Chapter 18 - Giving Out Presents

When Yao Ling woke up the next day, she blushed. She remembered last night's event. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she just wanted to vent her embarra.s.sment to Yao Ying. He was very patient and even gave her some pointers, but… but… he kissed her again. Last night kiss was undeniable very hot and unforgettable.

"Mistress… Mistress…." Xiao Yu called Yao Ling a few times, but she could only helplessly see her mistress daydreaming and blus.h.i.+ng. She decided to poke her mistress softly.

Yao Ling woke up from her daydreaming, because of Xiao Yu's poke. She jumped up and sat down on the bed, "Where is Master?"

"Master has been working out and doing martial arts for two hours in the courtyard," Xiao Yu explained.

Yao Ling prepared herself and quickly called Yao Ying to take a bath and helped him get dressed. They had to eat breakfast together with the family.

"Husband, I'm supposed to give presents for everyone. After breakfast, you can go to the shop with father first. After I finish giving out the presents, I will go to the shop and check out the production," Yao Ling talked briefly while walking to the dining room.

Yao Ying nodded. "Be careful on your way to the shop. Take Xiao Yu with you."

Yao Ling nodded in agreement. If Yao Ying didn't remind her, she might go alone like usual. She wasn't accustomed to having maid serving beside her all the time. With her ident.i.ty now, it wasn't appropriate for her to wander outside her home all alone.

After they enjoyed breakfast together, Yao Ling went back to her room and prepared her gifts. She went to the matriarch first. She gave a handkerchief which was personally embroidered by Yao Ling. She embroidered a crane and a pine tree – both representing longevity. A peaceful and long life.

When the matriarch received the gift, she was happy. Yao Ling explained the meaning behind the embroidery and sweetly wis.h.i.+ng the matriarch with a blissful long life. She said joyfully, "What a sweet mouth!" Then she gave her beautifully carved jade bangle.

After that, she went to visit Madam w.a.n.g and also gave her mother a handkerchief, but with different embroidery. She embroidered orchid flowers - which often symbolized female beauty. It also stood for modesty and refinement. She praised her for her beauty and sweet temperament. In turn, she was given a pair of beautiful lotus earrings.

She visited the concubines, fortunately, they were all coincidentally taking a stroll together. If she had to visit them one by one, she didn't think she would have the time to go to the shop again. She couldn't just give the gift and leave. She had to exchange pleasantries.

They were all sitting under a gazebo at the garden. Before they arrived, Xiao Yu told her the name of each concubine. She nodded after memorizing each of their names and remembering their personalities.

She politely greeted them, and true enough, they were behaving just like what Xiao Yu told her. Concubine Wan – the most beautiful one – looked at her with mocking eyes. No one exaggerated her beauty. She had a stunning beauty - pretty eyes, small pointed nose, red voluptuous lips, and skin as translucent as jade. Her beauty was different from Madam w.a.n.g. One was alluring beauty; the other one was a tranquil beauty.

"Aiyo~ if it isn't the new heir… with a lousy background yet have the guts to walk and sway confidently in this household," Concubine Wan sneered at her.

Poisonous! Really poisonous tongue! Too bad that judgment didn't make Yao Ling feel angry at all. A vain judgment from a stupid person. Why should she care? She couldn't even pretend to exchange pleasantries and she wanted to climb higher? If she could see through her stupidity, she didn't think w.a.n.g Luo Hai couldn't. This Concubine Wan was simply naïve.

Generally, peasants were a higher cla.s.s than merchants – which considered quite the lowest. It was because they didn't produce anything. However, w.a.n.g family was a special case. Their privilege was lifted up, because of the matriarch's n.o.ble background.

Although she was deemed for lowering her standard, she had a powerful background. They were granted n.o.bility, and at the same time, they could continue their merchant business. That was no wonder for the w.a.n.g family to consider themselves higher than merchants or peasants.

"Aiyo~ If it isn't the most beautiful woman, Concubine Wan." Yao Ling paused what she wanted to say, just to make Concubine Wan overconfident, before crus.h.i.+ng her with her next word. "Too bad. With a lousier background than me… er… what it was that I'd heard? Ah yes… a mere lowly ex-brothel girl dared to flaunt her stupidity in this household. What a shame!"

Concubine Wan could only gape at her and her face was pale. She couldn't hide her past, but this girl had just come into this household and she already knew her background? This girl wasn't a simple peasant at all. She couldn't even mutter another word.

Hmph! Yao Ling remembered how Yao Ying taught her not to hold back and she did just that. Her position was slightly higher than them, so she could actually suppress them. Unless a concubine could give birth to a son, their position was only slightly higher than servants.

Seeing Concubine Wan speechless, the other two concubines laughed inwardly. They always hated this poisonous mouth troublemaker. She looked as sweet as honey to w.a.n.g Luo Hai. But to the others? She was a headache. The two also realized this Yao Ling wasn't easy to deal with.

Concubine Xi was basically a quiet person, so she only smiled slightly at Yao Ling and said, "Welcome to the family." Yao Ling was thinking about this concubine. She was so quiet, making you didn't realize her presence. She didn't like to mingle with other people, so no one knew anything about her. No one could read her at all. However, w.a.n.g Luo Hai was quite favoring her, so she must have been smart all along.

Concubine Xi's face was average; there was no outstanding feature. Yao Ling wasn't sure how she could gain w.a.n.g Luo Hai's favor. That's why she noted this concubine insider her mind. If she didn't bother her, then Yao Ling also wouldn't bother her.

Replying to Concubine Xi's welcoming speech, she politely nodded. "Thank you, Concubine Xi."

Concubine Lan had a different reaction. She actually praised her, "Ling-er, don't worry about your peasant background. We are a family now." Then she looked at Yao Ling's face, "And you are this beautiful. No wonder master likes you and takes you in as his child."

Yao Ling snickered inwardly. Concubine Lan seemed like praising her, but the last part showed her real meaning. Her meaning was if she didn't have a beautiful face, then w.a.n.g Luo Hai wouldn't take her in and she would stay as a peasant forever.

Yao Ling felt this Concubine Lan was also stupid. What had it got to do with her beauty? The one who was being taken in was actually her husband. She was just a plus one because she married to Yao Ying first.

White lotus! Really a white lotus! Smiling sweetly like an angel, but actually a two-faced woman.

Yao Ling couldn't help but applaud w.a.n.g Luo Hai. How could a man collect various women with different personalities like this? Not one had same personalities.

Yao Ling replied to Concubine Lan, "Concubine Lan doesn't need to care about my peasant background. I'm here now, so naturally, my father has been acknowledging my peasant background. But Concubine Lan… you have to think about how to gain father's favor. A little birdie told me before that father hasn't come to for a long time already. I don't want you to be forgotten."

It was lucky for her. Yesterday, Yao Ling told Xiao Yu to find everything about the concubine's situation lately. Without this knowledge, she definitely couldn't find any words to refute their sarcasm.

If Concubine Lan were a white lotus, then Yao Ling would become a black lotus. Ha! With a kind temperament and bearing, she would say poisonous words. No need to disguise herself with double meaning words.

Yao Ling gave a signal to Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu understood and quickly gave out their presents one-by-one. She gave the three of them the same gifts with the matriarch and Madam w.a.n.g. Handkerchief. She didn't have much money on her, so she used her creativity for the gifts.

For the three concubines, she gave them basically the same embroidery – oriole. The bird symbolized friends.h.i.+p. She explained that she wanted to nurture a good relations.h.i.+p with them. That was the sweet part. She didn't explain that oriole had an a.s.sociation with young female beauty made it also crop up in descriptions of p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es and brothels. Well… that was for her to know.

A bit evil and mischievous on her part, but at least, they didn't know the negative meaning, right? This was just to make her happy inside. Yao Ling snickered inwardly. Who told those concubines to give her and Yao Ying the evil eyes before?

After explaining the meaning, she said goodbye and didn't stay for long. It was better for her to go working rather than accompanied them putting on a play. Ugh! She shuddered at the thought.

She quickly took Xiao Yu and went out to their shop. Yao Ling already asked permission from the matriarch and the matriarch understood that she needed to go to the shop every day. After today, she didn't need to ask permission to the matriarch anymore. She was free to go to the shop any time she wanted.

---Edited by: L0v3lamb---