Seeing Wuxiha's words, Nianxia naturally couldn't stop them anymore. Besides, as a mere maid, she didn't dare to stop Wuxiha and Bechuk from bringing people into her room. However, after the four of them left, Nianxia still had a change of heart. She went inside and spoke to Xichun and the others, then went out to the south courtyard to report to Lanqin.
At that time, Hongli, Hongzhou, and Hongsheng, who were in the front yard entertaining guests with the Fourth Prince, were also sitting idly to the side. At first, they simply followed behind the Fourth Prince and exchanged pleasantries with the guests, and then they began to make friends with their peers. But soon, Hongli and the others became idle and stopped exchanging pleasantries with the guests.
"I'm going back now, are you leaving too?" Hongli was getting a little bored and wanted to leave. Anyway, the banquet hadn't officially started yet, and the newlyweds hadn't arrived, so waiting here was really pointless.
"But can Father let us go?" Hongzhou was afraid of the Fourth Prince after all, and never dared to disobey or easily disobey the orders given to them by the Fourth Prince.
“Father is busy entertaining guests right now, he won’t see us. Besides, they’re all colleagues, and there’s no one around our age. We can come back later, it’s not too late. Anyway, the timing of our arrival has been planned. We can just arrive at the right time, it’ll be fine.”
Upon hearing this, Hongzhou agreed with Hongli, finding it unnecessary and rather boring to remain here. Hongsheng, who had never gotten along with them, saw them whispering amongst themselves while he remained silent and rebuked them, saying, "Father ordered us to stand here to greet guests, yet you are all whispering amongst yourselves. This is inappropriate."
Hongsheng's manner of speaking and walking was quite similar to that of Master Zhu, who taught them. Seeing his appearance, Hongli chuckled and said, "Third Brother is right. When it comes to rules, Third Brother is the most disciplined. I just had a bit of an urgent need to relieve myself, so I'm going to go now. Hongzhou, didn't you say you were going too? Aren't you coming?"
Hongzhou knew that Hongli was trying to use the excuse of needing to urinate to leave, so he quickly nodded and also pretended to need to go. Hongsheng looked disgusted and waved his hand, saying, "Go and come back quickly!"
Hongli pulled Hongzhou away, and the two went out of the front hall and turned into the back corridor.
“Third Brother is becoming more and more like Master Zhu. I really don’t know how he learned to imitate that old scholar’s expression so well?” Hongzhou said with a smile, bending over, because Hongli had just imitated Hongsheng’s emphasizing manner again.
"Never mind him, let's go to the south courtyard. I just got a carved inkstone, it's a real gem. My third uncle gave it to me," Hongli said. It was the gift Qiu Fu had given Hongli that day, a Huizhou inkstone. Although Huizhou inkstones are extremely valuable, the fact that it was carved with a complete set of statues depicting the four characters from Journey to the West on their pilgrimage made it quite extraordinary.
"Really? Then I must take a look! Let's go!" Hongzhou was also extremely fond of collecting inkstones, and upon hearing that Hongli had acquired another one, he immediately became excited.
The two brothers hurried towards the south courtyard.
Meanwhile, inside Lanxing Residence, four young girls were each holding a teacup, sipping milk tea prepared by Lan Qinsu. Fucha Mingyu and Ulanara Xueying had never tasted anything like it before, and upon tasting it, they were both somewhat surprised but dared not show it.
“How is it? This is my mother’s original creation. I think it tastes much better than those teas,” Ushiha said.
"This is called 'milk tea'? But why isn't there a single tea leaf in it?" Xueying asked, frowning.
Xueying's question really stumped Wuxiha, and Bechuk, who was standing next to her, couldn't give a proper answer either. At the time, their mother had only told them that this thing was called milk tea, but she hadn't explained it, and they hadn't asked for a clear answer.
“I know that the big bowls of tea outside Qianmen don’t have a single tea leaf in them. I suppose that just because it’s called ‘tea’ doesn’t necessarily mean you have to see tea leaves,” Mingyu said.
“Oh, that makes sense. Perhaps it was just the name my mother gave me,” Bechuk said approvingly.
Mingyu smiled and took another sip of tea, saying, "This tea is truly extraordinary. The concubine's thoughts are truly ingenious."
Ushiha laughed and said, "My mother's thoughts are different from others."
Xueying's heart skipped a beat, filled with curiosity about Lanqin. When she entered the South Courtyard, she had observed it closely; the scenery here was completely different from the main courtyard. Although today was Hongshi's wedding day and the main courtyard had been renovated, it was still far inferior to the exquisite South Courtyard. For a concubine's courtyard to be better than the main wife's, one could only imagine the life her aunt lived.
"I heard that the Second Prince is marrying two sisters-in-law this time. I wonder which one is prettier?" Ushiha suddenly asked. Actually, she wasn't too happy about it, because her mother had once told her that a woman's greatest happiness is to find a devoted lover and stay together until old age. But now her second brother was marrying two women at once. How could she live like that? And that palace maid was constantly nagging her about the three obediences and four virtues of women, which was driving Ushiha crazy.
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