The young lady in front of them didn't seem like someone from the Pei family at all.
Her waist was as slender as silk, and she wore moon - shaped earrings. Her fingers were like scallions, and her lips were as red as cinnabar.
Pei Jin entered through the main gate with dainty steps. The jade pendants on her clothes jingled softly. The six - paneled water - ink silk skirt on her body remained perfectly still. She truly behaved in an extraordinary and peerless manner.
Tang Guiniang's jaw almost dropped. "Is this really our A Jin?"
Pei Jin's appearance remained the same, but there was no trace of poverty on her face.
She smiled and stepped forward, performing a proper curtsy to Tang Guiniang and Aunt Zheng. "Mother, Aunt, I'm home."
Aunt Zheng clicked her tongue in wonder. "One should look at a person with new eyes after a few days. I always knew A Jin was different from ordinary village girls, but this change is really amazing."
The Pei family members were all good - looking, and A Jin was originally above average in appearance.
As she reached the right age, her facial features became more defined. With some makeup, her unique and cold beauty became even more prominent.
Not to mention anything else, her charm was truly captivating.
Pei Jin covered her mouth and chuckled. "These days, I've been in and out of the mansions of wealthy families. Seeing how those ladies behave is really pleasing to the eye. I don't need to deliberately imitate them. After seeing so much, I've been influenced a lot."
Tang Guiniang laughed. "That's great! In the past, our family was poor and couldn't learn those etiquettes. Now that you have this opportunity, it's best to cultivate yourself."
After chatting and laughing for a while, Tang Guiniang deliberately probed Pei Jin.
"Um, A Jin, do you have a young man you like?"
Pei Jin was stunned for a moment, and her face changed slightly. "Has anyone come to propose marriage?"
Tang Guiniang took her hand to comfort her. "Yes, but I've found ways to decline. I'm just asking for your opinion. I can't choose a husband for you without considering your wishes."
After so many days, that person, those eyes, and that letter still couldn't be erased from her mind.
Pei Jin lowered her eyes. After a while, she said with a bitter smile, "Mother, I don't want to get married."
Then she added, "I want to learn more skills for a few more years."
Tang Guiniang was startled at first, thinking that Pei Jin had become stubborn. But after hearing the second part, she felt relieved. "Good, good. It's a good thing that a daughter is attached to her family. You have such ambition. I'm more than happy."
Hearing this, Pei Jin secretly let out a sigh of relief and snuggled up to Tang Guiniang affectionately.
**
As Fang Yunxin's belly got bigger day by day and she was due to give birth next month, she was very restless all day long and had a poor appetite.
Lord Hui was worried about this and specially invited Qi Jiao to come and take care of her for a few days.
So Qi Jiao didn't come back during these two rest days.
Fortunately, Pei Jin could help share the workload.
This time when Pei Jin came back, she was here to supervise the production.
Since the benefits of olive soap spread in Lingle County, both men and women would buy a bar to bathe, wash their hair, and wash their faces. One soap could be used for multiple purposes.
Qi Jiao had taught Pei Jin how to make soap.
Pei Jin added two new products: sea - salt rose soap and osmanthus sandalwood soap, and the sales were quite good.
In autumn and winter, the business of floral perfumes in Zhuoxiang Pavilion was not as good as in summer.
Qi Jiao and Pei Jin thought about making a batch of more moisturizing and nourishing facial creams and essential oils.
The most basic product among them was olive skin - moisturizing oil.
At that time, Qi Jiao remembered it when she saw the stretch marks on Fang Yunxin's belly. After she went back, she tried more than a dozen formulas overnight. Finally, with the help of Pei Jin and Lady Lin, they successfully made the olive skin - moisturizing oil, which had a delicate fragrance and was soft and moisturizing.
Fang Yunxin had used it for some time, and the stretch marks on her belly had indeed faded a lot.
With Fang Yunxin as a big advertisement, the olive skin - moisturizing oil successfully opened up the market among the upper - class ladies in Lingle County.
It was very good for hair care, skin care, and body care.
As the sales increased, the production had to be expanded.
The workshop in the small courtyard in Pomegranate Alley was no longer enough.
Pei Jin was going to stay for a few more days this time for the construction of a new factory.
A large factory for processed food and seafood had been built between the Pei family and the Ye family.
The duck farm had been expanded more than twice a few months ago, and there was not much beach land left.
Pei Jin had to find another good piece of land.
She didn't know much about this, so she asked an old expert who knew how to choose land.
She also went to the village head's house in Baiyun Village twice and finally decided on two mu of land at the foot of Xiaofeng Mountain.
This two - mu land was next to the olive forest, and the orientation and ventilation were very good.
Good farmland by the sea was hard to come by, and of course, they couldn't use farmland for factory construction. What Pei Jin wanted to buy was exactly an empty adobe house of a family and a large open space outside.
The village head stood at the edge of the land, with his hands tucked in his sleeves, and said, "This family made a fortune early. After making money, they moved away and never came back during festivals. But before they left, they sold this piece of land and the house. The buyer is Chen Laosan. You can go and talk to him."
Pei Jin understood. After seeing off the village head, she turned around and went to find A Lian.
It was for no other reason than that A Lian was Chen Laosan's daughter.
A Lian was a poor girl.
Since she started working in the factory, Pei Jin had never seen her go home, but her family members had come a few times.
Every time they came, they were asking for money.
A Lian earned hard - earned money. Although she had become a small supervisor by her own ability and got two taels of silver a month without other subsidies, this was already the highest income in Baiyun Village.
But her heartless step - mother always asked for eight or ten taels, saying that they needed to build a new house at home, and her two younger brothers were growing up and needed to get married...
She didn't care at all how A Lian was living.
A Lian knew that her step - mother was mean and cruel, and she didn't want to give her a single cent.
But she couldn't stand her step - mother's shamelessness. When her step - mother made a scene, she would lie on the ground and hug her legs and cry.
A Lian was a young girl and cared about her reputation. She didn't want her family scandal to affect her work.
There was no way, so she had to give her step - mother the silver.
Her step - mother was greedy, and the Chen family was like a bottomless pit. After getting five taels, they still wanted ten taels. A Lian couldn't take out that much silver anymore.
Finally, Aunt Zheng saw it and scolded A Lian's step - mother severely and drove her away. That heartless woman left dejectedly. No one knew if she had come back later.
Pei Jin felt sorry for A Lian. She went back to the house and took a box of rouge, a packet of four - o'clock flower powder, and two beaded hairpins, all of which were pretty things from the prefectural city and were given by Sister Jiao Niang.
All young ladies liked makeup and jewelry.
A Lian was two years older than Pei Jin, and Pei Jin had long regarded her as a close little sister.
When Pei Jin went there, A Lian was directing two female workers to move the goods to the warehouse.
She turned around and saw Pei Jin, said a few words to the people around her, and then trotted over.
A Lian was wearing a narrow - sleeved top and an inter - skirt, which were the work uniforms that Jiao Niang had custom - made for the supervisors in the clothing workshop for convenience.
A Lian was smiling. She was no longer as sallow and emaciated as when she first came. She was still thin, but her eyes were bright, and her wheat - colored skin was shiny. She looked very healthy.
"What brings you here?"
Pei Jin smiled and took her hand. "I have something to talk to you about. Let's go to your room."
It was noisy here with the workers busy, and it was really not a good place to talk.
A Lian led Pei Jin to her bedroom. When the factory was built, a few empty rooms were left at the end, and now they were used as the rest rooms for the female workers.
For others, the rest room was just a place for a short rest.
But for A Lian, this was her only home.
A Lian had tidied up the small one - room apartment very neatly.
There was a window in the room, as well as a low couch, a pine - wood bed, and a pair of tables and chairs.
The bedding was clean, and the windows and tables were spotless.
There was a large coarse - porcelain vase as big as a bowl on the table, with a big bunch of wild chrysanthemums in it, looking very rustic.
Pei Jin praised it again and again. She pushed A Lian to sit in front of the table and took out the rouge and four - o'clock flower powder like a magic trick. "Here, I picked these for you. This color will definitely suit you. Try it quickly."
A Lian wasn't good at dressing up, not because she didn't like it, but because she didn't have the conditions.
But A Lian deeply felt Pei Jin's kindness.
She gently squeezed Pei Jin's hand and then smiled and went to fetch water to wash her face.