Chapter 141: Joyful Banquet (Part 2)

  Madam Zhou pulled the eleventh daughter to her seat and immediately spotted Old Lady Huang. She pointed at her, laughing: "I was wondering why I hadn't seen you, turns out you were hiding here... saw me coming but didn't even greet me."

  Huang San's grandmother stood up with a smile: "I'm not waiting here, am I? After Sister and Fourth Madam finish talking, it's my turn." She said, leaving her seat and curtsying to Madame Zhou.

  Mrs. Zhou returned the courtesy.

  Lin Dainai also stood up and paid respects to Madame Zhou.

  Mrs. Zhou returned the courtesy and smiled as she pulled on Lin Danna's hand: "I was just asking about Mingyuan's marriage, and then I ran into you!"

  Lin Dainai smiled bitterly: "Almost all the decent families in Yanjing have been seen, and Mingyuan is not satisfied. If Sister Zhou has a suitable one, she can also help our family take care of Mingyuan."

  "Of course, of course," said Mrs. Zhou hastily, but she couldn't help casting a sideways glance at Eleventh Sister.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but smile wryly in her heart.

  What's all this about!

  Huang San's grandmother smiled and invited Madame Zhou to sit down, the maids brought tea, Tang's wife ordered dishes to be served, and immediately a maid in red and green clothes came up with a smile, carrying dishes.

  The Tang family also had some guests in the side hall, and the fourth wife of the Tang family kept the third wife Yang there to serve. When the dishes were ready, she excused herself and went to the side hall. Mrs. Tang personally played host, offering wine and urging everyone to eat, and for a time, it was quite lively.

  After dinner, they moved to the warm pavilion in the flower hall to drink tea. Mrs. Tang asked if they should play cards or listen to a book.

  Everyone looked at Mrs. Tai, and Mrs. Tai turned to ask Tang Miss's aunts on one side: "…play cards or listen to the opera?"

  Madam Tang's maiden home in Lintong was also a wealthy family, and her family had produced officials such as prefects and councilors, but compared to the esteemed guests present, they were far inferior. The elder sister-in-law hastily said: "Don't stand on ceremony, don't stand on ceremony!"

  The old lady smiled and asked the people around her, and everyone also said it was no big deal.

  "Then let's play cards!" The old lady smiled and said, "Now that we're older, it's too noisy!"

  Madam Tang looked at the older people in the room, smiled and nodded, calling the maid to bring out several card tables, taking out the Nanmu bird cards. Zheng Taikun, Tai Furen, Huang Furen, Lin Furen sat at one table. Liang Furen, Qiao Furen, and Tang Xiaojie's aunt and cousin sat at another table. Li Furen sat on the left side of Tai Furen to watch the cards, Gan Furen and Zhou Furen sat together, adding Lin Dainai and Tang Xiaojie's other aunt, making up another table.

  Eleventh daughter sat on the right side of Tai Furen, and Huang San Niang sat on the left side of Huang Furen. The two people were close together, occasionally discussing a few sentences about the pros and cons of the card game. In this regard, Eleventh daughter was not good at it, mostly listening to Huang San Niang's lectures, only then did she discover that playing mahjong had many tricks, no less than a high-level math problem. Gradually, she heard some ways out and became quite interested. Seeing that Eleventh daughter was not just being polite to her, Huang San Niang spoke with more enthusiasm.

  Madam Huang, who was standing beside her, disliked her nagging: "You all go open another table." Eleven Niang was frightened and waved her hands repeatedly: "I won't, I won't!"

  Old Lady Huang's face turned red, but she didn't dare make another sound.

  The mother of You Si's guest brought over a woman wearing a blue-green embroidered long-sleeved jacket.

  The eleventh girl took a closer look and it turned out to be Jiang Bo's wife.

  Because Yuanni passed away, Junge has to observe mourning, the two families only exchanged betrothal gifts. It's just unknown whether this marriage will be discussed after the mourning period.

  She thought for a moment, then Mrs. Jiang smiled and curtsied to the old lady: "I heard you were here, so I came over to pay my respects."

  The old lady looked up at her and smiled: "When did you come? Have you eaten?" Her attitude was very warm.

  The eleventh girl's heart slightly stirred.

  Thinking back to the first time I met Mrs. Jiang, she was so low-key, but now seeing her proactively coming over to pay respects to Old Madam Xu, she must be very eager to form a marriage alliance with the Xu family. And Old Madam Xu's affection towards her probably means that after the mourning period is over, they will continue discussing the engagement.

  Mrs. Jiang laughed and said, "I just arrived. Because there were guests at home, I ate dinner before leaving the house."

  Old Lady nodded and pointed at Eleven: "Have you met? My fourth daughter-in-law!"

  I saw her when she was young and buried, but it's not convenient for me to talk about it now.

  The two of them smiled and exchanged greetings. Mrs. Jiang said vaguely, "Nice to see you," then said, "I don't dare disturb everyone's fun. Later I still have to go to the side hall to meet a few sisters. Seeing that you're in good health, I can also rest assured. I'll leave first and come back to visit you later."

  Madam nodded, and Eleventh Sister escorted her to the door, where she saw the mother of the guest officer accompanying Tenth Sister's mother-in-law, Wang Taihou of the Marquis of Maoguo, walking in.

  She hastily came forward and made a curtsy to Madame Wang.

  The old lady Wang looked at her with some surprise: "Did your mother-in-law bring you here?"

  "Her old lady is playing cards in the warm pavilion!" She asked her again, "Is tenth sister well?"

  Madam Wang nodded: "That's good. The weather is cold, so I didn't bring her out."

  The tenth girl probably wouldn't like this kind of occasion either. The eleventh girl nodded and smiled as she accompanied Madame Wang into the warm pavilion.

  Everyone greeted her, but Mrs. Ta sat still on her side, while Mrs. Tang and Mrs. Liang stood up to pay their respects to her.

  The Eleventh Young Lady has returned to Madame Tai's side, and then Madame Li asked her in a low voice: "Which family is this lady from?"

  "Madam of Duke Mu's household." She smiled and said, "My tenth sister married into their family."

  Mrs. Li was shocked and wanted to speak but stopped herself.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

  Madam Wang had already walked over, and after a round of greetings, Madam Wang specially thanked the Old Lady: "......and even sent some tonic medicine over. When she's feeling better I'll have her come to the mansion in person to thank you!"

  "Madam Wang is too polite." The old lady smiled and said, "In any case, she's the sister of our family's eleventh daughter. I should go take a look!" Her attitude was very polite, but it couldn't help but give people a sense of unfamiliarity.

  Eleventh Sister remembered the note given by Lady Tai - the Wang family was not among them.

  She thought it was strange at the time. Everyone is in the same circle, how can there be no dealings... It's just that something happened and caused a rift between the two families. Or, is it related to Wang Luan and Xu Lingkuan?

  She was lost in thought, and Zheng Taikun asked anxiously what had happened?

  The old lady smiled and didn't say a word, so Old Lady Wang told her about Shier's miscarriage.

  "Children don't understand, the first child is often ruined... You don't have to be heartbroken. She's still young, just take care of her for a few days and she'll be fine." Then he thought of Fifth Wife, "Is Dan Yang doing well?"

  Old Lady Wang smiled and said, "Please invite Master Ji Ning to take a look at the feng shui. Move to the back garden to live. Looking at that face with white skin and rosy cheeks, people are getting more and more prosperous, it seems pretty good!"

  "That's good, that's good." Zheng Taijun nodded repeatedly and mentioned that the third daughter-in-law of Wei Daren, the Minister of Rites, had given birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix twins in her first pregnancy.

  For a moment, everyone was drawn to this topic and left Old Lady Wang aside.

  Mrs. Tang looked around and found Yang, who was playing cards beside Mrs. Zhou. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly before she smiled and approached, taking the hand of Old Lady Wang: "It's been some time since we old sisters have seen each other. Is Mrs. Jiang doing well? I heard that your son-in-law received an imperial reward last month for opening up his granary?"

  Mentioning her daughter and son-in-law, Old Lady Wang's face was full of smiles: "Guniang is a diligent person by nature. Lin'er can follow him, it's really the blessing of good fortune from past lives." The two sat down on a low stool beside the plum blossom trellis.

  The horse carriage slowly drove out of the Zhongshan Hou's residence. The old lady couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "It's really exhausting!"

  The eleventh girl smiled and handed over a cup of hot tea: "You have some tea."

  The old lady took a sip and let out a breath, a look of comfort on her face.

  "Take a nap!" Shí Niáng smiled and tucked the white fox fur cloak on Tàifūrén's legs, "We still have half an incense stick's worth of time before we get home. I'll call you when it's time."

  "It's better to go home and sleep!" said the old lady with a smile, "At our age, once we fall asleep, we can't wake up, and when we're awake, we can't sleep!" She then asked the eleventh daughter-in-law, "You've officially made an appearance today. Tell me, what have you observed?"

  Eleventh daughter was shocked.

  Thoughts were racing through her mind.

  What does the old lady want to know?

  Have you figured out the relationship between each of them? Or their personalities and temperaments?

  As she hesitated, Lady Tai smiled and reminded her: "If the Marquis asks you about going to the Zhongshan Hou's house, what will you say to him?"

  Talking to men is naturally about politics, history and economics...

  She smiled and said, "Madam Tang is hosting us in the main hall. They are all frequent visitors to our estate, including Zheng Taikun from the Dingguo Gongfu, Huang Furen from the Yongchang Houfu, Lin Furen from the Weibei Houfu, and others. Lunch was served in a small flower hall behind the main hall... However, there were two more people during lunch..."

  Madam listened with a flicker in her eyes.

  The eleventh girl knew she had guessed correctly.

  The smile became more and more relaxed.

  "One was the wife of Liang, a university scholar and Minister of Justice, and the other was the wife of Li Zhong, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi. It is said that the Marquis of Jianning wanted to marry his second daughter to the eldest son of the Liang family, but the eldest son had already become engaged to the seventh Miss Gan of the Zhongqin Earl's family, and the second son was engaged to the second daughter of Huang, the governor of Zhejiang. So the Marquis of Jianning married his second daughter to the third son of the Liang family. What is strange is that we had never heard before about the engagement between the eldest son of the Liang family and the seventh Miss Gan of the Zhongqin Earl's family." She glanced at the old lady as she spoke.

  The old lady was smiling at her, seeing her stop to look at herself, and immediately smiled and took her hand: "Good child. You're really clever." As she spoke, she stroked her head with a loving face, "When you see the Marquis later, just tell him that!"

  A man's will is often revealed through the actions of the women in his household... Madam Xu must want her to be another pair of eyes for Xu Lingyi!

  She is capable of doing this job and it's also what she wants to achieve.

  Eleventh girl nodded happily: "Got it!"

  Madam nodded, her eyes full of satisfaction.

  As they spoke, the carriage had already arrived at the Lotus Pond.

  Xu Lingyi and San Ye had already received the news, and led a young servant carrying a large red lantern to welcome them at the gate of Chuihua.

  The old lady got off the car and asked strangely: "Where is Xiao Wu?"

  Xu Lingyi said: "I saw that the weather was cold and let him go back first. My fifth younger sister is now pregnant, and there can't be no one by her side."

  The old lady nodded and entered the gate of the hanging flowers with the support of the eleventh daughter.

  The three madams led the maidservants and waited inside the door.

  Four people and a large group of maids and women surrounded Madame Tai on her way back to the house.