, I’m dying here. She put on a whole show, and the audience didn’t even look. She froze for half an hour for nothing. Does that count as a work injury?]
[Big sister really understands performance art. The main goal is to move yourself.]
Their first “garden encounter” ended in a total crash.
Back in her rooms, Zheng Xiu Yun downed two big bowls of hot ginger tea before she felt alive again.
She tore the pink blouse to shreds in rage. “Hateful. Hateful.”
She refused to believe Lin Qing Xuan truly hadn’t seen her.
A whole person standing at the path. Was he blind?
He must be pretending to be lofty.
[Men. Just playing hard to get.]
Zheng Xiu Yun quickly found excuses for her loss and lit her fighting spirit again. [Waiting for chance meetings is not reliable. I have to make the first move so he can see how good I am.]
She used her money power again.
This time she bought off a rough Old Granny who worked by the outer gate of Auspicious Cloud Residence.
From the old woman’s mouth she learned that, though Lin Qing Xuan lived plainly, he liked to drink tea and have small pastries every afternoon.
Zheng Xiu Yun’s eyes lit up.
Here was the chance.
What could be more classic than this: to grab a man’s heart, grab his stomach first.
She would let him taste her skill so he would see that Zheng Xiu Yun had not only a face like a picture, but clever hands too. She was, of course, a true help for a household.
She acted at once.
She went to the kitchen’s Steward and begged for a long time to borrow a small kitchen.
If she was going to do it, she would make something special.
She chose Jiangdu’s most famous pastry, Lotus Leaf Pastry.
The method was fussy and tested both patience and skill.
She spent the whole morning in the kitchen, covered in smoke and grease, and the hot oil raised blisters on her hands. At last she made a plate of proper Lotus Leaf Pastries.
They were lifelike, layers of flaky dough shaped like a lotus about to open, so delicate that people might not want to take a bite.
Satisfied with her work, she packed them carefully into a food box.
[Now he will finally see me in a new light.]
Carrying the box and full of hope, she went to Lin Qing Xuan’s Auspicious Cloud Residence.
Auspicious Cloud Residence was the quietest courtyard in the manor. Two huge pines by the gate made it feel even more solemn.
She had just lifted a foot to the steps when two elders stopped her.
They were the stewards of Auspicious Cloud Residence, Old Chen and Granny Chen.
“Cousin Miss, please stop,” said Old Chen, holding out an arm like a door bar.
Granny Chen looked her up and down, her eyes cool, and said in a stiff tone, “Our Young Master is in secluded cultivation. He is not receiving guests. Cousin Miss, please return.”
The word “guest” shoved back her claim to being family.
Zheng Xiu Yun’s smile froze, but she quickly recovered.
She lifted the food box and showed a gentle, modest smile. “You misunderstand me, Granny Chen. I am not here to disturb my cousin. I only heard that he lives simply, so I made some Jiangdu pastries, Lotus Leaf Pastry, to go with his tea. Please help me pass them in.”
Her posture was low and her words sincere.
Granny Chen glanced at the fine gilded box and twisted her mouth. “Our Young Master doesn’t like sweet, greasy things. Cousin Miss, we accept your kind thought. Please take the things back.”
The oil-and-salt proof attitude made Zheng Xiu Yun’s heart flare with anger. [Two old servants dare to show me attitude.]
She didn’t dare explode. She pushed the box forward and let a little pleading into her voice: “Granny, this really is my whole heart. I spent the whole morning in the kitchen to make it. Please take it inside. Whether he eats it is his choice. I just want to send my thoughts in. Please.”
As she spoke, she slipped a small silver ingot from her sleeve and tried to press it into Granny Chen’s hand.
Granny Chen didn’t even lift an eyelid. She slid to the side and avoided it. “What are you doing, Cousin Miss. We servants only follow the Master’s orders. Wait here. I’ll carry it in, but whether the Young Master eats it, this old woman can’t promise.”
She took the food box and went inside, leaving Zheng Xiu Yun and her maid waiting at the door.
Zheng Xiu Yun stood outside, craning her neck and staring hard.
She pictured the look on Lin Qing Xuan’s face when he saw that delicate plate of pastries.
Maybe he would make an exception and invite her in to thank her himself.
Granny Chen carried the tray into the study.
Lin Qing Xuan was reading by the window and barely lifted his head.
“Young Master,” said Granny Chen, “the Zheng clan’s Cousin Miss sent these pastries. She says she made them herself.”
Lin Qing Xuan’s eyes moved from the book and glanced at the Lotus Leaf Pastries.
The pastries were indeed delicate.
He looked away and said in a calm voice, “You can eat them.”
“Gladly,” said Granny Chen.
She had already been tempted by the smell. Hearing the Young Master’s words, she beamed.
She left the room, happy, carrying the tray.
Outside, she found Zheng Xiu Yun still waiting like a stone that waits for her husband to return.
Granny Chen hummed inside and, on purpose, walked right up to her.
Zheng Xiu Yun’s eyes lit and she asked quickly, “Well? Did Cousin like them?”
Granny Chen, right before her eyes, picked up the prettiest Lotus Leaf Pastry, popped it into her mouth, and chewed with real delight. With her mouth still full, she said, “Mm, tasty. So tasty. Cousin Miss, your hands are very skillful.”
Zheng Xiu Yun’s face went white all at once. “What… what do you mean?”
Granny Chen swallowed and showed a simple but cruel smile. “Don’t misunderstand, Cousin Miss. The Young Master rewarded these to us servants.”
She bit hard on the word “reward.”
“He said he wouldn’t eat a single one and told us to divide them among ourselves.”
Boom.
Something exploded in Zheng Xiu Yun’s head.
She had worked all morning, burned blisters on her hands, and made the pastries with care, and he gave them away after a single glance?
This was a hundred times more humiliating than a plain refusal.
Granny Chen watched the way Zheng Xiu Yun’s face turned blue then white, felt very pleased, and, on purpose, pinched another pastry to hand to Old Chen: “Old man, you try one too. Cousin Miss made them herself.”
Zheng Xiu Yun stared at them. Her pretty face twisted with rage and shame.
It felt like everyone’s eyes were needles stabbing her.
Humiliation.
Naked humiliation.
She stomped hard, spun around, and ran, not even waiting for her maid.