Hearing this, Tian An smiled and explained to her, "This is indeed a lamp!"
Afterwards, she whispered a few words to Gu Jinyan, and then Gu Jinyan immediately ordered the maids to close the doors and windows of the hall and cover all the light with black cloth.
Almost at the moment the room darkened, the glazed eternal life lantern on the table lit up.
The twinkling lights look like the stars in the sky. Against the backdrop of the lights, the flowers look more beautiful and the fragrance seems to be stronger.
The ladies present were fascinated by the scene, even Zhao Qianhua looked intoxicated.
The light in the hall was a little dim, so no one noticed that there was a person in the crowd with a determined look on his face.
After a while, the maids and servants took down the blackout cloth, opened the doors and windows, and the light returned to the hall. The glazed eternal life lantern also returned to its previous appearance, but it was still beautiful.
The crowd started talking.
"Was that... a night-shining pearl?"
"Hiss! This gift is too expensive!"
"It's colored glass, it's everlasting flowers, and it's night-shining pearls. Just one of them would be enough to be admired, but they actually combined all three together."
“It’s absolutely beautiful!”
Gu Jinyan also looked conflicted and said, "An An, isn't this too expensive? I..."
Tian An held her hand and said, "No matter how expensive it is, it can't be more valuable than the friendship between us."
Gu Jinyan was so touched, "An An, you are so nice to me."
The other young ladies also looked at them with touching faces. Tian An felt that he couldn't favor one over the other, so he went up to them one by one and took their hands, saying, "We are the same." He also quietly told them that if they liked it, he would find a chance to give one to each of them in the future.
However, while they were enjoying their sisterly love, someone else started to make trouble.
Zhao Qianhua stepped forward, pointing at the glazed eternal life lantern, and said, "Tian An, such a precious item should be presented to the Empress Dowager. How could you be so careless as to use it for someone's coming-of-age ceremony?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the Gu family changed their expressions instantly. The ladies beside them also thought to themselves, "This girl has such a vicious mind. She wants to kill three birds with one stone! Not only does she snatch the Glazed Eternal Life Lantern from the Gu family, she also pleases the Queen Mother and deceives Tian An."
Unfortunately, those present here are all shrewd people who have been working in the backyard for many years. How could they be easily controlled by her?
Madam Zheng, the eldest lady of the Gu family and Gu Jinyan's aunt, was the first to speak: "Miss Zhao, what are you talking about? The Empress Dowager has seen all kinds of good things! She would be interested in a small coming-of-age gift for my young lady from the Gu family."
Gu Jinyan's mother also said: "What the eldest sister-in-law said is that you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. If you don't know, you might think Miss Zhao is implying that the Queen Mother has a low vision!"
As soon as the two of them opened their mouths, Zhao Qianhua's face turned pale, and she said with trembling lips: "No, I didn't, I..."
Seeing her rebuttal, Kristy Wu was the first to stand up and pointed at her nose and said, "You are nothing, that's what you mean! The Empress Dowager has seen everything! There are plenty of colored glass and night-shining pearls in the Empress Dowager's palace!"
Wei Lingran also stepped forward and said, "Exactly. There are also flowers. There are all kinds of rare and valuable species in the Imperial Garden! You yourself have never seen anything good, yet you are trying to bring the Empress Dowager up with you. What are your intentions?"
Song Zhiyun also shook her head and looked at her, "Miss Zhao, you should gain some experience before you come out again! Otherwise, you will bring shame to the Duke's Mansion."
Zuo Yunshu also nodded in agreement: "Yes! After all, she is considered the daughter of the Duke's Mansion, how can this be allowed?"
Finally, Gu Jinyan stepped forward and said, "Miss Zhao, I really don't know how I've offended you to behave like this at my coming-of-age ceremony. My Gu family temple is small, and I'm afraid we can't accommodate Miss Zhao. Please go back!"
Several sisters took turns to confront Zhao Qianhua, making her speechless. She stood there, about to cry, as if she was being bullied.
The old lady of the Gu family hated to see the younger generation behave like this. She frowned and said rudely, "Miss Zhao, what are you doing? You caused a scene at the coming-of-age banquet of our Gu family's eldest daughter, ruining the most important day of a woman's life. Now you look like you're crying. Do you want to continue to annoy me?"
After being lectured so rudely, even though Zhao Qianhua was thick-skinned, she was too embarrassed to stay here and turned around to leave.
But he was stopped by someone's shout of "Stop."
Tian An stepped forward and said, "I heard that Miss Zhao pointed at the gift I carefully prepared for Jin Yan and angrily called it rubbish in front of everyone.
Everyone knows that the General's Mansion is poor and can't afford any decent gifts. I wonder what kind of precious and rare gifts such a noble Duke's Mansion has given! Take them out and let Tian An take a look!
Zhao Qianya's face turned pale instantly. The Gu family didn't invite her at all. She came with Jiang Wanmeng and didn't prepare any gifts at all.
She reflexively looked at Jiang Wanmeng, wanting her to speak out or take out the gift she had prepared for everyone to see.
It's a pity that Jiang Wanmeng never even gave her a glance from beginning to end.
Seeing that she hadn't made any movement for a long time, someone who wanted to watch the fun said:
"The Gu family just admitted that they didn't invite her at all. Could it be that she didn't prepare any gifts at all?"
"That shouldn't be the case! Since you're already here, you should still have some basic courtesy!"
"That's right. She just despised and criticized the gift someone else gave her. It must be because the gift she gave was good. That's why she said that!"
…
As everyone was talking, someone suddenly called out to Gu Jinyan to take out the gift. "Miss Gu, the gift is given to you. It's yours now. Take it out and show it to everyone!"
The voice sounded familiar, and Tian An turned around to find that it was Xiao Lao San. Besides him, there were also a group of masters and young masters from various families standing beside him.
Originally, the male guests were drinking and chatting in the front yard, but somehow, the news of what happened here got passed on. When Xiao Laosan heard that someone was targeting Tian An, he brought his men to support her.
Here, when everyone saw the Third Prince coming, they were about to bow, but before they could even lower their bodies, he stopped them, "No need to be polite, I'm just here to join in the fun today."
After saying that, he looked at Gu Jinyan again and said, "Miss Gu, this is the gift from Miss Tian on the table! It's a really good gift.
However, this prince is also really curious about what gift Miss Zhao gave that made her so confident that it could surpass Miss Tian's gift. If it's a good thing, then take it out and let everyone see it!
Several young men nearby started to make noises, "Yeah! Let's take a look. We're curious too."
Zhao Qianhua's face turned even paler, her head was buzzing, and she knew that she was finished.
Even if the Third Prince hadn't spoken, Gu Jinyan would have taken the things out and shown them to everyone, not for anything else, just to seek justice for Tian An.
However, except for the gifts from Tian An and a few of her friends, which were given to her directly, the other guests were registered and looked after by the housekeeper, and would not be delivered to her yard until the end of the banquet, so she really didn't know whether Zhao Qianhua had given any gifts or not.
I could only look at the butler.
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