The tea gathering hosted by Lady Zhong, wife of the Imperial Censor, was unprecedentedly grand today. This lady had been fond of making friends even when she was still unmarried, and it was said that before her marriage, she had helped her mother manage the household. She handled such affairs with practiced ease. Among the gatherings beloved by the ladies of Shangjing City, more than half of those that received great praise were organized by this lady. Today’s tea gathering was especially so.
To be honest, this tea gathering had originally been quite ordinary, simply set up in the back courtyard of the Imperial Censor’s residence. Following the flowers, plants, artificial hills, and small pools, they had arranged tables, cases, and incense burners. The ladies would gather together to drink tea and chat, sharing the secrets they knew about other households, thus passing these wealthy yet boring leisurely days. However, today happened to be a rest day, and several ministers from the Imperial Secretariat who were on good terms with the Imperial Censor also had free time. These gentlemen thought to drink some leisure wine together, play some leisurely chess, and discuss poetry and painting with each other. Somehow, this matter came to be known by Prince Jing, His Majesty’s younger brother. This prince was extremely fond of drinking leisure wine, extremely fond of playing leisurely chess, and extremely fond of discussing poetry and painting with others. So he gathered some wealthy idle people who shared his interests and arranged to gather together at the Imperial Censor’s home.
Prince Jing favored elegance. He not only liked drinking wine, playing chess, and discussing poetry and painting, but even more enjoyed debating classics and discussing metaphysics with others. Such elegant customs naturally came from the Jiangzuo region. Prince Jing had heard that the famous scholars of Jiangzuo lived in noble reclusion, debating classics and discussing philosophy for three days without stopping. Such graceful and noble bearing truly made him admire them endlessly. However, the Jiangzuo region was very distant, and he feared he would never have the chance in his lifetime to personally go there and witness the scholars’ demeanor—this was quite regrettable. But upon reflection, wasn’t Qi Ying from the foremost aristocratic family of Jiangzuo right here in Shangjing at this very moment? Although this lord had been in office for more than ten years, he had achieved fame in his youth with unlimited charm. He had even been personally designated as the second-place scholar in the imperial examinations by the Great Liang Emperor. Such a brilliantly talented figure from Jiangzuo—if one could witness his bearing, wouldn’t that console his lifelong regret of never being able to personally visit Jiangzuo?
After such thorough deliberation, this prince personally wrote a visiting card and sent it to the residence where the envoy lord was temporarily staying, earnestly requesting that the envoy must spare time to bestow his teachings. His words were so sincere and his emotions so genuine that all who saw it were moved. The matter spread by word of mouth until everyone knew, forcing Qi Jingchen to come even if he didn’t want to.
Ever since hearing that Great Liang’s Qi Ying was also coming, this originally ordinary small gathering meant for drinking wine, playing chess, and discussing poetry and painting transformed into a very serious and elegant assembly for expounding dharma and discussing metaphysics. Not only did more than half of the famous scholars and nobles of Shangjing City come, but even several pedants of extremely high seniority from the Imperial Academy came, saying they wanted to personally see what level this Jiangzuo person’s scholarship actually reached.
The Imperial Censor’s residence was quite spacious, but no matter how spacious it was, it really couldn’t accommodate so many people. Moreover, the back courtyard had already been designated as the place for the ladies’ tea gathering, so only the front courtyard was available for the male guests. Thus, they had no choice but to carefully screen those attending on this day. As a result, the invitations to enter the Imperial Censor’s residence became extremely rare commodities in Shangjing City for a time.
The men were extremely enthusiastic about this matter, and the ladies were no less so, all because last time at the polo field, Qi Ying had been absent due to illness, causing the noble ladies and noble wives of Great Wei to deeply regret it. Unexpectedly, heaven had not cut off all paths and had given them such another opportunity. Although they couldn’t see that lord, this connection of being separated by just one courtyard was still better than nothing, wasn’t it?
Thus, on this day when the sky was clear and the gentle breeze was pleasant, all the important figures in Shangjing City gathered at the Imperial Censor’s residence. The men were in the front courtyard, the ladies in the back courtyard, neither disturbing the other.
However, Lady Pingjing was somewhat unhappy.
She tugged at Lady Zhong’s sleeve, nodded toward Shen Xiling who was reclining on a soft chair not far away, and complained: “Why did you invite her too?”
Lady Zhong saw clearly who she was pointing at and laughed: “She’s the Duke’s wife—how could I not invite her?”
Lady Pingjing was still annoyed: “In the past, wasn’t she also absent from such gatherings? Today my Yuan’er has come too. If she sees her, won’t she be heartbroken again?”
“In the past, I also invited her, but she always made excuses not to come. This time she just accepted the invitation and came,” Lady Zhong said. “Besides, regarding your Yuan’er, she has long known that the couple has deep affection for each other. Whether she sees her or not, what does it matter?”
Lady Pingjing was about to say more, but Lady Zhong was called away by the household manager to decide on some matters. Lady Zhong hurriedly responded, then turned back to instruct Lady Pingjing, her intimate friend from their unmarried days: “Today all the nobles of the capital are here. Don’t cause any trouble. You also know how much Duke Yanguo treasures this wife of his. In front of the Great Liang people, behave yourself.”
Having said this, she took the manager and went around to attend to various matters.
Today, Lady Zhong was the hostess, so she couldn’t chat leisurely with Lady Pingjing as usual. Lady Pingjing, extremely bored, could only talk with her niece Xue Yuan and her mother, Lady Chen.
However, today both Xue Yuan and Lady Chen seemed somewhat absent-minded.
Needless to say, Xue Yuan was naturally uncomfortable seeing the Duke’s wife, and not knowing whether her brother Wenruo was in the front courtyard or whether she could see him today, she was thus restless. As for Lady Chen, it was because she had brought both a son and daughter today. She worried on one hand that her daughter might clash with that merchant woman from the Gu family in the back courtyard, and on the other hand that her son might make some mistake in the front courtyard. She couldn’t help but secretly sigh about the difficulties of being a mother.
Miss Xue was already twenty-three years old this year. The close friends who used to play with her had all become mothers by now, yet she alone still held onto thoughts of Duke Yanguo and refused to let go, abandoning countless excellent marriage proposals and becoming a laughingstock known throughout Shangjing City. Now, whenever there was a noble lady in Shangjing City who eagerly hoped to marry up to the point of having unrealistic standards, her parents would inevitably say: “My child, don’t foolishly learn from that Miss Xue and invite ridicule for nothing.” These words were truly an infallible remedy—once deployed, even the most willful noble ladies would become obedient and well-behaved.
Although this Miss Xue had unfortunately become a laughingstock in the capital, her appearance was actually quite charming. In her youth, she had been a famous beauty in the capital, quite well-matched with Duke Yanguo in terms of talent and beauty. It was only unfortunate that the merchant woman who came later was too beautiful, which caused her to be overshadowed.
Today was the same: Miss Xue wore the fashionable dress style currently popular in the capital, made of light purple silk that complemented her complexion well, making her appear especially pretty and charming. She should have been the role that outshone all others. However, for some reason today, the Duke’s wife, who usually didn’t like to attend such ladies’ gatherings, was sitting right there in the assembly, wearing a pink-purple long dress. It wasn’t the most fashionable style of the moment, but it made people unable to look away—beautiful to the point of being vexing. The sharp-eyed ladies also noticed that the golden hairpin in her hair was exactly the one Duke Yanguo had won for her at the polo field some days ago, which inevitably led to more internal criticism: How detestable this merchant woman is! Today her dress is so elegant, yet she wears such a conspicuous golden hairpin in her hair—such mismatched items are clearly just showing off brazenly!
Shen Xiling reclined on the soft seat drinking tea, only feeling that the glances from the ladies present were all consciously or unconsciously directed toward her hair. Naturally feeling this strange, she gave Wan Zhu, who had arranged her hair today, a meaningful look.
Seeing this, Wan Zhu quietly stuck out her tongue at her mistress.
Their mistress was born beautiful and had never put much thought into dressing up, always letting her handle it. However, their mistress usually didn’t like going out, and when she occasionally did, she would often receive some squeezing and crowding from other ladies and misses. For today’s tea gathering, Wan Zhu had anticipated that Miss Xue would come, and there were also many other noble ladies present who harbored improper thoughts about the General. So she had deliberately pinned the General’s newly obtained hairpin in her mistress’s hair to prevent these people who didn’t know their place from bullying her mistress when the General wasn’t around.
Although Shen Xiling didn’t know what was improper about her hair, seeing Wan Zhu’s expression, she knew it was this girl’s handiwork. She actually didn’t mind the squeezing and crowding from these ladies and noble women, so naturally she minded even less Zhu’er’s fussing. After glancing at her, she withdrew her gaze and continued drinking tea calmly.
This indifferent appearance fell into everyone’s eyes and made their hearts feel even more blocked, only feeling that this merchant woman’s manner of handling things with such apparent ease clearly showed she had something to rely on—could a person like Gu Juhan really pamper her alone for an entire lifetime? In a few years when her beauty faded and love cooled, let’s see what she’d have to be proud of then!
However, though they thought this way in their hearts, they had to show respectful and courteous attitudes on the surface. Moreover, the postures of these ladies and noble women were not just respectful and courteous, but competed with each other to be more respectful and courteous. One after another praised the Duke’s wife’s beautiful appearance, while others complimented the Duke’s wife’s generous bearing. Fine phrases emerged frequently without repetition. Such literary talent would probably make even those men in the front courtyard who were renowned for their talents feel inferior upon hearing it.
Lady Pingjing and her niece watched coldly from the side, naturally not joining in the flattery of Shen Xiling. Having been bored for quite a while, they finally heard the servants announce that Lady Zhuang, wife of the Imperial Uncle, had arrived.
This Prime Minister’s wife had been married by Zou Qian when he was young. At that time, the Zou family had not yet produced a favored empress, and the family was not yet prosperous. Therefore, this Lady Zhuang was neither from a famous family nor any kind of absolute beauty, but now that Zou Qian was in power, although he had beautiful concubines like clouds around him, he still hadn’t shaken the position of his principal wife.
The reason Lady Zhuang could firmly maintain her position as principal wife was that she had given birth to a pair of excellent sons. The eldest son, Zou Chun, had been known for his intelligence since childhood and now served as Yellow Gate Attendant, a close minister to the Son of Heaven. In his youth, he had been the Crown Prince’s study companion and had extremely close private relations with Gao Jing, serving as his father’s capable right-hand man in both court and countryside. The second son, Zou Xian, was only nineteen this year but was the favorite student of Doctor Lu, the current Grand Tutor of the Imperial Academy. Back then, Master Lu had declared that his student Zou Xian had photographic memory and, given time, would surely become the most learned scholar of the contemporary world.
With such a pair of accomplished sons, Lady Zhuang naturally didn’t fear the flower-like beauties who came and went around Prime Minister Zou. Today, attending the banquet, she could still be seen as dignified, appropriate, and in very good spirits.
Once Lady Zhuang arrived, the atmosphere in the gathering underwent some subtle changes.