Chapter 108: The two old ladies at Shou'an Hall bicker
The weather is pleasant in spring.

inside the house.

The four sisters of the Sheng family all wore gauze shirts with a layer of lining inside, which made them look very comfortable and relaxing.

The officials and nobles of the Great Zhou pursued an elegant life.

The four arts of life - making tea, burning incense, arranging flowers, and hanging paintings - even involve considerations of women's moral character.

The first thing that Nanny Kong taught was how to make tea.

Making tea requires whisking the paste.

The tea leaves need to be ground into powder first and then put into a teacup, add some water to make it into a paste, then add the water in batches, and use a tea whisk to rotate and beat it with skillful and harmonious movements and a fast and slow orderly rhythm, until the milky mist surges up and overflows the cup, swirling around without moving.

Only in this way can you make a top-quality teacup, with milky mist rising in the teacup, the tea foam clinging to the wall of the cup, and no water marks on the wall, which is called the bite of the cup.

But those who are not skilled.

Or the product will be "Yunjiaosan" with less tea and more soup.

Or it could be the "congee and noodle soup" with less soup and more tea.

The art of making tea requires very particular control of technique and timing. It is difficult to master it without talent and time.

Therefore, tea-making is also implicitly regarded as the first of the four arts.

Although it was a class, Madam Kong did not directly teach them the skills. Instead, she simply demonstrated the process and asked them to read books on tea art from previous dynasties, allowing them to figure it out on their own, get accustomed to the aroma of tea, and then make corrections and suggestions on their own.

In the hall.

The four girls in the audience ordered tea on their own.

Grandma Kong sat at the top and observed quietly.

Hualan was wearing a blue satin Confucian shirt.

She is smart and quick to learn, and she is also patient and calm, so she learns very quickly.

Milky mist rose up in the teacup, and it looked like it was biting the cup.

Molan is sitting on the right, wearing a pink skirt.

Her craftsmanship was quite good, but she was frivolous, impatient, and competitive, so there was more soup than tea, and she always forgot to beat the tea with the whisk, so the tea was loose and could not be made into a cup.

Rulan seemed to be completely stunned.

She was a naive, careless and playful person by nature. She really didn't like this set of rules and procedures that required meticulousness and attention, so she was not very willing to learn it.

At this moment, her beautiful eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, and she struck the tea whisk in her hand hard, as if she was fighting against an enemy she disliked.

With such skills, the result of making tea is needless to say.

Minglan lacks ambition and habitually hides her shortcomings.

It made her look dull.

She first habitually lowered her head to observe her surroundings. After confirming the conditions of her three sisters, she began to order tea imitating Rulan's style and Molan's impatience, but her behavior had the charm of Hualan.

Soon, she also made a porridge with less soup and more tea.

Nanny Kong took in the expressions and actions of the four girls below, but her eyes were as calm as an ancient well, without revealing the slightest bit of strangeness.

With the development of Grandma Kong’s course.

Time goes by day by day.

Although the girls' skills are gradually improved, the conflicts between sisters are increasing day by day.

At first, Molan could keep pace with Hualan.

But as time went on, Molan's temper could not be changed. Seeing Hualan's speed getting faster and faster and often receiving praise from Grandma Kong, she became even more anxious.

Making tea, arranging flowers, tasting incense, and hanging paintings are all crafts that require extreme patience, so Molan's state of mind causes her to make mistakes frequently and her learning speed becomes slower and slower.

In the end, even Minglan, who had been deliberately being slow, couldn't catch up.

Although Molan looks weak and vulnerable on the surface, she actually has an extremely competitive heart.

She was not even convinced by Hualan, not to mention being outshined by Minglan, who always looked like a nobody.

Therefore, she often asked Madam Kong questions, hoping to catch up with Hualan and Minglan's learning progress.

And whether intentionally or unintentionally, Grandma Kong deliberately slowed down her studies for Molan.

At first Hualan was quite patient.

She knew that her fourth sister was the type who liked to take the lead, so she didn't take it to heart.

But seeing that Molan was becoming more and more excessive, Hualan had no choice but to mention it to Sheng Hong.

Sheng Hong naturally valued Hualan, who was about to become the lady of the Marquis's Mansion, and he went to Linqi Pavilion specifically to give Molan a good talk.

However, Lin Qinshuang was angry that Sheng Hong had been having a hot affair with Wei Shuyi from Mu Cang Zhai and had not come to her Linqi Pavilion for a long time, so she had been urging Molan to continue to work hard in class, hoping to divert Sheng Hong's attention.

Molan knew that the eldest lady Wang Ruofu was not at home, and her father Sheng Hong always went to see Wei Xiaoniang after work, so he probably didn't have much time to pay attention to her.

Therefore, even after being scolded by Sheng Hong, she still did her own thing and refused to repent, relying on Sheng Hong's original preference for her.

Hua Lan endured it again and again, and had to look for Sheng Hong again, but all she got in return was Sheng Hong's perfunctory response and a sentence like "Mo'er is also studious, and sisters in the family should be close to each other."

Hualan was a little angry, but she couldn't go to her grandmother to complain about it, so she could only sulk in her heart.

night.

Shou'an Hall.

Madam Kong changed her solemn look in front of the girls and sat intimately with Old Madam Sheng, chatting about family matters.

"I have also gotten a general idea of ​​your girl during this period."

Madam Kong said softly, "The girls in your family all have their own personalities, and they are all good. Only the fourth girl is very competitive. Also, she has been influenced by others for a long time, so she occasionally speaks and acts inappropriately."

Old Madam Sheng nodded and replied:

"It's just as you saw, so I specially asked you to come here to teach you some rules. I also hope you can wake up the girls and prune the branches."

"specially?"

Madam Kong glanced at Old Madam Sheng and said meaningfully:
"I'm afraid you didn't invite me here for Hua Lan. After all, she has learned the rules from you since she was a child. She is influenced by you. I'm afraid she won't learn much from me. I can only add a title."

"Is it because of the sixth girl you raised under your knees?"

During this period of time, Madam Kong has already noticed that Old Lady Sheng likes Minglan.

Old Madam Sheng said, "I don't have any hope for this girl, so you don't have to spend too much time on her."

But after such a long period of observation and interaction, Madam Kong has already made a judgment in her mind as to who is superior and inferior among the four girls of the Sheng family.

"You don't have to stop me with that."

Madam Kong seemed somewhat unhappy with what Madam Sheng said.

Are you doubting my judgment of people?
"Although your Sixth Miss is simple and quiet, she is thoughtful and good at figuring things out."

Madam Kong said, "That girl looks a little dull, but she is as quiet as a virgin, and she seems to be very wise but appears foolish."

Old Madam Sheng shook her head and said, "She was born in a poor family, and she has been raised in my cold Shou'an Hall, so she is honest."

Madam Kong stood up quickly and said, "The Sixth Miss is much more outstanding than the Fifth and Fourth Misses. She is the most powerful among the three."

Old Madam Sheng continued to refute verbally: "Because she is the dumbest, she is special."

Grandma Kong: "Sixth Miss is so kind..."

Old Madam Sheng: "She is not worth cultivating..."

"..."

He talked for a while.

Almost everything that Nanny Kong praised Minglan, Madam Sheng would dislike and always find fault with it.

After all this, Madam Kong was so exhausted from talking that she could not stop herself from receiving compliments from Old Lady Sheng, who described Minglan as a wild girl from the countryside who had never seen the world.

(End of this chapter)