Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

62. Pearl and Fish Eyeball (2)

This evening, Yuan Wenshao came to Sheng Mansion after finish work and kowtow-greeted Old Madam Sheng. Then he went to chat with his father-in-law and three brothers-in-law. He was a smart guy because as a military officer inherited from the family, he could hardly build connections with noble official families. Sheng Hong's arranging of his daughter's marriage in this way made Sheng family connected with both sects.

Wang shi, in view of the fun they had, also invited her own sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Kang. Coming along with them were the newlyweds Changwu and his wife. Therefore, Sheng family opened two large tables for dinner.

On the outer table, men toasted to one another and talked about what happened in the political circle, drinking and enjoying themselves to the full. Next to them in the inner room was the table set for women. Minglan listened carefully to conversations taking place outside and thought to herself, "Indeed they have families of clans in ancient time. Even a family that gained official ranking through examinations greatly value the complicated connections with teachers and peers, but...what is the difference in modern time?"

Minglan remembered to have read in a magazine that in the future political leaders in foreign countries would be selected from several top universities such as alumnus from Cambridge or Oxford University. Once throwing a bomb in the group, the big political faces in Britain could be crashed by one drop.

Although the rankings of the officials sitting on the table outside were not too high, with Sheng Hong's fifth rank being the highest, the unity of their families formed a strong power.

Wang shi was happy about families gathering and after drinking many glasses of wine, her face turned lovingly rosy. Yet, Aunt Kang looked a bit haggard, much less beautiful than her own sister. However, Yun'er looked even prettier after getting married, which was a soothing fact. At least her daughter's marriage was a happy one. She kept toasting to Old Madam who accepted the toasts without hesitation and then went back to her room for rest with the help of Fang Mama.

Little Zhuang's face was blushingly red like having applied makeup. She and Minglan had chased each other in turn during the whole afternoon, so at present she turned active and asked to sit next to Minglan during the dinner. Hualan got more delighted seeing her daughter become outgoing.

Minglan was exhausted and began to understand a truth. No matter how shy or little a child seemed to be, once it was switched on, it would be high energy-consumption because now she wanted to get rid of it.

In the evening when the dinner was over, for fear that Minglan might feel uncomfortable after drinking too much and being blew by wind and that the girl servants couldn't take good care of her, Old Madam Sheng ordered Fang Mama to bring Minglan to the Hall of Peaceful Ages and forced her to drink a bowl of sober-up tea and a bowl of ginger soup, after which Minglan felt much better and began her wash with the help of servants in a daze. At last, with a fully crammed belly, she lied down in bed holding grandma's arm. After a while, somehow, she didn't fall asleep immediately, but turned rather sober, so the grandma and granddaughter began to chat with each other.

"When I met uncle-in-law Kang for the first time... Why is he different from what I heard of? He's much worse than daddy." Minglan recalled the scene when she kowtow-greeted him before the dinner. He had been a handsome elegant youth like Sheng Hong when they were young, but now Sheng Hong was still a cute middle-aged man while uncle-in-law Kang looked drained by excessive wine and sex with a pair of muddy eyes and arrogant manner.

Old Madam sighed, "Your daddy went through all kinds of hardships of this fickle world at a young age, so he knows what he has today is to be cherished and he acts cautiously. Yet, your uncle-in-law is the only son of his family and grew up being spoiled by Old Madam Kang..." The speech didn't go on.