Chapter 36: Banquet

After seeing off his son-in-law, the eldest man returned to the main room. The eldest wife couldn't help but sneer: Could it be that the house is too shabby and the uncle feels uncomfortable just sitting there?

The elder frowned: What nonsense are you talking about? The Marquis is not that kind of person. It’s true that the emperor has something to discuss with him, and you don’t know it. Liu Ge is an old official, and there are many things in the court. Yu Gong is an important minister in the court.

He is the uncle of the country, so how can he stay away from the world?

I don't know when he became a bachelor. Although the eldest lady's words were sarcastic, she was much more relaxed than before.

You haven't met Mrs. Liu when you came to Yanjing. The old man didn't want to talk to the eldest lady too much. He reminded her that they will leave early tomorrow morning. You can take the time to go and see the three younger brothers and sisters to see if there is anything they can do to help.

.

I still want you to tell me. The eldest lady said angrily, I have already prepared the things. We will wait for you to come back and go there together. She also asked Luo Qiao to change clothes for the eldest man, and the couple went out to the Liu Mansion.

The fifth mother was in the room applying her face and washing her hair, while the eleventh mother was in the room making clothes for Brother Chen.

The next day, the carriage that came to pick them up from the Xu family arrived at the third quarter of the Lunar New Year, and the eldest lady happened to have arranged all the family matters.

Luo Da Nai and the eldest wife got on the first carriage, Wu Niang and Eleven Niang got on the second carriage, Xu's mother and Brother Xiu's wet nurse got on the third carriage, Amber, Holly, Ziwei and Ziyuan got on.

The fourth carriage was picked up, and the mother sent by the Madam to pick them up and a few rough ladies from the Luo family took the fifth and sixth carriages, plus more than thirty guards, and left Gongxian Hutong in a mighty manner.

Go into the lotus.

It was early afternoon when we arrived at Xu's house.

They went to see Yuanniang first.

Aunt Wen had arrived a long time ago. When everyone saw Li, Brother Chen and Brother Xi hugged each other with a smile. They held hands and went to the back garden to see the koi.

Today you are going to accompany Brother Xi to go to grandma's place for dinner. Yuan Niang whispered softly, and after you have finished eating, ask Sister Wei Zi to take you to see the koi. Okay?

Brother Zhun nodded obediently, and Brother Xi also said yes, which won a lot of praise from the adults.

After everyone chatted a few more words, Aunt Wen accompanied her to the Madam's place.

The wife was waiting in the hall with an eight or nine-year-old girl wearing a red silk coat.

As soon as Brother Zhen saw the little girl, he happily called Sister Zhen, then struggled out of the wet nurse's arms and got off the ground, running towards the little girl.

The little girl smiled and stepped forward, took his hand, and said: Why did you lose Brother Yu?

Brother Zhen lowered his head in embarrassment and called out to Brother Xi in a low voice.

Brother Yu didn't mind, so he ran over and took Brother Chen's hand, calling the little girl cousin.

Of the Xu family's generation, only Aunt Wen has given birth to a girl. No need to think too much, Eleven Niang knew that this little girl was Xu Lingyi's eldest daughter.

She couldn't help but look at Sister Zhen carefully.

She seems to be taller than other children of the same age, with snow-white skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes, which is completely different from Aunt Wen's petite and delicate appearance.

Or, looks like his father

Eleven Niang was thinking, Sister Zhen had already called Aunt Wen "Auntie."

Aunt Wen smiled all over her face and called her "Miss."

Madam Tai had already smiled and asked someone to reward Brother Xi with a silver crown.

Brother Yu thanked the wife in a sweet voice. The wife hugged Brother Yu and kept praising him: This child is really lovable.

The eldest lady's eyes were full of smiles, and after being humble for a while, the eldest lady Luo, the fifth lady, the eleventh mother, and Aunt Wen stepped forward to salute the madam. The group chatted and laughed and went to the side room where the madam had her daily banquets.

As soon as everyone sat down, a little maid came to report: Madam and young lady Cheng Guogong are here.

As soon as Mrs. Qiao's voice came out, Mrs. Qiao walked in with the sixth lady of the Qiao family whom she had met last time.

Today, Mrs. Qiao wore a big coat and a peony bun, with a red gold satin phoenix in her middle and four bright jeweled knots in her mouth. She wore a large flower with rubies on her right hand. She was very gorgeous. Miss Qiao wore a goose-yellow dress.

The flowered mandarin embroidered with green persimmon pedicle patterns, a pony bun, a gold walking stick, a beeswax stone beaded flower, and a pair of red gold and purple pendants hanging on the ears, gave her a gentle and charming look.

Eleven Niang couldn't help but glance at Wu Niang beside her.

Today she wore a garnet-red gown with gold all over it, a high bun, three cloisonne-inlaid red coral Ruyi gold hairpins, and red gold-inlaid emerald-colored cat's-eye pendants hanging from her ears. She was gorgeous yet dignified.

Look at yourself again.

She had a double-snail bun, two fingernail-sized pomegranate red silk flowers, a pair of red silver pearl pendants hanging from her ears, and a pea-green moiré-patterned flowered gown that looked childish.

Eleven Niang was very satisfied with the effect, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Everyone sat down after the ceremony, the maid served tea, and Wei Zi took sister Zhen, son, brother Zhun and brother Yu to the greenhouse.

There was laughter coming from outside the door: I'm late, please don't be surprised if you are a distinguished guest. As soon as the voice fell, a group of maids and wives came in, surrounded by a man in his mid-twenties.

She has a graceful figure. She wears a red gold crotch with flowers all over the place. She has a heart-shaped bun with a red gold branch in the middle. On her right side, she wears a precious flower inlaid with Atlantic pearls and emerald leaves. She has willow eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and pink and white flowers.

Give it a little bit, be energetic, sharp and capable.

Eleven Niang looked unfamiliar, but she knew Miss Qiao Liu. She stood up with a smile and called "Third Madam."

The third lady is the wife of Xu Lingning, Xu Lingyi’s brother-in-law.

Wu Niang and Eleven Niang also stood up after hearing this.

The eldest lady has already greeted the visitor: Third madam, it’s been a long time.

The third lady hurriedly stepped forward to bow to the eldest lady, and said with a smile: "I'm late, don't blame the eldest lady."

The eldest lady hurriedly took the third lady's hand: No, you are more and more beautiful.

The third lady greeted the eldest lady with compliments. The third lady greeted the eldest lady politely, and then greeted Mrs. Qiao, and then greeted the sixth lady of the Qiao family with a smile: "Lianfang, you are a rare guest."

Mrs. Qiao glanced at the dowager: she never left the house until she had gone through two doors. She spent the whole day either doing needlework or teaching her nephews how to read.

The sixth lady of the Qiao family blushed slightly when she heard this, and asked the third lady: Why don't you see your two nephews?

The third lady smiled and said: School has not finished yet. Then she turned around and looked at Wu Niang and Eleven Niang: Who am I talking about? From a distance, she looked like a fairy. It turned out to be the young lady from the in-laws.

After hearing this, the eldest lady quickly introduced the third lady to Wu Niang and Eleven Niang.

Eleven Niang heard from the eldest wife that the father of the third wife of the Xu family was a concubine of the Zhongqin Bogan family. He studied hard and became a scholar at the age of twenty-one and a scholar at the age of forty-four. Now he and Luo Zhenxing are together.

Entering the Imperial Academy

Listening to her tone, she is very familiar with the Qiao family. Does it mean that Mrs. Qiao has a wide social circle, or that the powerful families in Yanjing are all intricately connected?

She believes the latter more.

Eleven Niang's eyes turned slightly.

After everyone had seen the ceremony, the third lady smiled and explained to the dowager: The third master is back, and I helped him wash up, so I came late. Don't blame my mother.

The madam nodded cheerfully and said: The third child is back.

The third lady said respectfully, she had just come back. She wanted to come to greet her mother right away. When she heard that her mother had guests, she took a rest first. Then she explained to Mrs. Qiao and the eldest wife: Our third master went to Tianjin to collect pens.

account.

Xu Lingning was a scholar, and the Xu family donated to him a fellow scholar of the fourth grade, who was not an official but helped to take care of some trivial matters at home.

The wife slightly raised her eyebrows and stood up with a smile: "My wife is sitting here listening to my gossip, I am afraid she is already hungry. Let's go to the flower hall, and my wife can also taste the flavor of our Yanjing. Although it is not as good as that of Jiangnan, it still has its own flavor."

The third lady hurriedly stepped forward to help the dowager.

The eldest lady is very polite. The eldest lady said politely, Yanjing is an important place in Gyeonggi Province, how can it be comparable to our small town in the south of the Yangtze River?

The fifth lady stepped forward to help the eldest lady, and the eleventh lady followed them silently, leaving Sister Zhen, her son, brother Zhen, and brother Xi in the madam's house. Everyone talked and laughed and went to the newly built building behind the madam's house.

Five flower halls.

On the way, Mrs. Qiao smiled and said to the eldest wife: This used to be a useless study. The fifth master was filial. Last year, he changed the reverse seat into a flower hall and built a stage for the eldest wife in the yard. It was called Dianchun Tang.

Then he raised his face and asked Madam, is that the name I remember correctly?

This famous lady's smile reached to the bottom of her eyes. It was obvious that she was very happy that someone mentioned this matter. He just liked to mess around. He also wanted to buy a few children and hire someone to teach them and form an inner troupe.

If there is any festive event in the future, there is no need to invite outsiders to avoid embarrassment.

This is a good thing. Mrs. Qiao smiled and said, "If you don't like it, I still have a few smart little maids there who haven't grown their heads yet. I look at the few German music troupes who came to the palace to sing for the Queen."

Looks pretty good.

Mrs. Qiao would always talk to Mrs. Qiao whenever she said anything, and she kept talking about people and things they were just familiar with, intentionally or unintentionally ignoring the eldest wife. The Mrs. Qiao looked like she didn't know anything about it, and talked to the eldest wife from time to time.

Say a few words.

Whether the in-laws like to go to the theater or not, she smiled and said, Yanjing has had a German music troupe in the past two years, which came from Yangzhou and specializes in singing Yiyang tune. When the Queen Mother was born, the emperor even selected her to perform in the palace. Now Yanyan

People in Beijing are all following the performances of this German music troupe. I heard that the Yuan Pavilion where they perform is packed and it’s hard to find a place.

The eldest lady smiled and said: The German Music Troupe once performed in our Hangzhou mansion and was very famous. But I have been at home a lot and have never heard the performances of this German Music Troupe.

The lady laughed when she heard this and said: "How about we invite you to sing at home in a few days?"

Why do you have the nerve to refuse this? Madam, she is in the inner courtyard of the house.

I saw this was a good idea. Mrs. Qiao smiled and interrupted the eldest wife. "You don't know, our Fifth Master loves to listen to operas the most, but the Marquis finds it too noisy. Every time the Fifth Master sees the Marquis, he is as shocked as a swallow."

Feidi whispered again, rather than letting the men go outside, it is better to play at home.

I went crazy and there was a power outage. When the call came in, I corrected the typo.﹏bhan
Chapter completed!