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

C158. Faces in Marquis Ningyuan's Mansion (2)

Old Madam Qin had already been in the ancestral temple. The moment she saw Gu Tingye and Minglan, she walked toward them and said with a gentle smile, "You must be so tired yesterday. Come on, pray and kowtow to the ancestors."

The maids had already prepared the cattail hassocks and the incense. Minglan glanced over and saw a brand new memorial tablet in the center of the bottom row on which written 'In memory of my beloved father, Yankai Gu'. Minglan was well aware of what she should do next. She followed Gu Tingye closely and fell on her knees on the cattail hassock. After that, she burnt the incense and prayed. At last, she put the incense back into the censor to finish the whole procedure. Minglan turned around and saw that Gu Tingye was starting at an old memorial tablet on the right of the bottom row, on which written 'In memory of my beloved mother, Bai shi'. The expression in his eyes seemed a bit gloomy.

Having collected herself again, Minglan saw that there were actually two smaller memorial tablets beside the memorial tablet of Gu Tingye's father. One belonged to Bai shi, who was also Minglan's real mother-in-law. The other one which looked more delicate and exquisite had the words 'In memory of my beloved mother, Qin shi' on it. Minglan couldn't help but look at Old Madam Qin and think, 'If she dies, what will be written on her memorial tablet? Since a woman's first name couldn't be written on the tablet in this age, there will be two same memorial tablets by then.'

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Gu Tingye came back to earth quickly. He then turned around and said, "We should give obeisance to Old Madam now."

Old Madam Qin was sitting on one side of the hall with a sad look on her face. Hearing what Gu Tingye had said, she wiped the tears on the corner of her eyes and waved her hands, saying gently, "Just skip that, skip that."

"The etiquette can not be abolished. Old Madam, please don't refuse." Gu Tingye said that in a low voice but with a rather resolute attitude. Minglan was very sharp-witted to follow her husband's lead. She told Danju to put those two cattail hassocks in front of Old Madam Qin and made a kneeling down posture.

Seeing that she couldn't get away with this, Old Madam Qin then sat tight and accept Gu Tingye and Minglan's obeisance with a smile. After the couple had stood up, Minglan received a pair of extremely transparent jade bracelets with spun gold inlaid and a heavy bronze color gourd-shaped brocade pouch with pearl inlaid.

'Kowtowing to Old Madam Qin is quite worth it.' Minglan thought.

"Go to see your eldest brother now." Old Madam Qin looked at them and said that with her eyes glistening with tears, "He never had a single day of joy over the past two years. Before the New Year's Eve, his condition was even worsened. Now he has to stay on the bed all day. I bet he will be so happy to see you getting married."

With the look on Gu Tingye's face turned sullen, he seemed to fall into sadness too. Then he said lightly, "Of course we will visit him."

Then, Gu Tingye and Minglan walked to the main yard with a large retinue. The crowd was quiet on the way. Only Old Madam Qin talked about Gu Tingye's brother's condition from time to time. However, Old Madam Qin couldn't talk too much in order to keep her demure figure as an elder. So she also quieted down after saying a few words. Minglan who had just married into the family also couldn't speak too much. Then she decided to shut her mouth like a clam while pretending to be bashful. At the same time, Gu Tingye had no intention to speak at all with a sullen look on his dark face. Minglan assumed that if she asked him why he looked like this, he would definitely answer, "I feel so sad for my brother's illness."

According to Minglan's observation, this man would definitely say what he didn't think.

After all the people had walked for a quarter, they finally arrived at the main yard. As they entered the inner yard, they all smelled a strong scent of medical decoction. Minglan followed Old Madam Qin into a large bedroom where the woolen carpet was laid on the tile floor. There was no decorations in this room because all kinds of medical pots and furnaces had already piled up from the table by the wall to the bed. Even the utility cabinet had been full of tins and bottles. It had already been the spring in March, the furnace fire was still burning vigorously in this room.