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

C178. Household Chores for a Madam (114.6)

After Minglan dressed herself up, Xiaotao, as reluctant as she was, watched Minglan stepping out of the room slowly with the support of Caihuan. The moment Caihuan lowered her head, she saw the bracelet on Minglan's wrist, of which each of the round pearl was as big as the little finger and as bright as the stars.

Being shocked by that, Caihuan had a further understanding of the wealth of Gu's mansion. Even Wang shi only possessed a few pearls which were of the same size and quality and could only inlay them on her hairpins or bracelets. However, just now, Caihuan had seen Minglan put on a string of those pearls so randomly.

While Caihuan was still pondering of that, she and Minglan already arrived at the side hall of the House of Auspiciousness. Two crabapple flower trees next to the huge red pillars gave out a pleasant coolness in the early spring. The glass which was rare to be seen in ordinary families was made to be the windows here. As the sun shined into the hall through the transparent windows, the whole place seemed extremely bright.

The moment Minglan stepped into the hall, she saw Fifth Old Madam and her two daughters-in-law sitting there. The maids were serving tea. Having stepped forward with a smile, Minglan gave her obeisance to Fifth Old Madam and said, "Greetings, Fifth Aunt. Pardon me for being late."

Fifth Old Madam sat upright on her seat. Today she was wearing a purple red brocade Beizi with Ocean Ruyi pattern, looking even more graceful than the last time Minglan had seen her. Hearing Minglan's words, Fifth Old Madam said in a flat tone, "You are a busy girl today. I only hope you won't mind an old woman like me bothering you."

Minglan smiled gently and answered briefly, "I dare not." Then she turned around and gave her obeisance to the other two. After she had sent her regards to them, Eldest Madam Yang and Second Madam Di both stood up and returned the obeisance.

The four of them all sat down after the greetings. Second Madam Di was a young woman who was around twenty-six or seven. This elegant and noble madam was wearing a beaming smile on her fair and pretty face. Seeing the atmosphere being a bit awkward in the room, she praised, "By the way, this is the first time I have been here! How splendid this mansion is! I have thought that it would need lots of repairs since it has been vacant for so long! Now I feel myself such a shallow woman!"

Minglan smiled modestly and replied, "Second sister-in-law, I have thought the exact same thing as you did. But later I acknowledged that His Majesty has sent someone to guard this place all the time, which saved us lots of works from repairing this place."

With light flashing in Fifth Old Madam's eyes, she put on a slightly disdainful look while saying politely, "Since His Majesty has already showed appreciation for your family, why are the decorations in this room so simple? I just feel uncomfortable looking at such an empty place."

Minglan responded quickly by lowering her head shyly, "It's your nephew's idea. He said that we should open the storeroom after all the servants in the mansion have their own duties. He didn't want to see accidents happen due to the rush. I didn't want to refute him..."

Second Madam Di covered her mouth and chuckled, "Second Brother-In-Law Ye is always like that! I've never seen him change a bit. Don't blame yourself for this."

Minglan also grinned as a kind gesture. The tension in the hall was eased for the moment. Then Minglan glanced at Eldest Madam Yang, finding the latter being still quite nervous. During the whole time, Eldest Madam Yang only shrank into herself and drank the tea alone, daring not to say anything.

Minglan found that quite strange. Gu Tingyang was the eldest legal son of the Fifth family, why did...

While they were chatting with each other, Fifth Old Madam was still wearing a cold look on her face. As Minglan talked about the affairs in the mansion, Fifth Old Madam used her handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth, saying, "Since there are so many places to be fixed up here, why don't you order someone to start working as soon as possible? What's that meaning of doing those useless things?"