Even though Mu Guiyi was locked up at home and rarely interacted with the outside world, she still knew the names of the young ladies from the aristocratic families. Yun Yaochi only hurriedly nodded, and she immediately understood who was sitting on both sides of the table.
Mu Guiyi straightened her upper body and greeted them one by one, "Eldest Young Miss Chen, Second Young Miss Chen, Third Young Miss Zhao."
Chen Yanqin was the longest, so she was the first to respond, "Greetings, Eldest Young Miss Mu. I've been reading Eldest Young Miss Mu's poems before, and I've finally met you in person today."
Mu Guiyi said modestly, "I'm just writing to pass the time. Eldest Young Miss Chen, you can just call me Yaohua."
Chen Yanqin smiled, "You want me to call you Yaohua, so you shouldn't be so distant. I'm older than you by a few years, so can you call me Elder Sister?"
Mu Guiyi readily agreed, "Elder Sister Qin is right."
Chen Yanqin introduced the people sitting around them one by one, "This is my second sister, Yanqi. Those twins are my third and youngest sisters, Yanshu and Yanhua. On your right are the Zhao family's Cang Ling and Cang Zhi. Originally, there was also the oldest, Cang Yi, but unfortunately, she was sent out to supervise the military not long ago."
The Zhao family was also a family with military achievements, and most of the children in the family had to walk on the battlefield. For example, Jo Cang-il and Zhao Cangling, there were also those who couldn't bear to see blood.
Zhao Cangling pursed her lips and smiled, "Not only is Elder Sister Cang Yi not here, but the Yun family's Fourth Young Miss is also not here!"
Hearing this, Chen Yanqi glanced around and said curiously, "That's true. The capital's Three Great Talented Women are always missing one or another. It's also a pity that they can't be gathered together."
Zhao Cangling lowered his voice and said, "I heard that she's allergic to freshwater fish. She was afraid that it would spoil the fun, so she decided not to come."
Mu Guiyi did not interrupt and only listened to their discussion. The relationship between the Yun and Mu Manors had gradually drifted apart, but he knew what he needed to know. The Yun Family had several daughters. The Second Young Miss of the Yun Family was the daughter of the second branch's legal wife, while the Third Young Miss of the Yun Family was the daughter of the first branch's legal wife. Unfortunately, she had died young. The Fourth Young Miss of the Yun Family was a mistress that the Second Master of the Yun Family had kept outside for many years. She even had a child. That mistress' background was not clean, and she was a singer on a pleasure boat on the Qinhuai River.
The Residence of Yun still sent someone to inform Old Lady Yun about this matter. After that, the House of Bai's military matriarch rebelled, and this matter was suppressed. The world did not know about it, but a few large families still heard some rumors.
Originally, there were three great talented women in the capital. The last one, Lady Yun, was praised as the talented woman of the common people. Unexpectedly, her background was so extraordinary. After a lot of rumors, it naturally reached the ears of Old Madame Yun.
Later, Old Madame Yun and Second Master Yun came to a compromise and each took a step back. The mistress gave some money and sent her to the countryside. The child was brought back, and she was the Yun Family's Fourth Young Miss.
However, Old Madame Yun still felt uncomfortable and was unwilling to let the Yun Family's Fourth Young Miss enter the family tree. Thus, she did not give her a name and could only drag it out like this. According to seniority, she was called the Yun Family's Fourth Young Miss.
Since they were enjoying chrysanthemums and eating crabs, how could they not have crabs when there were chrysanthemums? In the afternoon, there were already four dishes of crabs. Each dish was cooked differently and was accompanied by different chrysanthemums. Drunken crabs with * *, steamed white chrysanthemums, braised emerald chrysanthemums, spicy chrysanthemums, and daisies. They were afraid that eating too much crabs would hurt their stomachs, so they also served red dates, longan, and wolfberry tea.
After the four dishes of crabs, pastries made with chrysanthemums were served. The atmosphere became more lively and cheerful.
At this moment, Yun Yaochi walked to the middle again and said with a smile, "Although I invited all of you sisters here to enjoy chrysanthemums and eat crabs, it has been boring for half a day. Speaking of which, a few days ago, my relative came back from Ning City with a basket of sea crabs. Why don't we make a bet? Sisters, use 'chrysanthemum' and 'crab' as rhymes and say a few words casually. We are all girls, so let's not talk about subtlety and just talk about rhymes. How about that?"
"Since there is the leader of the talented girls here, why don't we let the great talented girl Mu go first?" Looking in the direction of the voice, it was Gu Xueqian. When the other girls saw that it was Zong Ji who spoke, they stopped talking.
Mu Guiyi straightened up and folded her hands at her waist. "Since Zong Ji has given the order, I will naturally obey."
Picking up a pansy that was used to decorate the pastries, Mu Guiyi stared straight at Gu Xueqian and recited slowly, "Yellow flowers know that the Autumn Goose has left, red leaves yearn for spring and bloom."
Gu Xueqian felt uncomfortable being stared at by her. "This sentence is too sad, it's not appropriate."
Mu Guiyi lowered her head and did not speak. Gu Xueqian wanted to say something but was stopped by Lin Xueying. "I just thought of a sentence, 'The forest leaves in a hurry, the water gurgles'."
Although it was not as good as Mu Guiyi's sentence, it still livened up the atmosphere again. Everyone dared to come forward and recite a sentence or two. It was not very clever, but it was just for fun.
For example, Chen Yanqin's "Flowers bloom and fly, flowers fall, fragrance disappears, fragrance disappears", and Jin Qianyu's "Spring leaves, hundreds of flowers rest, autumn comes, grass and trees wither".
In the end, Murong Xuefu concluded, "It's autumn, so I can't make any lively poems."
Chen Yanhua casually added, "Isn't that so. After listening to it, it's not as good as Sister Yaohua's." Chen Yanshu nodded beside her. Chen Yanqin turned around and frowned at them. The two of them also realized that they had said something wrong and shrunk their shoulders.
Gu Xueqian snorted and opened her mouth. "Golden osmanthus fragrant soul fruit, jade flower green curtain, magnificent wood new."
This sentence barely rhymed with "chrysanthemum" and "crab", but it was not easy to write six kinds of flowers in one sentence.
Yun Yaochi clapped her hands and cheered. "Since that's the case, after standing here for so long, this subject's daughter also thought of a sentence. I'll be embarrassing myself."
"September welcomes birthday guests, October appreciates magnificent wood. The winter moon observes the lingbo, the ox plucks the wintersweet. "It was neither good nor bad, it was just right.
On the other side, Bai Suyan and Jing Jing entered from the side door and went to the side room that was specially arranged for their maidservants to wait for them.
Jing Jing found that they only went from one square courtyard to another. She was a little disappointed and not in a good mood, but outside, she was still careful and did not show any emotion.
The head maidservants who followed the young miss usually had more contact with aristocratic families than ordinary servants. After a while, they became familiar with the other young misses. When they saw them, they were also surprised but did not immediately come up to greet them.
They greeted each other familiarly, but they also carefully peeked at Bai Suyan and Jing Jing with the corners of their eyes.
Bai Suyan brought Jing Jing forward to talk. "Sorry to disturb you. This servant's name is Yan Yan. This is Jing Jing, the person who follows the eldest young miss of Mu Province."
Those who could follow the young misses of aristocratic families were not fools. They also turned around and introduced them. The young misses of the Chen family were all here, but each of them brought one. They brought four, Cufeng, Qianhua, Cuxue, and Baoyue.
Lin Xueying, Murong Xuefu, and Gu Xueqian brought two each. They were not in the same room as them. Zhang Xuelian only brought one called Yu Lian.
There were two from the Zhao family, Xi Yan and Ming Yan, one from the Jin family, and some from other families.
The maidservants also sat in a circle, eating sunflower seeds and dried fruits. They chatted and laughed. Their seemingly ordinary conversation often inadvertently revealed information that could not be heard.
First, Xi Yan congratulated Cufeng. "I heard that the eldest young miss of the Chen family is about to be married. It seems like elder sister's good days are coming soon."
She blushed and pouted playfully, "Nonsense." The group bantered a few more times and burst into laughter.
Cufeng was not willing to be teased. "Don't just congratulate me. The good days of the three of them are coming soon too!" As she spoke, she pointed at the other three maidservants of the Chen family.
Baoyue blushed. "You're talking nonsense!"
Cufeng hurriedly said, "I'm not."
Ming Yan said, "You're not. The year after next, your three young misses will participate in the election. If they pass, their positions will definitely not be low. At that time, they will definitely have to bring dowry maidservants. The three of you are already old. Next year, no, this year, Madam Chen will definitely choose someone else to serve you."
There was no joy on Cufeng's face. Instead, she hesitated. "I think … if I pass, I want to follow the second young miss into the palace."
The others were stunned. Ming Yan asked, "Cufeng, you have to think carefully. Moreover, you're not young anymore."
Cufeng shrugged. "That year, I had acne. It was because the second young miss was kind that I survived. Otherwise, I would have died in some corner. My body would have rotted."
Zhan Xue leaned over and patted Cufeng's hand, sighing. Silly Cufeng.
"Right, do you know why the second young miss of the Yun family is holding a banquet today?" Xi Yan suddenly lowered her voice mysteriously and said what she had heard. "It's said that it's to gather in advance to see who will be participating in the election."
Bai Suyan finally spoke. "Won't we know why when the time comes?"
"Hey, what do you know? There's a lot to learn here!" Xi Yan raised her hand and gestured for them to come closer. She whispered, "The year after next year will be the first selection after His Majesty's registration. There's no guarantee that there will be a great fortune in this batch of people!"
Ming Yan, who knew some "inside information", continued, "Isn't that so? His Majesty's harem is sparse. Not long ago, another one fell ill."
"Shh!" Cufeng hurriedly stopped her. "Is this something you can say?"
Zhan Xue said curiously, "But you say, no matter who she is, Miss Bai has been on the battlefield. I heard that she has been ill for more than a year."
"That's right. Is her body so weak?"
Bai Suyan listened to them talking about her and felt very awkward. This was a major feature of women's conversations. They would always deviate from the original topic.
Actually, they all knew what great fortune was. His Majesty didn't have any children. If they entered the palace and gave birth to a child, it would be a great achievement. Their happiness would bring their family to a meteoric rise.
As she spoke, the topic somehow shifted to Consort Wang Xian. "Consort Wang Xian has served me for many years. Now that she's finally pregnant, will she give birth to a boy and be conferred the title of Empress?"
Xi Yan pursed her lips. "Consort Wang is destined to be a concubine for life. His Majesty will confer anyone but her."
When she said this, everyone subconsciously thought about conferring the title of Empress. After a round of calculations, they felt that something was wrong. Zhan Xue said, "That's not right. The Yun family also has Empress Dowager Jin Yue. Logically speaking, they won't continue the Yun family. The Second Miss of the Zhao family is of the right age …"
Lao Yue pushed her. "Are you stupid? That's the Second Miss of the Zhao family." The two maids of the Zhao family were also a little embarrassed. Everyone present understood. No wonder the four young ladies of the Chen family were invited today. No wonder Miss Chen was only married at this age.
The Four Aristocratic Families were eliminated. Among the Six Distinguished Families, the Gu family and Murong family had married the Empress in the previous generation. It was impossible for them to have an Empress in this generation. Only the Wen and Yang families were left. The former didn't have a legitimate daughter. The latter only had a daughter from the third branch and was only eleven years old. She was Grand Preceptor Chen's wife and gave birth to four daughters.
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