Chapter 439 - The Young Ladies of the Capital (1/2)
Hechun’s face reddened from their mockings and she retorted, “It looks bad, but it works better than the soap we buy from outside! Using the aloe vera soap moisturizes your hands and using honey and milk soap won’t dry your hands. In fact, it’ll even make them feel fine and smooth!”
Wutong continued to mock her, “With your lousy skills, others won’t even buy it for half a tael, much less for five taels! Hurry and take it back, don’t humiliate yourself!”
Yu Xiaocao’s gaze lightly slid over her, and Wutong knew to immediately shut her mouth.
“Let me see it!” Yu Xiaocao took the two handmade soaps from the maidservant. Their shapes were indeed too horrible to look at. Hechun was too careless with this. Did she just casually shape them with her hands? She placed the light green soap to her nose and took a light sniff. The smell was quite refreshing and exquisite, with a hint of the fresh scent of aloe. The coloring of the soap was uneven. It was probably because Hechun had not thoroughly stirred the mixture when she had poured in the aloe juice.
She let Wutong bring in a pot of water and used the honey and milk soap to wash her hands. The soap suds were quite fine, and her hands felt smooth and moisturized after washing. There was a slight smell of milk candy leftover. The soap worked quite well; the only thing lacking was the appearance.
She gave Hechun some tips and a bottle of mystic-stone water, claiming that it was an extract of many herbs that had many benefits for the skin. She instructed the maid tol drip a drop of the ‘herbal extract’ into the mixture the next time she made soap, so the effects would be better.
Hechun revered her mistress’s skills in medicine. If her mistress said that this extract was beneficial to the skin, then soaps containing this extract would definitely have the same effects as her mistress had claimed. They would be able to brighten, moisturize, and remove pimples from a person’s skin…
In Hechun’s heart, her young miss was an existence comparable to the gods. Older Sisters Yingtao and Yangliu were both people that she admired and also the target she was working hard towards. Older Sister Yingtao was talented in medicine, which was why she became the manager of the pharmaceutical workshop. Meanwhile, Older Sister Yangliu showed great talent in the culinary arts and was placed in charge of the kitchen of their braised food store in the capital. If she could perfect these handmade soaps and add some finishings, could she also become young miss’s important subordinate like them in the future?
Lady Fang smiled as she watched her daughter ‘fool around’ with the maidservants. Seeing Hechun getting fooled by her daughter with just a few sentences, she laughed, “Hechun, your young miss has a lot of unique ideas, and what she really requires are girls like you who have the guts to try and like to take action. Try your best, this might be your chance!”
Yu Xiaocao only smiled, but Hechun was full of vigour. At the side, Wutong sulked, ‘Does the young miss not like me? She’d rather promote that lowly little girl than give me a chance. Could it be...that wretch had told the young miss that I was unwilling to follow her to the outskirts to suffer, and that I had even said some sarcastic remarks at that time?’ Her worries consumed her as she thought really hard about what she could do to let her mistress change her opinion of her.
On the other side, Xiaocao and her godmother were discussing the young ladies of the capital.
“Cao’er, Royal Princess Minglan has already personally sent the invite over for next month’s flower war party. If we continue to decline her invite, others might say that we’re arrogant and disrespectful, but I’m afraid you’ll suffer grievances if you go…” Lady Fang was also very hesitant. On one hand, she wanted her daughter to interact with more peers and slowly create her own circle of friends, but on the other hand, she was fearful that the other arrogant, pampered little misses would look down upon her daughter’s lowly birth and use it to mock her.
Yu Xiaocao smiled and said, “There’s nothing to be aggrieved about. Those supposed well-bred maidens of prestigious families only behave so because they’re backed by their family. If we disregard their backgrounds, what else is left for them to be arrogant about? Rest assured, Godmother, I won’t get upset because of people who are unrelated to me.”
“You’ve always been free and easy, so I won’t say any more. You’re right, making friends require fate. We should just go with the flow!” Seeing that Xiaocao understood the current situation, Lady Fang didn’t say anymore on that topic, “Royal Princess Minglan’s quite brisk and generous, unlike others. However, she does tend to be really down-to-earth with her words, so she doesn’t necessarily have prejudices against you if she said something that’s a bit offensive. This, you’ll have to feel for yourself!”
Yu Xiaocao obediently nodded as Lady Fang continued, “It’s not a secret in the capital that Royal Princess Minglan loves chrysanthemums. For the flower war, you should bring the pot of ‘Two Qiaos’ from our greenhouse and present her the thing that she likes. Even if you can’t get first place, Royal Princess Minglan would still look at you differently.”
After a thinking a bit, Lady Fang still did not feel completely at ease, so she started to prattle about the other well-bred maidens of the capital, “Among the ladies of the capital, the ones who are most well known are the ‘four talented girls of the capital’ and the ‘two beauties’. Among the four talented girls are the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy’s daughter, Cao Panyun; the granddaughter of the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Library, Wu Lingfu; Wen Shuhan, daughter of a scholar at Hanlin Academy; and Lin Weiyu, daughter of an official under the Grand Secretariat. They’re all skilled in many aspects and are the target of pursuit of many scholars in the capital. These people are aloof and conceited, but they care very much about their reputation and won’t offend others easily.”