In fact, Xu Shichu knew that it was an exaggeration for Mrs. Li to describe her garden as so unique. After all, in this era, the rich and powerful had money and leisure, and they pursued elegance. The garden landscapes designed by them were more exquisite and elegant than each other, with a painting every three steps, a scene every five steps, rockery and flowing water, and exotic flowers and plants. It was a beautiful sight no matter how you looked at it.
But Xu Shichu's garden does not have so many exquisite artificial landscapes such as pavilions, towers, rockery and flowing water. There are only simple and rough patches of colorful flowers and plants, interspersed with some fragrant woods and trees. However, even such simple and direct flowers, when they bloom in large patches, the dazzling array of bright colors that come into view is already amazing enough.
Mrs. Li was overwhelmed by the choices before finally deciding on the plump pink bell flowers that looked like bells and the enchanting and mysterious low-lying blue delphiniums.
Xu Shichu asked the servants to transplant them into flower pots, and then Madam Li took them away like treasures.
After Mrs. Li got these two pots of rare flowers, she showed off and invited many people to appreciate the flowers. Of course, she also invited Xu Shichu, the original owner, but Xu Shichu refused. She just wanted to appreciate the flowers in her own garden.
The pink wind chimes and blue delphiniums really made Mrs. Li the center of attention at the flower-viewing banquet. The ladies and young ladies who attended the banquet had never seen these two kinds of flowers before, and they were immediately attracted by their strange and extremely beautiful appearance. They all asked Mrs. Li where she got these two flowers.
Madam Li proudly said that it was a gift from the Prime Minister's wife, whose yard was filled with all kinds of exotic flowers, many of which were new flowers obtained from foreign merchants and not available anywhere else in the dynasty.
She described in great detail the various flowers blooming in Xu Shichu's garden, how stunning it was to see so many of them, and how stepping into the flowers was like entering a world of flowers, making one feel as if they were floating in the air.
As a result, Xu Shichu's garden became famous due to Mrs. Li's excellent eloquence. Many people wanted to see it, and the Prime Minister's Mansion immediately received many invitations from ladies and young ladies who wanted to visit.
The concierge who received the messages was shocked to see so many messages about wanting to visit the lady. After all, no one had ever invited the lady or had guests wanting to visit her before, but now so many messages came in all of a sudden, which was very strange.
But when he learned from the servant who delivered the invitations that those people came to visit his wife because they wanted to see her garden, he was stunned. However, after receiving so many invitations for ten days or half a month, he calmed down.
Although Xu Shichu received the invitations, she did not accept any of them. She had no friendship with those ladies, so how could she agree to their requests to visit her
So those ladies were very anxious and secretly cursed Xu Shichu for being arrogant and rude for refusing their proactive visits.
But no matter what they thought in their hearts, no one was allowed to visit Xu Shichu's garden in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
There was really no other way, so Mrs. Li, as the only person who had some friendship with Xu Shichu, was asked by many ladies to act as a middleman and lobbyist to persuade Xu Shichu to hold a flower-viewing banquet to satisfy their curiosity.
"It was you who described the Prime Minister's wife's garden as so beautiful like a fairyland, which aroused our curiosity! But we can't go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to see it in person, so this time you must persuade the Prime Minister's wife to hold a flower-viewing banquet so that we can have a glimpse!" Mrs. Guo, the Minister of War, asked Mrs. Li righteously.
Mrs. Li could only regret herself for being too talkative, but she felt a little proud in her heart. After all, she was the only one who had seen the Prime Minister's wife's garden!
Unable to resist so many requests, Mrs. Li had to visit Xu Shichu again and told her how eager those ladies were to see her garden. She asked her to hold a flower-viewing banquet to satisfy their curiosity, otherwise they would never give up.
"I don't like socializing, and I don't have any friendship with those people. I really don't want to disrupt my quiet life to satisfy their curiosity." Xu Shichu shook his head and said, "I use these flowers to make spices, not for viewing."
"Alas, can't you really let others see them? A flower-viewing party only takes one day, just one day... It would be such a pity if no one admired the flowers in your yard. People can appreciate their beauty before they are made into spices." Mrs. Li continued to persuade without giving up.
But Xu Shichulang was as hard as iron and he just didn't want to do it.
Mrs. Li suddenly had an idea: "Why don't you open a flower shop and move some of the flowers in your yard to the shop to sell. This won't be a hassle for you, and those who are interested can come to the shop to admire them and look at them as long as they like."
Xu Shichu's eyes lit up: "That's possible! Fresh flowers can be made into spices and sold, so why can't raw flowers and herbs be sold? Thank you for the idea, you can pick a flower to take away when you leave later!"
Mrs. Li's face flushed with excitement, and she couldn't wait to walk into the flowers: "I will definitely pick them carefully!"
After seeing Mrs. Li off, Xu Shichu started to prepare to open a flower shop. The flowers and plants were already available, so he just needed to buy one from the shop. He could also hire a florist who knew how to grow flowers, so the shop was named Baihua Pavilion.
Baihua Pavilion takes the high-end route, valuing quality over quantity. It only sells rare and precious flowers and plants. The number available each month is limited, so the prices are certainly not cheap, and can even be priced through auctions.
Soon, there was a flower shop called Baihua Pavilion in the capital city, selling all kinds of exotic flowers and plants that could not be found anywhere else.
As soon as Baihua Pavilion opened, it welcomed many wives and daughters of high-ranking officials and nobles, and the flowers and plants prepared in the shop were snapped up as soon as they were put on display, forcing the shop assistants to put out more common flowers and plants to decorate the store so that the store would not appear so empty.
This was all thanks to Mrs. Li who spared no effort in promoting Xu Shichu's plan to open a flower shop among the ladies and young ladies, which led to such a large flow of people when Xu Shichu's flower shop just opened.
The flowers in the Baihua Pavilion are indeed novel and beautiful, giving them an exotic charm that is not found in local flowers and plants. This makes many ladies and young ladies flock to them, either for the pursuit of elegance or for the novelty.
After the women brought the flowers home, they naturally attracted the attention of the men. Men also appreciate flowers. Otherwise, plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum would not have been given the meaning of nobleness and unyieldingness by scholars. As a result, Baihua Pavilion became popular among the nobles overnight. Everyone was proud to own a pot of flowers from Baihua Pavilion, and even held flower-fighting banquets from time to time to compare whose flowers were more beautiful...
This was something Xu Shichu had not expected. She had expected a flower viewing banquet, but a flower-fighting banquet? This was a bit exaggerated. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She didn't know if it could be considered an unexpected success.