Chapter 239 - Mother-In-Law And Daughter-In-Law Meet!
"d.a.m.n, it smells so pungent!"
Tanya spoke brashly and without reservations. "My favorite perfume scent has been totally overwhelmed!"
Nora glanced at her. "That"s why I said we should do it outdoors. You"re the one who insisted on doing it indoors…"
"That was because I thought we could sit in the room, wasn"t it? Come on, let"s move to the yard. Where should we put it?"
Nora looked around and found a small marble table in the yard. She walked over, put the orchid down, and started to spray the potion, that she had concocted, on it again.
While she was carefully spraying the potion all around the flower, she suddenly heard an angry shout. "Stop!"
Nora was taken aback. Both she and Tanya looked at the door to see Mrs. Landis with her hands on her hips. As though an old mother hen guarding her chick, she rushed over and stood in front of them. "What are you trying to do to the pot of flowers?"
Nora, "?"
Tanya, "?"
The two looked at Mrs. Landis. They hadn"t shut the gates when they came in just now, so the woman had come in just like that. Who was she, though?
They were wondering about it when Mrs. Landis said, "That pot of flowers belongs to me!"
Realization dawned upon Tanya. "Oh, I see. I found the pot of flowers in the garden and thought that the person who discarded it didn"t want it anymore, so I brought it back!"
At the sight of how lifeless the pot of flowers was, Mrs. Landis panicked at once. "Why wouldn"t we want it? Do you know what this is or not? Also, how can you bring this pot of orchid back with you so carelessly when it"s so expensive?"
Tanya replied sheepishly, "How expensive can it be? I thought it was a bonsai tree!"
Mrs. Landis, "…"
She stepped forward. She was about to take the flowerpot when Nora suddenly stopped her. She said, "You claim that this pot of flowers belongs to you, but do you have any proof?"
This particular pot of flowers was worth a lot of money, so she was guarding against strangers who might be trying to scam them out of it. Besides, going by how old Mrs. Landis looked, she didn"t seem like someone that would go online to approach her for help on treating the plant.
After all, the elderly didn"t go online very much. Additionally, only a minority of people would visit that forum.
Mrs. Landis was taken aback. "Do I have to prove it?"
"Of course."
Nora said unhurriedly, "Otherwise, how would I know whether or not you"re really the owner of this pot of flowers?"
Mrs. Landis, "…"
That was true. She could understand why she would have such concerns.
But how was she going to prove it?
Nora said, "This pot of flowers" buds are not quite the same color as other flowers. You just need to tell me what color they are."
Mrs. Landis, "!!"
Now, that put her in a spot. She hurriedly said, "Wait a minute. I"ll go and ask Ma"am."
"Okay."
Mrs. Landis walked toward the exit, but after taking a couple of steps, she turned back and added, "Don"t spray anything on it anymore, though. These flowers are very delicate. Got it?"
Nora nodded again.
After Mrs. Landis left and went out of sight, she picked up the spray bottle again and continued to spray the potion she had just concocted onto the flowers.
"… Didn"t she say that this pot of flowers is very expensive?" asked Tanya.
Nora nodded. "Uh-huh. That"s why I have to help them save it. Otherwise, they"ll throw it away again."
Tanya, "…"
A short while later, they heard hasty footsteps at the gates. Mrs. Landis"s voice rang out the next moment. "This is the house, Ma"am! Watch your step!"
A beautiful and dazzling figure slowly walked in along with those words.
The sight of her took Nora and Tanya, both big beauties, by surprise. They felt as if they had suddenly been dazzled.
The woman walking in had an oval-shaped face, fair skin, and large eyes. She wore a long-sleeved dress that wrapped around her graceful curves, one couldn"t tell any signs of age on her face at all. She wore her hair in big, loose curls draped gracefully behind her shoulders. She looked just like an elf that had stepped out of a European painting and accidentally entered the human world.
Tanya couldn"t resist poking Nora and remarking, "She"s so beautiful!"
Nora nodded.
The two wanted to continue, but Mrs. Landis had spotted the spray bottle in Nora"s hand. She then looked at the pot of flowers and found that all the flowers had been sprayed with some kind of dark mixture. She panicked at once and said, "Didn"t I already tell you not to spray anything on it anymore? Why did you continue to spray the mixture on it?! You… What you"re doing is going to kill our flowers! Or is it because you don"t want to return it to us? Do you have any idea who the leader of our family is?"
Tanya hurriedly waved and said, "No, we"re definitely giving it back. I didn"t know it was so expensive when I picked it up."
Iris frowned, but she said, "Stop that, Mrs. Landis."
Mrs. Landis, however, wasn"t convinced. "Ma"am, they are obviously the ones who mistreated your flowers…"
Iris shook her head. "It no longer belonged to us the moment you discarded it and someone else picked it up. We should already count ourselves lucky that they are willing to return it!"
Mrs. Landis was awfully indignant.
Tanya breathed a sigh of relief. "We didn"t mean it, Madam. We were treating the flowers" illness."
Iris let out a sigh. "The treatment method is too extreme."
The smell of vinegar was simply too strong. How could orchids possibly withstand it?
Tanya wasn"t versed in medical theory, so she didn"t say anything. Nora, on the other hand, said, "I reckon the worms will be gone with another couple of sprays."
Mrs. Landis reprimanded her. "You"re pretty confident, aren"t you! Ma"am has already been trying to treat that pot of flowers for half a month, but the flowers have never looked so lifeless before. Just look at it—the petals are already drooping! It looks completely listless. You shouldn"t have messed around with it if you aren"t professionals!"
"Mrs. Landis!"
Iris reprimanded her again. "Never mind, let"s just bring the flowers back."
Mrs. Landis went forward indignantly and picked up the pot of flowers. As she did, she nagged, "Just how much effort have you put into this pot of flowers? You couldn"t even bear to watch when we threw it away, nor did I dare to really throw it away. Who knew that it would end up being destroyed in their hands instead? Seriously!"
Iris shook her head and told her not to say any more.
The two then left with the flowers. When they reached the gates, Mrs. Landis could still be heard saying, "If the flowers die tomorrow, I"m going to come and look for them!"
"Never mind. As they say, what is yours will be yours, and what isn"t will never be."
The middle-aged woman"s voice sounded very pleasant, and the way she spoke sounded as if she was reciting a poem. It was just that her demeanor was cold and indifferent, making her look like someone who wasn"t a part of the mundane world.
It was only when the two left that Tanya finally swallowed hard and said, "No wonder people say that beauty isn"t just skin-deep. That lady"s physique is too beautiful! I wonder how old she is, though. Since she"s being addressed as "Ma"am", then she must be at least thirty, right? But she doesn"t really look like it, either…"
Nora couldn"t tell how old the woman was, either, mainly because she was a perfect combination of innocence and femininity, which made people overlook her age.
Tanya said, "I"m going to ask around and see which family she"s from…"
—
After they brought the pot of flowers back home, Mrs. Landis took a piece of wet tissue, and carefully and gently wiped off the residual medicinal potion on the leaves and petals.
It was just a shame that even though the potion was too pungent, the flowers were so delicate that she couldn"t wash them. Thus, even though she had already wiped the potion off, it still smelled of vinegar.
Mrs. Landis sighed.
Iris even put down the tissue, got up, and went upstairs. "Forget it," she said.
She couldn"t sleep well that night because the pot of flowers kept haunting her in her sleep. As a result, she felt like she had only just fallen asleep when she heard Mrs. Landis" shout of surprise.
"Ma"am! Q-quick! Get up and look at the flowers!!"
Iris sat up abruptly.
What had happened to the flowers?
Could they have… withered? And died?