Chapter 63: Married Out (Middle) (Pink Tickets 280)

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  The lady hastily got down from the carriage and was greeted by Hang Mama in front of the flower gate. Seeing her pale face and swollen eyes, she knew that Yuan Niang's situation was definitely not good. While following the lady into the house, she quickly said: "Two nannies came to Zhongqin Bo Fu and said that they invited Fifth Miss, Tenth Miss, and Eleventh Niang to go to Zhongqin Bo Fu to enjoy the spring five days later."

  The big wife suddenly stopped in her tracks, and Hang's mother almost bumped into her.

  "Is it the Zhongqin Bo Fu Gan family?" The old lady's eyes were sharp, "Rewarding Spring?"

  Mrs. Hang hastily nodded: "It's Miss Qi of the Gan family who sent it, please accept it with great sincerity, and Eldest Madam has accepted the invitation."

  "Where's Nai Nai?" Mrs. Dai's voice was somewhat stern.

  "In the main house." Mother Zhang busily smiled and said, "Elder Sister has already made a list of the dowries for several young ladies, and was just waiting for your return to discuss what good things to buy!"

  The lady nodded slightly and quickly entered the house.

  Big Nai hurriedly welcomed her forward: "Mother, Big Aunt..."

  The lady's eyes welled up with tears again: "What a false alarm!" She didn't want to talk about it anymore.

  "That's good." said Da Nai with relief, "I still have two hundred-year-old He Shou Wu in my dowry, otherwise, I'll send them to Big Auntie to nourish her body?"

  The lady thought for a moment and said: "Alright then. Such good things I also can't gather at the moment."

  Let the wet nurse go and fetch it, then helped the madam to sit on the kang by the window in the western wing, took the tea from the maids and personally handed it to the madam.

  The old lady took a sip of tea and said: "Where is the master?"

  "Big Nai smiled and said: 'He was dragged away by his fellow students to drink. He also instructed the little servant outside to leave the door open for him at night.'"

  The old lady's face turned pale, and the teacup in her hand began to shake violently.

  Big breasts screen voice quiet heart, dare not speak more.

  It wasn't until after a while that Madame's expression gradually eased up a bit.

  "I heard that the seventh young lady of the Gan family in Zhongqinbofu has sent out invitations to the five niangs, inviting them to go and enjoy the spring?"

  "Right!" replied Da Nai, busy with her work, smiling: "We were just waiting for you to come back and make a decision!"

  "Let them go." The madam's expression was bland as she suddenly changed the subject, "How did I let you prepare their dowry?"

  Dà nǎi jiù cóng yī xiù lǐ ná le yī fèn hòu hòu de dān zi chū lái: "zhè shì wǒ méi shì de shí hou nǐ de, nín kàn zěn me yàng?"

  The lady looked very carefully. However, after reading just a few lines, the little maid reported: "Lady, the old master sent someone to ask if you have returned. If you have returned, he wants to ask how your sister is doing?"

  The old lady's face softened as she listened and said, "Tell the master that everything is fine."

  The little maid went out at the sound of her voice.

  The mistress handed the list to the wet nurse: "You've thought of everything, just buy according to this list. If there's not enough money, it's okay to add some more. Get this done within these two days."

  Two days ago, you said don't rush, buy slowly, just don't exceed. How come today...

  Thinking of her mother-in-law's return, she felt a pang in her heart.

  Big breasts smiled and responded with a "yes".

  The lady told her maid: "I want to get Ah-ma from Hangzhou to help me with some things."

  Big breasts naturally said "yes", and when her mother brought over the He Shou Wu, she smiled and said: "What can I do for you, just give me orders."

  Mrs. Dai gave He Shouwu to Mrs. Xu: "Take it to Eldest Aunt's place."

  Mrs. Xu left at the sound of her name being called.

  The old lady asked Da Nai to bring the calendar. She flipped through it while instructing Hang Mama: "Go to the Ministry of Punishment and tell Mr. Huang Ren that the day for the betrothal gifts has been set as...". As she spoke, she flipped to March 9th, "...March 9th is fine."

  Da Nai and Hang Mama were both shocked.

  Isn't this too hasty? The day of the trial is less than nine days away.

  If earlier Da Nai still had some doubts, now it's very certain.

  She didn't dare ask more and smiled: "Then I should get prepared."

  On the day of the lower engagement, the woman should entertain the man's guests with a big meal.

  Hang's mother also congratulated the madam and then left with a smile.

  The lady didn't look pleased, and instead had a hint of fatigue: "We just moved in, everything is new, so it's enough to just hang two big red lanterns at the door. As for the banquet, anything can be bought in Yanzhou, just pick the expensive ones and let the kitchen maid cook them, it's not like they don't know how."

  Dà nǎi xiào zhe diǎn le tóu: "Wǒ zhè jiù qù ān pái."

  Translation:

  Big breasts smiled and nodded: "I'll go arrange it now."

  "Mrs. Wang nodded and said, 'You go to Mrs. Wang's house tomorrow morning and ask her to be our matchmaker! Be sincere in your attitude, it would be best if you can invite her over.'"

  The old lady nodded and then called in Coral and Jade to help her change clothes. The wet nurse tactfully withdrew.

  By evening, everyone knew that Mrs. Zhuang had betrothed Wu Niang to Qian Gongzi.

  The fifth daughter's face turned pale.

  Ziwei and Ziyun stood aside, not daring to make a sound.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

  It seems that this Wang Gongzi of the Maoguo Duke's estate has a big problem?

  Dong Qing was serving her by washing her feet and smiling as she spoke to her: "I heard that Dà Nǎi bought back all the dowry, filling up half of the house."

  "Even if you piled up a whole house, it wouldn't be worth more than a few thin sheets of silver notes."

  "That's also true." Dong Qing smiled, took a dry handkerchief and wiped Eleven's feet again, then put on her silk stockings for her. "You said, if Qian Gongzi is listed in the golden list, wouldn't our family have a scholar-official son-in-law?"

  The imperial examination of Dazhou County is held every October, the provincial examination is held in mid-March of the following year, and the palace examination is held on April 1st.

  Just then, Amber walked in with a dress and laughed: "There are really many people participating in the trial this year!"

  Dong Qing nodded: "Our great-grandfather, the second house's fourth uncle, and Qian Gongzi... if they all passed, our family would be a family of three jinshi."

  Amber covered her mouth and smiled: "Our family has long been a family of three scholars. To say that father and son are both scholars is not correct, nor can it be said that aunt and uncle are both scholars... Ah, our family has many scholars!"

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  The old master on that side frowned upon hearing this: "Isn't it too rushed? Who gets engaged at this time? Let's talk about it again in May!"

  "The old master also has times when he is muddled." The lady smiled and said, "Wait until May when the new jinshi come out, whether we can make a good match with this family remains to be seen."

  The old master disagreed: "If that Qian fellow is so short-sighted, then we'd better call off this marriage!"

  "Look at you. Is it about saving face or your daughter's future?" The old lady scolded, "I have the final say in this matter." She continued, "I have something to discuss with you." The old lady smiled and said, "You also know that the Qian family is poor, I'm afraid Fifth Daughter will suffer if she marries into their family. I want to give her a dowry of 1,000 taels of silver as a nest egg, what do you think?"

  Seeing Madam being so generous, Old Master was naturally very pleased and nodded repeatedly: "Good, good, good."

  On the ninth day, Madame Huang arrived early with silver ingots, golden hairpins and eight-colored fruits, tea leaves and other items. After sitting down to drink a cup of tea, the matchmaker from the Luo family, Madame Wang, finally arrived.

  The two exchanged red couplets written with the names of Wu Niang and Qian Gongzi, and Madame Huang handed over the things she brought to the people of the Luo family, accompanied by Da Nai in the inner house drinking wine.

  During that time, Qian Gongzi's residence was mentioned: "... rented a two-room house next to the Imperial Academy, and for the time being, it's hard to find another house. We can only discuss the wedding date after May. It just so happens that the exams will be over by then, and we'll have a double happiness."

  Mrs. Wang thought that if Qian Gongzi really passed the imperial examination, he would have to take the jinshi examination again. If he passed the jinshi examination again, he would have to stay in Yanjing for another three years. If he didn't pass, he would inevitably have to wait for a vacancy in Yanjing. If it was quick, he could find a job by July or August, but if it was slow, it might not be until next spring.

  She thought to herself and smiled: "May is also a bit early, why don't we wait until September to see if there's a good day."

  A big family like the Lus talking about marriage, it's common to take a year or two, and four or five years is also normal. To get a word from the Luos, Madame Huang was already very satisfied, and she hurriedly smiled and agreed.

  The marriage of the fifth daughter has been settled.

  The next day, Dà Nǎi divided the fruits and tea brought by Qián Gōngzǐ into two portions and sent them to èr Lǎoyé and Sān Lǎoyé respectively.

  The second lady and the third lady found out and came one after another to offer their congratulations.

  The fifth daughter hid in the house and didn't come out.

  The tenth daughter and eleventh daughter came out to pay their respects to all the elders.

  Everyone laughed and went to Wu Niang's place. Wu Niang stood there, blushing and not speaking, while Shi Yi Niang remembered the sound of broken porcelain she had heard last night.

  The second lady pulled the hand of Wu Niang and smiled: "Our family's Fifth Miss has good fortune, she married a scholar. In the future, she will definitely win a phoenix crown and return."

  Third Aunt also smiled and said: "This is also Eldest Sister's good fortune."

  The big wife hehe smiled and saw that Wu Niang's face was red enough to bleed, and she invited everyone into her own room with a smile.

  Everyone sat down to drink tea and chat, after lunch, they started playing cards and gossiping. Seventh Sister and Eleventh Sister accompanied them on the side watching the cards, while Tenth Sister sat on the side cracking melon seeds.

  After chatting for a while, Qiuniang couldn't sit still and gave a signal to Shiyiniang. Then she said to Erniang: "Mother, we want to go see Wujie."

  The second wife was tidying up a big three-wheeled cart. She waved her hand and said, "Go on, go on, don't disturb me here."

  Qī Niáng smiled and nodded in agreement, pulling Shíyī Niáng's hand towards Shí Niáng with a slight tilt of her chin.

  It means asking her if she is going or not.

  Following her previous attitude, Shining didn't care about it this time and even put down the melon seeds in her hand: "Mother, let's also go take a look at Fifth Sister."

  The big wife looked up at her and saw Qiuniang holding Shiyi's arm, nodded.

  Three people got up and were about to leave, and Wu Ye and Liu Ye, who had been waiting impatiently on the side, immediately stood up and followed behind them: "Mother, we're going to see Fifth Sister too." As they spoke, they ran ahead of them in a flash, causing Seventh Sister to burst out laughing.

  Third Madame hastily instructed the maid beside her: "Quickly follow them."

  A group of people went to Wu Niang's place.

  The fifth daughter sat cross-legged on the kang in front of the window doing needlework.

  Qīniáng saw her and couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, Wǔniáng raised her head, with a stern face, not a hint of joy. It made Qīniáng feel embarrassed: "Wǔjiě, the others are playing cards, we came to your place to take a break."

  The fifth daughter forced a smile and called Ziwei to serve them tea.

  Qī Niáng and Shíyī Niáng sat down, while Wǔ Yé and Liù Yé were running around inside the house.

  Qiu'er followed behind, saying "Be careful not to knock over the young lady's pen holder" one moment, and "Be careful not to knock over the young lady's flower stand" the next. She was speaking on behalf of Wu Ye's temper, when suddenly he kicked her in the chest: "You little slut, who are you talking about?"