Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 256: Miss Hua, you... are... very divided

Hualei's tone was calm and calm.

Bai Yunhe was stunned and couldn't help but stop. He looked at Hua Lei and said, "Miss Hua, is this how you think of me? What a pity. But you are right. In front of you, I am a frivolous person. I am just taking advantage of you."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and stretched it towards Hualei's hair. Hualei was startled and stepped back slightly with her head tilted. Bai Yunhe held a leaf in his hand and handed it to Hualei, smiling, "Miss Hua, I'm just helping you take the leaf off your hair."

Then he turned around and continued to walk forward slowly, saying as he walked, "Miss Hua, I find you very strange. Sometimes you seem to have never thought about the strict rules between men and women, and sometimes you are very defensive against people. It's like... very disconnected."

Hua Lei was startled and thought carefully about her words and actions. Indeed, when she was alone, she rarely thought about the separation between men and women. It was probably related to the influence of her past life. However, since the last time when Zhenzhu stretched her hand out of the carriage and was detained in the courtyard by Madam Han and not allowed to leave, every time she was with Zhenzhu, Hua Lei paid special attention to Zhenzhu's affairs in this regard. Could it be that she was really afraid of being implicated?

And every time she went back to Qingyun Lane, she felt particularly at ease and didn't pay much attention to the rules and regulations of this era. But when she was in the Marquis' Mansion, Hua Lei herself felt as if she was particularly cautious and carefully abided by all kinds of rules.

Hualei sighed softly. The environment has changed, and I have to change myself, otherwise how can I live well. However, the old me will occasionally pop up, showing a little bit of unwillingness.

"What's wrong? Miss Hua, are you unhappy with what I said?" Bai Yunhe turned his head and asked.

Hualei shook her head and said, "No, I just suddenly felt that you were right. Sometimes I also feel that I am very divided. I want to fully integrate, but from time to time I feel that I can't do it. It's very contradictory."

Bai Yunhe looked at Hualei, not quite understanding what she meant. However, when he saw the depressed look on her face, he suddenly felt distressed. He took Hualei to the northwest corner of the yard without saying a word.

In fact, there are only five or six so-called early-blooming plum trees. The buds on the branches have indeed bloomed more than the small buds in front of the cabin. There are still a small number of plum blossoms on the branches, and it will probably take some time for all of them to bloom. Hua Bud looked at the plum blossoms in full bloom, and an idea flashed in his mind.

Thinking about Zhenzhu, Hualei stood under the plum tree for a while and then prepared to go back. Seeing that Hualei's mind was obviously not on appreciating the plum blossoms, Bai Yunhe sighed slightly and took Hualei back to the cabin.

Zhenzhu and Jiang Yunqi were still sitting on the chairs in front of the cabin, drinking tea. Hualei breathed a sigh of relief, not knowing what she was worried about.

After sitting down again and drinking a cup of tea, Hua Lei said goodbye. This time, Jiang Yunqi stood up readily, sent Zhenzhu and Hua Lei to the carriage, and the two returned to the Marquis' Mansion.

The next day, Hua Lei arranged all the supplies that Jiang Yunqi wanted, and Jiang Yunqi also sent someone to pay the money. On the third day, Tian Xiaocheng boarded the ship and left the shore for Liaodong Prefecture.

After seeing off the ships heading east, Hualei went to Baihua Manor again to make new snacks with Aunt Zhao. That day, she saw the blooming plum blossoms in Mingxiang Pavilion and thought they were very beautiful, so she decided to make a sweet potato plum blossom cake.

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes, steam them in a pot, mash them into a paste, add some milk and honey, stir evenly, then add flour and stir again, knead them into a ball of appropriate size, put them into a mold and press them into the shape of a plum blossom, then bake them for about ten minutes.

The finished sweet potato plum blossom cake is slightly red in color, just like a blooming plum blossom. It is soft, glutinous, sweet and tastes good.

In addition, Hualei also made taro paste plum cake, replacing sweet potato with taro and flour with glutinous rice flour, and steaming it. Because of the glutinous rice, it is a little sticky, so when eating, just heat it slightly, which is suitable for winter.

The next day, in addition to the original egg yolk pastry and green tea mung bean cake, Hualei added sweet potato plum cake and taro paste plum cake. Sure enough, soon, the demand for the two plum cakes increased sharply. The egg yolk pastry and green tea mung bean cake were gradually replaced. This also reminded Hualei that she should change the variety of pastries frequently in the future.

Just as the snacks were done, word came from the Flower Fairy Shop that a customer was causing trouble. The goose down quilt, originally priced at thirty-five taels each, was worth three for one hundred taels, but the customer only bought two and was only willing to pay sixty-five taels. He also wanted Xile to give him two goose down quilt covers weighing seven taels in total.

Xile disagreed, but the other party threw down sixty-five taels of silver, took the goose down quilt and quilt cover and left, and told Xile that Hualei knew and agreed. But Xile had never heard of Hualei's similar statement, and firmly disagreed, so she asked Hualei's guards in the Flower Fairy Shop to stop her. The two sides were deadlocked, so they reported to Hualei.

After hearing this, Hua Lei hurried to the Flower Fairy Shop with two guards. As soon as they arrived outside the shop, they saw a circle of people gathered at the door of the shop to watch the excitement. The guards separated the crowd, and Hua Lei entered the shop, only to find that the customer who was causing trouble was an acquaintance.

As she approached the door, she saw Han Qingge standing there with a red face. A middle-aged woman in her forties was sitting next to her with a dissatisfied look on her face. The goose down quilt and quilt cover were placed on the counter on the side. Hua Lei looked at Han Qingge, then at the middle-aged woman, and came to her senses. This should be Han Qingge's mother, Lin.

The mother and daughter do look a bit alike, but Lin is a little whiter than Han Qingge and looks younger. But at this moment, she looked dissatisfied, and when she saw Hua Lei coming in, she didn't say anything.

Hualei walked past her and went into the shop. When Xile saw Hualei, she seemed to have found her backbone and told her the whole story again. But before Xile could finish, Lin interrupted and said, "It's not that I don't want to pay. This is the price you set. Three pieces for one hundred taels, and one piece for thirty-three taels. What's wrong with me paying sixty-five taels for two pieces?

Don't you know that Miss Hua is staying at my aunt's house in Dingbei Marquis's Mansion, eating and drinking for free for several years. I haven't seen you pay, how dare you ask me for money now? And you want seventy-seven taels, why don't you just go and rob me?" Lin said self-righteously.

Hua Lei smiled and told Xile to be patient. She stood beside the counter and smiled at Lin.