Making friends at 25

  Yang Lan followed her mother to the Princess's sedan chair and arrived at the Zhou family, also known as the An Guo Hou Fu. At the gate, they were greeted by Madame An Guo Hou and her daughter Zhou Ying, along with a group of servants and maids.

  "Pay respects to Princess Chang and pay respects to Princess Jun!" The wife of Duke Anguo took the lead in paying respects and making a courtesy.

  Yang Lan jumped down first and hastily stretched out her hand to help, shouting: "Auntie please get up quickly! Jing'an is not worthy of being a junior!"

  The Empress Dowager also smiled and said, "Auntie, get up quickly! We're all family, no need for these empty formalities! Is this Ying'er? It's been a few years since I've seen her, she's grown so big! Good child, take this hairpin as a gift to play with!"

  She helped up the wife of An Guo Hou, and pulled up Zhou Ying, smiling and looking at her again and again. She took off a purple crystal hairpin from her own head and put it on Zhou Ying's head. This hairpin was a rare foreign good from the sea, with transparent purple crystal that seemed to have flowing water light, of high quality and rarely seen!

  Zhou Ying looked at her mother and saw that she nodded, then bowed again to thank her, "Thank you, Princess Chang, for your gift!"

  "This must be your daughter Lan'er, right? Oh! Her eyes look just like yours, and her face is similar too. I can vaguely see what you looked like when you were a kid, she's really good-looking! She'll be a beautiful girl in the future too! Come, this is Auntie sending it to you, go play with it! Play with your sister Ying together!" Madam An Guo immediately took off a yellow jade bangle from her hand, and the bangle had a faint red mist surrounding it, looking very nice.

  Yang Lan's childlike side appeared as she saw her mother didn't say anything and took it over, "It looks really good! Thanks Aunt!"

  An Guo Hou's wife led the Long Princess into the inner courtyard, while Zhou Ying smiled and pulled Yang Lan's hand, asking: "Lan sister, can I call you that?"

  Yang Lan waved her hand and said casually: "Sister, just call me Lan'er! My mother and them all call me that! Sister, I brought you a gift today!"

  Zhou Ying had a round face, apricot eyes and peach cheeks, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, making her a lovely beauty. Today she wore a large red embroidered gold dragonfly lotus flower hemmed cheongsam, with a light green embroidered red plum blossom hundred-pleated skirt, looking charming and captivating.

  "Then I'll take a good look, what nice things did my sister send me!" Zhou Ying had elegant manners and was kind and approachable, making people feel close to her.

  Yang Lan counted on her fingers, "There's a double-sided embroidered fan, a pair of agarwood hairpins, and a purse, this one I embroidered myself, don't despise it, sister!"

  Went to Zheng Hall, had a cup of tea, and Madame Anguo and Madam Zhou accompanied Princess Hui Chang in conversation. It was actually Madame Anguo who smiled and said to the two of them, "You children go play! Following us around is also very boring, let us mothers talk!" Apparently she had something to say to Princess Hui Chang that she didn't want Zhou Ying and the others to hear.

  Zhou Ying stood up, "Then I'll take Lan'er to my courtyard for a walk!"

  "Go."

  Yang Lan followed Zhou Ying to her own small courtyard, the room was decorated very elegantly and simply, with few furnishings but a very quiet and secluded atmosphere. The red wooden carved flower desk was filled with Xuan paper, it seemed that she often wrote there.

  Yang Lan took out her gift and handed it to her, "Sister take a look if you like it, I don't know your preferences, so I picked some exquisite things. This embroidered pouch was made by myself, sister please don't think my hands are clumsy!"

  Zhou Ying first took Yang Lan's purse, held it and looked at it repeatedly, with a joyful smile in her eyes. "Sister's hands are really clever, much better than mine! As soon as I hold the needle, my fingers suffer, and my mother has scolded me countless times, but I just can't learn!" After finishing speaking, she let out a helpless sigh, with an expression that was quite pitiful.

  Yang Lan smiled, "I learned embroidery because my mother forced me to. She wanted me to temper my temperament. My sister only needs to learn a little bit and that's enough. Who in our family would use this to make money? We're not embroiderers! I have eight needlework rooms myself! My sister's household also doesn't lack embroiderers, what's the worry about?"

  As soon as she heard this, Zhou Ying's eyes lit up and she felt like she had met a kindred spirit. Excitedly, she grabbed her hand and poured out her grievances, "You should tell my mother that! You don't know, recently I was locked at home by my mother to learn needlework, and these two hands of mine were pricked until they were all swollen, it's so hard!"

  Her painful and tangled appearance made Yang Lan laugh uncontrollably, laughing non-stop.

  Zhou Ying made a cup of Osmanthus tea, "Lan'er come and try it, this is the Osmanthus flower I dried myself last year, I like to drink it! You try it!"

  Yang Lan took over the small white porcelain cup with a faint smile, sipped it lightly, and nodded in appreciation, "Hmm! It's really good, I'll have you pack some for me to take back and drink slowly later!"

  "You like it? I'll give you a few packs, I still have roses and lotus hearts from summer! I usually love to mess around with this stuff, last year I made so much that we couldn't even finish drinking it and there's still some left!" Zhou Ying was delighted to find someone sharing the same interest as her, and she became a bit more familiar with Yang Lan in their conversation.

  Yang Lan also looked very happy, "Sister likes these too! I like to mess with flowers and grass at home. The other day, my husband and I learned how to make scented cakes and floral water. Tomorrow, I'll send a few bottles for sister to try, it's just that our homemade ones are cleaner!"

  "That's great, I like lighter flavors, I don't like too strong tastes!" Zhou Ying said with a big smile, sharing her little secret with Yang Lan.

  The two of them got along famously, with similar family backgrounds and social status. They quickly became inseparable, and Yang Lan, being an expert in socializing with young masters from noble families, effortlessly gained Zhou Ying's approval without much effort. They chatted happily until others called them to dinner, by which time they had already agreed on a time for their next meeting.

  "I'll introduce you to some people, including Mingyu County Master and a few others. By the way, can your sister ride a horse?" Zhou Ying took the initiative to introduce Yang Lan to the noble ladies of the imperial capital's aristocratic circle.

  Yang Lan smiled and said: "I've just started learning! My brother doesn't let me ride a horse alone, someone has to watch me!"

  Zhou Ying smiled and said: "No problem, another day I'll invite you to ride horses at the riding arena!"

  "Great! I'll wait at home for sister's good news!"

  Yang Lan gladly agreed, knowing that this was an opportunity for her to make connections with the powerful and wealthy, as well as a chance to expand her own network of relationships. Don't underestimate the power of women's networks - they often get first-hand information.

  And most of the good friends among women are childhood friendships, and later on, many are just superficial relationships. Only those who have gone through thick and thin together can truly help each other out. The mother brought her here for this very purpose, hoping that she could make a few good friends, so that she wouldn't be left without even one friend to talk to.