His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

"Young Mistress, it’s better if we don’t talk about important things here. It’s not safe," Xiao Yu said.

"I know. It’s too risky. Let’s go! It’s really time to go, or else, we will be late."

After greeting the matriarch and Madam Wang for the day, Yao Ling diligently attended her lesson with Zhang Mo Mo just like usual. Zhang Mo Mo praised her and said that she had an improvement. It made her pretty happy. The sooner she could master the etiquette, the sooner she could learn another thing.

After that, they went to ’Fu Rong’ directly. Before she entered ’Fu Rong’, she saw Ning jie stood nervously in front of ’Fu Rong’. She just walked back and forth but didn’t dare to go in. Once... she tried to go in, but then... she chickened out. It was a quite funny sight, making Yao Ling want to laugh, but she knew she would hurt Ning jie’s feeling so she decided against it.

Yao Ling tapped her shoulder softly from behind and smiled, "Have you decided to work here?"

Ning jie was surprised but managed to calm herself after knowing that it was Yao Ling. She sighed in relief and nodded. "Yes, this servant has already decided. Thank you for Young Mistress’ help."

"Good!"

Yao Ling didn’t bother correcting the way Ning jie called her this time, because they were in ’Fu Rong and she was still the boss here. Ning jie should call her Young Mistress out of courtesy, besides... this would terminate the chance someone knew about their relationship in private. It was better this way.

"Come inside with me. I need you to embroider a handkerchief with a design of your own as the test. I want to know the level of your embroidery skill and your creativity level," Yao Ling explained briefly.

When she saw Li Huan, she called him to come to her, "Xiao Huan, I want to test this new embroiderer. Give her everything she needs, because I want to gauge her skill level. Can you do that?"

"This servant will prepare it," Li Huan quickly answered. This was the normal procedure of hiring embroiderers, so it was nothing new for Li Huan. He turned to Ning jie and said, "Follow me!"

Ning jie looked at Yao Ling asking for permission silently. Yao Ling nodded and encouraged her to follow Li Huan, "Go with him! When you finish the embroidery, you can find me and show me the finished good. After that, we can talk about your salary and work schedule."

"This servant understands," Ning jie politely answered. After that, she left with Li Huan.

Xiao Yu asked Yao Ling curiously, "Who is that, Young Mistress?"

"That’s Ning jie."

"Ah... the kids’ benefactor?" Xiao Yu remembered where she had heard the name before and she guessed correctly.

"Yes."

"Aiya~ Young Mistress’ kindness is really too much!" Xiao Yu scowled.

Yao Ling helplessly explained, "I’m not that kind, Xiao Yu. I’ll tell you all about it later, okay? But this is not the right place and not the right time. When everything comes into place, I’ll definitely tell you everything!"

Xiao Yu nodded and smiled, "Okay! Thank you, Young Mistress."

"All right. Let’s go to work!" After saying that, Yao Ling did her works as usual. She waited for Ning jie’s result patiently. Wang Luo Hai and Yao Ying weren’t in ’Fu Rong’. When she asked Li Huan, they were meeting a powerful and mysterious customer.

Yao Ling wondered who that person was. "Have we ever received orders from this customer?" She asked Li Huan.

"Yes, we have. This customer is one of our biggest customers. When they place an order, we have to be the one who goes to the customer’s place. Only Master knows the customer’s identity. This servant guesses that Master wants to introduce Young Master to this big customer," Li Huan explained.

This mysterious customer really piqued her curiosity, but she knew that it was out of her authority. Yao Ying probably would tell her later. Her job was to secure their own people and other matters could wait. She trusted Yao Ying that he would be able to handle it perfectly.

Yao Ling had just finished her inspections around the production room when she saw Ning jie seriously working there and she deliberately didn’t pay much attention to her. It wouldn’t make sense to care too much about a new worker. She could only wait for Ning jie to finish the embroidery and let her come to her herself.

It didn’t take long for Ning jie to find her and show her the result. Yao Ling looked at the handkerchief in front of her. She smiled and asked, "Why do you choose to make this embroidery?"

Yao Ling looked at the lovely embroidery design in her hands. It was a beautiful young woman who held a lovely bouquet of flowers on her embrace near her heart and the woman was surrounded by blooming flowers all around her. Her embroidery skill was actually very good! She was probably being humble by saying her embroidery wasn’t that good. Yao Ling sighed in relief. If she didn’t have a good embroidery skill, it was hard to let her work at ’Fu Rong’.

Ning jie answered her, "Xin Hua Nu Fang – The flower of the heart in full bloom. It means to be happy at heart like flowers in full bloom."

Yao Ling nodded her head, feeling happy after knowing the real meaning of the embroidery. "So... what are you feeling happy about?"

Ning jie nervously answered Yao Ling, "It’s actually also the answer to Young Mistress’ question yesterday. It’s this servant happiness to be able to find Young Mistress and work together with Young Mistress." After saying that, she decided to add some words, "Work together in everything." Ning jie emphasized the last part.

Ning jie specifically emphasizing the last part and the meaning was clear! Ning jie was also agreed to work together and become Yao Ling’s people. Yao Ling smiled happily after hearing her answer. "Well done! Welcome aboard!" Yao Ling praised and welcomed Ning jie at the same time.

"Come on! Let’s go upstairs! We should talk about the details," Yao Ling invited Ning jie to go with her to a more secluded place. It wasn’t inconvenient to talk about an important matter in the production rooms. Walls had ears [1], so it was better to be safe than sorry later. The second floor was more secluded and a suitable place for talking about important matters.

Yao Ling showed the result to Xiao Qian, the leader of the embroiderers, which earned praise from the later and Xiao Qian agreed that Ning Qing Xue was a great asset to ’Fu Rong’. "Xiao Qian, let me borrow this new talent for a while!" Yao Ling asked for Xiao Qian’s permission.

Xiao Qian smiled and answered, "Young Mistress... Young Mistress doesn’t need to ask this servant’s permission for this kind of thing! Go ahead and take the girl!" After that, Xiao Qian turned to Ning Qing Xue and reminded her, "Be polite to Young Mistress! You should listen to Young Mistress’ orders."

Ning Qing Xie curtsied politely to Xiao Qian and said, "Xiao Qian Jie Jie, this servant will."

"Good!" Xiao Qian nodded in satisfaction. It seemed like the girl was a fast learner. She knew that Xiao Qian was higher in position and Ning Qing Xue cleverly gave respect to her.

Li Huan already introduced Ning jie to Xiao Qian previously, so Xiao Qian already knew about her. She asked a little bit about Ning Qing Xue’s background and knew that the woman was in dire need of money because she had a lot of kids back home.

Xiao Qian only thought that this woman got married at a young age and had a lot of kids. Xiao Qian didn’t know that the kids were actually orphans. She also assumed that Xiao Qian had no husband, but she didn’t ask any questions about it. Ning Qing Xue told briefly how Young Mistress helped her by luck and after knowing her situation, Young Mistress decided to help her by offering a job at ’Fu Rong’ which Ning Qing Xue accepted gratefully.

***

[1]. Walls had ears: Be careful of what you said, as people might be eavesdropping.