What Jiang Yashuang thought was right. While Jiang Qilai had kept out of the Jiang Family’s way before, she readily said yes this time as it was about her daughter’s lifelong business. Jiang Qilai promised that she would take her husband and daughter back to Marquess Qin’s Mansion on the second day of the lunar new year.

After receiving her permission, Qiu Yelan personally went to Madame Tao to tell her about it. Of course, Jiang Qilai’s background could not be mentioned. She went straight out and said the purpose was for the marriage of the junior, “My ninth brother-in-law thinks that Lu He is a nice person. But, anyway, it is such a big thing that we are thinking that it will be better to let our niece meet Lu He in person. In case they won’t get along and have an unhappy life in the future when the elders decide it is a good idea. And then that may be a bad thing for the elders to do with their good intentions!”

“That is quite true. After all, they are the ones who are going to live their lives.” Sure enough, Madame Tao didn’t have a problem with this and said kindly, “But can Lu He formally become a student of Yashuang before the second day of the lunar new year? Without the title of Yashuang’s student, it is not convenient for him to enter the backyard. And it will be too deliberate to ask Qilai’s daughter to go to the front yard, which would not be proper for a young lady. We need to think carefully about arranging for them to meet to prevent anything awkward from happening!”

“I plan to arrange for Lu He to paint in the plum forest in the garden.” Qiu Yelan had already considered this and said, “My grandmother, at that time, I will also like to ask you to help and ask someone to guide my niece over to enjoy the plum blossoms. So, it follows logically that they can meet each other.”

Madame Tao mused, “To make it not look programmed, this has to be done by girls of similar age…” After a moment’s thought, she asked Mom Hu next to her, “Yadan’s eldest daughter seems to be in her early teens, right?”

“The eleventh junior young lady will be twelve years old after the lunar new year.” Mom Hu said quietly.

“It’s easier to ask the girl in your branch to do that.” Madame Tao said, “When the time comes, I will instruct her to receive the girl brought by Qilai. What do you think?”

It didn’t matter if Jiang Qilai was the blood of the fourth branch of the Jiang Family. Anyway, she nominally belonged to the fourth branch. When she came back to her maiden family, it was reasonable that the daughter of the eldest brother of the branch should receive her daughter.

Qiu Yelan thought it was a good arrangement, “My grandmother, it’s so considerate of you. I only thought of someone to guide my niece to enjoy the plum blossoms. But I didn’t think who was the right person to do that!”

“When you go back, stop by to see Yadan’s wife and tell her about this. It’s cold outside. And my maids here are all old bones. Just give them a chance to relax.” Madame Tao smiled.

Qiu Yelan smiled back, “My grandmother, I have bothered you a lot. How can I have your servants to go over there?”

She accompanied Madame Tao for a while longer before retiring and then she excused herself to leave.

When she returned to the fourth branch, she went to see Chu Yitong just as Madame Tao asked. However, she didn’t see her, same as the last time. According to Mrs. Zhu, “My young madame has been vomiting for the past two days. It was constant that she was too tired to see guests! The nineteenth young madame, I beg your pardon!”

Qiu Yelan expressed her understanding and then explained the reason for her visit. And then Mrs. Zhu said, “The eleventh junior young lady has been raised by Mistress Gu. How about asking Mistress Gu to come here?”

When Gu E’nuo arrived, she agreed that she would tell Jiang Huizhu to get along with Jiang Qilai’s daughter.

When this was done, it was the agreed time for Qiu Yelan’s appointment with Mei Xue and Qiu Qian.

“You called us here in the lunar new year. Are you going to give us luck money?” As soon as they met, Qiu Qian joked.

“The lunar new year is yet to come. And you haven’t paid a new year call to me. How can I give you lucky money?” Qiu Yelan, smiling, motioned with her hands for the servants to leave. After that, she said, “Besides, you’re not a child who needs lucky money to buy candy. If you ask me… It’s good to have someone who knows how to take thorough care of you!”

With that, Mei Xue and Qiu Qian knew why she invited them to go over today.

Qiu Qian turned down the corners of her mouth. When she was about to say something, Mei Xue passed a wink to silence her and said with a smile, “Qiu Nie and I are also getting anxious as Qiu Qian still doesn’t marry at this age. As you know, the marriage of a girl is very important. If she can’t find the right person, we’d rather her stay single than marry someone she doesn’t like. After all, she is Qiu Nie’s only younger sister. He doesn’t want her to suffer!”

“The man who proposed the marriage, Cheng Xide, asked my fourteenth sister-in-law to sound out when I was in my postpartum confinement. I heard from my fourteenth sister-in-law that they still wanted to have Qiu Qian marry into their family. I’m wondering why Qiu Nie refused the marriage.” Qiu Yelan explained, “I’m not trying to persuade you to say yes to the Cheng Family. I just have heard that Cheng Xide seems to be a good person. And the Cheng Family he comes from has a good family tradition, right?”

“It was because of the good family tradition of the Cheng Family that my brother refused!” Qiu Qian found that there was nothing to be embarrassed about and so she said dismissively, “My brother said that that kind of family was the one who most concerned about the virtuousness of girls, and that as how I am, I certainly wouldn’t be happy if I married into that family!”

“But I heard that Cheng Xide’s parents had died. He lived with his uncle Cheng Jin in his early years. And he has moved out of Cheng’s Mansion to live alone since the second half of this year, hasn’t he?” Qiu Yelan said, “In that case, it seems that his wife doesn’t need to see other people of the Cheng Family frequently, right?”

Mei Xue was a bit surprised, “Didn’t he live with Cheng Jin’s family? From what we heard earlier, he was staying with his uncle. It is said that Cheng Hanlin is so upright that he insisted on not repudiating her daughter’s marriage when news came that Xue Nongying was dying… Though his character is respectable, he is so strict with his daughter. And how would he treat his nephew-in-law? The fact is that Qiu Qian is not able to bear the constraints of an orthodox scholar’s family. So, Qiu Nie will never agree.”

Qiu Yelan got what she meant. Qiu Nie and she both thought Cheng Xide was a very nice person. They were just worried about the atmosphere of the Cheng Family. After all, a leopard didn’t change its spots. Qiu Qian’s experience made her who she was. She could pretend to be virtuous and tame for a while. But it would be too painful if she was asked to curb her sharpness and pretend to be gentle and virtuous for the rest of her life.

“The mansion seems to be the one that his parents were interested in when his father served as an official in Jing City. Unfortunately, they passed away before they could buy it. Later, Cheng Jin sent someone to Jing City to take care of his parents’ affairs and bring him to live with them. Last year, when he won in the imperial examination, he remembered his parents’ wish and bought it as a tribute to them.”

Qiu Yelan said what she had recently heard. After all, she needed to prepare something as she wanted to ask Mei Xue about the Cheng Family’s marriage proposal. So, at this moment, she told them all about it, “But that mansion has been unoccupied for the last few years. It takes quite a few days to get the mansion ready to live. Cheng Xide is grateful for Cheng Jin’s raising him. So, even though the mansion is ready in the first half of the year, he didn’t move into that mansion until he spent the Mid-Autumn Festival with Cheng Jing and the others of the Cheng Family. The mansion is just two streets ahead, not far from here. I have asked someone to find out about it. It’s a house with three yards, well-designed.”

Mei Xue thought in her heart, “If it is two streets ahead, it is not close to Cheng’ Mansion! If Qiu Qian marries Cheng Xide, it will be inconvenient for them to have much contact with the Cheng Family too often.”

“Cheng Xide is nearly ten years older than Qiu Qian. He is going to turn thirty.” Mei Xue mused, “But considering his status as Number One Scholar, he may not be a bad choice for Qiu Qian… If the Cheng Family doesn’t impose their requirements of being gentle, frugal, and virtuous on Qiu Qian, this marriage can be a good one!”

In the past two years, Qiu Yelan had introduced several people to Qiu Qian. But she had not been able to marry her off. Mei Xue and Qiu Nie, who were more like people in Jianghu, were careless about trivial things. But when they found Qiu Qian just idled away her time and was about to turn twenty, they became anxious as well!

The main reason for refusing Cheng Xide before was that they were afraid that Qiu Qian would be pressured by Cheng Jin and other elders after she married into their family. Now that they knew that Cheng Xide did not live with the elders anymore and that it was Cheng Xide who intended to propose marriage to Qiu Qian, Mei Xue was immediately moved. She raised her head, “And then how about I go back and discuss it with Qiu Nie again?”

Qiu Yelan nodded, “Anyway, we can’t let Qiu Qian be badly treated!”

… After this meeting, the lunar new year came.

At the banquet of the Lunar New Year’s Eve, all the members of Marquess Qin’s Mansion, except Marquess Qin who was still sick, dressed up and attended the banquet.

Madame Ho and Madame Jin, who had for the first time seen such a big occasion, were very nervous.

After all, they were only the daughters of country squires. Their father and brothers were not even county magistrates. Although they had known before that the Jiang Family in Jing City was very distinguished, a picture was worth a thousand words. They had never even met a Prefectural Governor before. Suddenly, they were going to the palace to see the noblest people, including Empress Dowager, Emperor, Empress, and Noble Consort. Even if they knew they were relatives, how could they not be terrified?

Mothers were so nervous, not to mention their daughters.

Jiang Yazhao’s two daughters, the second junior young lady Jiang Huiyan and the third junior young lady Jiang Huili, were even so timid that they wanted to refuse to go there on the pretext of being sick.

“How can you do that?” Madame Ho was also afraid that her daughters, who might be frightened, would be disgraced if they went to the palace and did something improper. So, she thought that although it was a pity not to go there, it was secure.

But when she reported this idea to Madame Tao, Madame Tao rejected it without hesitation, “If you don’t take the younger children, it is all right. But Huiyan and Huili have reached marriageable age. It’s just because too many things have been going on at home during the past few months since you arrived in Jing City. Otherwise, I would have asked their aunts to take them out more often! How can they miss such a great opportunity to go to the banquet in the palace?”

As an ally of the fourth branch, Madame Tao didn’t try quite hard to persuade the great-granddaughters of the second branch. The reason why she said so was mainly that she did not want to fall foul of the people. After all, the rest of the generation of the Jiang Family, such as the three children raised by Jiang Yashuang and his wife, would all be brought to the banquet this time. If the girls from the second branch, who were of a proper age to stay social, were not brought there, Marquess Qin’s Mansion might be criticized that they did not take enough care of the branch of Kui Xiannan.

Sure enough, Madame Tao didn’t want to take that loss.

However, Madame Ho was truly grateful, “My second grandaunt, thank you for your advice. I’ll go and tell them to practice their manners so that they won’t lose face of the Jiang Family!”

Madame Ho had only one biological child, the third junior young lady, Jiang Huili. Madame Ho was good to her concubine-son Jiang Jingmu, but she wanted her own flesh and blood to have a good future. Madame Tao was close to saying explicitly, “If you’re lucky, maybe a noble family have an eye on your daughter at the banquet in the palace. If you keep her at home and no one else can see her, why should others come to the door to propose to her? If you really care for her, you shouldn’t spoil her by saying no.” Naturally, Madame Ho would do everything to coax her daughters to attend the banquet.

“You are thinking too much about losing the face of the Jiang Family… Empress Dowager is your fourth aunt and Empress is your cousin. Neither of them is an outsider. What have you got to be afraid of?” Madame Tao smiled lightly. In her heart, she thought, “My two grandnieces-in-law are so honest as they have just come to Jing City. Why should the Jiang Family be afraid of losing face? Over the years, the Jiang Family has been humiliated enough for the sake of Jiang Yadan and Jiang Qiyun. What big fuss could two great-granddaughters make in the banquet?”

… It turned out that although Madame Tao had seen a bit of life, there were times when she was wrong. Jiang Huiyan and Jiang Huili, the two of her juniors, really caused a furor at the banquet of the Lunar New Year’s Eve!