Pei Che was just chatting with a few people and didn't notice the situation over there. When the voices of everyone's discussion gradually became louder, he looked over, his face suddenly sank, and then he walked quickly downstairs.
The servant was still checking the couple's invitation and didn't notice Pei Che coming over here.
"Did you really come here on invitation?" His eyes were full of suspicion. People like them had bright eyes. Judging from the clothes of the two people in front of them, they were not even as good as the second-class maids in their house.
"It's true." The man nodded hurriedly. The woman beside him looked around and whispered, "Can we go in?"
"Why are you in such a hurry? It's still too early!" The servant raised his eyelids and cursed the two country bumpkins in his heart for being so tactless. Usually, when the poor relatives of the Duke's Mansion came, they would give them some reward money no matter how much.
"Uncle and aunt have come from afar, and I, your nephew, have neglected you by not coming to greet you!" Pei Che bowed and saluted. His solemn welcome made the people around him even more curious. You know, those who just came in were all dignitaries, but Prince Pei didn't come down to greet them.
"Master...Master?" The servant turned around, trembling, and immediately lowered his head, "I didn't know they were your guests. Just now, Master Min asked me to pay attention, saying that he was afraid that someone with bad intentions would sneak into the mansion, so I just... just watched for a while longer."
Pei Che didn't even look at him, but said to Uncle Jiang and his wife, "There are always some mean people in the mansion who look down on others. Please don't bother with them, I will definitely deal with them when I have time."
His voice was neither loud nor soft, but just loud enough for Pei Pu and Pei Min, who were not far from him, to hear. Their faces changed, knowing that Pei Che was taking the opportunity to criticize them.
Uncle Jiang waved his hands and said to his nephew-in-law, "It's okay, it's okay. Where's Miao?"
"He's in the backyard now." Pei Che smiled and personally led the way for them, taking them in. This attitude also made everyone in the mansion understand that their prince must value the prince's wife very much, otherwise, how could he be so polite to these two country people
"Oh, isn't this Madam Pei?" As soon as Lady Wang, the wife of Duke Cheng'en, and several female relatives of the family entered the garden, they walked towards Second Aunt Pei.
Aunt Pei's smiling face suddenly froze: "Haha, hello, Madam Wang."
"What's good about it?" Wang pretended to complain, "I've been running around from one place to another, so I can't have a single day to rest. I haven't been home for several days. But fortunately, it's my family's turn to host a banquet the day after tomorrow, so Madam Pei must come over then."
Second Aunt Pei smiled a little twistedly: "How can I not go if Madam Wang invites me? Congratulations in advance."
Wang said, "Alas, what are you happy about? My youngest son is just not very motivated. He only ranked 22nd in the provincial examination. How can he compare to your Pei Shizi? By the way, what about your Pei Pu and Pei Min? When will their imperial examination banquet be held?"
Aunt Pei was so embarrassed that she couldn't speak. At this moment, a young woman behind Wang suddenly said, "I've seen the list that was copied back, and it seems that these two people are not on it."
Wang cried out in surprise, "This... Oh, I've always heard that Madam Pei's two daughters are very outstanding in their studies, how come they can't even pass the provincial examination? Ping'er, did you remember it wrongly?"
The young woman was a little dissatisfied: "Mother, I remember clearly that there is only one person with the surname Pei above, and that is Prince Pei."
The two of them sang the same tune, which made Aunt Pei so angry that her blood rushed to her head. Looking at the ladies in the garden who were pretending to chat but actually keeping their ears open to pay attention to this side, she felt dizzy and almost fell down.
"Oh, Madam Pei, what's wrong with you?" Wang looked at her with a worried look on her face. "Are you worried about their studies? Anyway, your sons are still young. Maybe in another five or seven years, they can pass the imperial examination."
Second Aunt Pei gnashed her teeth in anger, and finally managed to squeeze out a few words: "Thank you, Madam Wang, for your good wishes. I'm not feeling well, so I'll leave you now!"
After saying this, she did not give Wang another chance to speak, and hurried away with the help of her maid.
Wang, who had turned the game around, smiled coldly. She wanted to see how arrogant Li Yufeng and Yi Jia could still be!
After they left, the two maids sent by Grandmother Pei to assist Second Aunt Pei looked at each other, and quickly told Grandmother Pei the news that there was no owner of the backyard at the moment.
After listening to this, Grandmother Pei snorted coldly: "You are useless. You can't even stand a few sarcastic remarks. How can you be a noble person? What about the third and fourth sons' families?"
"The Third and Fourth Madams are here, but..." the maid hesitated.
Grandmother Pei didn't need to listen to her finish to understand what she wanted to say. The two of them came from a small family and usually followed the second eldest brother's family. They trembled when speaking in larger occasions, so naturally they couldn't hold up.
Unfortunately, among the people who came today, there was no one of the same generation as Grandmother Pei. If she went out to greet the guests in person, people would probably laugh at the Duke's Mansion for being deserted. After thinking it over, Grandmother Pei said, "Go and ask Che's daughter-in-law to come over."
Jiang Miao was originally following Pei Che to greet guests at the front, but after he went to visit Grandmother Pei, he felt unwell when he came back.
Pei Che saw this and asked in a concerned voice: "A Miao, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"What?" Pei Che was a little surprised and ran away, "I'll go tell grandma." He didn't ask the reason, he wanted to go directly to tell grandma not to let Jiang Miao go.
"Don't go!" Jiang Miao held Pei Che back, "I promised."
Pei Che was even more surprised. Ah Miao, who always regarded himself as a tough guy, was willing to entertain guests in the backyard? He never liked others treating him as a woman.
"Why?" he asked.
"Why not? Your grandmother is old and of a higher generation. Is it appropriate for her to entertain the guests? And your second aunt was just yelled at by someone and is now staying in her own yard on the pretext of being sick and won't come over. There's no one in charge of the backyard. What if something goes wrong? Don't let a good thing turn into a bad thing." Jiang Miao felt that he was given a mission in a time of crisis, and a sense of responsibility suddenly arose.
"What happened to Second Aunt?" Pei Che didn't know what happened in the backyard.
Jiang Miao told Pei Che what he had just found out, and said, "This feud must have been started last time. The mother of the person who quarreled with us last time was this Madam Wang."
Pei Che nodded in understanding: "No wonder this Madam Wang always tries to poke at other people's sore spots."
"Yeah, if I were your second aunt, I would be so angry that I would die." Jiang Miao said.
"In that case, I'll have to trouble A Miao to go through this for me. When you go, bring Chan Yi and Wen Jing with you. They both know some martial arts, so if anything happens, just let them deal with it." Pei Che said. There were too many dirty things in rich families, and Pei Che was afraid that Jiang Miao would be tricked by others by accident.
Jiang Miao was stunned. Chan Yi and Wen Jing knew Kung Fu? They both looked so weak! With such doubts, Jiang Miao kept observing them quietly on the way to the garden.
"Master Jiang, is there something wrong with us?" Chan Yi looked down at herself, then looked at Wen Jing, and asked in confusion.
"No!" Jiang Miao said hurriedly, "I just heard from your prince that you know Kung Fu."
"It's just a humble skill, not worthy of being shown on the stage." Chan Yi said modestly.
Jiang Miao felt so sad, he didn't even have the slightest kung fu skills! Today was another day to make up his mind to practice kung fu!
When they arrived at the garden at the back, Chan Yi and Wen Jing spoke out first to remind everyone in the room. Only after they were ready did Jiang Miao walk in.
At this time, people in the garden stood in groups of three or five, staring at Jiang Miao and whispering something.
Jiang Miao was a businessman, so he didn't feel too bad about being watched. He said, "Ladies and ladies, I just neglected you. I hope you don't mind."
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the maids behind Chan Yi and Wen Jing presented a lot of things. There were all kinds of food, such as cakes and fruits, musical instruments such as guqin and flute, and toys such as kites and shuttlecocks. In addition, considering that most of these young ladies had received a good education, Jiang Miao also ordered people to put out pens, ink, paper and inkstones so that they could compete in poetry and painting when they were free. Chessboard illustrations and tea sets were also placed in scattered places, and those who were interested could play with them by themselves.
These things were all in the mansion, and Jiang Miao ordered people to collect them. He thought he should find something for them to do, otherwise it would be easy to have conflicts when they gathered together to chat, just like what happened to Second Aunt Pei and Madam Wang before.
To be honest, these young ladies are very familiar with everything here, but the probability of these things appearing together at the same time is also very small.
Seeing everyone gradually disperse to look for content that interested them, Jiang Miao breathed a sigh of relief. As long as nothing happened, they could play however they wanted.
People are still very curious about Jiang Miao, but most people nowadays are reserved and will not take the initiative to communicate with outside men. Although Jiang Miao's identity is the male wife given to Pei Che by the emperor, to everyone, he is still a real man. Who dares to stop Jiang Miao and chat with him
Jiang Miao was busy mediating the quarrel between two little girls - because of a kite in the shape of a beauty. Jiang Miao talked to them for a long time, and the two girls stopped arguing with stern faces, and then randomly selected two different kites, saying that they would compete first and then decide who would get the beauty kite.
Jiang Miao stood aside and watched with interest. It was a pity that it was not spring, otherwise it could fly higher with the help of the east wind.
At this moment, a maid suddenly came over with someone. Jiang Miao turned around casually, and when he saw who it was, he immediately smiled: "Second Aunt, you're here!" He looked past Second Aunt Jiang, but didn't see anyone else: "Where are my sister Xiaoyu and my sisters?" He asked the carriage in the mansion to pick them up and place them in the Jiang residence, and he also asked someone to pick them up in the morning, so how come only one person came
Second Aunt Jiang said, "Xiaoyu refused to come, and your sisters have never seen the world. It would be bad if they caused trouble. And I know you are busy today, so I didn't let them come to avoid causing trouble for you."
"How can it be a nuisance? Second Aunt, you are so polite." Jiang Miao said, "It will be more lively with more people. When the time comes, we can set up a table in my yard and have a good meal together as a family."
Aunt Jiang smiled but said nothing. Even if A Miao didn't care, they should have been more sensible. It's hard to talk to a rich family. If a servant at the door is like this, how good can others be
(End of this chapter)