The Only Skill

The guests were stunned by Bai Yu Yan's confession. No denial, no excuses, not even asking for forgiveness. But a direct admittance of her wrongdoing. What more, she was asking for punishment without any hesitation.

Matriarch Gu, who had not spoken a single word from the beginning, looked at the petite woman sitting on her knees without a care for the crowd of onlookers. Without a reluctance, she had poured her trust into this girl for this big occasion. It wasn't like she didn't have any other options available at her disposal but she had been impressed by her skills and wanted to give this new talent a chance.

However, the very same person has betrayed her trust at a critical moment.

On the other hand, the Empress also had her eyes on Bai Yu Yan whose face had perfect makeup to enhance her already proportional features. But the longer she stared at it, the more she felt it resembled someone she knew.

And she realized that it was not a pleasant feeling but an uncanny one which she was not able to shake off.

When the girl did not speak any further but just sat in the same position without lifting her head, standing at the side, Madame Gu opened her mouth to say, "What is this the wrong that you say of to have committed, Madame Lu? Do let us know about it!"

Bai Yu Yan realized how Madame Gu was calling her 'Madame Lu' instead of 'Bai Yu Yan' like when they had first met in her shop and felt the distance the other was trying to create with her. To say that she was not bothered with it would be a lie but she could only blame herself for it.

It was her own fault that she didn't see to it herself what dress was delivered to the Gu manor and left it for her servants to handle when she was busy nursing Lu Tong Xiao after the accident.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. When she opened them she saw that Matriarch Gu was looking at her waiting for her answer. She raised her head to make eye contact with the old woman and replied, "This one is without any talent in the four arts unlike the rest of the noble ladies here who have mastered them all and can perform it impeccably. I cannot paint half as good as the Princess, play guqin like the lady of the Chen house which can entrance the whole crowd or dance with moves as graceful as Miss Zhou's earlier performance. It is shameful of me but it's true that I have no talent that I can be proud of or perform on this auspicious day for Matriarch Gu," saying Bai Yu Yan dropped her gaze to the floor in shame.

The onlookers who were waiting for a good show to unfold were taken back by such an honest admittance from a noble lady, no less, that she was talentless. For a noble lady to be unskilled in the four arts was a disgrace that she, and her family, would do anything to hide and not let the others know about.

But the one in front of them, who was also the daughter-in-law of the most powerful family in the whole kingdom, was admitting it in front of everyone. They could understand the courage taken for her at this moment while saying it. Because if it was them in her place, they would never be able to do it.

Her voice did not even crack and there was no tear in her eyes. Everyone had a complex emotion as they continued watching without interrupting her.

Matriarch Gu's face did not give away her emotion as she just sat there looking at the girl in front of her.

After a moment of silence, Bai Yu Yan took a long breath and continued, "It was an honour for me that Matriarch Gu was kind enough to choose me as her designer for this occasion. I had started preparing for it very early on so that I could have plenty of time to work on it and it would be perfect down to the very last detail. For this dress, I had chosen the special jacquard silk which is known as one of the most expensive silks among all the other fabrics. My job was to make sure that the best dress would be delivered to Matriarch Gu for this occasion."

"Madame Lu, I am glad that such a thought had made its way to your mind. But it does not change the fact that you let your greed get the better of you and treated your customers like a fool. And right now, Matriarch Gu is facing the consequences of it," Song Mei Lin interjected with a sharp tone. She did not see why other people were entertaining her sob story instead of kicking her out already.

Bai Yu Yan's voice had hesitation at this point and her head hung low in embarrassment, "But at the last moment...I..I was overcome with my selfishness. I wanted this dress to be my present for Matriarch Gu on her birthday...because dressmaking is the only skill that I have. However, I knew that the Gu family would not accept back the advance cash deposited at my shop for this dress. S_so I decided to buy less expensive silk which looks just like jacquard silk."

Watching her from the side, Gu Sheng had nearly believed her words until he heard the last sentence. His brow silently quirked up in amusement. Previously when he had heard her conversation with Bai Chun Hua, he had already known that this woman is not someone easy to be messed with.

From what he had seen in this short time, her brain did not seem to work like a normal person and she always came up with something to leave the person in front speechless or anger her opponent to death.

Now, he was more curious to know how she would get out of this messy situation.

"And swallow the remaining money? So that is your gift? Did anyone hear what she said?" laughed Madame Song, turning her head to look at the people around to see if they were having the same thought as herself, "Say what, no one would have even found out about it if not for my Mei Lin recognizing the fake silk. We should not let a person like this open her shop in the capital unless we want to walk around wearing fake dresses," she was gloating about the fact that Old Madame Lu had been singing praises about her daughter-in-law since the start of the banquet only to get her face slapped by the same person.

Lu Tong Xiao's hands clenched at both sides, unable to stand watching her surrounded by people who were mocking and looking down on her. His heart ached and felt no less than a torment to look at her small lonely back as she sat on her knees on the cold floor.

Whoever had done this, he will make sure to have that person count their life backwards.

The only thought keeping him from carrying her in her arms and walking away from this place was that he could not ruin what she was trying to achieve here. Because if this matter was not handled right now, the taint on Bai Yu Yan's reputation would be very difficult to wash away. And him shielding her today was not going to help it.