Amid laughter, Mother Xu led everyone to their seats. The eldest lady directed the maids to serve the dishes, while the sixth concubine stood beside the eldest master and helped to serve the dishes. Brother Xiu had his own wet nurse to sit at another table, so there were only the eldest master, the eldest mistress, Luo Zhenxing, the fifth concubine and the eleventh concubine at the round table, with three embroidered cushions left over.
The master waved his hand and said, "There are no outsiders here, everyone please sit down and eat!"
Everyone in the room paused and looked at the eldest wife.
One is her daughter-in-law, and the other is her capable person. The eldest wife naturally would not object at this time. She smiled and said, "Master is right. There are no outsiders here. Let's all sit down and eat!"
The eldest grandmother smiled and sat down next to Luo Zhenxing, while the sixth concubine bowed to the eldest master and the eldest mistress before half-sitting on the embroidered cushion. However, Madam Xu was adamant and refused to sit down: "...We are all masters, there is no place for servants to sit."
The eldest master had an indifferent expression when he heard this, but he didn't force her. Seeing the eldest master's indifference, the eldest wife wanted Xu Mama to sit down even more. She even got down from her seat to persuade Xu Mama herself: "You helped raise Yuanniang and Xingge since they were young. If you don't sit down, who else is qualified to sit down?"
After hearing this, Sixth Aunt became a little restless.
Seeing that it was inappropriate to not sit down, Mother Xu smiled and half-sat on the embroidered cushion: "Then I am overstepping my authority."
The master smiled and told Xinglin, the maid in charge of serving the food, "Serve the food."
Xinglin is the eldest lady's personal maid. She has been helping the eldest lady with household management since they moved into this house.
Hearing the master's order, she immediately replied "yes" and told the maids to serve the dishes.
Yellow croaker with pickled mustard greens, West Lake fish in vinegar, shredded chicken with silver sprouts, crystal pork elbow, beautiful liver, and stewed crab meat with crab meat were all familiar Jiangnan dishes, filling up the table. Just when everyone thought the dishes had been served, Xinglin brought a bowl of red and white porridge and placed it in front of the first wife: "First wife, this is specially made for you by the master."
The eldest wife was slightly startled.
The eldest master said, "This is the famous dumpling soup in Yanjing. The red part is tomatoes, which is very rare and comes from Guangdong. The white part is noodles, which is sour and sweet, and is very different from what we have over there. It's appetizing, you can try it."
The eldest wife said "Oh", and with a dazed look on her face, she picked up the spoon and took a sip.
The master smiled and asked her, "How is it? Is it to your taste?"
The eldest wife's expression calmed down after hearing this and she smiled and said, "Just as Master said, this soup is sour and sweet, very appetizing. Thank you very much, Master!"
The eldest master smiled, picked up a piece of yellow croaker from the pickled mustard greens and yellow croaker with chopsticks, and then the others started to eat.
Everyone behaved elegantly and ate slowly. Apart from the slight sound of porcelain tapping on the table, there was no other sound.
After dinner, the maids served tea. The eldest lady suddenly said to Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang: "Tomorrow you will also come with me to see your eldest sister!"
Both of them were shocked, but they quickly calmed down and replied "yes" with a smile.
Because it was getting late, Brother Xiu usually went to sleep, but at this time he was rubbing his eyes and making some noise.
When the eldest wife saw this, she ordered the eldest grandmother: "Move Brother Xiu to my room... I have a fire wall and a warm room in my room, unlike your place where you need to light a brazier."
"Mom!" From Luo Zhenxing's tone, it seemed that he didn't quite agree.
The grandmother hurriedly got ahead of her husband and said, "What mother said is true. Then I will ask the mothers to move Brother Xiu's things over."
The eldest wife smiled and nodded.
There was a hint of helplessness in Luo Zhenxing's eyes.
The first wife laughed at him and said, "Don't worry, your mother is not old and confused yet. I dote on Brother Xiu, but if he makes a mistake, I won't tolerate it. I won't teach your son bad things."
At this point, Luo Zhenxing had no choice but to stand up and thank the first wife.
The eldest wife covered her mouth and smiled, saying, "It's getting late today, you all should go downstairs and rest!"
Luo Zhenxing, his grandmother, Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang paid their respects and left. Luo Zhenxing and his wife returned to the back room, while Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang returned to the back room.
On the way, Wu Niang said with a smile: "Tomorrow when you go to Big Sister's place, you must dress up nicely and don't lose Big Sister's face."
Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "I don't know what to wear tomorrow, why don't you come and help me figure it out, sister!"
Wu Niang sneered: "How dare I? Some people have a lot of ideas!" After that, she walked away with a proud face.
Eleventh Lady couldn't help but sigh.
I didn't expect Wu Niang to react so strongly... However, she is already 19 years old this year, and the number of people who are suitable for marriage is already very narrow, so this eagerness is understandable. But what if Luo Yuanniang just wants to find someone from her sisters to be a concubine to consolidate her favor or give birth to a child? Even if Luo Yuanniang is in poor health and wants to find someone from her sisters to take care of her young and weak son, she has to wait until she passes away! If Luo Yuanniang delays for a year, she won't have to wait for a year, and if she delays for two years, she won't have to wait for two years... Isn't it too risky to gamble with a future that is completely uncontrollable and full of variables?
Thinking of this, Eleventh Lady was stunned.
Could this be the reason why the eldest lady brought them here?
If Yuanniang can still wait, then it will be her... If Yuanniang can't wait, then it will be Wuniang...
She felt her thoughts were a little confused!
What about Xu, the other party in the marriage?
They are more prominent and powerful than the Luo family. Are they just going to allow themselves to be manipulated by the Luo family?
Or, does Yuanniang have a way to convince the Xu family?
Eleventh Lady felt very upset and did not sleep well the night before. When she woke up in the morning, there were obvious dark shadows under her eyes.
Dong Qing boiled eggs and applied them to her eyelids: "It can fade a little. Otherwise, the eldest lady will see it and ask again. You can't just say that you are familiar with your own bed!"
Eleventh Lady laughed in horror: "You even found an excuse for me."
Dong Qing was very disappointed: "Miss, if you have the time, you should think about what happened this afternoon!"
"We don't know their true intentions, so it's useless to guard against them." When the situation came to a head, Eleventh Lady calmed down. "Now we can only observe without making any noise." She also instructed Amber: "You will go out for a walk later. Although most of the people here are the eldest grandmother's people, there must be the eldest wife's people around the master, as well as the concubine's people. You can find out how the eldest master and uncle are doing in Yanjing. I saw that yesterday, the eldest aunt's people suddenly came to pay their respects to the eldest wife, and the eldest master and uncle looked very surprised. You should also ask the eldest aunt if she usually visits here frequently?"
Amber's expression was serious: "Don't worry, Miss, I know what to do!"
"Just let Dongqing and Binju accompany me - I still need to wash and dress up later, otherwise, the eldest lady will think that I don't take the matter of going to Yongping Marquis's Mansion seriously. As for Qiuju and Zhuxiang, it would be great if they can help you. Just ask them to run errands for you. There are also things that Mother Wu asked us to bring. After all, we are guests in the Xu family. We are unfamiliar with the place and it is always bad to trouble others. Amber, you can also ask if there is anyone here who is familiar with the Xu family. It would be even better if they can help with this matter."
Several maids stood respectfully listening to Eleventh Lady's instructions, and then Mother Xu arrived.
Eleventh Lady suppressed her surprise and greeted Mother Xu: "What do you want, mother?"
Mother Xu smiled and said, "I dare not give you any orders. I am just following the order of the eldest wife to come and see what clothes the eleventh young lady is going to wear to the Yongping Marquis's Mansion."
To the extent that I take it seriously...
Eleventh Lady was secretly shocked.
She originally wanted to wear a silver-red jacket... This would make her, who was already very thin, look not only thinner but also frail. If Yuanniang asked about it, she would then use the incident of seasickness to hint to Yuanniang that her health was not good... Besides, seasickness was a fact, and even the eldest wife could not find any fault with it.
No matter what purpose Yuanniang and the others had in coming to Yanjing on their own, under the important premise that "There are three unfilial acts, and the greatest of them is to have no offspring", a girl with poor health means it will be difficult for her to have children, and her chances of being selected will suddenly be much less... Otherwise, the old lady of the Xu family would not have not only stopped the medicine for the sex after Yuanniang had a miscarriage, but also took a concubine for her son!
Thinking of this, Eleventh Lady calmed down a little.
Actually, this idea was inspired by Shi Niang - she can have asthma whenever she wants...
But now, the idea is at least half gone.
Women in seclusion have plenty of time, most of which they spend on dressing themselves up. Not to mention the eldest wife, even Xu Madam has good ideas. Moreover, Master Jian, who teaches them needlework, has also patiently told them all kinds of complicated color combinations, both for embroidery and for how to dress more appropriately... Eleventh Lady can pretend to wear silver-red to show off, but she can't continue to wear it after trying the effect of silver-red.
These thoughts flashed through her mind for only a moment, and she smiled and asked Dong Qing to help her take out the light yellow jacket with the four-happiness and auspicious patterns. She also handed the hairpin and pearl flower from the red silver pearl headpiece that the eldest wife had made for her to Madam Xu to see: "How do you think of wearing it like this?"
Mother Xu smiled and nodded, with deep approval in her eyes: "Miss Eleven has a delicate appearance, and it is most suitable for her to wear these plain colors and these delicate accessories... She is worthy of being someone who learned embroidery from Master Jian."
Eleventh Lady smiled bitterly in her heart.
As soon as Mother Xu left, she ate all the eggs that Dongqing had used to apply to her eyelids, and she almost swallowed them, so that Binju laughed at her: "Miss, you were hungry on the boat, and now everything looks delicious!"
Eleventh Lady ignored her and went to see the eldest grandmother.
There are seven main rooms in the back house. The side room on the east was used as a warm room for the night watchwoman, and a hanging flower door was built in the corner room. The side room was turned into a small flower garden. There is only a three-room wing room on the west side. Not to mention compared with the main courtyard, it is one-third smaller than the back room where Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang live.
When Eleventh Lady went in, five or six women were surrounding Xinglin and talking about something beside the flower bed in front of the hanging flower gate. Xinglin had an expression of impatience on her face. When she saw Eleventh Lady, she greeted her from afar: "Miss Eleventh Lady, you're here!" As she said that, she pushed away the women surrounding her and went to greet her.
"I just came to see my sister-in-law," Eleventh Lady smiled, "You are busy, don't delay."
Xinglin, however, looked relieved and said with a smile, "Thanks to you for coming. Otherwise, I would not be able to get away. How could I say that I was delayed?"
Eleventh Lady smiled and did not ask her what happened, but asked, "Is the eldest grandmother in the house?"
(Power outage, flooding, spent half an hour to find an internet cafe that was still open, updated with the sound of water dripping down my trouser legs... so even I don't know if I will update again...~~~~(_