Chapter 40: Banquet
Wu Yue nodded in understanding and said, "I understand. You can go down. I will serve the young lady."
"Yes." Caiyun responded, then turned and left.
Wu Yue came into the room, opened the lunch box, took out the iced mung bean soup and placed it on the table.
Fortunately, she protected it and it didn't spill.
Lu Xiang smelled the scent and sat over.
"Miss, I have kept this mung bean soup in ice for a long time. It is now cool. Please try it."
Lu Xiang took the white and blue porcelain bowl from Wu Yue's hand, scooped a mouthful, and instantly felt a refreshing feeling from head to toe. He sighed comfortably, "It's a pity that ice cubes are too rare. If it were summer, I could drink a bowl of icy green bean soup every day. It would be so refreshing."
Wu Yue smiled and said, "Miss, please don't be greedy for the coolness. It's not summer yet. I'm just letting you satisfy your appetite today. Eating too much cold food is not good."
After that, she took out a note from her sleeve and handed it to Lu Xiang: "Miss, here you go."
Lu Xiang put down the bowl in his hand and took the note from Wu Yue.
"I met Xia Qing when I went to the kitchen to serve mung bean soup. She slipped this note into my hand while no one was paying attention." Wu Yue said.
Lu Xiang took it and looked at the contents of the note. Her eyebrows knitted slightly. Then she crumpled the note into a ball and told Wu Yue: "Burn it."
"Yes, ma'am."
Wu Yue picked up the tinder beside her and lit the fire, burning the note in her hand to ashes.
At this moment, Lu Xiang's cold and ethereal voice sounded behind her. It was clearly close to her ears, yet seemed to be far away in the horizon.
"Xia Qing said that she accompanied Lu Yue to Aunt Fang's room two days ago and saw Aunt Fang happily counting a box of silver and a box of jewelry. I heard that someone asked Aunt Fang to do something."
Wu Yue heard this and turned to look at Lu Xiang: "This is not surprising. The master is the prefect and has a very high status in Yangning City. Some people want to ask the master to do something but can't see him, so they come to find Aunt Fang."
After all, many times, women can get things done just by whispering in someone's ear.
Lu Xiang chuckled and drank the mung bean soup slowly. The cool taste made her squint comfortably, but her brows were filled with a hint of sharpness: "That's true, but since you're asking a woman in the backyard to do something, shouldn't you first find out who Father Qin loves the most? Wouldn't it be easier to find Aunt Liu, but this man spared Aunt Liu and found Aunt Fang instead? Weird."
As she spoke strangely, she lowered her head and scooped a spoonful of mung beans into her mouth: "Keep an eye on Aunt Fang, you can always know what she wants to do. Wu Yue, let Xia Qing wake up recently. If she can't report in time, just deal with it as needed."
Wu Yue nodded: "Yes, Miss."
After that, she took out another invitation and handed it to Lu Xiang: "Miss, this is an invitation from the Qin Mansion."
Qin Mansion?
Lu Xiang opened the post and found it was from the Governor Qin's Mansion. Mrs. Qin had personally invited her to attend a banquet the day after tomorrow.
No matter when and where, such banquets for the wives and daughters of officials are always unavoidable. Not only for weddings and birthdays, but also when they have nothing to do on weekdays, they like to invite a group of people to their homes, in order to show off and compete with each other, and to win over connections and build good relationships.
The ladies get to know different people through various banquets. The ladies try their best to please those who may be beneficial to their husbands. If the relationship is good, they can be of great help at critical moments.
Because the Lu family had no mistress, Madam Qin sent the following message to several young ladies of the Lu family and Qiao Jing, the eldest lady.
When Lu Xiang walked out of the Lu Mansion's gate, Liu, Aunt Fang and Aunt Lin were waiting at the door with their daughters. When they saw Lu Xiang coming out, Liu and Aunt Fang showed impatience on their faces.
Aunt Lin smiled at her and said, "Miss San, I'll trouble you to take care of Qiao'er today."
Lu Xiang said, "Mrs. Lin is too polite. This is my first time attending a banquet. I think I won't make any mistakes if I stay by Madam Wen's side and don't move around."
The old lady was worried about the little ones, so she asked Mother Wen to accompany them.
Aunt Lin hit a snag and smiled awkwardly.
"Since you are here, you should leave quickly. Otherwise, if you arrive late, it would be impolite and make Madam Qin unhappy." Liu said with a smile, implying that Lu Xiang was late.
She put on exquisite makeup and held Lu Xiang's hand intimately. She looked gentle and charming on the surface, but she was actually disdainful in her heart.
Lu Xiang looked at Liu expressionlessly, pushed her hand away, and said calmly: "Madam Liu, you are worrying too much. It is still early now. Even if I come out half an hour later, I will not be impolite to ask the Qin family to wait."
Why was Liu in such a hurry? She acted as if she could go to the Qin Mansion for a banquet.
Liu didn't feel embarrassed at all by Lu Xiang's coldness. She turned around and winked at Lu Mingzhu.
It didn't matter that she couldn't go to the Qin Mansion. What was important was her daughter. If her Mingzhu could gain a foothold among those real celebrities and build good relationships with them, then she and her daughter would have more confidence to gain a foothold in the Lu Mansion.
Lu Mingzhu walked up to Lu Xiang, smiled and took Lu Xiang's arm, and said in a friendly tone: "Third sister, I will ride in a carriage with you."
Lu Xiang looked at Lu Mingzhu as if she had seen a ghost, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. She wanted to pull her hand away, but found that Lu Mingzhu was holding her hand tightly like an octopus, making it impossible for her to pull away for a while.
Then she forcibly pulled Lu Xiang into the carriage.
Wu Yue rolled her eyes as she watched from behind. If it weren't for the fact that young ladies were not allowed to go too far at the gate, how could she have been pulled away by the Fourth Young Lady?
The carriage was moving slowly. Lu Mingzhu seemed to have never fallen out with Lu Xiang. She kept talking to her. Lu Xiang leaned against the wall of the carriage and did not respond. She just looked at Lu Mingzhu's pretentiousness. Her black eyes were as deep as a cold pond, unfathomable and exuding a sense of weirdness.
It's obvious that the two of them have already torn their faces apart and can't maintain the superficial balance, but Lu Mingzhu can still act so nonchalant. Should we say that she is thick-skinned or shameless?
Looking at Lu Mingzhu's flattering look, Lu Xiang couldn't help but rub the goose bumps on his hands.
Soon, the carriage arrived at the Qin Mansion, and Lu Xiang got off hurriedly, not wanting to listen to Lu Mingzhu's nonsense at all.
At this time, many luxurious carriages had already been parked in front of the gate of the Qin Mansion, and the place was bustling with people.
The vermilion lacquered gate, red pillars and green tiles, carved beams and painted buildings.
When the Qin manor's servants saw the guests coming, they hurried over respectfully and saluted with their fists clasped: "Greetings to all the young ladies. Are you the family of Magistrate Lu?"
Lu Xiang smiled and nodded. Just as he was about to say yes, Lu Mingzhu suddenly spoke up, "It's us."
"Ladies, please come in. My wife has been waiting for a long time." The servant didn't know whether Lu Mingzhu was a legitimate daughter or a concubine's daughter, but since she was the daughter of Magistrate Lu, she was more valuable than a servant like him. He made a gesture to invite them in.
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