Zhulan talked with Mingteng and his wife for a while, and then the couple went to the main house to pick up the child and take him back to Rong'an Marquis Mansion.
After a while, Li came over. The eldest wife now had two grandsons and one granddaughter. Mingyun took the two children away after taking office. Now only Mingteng's son was left with Li. The child returned to the Rong'an Marquis' Mansion. Li felt bored staying there, so she came to the main courtyard.
Zhulan waited for the honey water to come up and signaled the maids to go down, "I see you have a lot to say."
Li took a sip of honey water and felt much more relieved. "My daughter-in-law is just a little emotional."
"Feelings for the Ran family?"
Mrs. Li nodded. "In the past two years, the old lady of the Ran family has completely stopped taking care of things. The Ran family is managed by the eldest wife and the eldest grandson's wife. Although they restrain each other, it is not as good as before."
Zhu Lan also sighed, "Qi is old and has not liked to go out this year. I have been busy here and haven't seen her for a long time."
Seeing that her mother-in-law's cup was empty, Li helped her mother-in-law pour another cup before saying, "Ran Wan is not at home. I rarely go to the Ran Mansion except for the New Year gifts. I haven't paid much attention to it. After listening to what Ming Teng and his wife said today, I realized that it is no longer the Ran Mansion I remembered."
Zhu Lan took a sip of honey water, "After all, the Ran Mansion was inherited by the eldest wife. Ran Da is not bad, but his wife is not so good. Fortunately, Ran Wan is the legitimate daughter of the second wife of the Ran family. You can decide how to interact with her."
Li smiled and said, "The second branch of the Ran family is good."
Ran Wan's parents get along well with each other, and their interactions have been pleasant over the years.
Zhulan said, "Mr. Ran has not been in good health recently. Once he passes away, the first and second wives will be separated."
Li's eyes brightened a little, "It's better to separate."
Zhu Lan's emotions about the Ran family quickly faded away, and she warned, "It's enough for us to know about Ran Xun's bastard. The Ran family doesn't want their dirty laundry to be made public, and we are not the kind of people who like to talk too much."
Li understood this and said with emotion, "That's why it is said that one should marry a virtuous woman."
Zhu Lan said: "That's one thing, but the man also needs to have good character and not blame the woman when something goes wrong."
The wife is really bad, can't you teach her behind her back? However, in this era, most men let go of their wives after getting married, and blame their wives when something goes wrong.
Li added in her heart that she also needed her mother-in-law to be sensible. It was really annoying to have a mother-in-law who always wanted to control her daughter-in-law.
Zhulan drank two cups of honey water and stopped drinking. She called Qingxue and asked her to get two more basins of water as the room was still too dry.
While Qingxue was busy with the little girl, Li said, "Mother, when Miss Liu comes to the mansion again, ask her to bring Miss Shao with her!"
Zhulan laughed, "Want to take a closer look?"
"That's not the case. How can a girl you like be bad? I have prepared some gifts for Miss Shao."
It was her mother-in-law who gave it to her, so she had to say that it was not given by her mother-in-law, so as to avoid letting the Shao family think that she did not like Miss Shao.
Zhulan: "Okay."
Li smiled happily. Ever since Mingyun and the two children left, she felt a piece missing in her heart. The two children would not come back for a few years. She wished she had more children around her. Forget about Mingteng and his wife, and Liu Jia was injured and needed to recuperate for a few more years. She could only hope that Minghui would get married soon.
Zhulan thought of Mingjing, "This child has been at the farm for a few days. He should be back after taking a few days off."
As for Mingjing, whether it was her and Shuren, or the eldest couple, they had no expectations for the child, so Mingjing's hobbies were allowed, and Mingjing's taking leave from time to time as long as she could keep up with her schoolwork was also allowed.
Mrs. Li felt a headache when she thought of her youngest son. "His father will go and get him back tomorrow."
Zhulan felt happy when she thought about the fat boy being chased everywhere by his father.
Two days later, Yudie invited a young lady with whom she had a good relationship to come to her house. Coincidentally, snow was falling from the sky, and the scenery in the garden was even better.
Yudie also wanted to invite Shao Ting, but finally gave up the idea. All the guests here today were young ladies from official families, and she was afraid that Shao Ting would be bullied.
Wei Xinyi and He Sishi, who were engaged to the Zhou family, arrived, and Miss Li, the former Minister of War, also arrived.
There were more than a dozen girls in total, and Shangguan Li was the most eye-catching one, because she was the Crown Princess's sister. The only surprise was that there was also a Miss Jiao.
Originally Yudie hadn't thought of Miss Jiao, but Yuwen mentioned it, and Yudie remembered to invite her. Outsiders didn't know that the sisters knew about the plan, and the whole capital knew that grandma liked Concubine Chen, so Yudie didn't feel abrupt when she invited Miss Jiao. Zhulan's life became more refined after she had money, and the richer the family, the more refined the life. Each room in the Marquis's Mansion had its own industry, so the Marquis's Mansion was not short of rare fruits and other things from outside.
Seeing the table full of fruits, Wei Xinyi sighed at the wealth of the Marquisate and picked up her favorite orange to eat. "Oh, it's cold and refreshing."
Yudie smiled and said, "I know you like to eat it, so I prepared some more."
Wei Xinyi, "The oranges from the Marquis' Mansion are still sweeter."
The oranges she bought herself were a bit sour, so she counted the oranges her fiancé sent her while eating them.
Yudie, "I'll give you some orange trees next year."
Yuyi joked, "You don't have to tell me, my uncle must have approved it."
Wei Xinyi's cheeks flushed, "Okay, you just know how to tease me."
Yu Wen smiled and said, "We can only tease you now. Once you marry me, you will be our elder and we won't be able to tease you anymore."
Wei Xinyi's cheeks became even hotter, "I can't argue with you sisters."
Shangguan Li and Yu Jiao whispered, "Where did you find this variety of orange?"
Yu Jiao thought about it and realized it wasn't a secret. "It was grafted. The Imperial Farm started it first. My uncle started to work on it after he found out about it. It was only this year that we got results."
Shangguan Li sighed, "The Zhouhou Mansion is deeply favored by the emperor."
Yujiao thought to herself that it was because my grandfather was so capable. When the retired emperor was alive, he would often take my grandfather to the imperial farm. But only when the retired emperor went there did my grandfather stop going. He had already studied grafting when the retired emperor was alive, but the focus was on grains and he had not yet experimented with fruit trees.
Yujiao had a smile on her lips. The results of her uncle's experiment had been handed over to the emperor. Although the grafting method was obtained from the imperial farm, her uncle could also get some credit.
Miss Jiao is not familiar with everyone, but because the stories she wrote are very popular, people around her also talk about her.
First there was Concubine Chen, then Miss Jiao wrote storybooks, and gradually more storybooks by daughters of official families were published in newspapers. Of course, they were not about love, as they had to consider their own and their family's reputation. The only one who really had no taboos was still Concubine Chen, because Concubine Chen's status allowed her to write books that taught women the correct values.
Miss Li is familiar with Yuwen. "I have heard a lot about you."
Yu Wen was speechless, "Didn't you write to ask me?"
“I’m still surprised.”
Yuwen raised an eyebrow, "Your request is different from mine, there's nothing to be surprised about."
Miss Li thought about it and realized that it was true. She needed a marriage alliance and she also wanted a good marriage.
In the palace, Zhou Shuren came out from discussing government affairs with a group of officials. He saw Changzhi waiting with an umbrella, so he gestured to the other officials and said to his son, "You must have waited a long time."
Chang Zhi did wait for a while. He was summoned to the palace today. The emperor summoned his father and other adults to discuss matters, and he followed the prince. After the prince finished his work, he was not in a hurry to leave.
Zhou Shuren added: "Put away your umbrella."
Changzhi obediently put away the umbrella and held out his hand to help his father walk, "Dad, please be careful."