Finest Servant

Chapter 83 Feeling Strange (Part 1)

The next day, Eldest Miss Xiao gave Lin Wanrong a day off from the study. He didn't hold back, enjoying a good sleep and spending the day in his small cottage experimenting with perfume-making.

With the experience gained from yesterday, the progress was much smoother. His techniques were becoming more proficient, and the variety of fragrances he was creating was increasing. Each experiment was carefully recorded, noting the ratios of the ingredients. If all went well, these simple notes could become priceless perfume formulas in the future. The thought of making a fortune from these made him salivate.

Busy until dusk, he had just finished his work and was stretching when a maid came running over, shouting in a sweet voice, "Brother Lin, Brother Lin, hurry! Someone has sent you an invitation."

"What?" Lin Wanrong was taken aback. He was just a servant in the Xiao Mansion, who would invite him? That was strange. Suddenly, he remembered what Qin Xian'er had mentioned the other day. Could it be that she really meant it?

In the reception room, he saw a young maid standing there, chatting with Young Master Guo.

Upon seeing Lin Wanrong, Young Master Guo cheerfully said, "Lin San, you've arrived just in time. Miss Qin Xian'er has invited us to her mansion tomorrow evening. What do you think?"

Ever since the incident at Miaoyu Pavilion, Young Master Guo had been particularly polite to Lin San. He valued this servant not only for his talent and spirit but also for his knowledge.

‘Visit the mansion?’ He felt like laughing. As if visiting a brothel needed to be so formal. Lin Wanrong maintained a pretentious composure and said, "Oh?" The young maid hurriedly handed him the name card, saying, "We hope Young Master Lin will grace us with his presence tomorrow."

As Lin Wanrong opened the card, a subtle fragrance wafted out. The charming face of Qin Xian'er seemed to appear before him. The card was very delicate, with a pair of mandarin ducks embroidered on it, and a line of beautiful small characters beneath: "Since parting with you, each day feels like a year. My thoughts of you are beyond words." The card was signed with the three characters of Qin Xian'er's name.

The handwriting was elegant and beautiful, clearly the work of a woman, likely Qin Xian'er herself. Having seen Xiao Yushuang's handwriting, he was impressed by Qin Xian'er's calligraphy. He mused to himself, who said that women without talent were virtuous? He couldn't match the writing of these two young ladies even with ten more years of practice. Of course, this didn't apply to writing with a ballpoint pen.

Reading the phrase "beyond words," Lin Wanrong found it amusing. It was clear that Qin Xian'er wanted to chat with him, yet she wrote in such a melancholic tone. Anyone who didn't know better might think he had played with her feelings and dumped her.

Young Master Guo's card was decorated with the four gentlemen of flowers: plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. There were quite a few lines of writing, but it was mostly fluff about inviting Young Master Guo to grace them with his presence. The handwriting on his card wasn't as good as Lin Wanrong's and was obviously done by someone else. This Qin Xian'er certainly had a way of doing things, Lin Wanrong thought to himself.

After chatting and relaxing with Young Master Guo in the reception room, and discussing the itinerary for the next day, it was already time for the evening lamps to be lit when Lin Wanrong returned to his own small courtyard.

Lin Wanrong was in high spirits. Seeing the blooming flowers in the courtyard, he couldn't help but shout out in excitement before pushing the door and entering his house. As soon as his left foot crossed the threshold, he looked up and saw Xiao Qingxuan sitting there, smiling at him.

"Why are you here so early today?" Lin Wanrong asked with a laugh. After becoming familiar with Xiao Qingxuan, the formalities were dropped, there was no time for pleasantries. Xiao Qingxuan seemed to fit right in with this, entering his room every day unannounced, as if just visiting. It gave him the impression that this girl was coming for a clandestine meeting.

"I came to check on the progress of your perfume. You promised to give me the first batch," Xiao Qingxuan said. She seemed to be really interested in the perfume; otherwise, she wouldn't keep coming here.

"How can you be so impatient? I haven't even finished my experiments yet. Besides, even when the experiments are done, it will be the next batch that goes into production. That's when I can give it to you."

Xiao Qingxuan smiled slightly and said, "I'm not in a hurry. As long as you remember to give it to me when it's ready."

A slight blush appeared on her face, and as her gaze moved down, she noticed the name card in his hand. She immediately asked, "Someone actually sent you a name card? You must be quite charming."

Knowing that she and Qin Xian'er were at odds, Lin Wanrong didn't mention who sent it. Xiao Qingxuan had sharp eyes, and she saw the three characters of Qin Xian'er through the gap in the loosely closed envelope. Her face changed slightly, and she huffed, "Is Qin Xian'er the one who invited you?"

Her eyes were sharp indeed. Unable to hide it, Lin Wanrong nodded and said, "She invited our young master, and asked me to come along."

"I think she invited you, and asked your young master to come along," Xiao Qingxuan said coldly.

"It's the same, it's the same." Knowing he couldn't fool her, Lin Wanrong laughed awkwardly.

"Do you want to go?" Xiao Qingxuan asked nonchalantly.

"Well, I have to think about it. As you know, I'm not a frivolous person," Lin Wanrong joked, adding in his mind — ‘When I'm frivolous, I'm not a person.’

Seeing his self-praise, Xiao Qingxuan wanted to laugh but held it back, and said, "You're too cunning, I never know when you're telling the truth or lying. She sincerely invited you, and if you don't go, you'll appear stingy. If you like to interact with her, just go, no one will stop you."

"Are you jealous?" Lin Wanrong chuckled.

Xiao Qingxuan's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly said, "What nonsense are you talking about?" Her expression turned colder.

Lin Wanrong thought to himself, ‘This girl is really thin-skinned and can't take a joke.’

"In that case, to prove my innocence with Miss Xiao, I suppose I must make a sacrifice and reluctantly agree to see her. Hmm, this Miss Qin is actually quite beautiful, so it's good to be able to chat with her. But don't worry, even if I see her, I won't have any unrealistic ideas. However, what I'm most worried about is her having inappropriate thoughts about me," Lin Wanrong said, chuckling lasciviously.

Xiao Qingxuan snorted coldly and glanced at him but didn't say anything. She moved gracefully towards the door, not even bothering to say goodbye.

She had come early today and left early too. Lin Wanrong was puzzled and called out, "Are you leaving already? Will you be back tomorrow?"

Xiao Qingxuan had already leapt onto the high wall and didn't have time to answer when he called out, "Be careful when climbing the wall, don't fall!"

Feeling unsettled, Xiao Qingxuan's qi was disordered and she almost missed her footing. Flushing with embarrassment and anger, she stepped on the wall, shot him a fierce look, then jumped down and ran off.

‘This girl comes and goes without a word, not even bothering to say goodbye. She really doesn't take this young master seriously. However, her wall-climbing posture was truly elegant, and her little bottom... ah, it was beyond words.’

Lin Wanrong stood there, thinking about the moment Xiao Qingxuan looked back at him from the wall, the sight of her long, powerful legs forcefully kicking against the wall. For some reason, he suddenly remembered an advertisement slogan - The higher you stand, the further you can pee.

Another day passed. When Fubo came into the garden, he was shocked to see that the rose petals, chrysanthemums, and jasmine flowers had mostly been picked. As a true flower lover, he was heartbroken and called out, "Lin San, Lin San!"

When no one answered, he became anxious. Could it be that a flower thief had broken into the garden and something had happened to Lin San?

Fubo hurried into the house and saw that Lin San was still in his clothes, sound asleep on the bed.

It was already past noon, and this kid was still asleep. Fubo went over and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Lin San, get up quickly. There seems to be a thief in the garden."

After Xiao Qingxuan left last night, Lin Wanrong had worked through the night on his experiment. It wasn't until dawn that he fell into a deep sleep. When he opened his eyes, he saw Fubo standing in front of him and quickly said, "Fubo, why are you here so early?"

Fubo said, "Early? It's already past lunchtime. Lin San, I came to ask you, has there been a thief in the garden? Why have all the flowers been picked?"

When Lin Wanrong was experimenting, he used a large number of flower petals. Fortunately, the garden was abundant with flowers, so he could continue his work. Upon hearing Fubo's words, he quickly said, "Oh, it might have been the maids from the front courtyard who picked them. Fubo, as you know, I am quite handsome, so it's quite normal for those girls to come by and pick a few fresh flowers. Besides, they often praise you for being hardworking, kind, and skilled, and they say they want to learn more from you."

Lin Wanrong didn't blink an eye as he shamelessly flattered Fubo, who laughed and stopped him, saying, "You, young man, with just that mouth of yours, I don't know how many girls you've managed to fool."

"Fubo, does our Xiao family only have this one garden?" What Lin Wanrong was concerned about was the source of the flower petals. To make perfume, he would need hundreds or even thousands of tons of petals. Where could he find such a quantity?

Fubo shook his head and said, "Of course not. Our Xiao family is large and prosperous. We have several properties in Jinling, Suzhou, Zhenjiang, and other places. There's also a large estate to the south of the city that's dozens of times larger than this place. When the old master retired from the court and returned to his hometown, he planted many flowers and plants there. The variety there is so vast that what we have in this garden doesn't even amount to one percent of it. Many of the flowers and plants in this garden were transplanted from there. The estate is currently looked after and its scale is much larger than this one."

The Xiao family really was a significant landowner, Lin Wanrong thought to himself. However, with such a large garden, the problem of sourcing flower petals should be solved.

‘But how to approach the Xiao family about this?’ When he thought of Eldest Miss Xiao, who loathed him to the bone, he felt a headache coming on. Given his relationship with her, getting anything from her would be a nearly impossible task.