I Am This Type of Woman

89.1

The atmosphere in the room was odd, like the impact of a large piece of ice thrown into boiling water, that strange collision that happened when hot met cold.

"Grandfather," Duke Cheng's granddaughter said with a smile, "There are so many guests today, but you keep on talking to Count Cheng'an only. We are all jealous here."

Her grandparents were sad for a long time when the Grand Princess died. After a period of time passed, Grandfather seemed to have forgotten it, he was back to bringing up old stories from the past from time to time, and the family went along with it as to not give him a shock. Today him saying that in front of Ban family was like rubbing salt into the wound.

The younger members of Duke Cheng's family smiled apologetically to Yin-shi and Ban Hua. They were in a difficult position, they could only hope Ban family would understand that there was no deliberate offense.

"You, this child," Old people loved it when the young ones cajoled them sweetly. Duke Cheng laughed heh-heh-heh with his head up and down in nods, "At your wedding, I have also paid attention to you."

Rong Xia saw Ban Hua's face looked a little bad. To stop Duke Cheng from asking again, he said, "Wanbei is getting married at the start of spring next year. That day, please Seniors come to attend."

"This year is good, why wait until next year?" Duke Cheng was not satisfied, "Youngsters like you are getting more and more neglectful of their own matters. I had been married when I was at your age, my eldest child was jumping and running."

Rong Xia patiently explained, "Some time ago wanbei asked The Directorate of Astronomy, they said it is best for wanbei and Junzhu to get married next year."

The fact was, as the granddaughter of the Grand Princess, Ban Hua had to observe a one-year mourning. Even if there was a good date this year, she would still be unable to marry. Rong Xia omitted that part out of fear that the grievous news would sadden Duke Cheng.

It was an acceptable answer for Duke Cheng, he nodded repeatedly, already forgotten that he had told them to hurry just a moment ago, "Correct, a marriage should not be taken lightly, the date has to be chosen well. When my wife and I got married, our wedding date was also calculated by the Directorate of Astronomy, and you see how good our relationship is."

Rong Xia looked at the silver-haired old couple at the main seat and performed a deep salute.

—

Leaving the inner courtyard, Rong Xia paused and cast his sight towards the female guests area. Ban Hua was standing with a minister's daughter and the two of them looked very close with each other. Zhou Ping'an was a very powerful man at the Court, unfortunately out of his two sons and one daughter, only the eldest son was mature and steady while the other two were both playful idlers.

When Yan family wanted to tie the knot with Ban family, they asked Yan-furen to deliver the message, it could be seen that the Zhous and the Bans were quite close.

Zhou Ping'an was the bangyan of 20 years ago. It was most interesting that Zhou family originated in military, they attempted for a long time to transform from military to civil, but until Zhou Ping'an came along none of their descendants was of literary material. Zhou Ping'an was the one who managed to attain success in literary path.

* bangyan 榜眼 = the second place at palace examination stage of imperial examination system.

Zhou family was successful in transforming from military to civil, and Ban family was successful in transforming from military to...... idlers. It was a strike contrast between the pair, one was determined to strive upwards, while the other one was happy to dwindle downwards. It was rather amazing and worth noting that despite the consistently good relationship, they were never related in marriage. Maybe it was the lesson, the key to good relationships was not becoming in-laws.