The Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan

Chapter 47

Pinlan took the lead and stepped forward and Minglan followed suit behind her. Upon entering the inner room, what they saw were a full house of bustling female relatives. Madams and ladies, young or old, either stood or sat down, filling the room with dazzling radiance of shining jewelries. Third madam, sitting on the side, patted her thigh and laughed when she saw Minglan coming in, "Speak of the devil and she does appear!"

Minglan ignored her as if she didn't hear it, greeted after Pinlan other seniors one by one, and then stood respectfully next to Old Madam Sheng who sat up there. The old woman sat next to cousin Shulan was her mother-in-law who was wearing an auburn brocade coat and loads of hairpins stuck horizontally or vertically in her hair, plus a velvet rose. Her neck and wrists were encompassed by gold or silk jewels, making it too glaring to look straight at her.

Scholar Sun's mother had been screening at Minglan ever since she came in; not until quite a while later did she spread a smile on her heavily-wrinkled face and start to talk, "Days ago I heard my in-law third madam talk about Minglan and think nicely of her. Today I see with my own eyes. She is indeed a lady from a grand family. What a pretty girl!" Then she smiled at the two old madams sitting up there, "My nephew and she are of similar age and appearance. Why not taking this fortunate day to make them a match? How do you like it?"

Finishing the suggestion, she stared directly at the two old madams and waited for reply. All others also stopped talking and turned over to look at them.

Minglan sneered to herself because people usually wouldn't propose so straightforwardly in public out of fear of being turned down. How brazen scholar Sun's mother was! She even tried to propose for her nephew in presence of ladies from nearly half of the county's noble families in the hope that she wouldn't be turned down in public.

Well, in fact, what Minglan disliked about Sun's mother was how she screened at Minglan—in a way like selecting an egg in the market.

Old Madam Sheng used the teacup lid to drive away tealeaves, remaining silent while First Old Madam frowned a bit and intended to say something after a while when Sheng Yun spoke up first, "Dear heaven, that's a funny joke. Your nephew is nearly twenty but how old is my little niece? They are of similar age? I don't think that would be nice."

Sun's mother was a bit vexed, "What's bad he is a little older? Just put a few girls in his house first and they can serve the bride after holding the wedding ceremony."

All in the room showed various expressions. Some felt funny; some were shocked; some others shook their heads and more of them showed scorn, directly lowering their heads to whisper with one another. Minglan admired this mother so much. The niece-in-law was far yet to be decided, but she dared to talk about taking concubines for her nephew publicly, so she was here either to make trouble or really had no care of it. The ignorant was the dauntless, after all.

However, they couldn't forbid a man from having concubines, or they would be blamed for being jealous. Sheng Yun rolled her eyes with a glimmer of slyness and smiled, "While you want a good niece-in-law, we also want a nice nephew-in-law. We Sheng family have a little fame and my cousin (Minglan's father) is an official of not low ranking, let alone my nephew who is a member of the Imperial Academy handpicked by His Majesty! What about your nephew? Does he have an official ranking or real estates and shops? After all, marriage is all about better life. Name a few to impress us."

Sheng Yun's speech was fast and clear. Besides, her straightforwardness was well-known in the county, so this half-serious speech made all in the room laugh because everyone knew that the nephew of Sun's mother, whose parent died at a young age, just depended on his aunt, wandered all day, and pleased her with sweetened words.