"That woman is just a merchant's daughter. How can she be presentable?" Xiao Ruqin followed her sister to the Gu family's garden. "Sister, hold it down. It was fine that Lord Gu refused to marry before, but now he wants to marry. You have waited for him for almost ten years and wasted your youth. Why shouldn't he marry you?"
"At today's garden party, let that woman see the difference between her and a real girl from an aristocratic family. When you enter the Marquis' Mansion in the future, you will definitely be better than her!"
Xiao Ruyun listened to what her sister said, and her slender eyebrows sank slightly, "Why are you comparing me with a merchant woman?"
Xiao Ruqin quickly apologized, and Xiao Ruyun held her chin up. The two sisters followed their mother Lin into the marquis' mansion.
The Gu family didn't often hold such a garden party, so the rules were not very strict. The host prepared tables and snacks, and made the yard spacious and beautiful. Those who wanted to stroll around the yard could ask the servants to take them around. Those who didn't want to stroll around could just sweep the snow in front of the yard. The older people gathered together to talk about their children and husbands, and the young girls gathered together to talk about the fun things that happened today.
Lin walked in and looked up to look for Old Madam Xu.
Old people don't like to walk around much. Although there was a garden party, they didn't join the guests to enjoy the beautiful scenery in the courtyard. Lin found Old Lady Xu in a courtyard where women were gathered to enjoy the flowers. Next to her sat four or five other elderly women, and next to them stood a few young girls.
Lin looked around for a while, but didn't see the figure of the legendary Liu. She thought that Old Lady Xu probably didn't take her daughter-in-law from a merchant family seriously, so she put on a smile and said, "Old Lady, I haven't seen you for a while. Are you in good health?"
Old Lady Xu looked at the Xiao family coming over and smiled. She then looked behind Lin and did not find her former best friend. "Why didn't your mother-in-law come?"
Then Lin sighed, "Knowing that you are organizing a garden party with great difficulty, mother-in-law naturally wants to come and support you. But you know her physical condition. Normally, she would go to pray to the gods and worship Buddha whenever she can get out of the field. These days, she can't even get out of the field."
Hearing this, Old Lady Xu quickly covered her chest and asked, "Is she okay?" After all, when she is old, she is most afraid of separation from loved ones.
"My Ruyun has been with her for several days. She is now awake. But she still can't get out of bed, so she asked me to come and tell you not to blame her."
"How can I blame her?" Old Lady Xu sighed. Her friend had been devastated ever since her child was lost more than 20 years ago.
Xiao's mistress, Youshi, was seven or eight years younger than her, fifty years old. Her son was in mourning at that time, so she got married late. Because her family was too high-ranking, they were unwilling to marry her off. She waited for a long time until she was twenty-eight to marry Xiao Guogong, whose wife had died. One year after they got married, they had a daughter, but she was kidnapped by thieves during the turmoil in the court more than twenty years ago.
There were many casualties that year, and most of the Xiao family members thought that the eldest daughter of the Xiao family was probably dead. Poor Youshi, who was almost thirty years old and had only this one daughter, refused to give up and wanted to see her alive or dead.
But more than 20 years passed and there was no news. On the contrary, Youshi's health became worse and worse.
"Yun'er, since your grandmother likes you, you should spend more time with her." Old Lady Xu said to the woman standing aside.
Xiao Ruyun bowed her head meekly, "Don't worry, old lady, I will take good care of grandma."
Old Lady Xu had originally chosen Xiao Ruyun as her daughter-in-law because of her old friend, and now that she was gentle and polite, she liked her even more. It was a pity that such a good girl was missed by the Marquis's Mansion.
"Why don't you look at the Saint Lady?" Lin deliberately said, "She will be the mistress of the Marquis's Mansion in the future, and she will have to meet us eventually. Old Madam, you are not reluctant to let your new daughter-in-law see people, right?" Of course, Liu and her daughter should be compared together, so that others can see who is good and who is bad! Old Madam Xu frowned. She was not a narrow-minded woman. Since she had called Liu to save her face, she would not watch her make a fool of herself.
Thinking that she had little social contact among the nobles in the capital and fearing that she would be neglected, she had already asked the nanny beside her to pick her up.
"Here they come, old lady, people are coming."
Old Madam Xu looked over and saw a beautiful woman with willow-like beauty bowing to her.
"Old Madam, I was delayed by some things at the front. I should have come to see you earlier." Liu said shyly.
Old Madam Xu looked her up and down, and saw that although she was extremely beautiful, her figure was dignified, not the kind of seductive look she had imagined, and she felt a little more satisfied. Shen Qingqiu beside her also followed the rules and said crisply, "Hello, old madam."
Old Lady Xu had heard from Gu Yong that Liu was going to marry in with her daughter. If it was a son, she might have considered something, but when the daughter grew up, she could just give some dowry. The Gu family didn't lack that.
“Come here——” He smiled and waved at Shen Qingqiu.
"Your mother will marry into our Gu family in the future, and you have to call me grandma." Old Lady Xu waved her hand, and the maid next to her handed over a tray with a jade longevity lock on it. "It's a little rough, but it's according to the rules of your brothers and sisters before you. Take a look and see if you like it."
Shen Qingqiu originally thought that such a wealthy family would not look down on his mother and himself, but when he saw the old lady in front of him, although she was dignified and majestic, there was also a hint of kindness under her white hair.
"I like it. Thank you, grandma." Shen Qingqiu said.
Very good, Old Lady Xu nodded again.
This girl is not bad, with a clear look in her eyes.
"This mansion is not big, how come it took so long?" Lin smiled and said, "When I came here, I seemed to vaguely see the Liu family's carriage. Now that you are here, why don't you come to pay your respects to the old lady, or is the new bride afraid of people?"
Shen Qingqiu frowned slightly and looked at the woman in front of him, not understanding why she was deliberately making things difficult for him.
When Old Madam Xu heard what Lin said, she felt a little dissatisfied.
"No matter what happens to Sister Liu, we were the ones who pestered her just now!" Wang Qingluo trotted over from behind, "Old Madam, blame me if you want to. Sister Liu wanted to pay her a visit as soon as she came in, but she was pestered by me as soon as she entered the door--" Old Madam Xu did not say anything, but the Prime Minister's wife, who was still sitting, scolded Wang Qingluo.
"You're the only one who makes trouble."
Old Madam Xu would naturally not blame Wang Qingluo. Not to mention that she was the daughter of the Prime Minister, she was the future Crown Princess!
She looked at Liu suspiciously again - how come she was still on good terms with Wang Qingluo? ! "Hmm~" Wang Qingluo acted like a spoiled child towards her mother, and then said to Old Lady Xu: "Old Lady, can you lend me Sister Liu for a while? The sisters over there are waiting for Sister Liu to come over, and we still have a lot to say."
Old Madam Xu had originally called her here because she was afraid that she would have no one to socialize with at the garden party, so why would she not let her go now?
Seeing that Liu was also looking at her, as if waiting for her consent, Old Lady Xu relaxed her brows and said, "In that case, you can go. I'll have the servants notify you when the banquet starts."
Liu bowed her head and said yes, and was then pulled away by Wang Qingluo. When Liu entered the crowd, she asked the noble ladies to surround her tightly. Liu was not a person who was good at dancing with long sleeves, but she was gentle in life and had no temper when she spoke. In addition, she was not stingy in sharing the little tricks of dressing up with others.
The conversation was quite lively for a while.
"Why did that woman target my mother?" Shen Qingqiu asked.
Wang Qingluo was eating snacks, and her eyes widened when she heard this, "You don't know?" Then she thought that she and Liu were outsiders, and this was an old story that happened many years ago, and no one has spread it anymore, so she said, "Look, that Xiao Ruyun from the Xiao family looks like she wants to eat your mother, doesn't she?"
Shen Qingqiu glanced at Xiao Ruyun.
She was indeed looking at Liu. Compared to Liu's excitement, she seemed lonely. After all, there were too few women in this dynasty who were still unmarried after the age of 25. The ladies had their own social life. Unmarried people and married people often did not hang out together, and Xiao Ruyun was no longer a girl.
If I go to socialize with a married woman, she won't get married yet.
"People outside say that this girl from the Xiao family is loyal and has waited for a man for almost ten years," Wang Qingluo laughed, "but I think she is like a fool. She has nothing in these ten years for a man. Not to mention her wasted age, look at the girls in the yard, none of them can get along with her."
As soon as she came out, she looked like a resentful woman in the boudoir. Who would want to talk to her?
After telling Shen Qingqiu about Xiao Ruyun and Gu Yong's past, "Anyway, you should stay away from them today. The husband you had chosen for a long time was picked up by your mother--" Wang Qingluo clicked her tongue again, "Duke Xiao used to be a noble family, but since Lin took over the family, his style of doing things has become petty."
Shen Qingqiu did not answer. She just looked at Xiao Ruqin's face. For some reason, she felt as if she had seen her somewhere before.
At night, the servants were asked to hang up the lanterns in the mansion. The bright snow scene in the daytime had a different charm at night. Shen Qingqiu sat on the railing of the long corridor of the mansion, quietly watching the thawed fish swimming around in the lake. Under the lights of the mansion and the surrounding snow, it was like a painting.
Shen Qingqiu lowered his head, his pigtail falling beside his ear, and pretended to catch a small fish.
But he was pulled back by someone, "Be careful——" If Shen Qingqiu had not heard that the person behind him had a faint breath and was seriously ill, he would have been slapped to death, and he would have fought back long ago.
"The lake is... dangerous."
"Oh, my Ninth Prince, how can you run so fast! You are trying to kill me!" Wang Xi ran over and wanted to see how Gu Yanwei was doing, but was pushed away. He didn't want to appear particularly weak in front of this little girl.
It was that short-lived ghost——Shen Qingqiu remembered it immediately!
Looking at Shen Qingqiu's expression, he knew that she remembered him.
Gu Yanwei didn't know why, but he felt a little excited. "You still remember me?"
Shen Qingqiu sneered, "Remember, you liar."
"How dare you!" Wang Xi was about to scold but was stopped by Gu Yanwei.
"How did I lie to you?"
“That day I asked you to come to me for treatment, but you said you wouldn’t come, and you didn’t come even though you promised.” Shen Qingqiu said, “Anyway, you helped me that day, and I said I would pay you back, but you didn’t want to. Let’s make it even, and don’t say I owe you anything in the future.”
Gu Yanwei couldn't help but chuckle, and then said: "I'm not feeling well, I can't go out casually--" Even though he didn't want to appear too weak, in order to make her not hate him, he still said: "I just fainted a few days ago, and my father didn't let me go out for several days."
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