Zhou Chujin smiled and nodded, and proudly embraced Zhou Shaojin, and asked Mrs. Mian in a playful way: "Does it look good?"
"Beautiful, beautiful!" Mrs. Miao looked at the two girls in front of her, who were as bright as pearls in the morning dew, and couldn't help but smile with joy. "Girls really change a lot when they grow up. Our Chu Jin and Shao Jin are getting more and more beautiful!"
Zhou Chujin was asking about the clothes, but Mrs. Mian started praising them. Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin both smiled shyly.
Nanny Wang came out from behind the curtain, smiled and greeted them, saying, "Old Lady An heard the noise, please let the ladies and gentlemen in to talk."
As she was a widow and there were elders around, she kept a low profile even though it was a birthday celebration. Old Lady Guan wore a dark blue gourd-shaped silk jacket, her hair was tied into a bun with silver threads, and she wore a pair of silver-inlaid jade longevity hairpins. She sat on the Luohan bed in the banquet room with a smile on her face, and two maids were fanning her beside her.
Seeing her daughter-in-law, grandson, and granddaughter, Mrs. Guan smiled even more brightly. She asked them if they had had breakfast. Knowing that they had, she asked the maid to bring some fruits and said, "My birthday is not good. It's in the summer, so you have to suffer. Unlike the old lady in the eldest house, she can enjoy flowers and eat crabs in the autumn."
Mrs. Miao said hurriedly: "Look at what you said. This birthday is a person's horoscope. Look how filial the two masters are. I will just look at your birthday.
Although the second master Cheng Yuan was still in office, he sent birthday gifts early, most of which were medicinal herbs for health preservation, and a small part were clothes, shoes and socks made by the second wife of Yuan. Not to mention Cheng Mian and the first wife of Mian, they found a piece of yellow stone and carved a statue of Guanyin for Mrs. Guan.
All the children are filial, and Mrs. Guan agrees with this.
She nodded continuously, her eyes narrowed with smile.
Several wives of the village heads came over from the guest rooms.
Old Lady Guan and others moved to the flower hall to sit.
Just as we sat down, several relatives from the fourth room came over.
People came over one after another.
Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin both helped Mrs. Mian to entertain the guests.
In the past, when Mrs. Guan celebrated her birthday, Zhou Shaojin would stay in Wanxiangju and wait until the birthday celebrations started before coming over. This year, she followed behind her sister, watching over the maids serving tea and snacks from time to time, and inevitably someone would ask who she was.
Mrs. Miao pushed her in front of the guests with a smile and introduced her to them.
Everyone who saw Zhou Shaojin praised her beauty. Some prepared gifts for her, and some who didn't prepared would hold her hand and talk about family matters. Some people also noticed Zhou Chujin's clothes, praised her clothes and asked who made them. Zhou Chujin pushed Zhou Shaojin forward without thinking and received another round of praise. Some people asked her where the pattern came from, and some people whispered to know how old Zhou Shaojin was and whether she had a husband's family.
For a moment, Zhou Shaojin was actually very busy.
Cheng Lu's mother, Mrs. Dong, and Cheng Ju's mother, Mrs. Yu, came over.
Dong changed her previous intimacy and enthusiasm, and stepped forward to greet Mrs. Guan with some embarrassment. Mrs. Yu, on the other hand, smiled before speaking, and was very tactful. After greeting Mrs. Guan, she started to get along well with the female relatives she knew.
Old Madam Guan treated them the same as before and called Madam Mian to come and entertain them.
Zhou Shaojin pretended not to see it and continued talking to the visitor, but Zhou Chujin went over and performed a blessing ceremony.
After a while, the first, second and third wives also arrived.
After paying respects to the elders, Zhou Shaojin was pulled aside by Cheng Ji, who pointed at Pan Qing and said, "Look at her!"
Pan Qing's jet-black hair was tied up into a peony bun that was very difficult to comb. She wore a large kingfisher flower and a pearl headband, a blue-green Hangzhou silk jacket with a phoenix-tail flower pattern, and a moon-white embroidered skirt. Her skin was as white as snow and her face was like a peony. She was very beautiful.
Zhou Shaojin recognized the Hangzhou silk jacket. It was a new material from Jiaxing Prefecture this year, and it cost twelve taels of silver per piece. In her previous life, Zhou Shaojin also had a jacket like this, but she bought it the following year. It might be even more expensive now.
Pan Qing actually took some time to dress up.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "We'll see what happens later!"
Cheng Ji nodded, and his eyes suddenly fell on Zhou Chujin, and he said with a sigh: "Sister Chujin is dressed so beautifully today! Look at that skirt, I have never seen such a complicated and gorgeous yet dignified and elegant hem... Shaojin, why don't you make one according to her?"
When her elder sister first married into the Liao family, she suffered a lot because she was the eldest daughter who lost her mother and was also the future wife of the clan. Zhou Shaojin hoped that her elder sister would be well-known among the relatives before she got married, so that her life would be much better after she married into the Liao family. However, she did not expect that everyone would be interested in the clothes she made, and her elder sister took the opportunity to push her out.
That wasn't her intention.
Zhou Shaojin decided to stay with Cheng Ji for a while and try to avoid showing up among relatives as much as possible.
"We sisters can't wear the same thing!" She laughed, "I think my clothes are nice too."
Cheng Ji laughed twice and said, "It's good. But not as pretty as the one on Sister Chu Jin."
This is exactly Zhou Shaojin's purpose.
Let sister become the most eye-catching person in the field.
Unfortunately, before she could feel proud of herself, she heard Mrs. Guo say, "Young Miss, this skirt is so beautiful! Whose embroiderer made it? Where did you get the pattern? It doesn't look like the style we have here..."
Zhou Shaojin knew something was wrong, so he pulled Cheng Ji out of the hall.
Cheng Ji was puzzled and asked, "Why are you so flustered?"
"Nothing." Zhou Shaojin explained, "There are either elders or guests in the flower hall. I feel a little uncomfortable."
"I feel uncomfortable too." Cheng Ji was delighted to hear that and said, "Then let's go to the waterside pavilion to feed the fish? When I came last time, I found a big koi in your house. But Cuihuan insisted that it was not a koi, but a catfish. Unfortunately, it had just rained, and the water was a little turbid, so I couldn't see it very clearly..."
The water pavilion is right next to the flower hall. There is a beauty leaning against it, where you can watch the fish and chat.
Zhou Shaojin thought it would be a good idea to hide there, so he left a little maid here to inform them, and took Shi Xiang, Cui Huan and others to the water pavilion.
The sun had just risen, and some sunlight was still shining into the water pavilion. Fortunately, the maids had hung bamboo curtains around the water pavilion early in the morning. Shi Xiang and others put up the bamboo curtains, and the wind blowing over the water was cool. Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Ji sat in the water pavilion, watching the maids prepare fish food, feeling very comfortable.
There were footsteps and a man's cheerful voice not far away.
The people in the pavilion looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of men passing by the corridor in front.
There are Cheng Shi, Cheng Zheng, Cheng Xu, Pan Zhuo, Cheng Lu…
Cheng Ji cried out in amazement: "What are they doing here? Isn't it time to celebrate the birthday yet?"
Zhou Shaojin remembered that the itinerary said that the banquet would start at noon, and birthday celebrations would begin at 10 a.m. Cheng Mian would lead the male grandsons and maids to pay their respects first, and then Mrs. Mian would lead the female relatives to pay their respects. It was just 8 a.m., so why did Cheng Shi and the others come here
She hurriedly asked Shi Xiang to ask: "… Is there any change?"
Shi Xiang came back and said, "Nothing has changed. It's just that Master Shi and the others came early, so the master asked someone to take them to the study room next door to sit down."
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Cheng Shi and the others would get bored waiting and come to the waterside pavilion, so he discussed with Cheng Ji, "Let's go back to the flower hall to avoid running into Cousin Shi and the others again."
After the last piano duel, Cheng Ji hated Cheng Shi and the others with a vengeance. After hearing Zhou Shaojin's suggestion, she immediately agreed, and the two of them went to the flower hall together.
Halfway through the journey, they heard a commotion behind them.
Zhou Shaojin turned around and saw Cheng Shi and the others heading towards the water pavilion.
"Thank God," she said, "otherwise we would have run into him."
Cheng Ji complained: "Why do they always hang around in the inner courtyard? Is there no place for them to stay in the outer courtyard? At worst, they are men, they can go to temples and Taoist temples, why are they competing with us for land?"
Zhou Shaojin laughed and said, "It's not their fault. If today was Uncle Mian's birthday, they wouldn't have come in."
Upon hearing this, Cheng Ji immediately pulled her aside and whispered, "Did you notice? Aunt Wenwu hasn't come yet. Do you think she will come today?"
Zhou Shaojin couldn't guess.
If it were her, she would know that she would not lose the battle even if she lost the fight, so she should come. However, her self-esteem would not be able to bear it, so she would definitely not come.
Cheng Ji said proudly: "I guess she will come today - if she doesn't show up in front of Madam Guo and the others, I'm afraid Madam Guo and the others won't even remember her."
"Not really?" Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "She is the wife of the fifth room after all!"
Cheng Ji said dissatisfiedly: "It's not okay for me to exaggerate!"
Zhou Shaojin smiled helplessly.
Cheng Ji suddenly pulled Zhou Shaojin to the pomegranate tree next to him and said in a deep voice, "Look, Pan Qing!"
Zhou Shaojin looked over and saw Pan Qing standing on the steps of the flower hall. A little maid who looked unfamiliar was whispering to her.
She nodded slightly, stood up, and the little maid ran away.
Pan Qing stood there thoughtfully for a moment, then stood up and returned to the flower hall.
Cheng Ji asked, "What do you think she is going to do?"
"No matter what she wants to do," Zhou Shaojin said, "just have someone keep an eye on her."
She instructed Shi Xiang: "Find a clever little maid, preferably eight or nine years old, to look after Pan Qing."
Shi Xiang responded and left.
Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Ji entered the flower hall.
Old Madam Guo sat next to Old Madam Guan, while Old Madam Tang sat below Old Madam Guan. The female relatives were talking to the three of them.
Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Ji quietly slipped behind the crowd and stood beside the tent next to the floor-standing cover.
Mrs. Wen from the fifth room came over.
She put a lot of powder on her face, applied rouge and lip balm, wore a lotus-colored Hangzhou silk jacket with a pattern of precious stones, had a black plaster on each temple, and had a stiff expression.
Mrs. Guo couldn't help but frown.
But old lady Tang from the second house smiled like Maitreya Buddha.
Jiang and other people who knew her greeted her one after another.
Mrs. Wenda replied listlessly.
Zhou Shaojin discovered that Pan Qing quietly left Cheng Xian and walked out of the flower hall.
She waited for a while without making any noise.
Shi Xiang walked in.
"Second Miss, Miss Pan, it seems she went to the waterside pavilion!"
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Sisters, today's extra update... The update is still around 12 o'clock in the evening, but I will try to be as early as possible... O(∩_∩)O~※ (To be continued)