Chapter 119 The Favorite Flower_1
The old lady saw Cheng Yue talking back and became even angrier, cursing, "Are you foolish or just talking nonsense? Are you off your medication again? How could that wench be compared to my Jinwa?"
Qian Yixiu, afraid that Cheng Yue would say something else to provoke a scolding, stood up and pulled Cheng Yue back to their room.
In the room, Cheng Yue took out a piece of satin and said, "Mother has thought it over, embroidering a ’National beauty and heavenly fragrance’ will definitely fetch a good price, enough to buy a maid for Yixiu."
Qian Yixiu felt so moved that her eyes started to warm up. Her silly mother was still worried sick about her daughter suffering any unfair treatment. She hugged Cheng Yue and said, "Mother, Yixiu really doesn’t need a maid, don’t overexert yourself."
"No, my Yixiu must have a maid," Cheng Yue insisted, ignoring her daughter’s advice and began drawing patterns on paper again.
The design was probably too intricate, and she couldn’t recall it all at once, so she drew very slowly. Moreover, she would draw, then alter, think, and draw again. By nightfall, she hadn’t even finished a single peony and started to feel anxious. It took her brother and sister half the day to persuade her to go to sleep.
The next day, Qian Yixiu asked Huang Tie, who was going to town to shop, to bring back a peony pattern.
She presented it as if offering a treasure, "Mother, the peony, national beauty and heavenly fragrance."
Cheng Yue took one look at it and, disliking it, handed it back, saying, "Ugly, it’s not the peony mother wants to embroider." Then she continued drawing on the paper.