Chapter 666: Daughter-in-law (Part 1)
Eleventh Lady's impression of the Ninth Miss of the Jiang Family was still stuck in her childhood. She had fair skin, big eyes, and a voice that sounded like pearls falling on a jade plate. When the two of them went to congratulate each other, they were stunned for a moment before showing a friendly smile when they saw the beautiful woman in front of them, who was wearing a bright red silk jacket, a peony bun, and pearls and jade rings. It happened that Jiang had just finished serving tea to Xu Lingyi, and under the guidance of Mrs. Quanfu, Mrs. Huang San, she took the red teacup with a dragon and phoenix pattern from the big red lacquer tray held by the maid and raised it above her head: "Mother-in-law, have some tea!"
The sound is still so clear and pleasant.
Eleventh Lady took the teacup with a smile, and like Xiang Shi when she came in, she gave a red gold headdress of 99 taels and a silver note of 999 taels as a gift. However, Xiang Shi's headdress was in the shape of a jade flower, while Jiang Shi's was in the shape of a peony flower.
Jiang blushed and thanked softly, then gave Shiyi Niang two pairs of embroidered shoes and two pairs of socks as a gift.
Two pairs of embroidered shoes, one green and one purple. The green pair was embroidered with pink plum blossoms and pinned with rice-sized pearls as the core. The purple pair was embroidered with goose-yellow orchids and outlined with white silk thread. It was obvious that a lot of effort had been put into both the color matching and the workmanship. The Huang family and the Xu family were good friends, and Third Madam Huang was someone who liked to icing on the cake, and she would find a good way to make something better, not to mention that these two pairs of shoes were already very outstanding. She said "tsk tsk tsk tsk" a few times at the time, "This really proves the old saying, 'If you are not from the same family, you will not enter the same door. Look at the embroidery of my Fourth Young Madam, I think it's no worse than that of the Fourth Lady." As she said that, she laughed, "That's good now, the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law can discuss embroidery together, so there's no need to worry about having nothing to talk about."
Everybody joined in the fun and burst into laughter.
Jiang thought of her mother's words: "...your mother-in-law is a concubine's daughter and a stepmother. She is not a simple person to be able to achieve what she has today. You must be careful when you enter the house. Do more and talk less, follow the rules, and don't make your mother-in-law unhappy."
"It took me half a year to make this pair of embroidered shoes," she said with a smile, "I don't deserve the compliment from Grandma Huang San."
She neither belittled herself nor flattered Eleventh Lady blindly, and also pointed out the importance she attached to the unboxing gift for her mother-in-law.
Mrs. Zhou raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard this and glanced at Eleventh Lady who was sitting there with a smile on her face.
Third Madam Huang thought that the new Fourth Young Madam was very good at talking. She smiled twice and led Jiang to the Third Madam: "This is your Third Aunt."
Jiang knelt down, kowtowed and offered tea.
The third lady looked unhappy. She took Jiang's hand and praised her a few times, saying "beautiful", and followed the greeting that Xiang gave when she entered the house.
Jiang thanked him in a low voice, and the unboxing gift was two handkerchiefs.
Then Huang Sanniang led her to Wu Furen... It took her more than an hour to go through the whole process. Although she collected a lot of things, she was exhausted.
Not only did Jiang not dare to reveal the slightest emotion, she also tried her best to make her smile gentle and respectful as she followed her mother-in-law to the flower hall where the banquet was set.
Among the female relatives who came, Madam Zhou was the most distinguished because she was the mother of the Crown Princess. Eleventh Lady accompanied her and walked in front, while Madam Huang San and Madam Gan chatted and laughed beside her. Madam Wu deliberately lagged behind a few steps and walked with her sister-in-law, Madam San, and Grandma Luo. Jiang was not only squeezed aside, but also fell behind everyone.
Someone squeezed her hand gently and then quickly let go.
Jiang's attention was focused on Shiyi Niang, so she was surprised. She looked up and saw that it was Xu Sizhen.
But Xu Sizhen also looked at her, with concern in his eyes.
She suddenly thought of the wedding night last night... her face suddenly turned red like a piece of silk.
Xu Sizhen was suddenly at a loss.
"Are you okay?" he murmured. "There's a curb next to you... you can stand up..."
She felt warm in her heart.
The sadness of marrying far away and the fear of the future all became very distant because of his words.
"I, I'm fine..." Jiang said, and suddenly thought that Xu Sizhen should be accompanying her father-in-law to entertain the male guests, so why did he come here? Although the scene just now was a bit chaotic, it was in the public eye and there was no guarantee that someone would see it. I heard that her husband was a humble gentleman. She just entered the house and her husband protected her like this. If the news got to her mother-in-law, she didn't know if her mother-in-law would think she was frivolous... Her eyes fell on Shiyi Niang.
It was unknown what Mrs. Zhou said, but Eleventh Lady, Mrs. Huang San, Mrs. Gan and others all covered their sleeves and laughed, as if they didn't notice the situation here at all.
Jiang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to ask Xu Sizhen, she heard a chuckle in her ear.
She felt guilty and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw a pair of eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling.
It’s my eldest sister-in-law Fang.
Jiang felt her face burning and was thinking whether she should go over and take Fang's arm, and then chat with her, pretending nothing had happened and letting the matter pass. Fang had already asked Xu Sizhen, "Is fourth uncle here to invite fourth brother's wife to go over and pay respects to the lady?" She smiled as she spoke.
Although the lady is a grandmother, she is also a widow. At this time, it is not appropriate for her to accept the kneeling worship of the newlyweds in the hall.
Although it was a family dinner, there was a distinction between men and women. The male guests were in the small hall where they had just received the gift, while the female guests were in the warm room next to the reception hall.
Xu Sizhen was sent by Xu Lingyi to see off the guests. When he came back, he saw Shiyi Niang and the others heading towards the warm pavilion, and he couldn't help looking for them in the crowd... He happened to see Jiang Shi, who was alone... Naturally, he had his eyes on the bride, and while they were asking and answering questions, he had already looked over here.
"Yes!" Xu Sizhen realized his impoliteness and cast a grateful glance at Fang. He whispered, "Father asked us to go and pay our respects to the Madam."
Eleventh Lady and Xu Lingyi had discussed this. After the newlyweds accompanied the guests to the banquet hall, they would first pay their respects to the old lady, then return to the table and meet the second lady in the afternoon.
"Then you guys go quickly!" The situation changes all the time. Although the newlyweds did not send the guests to the banquet venue, it was not considered rude to send them there. Eleventh Lady smiled and instructed Xu Sizhen and Jiang.
The two of them responded in unison, nodded to Fang, and went to the lady's place together.
After three days of returning home, Eleventh Lady saw off the guests from Nanjing, and took Jiang, Madam Wen and Zhen Jie'er to visit Daxiangguo Temple, Baiyun Temple and other places. They filled two large carriages with food, clothes, daily necessities and toys, and then they reluctantly saw Zhen Jie'er off.
Jianger whispered to Shiyi Niang, "Mom, shall we go visit our eldest sister next year? My eldest sister's husband said that their fields are full of jujube trees.
This time next year will be the time to pick dates. I have never picked dates before! "
It's a good thing for children to go out and broaden their horizons.
It's just that this thing is very difficult.
It was impossible for her to leave the family behind and take only Jinger to Cangzhou, and it was even more impossible for her to take everyone to Cangzhou... Xu Lingyi was even more impossible. When he went out, he represented the Yongping Marquis's Mansion, and there were some etiquettes that had to be followed, some social events that had to be attended, and some things that could not be done... It would completely lose the meaning of traveling.
While I was thinking about it, Xu Siyu came over.
"I have already made an appointment with my father to return to Le'an in the next two days," he said a little embarrassedly, "As for Xiang, I will have to ask my mother to take care of it!"
"Don't worry!" Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I will take good care of her."
As the two were talking, the topic of Jiange'er's life changed.
At night, Jianger squeezed into Xu Lingyi's quilt and whispered to his father: "... Shall we go see our elder sister?"
Xu Lingyi laughed and pinched his son's nose: "Tell me the truth, do you want to go see your elder sister? Or do you want to go out and play?"
"Both!" Jianger muttered, "Jinger and I have an appointment. If I go to Cangzhou, he will take me to meet his third brother... His third brother has kicked out six martial arts schools in Cangzhou. He is very powerful..."
Xu Lingyi laughed: "Wait until you are older before going!"
Brother Jian was very disappointed.
But when the first snow fell in Yanjing, Xu Lingyi took him to Baoding.
The lady looked at the endless heavy snow and couldn't help but regret: "If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have agreed to let him take Qin Ge'er with him. He is tough and has no fear. Our Qin Ge'er has never seen such a battle before!"
"The Marquis and Brother Jian both wore leather jackets and brought a cartload of silver-frost charcoal."
Eleventh Lady hurriedly comforted the Madam, "They rested in the post station along the way, and they brought so many guards with them, nothing will happen."
After hearing this, the lady's brows furrowed tightly.
"Eleventh Lady," the old man took Eleventh Lady's hand, "You live with him day and night, has he said anything to you?" The lady pondered, "I have thought about this for a long time. It's the end of the year, and shopkeepers from all over the country have to come back to give accounts. If something big hadn't happened at the Baoding horse farm, why would he rush to Baoding at this time? He also said that he wanted Jiang'er to accompany him, so that he would have someone to accompany him along the way... I think he acted like this, probably because he was afraid that I would worry..."
Xu Lingyi said the same thing in front of her, but from her point of view, he didn't want to stay at home at all, and just found an excuse to take Jiange out for a walk. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so relaxed during the few days when he decided to go to Baoding.
"If the horse farm is really out, with the character of the Marquis, I'm afraid he will rush over as fast as he can." Eleventh Lady smiled and sat next to the Madam. "Why did he bring Jiang'er?" She added, "The Marquis has been staying at home for the past two years. It would be good for him to go out for a walk!"
Having been the patriarch for so long, everyone seemed to have forgotten that Xu Lingyi was only in his thirties.
The lady dowager understood a little bit, so she stopped talking about it and started chatting about family matters with Eleventh Lady.
Jiang came over.
"Mother is here too." She smiled, "Just right." Then she took a red lacquered cat-lotus box from the maid and handed it to the lady, "This is nan incense, best used when worshiping Buddha." She then took a red lacquered gold-painted box and handed it to Eleventh Lady, "This is hundred-flower incense, best used when reading." Then she smiled, "This is made by my mother, and it's a little different from the incense on the market. Grandmother and mother, try it and see if you like it."
The Jiang family sent someone to deliver a New Year gift this morning, and this incense must have been brought at that time.
The lady and Eleventh Lady thanked her with a smile.
Jiang pointed to the pile of red lacquer boxes in the maid's hands and said, "These are for Second Uncle and Fifth Auntie!"
"Go, go!" The lady said with a smile, and told her, "Come to my place for dinner later with Brother Zhe."
Jiang agreed crisply and went to the Fifth Lady, who was closest to the Lady Dowager.
Post a draft first!
O(∩_∩)O I’ll update it for everyone who wakes up tomorrow morning!