Chapter 803 - 805: The Old Lady’s Warning_1
Bai Ruozhu felt a bit embarrassed, thinking that red flowers need green leaves as foils, yet she hadn’t intended to dazzle everyone today—she just didn’t want to let Meng Family’s Old Lady lose face. As a modern soul, she wasn’t particularly concerned about such ancient splendor.
But she nevertheless appreciated the kind gesture, bowing slightly to the Meng Family’s Old Lady, she said, "Grandmother, I have arrived."
The Old Lady’s eyes crinkled deeper with her smile, "Good, good, good child." Especially when she saw that Bai Ruozhu was wearing the tourmaline necklace and earrings she had given her, she nodded her head in great satisfaction.
"Sister Ruozhu, from now on you’ll be our sister, you must look after us, ah! If there are any new styles, you have to let us know first," Meng Jinse looped her arm through Bai Ruozhu’s while speaking with a coquettish tone.
Bai Ruozhu laughed, "I knew you were thinking about this. Here, this is for you." She said as she drew two coin purses from her sleeve and handed one to each of them.
At that time, everyone used pouches; it was Meng Jinxiu and Meng Jinxia’s first time seeing such tiny, round coin purses shaped like goldfish, and they couldn’t help but find them adorable.
"Wow, so cute, thank you, sister!" Even the composed Meng Jinse, still a girl in her teens, had heart-shaped eyes when she saw the little goldfish coin purse.
Meng Jinxia was rather shy, not as overt as Meng Jinse, but her eyes were bright and her smiling face slightly reddened, a clear sign of her fondness.
"Eh, how do you open this?" Meng Jinse held the coin purse in her hand, trying unsuccessfully to open it.
Bai Ruozhu took it from her, pointing to the clasp at the top, "Right here, just push the clasp forward and back with two fingers, and it’ll open."
This little part was custom-made by a craftsman hired by Bai Ruozhu. Although the gadget was simple, it was not commonly used in ancient times.
Following Bai Ruozhu’s instructions, the Meng sisters tried and managed to open it. Inside the fish was a satin lining that could hold broken silver and silver banknotes, while outside the fish’s mouth hung a thin cord ending with a hook, which piqued their curiosity once again.
Bai Ruozhu explained with a smile, "The hook is designed to be hung on an internal hook in the bag, making the coin purse easy to find inside. Of course, you can also hang it outside the bag as an ornament—it looks very pretty that way."
Upon hearing this, the Meng sisters eagerly hung their little goldfish on their bags. Meng Jinse’s fish was embellished with gold thread and the eyes were tiny gold beads. Meng Jinxia’s had small pearls adorning its body, with obsidian eyes—each dazzling in its own way, and both were exquisitely cute.
Bai Ruozhu wore a water-pink eight-panel Linglong skirt that day. Her dress wasn’t overly ornate, adorned only with entwining gardenia flowers embroidered along the cuffs, neckline, and hem, making her appearance both radiant and elegantly noble.
The tourmaline jewelry on her neck and ears added vibrancy to her outfit, so she carried only a small gold powder evening bag.
When she accompanied the Old Lady in making her entrance, she immediately drew everyone’s attention. People came forward to greet the Old Lady, but their eyes were on her handbag, as well as on the coin purses hanging from the Meng sisters’ bags, practically bulging with interest.
Women love beauty, and perhaps among the circle of unmarried celebrities, they might compete more in literary grace, music, chess, calligraphy, painting and the like, sometimes selecting a "Talented Lady" from among themselves. But in the circle of married noblewomen, they had little inclination for literary pursuits. Instead, when attending banquets, the competition was about who dressed more beautifully, whose clothes and accessories were more splendid, and who sported the freshest styles.
And now, Hua Xiangrong has become the fashion trendsetter of Beiyu City, and Bai Ruozhu, as the owner of Hua Xiangrong, naturally became the focus of everyone’s attention.
Once the formalities of greeting each other were over, Old Mistress Meng said to the crowd, "The reason for inviting everyone here today is, on one hand, to foster connections and feelings among us and, on the other hand, to introduce a foster granddaughter I’ve acknowledged, so that everyone may meet her."
As she spoke, she took Bai Ruozhu’s hand and gently patted the back of it, saying with a smile, "Ruozhu is a girl who really caught my eye. She even cured my teeth. From now on, she is my granddaughter, and I hope you all will take extra care of her. She, along with her husband Jiang Yichun, is undertaking official duties in our Beiyu City, which isn’t easy, so please be supportive. If any of you dare to bully my dear granddaughter, this old woman won’t stand for it." She concluded with a big laugh, as if it were all just in jest.
In Old Mistress Meng’s words, there was a deeper meaning, and how could these shrewd noblewomen fail to hear it? Many agreed immediately, then congratulated Old Mistress Meng on acknowledging such an outstanding granddaughter, naturally followed by a burst of praise from everyone.
Bai Ruozhu kept a polite smile on her face and nodded to everyone, but her eyes observed each person’s expression; some were genuinely congratulatory, others merely perfunctory, showing neither particular interest nor dislike, yet there were those who smiled on the surface but had sarcasm in their eyes, probably looking down upon her status.
Of course, there were also those with fewer smiles on their faces and indignation flickering in their eyes.
Needless to say, one of them was Wang Miaoshuang. Since Old Mistress Meng was hosting a banquet, it would have been improper for her not to appear as a daughter-in-law. Another, Bai Ruozhu observed carefully, had features somewhat resembling those of Tu Bai; they say sons resemble their mothers, and she was likely the wife of Tu Lie.
Indeed, the couple Tu Lie was quite annoyed about Jiang Yichun’s sudden appointment.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t pay much attention to Madame Tu, especially since Old Mistress Meng had already given everyone a heads-up. Even if someone wanted to harm her, they should consider their own weight, and as for advising Tu Lie, she would leave that to Brother Tu Bo and Sister Tu Ying later on.
The banquet was set up buffet-style by the lake in the back garden of the Meng Family residence, allowing people to eat freely while chatting and even to boat on the lake if they wished, all at their leisure. However, as most of today’s attendees were married women, very few young girls were present, so not many were inclined towards boating.
While Bai Ruozhu was fetching food with the Meng sisters, some approached her to make friendly overtures. They started by asking if she wanted to order the same goldfish coin purse as the Meng sisters and, after some chatter, the topic shifted to Bai Ruozhu’s husband.
"I heard you went to the Capital City recently, accompanying your husband, right?" the lady inquired.
Seeing her curiosity, Bai Ruozhu responded frankly, "Yes, my husband had an accident and fell off a cliff. It was not until recently that we found him and our son. Afterwards, we followed him back to the Capital City to report to his post, and then the Emperor assigned him here to Beiyu City."
"Oh, the Emperor is indeed a wise ruler, valuing Lord Jiang so highly because he is young and promising," replied the lady with a cheerful smile.
Bai Ruozhu smiled back and said, "My husband is still young, after all, and he will surely need the care and guidance of his seniors in the future."
The lady was very pleased by this and said, "You are too modest."
Just then, a discordant voice sounded nearby, "Of course he wouldn’t dare claim to be young and promising; he ought to remember the scandal he caused back then in the Capital..."