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Reminder from 79 Web: You can quickly find us on "79 Free" or "79 Web". When several people rushed to the head of the land, everyone had already arrived and was waiting for them under the willow tree shade by the Huangqu River. "I think this place is not bad, let's take a break here?"
Huang Qu is the source of water for Furong Pool, with vast and clear waters. The embankment is densely planted with willow trees, and under the trees are lush grasses, making it a perfect spot for an outdoor picnic. Li Man Niang agreed and ordered her attendants to set up screens, lay out mats, bring out food, wine, and water, and asked who had just drawn the first lot.
"Of course it's me, how is it? Does it look good or not?" A Mrs. Xue with a smile came up to them, proudly stretching her head in front of Li Man Niang and Mu Dan, shaking it back and forth, the butterfly-shaped hairpin on her bun slightly trembling, as if it was about to fly away.
Li Man scolded with a smile: "You just got lucky."
A Mrs. Huang with the surname laughed: "Who doesn't know her temper, losing makes her cry, winning makes her show off, for our sake of having a clear ear, it's better she cries, so let's all let her win." Xu madam raised an eyebrow and rushed over to pinch Mrs. Huang's mouth, laughing and scolding: "The defeated general only has a sharp tongue left." The two women didn't care about their image and twisted into a ball, everyone was watching the joke on the side, the atmosphere was very lively and relaxed.
Li Man Niang smiled with curved eyebrows and asked Peony: "How is it? Not like those people at Liu Da's place, right?"
Peony ran under the sun for a while, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on her body. She smiled as she fanned herself with a handkerchief: "It's really different." The way these wives of military officers interacted was more like the casual relationships between modern girlfriends - relaxed and easy-going, without so many formalities. Unlike Madame Bai, who was from an aristocratic family, every word and action exuded elegance and gravity, although it was pleasant to behold, it also felt heavy and stiff.
While they were talking, the attendants had already set up the banquet, and invited everyone to take their seats. Xue Niang naturally sat down beside Mu Dan, and said: "Sister, the fragrance of the lotus flower on your body is even more fragrant than before, I once heard that some fragrances smell better after sweating, it seems to be true."
Peony Snow listened to what the girl said, brought her sleeve to her nose and sniffed, indeed the fragrance was stronger, then said: "It's my brother who blended it, I don't know how he did it specifically. If you like it, when you go back, I'll pack some and ask my aunt to give them to you."
Xue Niang smiled and said, "Why bother with so much trouble? My family lives in Buzhengfang. When the time comes, you can just send someone to deliver it to my home. We've only been back from abroad for a year or two and don't know what good incense is. I'm often laughed at by others. This time, your family runs an incense shop, so you must understand what good incense is better than others. Just tell me, who dares to laugh at me?"
Peony fell silent for a moment. In her opinion, it wasn't that Snow's perfume was bad, but rather those people were just bullying them because they weren't from a high-born family. The concept of social status would always exist, no matter the time. However, she didn't want to discuss this topic with Snow. She enthusiastically agreed with Snow, promising to share any new perfumes with her as soon as they came out. Snow was delighted and suddenly felt closer to Peony.
That lovely Mrs. Huang clapped her hands and laughed, "It's not fun just drinking and eating like this, let's use wine to urge each other to drink." This proposal was echoed by everyone.
Madam Huang had everyone sit in a circle and ordered someone to put a silver plate in the center. A figurine carved with high nose, green eyes, and foreign features was taken out and placed on the plate, spinning around. When the spinning stopped and pointed at someone, that person would have to drink. As soon as the spinning started, everyone began clapping and shouting, afraid it would stop in front of them.
The peony was still holding back and didn't dare to shout loudly, but after the first cup of wine entered her mouth, she also let go of her reserve and joined in the applause and shouting with everyone else. Just as they were having a great time, suddenly a loud horseshoe sound echoed, and a large group of people shouted loudly from the direction of the capital city, rushing towards this side.
The crowd temporarily stopped playing and stood up to watch the excitement. A group of people, both men and women, all young, rode high-headed horses with colorful decorations, very elegant, truly a magnificent sight, galloping freely.
When the first one wearing red clothes combed her horse's mane, she was born with a beautiful appearance and a bright smile. She swung her whip hard, focusing on the front, occasionally playing some tricks, swinging her whip to block people who were about to surpass her.
The peony saw clearly that this person was the young lady of Qinghua. She couldn't help but think about why her luck was so bad, and she had to run into this plague god on a trip out. Based on the principle of not making trouble, Peony decided to sit back and not let people find her.
Suddenly someone shouted that someone had fallen off their horse, and the sound of hooves immediately changed rhythm. A group of people scattered in all directions, trying not to let their horses trample the person who had fallen. Peony hid behind Li Maniang's back and saw clearly that the one who had fallen was a young woman wearing a blue round-necked robe. One foot still hung from the stirrup, being dragged forward by the panicked horse, neither struggling nor shouting, silent as if dead.
Everyone who went with her was controlling their horses, and for a moment no one had time to take care of her. Peony felt a layer of cold sweat all over her body, and she couldn't help but tremble slightly. Because she saw that the horse seemed to have been startled because the whip tip of Qinghua County's lord swept across its eyes. It was also unknown what kind of tragic woman had accidentally offended Qinghua County's lord, only to suffer such a great loss.
As she was lost in thought, Li Maniang quickly ran out, pulled a knife from the attendant's body, and agilely jumped onto her horse. With a flick of her whip, she chased after the startled horse. After catching up to it, she leaned forward, raised her arm, and with a flash of cold light, cut through the reins that bound the woman. The woman fell to the ground as the horse galloped away. Li Maniang also immediately reined in her horse, put away her knife, and dismounted. She squatted down to examine the woman's condition.
At this time, Qinghua Junzhu and others had already turned their horses back, and soon they surrounded Li Man'niang and the woman in the middle.
Dong's wife and Huang's wife exchanged a glance, deciding to go up together to take a look, lest Li Man Niang's good intentions would still lead to trouble.
Peony hesitated, she also wanted to go and take a look at Li Man Niang, but her intuition told her that it was better not to appear in front of Qing Hua Jun Zhu, otherwise who knows what kind of reaction would occur. Xue Niang didn't have time for such thoughts, pulling Peony's hand with all her might, she said admiringly: "Sister, let's go take a look. I wouldn't have thought that Li Furen was so fat and yet so shrewd."
Peony withdrew her hand and hurried to stand before Lady Du, saying: "Milady, I have something to say to you."
Mrs. Dou was worried about Li Maniang in her heart, afraid that she would suffer a loss, and felt that the niece brought by Li Maniang was not reliable, not only did she not care, but also made trouble here, so she was somewhat impatient: "Let's talk later."
"Peony couldn't care less about all that, and hastily said: 'The leader is someone I know, it's Qinghua County's young mistress. She has some old grievances with me.'"
"This reminder is crucial, these people are not ordinary people, they are imperial relatives, so when dealing with them, we must be careful. The impatience on Lady Duan's face dissipated, and she whispered to Peony: 'Then you stay here with Xue Niang, don't go over, we'll just take a look. Nothing will happen.'"
Xuěniáng was very dissatisfied, but under her mother's severe gaze and Peony's heavy heart, she still obediently pulled Peony's hand and said: "Then I'll stay with He sister here and wait."
Two people stood behind the screen, looking out through the gap in the screen. They saw Mrs. Dou leading a few women with solemn expressions, walking past with their heads held high, standing outside the crowd and saying a few words before dispersing, revealing the situation inside. The woman who fell off the horse lay motionless on the ground, Li Man'niang was examining her injuries, and a woman in a crimson red robe knelt anxiously beside her, keeping watch.
A young woman in a green dress was excitedly pointing at Qinghua Junzhu, who was saying something. Qinghua Junzhu looked innocent and said something softly. The woman in green became furious and raised her whip to strike Qinghua Junzhu, but others intervened and chaos erupted. Qinghua Junzhu stood aside, calmly watching without avoiding or trying to stop the commotion, not showing any guilt or shame.
Xue Niang had already learned about the identity of Qing Hua Jun Zhu from Peony's mouth, and couldn't get any information about the grudge between the two from her. She became interested in the identity of the woman wearing green Hu attire: "Is this also a Jun Zhu? Look at how she dares to whip Jun Zhu with a whip."
"Probably." The woman in green, she remembered seeing her at the viewing pavilion of Princess Changlong in Kang City during the festival. At that time, this woman was wearing a delicate golden silk flower crown on her head and whispering to Princess Qinghua, so she took another look. She thought this person had a good relationship with Princess Qinghua, but today it seemed like they were incompatible. But one thing she could be sure of was that the woman lying on the ground must have a lower status than Princess Qinghua, otherwise Princess Qinghua wouldn't dare to be so arrogant.
Before long, someone brought over a simple stretcher and carefully lifted the fallen woman onto it. The woman in green was persuaded by the crowd to calm down, but she spat at the Marquise of Qinghua with hatred, bowed her head in thanks to Li Man Niang, and then followed the stretcher with the woman in crimson red clothes and a dozen or so attendants towards the direction of the capital.
Qinghua County Master was now smiling and chatting with Li Man Niang, Dou Fu Ren and others. Peony didn't know what they were talking about, but she could see the look of difficulty and refusal on Li Man Niang's and Dou Fu Ren's faces. However, Qinghua County Master was like a stubborn sticker, and actually took the lead in walking towards the crowd's banquet place.
Peony was startled, but couldn't avoid it. She clenched her fists, if she couldn't avoid it then she would face it calmly, could she still hide for a lifetime? Mrs. Feng and Yuhe exchanged a glance, and quietly moved forward to surround Peony, who let out a light breath and smiled: "Don't worry, today with so many people around, as long as we're careful enough, she won't dare do anything reckless." But in her heart, she was nervous, wasn't the woman who fell off the horse just now ambushed in front of a crowd?
As they spoke, the young lady of Tsinghua had already arrived outside the screen.
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