There is another reason why the Qin Mansion's banquet was chosen to be held today. Today is a holiday for all government offices and officials are taking a break.
In the morning, the people invited by the Qin Mansion arrived one after another, but the most popular ones were Du Xingran and his wife, who brought their daughter Du Pianpian with them.
The ones who were receiving the guests at the door were Qin Fang, his wife and son. After all, Yang Haiyan was of a high rank, a second-rank lady, so normally she wouldn't have to come out to greet the guests today. But among the family members who came today, there were people from the Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion. Shen Lixian and his wife were of high rank. Shen Lixian was the Marquis Cheng'en's eldest son, also of the second rank, and his wife, the eldest son's wife, was a second-rank lady, so Yang Haiyan had to come to receive them.
Du Xingran said, "Brother Qin, sister, I am sorry to bother you."
Qu also said, "I came to nag you today."
Yang Haiyan said: "Sister-in-law, you are too polite. Please sit inside first. I will come in later."
Qu said, "We are all family, you don't have to come specially to entertain us."
Then, the old woman took Qu's mother and daughter to the reception hall for the female relatives.
The second family to come was Mr. and Mrs. Shen Lixian, who brought their children with them.
"General Qin." Shen Lixian was quite happy to see Qin Fang. "I've been in Yunxiang County for a long time. I miss those days. Madam Bingyun, this is my wife Qian. Madam, this is Madam Bingyun."
Qin Fang: "Qin greets the prince, please come in."
Yang Haiyan: "I have met the Crown Prince's wife. Everyone says that she is gentle and virtuous. Today I finally get to meet her."
Qian: "Madam Bingyun is the one who believes that seeing is believing. I have been waiting ever since I received your invitation."
The two men greeted each other and complimented each other.
Next to Yang Haiyan, Qin Linyang stared at the little boy and girl next to Qian with curiosity. Seeing that the little boy and girl were also looking at him, he called out sweetly, "Little brother, little sister."
The boy is seven years old and the girl is five years old. Their names are Shen Daimo and Shen Lingtu respectively. Seeing such a cute little brother, they like him very much: "Hello, little brother."
The children greeted him first, which made people smile. Yang Haiyan said, "Linyang, can you take your little brother to play in your yard?"
Qin Linyang naturally responded, "Little brother, I have many, many toys."
Qian also said to her son: "Dai Mo, you should follow your little brother and take care of him."
Shen Daimo: "Yes, mother."
Qin Linyang led Shen Daimo to his own courtyard, with Wu Qiyuan and his family following him, as well as the maids following him, but he was not afraid. Yang Haiyan personally received Qian. Among all the female relatives who came today, only Qian had to be received personally.
Because it was a luncheon, the guests all arrived in the morning. Not long after Shen Lixian and his wife arrived, other guests also arrived one after another, including eldest sister Du's family, second sister Du's family, Wei Ting and his wife, Yu Nian's family, Beijing suburbs commander Zhong's family, and two Beijing suburbs officials who had discussed with Qin Fang that day.
The banquet was just a meal, there were no luxurious programs, so everyone chatted for a while before and after the meal, and then had a normal meal with friends and then dispersed.
Qin Fang, with his wife and son, was seeing people off at the door. Qin Linyang met a new little brother and waved to them reluctantly. Fortunately, there were several other little brothers in his yard, so he still had someone to play with.
After everyone had left, Yang Haiyan sighed. The capital city was really not a place for people to stay. It was quite tiring just to invite people for a meal.
"Next time if you want to invite people to dinner, go to a pub or an inn to save the trouble of going to home." Yang Haiyan said to Qin Fang.
"Okay." Qin Fang didn't want to make his wife too tired. "There won't be any important days in the future. If it's an anniversary or something like that, it's enough for us to celebrate as a family."
"Okay." Yang Haiyan was more than happy to ask for it.
On the way back, the family members had their own thoughts.
Qian: "Madam Bingyun is quite interesting. You can't tell she was born a maid."
Shen Lixian said: "Indeed, if you don't know his origin, you would think he is from an aristocratic family."
Qian Shi didn't feel bad, "But think about it, I was conferred the title of Madam Bingyun of the Second Rank by the Emperor, so naturally he doesn't treat me as an ordinary person. If I don't come, wouldn't it be an ungrateful act to the Emperor to confer the title? If I were just an ordinary person, there wouldn't be such a big event. By the way, Prince, has the appointment of General Qin been announced?"
Shen Lixian said, "I don't know. I haven't paid attention to this. But he is Du Ke's student, so he shouldn't be bad. With Du Ke around, even if he starts to be bad, he will get better." But he knew that Qin Fang's position would not be bad, otherwise why would he be transferred back to the capital? The fifth rank is the lowest. "Madam, get to know Madam Bingyun more in the future. The Qin family is backed by the Du family. If the second prince can get the support of the Du family, it will be a great help to your future."
Qian said, "Don't worry, my husband. I know." As Shen Lixian's wife, she naturally knew the true identity of the second prince. He was the son of her deceased sister-in-law and the legitimate son of the emperor. The Shen family and the Ren family were bound to have a fight. Moreover, if the second prince succeeded to the throne, the Shen family would still be glorious for decades, which would also be good for her son. After all, if her legitimate cousin was the emperor, who would dare to bully her
At the same time, in the carriage of the Wei family, Wei Ting's wife, Zhong, was also talking to Wei Ting. Like Qian, she came to the Qin Mansion today and was particularly curious about this Lady Bingyun. After all, from a maid to a second-rank lady, she has walked a path that no woman in Qi State has ever walked, and it has only been a few years? It is really surprising. In addition, in the capital, the third rank is a hurdle. Among the officials in the capital, how many have reached the second rank? And those who rely on their husbands to get the second-rank imperial edict are not different from Yang Haiyan. Yang Haiyan's imperial edict is a title, although it cannot be passed on to children. But as long as she does not commit a crime, this title will always follow her until she dies. As for those second-rank ladies who obtained imperial titles through their husbands, if their husbands died, their imperial titles would be lost; if their husbands retired, their imperial titles would also be lost, for example.
That is why it is said that Yang Haiyan’s imperial edict is a title, which is different from ordinary imperial edicts.
Zhong: "Husband, can you spend more time with the Qin family in the past?"
Wei Ting felt a headache when he thought about his father's support for the Ren family. However, he would not tell his wife about this matter. If his wife accidentally let it slip, it would be bad if it got out and reached the emperor's ears. He said, "Just have a normal relationship. The Wei family is independent, so you don't have to make friends with them."
Zhong said: "Then I understand."
Qin Fang had not yet taken up his post, but a letter from home in Baili Village had arrived. The letter was brought by Tao Shan, which meant that Tao Shan had returned to Beijing.
Tao Shan sent Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin to Baili Village, and then rushed back to the capital without stopping.
"Hello, General. The old man and the old lady have been safely sent to Baili Village. I have returned this time and brought back a letter written by the Third Master." Tao Shan took out the letter written by Qin Shoucheng from his arms.
Qin Fang was not in a hurry to read the letter. Instead, he asked about the situation in Taoshan's hometown. After learning that everything was fine at home, he said, "You should go and have a rest. You are on vacation these days. You can come to me when I take up my post."
Tao Shan said: "Yes."
After Tao Shan left, Qin Fang read the family letter. The letter was written by Qin Shoucheng, but the tone of the elders in the family meant that Qin's father and mother should have asked Qin Shoucheng to write it.
First of all, the letter talked about Qin Shoucheng's county examination in February this year. Unfortunately, Qin Shoucheng failed the first test of the county examination. He was too nervous and forgot everything as soon as he took the exam.
Qin Shoucheng may not be very talented, but he is definitely a hard-working person. The county exam tests basic knowledge. Generally speaking, as long as you remember everything the teacher taught you, you will have no problem passing the basic knowledge. However, Qin Shoucheng gets nervous when it comes to the county exam, as he remembers that he did not pass it last year. For Yang Haiyan, this is called pre-exam phobia.
At the same time, another thing was mentioned, that is, Qin Shoucheng was getting married. Qin Shoucheng was sixteen years old this year. Because of the "Emperor's arranged marriage" incident, when Qin Shouye got married, Qin's father came to preside over the marriage, so Qin Fang said that Qin's father told him to arrange a marriage for Qin Shoucheng. He didn't ask for a rich and powerful woman, but only asked for a girl that Qin Shoucheng liked and who had good character.
This time, the letter talked about this matter. The girl was the daughter of Master Qin Shoucheng, and she was well educated and could read.
Qin Fang was not worried about the girl's character. After all, it was decided by Qin's father and mother, so this uncle didn't need to worry about his sister-in-law's character.
In addition, he also mentioned the date of Qin Shoucheng's wedding, which would be in September next year. The reason for choosing this date was that Qin Shoucheng would take the county exam next year. If he passed, he would have more face when getting married, which would be a double happiness. Second, if he failed, Qin Shoucheng would be less sad after half a year. Third, this date was good.
Qin Fang was relatively calm about his brother's failure to pass the county exam. After all, his brother was only sixteen years old, and there were not many sixteen-year-old scholars in the whole country.
Finally, the family asked if she could go home when Qin Shoucheng got married next September.
Qin Fang thought about it and started to write back. The letter first comforted Qin Shoucheng and asked him to think more. There were so many officials in the court, and there were very few who passed the examination for the scholar at his age. He also said that he basically couldn't spare the time for next September, but after Qin Shoucheng got married, he could bring his younger brother and sister-in-law to the capital to live for a while.
After replying to the letter, he went to find Yang Haiyan again: "Wife, this is the letter I sent home. Do you think there is anything else to communicate?"
Yang Haiyan turned a blank stare at him: "The letter is fine, but at least we are in the capital now, and we have to bring back the capital's specialties, clothing styles and hair accessories suitable for the ladies."
Qin Fang: “…”
Yang Haiyan joked: "It would be nice to take it back and let grandma and mom show off to the neighbors." The old ladies in the countryside all like to do this kind of thing.