Chapter 103 - 52 Comparison

Words : 1064 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 103: Chapter 52 Comparison Soon after, Mrs. Zhuang invited everyone to the garden to admire the flowers. It was the beginning of May, and the garden was in its full glory with all the flowers in bloom, presenting a magnificent tapestry of color far and wide; the intoxicating fragrance wafted on the breeze, and bees and butterflies fluttered about in lively fashion. The Zhuang family had many famous flowers, each one with a color that was vibrant and enchanting. As everyone roamed among them, taking pleasure in the sight, they chatted and laughed, their spirits very high. After a while of touring around, Mrs. Zhuang smiled and asked everyone to take their seats again. Maids and servants had already set up chairs and high tables under the tall purple locust tree, with tea, fruits, pastries, and exquisite snacks all available. Various beautiful flowers grown in blue-and-white porcelain pots were laid out in a staggered arrangement nearby. Taking a break to sit down, everyone enjoyed the scenery and sipped tea while having leisurely conversations and sharing laughs, which was extremely comfortable and pleasant. Of course, it wouldn’t be bad to have a contest among the young ladies in poetry, paintings, the zither, and writings. From the start, Mrs. Zhuang kept Miss Tang Yuzhen by her side, introducing and praising her with a smile to everyone she met; everyone was well aware that Mrs. Zhuang likely had her eye on Miss Tang wishing to marry her into the family, which was why she was showing off. They then glanced at the daughter-in-law of the Shi family. After sitting down, they looked at each other and shared a knowing smile. After a few words, as expected, Mrs. Zhuang chuckled and said, "With such famous flowers around, how could we not have good poetry? We old ladies can be excused, but which one of the young misses isn’t full of poetry and very talented? They must compose a few good poems to liven up the atmosphere! It would even add color to the garden’s famous flowers! None of the young misses should refuse, what does everyone think?" All the ladies in attendance agreed. Every mother wanted to bring out her daughter or daughter-in-law for a contest to outshine the others, convinced that their own girl was raised to the standards of a reputable family, and surely they couldn’t concede defeat from the outset! Mrs. Zhuang then smiled again and said, "I have another suggestion. There are many famous flowers in the garden, and it would be boring for the misses to write about all of them, so why not select about ten kinds of famous flowers and make flower tags for them, with each person composing one or two poems about them? Of course, Miss Wan, being a talented woman from a literary family, should compose one poem for each! Miss Wan, what do you think?" While speaking, she added with a laugh: "I don’t mean to purposely make it difficult for you, I genuinely want to take this opportunity to let everyone broaden their horizons and see how the daughters of a literary family differ from those of us common folk!" Mrs. Wang heard this without change in her expression, then turned to look at Sang Wan. Sang Wan actually felt relieved in her heart. Simply writing poetry was not something she found difficult. Besides, though the ladies present were not completely uneducated, their learning was limited; as long as she wrote something passable, it wouldn’t matter much whether the poetry was actually good or not. And since Mrs. Zhuang had made the suggestion, if Sang Wan refused, it would not only upset Mrs. Wang but surely she wouldn’t be pleased either. Sang Wan gave a slight nod to Mrs. Wang, conveying that there was no need to worry. Mrs. Wang straightened her back and said with a smile, "Since the lady of the Zhuang family has spoken thus, then let’s agree to that! Please don’t laugh at Miss Wan if her work isn’t good!" She then added with a smile that was not quite a smile, "It’s a bit much to ask Miss Wan to write so many on her own, why not ask Miss Tang to join her for company, what do you think?" Miss Tang Yuzhen gracefully stood up, bowed slightly to everyone with a demure and modest smile, and said, "If that’s the case, Yuzhen will obey respectfully!" She accepted the challenge quite readily. "Good, good! Miss Tang is indeed a straightforward person!" Mrs. Zhuang could not have wished for a better response, clapping her hands in praise with a beaming smile. Seeing that there would be an interesting competition and also curious about who would win and who would lose, everyone laughed and agreed. Mrs. Zhuang then whispered something to a senior maid beside her, who went off to carry out her orders. Immediately, servants brought several long tables, which were equipped with all the necessary writing materials like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Another person brought over a blue-and-white brush holder with twelve flower tags inside. Mrs. Zhuang also had someone bring over a tray with a square brocade box about half a foot across. Mrs. Zhuang opened the brocade box and, holding the item inside, showed it to everyone with a smile: "This is a perfume from the West, said to be worth more than its weight in gold. Let it be the prize for today! Whoever composes the best piece will receive this bottle of perfume!" The bottle was about three inches tall, made entirely of Western glass with a golden spiral pagoda lid, with golden threads hanging from the top and a red coral stone the size of a cherry dangling from the end. In the sunlight, it sparkled exceptionally, very beautiful indeed. Everyone admired it endlessly, laughing and praising Mrs. Zhuang’s generous gesture! Not to mention the Western perfume that was hard to come by even if one had the money, the exquisitely crafted glass bottle alone was extremely rare, and the coral stone on it could easily be worth a thousand taels of silver if it were used to inlay a ring. "This is nothing!" Mrs. Zhuang laughed and said, "Such exquisite items should rightly be used by young ladies; for old wives like us to hold them would be nothing but a waste!"

Chapter 103 - 52 Comparison

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