Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

C160. Faces in Marquis Ningyuan's Mansion (4)

When they entered into the hall, they saw that there were already full of people chatting in the room. The males and females were sitting in two rows on both sides while their seats were arranged according to their ages. There were two old couples sitting on the seats above and the empty seat in the middle should be left for Old Madam Qin. After all the people in the room had seen Old Madam Qin and others coming in, they all stood up to give their welcome. Old Madam Qin smiled and said, "Uncles, please don't ridicule us. Women just like to chatter. I'm so sorry that we have delayed so much of your time."

A middle-aged woman on the right stood up and saying smilingly, "Sister-in-law, don't talk like that. We have only waited for a short while, there's no need to apologize."

Old Madam Qin then stepped forward to sit on her seat. Meanwhile, Madam Shao sat on the first seat of the female's row on the right and Zhu shi sat next to her. After that, Gu Tingwei sat on the seat of the male's row on the left. Then it were Gu Tingye and Minglan's turn to give their obeisance to the elders. The maids and the servants had already finished preparing the cattail hassocks and the tea. While Gu Tingye and Minglan were kneeling down in front of the elders to make their obeisances, Old Madam Qin introduced the elders to Minglan tenderly.

Since the two old couples were not the immediate families of Gu Tingye, Minglan only needed to serve tea and call their titles instead of kowtowing this time. Of course, the less strength she put forth, the less reward she received. Therefore, she only got two small pouches.

After that, they stood up to greet Gu Tingye's brothers, sisters and cousins. Minglan made bows to the ones who were older than Gu Tingye meanwhile received the obeisances from the ones who were younger than him. This time the commentator's duty was given to Zhu shi, who did her job perfectly by explaining everything clearly with her fluent speech.

As a matter of fact, long before Minglan got married, Old Madam Sheng had already told Minglan Gu's family structure. Minglan, as studious as she was, had taken notes carefully---- Right now, there were three families in Marquis Ningyuan's mansion, which were the first, fourth and fifth family.

When the Old Master Gu's father had died, the Gu's family property had been divided up and the other illegal sons or daughters of the family had already moved out. Some still lived on the Ningyuan Street to live their lives with the support from the legal branches of the family. Others who had made achievements in their lives chose to buy their own mansions to live far away from Marquis Ningyuan's mansion.

At first, the fourth and fifth families had wanted to move out too. However, Old Master Gu had been garrisoned to the frontiers throughout the year and couldn't take charge of the affairs in the mansion. Therefore, his two brothers still remained in their old residence. After Old Master Gu had returned to the capital with his families on imperial orders, the three families got along well in the mansion and lived together happily.

Fourth Old Master was portly and stocky who looked exactly like a rich country gentleman. It was just his eyes looked a bit muddy. Fifth Old Master dressed like a scholar and looked very elegant with his long beard. Being one of the few scholars in Gu family, he had passed the provincial imperial exam when he had been young but never passed the national exam. Before he was unemployed at home, he had stayed in the position of the basic official for a few years. Now his daily life was filled with chanting poetry and painting pictures, which gained him a cultured reputation in the capital.

Minglan tried her best to remember them.

Then, she greeted a serial of male or female 'Gu Ting X's and their families. There were too many names for Minglan to recite, which made Minglan got completely confused. The only thing she remembered was that she had given away eight gourd shape and five lotus shape pouches with an addition of a large packet of gold and three or four jade jewelries. Deep down, Minglan felt that she was bleeding when sending away those rewards.