Chapter 33: Unintentionally Showing Off

“This grandfather has always believed oneself to be someone who loves and cherishes flowers, and also rather knowledgable in the aspect of growing them. Only today, did I really open my eyes.”

“Grandfather emphasizes on admiring. This granddaughter focuses on raising. The motives are different, there’s nothing to compare.”

“How is there not? Because you are more diligent than other people, the same thing raised by you would always be better than others. When you were younger, grandfather had already experienced it before.” At that time, Luo Pei Shan had only just felt that she was not bad. In the end, it was an oversight.

Jing Wan smiled and didn’t say anything, no longer trying to defend her point with Luo Pei Shan.

“Third girl earlier said, you brought a few pots of flowers from Qi’an Fu, what all is there?” Luo Pei Shan asked. At first, he still wasn’t concerned, but now, who knows if there will be another surprise.

“Mainly it’s camellias, there’s three of them. In addition, there’s also a peony tree, a pot of chrysanthemum, and also one pot of orchid.”

“What kind of breeds are they all?” Presumably, to have been painstakingly brought to the capital from a far distant, they shouldn’t be too bad.

“Of the camellias, it’s flowering crane feathers, violent fragrant, eighteenth scholar....”

(T/N: These are all my attempted literal translations of the names; no actual english names exist for these breeds. I’m gaining so much flower knowledge from googling all these flowers. Hover over pic for the captions.)

Flowering Crane Feathers Violent Fragrant Eighteenth Scholar

Luo Pei Shan, who was drinking tea, because of shock, although didn’t let the tea in his mouth get spouted out, still forcefully choked a mouthful, violently coughing.

Jing Wan hurriedly circled around the desk and patted Luo Pei Shan’s back. “Grandfather, why weren’t you more careful, how did you end up choking?”

historical

The others also became anxious, all successively circling in. However, very clearly, they knew why their own father, grandfather, choked. If it was them, afraid it would’ve been even more unbearable. Just listen to what all this girl said, name breeds, valuable breeds, rare species....

Lup Pei Shan waved his hand to have them move to the side. His gaze towards Jing Wan made Jing Wan feel somewhat ticklish inside. “Grandfather...”

“What else is there, say it all at once, I can still take it.” He rubbed his own old heart.

Jing Wan resided in Qi’an Fu all year round. There, it wasn’t very prevalent to grow plants and flowers. In the capital, it appears to be similarly not very prevalent either. At least, it wasn’t common for every household to all want to raise name breed, and there wasn’t the talk of ‘competing flowers’ either, but which family didn’t have any plants and flowers growing in them. As for the true lovers of flowers, the numbers were definitely not in the minority. And in this circle, a genuine pot of a valuable breed was definitely difficult to ask for even with ten thousand gold. That’s why, Jing Wan didn’t know, if it were to be known that she had those flowers in her hands, the Luo family’s doorsteps would definitely be trampled flat. A bunch of usually very solemn old fools would abandon their old face and come begging her. She further didn’t know that she held such a large wealth in her own hands.

However, through Luo Pei Shan’s reactions, Jing Wan still more or less understood. She seemed to have underestimated those treasures of hers. “The peony is a red white pink, three colored peony. The chrysanthemum is a yaotai jade phoenix. The orchid is a relatively special pot of scarlet bush lily.” Jing Wan saw her own grandfather go from shocked, to ‘calm’, to numb. The further towards the end, the smaller her voice became, like as if she’d done something wrong.

Peony (not exactly a three colored peony) Yaotai Jade Phoenix Scarlet Bush Lily (the one in the novel is a mutated breed tho)

Luo Pei Shan felt he needed a moment of silence.

Luo Pei Shan was indeed quiet for quite a while. Afterwards, his burning gaze looked to Jing Wan. Originally, he was still envious of those darn old fools, but now, he wasn’t the least bit jealous. Under circumstances unbeknownst to him, his own home already became a treasure mountain. He didn’t need to think of ways to get theirs from their hands either. He had better ones in his own home. Who would still spend a huge amount of effort for those ‘inferior goods’ of theirs. He sure wanted to see how those old fool can still show off. Any one from his own good granddaughter’s place can make them jealous to death. As for suspecting Jing Wan to be lying, or exaggerating, or didn’t know and caused some misunderstandings, just thinking about Jing Wan’s inherent character, as well as her degree of understanding towards plants and flowers, that was basically impossible.

(T/N: I just love imagining grandpa scoffing at those ‘inferior goods’ he was once jealous of ahahaha though, it’s more like bunch of old men + Sun Yi Lin.)

“Wan Wan ah, come come, tell grandfather, all these good treasures, where did you get them from?” One has to know, even those old fools that had rich inside information still had to spend extensive effort to get a name breed. Often times, it was all ‘can be encountered, but not sought after’. But why, when it came to his own granddaughter, although wasn’t the same as finding white cabbage, why did it feel like it came very easily. This was just not logical, not logical.

Jing Wan couldn’t help retreating back two steps. Sure enough, when it came to what one liked, no matter how stern and proper of a person they were, they would still change face. “Grandfather, this granddaughter’s luck was just relatively good. Some were discovered from outside, because the people in the flower market all didn’t recognize and didn’t see them blooming either. Sometimes, this granddaughter wasn’t very sure either. As a result, only after taking them back and raising, did I realize I picked up a huge treasure. Then some were because of grandmother’s indulgence, instructing the people on the properties. They all knew I liked these plants and flowers, so if they saw some in the wilderness, then they would send them over. Unexpectedly, really did pick up a treasure twice, there were also quite a few slightly inferior ones too. That scarlet bush lily was even brought over by a countryside farmer. Because he really needed money, he brought a huge pile of random plants and flowers, hoping there was one that would catch my eye. I originally found him pitiful, and was thinking regardless whether there was or not, I would still give him some money. I didn’t expect to see a mutated scarlet bush lily.” When Jing Wan spoke of her own miraculous accomplishments, she equally was very pleased.

This was also possible? Then did this mean that those fools, who all thought highly of themselves, actually missed out on quite a few treasures, because their eyes were dull? Practically just heart wrenching! If it wasn’t for the fact that it was already late right now, Luo Pei Shan simply would’ve dragged Jing Wan to the flower market right away, not stopping until he thoroughly dug out all those hidden treasures.

At this moment, Luo Rong Wei also rather ‘resentfully’ spoke, “Third girl ah, three years ago, our family’s greenhouse in Qi’an Fu, your grandmother handed it over to you to take care of. Fourth uncle, although didn’t go everyday, still went to look every few days. Those treasures you spoke of, I didn’t even see a single pot of, did you hide them?”

Jing Wan completely didn’t have a guilty conscious from hiding the matter, “Fourth uncle, you take away a pot of flower of mine every ten days or so. Among them, there were quite a few, although not the best, but were still first-rate breeds. And since you don’t know what’s what, if not randomly giving them away, then it was wrecking them. How could I dare to let you see those genuine treasures? If you really saw and asked for them, could I still not give? But if I give them to you, then I’ll be heartbroken to death. Just with those you took away, I was heartbroken for a long time.”

Luo Rong Wei felt awkward. He was wondering why there was a period of time where his mother banned him from going to third girl’s place to play with flowers.

Luo Pei Shan suddenly grabbed a book off the desk and threw it at Luo Rong Wei. “You good-for-nothing.” Hearing Jing Wan saying this, even he was heartbroken to death, “Let me tell you, in the future, if you dare to come anywhere near Wan Wan’s greenhouse again, this old man will break your legs.”

The usually refined old man, with a thick scholarly air, even when reprimanding someone, his words were still very elegant. He’d never behaved overly worked up before. Suddenly acting up like this made his sons and grandsons truly shocked. Looking to Luo Pei Shan, their eyes were about fall out of their sockets. The better ones were also a bit blanked out, even suspecting if this really was their own father, grandfather, still?

Luo Pei Shan coughed once to gloss over the matter. When he was younger, what had he not done before, was there a need to be this shocked? “Those plants and flowers raised during third girl’s childhood were all very ordinary breeds. I just felt that you were better at raising them than others. Aside from thinking that you were rather gifted in this aspect, I really didn’t have any other thoughts. If I’d known, I would have long taken you out for a stroll. At the very least, have those relatively rarer breeds of mine given to you to raise, then maybe......”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t medicine for regret in the world.

Jing Wan helplessly laughed, “Grandfather, I was still small then. There was a lot I still didn’t understand. Never mind you not wanting me to raise them, I myself wouldn’t dare to either.”

“This grandfather thought too much.” Luo Pei Shan seemingly thought of something again, “You just brought these few pots? Where are the rest?”

“Some were given away, and some were still placed in the home in Qi’an Fu. Those house servants that look after the greenhouse, I’ve taught them quite a lot. It’s more than enough for them to take care of those flowers. I can write out a list, and if grandfather sees something you like, you can let them send it to the capital.”

Luo Pei Shan naturally didn’t disagree. Soon after, he recalled Jing Wan’s previous words again, and very anxiously asked, “Those few pots that were brought to the capital, how are they now?”

“For the most part, they’ve all been raised back. That pot of eighteenth scholar’s condition is the best, and is about to bloom. The other two pots of camellia I had the flower buds picked, planning to let them properly recuperate this year and not let them bloom. The scarlet bush lily was also dealt with the same way. However, the peony’s flowering period still has a month or two left, more than enough to completely raise them back to life. Once the three colors bloom together, it’ll be very beautiful. Grandfather will definitely like it.”

Luo Pei Shan listened and was very excited. If it weren’t for proper etiquette, and directly charging into granddaughter’s courtyard wasn’t too good, he would have wanted to directly go see them right now. “What’s the matter with three colors blooming together? One tree could even have three different kinds flowers?” Wasn’t that even more valuable than the four great rare breeds? It was completely unheard of. Could it be that he was just too ignorant and inexperienced?

“That is a kind of breeding method this granddaughter thought of.” Soon after, Jing Wan briefly explained grafting. Having the grafting technique credited on her head, Jing Wan still felt somewhat embarrassed.