The flower banquet at the Duke Dingguo Mansion was grand and grand, lively and prosperous. BMWs and luxury cars lined up in front of the gate, and the gate was full of jewels and jewels. It was almost February, and the weather was still very cold. The wind was no longer strong, but it still stung people's skin. The Duke's Mansion garden was already full of flowers, colorful and beautiful. In addition to some common flowers such as hibiscus, purple hibiscus, iron plum, etc. that bloom all year round without fear of severe cold or heat, other precious and rare flowers such as peony, orchid, camellia, rose, etc., bloomed in the middle. Mei Niang knew that it was all the credit of the greenhouse. What was there to be afraid of in the cold weather? The flowers were kept in the greenhouse where it was spring all year round. The wife of the Duke Dingguo was able to bring out so many blooming flowers and held the first flower banquet at the beginning of the year. She invited celebrities and nobles in Beijing to come to the Sun Mansion to enjoy the flowers and scenery. It was obvious that she had put a lot of effort into it.
A flower banquet is a banquet for flower appreciation. There are flowers and wine, as well as famous prostitutes and beautiful girls, singing and dancing to liven up the atmosphere. The melodious music and the graceful and bold dance made Mei Niang stunned. She stood under a flower tree and couldn't move her feet. She didn't expect that there was such a dance that made people's blood boil in ancient times. There are many young people in Xu's mansion, but the atmosphere is relatively dull, not as active and open-minded as the Dingguo Mansion. This may be related to the head of the family? There are old ladies in Xu's mansion. The supreme leader of Dingguo Mansion is the Duke of Dingguo, and the head of the family is the Duke of Dingguo's wife Pang. The wife of Changle Hou told Mei Niang that Pang was the second wife, born in a famous family, young and beautiful. The Duke of Dingguo had many concubines before, but now he only doted on Pang. Pang was lively and honest. She gave birth to sons and daughters, but she still respected the children born by the previous wife. She took care of them and taught them with her heart, and was respected by her children. This is probably why the Duke of Dingguo particularly doted on her and trusted her.
The musicians were playing a soft tune, the style of which was similar to the "March Peach Blossom Rain" I had heard before. Looking closely at the instruments they were playing, there were yangqin, yaoqin, konghou, flute, xiao, linggu, and pipa. When I was young in my previous life, I learned dance and played musical instruments by the way. In high school, I played the drum set and formed a band with several classmates. As a result, my academic performance slipped from the top five to 27th, and my parents asked me to stop. In order to achieve Bai Juyi's line "Still holding the pipa, half-covered", I went to learn pipa from the aunt next door for a few days, and played the entire song "Ten Sides of Ambush" completely. Then, despite the aunt's constant lobbying, I refused to do it. Playing pipa is so hard, it is not something that ordinary people can do.
After the wife of Duke Dingguo went to deal with a few distinguished guests, she ran back to find Mei Niang. Seeing her hiding in a corner watching singing and dancing alone, she dragged her away with a smile and said, "You poor little thing. When have you not watched singing and dancing? Come with me to meet the guests!"
Xu Junying really didn't come with her. He saw her off and left. Lady Dingguo held her and comforted her:
"Marquis Changle and Marquis Dingyuan are also unable to accompany Madam, let the men be busy, we women can have fun on our own!"
The noble ladies all came from noble families, and their houses were large and deep, and every family had pavilions and towers, and it was not uncommon to plant exotic flowers and plants all over the yard, and it was not uncommon to enjoy the view of flowers. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, and the noble ladies who came here formed their own small circles according to their ranks, temperaments, and hobbies. The wife of Duke Dingguo was good at dancing with long sleeves and was very tactful, and she took good care of them. Mei Niang followed her around, nodding and smiling constantly, and said a few polite words to her regardless of whether she knew her or not. She went straight to the circle of the wives of Marquis Changle and Marquis Dingyuan. Seeing many familiar faces, she refused to leave. She was pulled to sit down and drink tea with the wife of Duke Dingguo. The ladies in this small group were of high rank, but they spoke in a casual manner and felt free. Perhaps they all had a consensus that chatting was just chatting, and it was not a good thing if they could not speak freely. As long as it did not involve current affairs and politics, they would gossip about family matters regardless of the topic, compare each other's clothes and appearance, envy and hate those who were better, sympathize with, comfort and criticize those who were not good enough, and give a few seemingly helpful experiences. It was easy to get along with these people. Mei Niang was talkative and cheerful, and when it was her turn to speak, she would find some pleasing anecdotes to tell everyone, which was very likable and became a popular figure again for a while.
Mei Niang saw the "Lady of the Duke of Jingguo" in a warm room. She noticed this title because she was bullied by Zhang Si from the Duke of Jingguo's mansion that day and she was still upset. Lady of the Duke of Jingguo, Zhang Si's mother, right? A woman in her forties with delicate makeup and gorgeous clothes, she looked quite pretty when she was young. She smiled gently, was humble and polite, and was completely the image of a virtuous lady. It was a little hard to believe that the bad boy was born by her. Mei Niang guessed that it might be the Duke of Jingguo and another woman.
The wife of Duke Dingguo gave her a positive answer: "Duke Jingguo's wife gave birth to three sons. The fourth son is the youngest and is the one she loves the most..."
This one sentence overturned all of Mei Niang's good feelings towards Lady Jingguo. She raised a son like that and loved him so much. Loving him meant indulging him. Such a woman, no matter how good she is, is just pretending!
The words of the Marquis Changle's wife made her feel sick to her stomach. "Is she worthy of being called the Duke's wife? Even if she is a concubine's daughter, she is from a famous family after all, but she doesn't follow the rules of the boudoir and hooks up with other men. If there is no adultery, why doesn't she marry other men, but insists on entering the Duke of Jingguo's mansion as a concubine? She forced the wife to death, drove away the eldest son, and tricked the man into making her his wife... Only the wife of the Duke of Dingguo, seeing that the Duke of Dingguo had done something wrong with the Duke of Jingguo, sent an invitation to invite her - I will not send invitations to her house for my flower banquet, so as not to blaspheme the goddess of flowers!"
Mei Niang praised the wife of Marquis Changle for her hatred of evil and gave her a thumbs up, but secretly she was also scared: the wife of Duke Jingguo was disgusting, but what about Qin Meiniang? She inherited everything from Qin Meiniang, and even her bad deeds were blamed on her. What if the secret was leaked out, and she was despised and scorned by the wife of Marquis Changle and other noble ladies with a sense of justice, and spit on and scolded in front of her and behind her back, how could she survive? She would be so shameless!
Mei Niang became worried, and for the first time she thought deeply about her own and Xu Junying's future.
The only way was to keep this secret to herself. She could do it, and Mother Wang could do it. What about Xu Junying? He should be able to do it too. Didn't he plan to do that after Qin Meiniang died? And what about Zheng Meiyu and Madam Zheng
In the morning, they enjoyed the flowers, the scenery, the singing and dancing, and then the men and women separated. Duke Dingguo took the men to drink and have fun, while the women insisted on sitting in the Mingxuan Painting Pavilion in a proper, calm and leisurely manner, eating snacks, watching tea ceremony and chatting. The wife of Duke Dingguo also took the ladies who were interested to learn how to make flower jam and balsam slices.
Then at noon, the ladies sat down to eat and drink, and a unique and interesting women's drinking contest began. Everyone drank until they were dizzy and disoriented. Mei Niang didn't dare to make any noise at first. After being forced to drink a lot by others, she became ruthless and didn't care about anything. She grabbed whoever she wanted to get forced to drink. At the banquet, skirts fluttered and wine cups were thrown everywhere. The ladies' hair was disheveled, their hairpins fell to the ground, and they looked embarrassed, but they were still laughing happily. Mei Niang looked like they were all crazy.
Xu Junying came to pick up Mei Niang in the afternoon. Compared with other ladies, she seemed normal. Cuixi and Cuisi supported her closely and walked steadily. Together with Xu Junying, they bowed and said goodbye to the Duke and the Duke's wife. The maids helped her get on the carriage. Mei Niang was able to sit upright at first, with a clear mind and felt the carriage moving. Later, she felt a little sleepy, leaned on the seat and squinted, and then she passed out. When she woke up, it was already the next morning. She was in her room, on her bed, and had changed her clothes. Cuixi, Cuilian and Cuisi were waiting by the bed, waiting to help her get up. Mother Wang nagging:
"Oh my God, why isn't he awake yet? Why isn't he awake yet? Cui Xi, open the curtain and take a look!"
Mei Niang slowly got up, holding her head and shouting, "I have a headache! This time I'm not pretending to faint, it really hurts!"
So they could lie down again with a clear conscience. Mother Wang asked Cuisi to ask Ning Rulan for leave. Cuixi brought porridge to feed Mei Niang. Mei Niang whined, "I feel uncomfortable. I don't want to eat!"
Mother Wang was so anxious that she turned around and walked out. Cui Xi asked, "Where are you going, mother?"
Mother Wang replied: "Go to the kitchen and see if there are any fresh ingredients to cook for grandma!"
Cui Xi wanted to say something but stopped herself. As soon as she left, Mei Niang jumped off the bed, ran into the inner room, washed her face, brushed her teeth with green salt, came back and sat at the table, ate the bowl of porridge, and asked Cui Xi:
"How did I get back yesterday?"
Cui Xi replied, "The Lord Hou brought him back!"
"I passed out in the car, how did you get me back to the room?"
"Oh, it was Baoju who came back and asked the maids to bring him back in a sedan chair!"
Mei Niang breathed a sigh of relief: This is not bad, being covered in the soft bridge is better than being carried back by others, which would be embarrassing.
"Is Lord Hou out?"
"He went there. He came to see grandma before he left and asked us to take good care of her."
"Yeah! Let's go out now. Any problem?"
Cuixi looked towards the door and said, "Cuisi hasn't come back yet!"
Mei Niang said: "It doesn't matter, just take Cui Lian with you."
Cui Lian said happily: "Okay, okay, take me out, don't always leave me at home!"
Cui Xi rolled her eyes at her and said, "Do you think going out is so fun?"
Cui Lian said, "It's not fun, you stay at home, I'll go!"
The two maids started arguing, and Mei Niang was helpless: "What are you arguing about? Hurry up and comb my hair and find some clothes to wear. It will be hard to leave when Mother Wang comes back. She has always been timid. Every time we want to go out, she always rushes us out before dawn, for fear of being seen. She will definitely not agree with us running out in broad daylight!"
Cui Lian went out and brought Cheng'er and Ping'er in. She explained everything clearly. The two little girls nodded frequently. Cui Xi pointed at them and said while opening the closet to look for clothes:
"Don't just nod your head, take every word to heart. What did grandma teach you? You have to be bold and careful, say what you want to say to the right person, don't put your thoughts on your face, don't hurt others, but be on guard against them!"
After listening to the lecture, the two little girls bowed and went out. Mei Niang laughed and scolded while getting dressed: "Silly girls, when did I teach them like this?"
Cui Xi also laughed: "Those two little rascals are smart enough. If I don't put them under my control, they won't listen to me. I didn't say that to them in person, but I did tell Cui Xi, and I was listening beside them!"
"Well, it's a good idea to plant flowers, but it's not a good idea to plant willows. Cuisi is still doing what she wants, but you, who are sensible, picked up her words."
Cui Lian came over holding the ice spider mask soaked in water: "Grandma, put it on!"
Mei Niang picked up the mask with her pointed fingers and put it on her face. Another face appeared in the mirror. Cui Lian sighed:
"It's amazing. Just by changing the face, he becomes a completely different person!"
Mei Niang stood up to get a silk scarf from the easel. Cui Xi looked at her and said, "You can still see the shadow of grandma... the way she moves, the way she turns around, the look in her eyes... It's like I have a new sister!"
Mei Niang said: "Temperament is very important. If a person's face changes, but the temperament is still there, careful people can see it. So I was very scared that day. Fortunately, the men are careless and they probably didn't expect it would be me."
"temperament?"
Cui Lian suddenly realized and clapped her hands, "Grandma came back from her illness. Her appearance and voice haven't changed, but her temperament and character are different. That's why we always think she's a different person!"
Mei Niang stared at her, and Cui Xi slapped her: "You're almost turning into Cui Si!"
Cui Lian blushed and lowered her head: "I, I..."
Mei Niang said: "Okay, okay, I'll change if I want to. I'll still be your girl anyway!"
Cui Lian raised her head and smiled happily: "Yes! That's what I thought!"
Mei Niang was speechless and waved her hands: "Hurry up, hurry up, it will be too late! Cui Xi, did you do what I asked you to do when you came back that day?"
When it comes to business, Cui Xi becomes serious: "In reply to grandma: I gave Lin Amao thirty taels of silver that day, so that he could sew two sets of good new clothes, go to the market to buy a horse, and go to the carriage workshop to buy a new carriage. The rest of the silver is as compensation for his beating!"
Mei Niang nodded: "Okay, that's it!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)