Chapter 44: Watching the Play (Part 1)

  The tenth girl turned around, her chin slightly raised. Although she was smiling at the fifth girl, a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes: "Sister, why get so worked up? I'll tell you later!"

  Everyone in the house is smart and has seen that the Luo sisters are not on good terms with each other, and they all watch from the sidelines.

  Shi Niang suddenly appeared, and the big wife's cold eyes towards her were inexplicable. The situation with her younger brother was also unclear. At this moment, Shi Niang's provocation made Wu Niang, who was already not very calm, immediately fall into a rage. Her eyes blazed with anger as she took two steps forward, opening her mouth to scold Shi Niang, but was just in time pulled back by Shi Yi Niang beside her.

  "Ten sister, you have to keep your promise!" Eleven daughter slightly tilted her head, with a playful smile, "Otherwise, I'll go back and tell mother that you borrowed our rouge but didn't return it. Let mother scold you!" After finishing, she winked at Five daughter, "Five sister, what do you think?"

  Eleventh girl's seemingly soft and weak slender fingers tightly pinched Fifth Girl's arm, making her feel a sharp pain. But it was precisely this pain that made her quickly come to her senses. By the time Eleventh Girl said "Tell Mother", she had calmed down.

  Yes, after all, there's still mother in charge of everything!

  Fourth brother is timid, even if he releases the tenth daughter, he will definitely be deceived. Mother's punishment is nothing more than house arrest and deprivation of monthly allowance, and as time goes by, Third Aunt will help to beg for mercy, and it will pass. If he makes any impolite moves now, not only will he lose face, but also drag down the reputation of the Luo family, and that little calculation in his heart will never be possible again. Letting the eleventh daughter gain an advantage for nothing...

  She couldn't help but glance at Eleven at this thought.

  The younger sister who always humbled herself and yielded in front of her was now looking at her with a worried expression.

  Afraid she will cause trouble!

  Wu Niang suddenly felt a surge of guilt in her heart.

  She always guarded against her, but at this critical moment, she actually helped herself... With the lesson of Fourth Aunt, Mother would never let Tenth Sister enter the Xu family, so as long as Eleventh Sister kept silent, the struggle between the two would benefit Eleventh Sister. But she gave up this opportunity...

  A fleeting thought.

  But in her heart, there was a voice telling her: perhaps Eleventh Sister didn't know the pros and cons of this situation at all, but simply chose to help herself out of dislike for Tenth Sister. After all, when Tenth Sister lived on the floor above Eleventh Sister's, she had bullied her many times...

  It's a long story, but Wu Niang's mood was just for an instant. Seeing the gaze of the people in the house fall on her own body, she smiled and said: "Eleven sister's idea is good. If ten sisters don't tell us, we'll go back and tell our mother... Let our mother scold her." As she spoke, she chuckled and laughed, with a few hints of provocation in her joyful expression, as if joking with her sisters.

  Eleventh sister looked at Fifth sister's expression, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, finally said "Eleventh sister's idea is good" and pushed the responsibility onto herself again.

  She was extremely disappointed - Wu Niang had been selfish to the point of disregarding the overall situation... Hadn't she ever heard of the saying "under the nest, there are no intact eggs"?

  Others must find it hilarious when they see sisters fighting like this!

  Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes involuntarily swept across the faces of the people in the room.

  Everyone has a different expression.

  Qiao Lianfang's eyes sparkled, with an air of watching a play without fear of the stage being too high; Tang Miss showed a sneer on her face; Lin Miss lowered her head to tidy up the folds of her own embroidered skirt, as if she hadn't noticed the situation at all; Gan family's third miss had a slight smile on her lips, wanting to speak but stopping herself; Gan family's seventh miss widened her eyes and stared at Shiyi Niang, with a look full of astonishment in her eyes!

  Other people's expressions were understandable to her, but the two young ladies of the Gan family... one looked like she was filled with sympathy for them, and the other looked very curious about herself!

  Eleventh Sister's heart skipped a beat as she heard Tenth Sister's giggles beside her ear: "You're telling on me to Mother again..."

  Just as she had not finished speaking, Third Madame appeared at the screen: "The Master has left - let's continue listening to the play!"

  Everyone naturally couldn't say anything else. Led by Gan's sisters from the nearest screen wind, they went out in a line and sat down again.

  Eleventh Sister noticed that Tenth Sister had quietly shifted her embroidered pouch to the position of Seventh Miss Gan, and when the play started, she began whispering with Seventh Miss Gan.

  The fifth daughter also discovered it.

  She couldn't bear to watch anymore, her eyes fixed on them. But she was seen by Mrs. Qiao sitting across from her.

  When the third fold was sung and the scene changed, Mrs. Qiao suddenly said: "We're listening to the play on this side, don't restrain the children either. Look at Miss Luo's and Miss Gan's families, they can't sit still!"

  Everyone's gaze suddenly turned over there, especially the big wife's gaze was as sharp as a knife.

  The eleventh girl sat there elegantly, smiling slightly.

  The fifth daughter turned around and glared at the tenth daughter fiercely, but the tenth daughter just smiled nonchalantly.

  Gan's seventh young lady stood up, ignoring her sister tugging at her hem, and pouted at Madame Tian: "I want to go fly a kite, I don't want to listen to the opera!"

  The old lady seemed to like those lively and lovely children very much. She smiled indulgently: "Go, go!" Then she called a Mrs. Du who was standing beside her: "Take Gan's seventh young lady to the kite store and see what kind of kite she likes." After thinking for a moment, she swept her eyes over the ladies in the room, "Who else wants to go fly kites? Let's all go together. It'll be less annoying when we're listening to the play - you'll be uncomfortable, and so will we."

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  The tenth girl smiled and stood up, saying loudly: "Madam, I'm going too!"

  The old lady smiled and said: "Good, good, good." She seemed very pleased.

  Wu Niang hesitated for a moment, but Shi Niang smiled and said: "I'd rather watch the play! Who knows if Cai Boji will agree to marry into the Niu Chengxiang family?" Her tone was somewhat ambiguous and suggestive.

  She thinks today's situation is very complicated, the best way is to use stillness to control movement, follow Mrs. Big and let her see it under her eyelids, it will never go wrong.

  Madam nodded and looked at Miss Lin.

  Miss Lin smiled slightly and said: "I want to go see the second lady!"

  Eleventh Sister saw that Madam Qiao, Madam Tang, Qiao Lianfang and Miss Tang all changed color slightly, their gaze at Lin Miss was uncertain.

  "The last time I visited my cousin in Danyang, Madame Meng gave me a few sheets of Qingxin Hall paper. Miss Lin was calm and composed under the gaze of several people, as elegant as ever. "I got a volume of 'Chunhua Pavilion Post' from the Second Prince's Mansion a few days ago, and I'd like to give it to Madame Meng."

  Old Mrs. was overjoyed, repeatedly saying "good", and also said: "That treasure is very precious, what would you do if you gave it to Yizhen? How about this, I have a Summer Gui's 'Maple Creek Floating Moon Picture' in my hand." She said, calling Wei Zi, "You go get it for Miss Lin."

  Miss Lin listened and quickly stood up to decline: "How can I accept your gift!"

  The old lady smiled and waved her hand: "I also gave this to a beauty... I know you like painting."

  Miss Lin thought for a moment and politely curtsied to the old lady, saying: "I should have known better and exchanged some calligraphy with you instead of painting."

  The old lady heard a chuckle: "I just have these old tricks..." But the words behind were abruptly swallowed.

  The eleventh lady felt a bit strange and quickly glanced at the third and fifth ladies, but saw that both were smiling and looking at Miss Lin, without revealing anything unusual.

  Or maybe I'm just being paranoid...

  She thought for a moment, then saw Qiao Lian Fang slowly get up and smile: "I'll accompany Lin sister to see the second lady! Last time she told me that I can use pine flowers to make cakes, I tried it when I got back, but didn't succeed... just right to go ask for advice."

  "Good, good, good." Madam smiled and looked at her, "You each found what you like to play with, and the guests are having a great time, that's what makes me happy."

  As soon as she finished speaking, Miss Tang also stood up and smiled: "I'll go with Mingyuan! Come to think of it, I haven't seen the second lady for a long time. I still remember her 'green plum wine'!"

  "I'll go take a look too!" Wu Niang gritted her teeth and suddenly stood up. "Last time I drank the tea brewed by Second Madam, I've been thinking about it ever since. Now that everyone's talking about it, I realize that Second Madam not only knows how to brew tea but also makes wine and is skilled in calligraphy. Speaking of which, I'm also fond of calligraphy. I'd like to take a look at the 'Chunhua Pavilion Post' from the Lin family's collection in the Erwang Mansion."

  The expression on Mrs. Tai's face had become somewhat stiff.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but want to go forward and cover her mouth.

  You thought of going to see a widow's second wife, why didn't you think of going to see your own sister who is ill in bed?

  The tenth girl also sensed the fifth girl's urgency, she raised an eyebrow, pulled Gan family's seventh young lady's arm, and smiled to ask Gan family's third young lady: "Sister Gan, are you going with us to fly a kite or go with Sister Lin to see the second madam?"

  Miss Gan said hastily: "I will naturally go with you to fly a kite. Otherwise, Lan Ting still doesn't know what kind of trouble she'll get into!"

  Miss Gan's seventh sister stomped her foot and shouted "Sister" in a spoiled tone, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

  Eleventh Sister also smiled, but in her heart she thought, so Ganshi's seventh young lady is called "Gan Lanting", I wonder what Ganshi's third young lady is called?

  Mrs. Gan sighed and looked at the two young ladies of the Gan family with a helpless smile, saying "Don't cause any trouble!" She then called out to her maid, "Follow the two young ladies."

  The maid hurried forward and knelt down in response with a "yes".

  In this way, the people were divided into three groups. The two Miss Gans and the tenth sister went to fly kites; Qiao Lianfang, Lin's daughter, Tang's daughter, and the fifth sister went to see the second lady; the eleventh sister stayed behind to watch the play. Watching the play was easy, just sitting here would do; going to see the second lady was also easy, just let Yao Huang bring a few maids to serve them properly. However, flying kites was more troublesome, they had to open the warehouse to pick out kites, and then go to the flower garden to find a suitable place, and were afraid of getting too close to the water and losing their footing... There were many trivial matters. After thinking for a moment, the third lady took the maids and daughters-in-law to personally arrange for the two Miss Gans and the tenth sister.

  The room fell silent.

  Old Lady Tai looked at the silent ladies of the various mansions: "Why don't you let Danyang accompany you to play cards?"

  The old lady of the Tang family smiled and said, "Look at what you're saying. We are not 14 or 15-year-old girls who only know how to play; nor are we young ladies who are ignorant of worldly affairs and think that talking about firewood, rice, oil, and salt is 'vulgar'... I just like this. Listening to opera, chatting idly, living a life as happy as the gods."

  The old lady smiled.

  The eleventh girl sincerely admired her.

  Those smiling grandmothers sitting there silently are probably all not easy to mess with.

  Look at what the eldest lady of the Tang family said, she not only pointed out that the two young ladies of the Gan family only know how to have fun, but also pointed out that the young lady of the Lin family is ignorant of worldly affairs. She has struck both the Gan and Lin families... really formidable!

  Thank you for your support all along! I'll be entering V tomorrow, and please continue to treat me as before, dear sisters. Thank you! (*^__^*) Hehe...

  By the way: there was a power outage at home, so I'm sending this earlier than expected. What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend has turned into another chaotic mess...~~~^_^~~~