<h4>Chapter 160: Faces in Marquis Ningyuan’s Mansion (4)</h4>


    Trantor: Iris


    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 ording 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 othersing in, they all stood up to give their wee. Old Madam Qin smiled and said, “Uncles, please don’t ridicule us. Women just like to chatter. I’m so sorry that we have dyed so much of your time.”


    A middle-aged woman on the right stood up and saying smilingly, “Sister-inw, 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 Minn’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 Minn were kneeling down in front of the elders to make their obeisances, Old Madam Qin introduced the elders to Minn tenderly.


    Since the two old couples were not the immediate families of Gu Tingye, Minn 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. Minn 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 thementator’s duty was given to Zhu shi, who did her job perfectly by exining everything clearly with her fluent speech.


    As a matter of fact, long before Minn got married, Old Madam Sheng had already told Minn Gu’s family structure. Minn, 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 schr and looked very elegant with his long beard. Being one of the few schrs 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.


    Minn 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 Minn to recite, which made Minn gotpletely confused. The only thing she remembered was that she had given away eight gourd shape and five lotus shape pouches with an addition of arge packet of gold and three or four jade jewelries. Deep down, Minn felt that she was bleeding when sending away those rewards.


    At the end of Zhu shi’smentary, she held up her tea cup to take a sip while MInn only figured out who her immediate families were in Gu’s family. Old Master Gu had three sons who had been given birth by his three wives (Minn admired that Old Master Gu had been able to treat all his wives equally) and two daughters. The illegal daughter, Gu Tingyan had already been married and didn’te today. As for the legal daughter, Gu Tingcan, who hadn’t been betrothed yet was gorgeous with an oval face and two enchanting eyes. She was intelligent, demure, and reserved while having the lofty character of a talented girl.


    Besides, Minn also knew that Sister Xuan-In-Law who had made jokes on the day of her wedding was Fourth Old Master’s eldest daughter-inw.


    In the meantime, Danju was standing on one side of the hall with blue veins standing out on her forehead. Her eyes opened widely because she had tried to remember all those rtives with all her strength in order to help Minn go over all those names when they came back. Minn was heartbroken for the money she had spent today while also felt sorry for her own muddled state. She lowered her head and murmured something. Xiaotao who stood next to Minn heard that and encouraged Minn right away, “Lady, you are that kind of person who are able to know one’s subornates and make good use of them.”


    “You mean subordinates.” Hearing that, Minn wasforted immediately.


    After the recognizing rtives procedure had been finished, several maids came in with tea, fruit and snacks. All the men were still sitting in the hall to have tea and chat with each other while the women all stood up and walked toward the inside. The hall was super spacious and was divided into two rooms by the flower carvingcquer wood partition board. People could still hear the voices and see the faces of the ones who were at the other side.


    In the inner room, there were lots of colorful tea and fruits being ced on several round tables. Minn was pulled over by the warm-hearted Zhu shi and sat next to her. A few youngdies and madams came forth to have a chat with Minn. However, Minn who didn’t recognize anyone of those women could only smile shyly. It was the first time she met those women anyway, so the conversation between them was quite meaningless.


    When someone praised about Minn’s clothes, Minnughed and replied, “Thanks a lot.”


    When someone praised about Minn’s delicate jewelries, Minnughed again and replied, “I’m so ttered.”


    When someone praised about her gorgeous appearance, Minn continuedughing with redness on her face and replied, “That’s so kind of you.”


    ... And so on.


    After they had talked for a while, all thosedies and young madams all found Minn a boring girl who couldn’t make jokes or talk enjoyably. Then those women all left to have their own conversations together. There were only Old Madam Qin, Fourth Old Madam, Fifth Old Madam, Madam Shao, Sister Xuan-In-Law and Zhu shi sitting at the table with Minn.


    “... I have to say that our eldest sister-inw is the luckiest one among us. All her daughtesr-inw are so outstanding. Look at Tingye’s wife! What a goddess like beauty! Even I am attracted to her!” Fourth Old Madam said that with a beaming smile on her face while sizing Minn up. The violet golden brocade coat she wore today seemed very expensive. “My daughters-inw are so not presentable whenpared to Tingye’s wife!”


    Sister Xuan-inw swallowed the tea in her mouth in a hurry and said, “Hey, my dear mother-inw, I have no objections that you want to praise my sister-inw who looks like a fairy. She’s beautiful indeed. But don’t wound your own daughter-inw’s pride!” As saying this, she fell into Fourth Old Madam’s arms. Then Fourth Old Madam grinned and scolded, “You cheeky little monkey, since when do you start to mind about your pride?”


    Everyone burst intoughter while Minn put on a shy look and smiled with her head lowered——Seeing the close rtionship between Sister Xuan-In-Law and Fourth Old Madam, it was hard to believe that Fourth Old Madam was actually Gu Tingxuan’s stepmother.


    By contrast, Fifth Old Madam was the quieter one. She only pulled Minn’s hand and said softly, “Since you just came here, you might now know that your mother-inw has worked herself too much over these years. She treats all the people in our family nice and tenderly. She often gives helps to the poor, respects the old and cherishes the young. I’m telling you, she’s the most decent woman among us.”


    Fourth Old Madam followed her words, “That’s so true. She has to take care of Tingyu who’s suffering from the illness, help Tingyu’s wife with the family affairs and look after Xianjie’er. It’s so hard for a woman to be concerned over all the ones in the family!”


    Old Madam Qin smiled and said, “Look at you two. Aye... fine, I have a thick hide and don’t know what shyness is. Just continue makingpliments about me.”


    Her words made everyoneugh again. Meanwhile, Madam Shao looked at Old Madam Qin with appreciation in her eyes.


    Fifth Old Madam had a meagre face and seemed very cultivated. She then continued to talk to Minn in a low voice, “Don’t listen to all those rumors. You mother-inw really lives a tough life. Now that you have already married into our family, you should persuade Tingye in future. Family harmony is always the most important thing for us.”


    Fourth Old Madam went along with her, “That’s right, that’s right.” And Minn nodded heavily.


    When all those women were chatting andughing, they suddenly heard dispute from the other side. Fourth Old Master said in anger, “... Gu Tingye, good for you! Now you have made some progress in your career so you think you can assault your uncle?! It’s not like I have asked you to climb a mountain of swords or plunge into a sea of mes. It’s just a dinner at night! And I have meant for your own good. How dare you despise me like that?”