The old man of the Pei Mansion was standing in front of the hall with his children and grandchildren, waiting for Qiao Lan's arrival. When they saw Qiao Lan coming forward, they all bowed and saluted.
The Pei family is no ordinary family, and Mr. Pei is a first-class bachelor. Qiao Lan returned the gift according to etiquette, and was led by the wife of the Pei family to take their seats.
The male guests are at the inner table and the female guests are in the inner room.
The Qiao family and several daughters-in-law sat down at the table next to them. Duan Sitong, Duan Siqi, Duan Shua and Feiyan sat in the children's seats next to them, accompanied by several ladies from the Pei family.
The Pei family has a small population, and including the grandchildren, they only have four tables.
At the banquet, Mrs. Pei served tea instead of wine and toasted to Qiao Lan, and then to Duan Sitong and Fei Yan. The male guests on the other side were similar. Mr. Pei took the lead, and also asked the third master of the Pei family to accompany them and toasted a lot of wine.
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A great time for all the guests.
After the banquet, the wife of the Pei family led the female family members to the backyard to have tea and listen to music, while the male guest was taken to the study in front.
In the spacious house that was connected to the earth dragon, several well-dressed actresses were singing a cappella in their seats.
This is a well-known theater troupe in the capital invited by the Pei Mansion. It is one of the superficial pastimes of the housewife.
Although Qiao Lan didn't listen to plays very much, as her guest, she did as she pleased. Under the guidance of the eldest daughter-in-law of the Pei family, Qiao Lan took a seat, and several daughters-in-law of the Duan family accompanied her and sat on the seats next to her.
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A brightly dressed young girl from the Pei family stepped forward, bowed, and said obediently, "Mrs. Duan, I would like to take several sisters from your family to the yard to see my Aoxue Hanmei. I don't know.
Are you willing to entrust Sister Sitong and several younger sisters to me..."
Qiao Lan looked at the young and beautiful girl in front of her. She was thirteen or fourteen years old, and she was in her prime.
She also has a beautiful little girl who takes her out to play and enjoy the plum blossom trees!
But she is a stable old person, what a pity!
Qiao Lan felt regretful in her heart, but she had a kind smile on her face: "Go ahead and have fun..."
"Thank you, madam!" the little girl bowed obediently.
Before Duan Sitong and others left, they also saluted the Pei family woman in the house.
The little girls gathered together and went out, and the room suddenly became very quiet, with only the sound of opera babbling in front of the house left.
It's not that Qiao Lan doesn't know how to socialize, it's just that she doesn't quite understand the social rules of the Beijing lady's back house.
She has studied and seen different things, and what she is best at now is farming. If she talks about such farming matters with others, she will inevitably be called vulgar.
Fortunately, the woman from the Pei family knew how to chat. She chatted with Qiao Lan for a while on various topics, and then quietly introduced her family's situation. The atmosphere in the house was quite relaxed.
Mrs. Ning sat in the room, chatting with Qiao Lan from time to time. After chatting for a while, she suddenly coughed while holding a tea cup, causing Mrs. Pei San next to her to blink her eyes.
He asked Duan Sitong's age.
The person who asked the question was Duan Sitong, so Wang answered, "My eldest daughter is sixteen this year..."
To add a new year to the New Year, one year will be added to the original age as soon as New Year's Eve is over. People usually talk about their imaginary age when talking to others outside. This imaginary age is one year older than the actual age. If calculated according to the imaginary age, Duan Sitong
She is more than seventeen this year. In ordinary people's families, she would probably be married off. Mrs. Wang was already worried about her daughter's age, so she answered sixteen.
Mrs. Ning listened carefully. She was fifteen years old, just right.
Mrs. Pei San continued to exert her strength: "Sister Tong, have you agreed to this?"
These words made the Duan family woman move her eyes slightly, her mind was no longer on the opera, and she listened to the conversation.
"I'm not afraid of the ladies making fun of me. I haven't found anyone yet! My family just came to the capital last year. It took me a year to make the selection. I met with several families, but none of them were very satisfied," said Wang.
In the past year, Mr. Wang had admired many families in Duan Sitong's eyes, some were rich and some were poor.
It's just that many men have maids as partners before they get married. Even if they don't have parents and have no maids to share with them, there are still a lot of red sleeves around them.
Based on this matter alone, Duan Sitong didn't have to worry about it, and Qiao Lan refused even if he saw him.
Mrs. Wang has been married to the Duan family for many years, and she also knows that in the eyes of her mother-in-law, she has an intolerable temper and cannot tolerate the maids and concubines who live with her.
Therefore, the gentlemen of the Duan family are all clean around them.
As the daughter-in-law of the Duan family, Mrs. Wang is really happy to have such a mother-in-law. No woman wants to share her husband with others.
But in other homes, it would not be so ideal.
There are some capable families in the family who are afraid that their son's promiscuity will delay his career, so he has already paired his grandson with beautiful maids. Even if there are no maids, there are still many people in the brothel who are having fun.
After just picking and choosing, Wang only picked out three or five people.
After meeting these three or five remaining people, they were not very ideal. Although the poor boy was sensible, his mother-in-law and grandmother were all there, and a family of about twenty people crowded into the same courtyard. Mrs. Wang was afraid that her daughter would suffer hardship after marrying, so she didn't even notice.
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The remaining wealthy ones are not famous, have a small population, or have strict family rules and old-fashioned temperaments. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
With Qiao Lan on the side as a consultant, Mrs. Wang looked around and found nothing that she was satisfied with. It was just delayed for another year, and she was almost angry with her anxiety.
In this new year, Mrs. Wang planned to put her daughter's marriage first. Under Qiao Lan's efforts to deceive her, Mrs. Wang even prepared for the worst, and it was really impossible to recruit a son-in-law.
Zhao is in her yard and she watches her every day. Even if she is gone, her children and grandchildren can help her keep an eye on her, so she can feel at ease no matter what.
"Madam, this is..." Wang asked hesitantly.
The smile on Mrs. Pei San's face gradually deepened: "I want to be a matchmaker with Sister Tong. I wonder if Madam can give me a favor. I'm not afraid of your jokes. The person I want to matchmaker with is my own natal family..."
Mrs. Pei San said with a friendly smile, and the eldest lady of the Ning family sitting next to her also straightened her back and smiled more and more kindly.
Qiao Lan suddenly thought of the young man with black eyes that he saw at his house that day, and suddenly understood something.
She said that it was too hard for the Ning family to have to go out to thank guests even though her face was injured. Now that she thought about it, there was a story she didn't know about, and it was a story related to her granddaughter!
Qiao Lan is looking forward to it even more!
In the study on the other side, the old man of the Pei family and several other gentlemen took the Duan family to taste the scrolls in the study. The old man of the Pei family suddenly turned around with a serious look on his face.
"I heard that my nephews are still studying poetry and books in the mansion, preparing for this year's spring examination. If my nephews don't understand something, they can come to my house for advice with their articles. Although I have been away from the imperial examination for a long time,
I worked as an examiner for several years in my early years..."
Old Mrs. Pei said, hugging Duan Mingjing closely.
Duan Mingjing suddenly felt alarm bells ringing in his heart, and he didn't dare to say anything!