Episode 124

  On the second day, before dawn broke, people in the Gu manor were already bustling about. Minglan got up earlier than Gu Tingye, and before getting out of bed, she gently kissed his straight nose and softly said, "It's rare to have a break, later you'll still need to accompany the guests for dinner, so sleep a bit more."

  Gu Tingyan, however, was not to be trusted. He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, flipped over and pinned her down, with one hand sneakily reaching into her clothes. His technique was extremely familiar, as he had been considerate of Minglan's hard work in preparing for the banquet these past few days, and had retreated at night, but after a round of fondling and kissing, they had almost accidentally gone too far several times. As a result, he could only 'hand-in-hand' teach his wife to take another path.

  Unexpectedly, Minglan's wit was extremely high, and with a single hint, she could infer three, which left him so enchanted that he couldn't help but be deeply infatuated.

  Minglan was pressed down by the man's massive body, feeling short of breath. She rudely pinched his waist, but instead, he bit her earlobe and pounced on her with a hot body, entwining them for half a day. It wasn't until she covered her ears and struggled free that she got out of bed and called for someone to help her get dressed.

  She didn't like heavy formal attire, thinking of today's workload, she tried to dress in a light and easy way. She wore a new pale purple embroidered with plum blossoms and two fingers wide of bright purple satin edging oblique lapel long gown, which was slender and elegant. Underneath, she tied a crimson moonlight hundred-fold skirt. On her head, she had a gentle and elegant low bun, with a pair of crimson gold silk phoenix hairpins on top, inlaid with thumb-sized emeralds, the hairpin shone brightly under the sunlight.

  If it were a new house, you can't avoid the midnight worship of gods and the dawn beam-raising ceremony. However, since Qingyuan is an old mansion renovation, there's no need to perform all these rituals in full. Instead, we chose a bright and auspicious time, opened the sixteen vermilion doors of the morning sun hall, and placed a red lacquer sacrificial plate with a whole pig, fish, chicken, and duck, as well as twelve bowls of fresh fruits from the south and north, and twenty-four famous dishes of meat and vegetables.

  Just as he finished adjusting his attire, Gu Ting Ye emerged with a gentle smile, wearing a dark blue brocade robe with golden threads and a subtle sheen that accentuated his exceptional character. His slender arms and narrow waist made him appear even more refined and majestic, exuding an air of elegance and nobility as he walked slowly and deliberately.

  The candles on the altar were lit, and Gu Tingye led the incense burning ceremony. Only his wife knelt beside him, with no other relatives around, only servants standing by. Minglan had suggested that Rong'er move over earlier, so it wouldn't be so desolate during the ceremony; but to her surprise, Gu Tingye shook his head and remained silent. Looking at his solemn and melancholic expression, Minglan didn't dare say more.

  Who would have thought that after a moment, he suddenly became enthusiastic again, standing in the spacious and majestic Chaohui Hall, laughing and saying: "In another ten or eight years, this hall will be filled with my descendants!"

  Then, he gazed at Minglan with an encouraging and extremely eager gaze, and Minglan shuddered, almost opening her mouth to say "I will definitely not disappoint the leader's expectations for my growth" and so on. Looking around the vast hall of Chao Hui Tang, which was as big as half a basketball court, she felt that she had a heavy responsibility and a long way to go, and urgently needed to apply for division of labor and cooperation.

  After the worship, Gu Tingyan led the people to the outer courtyard. Minglan was entangled in a group of maidservants' inquiries and reports: The tea fruit table chairs were all arranged neatly, the silk bamboo music workers were ready at any moment, the doormen lined up at the door to greet guests... At this time, the front door sounded with firecrackers, followed by Wang Gui's wife coming to report: "The fourth and fifth old masters of the Hou Mansion and several young masters have arrived and are talking in the front hall."

  As the host of Ningyuan Hou Mansion, they should naturally arrive first. In this regard, they are still reliable. Therefore, Minglan also made more effort when entertaining the ladies of the Hou Mansion.

  She led the crowd into the flower hall, served tea and fruit pastries and various new snacks. Everyone started talking, Minglan was busy attending to the servants serving the guests while carefully counting with her eyes, knowing that except for Mrs. Shao from the main house, almost all the ladies from each house had arrived. For a moment, the room was filled with jewelry and laughter. In fact, Minglan hadn't seen these sisters-in-law many times before, and apart from "everyone eats well and drinks well", she didn't know what to say, so she resorted to her trusty first trick - playing dumb.

  The four old ladies praised her 'mansion's elegant style and beautiful scenery', Minglan doubled the praise and returned it to the architecture of Ningyuan Houfu; Zhu Shi praised her 'harmonious family, strict gate', Minglan humbly said 'it's all because seniors set a good example for us juniors', and also complimented the three old ladies on their excellent household management; Di Ertao from the fifth house teased her about her new married life, saying they were as sweet as honey and oil, Minglan lowered her head with a red face, pretending to be embarrassed.

  "Brother Er Ye can finally relax now, the Emperor has bestowed a large sum of silver to help establish our household, what a great honor!" The fourth wife, Bi Er's wife, let out a loud and shrill laugh, her voice like a copper bell that made Ming Lan's eardrums ache. She grasped Ming Lan's arm, her slender eyebrows dancing with excitement, "In the future, we'll have to rely on our own brothers to bring us glory."

  This sentence expressed the inner voice of many women present, and everyone went to see Minglan, only to see her nodding slightly, speaking softly: "Second sister said it was true."

  Is that all? The women were left speechless.

  Mrs. Ting refused to give up and directly pulled Minglan again, laughing: "I'll take your words seriously, and when I come to propose marriage later, you're not allowed to refuse!" Although Mr. Ting was born out of wedlock, he was favored by the fourth old master more than his eldest son, Gu Tinghuan, and his birth mother was a Liu surname old lady who was quite favored by the fourth old master, having given birth to two sons and two daughters, unfortunately half of them died young.

  Minglan's heart was slightly displeased, and she only lightly responded with a hum, then raised her eyes to scan the surrounding women, her gaze filled with difficulty and pleading for help. Baochai's mother was dissatisfied with Minglan's response and wanted to say more, but at this time, the Fourth Old Mistress lightly coughed and said displeased: "Are you here today to drink wine or to press for debt? Isn't it all over yet?"

  Mrs. Bing's face turned red, and she unwillingly closed her mouth, casting a disdainful sideways glance at the Fourth Old Mistress before sitting back down; Gu Tingyan looked over, then pulled along a group of sisters-in-law, chatting and laughing to themselves behind Baibao Pavilion.

  Minglan's gaze swept over the crowd, smiling in gratitude at Fourth Old Madam, who nodded slowly - Minglan had long known that the Ningyuan Marquis Manor was never a united front, and with Gu Tingye currently in power, there would naturally be those who would curry favor. It remained to be seen which one was clever enough to know when to make their move at the moment when Minglan needed it most.

  The Fourth Mistress was one, and her eldest daughter-in-law was another. From the moment they met face to face, Eldest Mistress had made it clear that she wanted to get along with her, and during their conversation, she even stood up for Minglan and blocked many reasonable or unreasonable teasing remarks.

  "Oh! The wife's sister hasn't even spoken yet, and you're already taking sides. Eldest Sister-in-law Zhang is indeed good at handling people!" Di Second Mistress covered her mouth and laughed, intentionally glancing over at Zhu Shi and Gu Tingcuan.

  "Ah, you rascal! Don't you remember when you first came in? Didn't I save your face back then? The young masters from the back house wanted to make a scene at your wedding chamber, but wasn't it me who stopped them? Now you're playing dumb!" The womenfolk burst into laughter, teasing and joking together.

  Minglan's big eyes, black and white as clear as a shallow stream, smiled at Mrs. Yu, full of intimacy and gratitude; Mrs. Yu understood, also smiling all over her face, holding her hand.

  Old Madame smiled kindly and, seeing everyone chatting lively, pulled Minglan to her side: "Your elder brother hasn't been feeling well these past few days, so your sister-in-law didn't come over. Don't mind it."

  Minglan's face was tinged with worry: "What can be said, it's all been chaotic lately. Eldest brother's body isn't well, and I haven't gone to visit him either, truly not right."

  The old lady sighed: "Alas, it's okay to raise him, but your elder brother is too worried, always worrying about this family, all of which are worn out from overwork."

  Ming Lan felt a sense of vigilance, Gu Ting Yu's poor health was not just for one or two days, the illness he had been born with, almost half of the capital city knew that he was living on borrowed time, two years ago, the Imperial Hospital's director Zhang Jing Song had already hinted to the Gu family to be mentally prepared.

  She smiled on her face and responded to the lady, but in her heart she sneered: When Gu Tingye was down on his luck in Jianghu, you couldn't wait to cry out loud that Gu Tingyu was "on his deathbed", now that Gu Tingye has risen to power, you say Gu Tingyu is just "overthinking and can still be cured" or it's a disease caused by "worrying about the family and working too hard", humph, what does that mean?!

  Minglan glanced at Zhu Shi, who was sitting quietly beside her, and thought for a moment before saying, "I'd like to trouble you with something, younger sister." Although Zhu Shi was actually much older than herself, she still had to address her as 'younger sister'. Upon hearing this, Zhu Shi stood up and said, "Second aunt, please speak."

  "After I've finished with this busy period, I'll go pick up Rong Jie and the others. Eldest sister-in-law will need to take care of eldest brother, so at that time, it would be a bother for younger sister to tidy up." Minglan said politely.

  Madam Zhu's face broke into a smile, and she smiled with pursed lips: "What could be so important? It's just a matter of lifting a hand, and after giving instructions to Erniang, it will be done; I've already told Rong'er that the new house needs to be tidied up before people can live in it, and at that time she'll have a neat and beautiful courtyard all to herself, Rong'er has been looking forward to it for a long time."

  Ming Lan smiled all over her face and said: "Then thank you, sister-in-law." She was also being sarcastic.

  It wasn't long before Minglan's maternal relatives arrived. Since the old lady disliked noise and commotion, she had said early on that she wouldn't come, and Hualan and Hai Shi hadn't yet reached their full month of confinement, so it wasn't good for them to be moving around everywhere. Therefore, only Wang Shi, Rulan, and Molan came. Minglan hastily welcomed them in, walking with them as they went inside while smiling and asking after their well-being.

  The Wang family walked in, seeing only the small bridges and flowing water inside the garden, pavilions and buildings, with a grand and majestic atmosphere, decorated with elegance and beauty. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, glancing at Rulan who was chatting and laughing with Minglan, secretly sighing; Molan pretended to be nonchalant, her eyes gloomy, scanning the scenery in front of her, thinking of the small courtyard in Yongchang Hou's mansion, feeling both sour and bitter.

  "What a pity..." said Wang, "Hua has always been thinking of you, but unfortunately she won't be able to attend your happy occasion."

  Minglan smiled and comforted her, "I've already told my elder sister that today is just for the sake of appearances and to set up a few tables of wine. In fact, most of the flowers and trees in the garden are still bare now, there's nothing much to see; when my elder sister and elder brother-in-law have recovered from their illness, by then the flowers will be blooming and everyone will be present, we can bring grandmother and the nephews and nieces along, wouldn't it be better for our family to gather together to admire the garden?"

  Wang felt relieved: "It's worth it for your elder sister to have spoiled you since childhood."

  Rulan heard this and pouted, saying: "Big sister dotes on Sixth Sister much more than she does on me!" Minglan didn't blush at all, but instead proudly boasted: "What can I do? Who made me so lovable?" Rulan glared with her eyes wide open, immediately wanting to pinch her.

  The Wang family couldn't help but smile wryly and scolded with a hearty laugh: "You're all grown up, why are you still causing trouble!"

  After entering the main hall, Minglan settled Wangshi in the first seat and sat alongside Lady Du. After exchanging greetings with their mothers-in-law, the women of the two families began chatting. It was around 3-4 pm when the guests started arriving one after another.

  The male guests went straight to the front yard and joined Gu Tingye, while the female guests came to the inner yard. Minglan got up and excused herself from her relatives, and Zhonggui's wife and Zhu Shi helped with the reception, while she went to the front to welcome the guests.

  For a time, the three high-ceilinged halls without partitions were filled with laughter and chatter, fragrance of clothes and shadows of hair, heads crowded together. The ladies from noble families had social skills since birth, whether familiar or not, they could all talk to each other.

  One of the main events in women's social circles is naturally the older ladies checking out the younger girls; a certain sage once said that women have two innate abilities, being a mother and being a matchmaker; when these two roles combine, the explosive force is astonishing. Just now, the gentle and elegant Mrs. An, Old Lady Liu, and Old Lady Wang were all flushed with excitement, their spirits lifted as they chatted with Tingyan, Tingheng, and Tingling among the noble ladies, while Bing'er's wife pulled her own younger sister Tingfeng into the conversation.

  Actually, most of the female guests didn't know Minglan, but fortunately, Gu Tingye had asked Zheng Xi to help beforehand, so Xia Shen stood responsibly by Minglan's side and introduced her in detail. After a while, Minglan got acquainted with two duchesses, two marchionesses, four countesses, three general's wives, five commander-in-chief's wives, two cabinet minister's wives, and one Hanlin Academy wife - as well as the family members brought by these ladies.

  Miss Shen's introduction was smooth and effortless, occasionally leaning in to add a few sentences of gossip into Minglan's ear, such as "This Madame Geng once took two kitchen knives to the red lantern alley and beat up Lord Geng until he cried for his mother", "These two are the wives of the Duan brothers, and they just so happen to be cousins", or even "How dare she show her face? The Marquis of Chengyin's estate has to carry out several pregnant corpses every year"... It was said that Miss Shen had not been in the capital for long, yet she already possessed such business acumen. Minglan deeply regretted that she didn't go apply to be one of Prada's little assistants, what a waste!

  The author has something to say: There are too many characters appearing, it's dizzying to write.

  About hairstyles:

  A set of bright golden earrings, a golden bead hairpin, a golden thread twisted chain, and a three-dimensional butterfly-shaped gold pendant on the back of her right ear. This jacket is burgundy; pay attention to her hairstyle, the biggest difference between ancient married women and unmarried girls' hairstyles lies in one front and one back, married women must tie up their bangs, and the hair behind can also be tied up, while girls can leave their bangs down, and the hair behind can be braided.

  The Japanese-style hairdo, Lin's sister wore a light blue slant-collared thin cotton long gown, which set off her slender figure like a willow branch, swaying gently in the breeze, elegant and charming.

  Not very slanted falling horse bun, also a variant of the falling horse bun. Everyone take a closer look at her left side, near the temple that small golden hairpin

  It's this one, the small hairpin with a golden pendant, isn't it exquisite?

  The folded round bun, this kind of bangs is also often combed by newlywed women, with a sense of unmarried girls waiting to get married.

  Song Song's braided hair, the hairpin behind is quite elegant.

  Tianyun hairpin, a small phoenix hairpin inserted at an angle, a forehead band with a large red flower the size of a cup mouth, this tiger-patterned fur-lined crimson sprinkled gold cloak is especially liked.

  The curved bun is the hairstyle that Bao sister often wears, and I also like it very much. The curved bun has many variations, can be combed forward, backward, or sideways, and can change into many different styles.

  This Yao Tai Ji is a variant of the curved moon bun.

  Xiangyun bun is a complex version of the braid bun. It's said that when those little actors were filming, they would directly style their hair on their real hair.

  That was the famous golden phoenix hairpin with piled pearls and silk threads, which later caused trouble and made Spring Welcome lose face.

  Crimson gold inlaid treasure pendant tassel three-winged oblique phoenix hairpin, the style of phoenix hairpin is ever-changing, there are positive hairpins (that picture above), oblique hairpins, side hairpins, and reverse hairpins on the back of the head.

  Double-pendant chicken heart pendant small silver phoenix hairpin, with pearl chain forehead sticker. In ancient times, there were special headdresses for mourning, all in silver and white. If you wore gold to the door, you would be beaten out.

  Pearls on the forehead, it is said that a normal forehead should be made of satin or velvet, either wide or narrow, but jewelry can also be used to replace it, with a unique charm. Look at Qin Keqing, she's really charming and enchanting beyond measure. I'm Jia Zhen, I'll go and get some too.

  This is the double buns, the hairstyle of Minglan's childhood. In fact, if you comb the buns into a bun shape, it becomes the "髻挽双鬟" in the picture above, which is very suitable for unmarried girls.

  There are many readers who have opinions about my choice of using the costumes from 87 Hong Lou as a reference. I fully understand this, because Mr. Shen Congwen may not be correct, but in academia there is a concept called "provisional hypothesis". Before a more reliable and comprehensive theory emerges, let's just take a look at it for now.

  But one thing I can be sure of is that Master Ye Jintian's new Red Mansion, those clothes I absolutely refuse to acknowledge!!

  Frank treatment, all in black clothes Qin Keqing... What's going on here!!