Chapter 36: The Banquet (Part 1)

  See off the son-in-law, and the old master returned to the main house. The old lady couldn't help but sneer: "Isn't it because our family is too poor that the national uncle sat down and felt disgusted?"

  The old man frowned: "What are you talking about? The Marquis is not that kind of person. Indeed, the Emperor has something to discuss with him - you're not unaware, Liu Gong's retirement, the affairs of the court are complicated, he is a heavyweight minister in public and the emperor's uncle-in-law in private, how can he stay out of it..."

  "I didn't know when he became a university scholar?" Madame's tone was sarcastic, but much softer than before.

  "Have you met Mrs. Liu since arriving in Yanjing?" Old Master didn't want to talk more with Eldest Madam, reminding her, "They will set off early tomorrow morning, take some time to go see them! Also, at Third Brother's and Sister-in-law's place, see if there are any places where you can lend a hand."

  "Come on, let's go," said the mistress. "I've already prepared everything. I was just waiting for you to return so we can go together." She then called Lü Qiū to help Master Lü change his clothes, and the couple set off towards the Liu residence.

  Wu Niang was powdering her face and washing her hair in the house, while Shi Yi Niang was making clothes for Jun Ge in the house.

  The next day, Xu's family came to pick them up in a carriage at the third watch. The mistress had just finished instructing everything at home.

  Old Mrs. Luo and the elder lady got into the first carriage, Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang into the second, Mrs. Xi, Brother Rong, and his wet nurse into the third, Hupo, Dongqing, Ziwai, and Ziyun into the fourth, while the mothers sent by Lady Zheng to fetch them and several rough servant women from the Luo household occupied the fifth and sixth carriages, accompanied by over thirty guards, they left Bowstring Alley for Hehua in a grand procession.

  When they arrived at Xu's home, it was just after noon.

  They first went to see Yuan Niang.

  The aunt had arrived early, and after everyone exchanged greetings, Jun Ge and Xiang Ge giggled and hugged each other, holding hands to go see the goldfish in the backyard.

  "Today you will accompany Brother Mu to Grandma's house for dinner." Yuanniang said softly, "After dinner, let Sister Wei Zijie take you to see the goldfish. Is that okay?"

  The clever and obedient younger brother nodded, and the older brother also said "good", winning a praise from the adults.

  Everyone said a few more words of idle chatter, and then they went with Madame Wen to see Old Madam.

  The old lady was accompanied by a little girl of eight or nine years old wearing a red silk jacket waiting in the corridor.

  Fourth Brother was delighted when he saw the little girl and shouted "Sister Jing", then struggled out of the wet nurse's arms and ran to her.

  The little girl smiled and came forward, holding his hand, saying: "How did you lose Brother Xiang?"

  Xiong Ge looked embarrassed and lowered his head, softly calling out "Xiao Ge".

  Xiao Ge didn't mind either, ran over and pulled Xiao Tong's hand, shouting "Sister" to the little girl.

  Xu's family had only one daughter in this generation, born to Wen Niang. Without needing to think much, the Eleventh Sister also knew that this little girl was Xu Lingyi's eldest daughter.

  She couldn't help but take a closer look at Zhen Jie.

  Her height seems taller than that of children of the same age, her skin is snowy white, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, completely different from Wen's petite and delicate features.

  Or does he look like his father?

  Eleventh girl thought for a moment, and then Zhen sister rushed towards Wen Niang and shouted "Niang".

  The aunt listened with a smile all over her face and shouted "Big Miss".

  The old lady smiled and had someone give Rong'er a silver ingot as a reward.

  Xiao Ge thanked Tai Fu Ren in a soft and gentle voice, and Tai Fu Ren hugged Xiao Ge and kept praising him: "This child is really likable!"

  The old lady's eyes were full of smiles, and after a humble pause, Luo Dainai, Wu Niang, Shiyi Niang, and Wen Yinai came forward to pay their respects to the madam. The group chatted and laughed as they went to the madam's usual resting chamber.

  Everyone had just sat down when a young maid came in to announce: "Madam Cheng Guogong and her daughter have arrived."

  "Quickly, come in!" The voice of the madam had just fallen when Mrs. Qiao brought in Miss Qiao, the sixth young lady of the Qiao family, whom she had seen before.

  Mrs. Qiao wore a large red dress with golden threads, her hair styled in a peony bun, adorned with a ruby-encrusted phoenix mouth holding four bright pearl knots, and on the right side of her head, she wore a large gemstone that shone brightly. The young lady from the Qiao family wore a yellow embroidered green apricot-pit patterned dress, her hair styled in a fallen horse bun, with a golden hairpin inserted, wearing a beeswax stone flower, and on her ears hung a pair of ruby-encrusted amethyst earrings, presenting a gentle and charming appearance.

  Eleventh girl couldn't help but glance at Fifth girl beside her.

  She wore a crimson skirt with golden embroidery today, her hair was styled in a high bun, and she inserted three branches of blue and red coral ornaments into her hairpin. Her ears were adorned with ruby-encrusted cat's eye stone earrings, exuding elegance with a hint of dignity.

  Look at yourself again.

  She combed her double buns and wore two pomegranate-red silk flowers the size of fingernails, with a pair of crimson silver pearl drops hanging from her ears, wearing a bean-green cloud-patterned embroidered jacket... looking a bit childish.

  The eleventh girl was very satisfied with this effect, and her mouth slightly curled up.

  Everyone sat down after exchanging greetings. The maid brought in tea and snacks. Wei Zi took Zhen Jie, Yun Ge, and Xiang Ge to the warm room.

  Just then, a voice came from outside the door: "I'm late, please don't blame me." As soon as the words fell, a group of maids and wives-in-law surrounded a woman in her 25 or 26 years old and walked in.

  She had a slender figure, wearing a large red hundred-butterfly embroidered jacket with golden threads all over, her hair was styled in a peach-shaped bun, with a branch of bright gold inserted in the middle, and on the right side, she wore a precious flower with a large Western pearl and jade leaves embedded. Her eyebrows were like willows, her eyes like apricots, her face lightly made up, and her spirit was radiant and lively, fresh and elegant.

  Eleventh Girl looked unfamiliar, but Qiao Liu Miss was recognizable, smiling and standing up to shout "Third Madam".

  Third Madam? That's Xu Lingyi's elder brother Xu Lingning's wife!

  The fifth daughter and the eleventh daughter also stood up listening.

  The lady of the house had already greeted the newcomer: "Third Mistress, it's been a long time since we last met?"

  The three madams hurried forward and made a curtsy to the lady of the house, smiling and saying: "I'm late, please don't blame me, milady."

  The big wife was busy holding the hand of San Furen: "Really, you're getting more and more beautiful!"

  "Thank you, Mrs. Cheng." The third madam politely exchanged a few words with Mrs. Cheng and then greeted Mrs. Qiao before smiling brightly at Miss Qiao: "Lianfang, it's been a long time!"

  Mrs. Qiao glanced at Mrs. Tao: "She never ventures beyond the inner courtyard, spending her days either doing needlework or teaching a few nephews to recognize characters."

  Qiao family's sixth young lady's face turned slightly red as she asked Third Madame: "Why haven't the two nephews appeared?"

  The third wife smiled and said: "It's not time to go home from school yet." Then she turned around and looked at the fifth daughter-in-law and the eleventh daughter-in-law: "I was wondering who it was. From a distance, they look like celestial maidens. It turns out they are our relatives' daughters!"

  The lady-in-waiting hastily introduced Third Lady to Fifth Sister and Eleventh Sister.

  Eleventh Girl had heard from Mrs. Xu that the father of the third wife of the Xu family was a younger son of the Gan family, who studied hard and never gave up, passed the imperial examination at the age of 21, became a juren at the age of 44, and is now studying with Luo Zhenxing in the Imperial Academy...

  Listening to her tone, she's very familiar with the people from Qiao's family... Is it that Mrs. Qiao has a wide social circle? Or is it that all the noble and powerful families in Yanjing are interconnected?

  She believed more in the latter.

  The eleventh girl's gaze shifted slightly.

  Everyone had made their bows, and the third lady-in-waiting smiled as she explained to the old lady: "The third master has returned, I was attending to him while he washed and dressed, which is why I'm late, please don't blame me, mother."

  The old lady nodded with a smile and said, "Has Third Son returned?"

  "Yes!" The third madam said respectfully, "Just returned. Originally wanted to come and pay respects to mother immediately. Heard that there were guests on mother's side, so I rested first." And explained to Madam Qiao and the eldest madam: "Our family's Third Master went to Tianjin to collect an account."

  Xu Lingning was a scholar and his family donated him as a fourth-rank official, but he didn't take office and helped manage some trivial matters at home.

  Madam Ta slightly nodded her head, smiled and stood up: "I'm afraid you must be hungry from sitting here listening to my idle chatter. Let's go to the Flower Hall, and you can also taste the flavor of our Yanjing - although it can't compare to Jiangnan, it has its own unique flavor."

  The three madams hurried forward and supported Madame Tai.

  "Too polite, madam." The lady politely said, "Yanjing is an important place in the capital, how can it be compared to our small town in Jiangnan?"

  Wu Niang then went forward to support Da Tai Tai, Shi Yi Niang quietly followed behind the two, leaving Zhen Jie Er, Yun Ge and Xiang Ge in Tai Fu Ren's room. Everyone chatted and laughed as they went to the newly built five-room flower hall behind Tai Fu Ren's house.

  On the way, Mrs. Qiao smiled and said to the old lady: "This was originally a useless study room. The fifth master is filial, last year he changed the inverted seat into a flower hall, and built a theater in the courtyard for the old lady, called 'Dianchun Hall'. Is that the name? I didn't remember wrong, did I?"

  "This is the name!" The smile of the lady reached her eyes, it can be seen that she was very happy someone mentioned this matter. "He likes to mess around and wants to buy a few children back to ask people to teach them opera and form an internal class. He said that in the future, if there are any celebrations, they won't need to invite outsiders, so as not to be bothered."

  "This is great!" said Mrs. Qiao with a smile, "If you don't find any to your liking, I have several clever and pretty little maids at my place who haven't yet taken vows, and I think they look even better than those 'De Yin' troupe members who perform for the Empress Dowager."

  Whatever Old Mrs. Jiao said, Eldest Mistress would chime in, and she would deliberately bring up some personal matters that only they were familiar with, intentionally or unintentionally leaving Eldest Lady out in the cold. Meanwhile, Old Mistress pretended to be completely unaware of what was happening, occasionally exchanging a few words with Eldest Lady.

  "Does the lady of the house like to watch plays?" she asked with a smile. "In the past two years, Beijing has seen the rise of 'De Yin Ban', a troupe from Yangzhou that specializes in performing弋阳腔 (a type of opera). On the Empress's birthday, the Emperor even summoned them to perform at the palace. Nowadays, everyone in Beijing is clamoring to watch De Yin Ban's plays; their performances at the 'Ji Yuan Guan' are always sold out, and it's hard to get a seat!"

  The lady smiled and said: "De Yin Ban has performed in our Hangzhou Prefecture before, and was very famous. However, I've spent most of my days at home and have never heard De Yin Ban's plays."

  Old Mrs. heard this and smiled: "In a few days we will invite people to sing at home?"

  "How can this be!" The lady politely declined, "The inner courtyard of a deep residence..."

  "Ah, what a great idea!" Mrs. Qiao interrupted the old lady with a smile, "You don't know that our Fifth Master loves to listen to opera, but unfortunately, Lord Hou dislikes the noise. Every time Fifth Master sees Lord Hou, he gets startled and flies away like a swallow..." She then whispered, "Rather than letting them go out, why not just have fun at home?"

  I'm going crazy...... The power is out again. I'll correct the typos when it comes back on... ⊙﹏⊙ sweat......