Chapter 200: At such a young age, he has learned to gossip like that bitch
The other family at the table was Grand Tutor Pang's wife, Ms. Luo, and her daughter, Pang Yinshuang. The other woman in her early twenties was Ms. Luo's sister-in-law, Xiao Ms. Luo. They were from the same family and although they were a dozen years apart in age, they had a very harmonious relationship.
This little Luo and Mr. Pang were childhood sweethearts, but because of the heavy mourning in their family, they didn't get married until they were 19 years old. After more than three years of marriage, they still couldn't conceive a boy or a girl. This was acceptable in the Great Xiao Dynasty, after all, there are three unfilial acts, and the worst is to have no offspring. But no one in the Pang family blamed her for this matter. Even when she proposed to take a concubine for her husband to have children, her husband didn't agree. While Xiao Luo was grateful to her husband's family, she felt more and more guilty.
Zhu Mingqiao listened to everyone chatting while he sat next to his mother, eating cakes boredly while secretly looking at the people at the table. It would be good if he could get to know Meng and Ke Ning a little better so that he could check on Shen Zhen.
"I heard that today, the Ningyang Marquis' Mansion's Miss Li Shuqi's coming-of-age ceremony has invited Princess Hui as the main guest. Princess Hui is highly respected, but she has seldom gone out in recent years due to her old age. I didn't expect that the Ningyang Marquis' Mansion is so powerful that they could invite her." A lady at the next table said to the lady next to her, with envy in her eyes.
"Tsk, there's no point in being envious. With your daughter's toad-like appearance, there's no need to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for her, so as not to scare the guests." At this time, an inappropriate voice was heard again.
Zhu Mingqiao looked over in the direction of the voice. Wasn't that Wang Xuehua who had just made fun of her for being a country bumpkin?
Wang Xuehua glanced at the lady who had just spoken with disdain, without any concealment in her eyes.
The lady's face changed drastically when she heard that. She was filled with grief and anger. At that moment, she wanted to curse back at Wang Xuehua.
However, she thought of her husband, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Wang Xuehua's father, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who happened to be his immediate superior. In this officialdom, one wrong step could bring endless disasters. She couldn't let her husband fall into trouble because of her momentary impulse. What's more, there was the Concubine Rou in the palace, Wang Xuehua's biological sister, who was a person she couldn't afford to offend. Concubine Rou was extremely powerful in the palace, and a word could determine a person's life and death, honor and disgrace. She was just a little woman, in the face of such a powerful power, what power could she have to resist?
Mrs. Xue frowned. She couldn't stand Wang Xuehua's behavior and couldn't help but say something for the lady: "Miss Wang seems to like to criticize others. She is so young and she is learning to gossip like a shrew." Mrs. Xue couldn't understand why a young lady would be so inconsiderate of others and wantonly hurt others with words. In her opinion, such behavior was really uneducated. How was it different from the shrews on the streets?
At this time, Mrs. Luo, the wife of Grand Tutor Pang, stood up. She was always hot-tempered and straightforward. She hated Wang Xuehua's behavior the most. At this time, her eyebrows were raised, her eyes were full of anger, and she said bluntly: "I know the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. She has been beautiful since she was a child. Two years ago, she fell and injured her face to save a two-year-old boy who was about to be trampled by a horse, leaving a scar. I remember that the one riding a horse on the street was your eldest brother. How come you, the Wang family, ruined her face, and in the end you still want to laugh at her?" Luo's words were loud and clear, like a sharp blade, stabbing Wang Xuehua directly.
Wang Xuehua's face changed drastically. Her father had taken great pains to suppress the matter of her eldest brother. If her father knew that she had revealed this matter in front of everyone again, he would beat her to death.
Wang Xuehua glared at the wife of the Minister of Revenue and sat back in her seat angrily without saying anything.
Xue and Luo did not hold on to her. After all, today was Li Shuqi's coming-of-age ceremony, and they couldn't ruin the host family's reputation.
The wife of the Minister of Revenue secretly gave Xue and Luo a grateful smile.
Then, the coming-of-age ceremony began.
Li Shuqi was surrounded by maids and old women and walked to the platform in front of the reception room. She bowed to the guests and then knelt on the mat in the middle.
Then an old lady came on stage and recited a blessing loudly, and then combed Li Shuqi's hair and put on a hairpin.
Zhu Mingqiao watched with great interest, which he had never seen in his previous life.
"It really is Princess Hui. This young lady from the Marquis's Mansion is truly blessed." Everyone discussed in low voices while watching the ceremony.
"This young lady from the Marquis's Mansion has grown into a very graceful lady. I wonder which young man will be lucky enough to marry her."
The Xue family's table was all chatting and laughing while watching the ceremony. After being accused by the Xue and Luo families, Wang Xuehua was filled with resentment. The anger continued to burn in her heart, gradually burning away her rationality. She rolled her eyes and came up with a plan to take revenge on the Xue and Luo families.
Wang Xuehua whispered a few words to her maid Hongtao, and then Hongtao quietly left the reception room.
Not long after, the coming-of-age ceremony was completed, and the maid helped Princess Hui to the guest room next door to rest for a while, and then come back to eat when the banquet started.
The two of them walked out of the banquet hall and onto the corridor, when the maid Taohong came over from the other side holding a teacup.
At this moment, Hong Tao was carrying the task assigned by Wang Xuehua in her mind, and was nervously and anxiously looking for an opportunity. Her hand holding the teacup was trembling slightly, and her eyes kept glancing at the Buddhist beads on Princess Lao Hui's wrist.
When she was about to reach the side of Princess Lao Hui, Hong Tao tripped over something and the teacup in her hand flew out instantly, spilling the tea right on Princess Lao Hui's clothes. Princess Lao Hui frowned and looked unhappy. Hong Tao knelt down in panic and begged for mercy.
Princess Lao Hui was a vegetarian who chanted Buddhist scriptures all year round. She was unwilling to punish a maid for such a small matter. After scolding her twice, she went into the guest room next door with the help of her maid.
"Mammy An, please go get the spare clothes from the carriage."
Nanny An said, "Princess, now that the old servant has left, you can't be alone. Please wait, I'll go outside and call a maid to wait for you."
Princess Lao Hui waved her hand and said, "Don't bother. It only takes a cup of tea to go there and back. You go first."
Nanny An had no choice but to respond and leave, leaving the guest room with the door ajar.
Princess Lao Hui took off the Buddhist beads on her wrist, took off her wet outer shirt, and went into the inner room to lie down on the small couch. As she got older, she was not energetic enough, and soon she fell asleep. She did not hear the creaking sound of the door opening outside.
Hong Tao had been waiting outside for an opportunity. When she saw Nanny An go out, she secretly poked a hole in the window paper. When she saw Princess Lao Hui put the Buddhist beads on the table in the outer room and went to the inner room to rest, she quickly pushed the door open quietly, stole the Buddhist beads, hid them in her sleeves, and then ran away.