Ding Xiang continued to talk with a smile, "The old lady is very attentive. These maids are outstanding in every aspect. They are diligent and quick..." She glanced at Madam Xu's face and said carefully, "The old lady said that these maids should be reviewed by the eldest lady. If she is not satisfied, she will buy a few more. She also said that this is the rule of a wealthy family, and it is all for the sake of serving the son-in-law... and for the good of the second young lady."
Madam Xu looked unhappy. One Zhuxiang was not enough back then, so she had to get a few more to annoy them. She waved her hand and said, "Thank you for your kindness, old lady. We will prepare the dowry maids ourselves. You don't have to worry about it. You can take them back."
Of course, she knew that wealthy families would prepare maids for their sons-in-law, but even if they really wanted to prepare maids, they couldn't have these weird and unruly people. Besides, didn't Mrs. Hu keep crying poor? How could she be rich and powerful by preparing these crooked things? It was simply making things difficult for her!
Dingxiang had witnessed how bravely Madam Xu beat up Second Madam Hu. She asked herself that no matter how popular she was in front of the old lady, she could not compare to Madam Hu in dignity. Madam Xu even dared to beat Madam Hu, so beating her, a maid, was no problem at all. Seeing that the first lady had chased people away, she did not dare to say much, and led people back the same way they came.
Old Madam Xu didn't expect Madam Xu to kick the maid back. She was so angry that she gasped and stomped her cane, her face full of venom. "Look, her tail is about to rise to the sky! Her daughter just married Lord Lu, but she doesn't even care about our family. If she marries into the palace and becomes a noble, I don't think there will be a place for her in the Great Chu!"
Mrs. Hu quickly stepped forward to appease Old Lady Xu and said with a smile, "It's not the eldest sister-in-law's fault. This dowry girl makes everyone feel unhappy when they see her."
Old Madam Xu glared at Hu and snorted, "You are good at speaking up for her. Why did you always irritate her before?"
Mrs. Hu laughed. After a long while, she couldn't help but said, "I thought that I would send someone to my son-in-law. Lord Lu is such a noble man, he would definitely not look down on such an ordinary maid. It's better... not as good as our Ming Rui, right?"
Xu Mingrui just happened to come in from the door. She heard her mother's words clearly. She was horrified and ran in, shouting, "I don't want it! I don't want it. Even if I shave my head and become a nun, I will never marry Lord Lu!" Of course, she didn't look down on Lu Hao, but she couldn't accept that Mingyu was the legal wife and she was a concubine! Thinking of having to kowtow to Mingyu and serve her tea every day... It would be better to die.
Old Madam Xu was also unwilling to see her most beloved granddaughter inferior to Mingyu, but Lu Hao had his eyes on Mingyu, not Mingrui. If Mingrui married, she could only be a concubine, but if she had a son or a daughter, her status would be different. After all, Mingyu was not close to them, and she might not care about family affection when she became a rich woman in the future.
After thinking for a while, Mrs. Xu ignored Xu Mingrui who was shouting anxiously, and said to Mrs. Hu in a deep voice: "Don't mention this matter now, we can talk about it later when there is a chance. She..." Mrs. Xu pointed to the courtyard of the main house. "She is very proud now, so we must not tell her at this moment, otherwise there will be no chance at all. Wait until Mingyu gets married and knows the difficulties, and then we can act according to the situation."
Hu quickly agreed with a smile.
Seeing Dingxiang leading the maids away. Lixiang grabbed Mingyu's sleeves fearfully and asked anxiously: "Miss, do we really need to prepare a maid for you as a dowry? Then, what should I do?"
Mingyu pinched Lixiang's face and said with a smile, "So are you willing to marry me? Or do you want to marry and start a family?"
Li Xiang immediately said, "I will accompany you, young lady!"
Mingyu laughed. Lixiang was already seventeen years old. If she didn't get married, she would become an old maid. Lixiang had been with her for so many years and she had taken good care of her. Lixiang was also a timid and obedient person. She had originally wanted to marry Lixiang to a good family, but she couldn't find one that she liked. She was also afraid that Lixiang would be bullied by her husband's family if she married outside, and she wouldn't be able to control her.
When talking about this with Madam Xu in private, Madam Xu had already made a plan. She said that she would marry Lixiang to Xu Mingye's servant Dongyuan. Dongyuan was a little naive and unstable in the past few years, but he has grown up and made a lot of progress in recent years. The two of them grew up together. Let Lixiang marry Dongyuan and stay in the Xu family, and she would be relieved to have the masters take care of the two of them.
Mingyu couldn't help but curl her lips. In her eyes, she was uneasy leaving Lixiang to anyone, but she couldn't let Lixiang stay with her like an old maid forever.
Xu Changqian and Xu Mingye had just gotten up. When they came out, Mrs. Xu had already driven them away. Xu Changqian came out and looked at the door and asked, "What's going on? It's so noisy so early in the morning."
Madam Xu pointed in the direction of the second house's courtyard and complained quietly, "It's all because of that old woman. It wasn't enough to send Zhuxiang back then, and now she sent a bunch of maids like this. I see that they sway their hips when they walk, and their eyes look around. They don't seem like quiet people!"
"We don't want their things." Xu Changqian frowned. He knew Old Lady Xu's style best. She sent you some things and took advantage of this favor. But she would come to you for everything in the future and ask for money and help. If you don't ask for ten or a hundred times the amount of what she sent you, then you are not Old Lady Xu anymore.
If Mingyu really married Lu Hao, she would be marrying up, and with a divorced status, she would definitely be inferior to her husband's family. If Old Lady Xu came over every few days and asked for this and that by relying on her status as an elder, how could Mingyu live? Yes, Xu Changqian sneered, she didn't care how Mingyu lived, she only cared about what benefits she could get from Mingyu.
Seeing Mingyu standing in the corner, Madam Xu didn't know how much of what she had just said had been heard by her. She just smiled and comforted her, "Don't pay attention to the people over there. They are a bunch of weasels with bad intentions. Let's just pretend that we don't have this relative."
Mingyu smiled, took Madam Xu's hand and whispered, "Mother, you should tell them clearly that I will not marry Master Lu."
Madam Xu's expression froze. She opened her mouth several times but couldn't say anything. Finally, she sighed and said, "What's wrong with Lord Lu? He has good character and doesn't care about your past. Think about it carefully. If you miss this opportunity, you will miss it. Give me an answer in two days."
Lu Hao's promising future and achievements were just icing on the cake. What really satisfied Mrs. Xu was Lu Hao's character. He had saved Mingyu and cared about her, so she couldn't bear to miss him. If she missed Lu Hao, she was afraid that Mingyu would never find a better husband than Lu Hao. She also didn't want Mingyu to waste her years, and she had a divorced status, so when she got older, she could only be a widower.
The mother looked sincere. She was only thinking about her. From the beginning to the end, the whole family was worried about her. Mingyu felt a pang in her heart. She suddenly felt that she was a little willful. Just based on Sima Hong's words, she was going to wait. She dragged the whole family to worry about him and wait for him to come back during the Mid-Autumn Festival. What if he was lying to her and was just having fun? But Mingyu felt that it was impossible. The Sima Hong she knew was not that kind of person.
With such mixed feelings, Mingyu suppressed the bitterness in her eyes and whispered, "Okay, I'll listen to you and think about it carefully." Her mother was right. If she missed Lu Hao, she might never find someone better than him.
After breakfast, Mingyu went back to her room to practice calligraphy, but she was so impatient that she was not satisfied with even two pieces she had written. She couldn't calm down. The most frightening thing in life is to make multiple-choice questions. You never know which choice is the right one. No matter which one you choose, it means gambling on luck. And she seems to have never had good luck.
At this time, someone knocked on the door. Dongyuan ran to open the door, and after a while brought Mingyu an invitation from Prince Li's mansion. The invitation said that the flowers in the lotus pond of the mansion were in bloom, and they were holding a lotus party, inviting Mingyu to go there on June 12th.
Mingyu looked at the gold-embossed invitation over and over again, feeling a little confused. She had been to Prince Li's Mansion to appreciate the chrysanthemums last autumn, but she thought that she was able to go that time because of Xu Mingye's help. This time, Prince Li's Mansion only sent an invitation to her, which made her feel flattered.
June 12th, which is tomorrow. Mingyu was a little surprised that the invitation from Prince Li's Mansion was sent so quickly. Generally, when inviting people to a banquet, don't they have to send it a few days in advance? If they don't go, it would be a little inappropriate. The Xu family dared to reject the invitation from Prince Li's Mansion. They were too arrogant.
The next day, when Mingyu arrived at the gate of Prince Li's mansion, the sun had already jumped above her head. The carriage was airtight, and Mingyu's face, which was covered with a veil, was slightly sweaty. After getting off the carriage and handing the invitation to the doorman, Mingyu took off the veil and handed it to Lixiang who was following her.
As the maid led Mingyu to the door of the flower hall, Mingyu heard a familiar voice, "Mingyu!" She turned around and saw Fu Lemei in a lotus pink silk dress with a peony silk flower hairpin on her head. She was standing there and waving at her.
"You're here too!" Mingyu was surprised and happy.
Fu Lemei came over with a smile, took Mingyu's hand and walked into the flower hall affectionately. In the middle of the flower hall, several noble ladies were gathered together chatting and laughing. The one in the middle was wearing a full set of shining gold head ornaments, her face and eyebrows were powdered, and there was a colorful hibiscus pattern painted on her forehead. Her bright red silk skirt was embroidered with delicate patterns made of gold threads. She was chatting and laughing affectionately with a short woman in front of her.
"The one wearing the golden headdress is Princess Minhua." Fu Lemei saw Mingyu looking over there and whispered in Mingyu's ear.
Mingyu's mind moved. Isn't Princess Minhua the mother of Prince Qin? She couldn't help but take a few more glances at her. Princess Minhua's face was powdered very white and her makeup was thick, so it was hard to tell her age.
Fu Lemei's sister-in-law Yang was sitting nearby. When she saw Mingyu and Fu Lemei coming over, she winked at a lady in her forties next to her, then smiled and waved at the two of them, saying, "Mingyu is here too!"
Yang was always kind and low-key, but this time her voice when she greeted Mingyu was so loud that everyone around could hear it clearly. Princess Minhua, who was speaking, also stopped and turned her head slightly to look at Mingyu. No expression could be seen on her heavily made-up face, only her sharp eyes, looking Mingyu up and down.
Princess Minhua couldn't describe how she felt. She was a princess and her son was a prince. It was a great honor for them to take a divorced woman like her as a concubine. But she didn't expect that this woman would not appreciate it. She felt that being a concubine was an injustice to her and looked down on their princess's mansion.
She was not a tolerant and generous person. The reason why she did not get against Mingyu was, firstly, she did not want to make the embarrassing matter known to everyone, and secondly, the Queen had implicitly reminded her that Xu Mingyu was very pleasing to her, and told her that as a princess, she should not get against a little girl.
Even though she was a princess, she had to swallow her unhappiness secretly and wait to see who the proud and arrogant Xu Mingyu would marry. She imagined that it would be a middle-aged or elderly widower who had lost his wife, or a man who had a disability or hidden illness and had to settle for a wife. But she didn't expect that the girl was going to marry Lu Hao, the Lu Hao who was rising rapidly and had a bright future.
Princess Minhua has been feeling very unhappy these days. No wonder Xu Mingyu looked down on her princess's mansion. It turns out that she has higher branches to climb!
When she heard Yang calling Mingyu, the short woman who was originally standing in front of Princess Minhua with her back to the door quickly turned around, looked at Mingyu, and looked at her carefully.
Princess Minhua glanced at the short woman in front of her, the corners of her mouth curled up, and she asked with a smile: "But is it Master Xu Changqian's beloved daughter Mingyu?"
Mingyu looked up at her blood-red lips, then lowered her head and answered carefully, "To answer your question, Princess, Xu Changqian is my father."
The princess covered her mouth and laughed. She held the short woman's hand affectionately and said with a smile, "Hey, she's so good-looking, and even has a nice voice! My dear child, this is the mother of Lord Lu Hao. Come and pay your respects to Madam Lu!"
Madam Lu?! Mingyu was startled and looked up at the short woman. She was wearing a light brown fine silk skirt with a dark blessing character embroidered on it, and a dark red silver hollow scent ball tied to her belt. Compared to the other well-maintained ladies in the room, Madam Lu's face was no longer young. She was supposed to be around 40, but she looked more than 50. Although she had makeup on her face and wore the popular jewelry on her head, her face still showed the marks of vicissitudes of life. One could guess that Madam Lu had worked hard and suffered when she was young.
Mingyu recalled that Lu Hao's family fell into poverty when he was a child and his father died early. It was his mother who supported him in his studies, passed the imperial examination and became an official. One can imagine how hard Mrs. Lu had worked over the years.
As early as the moment Yang called out Mingyu, Madam Lu had been staring at Mingyu. She was wearing a lotus green silk skirt, a simple horse-shaped bun, bright eyes and white teeth, fair and beautiful, and slender. When she lowered her head, a thin white neck was exposed. The jade pendant on the hairpin in her bun swayed slightly with her movements, which made her dazed for a moment.