Chapter 161: Moving to Song Manor
“This slipper orchid is well taken care of,” Master Song’s attention was attracted by the flower that Li Xiangling gave him.
“I raised it myself. It’s not worthy of Uncle Song’s praise,” Li Xiangling replied humbly.
She had kept it for a few years. She left it with a friend who knew how to take care of it back in Beijing. Yesterday, she went out of her way to take it back.
Yun Xiangxiang felt a twinge of pain as she looked at the pot of orchids. Slipper orchids may not be as valuable as ghost orchids, but it is still a rare species.
Li Xiangling was worried that Yun Xiangxiang was feigning perfections. After all, there was a great gap between her background and Song Mian’s background.
She was concerned that Yun Xiangxiang ignored the Song Family’s harshness toward her because of how great Song Mian was. That was why she needed to see it for herself.
She could never tell her parents that she was dating at this age. Xiangling was worried that she might be over compromising.
This pot of slipper orchid was raised when she was in high school. She even brought it along with her when she moved to Beijing from her home when she furthered her studies. Her love for it was undeniable.
However, she gave it away today for Yun Xiangxiang. Normal gifts would not cut it when they came to the Song Manor. Xiangling did not want Yun Xiangxiang to be looked down upon.
Master Song accepted it when he knew that the plant was raised by Li Xiangling herself instead of something that was bought with big money.
He brought them to the garden happily once he found out that Li Xiangling’s grandfather loved planting.
“Heavens!” Once she stepped into Gui Yi Courtyard, Song Meng was astonished. “This is too pretty!”
It was like how a god lived if she could live here every day. She would never step out of the door for her life if she could.
Master Song personally put the slipper orchid Li Xiangling gave him in the orchid garden.
“I have never seen any place that has such a complete collection of orchids,” even Li Xiangling was surprised.
Her hobby was actually taking care of plants, especially orchids. She had never thought that she would see a place with a complete collection of orchids in her life.
This garden had a curious arrangement to it. The temperature of every corner was different.
The layman would never feel the change if it was not dramatic. However, she was attuned to this naturally.
The difference in temperature, soil, direction of the sun which the plants are facing, humidity, among others was why flowers grew in abundance here.
“Hahahaha, we’ll prepare a feast of flowers for you this afternoon,” Master Song happily asked the head butler, Song An to do it.
“Really? Just like that one on Xiangxiang’s WeChat moments?” Song Meng’s eyes lit up.
Master Song liked Song Meng’s straightforwardness. He nodded smilingly, “The flowers change with the seasons though.”
Naturally, the dishes would be different. Master Song was also worried that Yun Xiangxiang would get tired of it.
“Can we tour around the garden? And can I take some photos?” Even though Song Meng was a bit rough, she still knew where she should pay attention.
Any woman would love such beautiful flowers. Even though she was not exactly pretty, it still could not stop her from loving to take selfies.
“Tour and shoot as you please,” Master Song did not mind.
Yun Xiangxiang followed along with the girls. Even though she had come here a couple of times, the scenes changed with the four seasons. There were a lot of differences from her last visit.
Song Meng could not stop her barrage of selfies. Li Xiangling also took some photos with her phone, but she took photos of the flowers or the soil.
Song An came to inform Master Song about something after a short stroll, “Old Man Yuan is here.”
“Xiangling, Mengmeng, I’ll go and meet with a master of Shaoxing opera with Uncle Song. You girls…”
“I don’t like to listen to operas. You guys go. I’ll look at the flowers here,” Song Meng replied.
“I’ll be here with Song Meng,” Li Xiangling was worried that Song Meng might ruin the plants here because of her carelessness. She needed to keep an eye out for her.
Master Song asked some people to stay with them here. She brought Yun Xiangxiang and Song Mian to the pavilion for meeting guests.
Yun Xiangxiang had heard about the name of Mr. Yuan Pingqiu, master of Shaoxing opera in her past life.
The old gentleman was already in his sixties, yet he did not have much gray hair. Even though he had quite the crow’s feet, he still looked young.
“Old Man Yuan, this is the girl I told you about. You can just call her Xiangxiang,” Master Song introduced them to each other. “This here is Yuan Pingqiu. Teacher Yuan. He’s a master of Shaoxing opera.”
“So it’s you,” Yuan Qiuping looked at Yun Xiangxiang warmly. “My granddaughter looks to you as a role model. I’ll bring her here someday, she’ll probably be elated.”
Yuan Wan, Yuan Pingqiu’s granddaughter. She was sixteen, currently in Grade 11. The Yuan Family had been handing down the legacy of Shaoxing opera for generations. No matter if the children would end up on this path, they had to master the art.
His eldest granddaughter had great talent. She had managed to capture the essence of Shaoxing opera in her training. She was Old Man Yuan’s favorite. However, her subject choices diverged from those that they needed to learn after she went into high school.
She wanted to be an opera master. However, she did not wish to take Chinese studies, traditional culture, Mandarin language studies, or any majors that would help her in opera when she would be in university.
She chose to go with the sciences behind everyone’s back when it was time to choose the majors. She said she wanted to get into the computer science course in Qingdao University.
She would use Yun Xiangxiang to stop her parents from commenting, usually along the lines of, “You see, she can do it, and she’s an actress! Why can’t I, who sings opera, do it?”
Master Song and Yun Xiangxiang laughed after Yuan Pingqiu said that.
“I never interfere with her choices in her studies. It’s fine as long as she remembers the skills she had learnt,” Yuan Pingqiu was quite open about it.
“How can she forget? The very thing she had learned since she was a child would be engraved in her soul,” Yun Xiangxiang was probably the one who understood Yuan Wan the most.
There are some things that should not have time wasted on to learn about. It does not mean that they are already at the pinnacle of it.
It was rather the fact that they realized the level that they could achieve. Changing a path at this moment could be the thing that expands their horizons instead.
Persisting until the bitter end blindly would not only lead them astray. It would be a waste of time too.
“You wanted to learn Shaoxing opera out of the blue. Is it for a film?” Yuan Pingqiu felt that there would be no reason for a girl who was busy with studies and had no experience with Shaoxing opera to take her time to learn it. Unless it was for her film.
“Sir Yuan, you have sharp eyes,” Yun Xiangxiang was a tad embarrassed. “I do have a film which requires some scenes of Shaoxing opera. You can recommend a coach who has spare time for me.”
Yun Xiangxiang dared not to ask this person to coach her. She only had these few days where she could come in on time. Every session after that would have some hiatus between them.
She was worried that Sir Yuan would think that she was doing this for fun, instead of truly learning Shaoxing opera.
For a master of Shaoxing opera whose life is Shaoxing opera, that would be a sacrilege to his legacy.
“I have the most spare time in the opera institution,” Yuan Pingqiu chuckled.
He did not lie to Yun Xiangxiang. With his climbing age, he could not appear on the stage anymore. He had handed the opera institution’s operations to his son.
He was now a retired man who lived a leisure life of playing with his grandchildren.
“Don’t be nervous. I know your difficulties,” Yuan Pingqiu had seen everything at his age. “Just tell me when you have time.”
When he had already insisted, Yun Xiangxiang could only bite the bullet, “I need to shoot tomorrow. School will start after that.”
She could only learn while she studied.
“That’s easy to take care of. Just move to the Song Manor and live here.” Master Song turned around to say to Yuan Pingqiu, “Aren’t you lucky?”