Cheng Jing looked at Yuan with cold eyes and didn't say anything for a long time.
Yuan couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart. She adjusted herself for a long time before she forced a smile and was ready to bow her head and admit defeat. Who knew that before she could open her mouth, Cheng Jing said, "Then you decide for yourself!"
After saying that, he walked away.
The maids and old women serving in the room were all trembling with fear and wished they could become invisible.
Yuan looked at the air stuck in her chest, unable to go in or out, and her face turned red with shame.
Min Jia, who lived in the backyard, sneered when he found out.
She is a mother-in-law who is too narrow-minded.
If you don't correct this bad habit, you will make a fool of yourself in the future.
Fortunately, she is leaving soon.
Speaking of her being able to go to Mianzhu with Cheng Xu, she also had to thank the old lady. If she hadn't asked, even if she used the issue of offspring as an excuse, I'm afraid Yuan Shi wouldn't have agreed so easily.
Min Jia thought that tomorrow was Yun'er's first birthday celebration, and Mrs. Guo had always hoped that Yun'er could grow up safely. After thinking about it, she asked her personal maid to open the box of her dowry, take out a peach wood carved peace plaque, put it in a box, and take it with her when she went to Chaoyang Gate the next day.
Although it was still early, Chaoyang Gate was already decorated with lights and open to welcome guests.
There are quite a few guests coming.
When she got out of the sedan chair, she met the eldest wife and the third wife of the Yuan family.
She knew both ladies. It was not unusual for the eldest lady to represent the Yuan family in socializing and entertaining. The strange thing was the third lady. Ever since the news of the third master of the Yuan family keeping a mistress came to light, the third lady had not left the house for a long time. I don't know why she would come to attend Yun'er's first birthday ceremony this time
Min Jia muttered something in her heart but didn't dare to show any abnormality. She followed behind Yuan and walked forward with a smile to pay her respects to the two Mrs. Yuans.
The Yuan family is Yuan's maternal family. Because of this kinship, they can speak to each other more intimately than with others.
Mrs. Yuan said, "When will Jiashan leave Beijing? His uncle wants to set up a banquet at home to see Jiashan off. I think tomorrow is a good day, how about tomorrow?"
Yuan smiled and said "OK", and another sedan chair was brought over.
A young woman in her prime, wearing a pomegranate red jacket and a dark blue skirt, was helped down by the maid accompanying the sedan chair.
Min Jia looked unfamiliar. Mrs. Yuan and Mrs. Yuan Da were also confused and obviously didn't know her. However, Mrs. Yuan San smiled and greeted the woman: "Mrs. Hong Da has come over too. What a rare guest. We haven't seen each other for four or five years."
The woman stepped forward and saluted.
The Third Madam introduced the woman to Min Jia and the others, "This is the wife of Mr. Hong, the former Supervisory Censor of Zhejiang Province. Today, Mr. Hong returned to the Censorate, and Mrs. Hong should have returned to the capital with him."
Since everyone wants to move around in the official homes in the capital, they must first figure out who is who.
As soon as the third grandma finished speaking, the other three people knew who she was.
The daughter-in-law of Hong Xiu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the niece-in-law of Mrs. Hong, the second wife of Jiuru Lane.
The second branch of Jiuru Lane and the first branch of the family split up, but the Hong family came to attend the first birthday ceremony of Cheng Chi's eldest son...
Mrs. Yuan smiled and said, "Master Hong and Master Cheng are colleagues now, right?"
Mrs. Hong nodded quickly and said with a smile, "That's right. As soon as we returned to Beijing, we heard that Mr. Cheng's eldest son had a birthday ceremony." She then asked Mrs. Yuan San, "Isn't the Third Master still an official? I don't know what kind of job can keep the Third Master?"
Yuan Bieyun passed the imperial examination one year earlier than Cheng Chi and also passed the examination for a scholar-official and observed government affairs in the Ministry of Rites. However, before the three-year term as a scholar-official could be completed, he could not help but resign and started traveling around. He was the first person to do so since the founding of this dynasty.
Grandma Yuan San used to feel a little embarrassed when people asked her this question, but as Yuan Bieyun got into trouble every now and then, she no longer took it seriously. She smiled and said, "He's like a child. I don't know when he will grow up."
This is not a good thing!
After they exchanged a few words, they entered the second gate together.
Zhou Shaojin came to greet them personally and accompanied them to pay their respects to Mrs. Guo first.
Madam Guo did not ask about Yuan Bieyun, but took Mrs. Yuan's hand and said, "You have been a steady child since childhood. If Bieyun had not married you, no one would be able to live with him. You are a man with good fortune in the future."
Grandma Yuan San's eyes were a little moist at this time, and she said, "I will wait for your good words, old lady."
As they were talking, Mrs. Song came over with the married Miss Song.
Everyone inevitably exchanged pleasantries.
By the time Min Jia left Tingxiangyuan, it was already noon.
While Zhou Shaojin was seeing them off, she handed the box containing the wooden plaque to Zhou Shaojin and said with a smile, "I got this from Lingyin Temple some time ago. After it was blessed, I gave it to Yun'er to wear for fun."
The one-year-old gift had already been sent over from Xinglin Hutong.
This was given by Min Jia to Yun Ge'er alone.
After Min Jia married into the family, she had always been indifferent to Zhou Shaojin. Zhou Shaojin couldn't understand why she suddenly changed her attitude. But since Min Jia was so friendly, Zhou Shaojin wouldn't act pretentiously.
She smiled and thanked Min Jia.
For some reason, Min Jia felt inexplicably relieved.
She smiled and caught up with Yuan and the others.
Yuan asked, "What did you talk about with Zhou?"
Min Jia had no intention of saying anything more to her, so she smiled and said perfunctorily, "Brother Yun is one year old, and I congratulated Fourth Aunt."
As expected, Yuan stopped asking any more questions.
They sat in the hall for a while until it was almost full.
Yuan sat nearby and talked with someone she had close contact with.
Min Jia saw Qiu and Xie helping Zhou Shaojin entertain the guests, so she thought for a moment and followed them.
Now that he had something to do, it seemed as if the auspicious time had arrived in the blink of an eye, and Yun'er was about to hold the "Zhuazhou" ceremony in the hall.
Almost all the ladies and grandmothers sitting in the flower hall followed, but only Mrs. Guo and Mrs. Pengcheng, who were from the older generation in the study and Tingxiang Courtyard, arrived.
There was a large desk in the hall, covered with a scarlet felt carpet, and on it were fish bags, mahogany swords, writing brushes, inkstones, and books by various philosophers... a large table filled with a dazzling array of things.
One of the women talked about her child's "Zhuazhou" when he was young: "... He grabbed a pen. Now he has grown up, and although he is not good at other things, he is good at studying."
Everyone responded.
Zhou Shaojin came out holding Yun Ge'er.
The little girl was wearing a festive bright red dress, a golden necklace with a longevity lock on it, her hair was black and shiny, her skin was fair and clean, her eyes were big and round like black grapes, and her eyelashes were long, thick and curled, like a small fan. All the women in the room praised Yun'er for his good looks.
It was the first time for Yun Ge'er to see so many people.
He hid in Zhou Shaojin's arms a little shyly and looked out.
Zhou Shaojin gently stroked his back and coaxed him in a low voice: "It's okay, it's okay. Everyone likes Yun Ge'er because she is pretty and obedient, so they gathered around you to watch. You can go to the long table and get something you like for mother. Mother will take you to find grandma to eat delicious food. Okay?"
It was not known whether Yun'er understood or not. He nodded and shifted his bright eyes to the things placed on the desk.
Zhou Shaojin carefully placed the child on the long table.
Cheng Chi came in with the male guests who came to watch the ceremony.
Yun'er grinned and called "Daddy" to Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi came over and patted his head lovingly, saying, "Give Daddy something you like."
Yun'er became happy and giggled. He walked unsteadily to the center of the desk, then sat down. He looked around for a long time and took the fish bag.
Madam Pengcheng laughed and said, "Our Yun'er will definitely become a high-ranking official in the future."
Before she could finish her words, Yun'er grabbed the peach wood sword beside him.
Mrs. Song smiled and said, "Oh, he is a man of both civil and military talents."
Mrs. Guo laughed.
Yun'er dropped the fish bag and peach wood sword in his hands and grabbed the abacus not far away.
Abacus represents merchants.
Now everyone's expression became a little depressed.
Zhou Shaojin didn't care.
Fan Liu said that when she was a child, she also held a pen, but she didn't have much knowledge.
Just as Zhou Shaojin was about to step forward to touch Yun'er, Yun'er dropped the abacus and grabbed the ink stick wrapped with bright red gold thread in front of him.
The atmosphere in the hall changed.
Someone chimed in: "Okay, okay, our Yun Ge'er will be a scholar in the future."
At this time, the child is picked up and the ceremony is over. This is the final sign.
So everyone breathed a sigh of relief!
Zhou Shaojin smiled and prepared to pick up Yun Ge'er.
But Yun'er lost the golden thread, and I quickly grabbed it aside and picked up a handful of green onions.
Onion represents intelligence.
Everyone was stunned.
Yun'er had already stuffed the onion into his mouth.
Caught off guard, Zhou Shaojin was unable to stop it at all.
Yun Ge'er burst into tears because of the spiciness.
Zhou Shaojin hurriedly hugged her son and helped clean the onions in his mouth while coaxing Yun'er: "Don't cry, don't cry! Spit it out quickly. Mother will get you some honey water right away." But she complained in her heart that although it was her own idea to put the onions in his mouth, she didn't let them put real onions in. She wanted them to find the jade onion that was a dowry in her cage...
Yun'er cried loudly and held the onion tightly, unwilling to let go.
Zhou Shaojin had no choice but to let him hold it.
Seeing this, the concierge laughed and said, "Our birthday boy caught green onions today. This means that our Yun brother is very smart and will be good at everything in the future!"
This explanation is not bad.
Cheng Chi smiled and invited everyone to eat in the flower hall or the front yard.
Zhou Shaojin took Yun Ge'er back to the house to drink honey water, and took the opportunity to teach Yun Ge'er a lesson: "In the future, don't put anything into your mouth without even looking at it, understand?"
Yun'er nodded with tears in his eyes.
Zhou Shaojin's heart melted when he saw this.
I took some honey water to feed Yun'er to calm him down.
Someone leaned against the door and high-fived.
Zhou Shaojin looked up and saw Jiying standing against the light, wearing a dark blue jacket with a silver-white phoenix flower print on it. She looked like she was smiling, and her bright red lips were like a blooming pomegranate.
"Jiying, why are you here!" Zhou Shaojin jumped up and stood up holding the child.
"I'm here to attend Yun'er's first birthday celebration!" Jiying smiled, walked in lazily, looked at Yun'er with a smile, and said, "Uncle Yun, you did a good job! I was afraid that you would be like your father when he was a child, catching a bag of fish, and finally taking the imperial examination and becoming a Jinshi."
Yun'er looked at the unfamiliar Jiying and called out "Daddy" behind her in confusion.
"Cheng Zichuan?!" Ji Ying turned pale, jumped up and hid behind Zhou Shaojin.
The wind blows the green bamboo outside the door, and there is no trace of Cheng Chi.
Everyone burst into laughter.
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Hey guys, today's update.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)