The Female Supporting Role Shows Out - Chapter 83
Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse
Seeing that Du Rusong highly praised her work, a smile finally appeared on Lin Dan’s serious face. She waved her hand. When she was about to jump off the wall and go home for dinner, she saw Du Ruyan rushed over, sweeping through the flowers and grasses on both sides along the way. Her beautiful face was tense, and her eyes were full of anger.
“What happened?” Du Rusong frowned.
“Brother, I almost got pissed off today!” At the sight of the closest person, Du Ruyan, who had endured for a long time, she finally shed two streams of tears and said aggrievedly, “Half a month later, there will be a Buddhist Ceremony held in the Faxing (flourishing Dharma) Temple. During the Buddhist Ceremony, all the young talents of Lin’an Prefecture will gather. As you know, I’m old enough that I will become an old woman if I still don’t get married. Shouldn’t I be more sociable?”
Initially, Du Ruyan was a lady of the imperial palace. So, she didn’t have to worry about getting married, but she had a former empress aunt, and her mother was divorced. How could such a background deserve the sons of the rich and noble family? So naturally, her fiancé broke off the engagement with her and married another woman. Now, she was nineteen years old. Other girls might have given birth to a few children, but she was still wasting her time.
Thinking of the past, Du Ruyan felt even more bitter. She gritted her teeth and said, “In order to attend the Buddhist Ceremony, I want to make a new dress. Today in Meng Clan Embroidery Shop, I saw a piece of simple and lovely embroidered silk. The cotton rose on the silk was mesmerizing and vibrant. It was embroidered by Meng Si herself. I immediately took out my money to buy it, but it was taken by Li Jiarong, who came later. I told her that I came first, and I paid for it first. The silk should be sold to me, but the shopkeeper ignored me. He returned the money to me, wrapped the embroidered cloth, and took it to Li Jiarong’s carriage. When Li Jiarong left, she mocked me that I was an unfeathered phoenix. I clenched my palm so hard to tolerate her, and I didn’t cause a scene. Brother, I’ve changed my character. I didn’t cause you any trouble this time.”
Du Ruyan stretched out her hand and showed it to Du Rusong. There were indeed many bloody crescent marks on it, which were quite frightful when looking at it.
Du Rusong’s eyes darkened and showed a look of pity.
Du Ruyan wiped her tears and said, “That piece of cloth was taken. I want to buy another one, so I ask the shopkeeper if there is any cloth embroidered by Meng Si. The shopkeeper told me that nowadays, Meng Si only does embroidery on screen, not clothes. Then I asked him what Li Jiarong took away just now. The shopkeeper said that I couldn’t wear the clothes embroidered by Meng Si unless I’m also the governor’s daughter. He also told me that Meng Si only embroidered clothes for the nobles. What am I?”
Du Ruyan tilted her head; her eyes were full of unwillingness, “Brother, did you foresee this day would happen to us? Do you envision that we will be reprimanded and scolded by others on this day for not being something?” Speaking of this, she slowly lowered her head and covered her face to prevent her brother from seeing her on the verge of emotional breakdown.
Du Rusong held his sister, who had lost weight, into his arms and patted her. His face looked calm, but his heart was raging. After all, he was too incompetent, causing his mother, aunt, and sister to suffer from these humiliations. Nevertheless, he was willing to do anything as long as he could have the power to control and protect his most important person.
After Lin Dan listened to the conversation, she tentatively asked, “Miss Du, do you still need embroidered cloth?”
Du Rusong’s eyes lit up, and he said immediately, “Of course, I need it.”
Lin Dan rubbed her hands and felt a little excited, but she didn’t show it on her face. She said with a serious look, “Then can you give me five taels of silver as a deposit. I have to buy embroidery threads and cloth. I can tailor clothes for you after embroidering, but the price will be slightly higher.”
“Five taels of silver? No problem.” Du Rusong immediately took out a silver ingot from his wallet and handed it to the little girl sitting on the wall.
“This is twelve.” Holding the silver ingot in her hand, she jumped off the wall without saying a word and leaped into the Du family’s small garden. She picked up the broadsword thrown aside by Du Rusong and chopped the silver in half.
Du Ruyan was frightened by her brother’s compulsion and Lin Dan’s aggressive behavior. She forgot all her grievances, and she didn’t cry anymore. She stared at the little girl with a broadsword in her hand and silver in another hand in shock.
“No,” Du Ruyan grabbed her brother’s sleeve and said, “I’ll find the cloth myself. Don’t have to trouble the little girl.” Up until now, she still remembered the girl’s “masterpiece”, so she didn’t dare to wear it.
However, Du Rusong ignored her pleading. Instead, he took over the cut half silver ingot and said with a smile, “Miss Lin, please measure my sister’s size and embroider whatever pattern you like. Then, we can negotiate the price.”
Lin Dan waved her hand, “When the clothes are ready, you can give me based on your satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with it, you can pay me a little less; if you are happy with it, you can pay me a little more. Anyway, it’s my first business deal. I’m not familiar with the market price, so I’m okay with it as long as I’m not losing money. But, of course, when I become famous in the future, the price will be higher.”
Du Rusong had already been used to Lin Dan’s boldness. The coldness on his face gradually receded and was replaced with ease. When he got along with the next door’s little girl, he could have no burden. He didn’t need to guess her motives for what she had said, nor did he need to deliberately distance himself from her in case of getting into trouble. It was good to settle here.
However, Du Ruyan was shocked by her brother’s decision. She wanted to shout, “I don’t want to, please let me be.” But she didn’t want to hurt the little girl’s self-esteem. It was just a waste of a bit of silver. When the clothes were done, she would put them at the bottom of the suitcase. The little girl had already worked very hard to learn embroidery to support Lin Family Embroidery Shop. She couldn’t discourage her enthusiasm anymore.
Thinking of this, Du Ruyan had no choice but to compromise. She put on a straight face and asked Lin Dan to do the measurement. With the help of her brother and Lin Dan, the resentment and unwillingness in her heart receded; she couldn’t help but laugh.
“I will bring you the clothes before the Buddhist Ceremony.” Lin Dan jotted down Du Ruyan’s size, climbed up the wall, and leaped over. Her movement was nimble.
Du Ruyan was stunned and reminded, “Brother, you just let her simply climb over our wall? If things go on like this, our house will be her back garden. She can come in and out as she wants.”
If someone else dared to do so, Du Rusong would have broken the person’s leg. But now, he just smiled and waved his hand indifferently. “It doesn’t matter. Miss Lin knows what she is doing.”
Du Ruyan looked at her brother for a while, then shook her head and left.
—
This was the first deal that Lin Dan received. It was also the first move for her to reopen the embroidery shop. So naturally, she didn’t dare to slack off. After getting the deposit, she sneaked out of her house with Cuilan to buy embroidery threads and cloth. But the slightly better fabrics on the market were costly. Five taels silver could only buy some leftover bits and pieces.
“Miss, we still have some good cloth in the storehouse. Madam left it to you as your dowry. You can use the cloth at home. Then ask Young Master Du to pay you when you’re done making the clothes.” Cuilan suggested.
“Okay, let’s go.” Lin Dan put a large bundle of white embroidered threads into the basket. She had been used to buying threads and dyeing them by herself. Since the color of the threads on the market was too few for her to work on.
When the two were walking halfway, Lin Dan changed her mind. “How about we go to the Buddhist temple to have a look?” One could wear whatever one liked at home, but when outside, one had to dress according to the occasion. She had to see what Faxing Temple looked like with her own eyes to find inspiration for embroidering clothes.
Cuilan also wanted to go and have some fun, so she nodded and said, “Okay, the temple is not far from here. We will arrive there in 45 minutes.”
The two came to Faxing Temple, and visited the whole place, and donated some incense money. They didn’t go home until the sun was about to set. With the guidance of the young monk, Lin Dan knew that on the day of the Buddhist Ceremony, the young talents of Lin’an Prefecture would hold a poetry conference, which would be held in the garden behind the Hall of Great Strength.
Lin Dan didn’t remember how enormous the temple was, nor did she remember how graceful the Bodhisattvas were. All she remembered was that when she walked into the growing autumn garden, her soul was taken away by a huge ginkgo tree that had lived for a thousand years. According to the young monk, this ginkgo was planted a thousand years ago by the emperor of the Qin Kingdom. It endured countless winds and frost. Yet, after several dynasties, it was still lush and strong. Its trunk was as big as five people’s arms. The huge treetop towered into the sky, covering the sky and the sun.
The autumn breeze dyed it a bright golden color; the unique-shape ginkgo leaves fell from the tree like raindrops. When she looked up, her eyes were full of dazzling colors, clear blue sky, and the bright sunlight shone between the branches like stars as if she was prying into another world through a kaleidoscope. That scene could only be described as breath-taking.
At that time, Lin Dan was stunned. It took her 15 minutes to recover from the beauty of nature. After leaving the temple, her mind was filled with golden ginkgo leaves. Some dangling at the top of the tree, some flying in mid-air, and some lying on the ground. It was so dazzling and eye-catching.
When she finally got rid of this kind of heart-shock and was about to reach the front door of her house, Zhang Hui was holding a feather duster in her hand and stared at her fiercely. “Where have you been today? You had just been quiet for a few months, and now you’re back to your real state, aren’t you? I’ll make you lazy and disobedient!”
Zhang Hui chased behind her daughter and beat her. She felt disappointed and angry.
Lin Dan subconsciously covered her head with her hands and explained while running, “Mom, don’t be angry. I received an embroidery business today, and I went out to buy threads.”
“With your poor embroidery skills, what kind of embroidery business did you get? Who looks upon you? Third and Fourth Aunt just praised you in front of me today. They said that you were talented and only needed to work a little harder to be successful. But when I was about to see you, you disappeared, and even the embroidery rack was empty! You’ve just learned a little and have started to slack off. How can you support this family in the future? Look at Meng Si; she has learned embroidery for more than ten years. Her skills are tip-top, but she still practices diligently every day! Who do you think you are to slack off?” Zhang Hui was so angry that her eyes turned red, but she couldn’t do anything to her daughter. She neither wanted to beat her daughter too hard nor too soft that her daughter would take it lightly. If she had known that the Lin family would become like this, she shouldn’t have spoiled her daughter so much, making her so willful and lazy.
After running into the hall, Lin Dan hid behind the two aunts and explained, “I’m not slacking off. This is my embroidery. Mom and Aunties, please have a look at it first. I thought I could have finished my apprenticeship, so I accepted the embroidery job.” Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com
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“Okay, the temple is not far from here. We will arrive there in 45 minutes.”
– Wow and here’s me, thinking 30 mins is too far.