Chapter 54 Lu Family Banquet
After Qingyue's repeated urging, the two cousins came to the front yard hand in hand.
Lu Yu dressed up specially today, wearing a scarlet skirt with a ruyi pattern, a snow-white lining, and intricate pearl hairpins, which was very bright.
The girl next to her was a little more "plain", wearing a snow-blue brocade flowing cloud skirt, with a golden cloud satin skirt underneath, and her hair was combed into a heart-shaped bun, decorated with crabapple pearl flowers, which made her small face look even more simple and elegant.
Although she is dressed simply, it cannot conceal the girl's elegance. Just look at her porcelain-white face, her lips are red without any makeup, and her eyebrows are black without any drawing. She is truly picturesque, as soft as jade and as gentle as a flower.
Lu Yu was still in her developmental stages, her figure still underdeveloped and her face still chubby, though she could be considered dignified and pretty. But after getting dressed up today, when she saw her cousin again, she was still captivated by the graceful and elegant manner of the young girl.
When Wang saw her niece dressed up carefully, she smiled brightly and took her to the flower hall to welcome guests and chat with a group of officials' wives.
These officials' wives were already curious about this "cousin" who came from afar. When they first saw the girl's appearance, they all started to explore the possibility of marriage.
Wang Shi understood the meaning of their words and dealt with them briefly. The old lady had instructed that her niece's marriage must be under her supervision and that nothing should be sloppy.
The elders were chatting and laughing, and Song Lingyi, who was standing next to them, kept a proper smile to please them. Her face was almost stiff from laughing. She finally found an opportunity to leave the elders' social circle.
The corridors are bright and clean, and servants are running around like shuttles.
The girl walked slowly alone with her head down. After a while, a pair of black boots with gold weaving appeared in her sight. Her smoky black robe shone with golden light in the sunlight, which made her look very noble.
As if afraid that the girl would fall into his arms, Lu Qian put a finger against her forehead and said disdainfully, "Don't you look at the road when you walk?"
“…” Song Lingyi frowned and looked up.
Ever since he copied scriptures for him at the ancestral hall, the relationship between the cousins had eased somewhat. They couldn't be called close brothers and sisters, but they kept to themselves. After all, for several days, the young master hadn't been in the mansion except for sleeping.
They were silent for two breaths. The girl opened her mouth slightly and was about to say something when she saw a group of young men approaching, teasing each other.
"Why is the young master here?"
"Lian He said he wants to play tossing pots. Why don't we have a gamble?"
Several young men walked up to Lu Qian, and when they saw the girl in front of them, they stopped talking and stared at her.
“…”
Song Lingyi felt extremely embarrassed when she was looked at. She smoothed her hair and coughed twice.
Lu Qian tilted his head and saw that his brothers were staring at his cousin. He couldn't help but poke them with his elbow and frowned, "What's up?"
The young man covered his stomach with his hands in pain, took a deep breath, and asked, "A Qian, who is this girl? Why haven't I seen her before?"
Lu Qian curled his lips and didn't intend to pay any attention to them.
Song Lingyi, however, thought that everyone who came was a guest and that she had to be polite and courteous, not to embarrass her grandmother. She knelt and said, "Greetings, gentlemen. I am the young master's cousin."
"cousin?!"
Several young men were dumbfounded and almost lost their voice in surprise.
"What's going on? Didn't you say your cousin is ugly and has a weird personality?" the young man whispered.
Lu Qian glared at him.
When did he ever say that the dead girl was ugly? At most, he said that she had a bad temper.
Seeing the reactions of these young men, Song Lingyi probably guessed that Lu Qian had said a lot of bad things about her in front of them. She took a deep breath and said with a forced smile, "Cousin, I have something else to do. Excuse me."
After saying that, he turned and went to the other end of the corridor. The remaining group of young masters caught Lu Qian and asked him all kinds of questions.
The palace had many recreational activities, such as pitching pots, six-stroke games, kicking balls, and shooting covers. The group of young men surrounded Lu Qian all the way to the end of the corridor, where many people gathered in the open space to play the pitching pot game.
Seeing an arrow thrown by a young man hit the golden pot and land outside the pot ear, all the young men present sighed.
The young man wore a headband with auspicious cloud patterns. After failing in the game of pitching pots, a hint of melancholy lingered between his delicate eyebrows.
"Lian He, you can't do this."
"You'll have to drink two glasses of wine as punishment later..."
"Hey, the young master is here."
"The young master got slapped on the head several times last time, so he's going to be in the spotlight again today."
Lian He turned to the right, and a deep, magnetic voice cut through the air.
"Change the pot and get the arrows."
The golden pot with pierced ears was placed on top. The pot with two separate ears was the most difficult to throw. Lu Qian moved his hands lightly and shot out both arrows in his hands.
"Young Master was hit in the ear!"
There was cheering all around.
Lian He's face was filled with disdain. Because of his cousin Pei Zhao, his relationship with Lu Qian wasn't particularly good. It wasn't that his cousin and Lu Qian had a grudge against each other; his cousin was open-minded and virtuous, so he wouldn't hold a grudge against Lu Qian. He simply couldn't stand Lu Qian constantly targeting him.
Over there, Song Lingyi strolled to the side hall, where a table for unmarried women was set up. A group of young girls gathered together, making it much noisier than the main hall and the flower hall.
As soon as I entered, I felt the gazes from all directions, some curious, some scrutinizing, some looking down on me...
Originally thought that Lu Yu was entertaining guests in the side hall, but unexpectedly, after looking around, there was no one. Song Lingyi felt that she could not just leave like that, so she slowly moved to the table and sat down.
The theme of this banquet at the Duke of Jin's mansion was to introduce Song Lingyi to the dignitaries of Kyoto. These elegantly dressed ladies, dressed in red and green, were all of equal status to the Duke of Jin's mansion, or perhaps just slightly less so.
Many people in Kyoto knew that Lu Yanxian severed ties with the Duke's Mansion for the sake of a poor scholar. This group of young people had also heard about it to some extent. Although they all tried hard to put on a smiling face, they obviously looked down on Song Lingyi.
Even though the girl was dressed in expensive clothes, surrounded by maids, and looked calm and composed, these noble ladies did not think much of her.
But even so, because of the relationship with the Duke's Mansion, these noble ladies still had to put on a good show and did not dare to speak rudely to her.
Not long after Song Lingyi sat down, several noble ladies surrounded her.
At first they were able to get along well and joke around for a while, but finally someone couldn't help it.
One of the girls, with a round face and pink clothes, deliberately said, "I heard that it was Sister Song who took the initiative to seek refuge with her relatives at the Duke's Mansion. Huaizhou is so far from the capital, Sister Song must have suffered a lot on the way. Huaizhou is a remote place after all, not as prosperous as the capital. Sister Song will enjoy a good life from now on."
Hearing the mockery in the round-faced girl in pink clothes' words, the other noble ladies smiled secretly with their hands covering their lips.
Song Lingyi felt uncomfortable, but she didn't even raise an eyebrow. "I appreciate your kind words, sister. However, suffering is secondary. My grandmother was bedridden because she was worried about my whereabouts, and I felt very uneasy. Now that I can always be by my grandmother's side and have her protection, it will be difficult for me to suffer in the future."
Instead of mocking her, she showed off. The round-faced girl in pink clothes had a slightly changed expression.
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