The two of them walked north along a winding bluestone path, passed through a moon gate, and arrived at the back garden.
Looking up, I saw four large screens surrounding a stone pavilion, connected by curtains to isolate the cold winter wind. I could faintly hear laughter like silver bells coming from the pavilion.
When the two came outside the pavilion, Qin Lingsi opened the curtain and saw Yang Ying, He Xiaomei, Xu and two strange women sitting together.
There were two stone tripods beside Yang Ying and He Xiaomei, with a teapot placed on each of them. The spout of one of the teapots was puffing and steaming, and the tea seemed to be boiling.
When the girls saw Shen Qianqian arriving, they all warmly welcomed her.
Qin Lingsi pushed Shen Qianqian to sit down next to He Xiaomei, smiled at the girls and said, "We don't have to pay much attention to the wedding in Longtan Village. You can just follow your mood and I'll go get busy." After that, she went straight away.
The girls exchanged pleasantries for a few words, and Yang Ying introduced the two strange women to Shen Qianqian.
One of the petite and exquisite women is Xu Baisheng's wife, whose surname is Xue. The other is a tall and thick woman, sitting among the crowd like sitting on a hill. She is Wang Da's wife Wei Shi.
The girls chatted for a while, and Qin Lingsi brought Cai Han over again and introduced him to the girls.
After Qin Lingsi left, Ms. Xue, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "I heard that the former Princess Zhennan was also named Cai. I wonder if Ms. Cai knows her?"
Cai Han was slightly surprised and didn't know how to answer.
It turns out that when Xuzhou was massacred, Xue's parents and relatives all died at the hands of Tuotuo, and she hated the Tatars most in her life.
One time when her husband Xu Baisheng came home, he mentioned to her that Princess Zhennan was released. She asked her name and kept it in her mind.
When Cai Han saw all the girls looking at her, she could only bite the bullet and said: "I, I did become a princess before, but it was because of family pressure, not my intention..."
When the girls heard that she had actually become a Tatar princess, their attitude towards her suddenly cooled down.
Webster was the most aggressive and said unceremoniously: "It turns out she is a princess. Our pavilion here is too small to accommodate such a noble person as you!"
Cai Han was greatly embarrassed and asked Shen Qianqian for help. Shen Qianqian weighed it in and came to the rescue: "Miss Cai is also a poor person. It is difficult for businesswomen like us to make our own decisions about marriage!"
When Shen Qianqian went to Longtan Village for the first time, Wei Shi was just an ordinary rough woman.
At that time, Shen Qianqian was very friendly to everyone in the village, so Wei Shi respected her very much. When she said this, he let Cai Han go.
Cai Han breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Shen Qianqian gratefully, and said quickly: "A big happy event happened recently, have you heard about it?"
All the girls asked: "What's the matter?"
Cai Han smiled and said: "Did you know that Timur should be the first one?"
All the girls said they didn't know, only Yang Ying sneered: "Could it be that stupid Tatar who lost the battle of Shahe?"
Cai Han smiled and said: "That's him!"
Xu asked curiously: "Is that Tatar useless?"
Shen Qianqian couldn't help but laugh and said: "That man once led an army of 300,000 yuan to fight against Liu Futong's tens of thousands of people. But one night, Liu Futong and Du Zundao robbed the camp. He thought the soldiers had mutinied and ran off on horseback alone. Well, abandon the 300,000-strong army!"
All the girls laughed in unison.
Cai Han glanced at He Xiaomei and said: "After this man replaced Jia Lu and led the troops to surround Haozhou, he was defeated by our General Zhao in just a few days!"
All the girls cheered in unison.
He Xiaomei smiled slightly and said: "Sister, you are joking. The Haozhou Tatars were defeated by the Haozhou soldiers. My husband only helped a little."
Webster said carelessly: "Girl, there is no need to be modest. The Haozhou soldiers have been besieged for so long. What can they do to save us? If we want to fight a war, we have to look at our Jiangdu army!"
None of the girls had much knowledge, but they felt comfortable hearing these words, and they all echoed in agreement. Only Yang Ying and Shen Qianqian smiled and said nothing.
After discussing this topic, all the girls no longer harbored hostility towards Cai Han, and Mr. Xue did not criticize her again.
Xu suddenly said: "Did you know that another private school has opened in the east of the city? I heard that the master sitting in the hall is a very knowledgeable person?"
Wei Shi grinned and said: "I heard, I heard, the master sitting in the hall is named Zhang. He was originally a famous private school teacher in Hangzhou. He is very knowledgeable. My family's Zhenwei has been transferred!"
He Xiaomei said: "I asked people to inquire about it. The master has no reputation. He was rejected even if he wanted to enter the talent recruitment hall. I'm afraid he just got a false reputation!"
Wei Shi glared and said: "Manager Zhang has no fame, who doesn't admire him? That gentleman is really talented and practical. My Zhenwei studied for half a month and learned a lot! Besides, Judge Luo didn't do the same at the time. Have you been rejected by the recruiting agency? What does that mean?"
When Mrs. Xu saw He Xiaomei's face sinking, she quickly changed the subject and said, "Are the charges high?"
Weishi encouraged: "It must be higher than the official school, and it is similar to other private schools. Xu Meizi, Yang Meizi, your Lin'er, and Xiaobao should also transfer here!"
Mrs. Xu looked at Yang Ying and saw that she shook her head, so she did not continue.
Shen Qianqian asked curiously: "Are there many more private schools in the city recently?"
Cai Han said with a smile: "Yes, I heard that after this year's autumn harvest, more people will send their children to official schools. There are three new official schools, but they still can't accommodate them. Many scholars saw this and started to open private schools to collect fees. It’s not cheap!”
Ms. Xue glanced at her and said, "As expected of Miss Cai, she even knows such trivial things."
Cai Han said with a smile: "Actually, I didn't know it at first. It was because an old accountant in my family who had been working for more than ten years suddenly resigned. After asking, I found out that he had opened a private school!"
Yang Ying sighed: "There are wars everywhere in the world, but only Yangzhou is prosperous and stable. In the future, more and more scholars will come to Yangzhou to escape disaster, and there will be more and more private schools!"
The girls chatted for a while, and Qin Lingsi ran over quickly, waving to the girls from afar, saying: "Come on, my sister and brother-in-law are here, go to the front hall to see the excitement!"
He Xiaomei, Xu and Xue were all a little timid, and they all said, "I'm a girl, so I'd better wait in the back." Even Webster, who seemed rough, didn't dare to go to the front hall.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
In the end, only Shen Qianqian and Yang Ying were more curious. They followed Qin Lingsi to the hall, entered from the back hall, came to the ear door, and looked towards the hall through the curtain.
The hall was full of people, with three tables on each side. Everyone left their seats and stood neatly in rows on the left and right. There were too many people, and many people lined up outside.
Hearing a salute, six boys and girls in bright red wedding clothes opened the way, and Zhang Yangquan pulled Qin Lingjun to the hall.
Qin Lingjun wore a phoenix crown on her head, a fiery phoenix-colored wedding robe, a red gauze singlet, a light red knee-length tie, and a jade ribbon ring on her waist. Under everyone's attention, she slowly walked towards the central seat.
Shen Qianqian fixedly stared at Qin Lingjun in her attire, and for the first time she felt ashamed. She thought to herself: "It's worth it for a woman to have such a glorious time in her life."
Yang Ying did not look at Zhang Yangquan and Qin Lingjun. Her eyes wandered around the hall and soon spotted Du Zundao.
He was not looking at the bride and groom, but was staring in the opposite direction. Yang Ying followed his gaze and found that he was looking at Li Er.
At this time, Zhang Yangquan had already led Qin Lingjun to sit down behind the high case. After everyone paid homage, he extended his hand to signal everyone to sit down, and the wedding banquet officially began.
Qin Lingsi saw that everyone was eating and drinking, so she pulled the two of them and said, "Let's go, let's go to the back and have a banquet!"
The three girls went out from the back hall and walked along the path towards the back house. Yang Ying suddenly said: "You guys go ahead. I feel a little uncomfortable and want to go back to my room to rest."
Both Qin and Shen noticed something strange in her expression, but they didn't ask any more questions. They just told her to have a good rest and left holding hands.
Yang Ying stood silently on the back porch for a while, then called an attendant and gave a few instructions.
The attendant nodded and walked around to the main hall, only to see that it was already noisy inside. Several old villagers even ran into the middle and danced arm-in-arm.
The attendant looked around for a while and soon found the target. He came to Du Zundao in the corner and whispered a few words to him.
A strange light flashed in Du Zundao's eyes, he stood up, smiled at the people at the same table and said: "I'm in a hurry, so I'm sorry." He stood up and left the lobby.
After going out, Du Zundao followed his attendants to the back corridor. After seeing Yang Ying leaning on the railing and looking at him, he quickly walked over, cupped his hands and said, "Madam, Mr. Du came late, which made you suffer!"
Yang Ying stared at him for a while and said coldly: "Let's talk somewhere else." He turned and walked towards a small road, and Du Zundao hurriedly followed.