Chapter 1456: 1432: Hairpin Flower (Added for the reward from the book friend "Manbao's Ideal")
Chapter 1456: Chapter 1432: Hairpin Flower (Added chapter for the reward from the book friend “Manbao’s Ideal”)
Manbao didn’t argue, which meant she agreed.
She comforted Zhou Lijun, “No rush, I’ll sell them once I find the bad guy.”
Although she was a bit guilty about selling potted plants, she had no reservations about selling flower branches. Her flowers were beautiful, much prettier than those of the same variety now.
The blooms lasted long without wilting, with a fragrance that ranged from strong to mild, and were equally long-lasting. Whatever kind you wanted, she could find one for you.
So Manbao was particularly satisfied as she looked at the three rows of flower pots in front of her and decided to cut some branches to take to the palace tomorrow, saving herself the trouble of bringing gifts.
Manbao also knew a thing or two about hair ornaments.
Ms. Zheng was a person with a lot of charm and a girlish heart. When they were on Bai Family’s estate in the countryside, every spring, if they got tired of doing homework, she liked to cut flowers for the three children to adorn their hair while they played in the garden.
Manbao didn’t like large flowers; she preferred smaller ones, thinking they looked prettier when worn in the hair.
Thus, the next morning, after waking up, washing, and eating, she took scissors and squatted under the porch to carefully choose flowers that suited her.
Bai Shan, who was heading off to school, saw her taking her time and reached out for her scissors, directly cutting off a pale yellow peony, then pinning it in her hair with a smile, “This one suits you best.”
Zhou Lijun and Zhou Liru, who refused to leave her side, nodded repeatedly, “Yes, Aunt Looks best with this flower.”
Manbao stuffed the scissors into their hands, turned, and ran back to her room to look in the mirror, calling out to the two as she ran, “You should pick a flower to wear too.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lijun and Zhou Liru were immediately delighted and started selecting flowers seriously.
Manbao ran back to her room to carefully examine herself in the mirror. It did look nice, and she was satisfied.
She ran out and saw Bai Shan and the others standing around, joining in the fun, and asked with a smile, “Do you want to wear a flower?”
Bai Shan shook his head immediately.
Although, in this dynasty, men also considered wearing flowers as a form of beauty, yet…
Bai Shan still didn’t like wearing flowers on his head, so he opted out.
Bai Erlang also refused, “We have a horse riding lesson today.”
So today, Bai Erlang was riding to the Imperial Academy.
However, Zhou Lixue and the others were quite interested and picked a flower to tuck into their hair, while Bai Shuping watched with a bit of envy.
Bai Shan then turned to ask him, “What color do you like?”
Bai Shuping hesitated for a moment and turned to look at his parents standing nearby.
Daji nodded slightly at him, so Bai Shuping hesitantly pointed to a multicolored peony.
Bai Shan cut it and handed it to him.
So, a group of young men headed to school, looking quite dashing with flowers.
Thinking about giving them as gifts, when making the deal with the seller yesterday, Manbao specifically asked for the flowers to be particularly beautiful and vibrant, and for each pot to have plenty of branches, selecting according to the colors she listed.
The requirements were many, but if only concerned with the current appearance of the flowers, without demanding genetic stability and heredity, the seller was actually able to fulfill her request quite easily.
Therefore, each flower pot had at least three flowers, and all were growing well. The best-looking pot even had five large peony blooms, and each bloom’s color and shape were different.
If the whole pot were taken out, it would surely cause a sensation throughout the capital.
However, the seller specifically noted that these flowers were a one-time deal, and the blooming period was short, lasting only seven days. After that, the flowers would wilt, and the peony branches wouldn’t even last until the next year, turning askew after the flowers wilted, mostly self-wilting.
So these flowers had another name, “Seven-day Life,” as they only had a seven-day survival period once planted, making them quite affordable.
The seeds were genetically sorted, with each one guaranteed.
But Manbao was very fond of them, admiring them on her own, then carefully cutting a large red peony she thought most suitable for the teacher and delivering it to the study.
Mr. Zhuang was tending to his orchids, and seeing Manbao bring over such a large peony, he paused before saying, “Leave it on the table, I’ll wear it if I find it appropriate.”
But Manbao insisted, “Teacher, let me pin it on for you.”
Though Mr. Zhuang was reluctant, he couldn’t argue with Manbao’s persistence, and ended up letting her place it on his head.
With a big red flower on his head, Mr. Zhuang had Manbao beaming with joy, her eyes squinting as she praised, “It looks great.”
Mr. Zhuang felt perhaps this child’s aesthetic sense was somewhat off.
But Manbao had already dashed outside with her scissors, cutting all the flowers in the pots, leaving long branches, and selecting three to give to Daji’s wife, Ms. Meng, and two others, asking her to send them to Elms Alley for Old Madam Liu and Ms. Zheng.
The rest she held in her arms.
Xiang Ming came strolling back from outside, still walking slowly as he seemed not to dare exert himself. Seeing Manbao with a pale yellow flower in her hair, he laughed, “I saw the imperial guards coming to pick you up on my way back. They’re probably waiting outside now.”
Holding the flowers in her arms, Manbao asked him, “Do you want one?”
Unlike Bai Shan and the others, Xiang Ming also liked wearing flowers. Glancing at the flowers in her arms, he nodded with a smile, “Sure, I’ll take this purple one.”
He didn’t want Manbao to exert any more effort to pull it out, and just used the scissors to cut it directly, holding it in his hand, and smilingly asked, “Want me to help you carry the medicine box out?”
Manbao nodded repeatedly.
Xiang Ming then, holding the flower and the medicine box, walked Manbao to the door.
The guards on horseback lowered their heads as they saw Manbao emerge with an armful of peony flowers, their mouths slightly agape.
Meeting their gaze, Manbao hesitantly looked at the flowers in her arms.
Xiang Ming had already put the medicine box on the carriage, turned back and told her, “Hurry, you must hold these flowers well; the Crown Princess and the princesses are still waiting for your flowers.”
So don’t give them away to anyone else.
Feeling it made sense, Manbao ignored the guards’ looks, carefully climbed onto the carriage using the stirrup, and protectively cradled the flowers to avoid any damage.
At the palace gate, the guards were also staring at Manbao for quite some time before moving their eyes away.
Holding the flowers, a guard followed her carrying the medicine box, conveniently helping her by bringing it into the palace.
The Eastern Palace servants waiting inside immediately stepped forward to take the medicine box, one saying, “Her Highness is already waiting in the Eastern Palace; please follow me, Doctor Zhou Junior.”
The group reached the Eastern Palace where the Crown Princess, already dressed and waiting, had several pots of flowers brought out as she intended to share them for everyone’s enjoyment.
She initially thought her flowers looked nice and was planning to let Zhou Man choose one from them. But upon lifting her head to see the flowers in Manbao’s arms, she was so surprised her mouth fell open.
“These flowers…”
Manbao jogged forward with the flowers, “Your Highness, what do you think of my flowers?”
The Crown Princess nodded blankly, seeing the shape and color of these flowers, all of them famous varieties. Some multicolored ones she hadn’t even seen before, which were quite striking.