The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival. The Marquis' Mansion gave all the servants a day off and allowed them to go home. Today is the Lantern Festival and there is no curfew outside all night. Lanterns have been lit since the evening, and it is bustling outside from morning to night.
This day has always been different. The rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty were not particularly strict. Although girls were strictly controlled, there were special times, such as the Lantern Festival, when even noble ladies were allowed to go out to watch the lanterns. Wei An had never been there before.
In her previous life, she was disgraced by Zhuang Feng's rejection of her marriage proposal in public, and was not favored by the old lady. No one in the family paid attention to her, so she went to Wei Yangqing for help. After that, she was locked up in a deep courtyard for the rest of her life and never saw the outside world again until her death.
Everyone said that the Lantern Festival was wonderful, that the lanterns were beautiful, how lively it was to guess lantern riddles, and how beautiful the fireworks that the Ministry of Works arranged to set off outside the city gates on that day were, but she had no idea how wonderful it was, so she wasn't really looking forward to it.
But Lan He was unusually enthusiastic. She usually wanted to stick to Wei An and never leave his side, but now she was reluctant to ask for leave from Wei An in advance.
Wei An couldn't help but laugh: "I never see you slacking off normally. It should have been your turn to be on duty today..."
She deliberately prolonged the tone, and Lan He stamped her feet and looked at her: "Girl! You... you have become bad too!"
Wei An was a little confused. She originally wanted to tease Lan He for becoming like the little girls and going to watch the fun, but seeing Lan He like this...
Yuqing coughed twice in her ear and said, "Miss, didn't Lan He's mother come in to ask for your opinion the other day? If you agree, she would like to ask for your mercy..."
After she said that, Wei An realized what she was talking about. Lan He's mother came in a few days ago and kowtowed to her, trying to beg for mercy and want Lan He to get married.
She frowned, and seeing Lan He's overjoyed look, she thought for a moment and asked Lan He to leave first. She turned around and asked Yu Qing, "Didn't I ask you to ask Lan He's mother? Did you find out which family they want to ask for help?"
Lan He's family is a servant of the Wei family. They have been passed down from generation to generation until now, and none of them have had any good jobs, except that Lan He was assigned to Wei An. Later, she gained Wei An's trust and became the eldest maid, and helped the whole family to stand on their own.
Originally, Lan He's mother didn't dare to have this idea, thinking that her daughter would definitely have to follow Wei An as a dowry, and maybe she would have the chance to become Wei An's concubine in the future.
But later, Lan He told her clearly that Shen Chen would never like her and that Shen Chen only had eyes for one girl. She also didn't want to be estranged from Wei An because of these things. Lan He's mother had an idea in her mind. Since she couldn't accompany her to marry and bring good luck, she might as well find a marriage for Lan He while Wei An was still not at her in-laws' house and could make his own decisions.
Anyway, even if Lan He gets married, it's not impossible for her to marry with Wei An in the future and serve as a concubine. All the family will go there, and she will be a managing daughter-in-law and still serve Wei An. It will be the same.
Yuqing knew that she was afraid that Lan He's mother would find an unreliable servant, so she smiled and shook her head: "Don't worry, Lan He herself wanted this marriage, and it was us..."
She glanced at Wei An and whispered, "Who do you think is asking for a marriage? It's Lin Yue!"
Lin Yue?!
Wei An was a little surprised, but he reacted in a flash and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, then he laughed again: "I was wondering who it was, it turned out to be him, when did they..."
If it was the Lin family, it would really be an excellent marriage.
Lin Hai is the steward of the Wei family. The Lin family's house outside is also well-equipped with servants, and the family lives a more decent life than the country gentry outside.
Lin Yue was the youngest son and was the favorite at home. He was also ambitious. Wei An asked him to do many errands and he never made any mistakes. She had already thought about it. If Lin Yue was still willing to follow her after she got married, she would let him be her manager, in charge of the accounts of the shop outside or be responsible for the production of the farm.
Now that Lin Yue is asking to marry Lan He, that's even better. She can then take Lan He's entire family to the Pingxi Marquis' Mansion as companions. Besides He Bin and the others, she will also have someone more capable of walking around in public.
Yuqing put the cloak on her, carefully pulled out the straps and tied them, then smiled and said, "I don't know either. I only know that Steward Lin went to Lan He's house in person, which made Lan He's mother very happy. Lan He herself was also willing..."
This is indeed a great thing. Wei An thought about it for a moment, and when Lan He came in, he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll approve your leave. You can go out now, but remember to come back early tomorrow."
Lan He quickly agreed, and then said to Wei An: "Miss, when you have time, ask the Marquis to take you out for a walk. The lanterns outside are so beautiful. From Zhengyang Street to Zhuque Street, there are lanterns everywhere. Don't we want to set up a tent outside to watch? In the past few years, we didn't do that, and the ladies didn't go either. This year, we are also going to set up a tent outside to watch the fireworks. You can come with us!"
Wei An smiled and nodded.
She never thought that there would be a day when she would be able to make the people around her get what they wanted. Those who followed her in the previous life did not have a good ending. The loyal ones died or dispersed, and the disloyal ones found ways to leave early because of the loneliness around her, and she could not keep anyone.
But in this life, Wenxiu Suping and Lanhe Yuqing have followed her all the way to the present.
She looked at Lan He and smiled: "I understand. Go ahead and come back early tomorrow."
After Lan He left, Wei An thought for a moment and said to Yu Qing, "Find my box with the gold-painted longevity lock."
Her belongings were all managed by Yuqing, who was very careful. He flipped through the book and went to the storeroom to find it. He couldn't help asking her, "Miss, why are you looking for this?"
Wei Anke never looked for things before, and she didn't need to.
"This was given to me by my grandmother." Wei An was a little melancholy. He stroked the pattern on the jewelry and sighed softly. Thinking of the old man who had been very kind to him in his past and present lives, he quickly closed his eyes to hold back his tears, opened the box and took a look. He instructed Yuqing: "Find the jewelry album in this box as well."
Yuqing understood a little, and seeing her order, she hurriedly found the booklet and handed it to her: "Miss, is this... too expensive?"
Wei An was looking for these things at this time, obviously for Lan He, but these things were given by the old princess, they were extremely precious, and people couldn't buy them even if they had money. (To be continued)