When they arrived at the banquet hall, the guests were separated by gender, with the men sitting at the east table and the women sitting at the west table, separated by a small flower hall.
The male guests were entertained by the four brothers of Little Duke Su Xian, while the female guests were accompanied by the four sisters-in-law of Sheng Qingyun.
Since the old wife of the Duke of Guo could not come out to sit at the table, Zheng invited the old ladies who came today to the old lady's side and set up a separate table for them so that the elderly people could eat comfortably together.
The princes of the Great Zhou Dynasty were not allowed to stay in the capital. They had to go to their fiefdoms as soon as they came of age. The two princesses of the previous emperor had died in the past few years. Therefore, after the old ladies left, Princess Anping had the highest status among the people sitting at the table, and she and the wives of several marquisates and earl's men were arranged to sit at the head.
Logically speaking, the most distinguished guest should be accompanied by Sheng Qingyun, the head of the family, but Sheng Qingyun was unwilling to sit at the same table with Qin, and refused to go no matter how her sisters-in-law persuaded her. In the end, only the second wife Zheng could go to accompany her.
The guests were seated and the dishes were about to be served when a servant came to report that the wife of the Minister of Personnel had arrived.
Minister An has a daughter who is a few months old. His wife is usually busy with the child and seldom goes out. In addition, it has been snowing these days. When the invitation was sent yesterday, there was no definite news. Everyone thought she would not come, but she came at this time unexpectedly.
Sheng Qingyun did not dare to be negligent and hurried out to greet him in person.
The Minister of Personnel was in charge of the power to promote and appoint or dismiss officials, so the ladies of the various mansions naturally looked up to the minister's wife, so they stood up in a hurry and waited before they had even sat down in their chairs.
After a while, Mrs. Lin, the wife of the Minister, was taken into the banquet hall by Sheng Qingyun. She greeted all the ladies with a smile and said that she couldn't leave because of her child, and she had hurried here while the child was asleep. She asked everyone to bear with her.
The ladies expressed their understanding and asked her to take a seat.
Sheng Qingyun then accompanied her and sat at the table with the wives of several ministers and vice ministers.
When Lin sat down, she saw Qin at another table and nodded to her from a distance.
Qin was flattered and responded to her with a smile.
Lin thought that since Qin had come, her daughters should have come as well, so she looked around the seats for the young ladies. Sure enough, she saw Xie Nanjia standing behind a young lady with her hands folded. She should be the fourth young lady that she served.
Xie Nanjia noticed the gaze from the Shangshu's wife and smiled at her across a few tables. Lin also smiled back tacitly.
Several legitimate daughters, headed by Zhao Lanya, sat together with Princess Jinping, and while eating, they told her some interesting stories about the capital, so that Princess Jinping could quickly understand the customs and culture of the capital and integrate into this circle of high-ranking nobles as soon as possible.
Princess Jinping was very reserved at first, but after eating and drinking a few glasses of fruit wine, she was inspired by the enthusiasm of the girls and gradually became more talkative. Because Xie Nanjia had attracted too much attention just now, she had been curious but had not dared to ask. Now that she was familiar with everyone, she asked, "That girl named Xiu'er looks very unusual. Who is she?"
"He's just a scoundrel, who can he be considered a nobody?" The second daughter of Earl Ning'an was the first to curl her lips.
Jinping County Lady was very surprised: "How shameless can a maid be? Could she bully her master?"
The second daughter of Earl Ning'an quickly recounted the story of Xie Nanjia's arrogance and brutality in the locker room that day, omitting the cause of the incident. After she finished speaking, as if afraid that others would not believe her, she deliberately added a sentence, "If you don't believe me, ask Lan Ya."
Zhao Lanya was so smart that she knew as soon as she heard it that she said that on purpose so that people would laugh at the Marquis' Mansion and think that the master of their mansion couldn't even control a maid.
After all, the purpose is for Mr. Zhou.
Zhao Lanya was very angry and wanted to refute her, but she caught a glimpse of Chen Rong, the second young lady of the Pingnan Marquis's Mansion, sneering at the side. She changed her words and sighed, "That's true. I don't know how that girl managed to coax my mother. My mother thinks highly of her and always asks for her opinion on everything. She even asks her for advice on my eldest brother's marriage."
"No way, your mother would actually listen to a maid?" Several young ladies were a little unconvinced.
"That's right!" Zhao Lanya looked at Chen Rong. "Earlier, my mother picked a very good family for my eldest brother, but that girl was behind it, saying that the girl was too strong and too vicious, and not a decent person. After my mother wavered, she asked the matchmaker to stage a farce when he came to my house, and the marriage was completely ruined by her. My mother later found out her true face, but it was too late to regret it."
"Oh my god, there is such a thing?" The ladies were all shocked. "Why do you keep such a cunning slave?"
Zhao Lanya smiled bitterly and said, "She has bewitched not only my mother, but also my second brother. You all saw how my second brother treated her just now. With my second brother protecting her, who dares to touch her?"
"Indeed, I can see that the Second Young Master treats her differently."
"A seductive woman like this is really a nuisance if she stays at home."
Several young ladies were talking about it.
Chen Rong stood by with a gloomy face and said nothing. Her eyes passed through the crowd and fell on Xie Nanjia. She never thought that her marriage with the son of Marquis Dingyuan would be ruined by a little bitch.
As they were talking here, the ladies over there left their seats one after another and started toasting each other. The playful Madam Wang and Princess Anping livened up the atmosphere, and there was constant laughter and a lot of fun at the table.
The young ladies were tired of sitting, so they followed the adults and toasted the sisters at other tables to exercise their bodies and strengthen their friendship.
Zhao Lanzhi was naturally inferior and not good at speaking, so she didn't really want to go. However, since everyone else had gone, she would definitely be criticized if she didn't go. So she had to timidly follow the other ladies from table to table to negotiate.
Princess Jinping was the protagonist today, so naturally we had to toast to her table first. Although the fruit wine was not spicy, it would make one drunk if one drank too much, so everyone just took a symbolic sip and did not drink it all.
When it was Zhao Lanzhi's turn, she did the same as everyone else, saying a few words of congratulations to Princess Jinping and taking a sip of wine.
Unexpectedly, Chen Rong suddenly stood up and taunted, "Miss Zhao Si is so arrogant that she even dared not finish the wine she toasted to the county lady."
Zhao Lanzhi was not prepared for someone to make things difficult for her, and her face suddenly turned red.
The ladies around looked at her in surprise, not understanding what Chen Rong was talking about.
Princess Jinping was also confused. She was planning to help Zhao Lanzhi out of the predicament, but suddenly she remembered that Xiu'er was her maid. So she sat there without saying a word, wanting to see how the naughty slave, as everyone was talking about, would react.
Seeing that Jinping County Lady did not stop her, Chen Rong became even more persistent in pestering Zhao Lanzhi: "Since it is a toast to the County Lady, you should drink it sincerely. What's the point of drinking half and keeping the other half, and then toasting the remaining half to others?"
Zhao Lanzhi was tongue-tied and couldn't think of anything to refute. She wanted to say that everyone was like that, but she was afraid of offending everyone, so she had to apologize with a red face and drink all the wine in the glass.
She thought Chen Rong would let her go, but unexpectedly Chen Rong said that she was disrespectful to the county lord and asked her to drink three cups as punishment before leaving.
Although fruit wine is not spicy, it can make you drunk if you drink too much. Zhao Lanzhi had drunk some at the banquet earlier. She was afraid that she would get drunk and make a fool of herself, so she hesitated and did not dare to accept it.
However, Chen Rong personally picked up the wine jug and poured her a full glass, urging her to drink quickly.
Su He remembered Nanny Li's instructions and watched the young lady being bullied, but she endured it without saying a word.
Xie Nanjia did not say anything, but stood aside silently and looked at Chen Rong, guessing in her heart her purpose of making things difficult for Zhao Lanzhi.
Logically speaking, Zhao Lanzhi, this unknown concubine's daughter, had nothing to do with her, so why did she make such a fuss
What does she want to do
While Zhao Lanzhi was thinking, she had already finished the glass of wine under the coercion of Chen Rong.
Before she could recover, Chen Rong filled her glass again.
The ladies around saw that Chen Rong was deliberately playing a prank on them, and they were all waiting to see the show with great interest.
A concubine's daughter is meant to be used for fun.
Zhao Lanzhi's face was red as blood, and with tears in her eyes she looked at her two elder sisters for help, but both sisters looked at her indifferently, and no one of them intended to say a word to help her.
She knew she couldn't get through this without drinking the wine, so in order to quickly end this embarrassing situation, she had to bite the bullet and drink it.
"Wait a moment." Xie Nanjia stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, took the wine glass from her hand, and bowed to Jinping County Lady, "County Lady, my young lady can't hold her liquor, so I'll serve the remaining two glasses of wine for you!"
Su Jinping met her eyes and for some reason, he felt a sudden panic in his heart and nodded subconsciously.
Seeing that she agreed, Xie Nanjia raised her hand and put the wine glass to her lips. Just as she was about to drink it, Chen Rong suddenly stepped forward and slapped her, not only knocking the wine glass down, but also hitting Xie Nanjia in the face.
"You unruly slave! You have no right to butt in your masters' affairs!" Chen Rong cursed and raised her hand to slap him again.
Xie Nanjia didn't dodge and was slapped twice.
Today is a happy day. She doesn't want to cause trouble for her aunt, nor does she want to make things difficult for Zhao Lanzhi.
Unexpectedly, Chen Rong didn't seem to intend to let her go. She turned around and called her maid over and ordered, "This wicked slave is lawless. Since Miss Zhao Si can't control her, I will discipline her on behalf of Miss Zhao Si today. Slap her mouth for me!"
Seeing that she was still going to fight, Zhao Lanzhi somehow found the courage to step forward and stand in front of Xie Nanjia, forcing herself to remain calm and saying, "This is my girl. How I discipline her is my business. Miss Chen Er won't bother me."
All the young ladies were secretly surprised, wondering why this usually timid little concubine suddenly became so tough today.
Even Zhao Lanya was very surprised.
But this is better, it will be more conducive to the smooth implementation of my plan. Zhao Lanya thought about the look that Mr. Zhou had given Zhao Lanzhi in the banquet hall just now, and secretly gritted her teeth.
Chen Rong didn't expect that Zhao Lanzhi would dare to confront her, but the reason she made things difficult for Zhao Lanzhi was entirely because of Xie Nanjia, and she had no intention of doing anything to Zhao Lanzhi, so she reached out and pulled Zhao Lanzhi aside so that her maid could take action.
It was not known whether she had used too much strength or Zhao Lanzhi was drunk, but after being thrown like that, Zhao Lanzhi staggered back a few steps, and her back slammed against the table. There was a loud clatter, and the cutlery on the table fell to the ground, and Zhao Lanzhi fell to the ground.
The young ladies screamed and scattered, and the noisy noise finally alarmed the ladies who were drinking happily over there.
"What happened?" Sheng Qingyun was shocked. The first thing he thought of was his daughter. He quickly put down his wine glass and ran over to see.
The ladies also hurriedly followed.
Su He finally got smart and squeezed out of the crowd and ran to the men's area to ask the second young master for help.
(End of this chapter)