The atmosphere was a bit depressing. Seeing this, Grandma Fu smiled and said, "Buddha's light appeared on the mountain of Hongluo Temple."
The women in the inner house all believed in Buddhism to some extent. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Fu San laughed and said, "When the Buddha's light appeared that day, my aunt Gu Rong's eldest cousin was in the temple and saw it with her own eyes. Suddenly, a seven-color halo of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple appeared in the clouds."
"Amitabha." Mrs. Fu put her hands together, "The Buddha has appeared."
Buddhists believe that Buddha's light is the light of salvation and auspiciousness that radiates from between the Buddha's eyebrows. Only those who have a connection with the Buddha can see the Buddha's light.
Jiang Changning's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he did not say in a disappointing way that the Buddha's light had nothing to do with the Buddha. The Buddha's light was an astronomical phenomenon, which could also be called a solar halo.
It is formed when sunlight passes through cirrostratus clouds and is refracted or reflected by ice crystals.
The Buddha's light usually appears in the afternoons of summer or early winter. The appearance of the Buddha's light in late winter is also considered strange.
"Hasn't Qi always gone to Dajue Temple to burn incense? Why did she go to Hongluo Temple?" Mrs. Fu asked in surprise.
"Go to Hongluo Temple to pray for a marriage. Jiang Yi is already nineteen or twenty years old, and no one is interested in her. You have to pray to Buddha to give her a good marriage." Mrs. Fu curled her lips.
"How could she find a good marriage despite her reputation of being a jinx?" Mrs. Fu sighed.
Jiang Yi is the legitimate granddaughter of Princess Gurong. She has the title of a county lady, but her two fiancés died in succession, resulting in her being still unmarried at the age of 20.
"This year is the year of the big examination. There are so many students. We can pick one with good character from them, and the marriage will be arranged." Mrs. Fu San said with a smile.
"I'm afraid that Qi will think that I come from a poor family and am not worthy of her daughter." Mrs. Fu said sarcastically.
"It's good enough that someone is willing to marry her. If she dares to complain, then she can only raise her daughter at home as an old maid." Mrs. Fu San said with a smile.
"It's definitely not possible to raise a girl in her old age. She has to get married when she grows up, otherwise you'll end up raising her like an enemy." Mrs. Fu said with a smile.
The women sat together and talked about these things. After lunch, when Shen Shichu left, Jiang Changning had heard a lot of gossip about the inner chambers.
I thought it was just some gossip, but on the afternoon of the fourth day of the New Year, Jiang Changning, who had just returned home from an outing, leaned on the kang and dozed off on the pillow.
Shu Fei came in to report a piece of news, "Grand Princess Yi Rao is holding a lantern viewing party at the Princess's Residence on the 12th, and Miss Zhuang Wu has received the invitation."
Jiang Changning opened his eyes in surprise. "Grand Princess Yirao is holding a lantern festival and sending an invitation to Zhuang Qingmei?"
After pondering for a moment, he suddenly understood that Princess Yirao was choosing a concubine for Prince Consort Xiong.
He just took a concubine and a beauty, and Zhuang Qingmei's appearance could not really be called beautiful.
"I am sure that Old Madam Zhuang is preparing new clothes and jewelry for Miss Zhuang Wu."
Jiang Changning's bright eyes moved, and he suddenly understood Princess Yirao's mentality and couldn't help but chuckle.
Princess Yirao was forced to take a concubine for her husband in order to have an offspring, so how could she be willing to take a beauty for him
Although Zhuang Qingmei is not good-looking, she is physically strong and looks good at giving birth.
Just as Jiang Changning thought, Princess Yirao sent out a total of ten invitations, all of which were to ordinary-looking concubines of third- and fourth-rank officials.
Jiang Changning didn't care whether Zhuang Qingmei would be chosen by Princess Yirao and enter the princess's mansion to be the princess's concubine.
Even if Zhuang Qingmei became Prince Consort Xiong's concubine, Jiang Changning would not look upon her with high regard.
On the morning of the fifth day, Shufei came in with a few notes.
Looking at the post in her hand, Jiang Changning felt a headache. "The holidays are really more tiring than usual. I finally took a day off at home today, and here comes another post."
The customs of the New Year's Festival are not much different from those of modern times. People who have contact with each other wish each other a happy new year, and people who have no contact with each other politely present gifts and New Year's greetings.
"It will be ready after a few busy days and nights." Shu Fei smiled and handed the invitation with both hands.
Jiang Changning flipped through the posts and found one from the Xie Mansion.
Xie Mansion
"Reply to the servants of the Xie family and tell them that I am free tomorrow and ask Miss Xie to come over tomorrow." Jiang Changning had a good impression of Xie Baoyin and was willing to interact with her.
Jiang from Baling Palace also handed in a card of greeting. Jiang Changning sneered, thinking that this man had not given up yet.
"I was rejected and I'm so busy that I don't have time to meet this boring person."
There are more than a dozen concubines in the mansion, and I really don’t want to recruit more.
There were five invitations, four of which were greetings, and one was from the Wende Palace.
Jiang Changning was bewildered. Not to mention that the Prince of Jin's Mansion and the Marquis of Wende's Mansion had no connection with each other, how could a family of this status as the Marquis of Wende have the nerve to invite her
If it comes down to relationship, the person Prince Wende wants to marry is Zhuang Taoyue. Given her relationship with the Zhuang family, she should definitely stand on the side of Prince Wende.
In February, Prince Wende was going to get married, and it was really tempting for Lady Wende to send her an invitation at this time.
"If you want someone to reply to this, just say I don't have time." Jiang Changning threw the post on the table.
Shufei took the post, bowed and walked out.
In the afternoon, Prince Jin came back from outside, smelling of alcohol.
"Although the New Year is a festive occasion, this is not the way to drink. Last night, you came back drunk, and you sobered up in the morning. At noon, you drank like this again." Jiang Changning said angrily as he helped him untie his belt.
Prince Jin looked at her with a smile and let her talk.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh. What are you laughing at? Are you drunk and stupid? You can't even speak." Jiang Changning put his belt on the kang.
Prince Jin leaned towards her. Jiang Changning was afraid that he would fall, so she quickly supported him and said, "Hurry up and get on the kang."
"Ningning, smell good." Prince Jin pursed his lips and moved closer to Jiang Changning's face.
Jiang Changning had no free hands, so he could only turn his face away, "Hey, stop it."
"Just make trouble." Prince Jin said with a smile.
Jiang Changning took some effort to pull Prince Jin onto the kang and let him lie down.
The maid brought in some hangover soup, and Jiang Changning pushed him, "Yong Zhou, get up and drink the hangover soup."
"Feed me." Prince Jin sat up by supporting himself on the table.
The half-drunk Prince Jin was too clingy. Jiang Changning didn't want to get involved with a drunkard, so he picked up the bowl and brought it to his mouth, "Drink, Prince."
Prince Jin drank the sobering soup from her hand.
Jiang Changning pulled over a thin blanket and placed it on Prince Jin.
After half an hour, Jiang Changning saw that the King of Jin was almost sober, so he asked the maid to prepare hot water, "Yong Zhou, go take a bath and have a good rest."
"I fell asleep." Prince Jin said in a dishonest tone.
Jiang Changning chuckled, "You can still talk when you're asleep, are you talking in your sleep?"
"Ningning, you are so smart." King Jin praised with a smile.
"It's no use praising me. You have to get up and take a bath. Hurry up." Jiang Changning pulled him up.
Prince Jin had no choice but to go into the bathroom and take a hot bath, which completely washed away his drunkenness.
(End of this chapter)