Chapter 256 To Yuyang

A group of people exchanged greetings and entered the main hall.

Sitting at the top were Old Madam Sheng Da and Old Madam Sheng.

Sitting at the reception seat on the left are Hualan, Rulan and Minglan.

Hualan left some space on both sides and did not get too close to Old Madam Sheng and Rulan, while Rulan stuck to Minglan.

Sitting on the right side of the room were Sheng Wei and his wife Li, as well as Chang Wu, who was about to become the groom with a happy look on his face.

At this time, there was another girl in the room who was about the same age as Minglan and Rulan. However, she did not sit down one by one. Instead, she moved a stool over and sat next to old lady Shengda. She had a neat bun on her head and a band around her hand that looked like it had just been taken off.

This is Pinlan, the unmarried daughter of the eldest wife.

If Changwu, who is about to get married, is excluded, she will be the "only unmarried child" in the eldest wife's family.

After they recognized each other's faces, they heard the old lady Shengda say apologetically:
"It's all my fault. I was thinking of you and came here in person. I didn't expect that the journey was not peaceful and I even encountered pirates on the way. Fortunately, we arrived safely, otherwise I would have felt really bad."

Old Madam Sheng immediately comforted her:

"Sister-in-law, you are taking all the blame on yourself. I insisted on coming here, not you!"

As she spoke, Old Lady Sheng brought the topic to Hua Lan, turned her head and looked at Hua Lan and said:
"Besides, your niece is also going to Huangzhou on this trip, so it has nothing to do with you."

Mrs. Sheng immediately turned her gaze to Hualan. When Hualan saw that everyone's attention was turned to her, a gentle smile immediately appeared on her face:

"Yes, great grandmother, I happened to be returning to Huangzhou on the same ship with you this time."

Mrs. Shengda immediately replied:
"Fortunately, you are traveling with us this time, otherwise there will definitely be some big trouble."

Then, he said with concern:
"But you were frightened?"

Then he felt something was wrong and added:
"Where are the sisters?"

"Thank you for your concern, great grandmother. It's just that I slept late one night. It's nothing serious."

Hualan mentioned Minglan and Rulan again, with a teasing smile on her face:
"My two sisters, on the other hand, clearly didn't see anything that night, but they kept discussing it along the way, as if they had seen it with their own eyes."

"Thank you for your concern, great-grandmother!"

Hearing that the topic was about themselves, Rulan and Minglan first stood up to thank the old lady Shengda, and then Rulan turned to Hualan and said coquettishly:
"elder sister!"

After her sister exposed her embarrassing secret in front of her, Rulan immediately felt unhappy and gave Hualan a cold look.

"After you said that, how can I pretend to be happy in front of Sister Pinlan?"

"Haha, Ruya's temper remains the same as before!"

Rulan had been to Youyang several times before, so Mrs. Sheng had some understanding of her temperament. She smiled happily at Rulan's innocent look, and then she said what her granddaughter had said, smiling at Mrs. Sheng:
"You know I have two granddaughters."

"The eldest is Shulan. She's already married. She won't be back until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month when we celebrate the moon and drink wine." When saying this, old lady Sheng's tone was deep and slow, as if she had something unspeakable to hide. The other people from the Sheng family's main branch were also stunned for a moment.

However, Mrs. Sheng seemed to have only mentioned it briefly, and then she pulled the girl behind her and said:
"The youngest one is her. Her name is Zuo Lan. She is about the same age as your two granddaughters. She is a simple-minded girl."

Pinlan also stood up and saluted with Old Lady Sheng and others, saying:

"Second Grandmother Ci'an."

"Sister Hualan, your makeup is safe."

"Sister Rulan, your makeup is done."

"Sister Minglan, your makeup is safe."

"Sister Pinlan/Sister Zhuangan."

After the younger generations had paid their respects, Old Lady Sheng continued:

"It just so happens that you two have similar personalities, so it would be nice for you to have fun together."

Rulan and Pinlan had met each other several times since childhood. They had similar personalities and were both carefree and fun-loving, so they hit it off and got along well with each other.

This meeting can be regarded as a long-awaited reunion.

Except for Minglan, who she had never seen before, all the others in the room were familiar faces, so Pinlan was not shy. After the routine introduction, she walked around the room from behind with curiosity about the "strange incident of the water bandits", and came to Rulan with great interest, bent down and asked:
"Sister Rulan, please tell me..."

Seeing this scene, Mrs. Sheng immediately smiled bitterly and said:

"Sister-in-law, don't blame me. You know, I always love girls the most."

Old Mrs. Sheng nodded imperceptibly, with the smile on her face unchanged.

So why isn't she?
Moreover, Pinlan's action was a sign of closeness, so it was even less likely that she would feel dissatisfied because of it.

At the same time, Old Lady Sheng understood the knot in her sister-in-law's heart, and knew that her doting on Pinlan was somewhat about making up for the regrets of the past.

Hualan also remained calm.

After all, she is just another cousin who is as honest and straightforward as my sister.

Seeing that neither Mrs. Sheng nor Hua Lan were unhappy about this, Mrs. Sheng felt relieved and happy at the same time, so she continued to speak:

"When I look at this girl at home, I often think to myself, Yuyang is a rural area after all, and the rules are not as strict as those in Bianjing. Besides, how many years can she live at home?"

Old Madam Shengda seemed to see the shadow of her little daughter who died young through Pinlan, who was half-crouching behind the Rulan chair and stretching her neck to listen to the fun. She sighed in a low voice:

"You will get married in the future, and there will be no more days for you to stay at home as a girl."

"It's better to relax a little bit."

When Mrs. Sheng finished speaking, Mrs. Sheng also laughed and said:

"Yes, the bigger the place, the more rules there are, especially in Bianjing."

After saying that, he turned to look at Rulan and Minglan:
"You see, my granddaughters are very restrained at home, so I brought them here this time. I wanted to let them relax before they get married and have some fun at your place."

"Look, aren't they having a good chat?"

After hearing this, Mrs. Shengda smiled:
"That's good. A single thread cannot make a line, and a single tree cannot make a forest. My eldest daughter got married early. Although she lives in Yuyang, she can't come back often. Pinlan's brothers are also often busy, leaving her alone at home. Now it's good. My little monkey has found a companion."

"That's right, even though we are of the same blood, we still need to have more fun to appear close."

Li on the side also responded:
"Besides, our countryside is large and we can find places for fun everywhere. My Pinlan is very familiar with this."

It's not easy to get close to Hualan, but Rulan can be taken care of by Pinlan to enhance the sisterly relationship.

"Right? Pin'er?"

"what?"

Pinlan, who was listening to Rulan and Minglan talking back and forth, describing the "outsight against the pirates" scene of the day, was startled when she heard what her mother said. Although she didn't hear clearly what her mother said, she nodded repeatedly and said:

"Yes, yes! Mother is right!"

Then she looked at Minglan and Rulan with a smug look on her face.

"How about it, am I awesome?"

Mrs. Shengda smiled and said:

"Then it's settled, Pin'er. You will take care of your two sisters while they are in Youyang."

Finally, I didn’t forget to make a joke:
"Don't let your two sisters be led astray."

Hearing this, Pinlan pouted, feeling that her grandmother looked down on her.

What does it mean to be a bad belt?
Can digging rabbit holes be considered as leading people astray?
That's called a heroine!

But the good thing is, he also obtained the "Imperial Sword" at the same time.

Thinking of this, Pinlan began to wink at Minglan and Rulan.

"It's boring sitting here, do you want to go out and have some fun?"

If it were a normal situation, with outsiders here, Pinlan would naturally not have such plans, but now the people in the room are all relatives, and she just held the warm "Imperial Sword" in her hand...

Especially since Rulan just said that Sister Hualan brought several large boxes of new things.

This is really itchy.

They wanted to see what it was, and even Rulan and Minglan, the two sisters from Bian Jing, found it novel and interesting.

Rulan's face immediately showed interest, but Minglan's beautiful eyebrows quickly twisted left and right:
"No, no, please, the elders are all here, can you wait a moment?"

In fact, Minglan also wanted to go out and play, but she was not the eldest daughter of the family, so she was much more cautious than Pinlan and Rulan.

If they agreed to everything as soon as the proposal was made, they would have gone ahead with it. But now with Minglan's dissuasion, Pinlan and Rulan lost their enthusiasm and immediately became quiet.

The two old ladies at the top talked about their grandchildren, and then talked about their close friends.

I heard Mrs. Sheng suddenly ask:

"Where is the He family's sister? When will she come? Her Baishitan is closer than mine, not to mention that I took a detour." Originally, Mrs. Sheng didn't have to come in person to Changwu's wedding. Even if the family couldn't spare someone, they could have someone bring the letters.

However, Mrs. Sheng talked with Mrs. Sheng Da and her close friend Mrs. He through letters and learned that Mrs. Sheng Da's health has not been as good as before since the cold winter last year, and her days can almost be counted on one's fingers.

As we are all getting older, this wedding could be used as a last gathering among our old close friends.

Logically speaking, we should have come earlier so that we could get together more.

That's why Mrs. Sheng asked this question.

"Hey!"

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Sheng sighed:
"She is currently troubled by family matters."

As she spoke, Old Madam Sheng glanced at Hua Lan, then turned to Old Madam Sheng and explained:

"Isn't the grandson she loves so much called He Hongwen? He went to the battlefield in Lingzhou."

"Yes, I know that. She even took me to meet him." Old Mrs. Sheng nodded and looked back at Hualan with surprise.

This matter was handled by his granddaughter Hualan.

Someone was specially asked to put He Hongwen in the military tent. Could something have happened?

Hua Lan also returned Mrs. Sheng's surprised look, but at the same time shook her head slightly, indicating that nothing had happened in Lingzhou, otherwise the master would have told her.

"But what happened?" asked Mrs. Sheng.

"What else? For the family property!"

Old Madam Shengda knew that when Old Madam He arrived, she would tell the truth herself, so she stopped trying to hide it:
"Didn't she want to take care of that grandson, so she kept thinking about giving her grandson a share of the family property in the future so that he could get some?
Originally, this matter was supposed to be discussed after He Hongwen got married, so as to avoid any complications. But now He Hongwen has suddenly gone to Lingzhou. How can he come back in a short time? So Sister He is a little anxious and wants to divide the family property in advance to avoid any more complications in the future, and at the same time make it easier for He Hongwen to get married in the future. "

"But dividing the family property after getting married is different from dividing the family property first and then getting married. So her descendants had some complaints. They felt that she was biased towards the third wife and was now so biased. They were not happy about it."

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Sheng nodded and said:
"It's hard for her to plan so much for her grandson."

"Who says it's not?"

Old Lady Shengda sighed:

"But after all, people are all made of flesh and blood. Although He Hongwen's father died young, He's sister has been so partial to He Hongwen and his mother for so many years. Others must be unhappy."

In other words, Mrs. He has great prestige in the He family.

Otherwise, if someone else did the same thing, they would have made a fuss a long time ago and would not have waited until now to complain.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting heavy, Old Lady Sheng changed the topic:
"It's a pity that Miss He came late. I was thinking of coming earlier so that I could get her to diagnose my pulse for free."

"Haha, you didn't plan this time."

"..."

We exchanged pleasantries for a while and exchanged some general information.

Old Madam Sheng asked Old Madam Sheng and her group to go to the courtyard that had been prepared in advance in the mansion, put down their things, pack up, and then get together to talk in the evening.

night.

The sky is dotted with stars.

Everything is quiet around, with only the occasional hum of insects in the night breeze, which does not sound noisy but instead adds a bit of tranquility to the night.

"Hurry, hurry, get the things out!"

In the empty courtyard at the back of the Sheng mansion, Pinlan excitedly called out to Rulan and Pinlan to start setting up fireworks. She also did not allow the maids to do it, and the three of them took them out of the box themselves.

"You said it would be more interesting to watch it at night, but I waited until night!" Pinlan muttered to herself as she moved the fireworks enthusiastically.

"I know, I know!"

Behind her was Rulan, who was also holding a firework tube. She looked very happy and muttered:

"Sister Pinlan, you've been reading for the whole afternoon. Can you please stop for a while? My ears are almost callused."

Minglan followed behind in the same posture, suppressing her smile and nodding silently.

"Alright alright."

Pinlan looked like she was defeated by you:

"But I'll be frank with you. If the fireworks don't look good, you'll have to accompany me to the mountain to dig out rabbit nests."

Rulan's lips curled up proudly:
"Then just wait, I guarantee you'll be dazzled!"

Under the eaves.

Hualan accompanied a group of elders and watched Minglan and Rulan "arguing", and she felt happy to see it.

"This firecracker was brought by Hualan from Huangzhou. It's a new style."

Old Madam Sheng introduced to the old sister-in-law next to her:

"It was made by my Yang family's grandson-in-law. He always likes to tinker with these weird and wonderful toys. Previously, Mahjong..."

Old Madam Sheng then remembered that Mahjong was only popular among the nobles in Bianjing, and it was probably not yet popular in Youyang.

So he paused for a moment before continuing:
"Anyway, I find it novel, and it's just right to celebrate Changwu's wedding."

"Oh? Then I'll have to take a closer look."

Hearing that it was the work of the young Marquis of Pingyang and that Old Lady Sheng had endorsed it herself, Old Lady Sheng also became curious.

Open space in the middle.

The three girls, with red faces, finally moved half a box of fireworks to the open space in the middle.

At the same time, in order to shock everyone present, Rulan also came up with a clever idea.

She asked the fireworks maker her sister brought from Huangzhou - a name she gave him privately - to lengthen the fuses of all the fireworks, connect them in the middle and ignite them together.

By then, it will be a spectacular scene of hundreds of flowers blooming!
Soon all the leads were extended and connected to the center.

"Whoo~"

Under the moonlight, in the middle of the courtyard, fireworks are surrounding.

As a breath of fresh air was gently exhaled, a cluster of orange-yellow flames flashed brightly in the darkness, just reflecting the face of the person holding the fire stick, as beautiful as orchid.

But then the light and shadow flashed.

Rulan's face disappeared, and the face of another person appeared, it was Changqing.

At this moment, he was staring at the fire starter that Rulan handed over, his face expressionless.

Ever since the incident in Huangzhou, the "sacred task" of lighting the fuse of fireworks was handed to him by Rulan with a solemn expression.

"God have mercy on me. I am the head of the personal guards of the Marquisate who kills without blinking an eye!"

But in the end he still took the fire starter that Rulan handed over to him.

A little white smoke rose in front of him - the fifth daughter of the Sheng family was so considerate that she helped him start the fire...

If that figure had not already raised her skirt and quickly hid behind the beam, Chang Qing thought that he would be moved at this moment.

"Well, I am still the coachman of the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion, and now I am the accompanying fireworks craftsman of the Sheng family girl..."

Ever since he fell in love with Cuichan, Changqing found that he had more and more titles.

"Sizzle! Sizzle!"

There was a crackling sound of flames, which extended to the surrounding areas along the fuse lines.

A few moments.

“Chu-shua~pa!”

“Chu-shua~pa!”

“Chu-shua~pa!”

"..."

A grand occasion far more lively than that in Huangzhou that day exploded from the sky, instantly overwhelmed the eternal moonlight and starlight.

"Good, it's a happy omen!"

The colorful fireworks reflected in the old lady's eyes, immediately bringing out the moisture hidden deep in her dry eyes.

At this moment, she secretly glanced at Old Lady Sheng who was also immersed in the fireworks show. The bright eyes paused, and then suddenly dimmed after a moment.

　Try to adjust the time as soon as possible^^
　　
　
(End of this chapter)