The Challenge of a Farmhouse Son-in-Law-Chapter 961 - 955: Verbal Sparring

Miss Zhang stepped up to Gu Youyou and asked in a low voice, "Doctor Gu, I’ve heard your medical skills are remarkable. You once cured the Empress Dowager’s leg ailment and were fortunate enough to take Princess Number Nine as your apprentice. It turns out to be true."

The other ladies started to grow uneasy.

Gu Youyou was the Princess’s mentor and the Empress Dowager’s benefactor. Did they even stand a chance against her?

Thus, when they looked at Gu Youyou again, their eyes were filled with hostility.

These few words made Gu Youyou take another look at Miss Zhang.

An unintentional remark had made her the target of everyone’s arrows!

But it didn’t matter. After all, they were selecting only one, not a bunch. After these few days, everyone would go their separate ways, and who would remember who was who?

Gu Youyou, with her combined lifetimes, was more than thirty years old. She had no reason to quarrel with these little girls who were in their mid-teens.

"Yes, it is," Gu Youyou said.

After saying so, she hummed a tune and walked away, irritating the girls to the point where their teeth itched.

The first task bestowed upon them from above was to create a piece of needlework themed around spring flowers. They had three days and could go to the managers of the Imperial Palace Affairs Bureau to get whatever they needed. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

In this era, whether it was a poor family or a rich family, much emphasis was placed on a woman’s needlework skills. If one could not do needlework, they would be severely looked down upon.

Hearing the task, most thought about collecting the finest silk threads to embroider an item symbolic of spring, which was the simplest and most likely to stand out.

But, embroidery was exceedingly difficult for Gu Youyou—she didn’t know how to do it.

Her roommates came back, delighted with their silk threads and brocades, while Gu Youyou was still sitting at the desk, drawing and writing.

An insensitive young lady approached and teased her, "Doctor Gu, we are competing in needlework, not prescribing medicine."

Her words amused the other roommates.

Xiang Chun, infuriated, stomped her feet and shouted, "What are you doing, looking to cause trouble?"

Gu Youyou quickly held her back, saying, "We’re competing based on skill, not on who has the sharper tongue."

As she spoke to Xiang Chun, she also retorted to the talkative young lady.

The young lady’s face turned red and then white with anger, and her maid hurriedly consoled her, "Miss, we don’t have much time, three days. Let’s not stoop to her level and get on with our embroidery."

What Gu Youyou held in her hand were the measurements for Princess Number Nine. Embroidery was out of the question for her, but needlework didn’t just refer to embroidery—it included spinning, starching, sewing, embroidering, braiding, paper-cutting, fabric flowers... and so on.

But under the current circumstances, for these girls, embroidery was the easiest, their best skill, and it did not waste time.

And Gu Youyou, naturally, would choose what she was best at too.

A spring flower theme? Making a skirt fit for a Flower Fairy couldn’t be better. At that moment, she was calculating the size of the skirt and the flowers.

With only three days’ time, Gu Youyou spent one whole day calculating the materials. It was almost nightfall when she, with Xiang Chun in tow, hurriedly went to request the materials.

In the Imperial Palace, it was not easy for low-status girls in the Chuxiu Palace to obtain good materials; they were always troubled by others, especially someone like Gu Youyou, who arrived just as the doors were about to close.

"Who’s going to get that for you at this hour? Look at the time; come back tomorrow," said the Palace Maiden with much arrogance.

Gu Youyou was not annoyed and said, "Please do me a favor, honored ladies." Naturally, she didn’t expect them to do her a favor for nothing; she had benefits to offer.