Although Chang Xuezhi was young, he was very capable and came to give Shiyi Niang a reply the next afternoon.
"...He is the second manager of a silk shop called Longsheng. I heard from the shop assistants that Manager Jiang claimed to be the mistress's chambermaid and used to be the manager of the Luo family's silk shop in Yuhang." At this point, Chang Xuezhi hesitated and lowered his voice. "He said that the mistress brought him to Yanjing to use his talents to open a shop. He didn't want to compete with the people left by the eldest aunt, so he went out to find a way to make a living."
Eleventh Lady listened and thought for a moment, then asked Chang Xuezhi softly, "Is that shop big? Does it have a branch in Yanjing?"
"It's an average store in Yanjing." Chang Xuezhi said, "It doesn't have any branches. The owner is a merchant from Changzhou. He has three stores in Dongdamen. He specializes in cotton and silk business. I was assigned to the store at the beginning of the morning. The guys have done seven or eight orders. It seems that the business is pretty good."
Eleventh Lady nodded, asked Luyun to give him a handful of copper coins as a reward, and told him to continue asking: "...go and take a look when you have nothing to do."
Chang Xuezhi left immediately.
Amber came in: "Madam, the second lady's carriage has arrived."
Tomorrow is the full moon of Second Miss Xu Sixin. Fifth Master Xu Lingkuan went to invite her personally a few days ago and agreed to return home today.
Eleventh Lady brought Zhen Jie'er to the Chuihua Gate to welcome them.
The second wife had her hair done in a high bun and inserted three silver hairpins with lilac flowers. She wore a black mink fur coat and a moon-white skirt with cloud patterns. She looked both elegant and simple.
Zhen Jieer strode over and said, "Second Aunt!"
Her face was flushed and she looked very excited.
The Second Lady smiled and nodded to Zhen Jie'er, then stepped forward to greet Eleventh Lady.
"Now that my third brother's wife has passed away, all household affairs are left to you. Thank you for your hard work!" She greeted Eleventh Lady politely.
"It's my job, how can I say it's hard work." Eleventh Lady also greeted her politely, "Second sister-in-law, you have come from afar, and you have worked hard on the way."
The two of them exchanged a few words indifferently, then changed into a small carriage with green curtains and green oil paint and went to the lady's place.
The Madam had been waiting for a long time. When she saw the Second Madam, she immediately smiled and asked, "Why are you so late? Did you have a peaceful journey?"
"With guards, stewards, and Jiexiang serving us, everything was fine along the way." The Second Madam bowed to the Madam and smiled, "It's just that the weather is good today, and I'm craving for the scenery along the way. I'm sorry that you missed me!"
"I hope you have a safe journey!" The lady took her hand and led her to the inner room. "Why? Are the trees on the road beginning to sprout?"
"It's almost March 3rd." The second lady smiled, "The trees have already sprouted."
As they talked, the two of them sat down on the big kang by the window in the inner room.
The Second Madam talked about the Third Madam: "I happened to be feeling a little unwell during those days, so I didn't come back. I only sent a steward to deliver the four treasures of the study and a few pieces of silk as a gift..."
It was the first time that everyone heard that she was unwell. Eleventh Lady and Zhen Jie'er were slightly startled. The lady interrupted her hurriedly: "Where do you feel unwell? Have you consulted the imperial physician? How are you now?" She then pulled her hand and looked her up and down.
"It's nothing serious!" The second lady laughed, "I just caught a cold. I'm all right now."
"You kid!" The lady saw that she looked refreshed and knew that what she said was true, so she couldn't help shaking her head.
"I didn't say anything because I was afraid you would worry." The second wife smiled and asked the fifth wife, "I heard from my fifth brother that Danyang's delivery went smoothly. The child weighed 6.6 jin and was named 'Xin'..."
"Yes, yes!" The lady was happy when she mentioned the child, her eyes and eyebrows were full of joy, "She is really beautiful. She has the advantages of two people. The eyes and nose are like Danyang, but the mouth is like Lingkuan..."
As she spoke, a maid brought tea.
The lady stopped talking and said with a smile, "Look at me, you just came back, but I'm just busy talking to you." Then, as if she remembered something, she said, "You're not leaving this time, right?" There was some anticipation in her eyes.
The second wife's eyes flashed with hesitation, and she smiled and said, "So you moved to Xishan just to be lazy. But when you really go there, you miss your mother. It's just right that our Xinjie is celebrating her full moon, so I won't leave!"
"What's the point of saying that!" The old lady smiled happily, "This is your home, you can stay as long as you want." She also called Wei Zi to help the second lady wash and dress, "... Let's go see Sister Xin!"
The second wife smiled and responded and went to the bathroom.
Sister Zhen followed over to serve.
The lady's expression was slightly gloomy. She turned back to look at Eleventh Lady, seeming to want to say something but stopped herself.
Eleventh Lady thought of the "main house dispute" between Yuanniang and the Second Lady, and knew that the Lady Tai was worried about conflicts between herself and the Second Lady, so she simply smiled and said, "Second Sister-in-law is a widow, so she is inevitably delicate. Mother, please give her some advice. Let's get to know each other more often. Slowly, everything will be fine!"
Her words touched the heart of the lady.
"Good, good, good." The lady smiled happily, "You two being affectionate like this is better than eating ginseng or bird's nest."
"Don't worry, mother!" Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I will take good care of Second Sister-in-law!"
As they were talking, the Second Lady came out after changing her clothes. The Grand Lady stopped talking, and everyone went to the Fifth Lady with a few words and laughter.
After the third-day bathing ceremony, Eleventh Lady came to see Xin Jie'er two or three times. The little girl changed every day. She seemed to have grown up a little since the last time she came. She was so beautiful that Second Lady was very fond of her. She held Xin Jie'er carefully, as if she didn't know how to put her hands and feet.
The Fifth Lady, who was sitting in the bedroom, jokingly asked, "Why did you bring Yu Ge'er with you in the first place?"
The Second Madam laughed and said, "Didn't we have wet nurses and maids at that time?" From her tone, it seemed as if she had never held Xu Siyu like she held Xin Jie'er.
The lady laughed when she heard this, but Eleventh Lady felt something in her heart.
A little maid reported through the curtain: "Fifth Master is back!"
Everyone was silent.
Xu Lingkuan came out through the curtain with a smile on his face.
He held a large red invitation with gold sprinkled on it in his hand, and greeted everyone happily. He then showed the red invitation to the lady-in-waiting: "... the menu for tomorrow's full moon. What do you think?"
The lady's eyesight was not very good, so she asked Shiyi Niang to take over: "Read it to me."
Four cold side dishes, four cold dishes, four desserts, ten hot dishes and one hot pot, with all kinds of chicken, duck, fish, meat and delicacies from the mountains and the sea... Eleventh Lady roughly calculated, not counting wine and tea, a meal would cost about fifty taels of silver.
"We've only invited relatives and close friends. There will be about sixty tables of guests." Xu Lingkuan explained to the lady.
The lady smiled and nodded, and the matter was settled.
When she returned home, Xu Sijie came to greet her.
The kitchen made some yam and date paste cake and brought it over.
Eleventh Lady gave a piece to Xu Sijie.
Xu Sijie sat on a small stool nearby, eating in small bites, enjoying the meal with a look of satisfaction on his face.
Eleventh Lady thought of Xin Jie’er’s full moon banquet.
For some reason, she felt sad.
The ignorant child saw Eleventh Lady staring at him, and raised the small plate towards her with a smile on his face: "Mom, it's delicious!"
Eleventh Lady touched Xu Sijie's head and said softly, "You eat, mother is not hungry."
Xu Sijie looked at her in confusion.
Eleventh Lady hugged Xu Sijie and sighed deeply.
At night, Amber whispered to her, "I heard from Zhu'e that Aunt Qiao has been very quiet these past two days. Not only has she been taking her medicine on time, but she's also eating more. It's like she's become a different person."
Eleventh Lady listened to the silence for a long while, then whispered, "I'm afraid you should pay more attention to Aunt Qiao."
Amber smiled and said, "Don't worry, Madam. I've been keeping an eye on Aunt Qiao!"
"You don't understand what I mean." Eleventh Lady's voice was quite helpless. "Losing the child is a blow to Aunt Qiao. But we don't know what consequences this blow will bring. We can only take precautions before it happens."
* * * * * *
The next day was Xinjie's full moon, and several cousins and sisters-in-law of the Fifth Lady came to send full moon gifts. Forty tables were set up in the outer courtyard of the Xu Mansion, and twenty tables were set up in the inner courtyard. The Deyin Troupe was invited to perform outside. The wife of Yongchang Marquis Huang, the third wife of Huang, the wife of Dingguo Duke Zheng, the wife of Weibei Marquis Lin, the first wife of Lin, the wife of Zhongshan Marquis Tang, the fourth wife of Tang, and the wife of Zhou... all gathered together, and they were all familiar faces.
The Third Lady went to Dangyang, and all the affairs of the inner courtyard were taken care of by Eleventh Lady.
Eleventh Lady greeted the guests in a gentle and soft voice.
Third Madam Huang pulled Grandma Lin and said, "Look at the Fourth Madam's clothes."
Eleventh Lady wore a pink jacket and a purple skirt, with only a pair of small willow-leaf earrings on her ears. She looked dignified, beautiful, gentle and generous.
"She's young, so whatever she wears looks good on her!" Grandma Lin said with a smile, "If it were you or me, we wouldn't be able to wear this color out."
"That's right!" Grandma Huang San smiled awkwardly and asked about Hui Jie'er: "... She said she was learning needlework from me. How is her learning going?"
"Amitabha!" Grandma Lin couldn't help but chant, "It's worth it that I shamelessly begged in front of everyone. Finally, he is willing to sit down and pick up his needle and thread."
Grandma Huang was surprised: "Really!"
"Really!" Grandma Lin said, "The child was depressed for several days after returning. I was worried about what happened and wanted to ask the fourth lady. Who knew that she asked her mother to find a simple embroidery pattern for her." She sighed, "Although it's still a three-day fishing and two-day drying nets now, it's better than not touching it at all before..."
As he was speaking, Madam Gan from the Duke Zhongqin's Mansion walked in.
The two of them stopped talking at the same time, and saw Eleventh Lady greet them with a smile: "You are here!"
Mrs. Gan's smile was slightly awkward.
When the Third Madam left, no one from the Gan family came to see her off except her brother.
Don't say that the Xu family was at fault at the time. Even if the Xu family was right, today is Xin Jie'er's full moon, and Eleventh Lady couldn't let Madam Gan lose face.
She smiled and led Mrs. Gan to the lady's side: "...You are a little late! Mrs. Huang wants to play cards, and she is short of one person!" She acted as if nothing had happened.
Mrs. Gan wanted to say something but stopped herself and followed Eleventh Lady to the Lady Dowager.
The fifth lady was holding the child in her arms to show to several other ladies. Everyone was looking at the child with a smile, saying things like "the child has nice hair" or "the child's mouth is like Ling Kuan's". They were commenting on the child and the scene was very lively.
Eleventh Lady was about to say hello when Madam Gan suddenly pulled her sleeve and whispered, "Fourth Madam...it would have been a good thing. But your Third Madam has never agreed, and our eldest grandmother has a stubborn temper...so she hurriedly announced this marriage in a fit of rage..." As she said that, she smiled bitterly, "It seems they are not destined to be together!" Then she turned around and said loudly, "This is our Sister Xin, right!" and blended into the noisy atmosphere.