Magistrate Ling arrived today dressed in plain clothes, exuding an air of refined elegance.
In the entire Chengyang County, apart from Yan Qingqing, Magistrate Ling is the most powerful. Although he has been very low-key, there are still quite a few people who know him.
Soon, Magistrate Ling was surrounded by people who came to chat with him. Most of them praised him for loving the people like his own children and for being worthy of being the county's magistrate.
Yan Qingqing's arrival saved Magistrate Ling. When Magistrate Ling saw her walking towards him in the attire of a fifth-rank noblewoman, she was indeed very dignified. Anyone who didn't know her would never have guessed that she was once a country bumpkin.
Magistrate Ling chuckled and teased, "Gentlemen, today's protagonist is none other than the eminent official Mingzhao. So please stop circling around me. I'm here to congratulate the eminent official Mingzhao."
Previously, I was the highest-ranking official in Chengyang County, but that's no longer the case. The magistrate of Mingzhao is two whole ranks higher than me.
Only then did everyone see Yan Qingqing come out, and they bowed to her again.
Yan Qingqing quickly said to everyone, "Please don't stand on ceremony, everyone. Don't listen to Magistrate Ling's nonsense."
Although I've only received a fifth-rank official title, Magistrate Ling is the most important official in Chengyang County. He's unusually given me the honor of attending this banquet today; you should all try to curry favor with him.”
After Yan Qingqing finished speaking, everyone around her burst into laughter. However, they could no longer linger around Magistrate Ling.
Taking the opportunity, Magistrate Ling went to the front hall with Yan Qingqing for tea.
Magistrate Ling plopped down on the ground, drinking tea in a completely unseemly manner, and complained, "Sigh, the banquet hosted by the Mingzhao Emperor is really not easy to eat. Those people are so noisy that my ears hurt."
Yan Qingqing knew that Magistrate Ling was joking with her, so she laughed and said, "It's because Magistrate Ling's official prestige is too great. He is so popular wherever he goes that people can't even see the host's house."
When it comes to verbal sparring, Magistrate Ling is no match for Yan Qingqing. Magistrate Ling sighed helplessly and said, "If you want to say that I have usurped the host's position, just say so. Why beat around the bush like this?"
Yan Qingqing cried out that she hadn't meant it that way. After exchanging a few more words, Li Xiangping invited Magistrate Ling to take his seat.
After exchanging a few more polite words with Yan Qingqing, Magistrate Ling left with Li Xiangping.
After Magistrate Ling left, Yan Qingqing asked Ruyi, who was standing beside her, "Have all the guests arrived? If they have, I'll go change my clothes; it's really uncomfortable wearing these."
Ruyi thought for a moment and said, "Almost everyone has arrived, only my uncle's family hasn't arrived yet."
Yan Qingqing frowned upon hearing this. Logically, her parents and her brothers should have been the first to arrive, so why hadn't they come yet?
"Could something have happened on the way?" Yan Qingqing was just about to ask A'da to send someone to greet them when news came from the gatehouse that her uncle's family had arrived.
Upon hearing this, Yan Qingqing quickly stood up and went out to greet them.
Having taken over the original owner's body, she intended to treat the original owner's parents as her own, and the original owner's brothers and sisters-in-law as her own.
Although there were some unpleasant incidents because of Ye Niang's matter, her family has always treated her very well.
This was the original owner's moment of glory, and also her own moment of glory; she had to make them proud of her.
As soon as Yan Qingqing stepped out of the front hall, Old Master Yan and Old Madam Yan arrived in a grand procession with a large group of their children and grandchildren.
In particular, Old Mrs. Yan was full of energy, dressed in new clothes from head to toe, and her face was beaming with a smile that she couldn't hide.
Yan Qingqing called out from afar, "Father, Mother!"
As they spoke, they came to greet them, and Grandma Yan and the others quickened their pace.
When Old Mrs. Yan looked at her daughter dressed in the attire of an official, she looked exactly like a lady of high office.
Then, Yan Qingqing and her family members were to pay their respects to Yan Qingqing. Yan Qingqing quickly helped Grandpa Yan and Grandma Yan up, but everyone else knelt down in a rush.
Yan Qingqing looked helplessly at her brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews and said, "Father, Mother, what are you doing? We're all family, why all this formality?"
Grandma Yan smiled and said, "You are the pride of the Yan family, and they all want to take you as their role model."
You've always helped your brothers a lot, and now you've been appointed a fifth-rank official by the Emperor himself. It would be an honor for them to pay their respects.
Yan Qingqing sighed helplessly and said, "Mother, this is just a nominal position with no real power. I wouldn't be planning to hold such a big banquet if it weren't to deter those petty people."
We're all family, you're all my closest people, this isn't appropriate.
Grandma Yan held Yan Qingqing's hand and said, "Good, good, I know you don't like these formalities. But you've really made me proud. When the news of your being granted an imperial title reached Yan Family Village, I couldn't believe it."
But then Mother thought about it carefully, and said, "If it's not you, who else is worthy?"
Tang, Yan Qingshi's wife, also said with a smile, "Sister, you don't know, when Mother learned that a fifth-rank imperial consort had come from Canghe Village, the first person she thought of was you."
Our father didn't believe it, saying that there had never been any such blue smoke rising from the ancestral graves of our Yan family.
Later, it wasn't until a messenger came from my sister's family that my stepfather dared to believe it.
Yan Qingqing smiled upon hearing this and said to Tang Shi, "Sister-in-law, this is all my fault. I should have sent someone to the house immediately."
I was just too busy with things at home those two days, so I forgot about it.
Grandma Yan quickly said, "It's not late, it's not late, the timing is just right. There's an old woman named Yan in our village who's the most annoying. Her daughter is a concubine to some old geezer, and she's always showing off in front of me."
She just told me a few days ago that her daughter's first wife had passed away, and that the old man intended to make her daughter his official wife. She even said that her daughter would now be a proper wife of a wealthy man.
You have no idea how despicable that scoundrel's face is.
Just then, Ah Da went to deliver the news, saying that you had received an imperial decree.
You have no idea how ugly Old Lady Yan looked back then; she looked like she'd swallowed a fly. Then she slunk away!
After saying that, Grandma Yan laughed twice.
Yan Qingqing: ……
Her mother's analogy is a bit inappropriate.
Upon hearing that Old Madam Yan had arrived, Li Xinniang and Yuan Huiniang quickly came out to greet her.
This old lady Yan was not only their maternal grandmother, but also a mentor to them.
After the two women greeted Old Madam Yan and the others, Old Madam Yan held Yuan Huiniang's hand with one hand and Li Xinniang's hand with the other, praising them profusely.
Especially when Old Madam Yan learned that Yuan Huiniang was pregnant, she gave her countless instructions and advice, which deeply moved Yuan Huiniang.
Yan Qingqing looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was getting increasingly scorching. She then said to Ruyi, "Go and invite the second young master over. Let him keep the old master and uncles company while I take the old lady and the others back to the courtyard to talk."
"Come and call us when the meal starts."
Upon hearing this, Ruyi quickly agreed to go find Li Xiang'an, while Yan Qingqing led Old Madam Yan and the others back to their room.
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