Chapter 171: Jiang Family Banquet
The air was slightly cool. The sunlight was just right. Deep green leaves still hung on the branches. There were also some leaves that were pure yellow, shimmering like gold.
The garden in the courtyard had been carefully designed. The planted trees were arranged to cycle through the seasons. Each season offered a different kind of beauty. If it snowed in winter, it would surely be another kind of scenery.
The stage was set up by the pond. The viewing platform was slightly elevated and had shaded areas; if one wanted to bask in the sun, they could just stretch their legs out a bit.
Jiang Mianmian lay on a small lounge chair, very satisfied with her viewing spot. This life, these days, this feeling—it was simply fantastic.
Aunt Yin looked at the little girl attempting to kick off her embroidered shoes and glared at her slightly. Seeing her smile at her, acting cute, she thought: acting cute wouldn’t work.
Aunt Yin bent down to take off the loose embroidered shoes, rubbed the soles of her feet, and then helped her put them back on properly. “A young lady should not do that.”
Jiang Mianmian flashed a sweet, obedient smile at Great-Aunt. It wasn’t like she meant anything by it; she was just momentarily possessed by the spirit of a spoiled heir and felt like kicking them off.
Great-Aunt wiped her hands again, set things out, and prepared to brew Gongfu Tea.
She had researched this with Eunuch Duan, and with the little master offering a few hints on the side, the tea-brewing process became more impressive with every attempt. Aunt Yin had a feeling that if she mastered this method of brewing tea, her life would reach new heights.
The little master even encouraged her to write it down. She said she could publish a book that would be passed down through the ages, with titles like “Origin of the Yin Family Gongfu Tea,” “The Classic of Tea,” “Dr. Tea,” or “Jingzhou Tea Brewing Method”…
It was said so convincingly that even Aunt Yin, an old nanny who had been immersed in the imperial palace for decades, felt her heart racing with excitement.
This little master’s mouth—she was a devil at sweet-talking. If she could sweet-talk her, then she probably wouldn’t have to worry about the little master’s future marriage being disharmonious.
Although she had taken on the management of all the affairs of the mansion and was training the newcomers, Aunt Yin still placed serving the little master as the top priority in her work order.
Jiang Mianmian watched Aunt Yin fiddle with the small charcoal and boil the tea water, sitting to the side and saying, “Mountain spring water is best for brewing tea. If you collect clean snow in winter, that is also extremely elegant. Anyway, Great-Aunt, just make it as difficult as possible; I guarantee a crowd will go crazy following it.”
Aunt Yin:… Although the little master’s tone made one want to smack her, she seemed to make a lot of sense. The little master understood the attributes of those nobles in certain aspects better than she did.
Pang Ya watched obediently from the side, holding a fan. She wasn’t fanning because it wasn’t hot, but she was ready to shoo away any mosquitoes or insects that might fly by.
Jiang Mianmian lay back and watched the first act on stage. Pretty young ladies wearing scant, transparent gauze skirts came out, lifting their legs high.
The dance steps were quite graceful, but there were frequent high-leg-lifting movements. There were no underpants in ancient times. When Jiang Mianmian thought of this, she nearly spat out the tea she was drinking.
Aunt Yin’s face also darkened. These songstresses and dancers had no future. Looking at this display, it was clearly meant for the little master, yet they brought this dross for her to watch.
Jiang Mianmian watched very intently; the young ladies had very long legs. It was quite provocative. Among them was a girl with a seductive figure but a very pure and beautiful face—both innocent and alluring, very unique.
Jiang Mianmian watched the dance performance carefully. Overall, it felt pretty good, though the music was a bit monotonous.
Perhaps it was because this was just a small Song and Dance Troupe performing at home. Plus, even if one hadn’t seen it live in modern times, one would have seen plenty on TV, computers, or phones.
Modern dance was the culmination of thousands of years of brilliant creation; what was before her belonged to a primitive stage and was a bit lacking. Of course, looking at the legs was enough. After all, they were real legs. However, there were no props on stage.
It would be best to have a few poles; if they danced around the poles, like a pole dance, it would actually be more seductive. When she thought of pole dancing, Jiang Mianmian turned to look at Great-Aunt. Great-Aunt had no particular expression, so it should be fine… It was art, not disgraceful. She shouldn’t get beaten for it, right? She wasn’t the one dancing; she was watching other young ladies dance.
Next, she listened to the young ladies singing—the kind where one person played the zither while another sang.
The pronunciation of the lyrics was a bit blurry. Jiang Mianmian felt that Mother probably didn’t know what kind of nature this Song and Dance Troupe had; otherwise, she wouldn’t have easily agreed to give them to her.
The young lady sat there singing. Jiang Mianmian didn’t understand the lyrics, nor did she really understand the zither music, but she noticed that the young lady’s “pandas” were so big, so round, and so white~~ This young lady was like a ripe peach. So big and white—who could resist that? Who would have the heart to listen to the song? She suspected that this Song and Dance Troupe was not a proper one.
Aunt Yin’s cheek twitched slightly. Seeing her little master staring at the person intently, looking very absorbed… she must have overthought it; the little master was too young to understand those things.
Aunt Yin had a young maid beside her go to the backstage to pass on a message. Stop singing and dancing, and put on some proper Jingzhou opera.
She shouldn’t let them corrupt the little master. What was all this? That Officer Xiao He was not kind; the artists he left behind were too improper. The next act was a proper Jingzhou opera.
As soon as the act started, a beautiful woman appeared, though she was quite tall. When she opened her mouth to sing, it was even more tender and affectionate. Jiang Mianmian remembered that everyone in the troupe was male.
This “woman” came out, with such a graceful figure and such affectionate eyes, that she instantly overshadowed the real women from before.
The performer wore a costume that covered the neck tightly, not even revealing an Adam’s apple, but the posture made you completely forget the big, white “pandas” that had been slumped over the zither earlier.
When a man turned on the charm, women didn’t stand a chance. His legs were also covered tightly, hiding his large feet, but it somehow made you want to shout at him to show his legs…
Next, a man came up, dressed in a style somewhat reminiscent of Jia Baoyu, with red lips and white teeth, exchanging lines.
Then an old woman and an old dan (female role) came on stage, clashing and clanging, waving spears back and forth. There were fight scenes and displays of vocal skills, with long, drawn-out notes.
Although she was a transmigrator, she hadn’t left home much since she was little; she was a pure native who hadn’t been exposed to this and couldn’t understand it.
The opera seemed slightly less interesting than the singing and dancing. The basic skills looked quite solid. Jiang Mianmian watched until she felt drowsy.
Aunt Yin had often accompanied the Empress Dowager to watch operas in the palace; what was before her was a small scene, just average.
After watching the live song, dance, and drama performances, it was time for lunch. After lunch, she took a nap, and when she woke up, it was nearly three o’clock. She was still young and didn’t have any lessons requiring manual labor.
Using her mouth was fine. She went back to fussing over her Song and Dance Troupe. She prepared to arrange a symphony piece, “Happy Birthday,” for her brother’s birthday banquet.
There was fabric and a tailor in the mansion, so Jiang Mianmian had people prepare the costumes.
For her brother’s birthday gift, they needed to dress properly—sexy without exposing skin. That opera performer who played the female role didn’t expose anything but was still very sexy.
Anyway, Jiang Mianmian threw herself into the process. It didn’t matter if she didn’t understand music; everyone knew how to sing “Happy Birthday.” She looked busy.
Soon, it was the birthday of Commander Jiang’s eldest son.
Those who received the invitation couldn’t help but twist their mouths. The government’s approach to officials who were Rebels and had been pardoned was always the same: try to corrupt them, wear down their fighting spirit, and make them blend into the officialdom quickly.
They feared the Rebels’ troops and feared they would rebel. If they lost their fighting spirit and only wanted to get promoted and get rich, what else was there to fear? There were plenty of ways to deal with them. The officialdom was very complicated and could make a peerless warrior docile and play with them like a donkey.
But this Jiang the Second was corrupting a bit too quickly. He had just arrived, hadn’t even stood on firm ground, and was already starting to amass wealth. Usually, when it was a Mother’s birthday, everyone sent gifts. But he was sending out invitations for his son’s birthday to collect gifts—that was crossing the line.
Actually, when Fenger’s birthday came around, Jiang Changtian had considered whether to bring over Old Madam Jiang, that convenient tool, to celebrate her birthday next month. No, wait, next month seemed to be Shaoxia’s birthday. Then the month after that would be fine.
When Jiang Changtian arrived at the Prefecture City, he discovered he had no real work to do.
The Official Rank granted by the Imperial Court upon amnesty was actually a joke. If he really tried to do something and took himself seriously, it would be laughable; he had no soldiers, no men, and no weapons.
Therefore, he decided to focus on amassing wealth—if you don’t take it, it’s a waste—and continue training and raising soldiers. Those who had been pardoned could only continue to rebel if they wanted to be promoted; rebellion, amnesty, promotion—that was the only sustainable path for development.
Those invited to attend Jiang Feng’s birthday, upon seeing the father and son of the Jiang Family, had to admit something.
Commander Jiang was beautiful; everyone had seen him.
Every time they saw him, they were stunned. But they hadn’t expected Commander Jiang’s eldest son to be so outstanding as well.
Although there was a scar on his forehead, it didn’t affect his appearance in the slightest. However, no powerful or noble families wanted to intermarry.
After all, the true elites still viewed Commander Jiang and those who had been pardoned as clowns, waiting for the Imperial Court to deal with them. Let them be arrogant for now and send generous gifts; later, they would all have to spit it back out.
Many people came. It was very lively. Jiang Yu was fortunate enough, under the guidance of Great-Aunt, to arrange a large group dinner—a grand gathering—and she was quite excited. Her focus was on eating the banquet.
Meanwhile, Great-Aunt still had to teach Lady Qin how a lady of the house should host a large reception banquet. Besides eating and drinking, there were many other details.
The personal safety of the guests, whether any unscrupulous people among the guests would break into the back quarters, and whether disputes between guests would affect the banquet—banquets were generally large-scale accident scenes.
Especially in the capital, gatherings where noble young ladies congregated often staged events including, but not limited to, chance encounters, getting soaked, falling into rivers, poisoning, miscarriages, secret betrothals, catching adulterers, passing secret notes, etc… Especially for women who were to be married, every year there were a few fools who were eliminated in such banquets.
Qin Luoxia had originally wanted to look at one or two young ladies, but after hearing Aunt Yin say this, she was a bit nervous.
As it turned out, on that day, no one brought their daughters, and not many brought their female relatives.
This was awkward. It showed that although their family had moved to the Prefecture City, they had not been accepted by the upper-class nobility. Even the social interaction among ladies hadn’t begun.
The men of the families just had to come and hold their noses while sending gifts. The womenfolk of the big families and powerful households in the Prefecture City were all waiting to see the joke of this birthday banquet.
Mud-legged people were indeed mud-legged people; who invites people to celebrate a junior’s birthday? Who knew how shabby this banquet would be?
They were all waiting to see the joke. Qin Luoxia saw that the female guests hadn’t come and realized the problem.
However, she was not the type to shrink back. Since Aunt Yin said there was absolutely no problem, there was definitely no problem.
She believed in Aunt Yin. She would do her part; as long as she didn’t let any guests die in the house, the rest was none of her business…
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