October 25th was the day when the Duke's Mansion hosted a banquet for guests. Although Pei Che had the highest status among the first few people who passed the imperial examination, when the banquet was held, the Duke's Mansion still followed the order of arrival to avoid being accused of not following the rules.
Pei Che and Jiang Miao returned to the Duke's Mansion two days ago, and the two children were also given leave to bring back. There were people teaching them at home, so their studies would not fall behind.
The mansion prepared brand new clothes for them, from head to toe, all made by the embroiderers in the mansion. Because they were in a hurry, they sped up the process a lot, but the result was no worse. They were extremely comfortable and fit well, and were better than those sold in shops outside.
Jiang Miao gradually got used to wearing this kind of clothes, and even when he occasionally put on coarse cloth clothes to work, he felt that they were too tight and stiff.
"Mr. Jiang, these are the account books sent by various shops this month." After trying on the clothes, Chan Yi and Wen Jing came over with wooden boxes containing account books. The two boxes were full, waiting for Jiang Miao to review.
"Leave it there. I'll take a look later." Jiang Miao thought about dragging Pei Che to watch it together. Wouldn't it be a pity to leave such a big and strong laborer there unused
The two were surprised at Jiang Miao's cooperation this time. The account books of these stores were checked every two months. The last time the accounts were checked, their Mr. Jiang made many excuses, as if these things had nothing to do with him.
In Jiang Miao's mind, these things really had nothing to do with him before, but now it was different. His relationship with Pei Che had risen to a new level. Things that he originally didn't want to get involved in or care about, now he had to face them together with Pei Che.
He asked someone to get him some charcoal pencils and white paper, and also brought an abacus to Pei Che so that they could settle the accounts together later.
Not long after, Pei Che, who was outside, came back. Before he had time to sit down, his eyes were attracted by Jiang Miao, who was smiling particularly brightly today.
Jiang Miao came over with a smile like a flower, pulled him to sit down, poured him tea and water, and said he would give him a massage, which confused Pei Che, who had never enjoyed such treatment. He began to recall everything that happened to him today, trying to see what caused him to be treated like this.
However, he never thought that that thing would be the next one. Pei Che looked at the account book in front of him with confused eyes for a while, then turned to look at Jiang Miao. Jiang Miao changed his tenderness just now, stared at him and said: "Hurry up and calculate, what are you looking at me for? You just agreed to it yourself!"
Pei Che sighed, pulled over the abacus and account book, and began to settle the accounts. Jiang Miao turned back with satisfaction, took the wrapped charcoal pencil and quickly wrote a string of numbers on the white paper, and then began to calculate.
He was very fast, and soon he finished calculating one account book. After checking that it was correct, Jiang Miao picked up the seal placed beside him and stamped it on the account book with a "snap". Before he put the seal down, another account book was pushed over by Pei Che and asked him to stamp it.
Pretty fast! Jiang Miao thought to himself. He looked up at Pei Che who was holding another account book. His slender fingers were moving the abacus very quickly. The round beads made crisp clicking sounds in his big, bony hands. It was as if Pei Che was holding a guqin instead of an abacus, and he was not clearing accounts but playing the guqin for his own amusement.
As expected, good-looking people look good in everything they do! Jiang Miao stared at him for a while before picking up another account book and starting to calculate.
Time passed as the two sat and settled accounts. It was not until the candles were lit in the room that the two boxes of account books were checked one by one. By checking the account books, it can be found that most of the shopkeepers are still very honest. After all, they are backed by the Duke's Mansion. If they are not honest, they would have been thrown into the cell long ago. A small number of problematic ones seem to have been caused by the wrong numbers when recording accounts.
However, we have to wait until after the banquet to investigate what exactly happened.
The next morning, the mansion began to get busy. Brand new lanterns and red silk were replaced, the flowers and trees in the yard were trimmed and pruned, and even every stone slab on the ground seemed to have been carefully scrubbed.
At dawn on October 25th, everyone in the Duke's Mansion was ready to receive guests. They were full of fighting spirit, and everyone hoped to show their best spirit in front of the guests.
At dawn, the sound of firecrackers rang out in front of the Duke's Mansion. The sound lasted for a long time, adding a lot of vitality to the originally quiet morning. When the sound disappeared, guests came one after another with gifts. Pei Che led a few cousins to stand at the door to welcome the guests. Every time Pei Che received a compliment, their faces became darker. I don't know what their parents thought, letting them stay with Pei Che as a foil.
"Brother, look!" Pei Min was casually looking down at the street when his sight was suddenly attracted by a person getting off a carriage not far away. He poked Pei Pu and said with a little excitement.
Pei Pu had a gloomy face all the time. When he heard Pei Min's voice, he glared at Pei Min without any hesitation and then looked down.
They were a couple, and although they were also wearing brocade clothes, they were still different from the people around them. In addition, their stiff movements and unnatural expressions also showed that the two people in front of them were not used to such occasions.
"They are the eldest sister-in-law's family, right?" Pei Min said in a strange tone. Pei Che had clearly taught them how to call them, but he still deliberately called Jiang Miao like that.
"What do you want to do?" Pei Pu and Pei Min are from the same mother, so they naturally knew that he had bad intentions when he spoke.
"Don't worry, I'm not doing anything, I'm just following the rules." Pei Min smiled, then called a servant and whispered a few words. The servant nodded blankly, then walked downstairs and came to the couple who looked a little embarrassed.
"Are you two the guests attending the banquet today?" asked the servant.
"Yes, yes!" the husband replied quickly.
"Can you please let me have a look at the invitation?" Although it was a question, the meaning in his words was very strong and could not be refused.
The couple was stunned and searched quickly, but they couldn't find it on their body. Finally, they opened the bag in their hands and found the invitation at the bottom.
The servant took the invitation and read it carefully, as if he wanted to engrave every word on it in his heart. From time to time, he looked up at them in doubt, as if he was trying to distinguish the authenticity. The movement here attracted the attention of others. The vague looks made the couple feel more and more uneasy, and they even had the urge to leave quickly.
Country people seldom go out, and they have always been curious and a little afraid of the outside world. The current embarrassing situation is about to make the calmness they pretend to be disappear.
(End of this chapter)