Chapter 103: New Marriage (1)

  Xue Mingrui went out, and Liao Shi, the third wife of Tao, who was waiting outside the new house, hurried over with a red lacquer tray. Seeing Rong Hua sitting in the account, Liao Shi suddenly smiled, "I want to take a steamed bun from your room and throw it into the jar when I get back."

  Rong Hua smiled and took out a red envelope that had been prepared in advance from her bosom and handed it to Liao Shi.

  Liao saw Rong Hua sitting there stiffly, her whole body tense, knowing she was nervous, and hastily gave a reassuring smile. "After the banquet is over in front, we will leave, and after two days you come back to our house, we will have a good talk."

  Ronghua nodded slightly, looking at Liao's smile, and somehow felt a little reluctant in her heart.

  Liao called Jinxiu over and instructed, "Keep Miss Ba company more often." Only then did he leave.

  Sitting on the kang, Ronghua occasionally looked towards the door.

  She heard footsteps outside and her heart tensed up immediately, looking over there.

  The bright red wedding dress was partially visible, with slender fingers lifting the door curtain, entering a step ahead of the person behind her, and saying to Ronghua: "Someone has arrived from the palace."

  Rong Hua was taken aback for a moment.

  Xue Mingrui's face showed no other expression, and he said lightly: "Just pay respects at the door."

  Ronghua nodded and put down the things in her arms, got off the kang and came out to welcome them.

  The Xue family stood packed in the courtyard.

  Xue Mingrui stood at the front with Rong Hua.

  The eunuch saw that everyone was standing respectfully to the side, and then haughtily said: "Her Majesty the Empress Dowager and Her Imperial Highness the Honored Consort have bestowed six jade scepters."

  The Xue family all knelt down, and the inner attendant took a serious look at Wu Mou Hou's new wife, Ms. Tao.

  Taoshi's face is calm and peaceful, with a gentle and dignified demeanor, courteous and polite, neither arrogant nor humble.

  The eunuch nodded in satisfaction and let the people below present the jade scepter, which passed in front of everyone's eyes before being invited into the bridal chamber.

  Yu Ruyi put it away properly, and the inner attendant invited everyone to get up. Then, with a slight smile, she went forward to congratulate Wu Mu Hou, "Congratulations, Lord. The Empress Dowager and the Imperial Noble Consort have always been thinking of you, now that you are married, as the saying goes, it's time to start a family and establish a career." As she spoke, she ordered someone to present a pair of jade qilin.

  Rong Hua heard this and couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow.

  It's time to settle down... Rong Hua went to see Xue Mingrui, and saw that Xue Mingrui's expression was calm and collected, without a hint of flattery or servility.

  Is Xue Mingrui unwilling to get close to Huang Guifei's faction? Or does he think the timing is not right? She always felt that it was not like what people outside said, Xue Mingrui and his son were both inflexible people.

  As expected, the eunuch's face gradually turned unpleasant, but fortunately, Old Lady Xue went up and mentioned the Empress Dowager to the eunuch, and his expression improved again. After all, Old Lady Xue was still a princess, not only with her status there, but also with her relationship with the Empress Dowager, she couldn't be neglected.

  The eunuch smiled and said: "When the documents from the Ministry of Rites arrive, Madame can take the Marchioness into the palace to pay her respects."

  Madam Xue suddenly smiled warmly.

  The eunuch had nothing else to say and turned around to lead the people away. The Xue family members were busy seeing them off.

  Before the banquet was over, Mrs. Xue smiled slightly at Rong Hua and said, "You go back first, Mingrui will finish his toast and come back later."

  Ronghua returned to her new home and sat on the kang.

  Mugwort walked to the front of the kang and asked in a low voice, "Will someone come over later?"

  Logically speaking, Mrs. Xue and Xue Mingrui should have had their peers making a ruckus at the wedding banquet earlier, but after such a long time has passed, there isn't any noise of commotion in the courtyard.

  Hongying said: "Just now I saw several young ladies and gentlemen looking over here towards the courtyard, but they haven't come in for half a day."

  Mu Ge said in a low voice: "Is it possible that he's afraid of offending Master Hou and doesn't dare to come over and cause trouble?"

  Ronghua had previously overheard the conversation between the second madam and Xue Ming'ai. The Xue siblings seemed to be afraid of Lord Hou, it was said that the eldest branch still had a fourth miss who had just reached adulthood and hadn't married yet, but she didn't come out, could it be that even her own brother was afraid? It's probably not because of Xue Mingrui, but because of her. Now she doesn't come to the front, later on, who knows how far they will have to hide from her.

  The Xue family didn't separate households, and several families lived together. The relationships inside were complicated and took time to figure out; it wasn't easy for her to blend in.

  Just as Ronghua was thinking, footsteps were heard outside. "It's just Second Brother's happy event, and it's only going to take a look at Second Sister-in-law, what's there to be afraid of?" A young master about the same age as Hongge entered from the doorway, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. As soon as he came in, his round face turned red when he met Ronghua's gaze, but he still smiled and came forward to pay respects to Ronghua, "Greetings to Second Sister-in-law."

  Rong Hua took out a red envelope from his bosom and handed it over with a warm smile, "Good Seventh Brother."

  Seventh Uncle Xue Mingzhe was suddenly surprised and raised his thick eyebrows, never expecting Second Aunt to guess who he was in one go.

  Ronghua handed over a set of books to Jinxiu, "This is for Seventh Brother."

  Xue Mingzhe took it and his expression was unimpressed, seemingly not very interested. Xue Mingzhe hadn't left yet when two more people entered the room.

  Ronghua looked up and saw that one of them was the sixth young lady who had led the way when she came to the Xue family before, and the sixth young lady was holding hands with a young lady wearing a yellow jacket. The young lady's face showed some fear, and she glanced at Ronghua cautiously before lowering her head.

  Miss Hsieh smiled and stepped forward to pay her respects to Yung-hua, then pulled over the young lady beside her.

  The young lady also called out "Second Sister-in-law" and then stood aside.

  Ronghua handed over two red envelopes.

  The two of them laughed and accepted it.

  Miss Liu and Seventh Master were both from the fourth house, two siblings with a straightforward and uninhibited personality. The young lady Miss Liu was holding onto, Rong Hua took a closer look, that young lady was extremely demure, occasionally glancing at her twice, as long as she looked over, that young lady would lower her head.

  So square and doesn't like to interact with people.

  A few people sat on the brocade couch for a while, and as it was getting late, they all stood up and bid farewell.

  After sending the person away, Jinxiu returned to the house. Ronghua asked the little maid who had been serving in the Houye's house before, "How many maids were there who often served in front of Houye?"

  The little maid replied: "Haiyu and Jingyue are always by Master Hou's side."

  Rong Hua's eyes flashed, "Where are Hai Yu and Jing Yue?"

  The little maid raised her head and glanced at Rong Hua, her eyes darting away, but the corners of her mouth slightly curled up. "Hai Yu was ill last night and is recuperating in the ear room of the adjacent courtyard. Jing Yue was summoned by the old lady early this morning."

  One was ill and one had gone to pay respects to the elderly lady, so neither of the two senior maids who normally attended Xue Mingrui were in the room.

  Ronghua glanced at the little maid with her spare vision, seemingly unintentional, "What's your name?"

  The little maid said: "I'm Yan Lian." While responding, she secretly felt disappointed in her heart. When the lady heard this, she didn't even investigate further. No wonder people say that the lady has a soft temperament and is timid; otherwise, why did she fall into the Wenshui River during the last garden tour?

  Rong Hua saw Yan Liang's expression and smiled slightly in her heart, but didn't mind it. She asked Yan Liang about the few ladies who had just arrived.

  Yan Ling Dao: "One is our Fifth Miss, and the other is Sixth Miss of the Fourth House."

  Just now Ronghua had a feeling that the timid and rule-abiding one was Xue Mingrui's sister.

  After a while, Wu Sanfang's Fifth Master, Sixth Master, Seventh Miss and Eighth Miss took a photo together and left in a hurry.

  The two older uncles of the third house are a bit older and can't come alone, but neither did the ninth young lady nor the tenth young lady.

  The sky had darkened and the lanterns outside were lit. Xue Mingrui saw off his guests and returned to the bridal chamber, where a maid immediately announced: "His Lordship has returned."

  Xue Mingrui entered the inner room and saw Rong Hua hand over the book in his hand to the maid beside him, then put on his shoes and got down from the kang, came forward to help him change clothes. "Does Master Hou want me to call the maid over to serve you?"

  She heard her whispering softly in her ear.

  Is she afraid of his usual maid? Or is she trying to test his attitude? Xue Mingrui looked around the house, Haiyu and Jingyue were not there, he said lightly: "No need." When he finished speaking, he turned his head to look over, her face didn't have any special expression.

  Xue Mingrui walked forward, and Rong Hua followed behind him to help him change his clothes in the suite.

  Never having done this before, Ronghua looked very unfamiliar, his fingers slightly trembling, especially the buttons near the collar that he just couldn't undo.

  Xue Mingrui said calmly: "I'll go"

  Her slender fingers contracted and her hand fell down.

  Knowing she wasn't good at it herself, yet not sending the maid over, what was she trying to say on their first day of marriage?

  Xue Mingrui's long fingers moved, and the button came undone. Rong Hua couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She had thought it would be easy, but now that she was actually doing it, it wasn't turning out as planned. Xue Mingrui's slender body didn't look very robust, but up close, his clothes were stretched taut over his muscles. She reached out to undo the buttons, trying not to touch him, and held her breath, hoping to finish quickly. But the more she hurried, the more flustered she became.

  The final result is still good, no complaints about her, just doing it personally.

  Jong Hua smiled slightly and took a deep breath.

  Xue Mingrui changed his clothes and came out, the maids brought up ten dishes including dumplings, noodles, pomegranate, chicken wings, shrimp, and soup-filled swan-shaped pastries.

  The dinner on the wedding night was originally a symbolic gesture to eat one bite of each dish for good luck, and Rong Hua's nervous mood just meant to get it over with. Xue Mingrui also quickly put down his chopsticks.

  The maids quickly cleared away the dishes and then attended to Xue Mingrui and Rong Hua's ablutions.

  Ronghua changed into good clothes and came out, Xue Mingrui was leaning in front of the lamp reading a book, the other maids in the house had gone down, Ronghua nodded to Jinxiu and Muxi, Jinxiu and Muxi walked out with their heads down, pulled the screen tight and closed the partition.

  The new house outside did not leave a night maid's residence, Chun Yao was talking to Yan Qing in the Hou Ye's room.

  Yan Liang Dao said, "The young master is not in the habit of letting people live in the inner room. Even Da Ya Yuan lives in the outer room, so there's no arrangement for a night watchman in the new house either. It would be better if the sisters just stayed behind and lived in the outer room. I'm sure when Madame gives instructions, the young master will mention it, so don't worry, sisters."

  There should be more additions, as long as the internet is uninterrupted at night...

  Still a network problem, unstable.

  Hurry up and update it first.

  Should be opening new scroll, thinking of scroll name ING.

  As for whether it's a meat soup or a problem, as long as you don't join the Laden party, that's all... can't guarantee anything else.