The autumn banquet of the Chung Kok Mansion was chosen on a breezy day in October. From early in the morning, the carriages of various prefectures came in a row, filling the Zhongyi Hutong where the Zhongguo Mansion was located. The servants of the palace had a clear division of labor, and on the one hand, they led the carriage of the female dependents into the gate with the threshold removed, and on the other hand, they led the princes of the mansions who accompanied the female dependents to the outer courtyard.

Xie Yuan, the prince of Zhongguo, and Xie Zhong, the prince of the world, stood at the shadow wall to greet the prince who escorted the female dependents. Tan and Xu stood at the second gate to greet the female dependents, arranging which people to go to Songhe Hall in a soft sedan chair and which people to go directly to the back garden. There are also old ladies beside Mama Gong and Mother Qi, who arranged for the mother-in-law and girls brought by the ladies to go to a special garden. For a while, the Guogong Mansion was full of people and crowded, but because of the good preparation work in the early stage, although it was busy, it was not chaotic. Although the guests came one after another, they were also arranged in an orderly manner.

At this moment, the old lady's main room in the Songhe Garden was already full of laughter, and the Lin family sat on the top to accept wave after wave of ladies in the capital who were not rich or noble. The first to arrive was Tan's maiden home Jing'an Houfu, and now Jing'an Hou is Tan's eldest brother. Tan has five brothers and sisters, three boys and two girls, and Tan is the youngest daughter.

The old lady of Jing'an Houfu, that is, the mother of the Tan family, came with Mrs. Hou, Mrs. Shizi, the eldest grandmother and two granddaughters, and when Mrs. Lin heard the report, she stood at the door of the main house early to greet her, personally helped her in-laws to the middle hall, and sat on the low floor with herself, and the two old ladies looked at everyone with a smile and saluted.

The two daughters from Jing'an Houfu, one is the concubine of the prince, 14 years old this year, called Jiaoniang. One is the second master's daughter-in-law, 13 years old this year, called Runiang. Because of her aunt and uncle, she often comes and goes, Xie Fang has a very good relationship with Ru Niang, and after seeing the ceremony, she hurriedly came forward and took her hand to the side to tell Ru Niang about her arrangements today.

This Runiang is also a delicate and heartless character, and after hearing about it, she wanted to take Sister Fang to see what the wisteria looked like. Xie Rong stopped the two of them, and invited Jiao Niang over, and several little girls sat together and chatted.

Not long after, Mrs. Huainanhou also came with her two daughters. Tan personally sent Jia into the main room, Xie Rong saw Jia enter the house, hurriedly stood up from the embroidery stool, and saluted to Jia with a red face, Jia nodded slightly at the future daughter-in-law, and then saluted to the two old ladies and daughters.

Huainanhou's wife Jia Shi is the daughter of Jia Bo, a university scholar today, and her family education is very strict, and the two daughters she teaches are also well-behaved, and she stands behind her mother after the salute, and her eyes do not float to the side.

Because it was Xie Rong's future in-laws, the Tan family was extremely enthusiastic, and called Xie Rong, who was blushing, and asked her to entertain her two younger sisters. Huainan Hou Sun Li has two sons and two daughters, both of whom are from the Jia family. The eldest son Sun Maoqi is the son, that is, Xie Rong's future husband, and the second son Sun Maohua is now studying in Guozijian, and he has to be taught by Jia Bo himself, so there must be no problem in getting a jinshi in the coming year. The eldest lady Sun Qiao is 15 years old and has been married to the youngest son of the master of the Hanlin Academy, and the second lady Sun Ting is 13 years old.

Jia Shi watched his two daughters follow Xie Rong and walk towards the round table where the young lady was sitting, although there was no expression on his face, the corners of his eyes showed relief. This daughter-in-law is carefully selected by her after weighing the character of the girl in the current dynasty and the girls, and her appearance, temperament, and tutor are all first-class and good. In fact, she can't look down on Tan's temperament, but Xie Rong has been by the old lady's side since he was a child, and he was cultivated according to the clan wife, and when he marries him, he will definitely be able to support Huainan Houfu. Thinking of this, I saw Xie Fang smiling with Ru Niang, such a personality doesn't know who she will marry in the future.

Xu's maiden family was brought by her sister-in-law Jian Yingrong, because Xu's mother had a cold a few days ago, the prince and Xu went back to visit. So today, the eldest grandmother Jian Yingrong came with her sister-in-law Xu Xiu.

Xu has been holding Jane's hand into the hall, at this time there are already many people in the middle hall, Jane stepped forward to salute the seniors, Mrs. Lin asked about Mrs. Xu's condition, Jane sat down after returning, surrounded by noble ladies of about the same age.

Jian Yingrong drank tea with a cup, and a loud voice came from the side, "I heard that Princess Yunjun is going to propose a marriage to the eldest prince?" ”

"Is that the eldest son?"

"That's right, if you want me to say that the princess is really a bodhisattva, every concubine is so attentive."

"According to this, the eldest son is not also soon. I just don't understand why their family has not been established. ”

The person next to him seemed to feel Jian Yingrong's gaze, so he stopped talking. Jian Yingrong covered her expression with the teacup, a femme fatale-like woman, her brother's family affairs, she must not be in charge.

While he was talking here, he heard a servant outside singing loudly, and Princess Yunjun arrived. Dongwen stood at the door, raised the curtain, and when a woman 30 miles away came first, wearing a big red jacket with gold all over the floor, combing a peony bun, and inserting a red gold phoenix hairpin, which also spit out a string of pearls the size of rice grains, which hung down to her forehead, and lined her fair complexion, a pair of big eyes that were born to speak with a smile. This is today's Yunjun Princess Hu.

When Mrs. Lin saw Princess Yunjun coming in, she got down, took Mama Wang's hand and walked close to salute, but was supported by Hu, "Oh, old lady, you can torture me, you sit down." As he spoke, he helped the old lady to sit down again, and turned back to beckon the two girls behind him to come over.

"This is my second girl and my third girl, come quickly, say hello to the old lady."

The first one standing was the second lady of the county prince's mansion, Jian Yingwan, the daughter of the Hu family, wearing a goose yellow embroidered green twig pattern makeup gown, combing the fallen horse bun, inserting a gold step shake, wearing beeswax stone beads, and a pair of red gold and purple pendants on her ears.

Standing behind Jian Yingwan was Jian Yinghan, the concubine of King Yunjun. Compared with Jian Yingwan, Jian Yinghan's tone is much more low-key, the jet-black green silk is curled on the back of her head, she wears a coral turquoise bead flower, she wears a gown with blue sky, and a moon-white thread skirt, although her body has not grown up, it can be seen that she will be a beauty in the future.

After seeing each other, the Hu family sat under Mrs. Lin, and when they saw Jian Yingrong, they smiled and said, "Sister Rong came early, but I haven't seen you for a while, I heard that Brother Ran has a cough a few days ago, but it's better?" ”

Jian Yingrong stood up slightly and saluted and said, "Princess Lao is worried, now it's okay." After speaking, he stopped talking, sat back in his seat and continued to drink tea.

The princess of the county didn't care anymore, and still talked and laughed with everyone, but Jian Yingwan threw a vicious gaze.

Seeing that everyone had heard the two of them talk a little unnaturally, Xu Shi hurriedly stood up and said to everyone that they might as well go to the garden. They are all big families, and they all know more or less about the grievances between the eldest lady of Yunjun Wangfu and the princess, so they got up and walked out with the Xu family.

Jian Yingrong sat on the chair and didn't move, the person was almost gone, Old Madam Lin beckoned to her, Jian Yingrong stood up and walked to the front of the two old ladies. Mrs. Lin took her hand and patted her and said,

"It's been so many years, don't make yourself uncomfortable anymore, now that you're married, and your brother is still in the house, you have to think about him somewhat."

For the intricate families in the capital, the old lady's words can be said to be heartfelt. Jian Yingrong's eyes reddened, "Is it Yingrong, the old lady is at ease, I know what to do in my heart." ”

"Good boys, go out for a walk with them."

Jian Yingrong saluted and withdrew, and Old Madam Lin and Old Madam Huainan Hou looked at each other and shook their heads.

As soon as Xie Ping entered the house, she looked for Xie Fang everywhere, and when she was told that she had gone to the garden, she showed a disappointed expression. Tan sent Lu Yi to take a few young ladies to the garden to find Xie Fang.

Xie Fen sat on the embroidery bench and didn't move, Gu Shi beckoned to her, and Xie Fen stepped forward with her skirt. Xie Fen's outfit today was completely different from when he came that day, and his expression was also the gentle smile of the standard Miss of the Family. Xie Fen only came to the Houfu in the spring, and the older lady who was sitting there had seen anything before, so he asked. The Gu clan told Xie Fen's identity, and specially said that he had not yet decided on a family, and everyone heard that it was the daughter of an important minister newly appointed by the emperor, and their eyes were different when they saw Xie Fen.