Chapter 571 Shi Le'an

Li San Niang, Qiu Xiang, and Li's mother stood at the door with Lu Zhu'er to greet the two. They watched as Gao Ya Hui helped Gao Da Sao down from the carriage. The group exchanged greetings, and Gao Ya Hui even bowed to Lu Zhu'er in a serious manner, calling her "Little Miss Lu Zhu'er." After receiving a sweet smile and a return bow from Lu Zhu'er, Gao Ya Hui was so pleased that she wanted to squat down and pick up Lu Zhu'er.

It was only after Sister-in-law Gao, who was standing to the side, glared at her sternly that Gao Ya Hui finally calmed down and only reached out to touch Lu Zhu'er's hair.

Li's mother asked Gao's sister-in-law to take care of Li San Niang and Lu Zhu'er. After receiving Gao's sister-in-law's response, Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang took Lu Zhu'er and got into the Gao family's carriage.

Inside the carriage, Li San Niang first greeted Gao Da Sao and her newborn son (Chapters 442-443), and received a reply from Gao Da Sao that everything was fine.

Just as Li San Niang was about to say something, Gao Ya Hui, with a hint of resentment, half-embraced Lu Zhu'er and said to Li San Niang, "The little nephew born to my sister-in-law only knows how to cry all day long, and he really takes after my elder brother. He's dark-skinned and nowhere near as cute as the young lady."

"If only my sister-in-law had given birth to a girl back then."

Sister-in-law Gao first smiled helplessly at Li San Niang, then turned to Gao Ya Hui and said, "He's still young now. When he's older, he won't cry every day."

The group chatted about everyday matters as the carriage slowly made its way to the Song family's residence.

About an hour later, Sister-in-law Gao lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. Seeing that they were almost at the Song family's residence, she stopped talking and began to recount the details of attending the Song family's flower-viewing banquet.

"Although this flower-viewing banquet is held under the guise of Mid-Autumn Festival flower viewing, in addition to inviting everyone to appreciate the flowers, it is actually held for General Shi's second son, Shi Le'an, who has just returned from the frontier."

That means they want to take this opportunity to let Shi Le'an take a look at the noble ladies in Chang'an. If a good girl is chosen, she might become the wife of a military commander in the future.

Although the army is still on the frontier and has not yet returned to the capital, it has already achieved a great victory, and the new Khan of the Western Turks has sent a letter of surrender.

Therefore, although General Shi is currently still on the frontier in charge of military affairs, Shi Le'an has already escorted the Western Turkic prisoners back to Chang'an, where they will be presented to the emperor at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the palace.

Shi Le'an is well past the age of twenty-five, but with his status and military achievements, his future potential is limitless.

With such a fine prospective son-in-law, how could any family possibly miss out?

Li San Niang knew that Gao Da Sao had deliberately told her this, presumably because Gao Da Sao had already told Gao Ya Hui about Shi Le An when she was at home.

This was also a weakness for Li San Niang and the Li family, because no one in the Li family had access to the upper echelons, so Li San Niang was unaware of such news.

Li San Niang looked at Gao Da Sao with gratitude in her eyes.

Sister-in-law Gao gave Li San Niang a warm smile. As for why Sister-in-law Gao went to such lengths to tell Li San Niang all this information, and why she had previously agreed to Gao Ya Hui's request to leave the Gao family early and take a long detour to pick up Li San Niang.

This was primarily because Sister-in-law Gao couldn't directly reject Gao Ya Hui's request. Since Gao Ya Hui's biological parents had passed away early, Gao Da Lang cherished Gao Ya Hui, his only close blood relative in the world.

As Gao Ya Hui's sister-in-law, Gao Da Sao naturally couldn't afford to strain her relationship with her sister-in-law.

Furthermore, when Gao Dasao married Gao Dalang, Gao Ya Hui was still a young girl. After so many years of getting along, Gao Dasao naturally cared about Gao Ya Hui's affairs.

If it weren't for finding a good marriage for Gao Ya Hui, Gao's sister-in-law wouldn't have left the side of her son, whom she had been seeking for many years, less than two months after giving birth, and instead brought Gao Ya Hui to the Song family's banquet.

Secondly, it was naturally because of the life-saving grace.

When Sister-in-law Gao was giving birth, she suffered from excessive amniotic fluid and umbilical cord prolapse (as described in chapters 442-443), which brought her and her child to the brink of death. If it weren't for Li San Niang's miraculous intervention, pulling her and her child back to life, who knows what their current situation would be like.

Thirdly, it's naturally because there's profit to be made in currying favor with Li San Niang.

Li San Niang is a female doctor, a doctor who can help women give birth smoothly. Not only that, Li San Niang can also treat women's illnesses.

Every family has a young daughter, and who can guarantee that people who eat grains and cereals will not get sick?

Therefore, being on good terms with doctors is all beneficial.

For these three reasons, Sister-in-law Gao did her best to tell Li San Niang all the information she had, so that she wouldn't be blind to it.

"If Shi Le'an is so powerful, why would he come to the Song family's flower appreciation banquet?"

Although I am just a commoner, I know that the Song family's social standing is not yet at such a level, is it?

As they approached the street corner where the Song family lived, Li Sanniang looked up out the car window and, sure enough, the road was congested again.

Whenever an upper-class noble family held a banquet, the street where that family lived would be extremely congested that day.

Even with several patrolling constables and a small squad of Imperial Guards directing traffic, it would still take a while for the congestion to subside.

Sister-in-law Gao also turned her gaze away from the car window, lowered her head, and quickly answered the question Li San Niang had just asked in a low voice: "Indeed, the Song family's social standing is not yet comparable to that of General Shi."

However, the third son of the second branch of the Song family had been practicing martial arts since childhood and had studied under the same master as Shi Le'an. The two had been classmates since childhood.

Because of this kindness, the Song family was able to invite Shi Le'an to their flower-viewing banquet.

After listening to Gao Dasao's explanation, Li Sanniang nodded to herself, thinking to herself, "Indeed, this youthful friendship is genuine. This explanation makes sense."

Old Ten, who was sitting on the carriage shaft, and the Gao family's coachman called out from outside, signaling that Li San Niang and Gao Da Sao had arrived at their destination.

First, Sister-in-law Gao straightened her clothes, then pressed down the hairpin in Gao Ya Hui's hair again, before signaling Li San Niang to take Lu Zhu'er and Qiu Xiang out of the carriage.

"Today, Princess Taiping, Princess Anyang, and other noble ladies from various families will be here for the flower viewing banquet. Doctor Li, just stay by my side. We're just here to enjoy the flowers and have a meal. After we're done eating and looking at the flowers, we'll leave."

At the entrance of the Song family's residence, Li San Niang saw Song Da Lang and several other young men who should be Song family members standing at the door to greet guests.

The female guest simply handed over the invitation at the door, and then a maid led her into the garden.

Li San Niang held Lu Zhu'er's hand, with Qiu Xiang beside her, walking alongside Gao Ya Hui and Gao Da Sao. Li San Niang saw Gao Da Sao glance at the male guest, and then heard Gao Da Sao lower her head and explain to Gao Ya Hui and Li San Niang in a low voice: "This male guest should have been welcomed into the main courtyard from the beginning."

I will be led to the garden just before the banquet begins, and that's when I can meet the female guests.

At that time, the head of the Song family will introduce each of the distinguished guests to everyone.