Chapter 429: Live Up to the Family
Not only Mrs. Wei, but Li Chunhua and the others were also very curious about the Meimu Opera Troupe. They pulled Xingxing aside to ask them all sorts of questions, and Xingxing patiently told them about it. In the end, Mrs. Wei felt sorry for Xingxing and coughed to stop the crowd's enthusiasm: "...The Meimu Opera Troupe will be here on the fourth day of the New Year. We can take a good look then."
All the female members of the Yu family began to look forward to the fourth day of the New Year.
The fourth day of the first lunar month arrived quickly.
When the women of the Yu family entertained the ladies who came to visit, each of them was in high spirits with smiles on their faces, and looked very energetic.
The ladies who came to visit all thought that red aura could make people happy. Now that the Emperor and the Empress both valued the Zhenxi General's Mansion, the women in the Zhenxi General's Mansion were naturally radiant.
This time, even the visiting wife of Marquis Jiang Tai did not show any reserve or arrogance towards the female members of the Yu family as she should have done with the female relatives. She held Li Chunhua's hand and praised Yu Yonghuai as a young general.
He pulled Cen Yuehua over again, and with a bit of apology, he scolded Cen Yuehua in front of Li Chunhua, saying that the girl was young and immature. He also heard that there was some minor friction between her and Xingxing when she came to deliver New Year gifts a few days ago, and it was Cen Yuehua who was immature, so he asked Cen Yuehua to apologize to Xingxing.
Cen Yuehua's eyes were red and she looked pitiful. She apologized to Xing Xing: "Sister Yu, don't be angry with me. I really didn't mean it."
Xing Xing glanced at Cen Yueyi who was following behind Madam Jiang Taihou, and smiled at Cen Yuehua, saying in a clear and smiling voice: "Second Miss Cen is too polite. Don't worry, I won't take it to heart!"
Li Chunhua couldn't help but glance at Xingxing.
She could tell that Xingxing was being sincere, but this was the tone the little girl usually used to deal with her overly clingy brother.
As expected, after Xing Xing finished saying the words of "understanding", she immediately called out "Sister Cen" in a high-spirited tone, pulled Cen Yueyi out from behind Madam Jiang Taihou, and said with a smile: "I haven't seen Sister for a long time. Sister seems to be much more beautiful now!"
Cen Yueyi blushed slightly.
Xingxing and her brother took turns sending her pearl powder and other things. She was born with fair complexion, and with the pearl powder she took care of herself every day, her skin was now so smooth, fair and rosy, and she looked so good!
The more Li Chunhua looked at Cen Yueyi, the more she liked her. She thought of the baby in her belly and couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed. She thought she had to talk to Cen Yueyi in private.
Li Chunhua was a straightforward person. She thought so in her heart and did so.
She took Cen Yueyi's hand and went to a quiet place in the corridor.
Cen Yuehua's face twisted slightly, and she wanted to go over to see what was going on, but Xing Xing stopped her and tilted her head with a smile: "Second Miss Cen, my aunt wants to say a few words to her future daughter-in-law. Second Miss is well-educated and well-mannered, so she won't mind, right?"
Cen Yuehua's face was slightly stiff. Madam Jiang Taihou poked her in the waist from behind. Then she came to her senses, controlled her expression, and smiled stiffly, "Of course."
Xingxing smiled sweetly at Cen Yuehua and the wife of Marquis Jiang Tai, then went to entertain other guests.
After the meal, the host usually arranges activities such as listening to some music and touring the garden.
One lady couldn't help but ask, "Come to think of it, most opera troupes haven't even started yet, and I don't know which troupe the Yu family hired?"
Another lady couldn't help but say, "I think it's some unknown little troupe..." She smiled and covered her lips, "But I understand. Just don't hire some random troupe."
Ever since the wife of the military officer entered the Zhenxi General's Mansion, she has been jealous of the sight of this gorgeous mansion. Then, when she saw the female members of the Yu family, all of whom looked radiant and beautiful, she felt extremely uncomfortable.
Her old man had been on the stage of a third-rank military general for five years without moving. As a result, Yu Yonghuai, a young man, was promoted to the third-rank General Zhenxi as soon as he entered the court. He was very favored by the emperor and could be said to be an important official of the court. Her old man was so angry that he drank all night and was usually not in harmony with Yu Yonghuai.
This time, the military officer's wife came to the banquet with some other considerations in mind.
The result was that no matter how she compared herself with him, the wife of this military officer made her face pale.
They were going to the Nuan Pavilion right now to invite a troupe to perform, and she finally found the opportunity. She couldn't help herself and said something sarcastic.
However, although the wife of the military officer felt regretful after saying it, several other ladies in the mansion who were jealous of the Yu family's rapid rise also echoed her words, and the wife of the military officer felt that what she said was correct.
The women in the Yu family all had subtle expressions on their faces.
Mrs. Wei said directly, "The warm room with the stage is not far ahead. You will know it when you go there."
A lady came to join in the fun: "It is truly worthy of being the mansion bestowed by His Majesty. They can even build a stage in the warm attic. We are really jealous of them."
Mrs. Wei couldn't help laughing and said, "When we moved in, we found this warm room very spacious. My family loves to listen to opera, so we discussed setting up a stage in the warm room. But we were always busy before, and today is the first time we have invited an opera troupe to perform in this warm room. It's all thanks to you all."
Everyone laughed.
It was the same military officer's wife from before. Seeing that Mrs. Wei was trying to change the subject, she felt more and more that her guess was correct - the Yu family must have hired some small opera troupe, but it was hard to say it out loud.
The military officer's wife covered her lips with a handkerchief and smiled, "Then since this stage is used for the first time, shouldn't we invite a well-known troupe to perform so as not to bring disgrace to the family?"
This is a bit presumptuous.
After all, no matter how "famous" a troupe is, it is still a low-class business. As a result, you start to associate this troupe with "the family's reputation". For the host, this is almost the same as cursing.
Although Mrs. Wei did not look down on the opera troupe, she knew that no matter how much the ladies in Beijing admired them, they still looked down on those opera troupes in their hearts. It was impossible for her to say such things without malice.
Mrs. Wei looked indifferent and did not respond.
After all, she is now the old lady of the Yu family. If she really has to step in to argue with the military officer's wife, it will make the Yu family look low-class.
Xing Xing smiled and said, "What this lady said is really interesting. It turns out that whether a family is disgraced or not is not determined by whether the children in the family are ambitious or not, or whether the family tradition is upright, but by the opera troupe. According to this, your family must be very upright. After all, I heard that the young master of your family once brought a courtesan into the mansion as a concubine."
As soon as these words were spoken, the military attaché's wife's face instantly turned dark!
The other ladies couldn't help but smile.