Little Tangyuan blinked her bright black eyes. "I don't want new clothes."
Wearing new clothes made her feel constrained, so her mother wouldn't let her sit and roll around on the floor playing anymore.
Yanran replied, "How can I not want new clothes? Here, here."
She picked up the Little Tangyuan, and the two sisters followed Meng Yulan into the house.
The embroiderer bowed and stepped forward respectfully to take the measurements of the two young masters.
Meng Yulan took a sip of tea and asked, "Does your Brocade Tower have any good fabrics or beautiful designs lately? Please bring them up for me to see."
The embroiderer busied herself having people present the prepared fabrics and booklets with designs drawn on them, allowing Meng Yulan to choose freely.
Yanran always automatically skipped this step.
She'll wear whatever they give her; she trusts her aunt's taste.
Meng Yulan examined the fabrics carefully and finally decided on the style and fabric, making four sets of spring clothes and four sets of summer clothes for each of the two sisters in one go.
The embroiderer, her face beaming with joy as she calculated the money she could earn, remained respectful and attentive.
After she left, Yanran said, "Aunt, this costs over three hundred taels of silver, isn't that a bit expensive?"
Meng Yulan asked in surprise, "She hasn't even mentioned the total price, and you already know?"
"When she mentioned the price of the fabric just now, I did some mental calculations."
Meng Yulan smiled and said, "Is it that amazing?"
"Not bad." Yanran said proudly, "You can skip reading books, but you can't be bad at doing accounts."
She learned by following the Hua Cha.
She has learned so much that you can't count it all on both hands.
While not an expert in any particular area, one has a broad range of interests.
My mother said that girls should learn more so that they won't be deceived.
Nobody can fool her, hmph!
Lüzhu, who was beside Meng Yulan, came in and said, "Madam, Young Master Young Master Cui has sent some boxes of pastries to Miss Yuan."
Lüzhu is now married and has her hair styled like a married woman.
Yanran also gifted her a set of jewelry as a belated wedding present to make up for missing her own wedding.
Meng Yulan said, "For Little Tangyuan? He's quite clever."
Yanran said, "It's definitely for me. People overthink things, afraid others will find fault with the gift. But who will? We've done nothing wrong."
Meng Yulan shook her head helplessly.
Yanran is nine years old this year, Cui Xiaoqiu is eleven.
She didn't understand anything yet, but Cui Xiaoqiu probably already thought far ahead.
Yanran first presented the snacks to Meng Yulan, and after Meng Yulan took one, she distributed the snacks to Little Tangyuan and the others in the room.
Meng Yulan silently observed her mannerisms, which were exactly like Tang Zhuyun's, and felt quite gratified.
She began, "Yanran, we are attending Consort De's birthday banquet."
That's why it was such a grand affair.
Yanran simply said "Oh," clearly not taking it to heart.
In her mind, no matter what kind of banquet it was, it was all about eating and drinking.
Meanwhile, observe the other women in the household; some are veiled in hostility, while others are outright confrontations.
In short, it boils down to two things: eating and eating melon seeds (a Chinese idiom for gossiping).
Meng Yulan couldn't help but sigh, "Yanran, although she is my aunt, the situation is different from before."
She didn't really understand why her aunt would support the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince has now been granted the title of Prince of Ding, and he married a woman from the Lang Family as his concubine before the new year.
The Lang Family was also a prestigious clan, and this marriage alliance greatly boosted Prince of Ding's power.
This marriage was arranged and managed by Consort De from beginning to end.
Yanran, however, didn't seem to care and said, "She doesn't treat you like a niece, so you don't need to treat her like an aunt."
It's that simple.
Meng Yulan said, "The Emperor summoned your mother back to the capital, but she hasn't returned. Consort De is dissatisfied, and with Prince of Ding and your father currently in a standoff, I'm afraid you'll encounter difficulties when you enter the palace."
"Aunt, don't worry," Yanran said. "Haven't you heard the Wuji, 'Children speak without thinking,' and 'That's still a child,' right?"
She's not a picky eater; the only thing she won't eat is a stale food.
Before Meng Yulan could speak, she added, "I've made up my mind. I won't go with you that day; I'll go by myself."
To avoid causing a huge uproar and having others blame your aunt.
Meng Yulan naturally refused.
Just then, Nanxing arrived.
It turned out that she came looking for Yanran immediately after hearing that Yanran had returned to the capital.
Yanran hugged her waist with a grin and said sweetly, "Nanxing, Nanxing, I missed you so much! Even though you didn't come to see me, I was planning to come find you today!"
Nanxing pinched her nose. "I'd never believe that."
Nanxing had maintained contact with Meng Yulan for the past two years, so when he came to the Meng Family family home, he felt at ease, sitting down to drink tea and chat.
"Consort of Prince of Ding is no good," Nanxing said bluntly.
Meng Yulan: "..."
I'm still not quite used to this kind of simple and direct description.
"What's wrong with it?" Yanran asked with great interest. "I love dealing with this kind of thing."
Nanxing said, "She comes from the Lang Family and has a very high-and-mighty attitude, always showing off her dignified and elegant demeanor; but in reality, she is extremely petty and holds grudges. She has a younger sister, Lang Shuang, who is a year or two older than you. She is competitive and ambitious, and is her lackey. She is very annoying."
Clearly, she had done her homework.
Yanran was eager to try.
It's time to let these people in the capital know that she didn't eat for nothing for two years.
As it turns out, Nanxing was absolutely right.
On the day of Consort De's birthday banquet, Yanran took Jiang'er and entered the palace by herself.
She obediently bowed to Consort De.
Consort De smiled and beckoned to her, gesturing for her to come over and talk, but her first words immediately set a trap for Yanran.
Are you adjusting well back to life in Beijing?
"Your Majesty, I'm adapting." Yanran smiled. "Everything in the capital is fine. I could adapt to the border town, so there's nothing I can't adapt to in the capital."
"I heard your father was badly injured, and I've been worried about him..."
The implication was that he felt Yanran had disregarded the Prince of Jin and gone to the capital on her own.
Yanran reacted quickly, blatantly lying, "You worry about Father, and Father worries about you too. That's why, even though Father is on his deathbed, he still instructed me to come to the capital to congratulate you on your birthday. I got into the carriage with tears in my eyes. Alas, if I weren't afraid of being accused of mourning, I really would have cried a couple of times today."
The crowd fell silent.
What does it mean to be on the verge of death?
Everyone knew that it was hard to tell if the Prince of Jin was truly injured, but her words made it seem as if the injury would be over immediately.
Furthermore, regarding Consort De's birthday, she said she was in mourning. Are you sure this wasn't intentional?
Consort De's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant, but only for a moment.
She quickly smiled and said, "I know your father's filial piety is enough. Go sit over there, Lang Shuang is here too. You're about the same age, you can have a good chat. Lang Shuang, take good care of Yanran."
Lang Shuang, the younger sister of the Consort of Prince of Ding, who had been called upon, stood up, bowed, and said, "Yes."
Yanran walked over slowly.
Lang Shuang snorted coldly, "They really are barbarians, looking like they can't be brought to the table."
Yanran tilted her head and gave her a roguish smile.
Lang Shuang was somewhat stunned.