The Female Supporting Role Shows Out - Chapter 86

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

The woman’s eyes slowly moved down along the round shoulder of Du Ruyan. When she saw the tail of the robe, her eyes darkened again. The ginkgo leaves at the tail were embroidered the most densely. One was pressed on the other, and the other was laid on the other. The shape of each leaf could be seen clearly, and they would not be mixed up at all. The embroidery work at the end of the line was so real and dreamlike as if she had seen fallen leaves all over the ground.

The woman had never seen such a marvelous embroidery technique. It incisively and vividly displayed the light and shadow change of the color, as if a real leaf had been restrained on the gauze on the spell. Fortunately, she came over and looked at it carefully. Only then did she find the mystery. If she glanced at embroidery from afar as Meng Si did, how could she comprehend the superb skills of embroiderers?

Just because of her arrogance today, Meng Si would definitely lose miserably in the future!

Thinking of this, the woman introduced herself, “Miss Du, my father is the Admiral of Zhejiang Navy, and I am a shu daughter in the Xu family, Xu Qian, the sixth daughter. If we are free in the future, let’s have tea together, okay?”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Xu.” Du Ruyan nodded with a smile. The supervisor of the Zhejiang Navy had been in charge of the military affairs of Zhejiang Province and had been guarding there for six or seven years. He was known as the local emperor of the province and was not comparable to Li Ran, who had just arrived. It was good for her to keep in touch with his daughter.

The two of them talked happily and harmoniously. Before leaving, Xu Qian said, “Miss Du, if I want to make new clothes in the future, please introduce the embroiderer to me. Her embroidery skill is very good. I like it very much.”

“Of course. Our two families are neighbors. We live in the sackcloth alley in the western suburb. If you need anything, you can send a maid to look for me.” Li Jiarong, she was able to compromise and cope with others easily. After all, Concubine Min came to the palace with the help of the connections of Empress Du to win the favor of the empress. However, she didn’t expect that the glory and wealth in the palace raised the ambition of this dog and let it bit its master. Even if her spine was broken, Du Ruyan would never bow down in front of Li Jiarong.

After bearing the address in mind in silence, Xu Qian said goodbye and left. When she returned to Li Jiarong’s table, she was taunted by her sister, the eldest daughter of the Xu family saying, “When you settle down, you love to stay with a broken-down house. You are always a bitch, and you can’t change it.”

Xu Qian never quarreled with her sister. She just stepped aside and hid in the crowd.

However, no matter how ungrateful and silent Du Ruyan was, she couldn’t hide it. Where she was sitting, the light was shining. It merged with the flying ginkgo leaves, like the goddess of the tree. The other ladies wore more luxurious clothes than her, and the best embroiderer embroidered the most beautiful pattern on their bodies. But for some reason, they were so gaudy compared with the simple ginkgo leaf of Du Ruyan.

Even the cotton rose embroidered by Meng Si herself was too complicated, and it would make people feel bored after a few looks.

Gradually, no one paid attention to Li Jiarong anymore, and all the talents looked at the lonely Du Ruyan. The wide blouse set off her thin figure. The more silent she was, the more distressed everyone was for her. Thinking of her bumpy life, Instead of belittling her as usual, people loved her dearly.

Many talents were touched. They spread out pen, ink, paper, and inkstone and praised the beauty with poems and portrayed her with paintings. For a moment, inspiration flashed, and good works appeared frequently. However, in the Buddhist Ceremony, the good name of Du Ruoyan had already spread throughout the Ling’an Prefecture. Even if she was no longer the daughter of the Marquis, she had become the goddess that many young talents dreamed of.

Li Jiarong was so angry that her face turned red. She didn’t want to lose her temper in front of so many people. She had planned to make trouble for Du Ruyan after the Buddhist Ceremony, but she found that she had already left. She really came on the fallen leaves and took away the infatuation of many talents by taking wind away. After she came to Ling’an Prefecture and settled down, she could still be better than her former foe.

Li Jiarong didn’t mention how angry she was. On the other side, Du Ruoyan returned to the mansion in high spirits. She was about to jump off the carriage, but when she saw the beautiful clothes on her, she quickly stopped, picked up the hemline, and carefully walked down with the help of a maid.

“Are you at home, Lin Dan?” She knocked on the back door.

“Here you are. Our young lady is embroidering in the backyard.” With a smile, Cuilan opened the door and exclaimed, “Wow, Miss Du, you are so beautiful today!”

“Thank you. Many people said so.” Du Ruyan ran into the backyard while picking up her hemline and said happily, “I’m telling you, I’m in the limelight today. Those talents wrote poems and praised me as a goddess transformed from an ancient tree for thousands of years. Seeing their obsession, I felt ridiculous and bored. I came back in only two-quarters of an hour. If everyone only cares about appearance and family background like them, I really don’t want to get married.”

“Then don’t marry anyone. How about staying at home and being free?” Lin Dan was embroidering grass without raising her head and said.

“Yes, I’ll be the master at home, and I’ll be my daughter-in-law when I go out. I don’t want to be a daughter-in-law.” Du Ruyan giggled with a dull expression.

“Miss, this is the money you asked me to take.” While she was speaking, her maid hurried in with a heavy wooden box in her arms.

Hearing the two words “money,” Lin Dan immediately raised her head and looked at them with burning eyes. Now the Lin family was really poor. They had porridge for three meals a day, and Zhang Hui had to pawn the dowry every two or three days to make a living. If she couldn’t make any money, the whole family would be in a mess. The servant who was responsible for chopping wood had been fired long ago, and the only servant in the family was Cuilan. Third and Fourth Aunt often helped others to sew clothes to exchange for a small amount of money.

This house seemed to be fine on the surface, but everyone lived a hard life, but only Lin Dan didn’t feel it at all. Because Zhang Hui left the best things to her daughter, and she must make her life the same as before her family was destroyed. Did she want the best stitches, the best dye, and the best cloth? Then buy it! As long as her daughter could grow up, Zhang Hui would never be stingy with money.

“How much are you going to pay me?” Putting down the needle and thread, Lin Dan rubbed her hands unconsciously.

“The robe is made of cicada wing gauze. It’s very expensive. You can only buy one with fifteen taels. I cut it for you three feet and the cost is about 22. The dress is made of silk, and it is folded into hundreds of folds. There are five layers inside and outside. I used a piece of cloth, and the cost is about 10. Besides, the silk and pearls are the dowries my mother left to me.” As she spoke, Lin Dan played with her abacus, afraid of losing money.

Du Ruyan was amused by the way she was obsessed with money, but she also thought she was straightforward and lovely.

“Never mind. Although I am also a goner, I just don’t have the identity of the daughter of the Marquis. The dowry my mother left for me is still there. Here, this is one hundred taels of silver. Take it.” Du Ruyan put the heavy wooden box on the table.

Looking at her with an indescribable expression, Lin Dan said slowly, “Last time I bought a jar with one hundred teals. Guess how many times my mom slapped me?”

“How many times?” Asked Du Ruyan smilingly.

“More than 180. If you spend one hundred taels of silver buying a dress, your brother may slap you over 250 times.” Lin Dan said seriously.

Du Ruyan was stunned for a while and asked tentatively, “Are you satirizing me for 250?” (Note: 250=fool in Chinese)

Lin Dan answered her question in silence. Then she opened the wooden box and took out two silver ingots. She said, “I’ll charge you twenty, and your brother gave me a deposit of five. It’s enough. Take the rest of the money back. Don’t waste it. It’s not easy for your brother to beat the bandits at the seaside.”

Somehow, she showed great respect to the soldiers and wouldn’t let them suffer losses.

Du Ruyan stared at her for a long time. Suddenly, she threw herself into her arms and said, “You are so kind, Lin Dan! Dandan! Are you my friend?”

“If you don’t call me Dandan, we are still friends.” Lin Dan frowned.

When Du Ruyan was about to act coquettishly, she heard hoarse laughter from the wall. The two of them looked up and found that Du Rusong, who they hadn’t seen for a long time, was sitting there with a gentle smile in his eyes.

“Miss Lin, you are really good at embroidering. You have dressed my sister like a wild monkey into a goddess. In the future, I’m afraid that the matchmaker of Ling’an Prefecture will break through my door. You can take the one hundred silver. If you can help my sister marry, you must have made a great contribution.” Du Rusong waved his hand lazily. Although he tried his best to cover it, he still looked a little tired.

“Well, Miss Du, if you come here to make clothes in the future, your cost will be deducted from these one hundred teals. Young Master Du, you’d better go back to sleep now. Your eyes are almost unable to open.” Without any hesitation, Lin Dan took the wooden box. She knew that if she refused to accept it, Du Rusong would persuade her again, which would delay his rest time.

Du Rusong smiled gently. He was about to jump off the wall and go back to his room to rest, but suddenly stopped and asked tentatively, “Miss Lin, can you sew leather armor?”

“The leather armor you wear on the battlefield?” Lin Dan looked up at him.

“Yes.”

“This is the military supplies. The officers should be distributed to every soldier, right?”

“Maybe I have offended some big shot. I have been in the army for more than half a month, but I don’t have any leather armor. I have to find someone to do it myself.”Du Rusong shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Du Ruyan’s joyful expression was instantly replaced by worry.

Lin Dan nodded and said, “Yes, I can. But you have to pay for it yourself and find someone to cut it. Why make leather armor? Why don’t you just make iron armor?”

“In the army, only generals and officials with more than a hundred families can wear iron armor. As a new member of the army, how dare I stand out?” Du Rusong shook his head and explained.

Patting her forehead, Lin Dan said, “That’s right. You should keep a good relationship with the new soldiers and take care of each other on the battlefield. It’s my fault. Don’t worry. I can make leather armor. Just get the leather ready.” She needed to learn how to sew clothes from the beginning, but when it came to making leather armor, and even iron armor, she had inexplicable confidence that no one could do better than her. Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com