Chapter 21
Early in the morning, Luo Chaoyan brought the little fat boy to the old lady's yard to pay her respects on time.
Seeing that Madam Huo had a stern face again, she felt a little confused. It seemed that she had not done anything wrong recently, right? No matter what, let the little fat boy go to coax people first. She gently clapped her hands holding Huo An's. This was the secret code she had agreed upon with him long ago.
Huo An understood. His mother said that as long as he was obedient, she would take him with her when she went out to play.
He let go of his mother's hand, walked up to his grandmother and great-grandmother, bowed obediently, and smiled, "Grandma, great...grandmother! Greetings...to you all!"
The two old men were startled by his rare long speech, and then they were very happy.
Old Madam Huo held the man in her arms and was very surprised.
"An An, you're so good!"
Mrs. Huo was somewhat relieved and said with a smile, "Ayan is the one who has the solution. Anan was not very efficient in calling people in the past!"
Hearing this, Luo Chaoyan's eyes flickered and she felt a little guilty. If the old lady knew that she teased the little fat boy like a circus animal trainer, she would probably want to kill her.
Huo An thought about the fact that his mother would take him out later, so he said to the old lady in a coquettish manner, "Great-grandmother! Go... out and eat!" He raised his hand and pointed at Luo Chaoyan, then pointed outside the door.
The two old people didn't quite understand what he meant, so they looked at Luo Chaoyan together.
She smiled awkwardly and said, "Grandma, mother, I took An An to Jin Ji yesterday to eat some fresh food. I think he liked it very much."
Huo An nodded his head in cooperation, looking at Mrs. Huo with sparkling eyes, "I like it!"
The old lady tapped his little nose and said angrily, "Why didn't An An bring some back for Great Grandmother?"
Luo Chaoyan was a little amused. The old lady must have meant this to her. She hurriedly explained, "Grandma, Jinji's dishes are only delicious when they are cooked and eaten immediately. If you pack them up and bring them back, the taste will change over time."
"Humph! You are the only one who knows how to eat!" Old Madam Huo glared at her, "You are the young lady of the Huo family, how can you be so greedy. Aren't you afraid of losing face?"
Come on, the old lady is just saying the grapes are sour because she can’t eat them. Alas, I don’t know who was so shameless to steal her candies and have people take away food from her kitchen from time to time. Luo Chaoyan felt helpless. It turned out that old people and children were all the same.
"Grandma, I'm telling you that I was wrong." Luo Chaoyan admitted her mistake sincerely, "Grandma, I will never let anyone study food again. I will also write to my uncle to stop him from bringing anything to Beijing."
"You!" Old Madam Huo choked. Is this what she meant?
Mrs. Huo just found this funny couple funny.
"Ayan, the Liang family will host a banquet tomorrow and has invited our family. You can come with us then."
Madam Huo said angrily, "Why did you ask her to do that? She is so petty and makes people laugh at her!"
"Grandma is right. It's better for the granddaughter-in-law not to go." Luo Chaoyan nodded in agreement. When her marriage with Huo Jin was arranged, people outside were full of curiosity about her. But she wasn't too unhappy about being a sight to behold.
Mrs. Huo glanced at her in reproach and said with a smile, "Ayan, the Huo family's backyard will be handed over to you in the future. It won't hurt to take this opportunity to meet some ladies from aristocratic families. If you don't go, others will think that we, the daughters-in-law of the Huo family, are shameful."
"Well... okay!" Luo Chaoyan had no choice but to agree dejectedly.
The next day, the women of the Huo family set out for the Liang Mansion.
In one of the carriages, Luo Chaoyan and Huo Rui were staring at each other.
Shu Lan held Huo An and sat in the middle of them, always on guard to prevent them from fighting.
"Why are you here?" Luo Chaoyan spoke first.
Huo An moved his body, adjusted his posture and leaned against the wall of the carriage, looking like a master, "This is my Huo family's carriage, I can go wherever I like!"
"Open your dog eyes and look, this is my carriage." Luo Chaoyan pointed to the warmly and comfortably decorated carriage. The original carriage seats were hard, so she had thick cotton added to them, making them into simple lazy sofas so that people wouldn't get tired during long journeys.
Huo Rui patted the soft seat, somewhat proudly: "Woman, you may have forgotten that you are from our Huo family, so your things belong to the Huo family."
"Shame on you!" Luo Chaoyan said disdainfully, "This is my dowry. Even your father doesn't dare to say this. How can you be so confident as to speak so brazenly in front of me?"
"Hey! No, why didn't you go to school today? Did you play truant?" She seemed to have discovered some unspeakable secret and sneered, "You haven't made any progress in your studies, but you have learned to play truant. I guess I have to have a good talk with your father."
Huo Rui had been acting nonchalant, but he immediately got furious when he heard her words, "Woman, don't go too far!" Now he had to go to school at dawn to learn those boring poems and books from those old teachers. If he didn't learn well, he would be scolded, or punished by copying. He was almost annoyed.
"Hmph! Who told you to always show off in front of me? I'd be letting your "kindness" down if I didn't give you some trouble!" "Luo Chaoyan emphasized the word "thoughts" particularly strongly.
"You!" Huo Rui said angrily, "You don't even have the awareness of being a mother! The old master told you to respect the elderly and love the young!"
"Haha! Then you have the awareness of being a son? Didn't the old master tell you to be filial to your parents?"
"You're my stepmother!"
"You're still my stepson!"
"you……"
"Stop!" Shu Lan's scalp was numb from the quarrel between the two. When she heard Fengli outside the car say that they had arrived at the Liang Mansion, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the two people and said, "Fengli said that we have arrived at the Liang Mansion! Madam, Master Rui, let's get off the car!"
The two glared at each other and snorted coldly before getting off the carriage.
Today is Mrs. Liang’s 60th birthday. The Liang Mansion is crowded with people, and many dignitaries have come to celebrate.
Luo Chaoyan and Madam Huo supported Madam Huo and entered the Liang Mansion together.
Many wealthy ladies were already seated in the living room in the backyard of the Liang Mansion.
Madam Liang was sitting at the top. When she saw Madam Huo and the others come in, she stood up and greeted them with a smile.
"Old sister, you are finally here!"
Mrs. Huo smiled and said, "How dare I not come to my sister's big happy event."
The two old people held each other's hands, like sisters who had met again after a long separation.
Old Madam Liang looked at Luo Chaoyan who was standing beside the old sisters. Although she was not a beauty with a natural beauty, she had a pretty figure with her eyebrows slightly raised. She joked, "Is this the fourth daughter of the Luo family who won our number one scholar?"
Many ladies present looked at her, all of them were very curious about this young lady of the Huo family who was so famous in Kyoto.
Cough cough!
Luo Chaoyan was a little caught off guard. How should she respond to this? It's quite embarrassing to say yes or no in public. She could only pretend to be shy and lower her eyes.
Mrs. Huo smiled and said, "Madam, please stop teasing this girl, or she might be too embarrassed to face the world."
"That's right!" Mrs. Huo said angrily, "Old sister, you still like to tease people as always."
Seeing how the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law protected Luo Chaoyan, Old Lady Liang seemed to be very satisfied with Luo Si Niang. She took off a golden hairpin from her hair and said with a smile, "Ah Jin, come here. I didn't prepare any gifts for you, so I'll just give you this hairpin."
"This..." Luo Chaoyan looked at her mother-in-law and Madam Huo. Seeing them nod, she took it and said, "Thank you, Madam."
The second wife of the Liang family, Yang, pretended to be dissatisfied and looked at the old lady Liang, then smiled and said, "Ajin wife, this hairpin of our old lady is a golden hairpin given by the queen. The old lady usually doesn't want to wear it, and even her granddaughter asked for it, but now she generously gave it to you. It seems that she likes you very much!"
Madam Liang pretended to be angry and glared at her daughter-in-law, then complained to Madam Huo, "Look, she's even jealous of your granddaughter-in-law!"
Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Many of the women present here had struggled to survive in the backyard, so naturally they all knew what was going on. The Liang family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were just trying to flatter Luo because they saw that the Huo family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were satisfied with her.
Rumor has it that Luo used some trickery to marry into the Huo family. Now that they have witnessed with their own eyes how satisfied the Huo family elders are with her and how they protect her, those who originally wanted to see her make a fool of herself have given up on that idea.
As a result, Luo Chaoyan not only became a sight for everyone to watch, but also became the object of everyone's fawning. After all, she has the title of Young Lady of the Huo Family. In order to avoid being criticized by her old lady afterwards, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and deal with it politely and humbly.
She saw her aunt Zhao in the crowd and was a little surprised. Considering that the Luo family, a small family, could be invited to such a military mansion, it must have taken a lot of effort from her aunt.
She secretly looked at Madam Liang Er. Although she looked easy-going, she still had a sense of pride. She shook her head secretly in her heart, thinking that her aunt might have made a wrong calculation.
Zhao walked up to her with a smile, and expressed her concern for her affectionately, letting people know that she was the elder from the young lady's family. Then he started chatting with Mrs. Liang in a very familiar manner.
Sure enough, the noble lady who had been indifferent to Zhao began to change her attitude.
Luo Chaoyan couldn't help but sigh that her uncle and his wife were truly talented in the social world.
Cui from the Ye family was very indignant when she saw this. She originally thought that since the short-lived stepdaughter was gone, her daughter would naturally marry into the Huo family, but who knew that Luo would appear out of nowhere. I heard that Luo's mother came from a merchant family. Doesn't this make people feel that their Ye family is not as good as the Luo family, a small family?
She coughed lightly, attracting everyone's attention. She said with a regretful tone, "Mrs. Huo looks really good. She looks good and healthy. Alas... unlike our Shuang'er, who has been weak since childhood and died at such a young age..."
The ladies from aristocratic families are all shrewd people. How could they not know that she was just jealous of Luo's marriage into the Huo family and was dissatisfied with the Huo family, so she acted like this. Everyone knows that Huo Ye has always been at odds with her.
Some people sneered at her behavior and felt that Ye Cui was not worthy of being in public.
Of course, there are also people who want to watch the fun, such as Lord Gu’s daughter-in-law - Xie! The Huo family was ungrateful and filed a complaint in the court for Luo's sake, causing the Gu family to lose all face. It would be worth the trip if they could see the excitement of the Huo family this time.
Madam Liang was somewhat dissatisfied with Cui Shi for looking for trouble at a banquet like this one in their Liang family, but she didn't show it on her face. She smiled and said, "Madam Ye, today is our old lady's birthday banquet, so don't mention this sad thing."
Cui pretended to wipe her tears, looking like she missed her stepdaughter deeply. She looked at Madam Liang and Madam Huo apologetically and said, "Look at my mouth, I really deserve to be beaten. Seeing the young lady reminded me of my daughter. I hope you two old ladies won't mind."
As the hostess, Madam Liang naturally could not argue with the guests. She just smiled and said nothing.
Cui added: "Speaking of which, Ajin is an outstanding writer in our Dayong Dynasty, and our Shuang'er is also well-educated and well-mannered. They were a loving couple in Kyoto!" She looked at Luo Chaoyan and saw that she was like an outsider, neither jealous nor envious. She didn't know whether she was pretending or really didn't care.
She pretended to be curious, "I heard that the young lady's mother's family is in Jeju, and the young lady also grew up in Jeju. I wonder if there are any famous families in Jeju where she can learn from? The girls from the noble families in Kyoto have been taught by famous teachers since childhood, and they are all good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. I think Mrs. Luo's teaching of poetry and literature to the young lady is not bad!"
When she said this, it was very meaningful.
Luo Sanlang's wife, Yin, was born in a merchant family in Jeju. Although her family was wealthy, in the eyes of these noble families, her status was really looked down upon.
Cui was almost pointing at Luo's nose and saying that she was not worthy of being associated with the Huo family.
Zhao secretly resented Cui for deliberately causing trouble. Some were also worried that their niece had never seen such a big scene and might be criticized for her inappropriate remarks.
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