Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 180 Meeting

With the promotion of Marquis Tang De of Huai'an to Minister of Rites, the ladies and young women of the Marquis's mansion have gained many conveniences in their social interactions.

Now that they have secured a marriage alliance with Prince Rui's mansion, everyone in the Marquis's household is overjoyed.

The next day, Tang Yu'er, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Huai'an, arrived at the gate with her invitation as promised. Aunt Mei had instructed Yu Jingnian to wait at the gate early in the morning. As soon as Tang Yu'er and her party entered the inner hall, Aunt Mei received the news and specially brought Hua Yan and Rui Zhu to wait at the hanging flower gate.

From afar, Hua Yan could see that the person next to Tang Yu'er was wearing a bright yellow dress, who seemed to be the Fifth Miss.

As we got closer, it was indeed true.

Hua Yan couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. Her master had been quite unhappy these past two days, and the Fifth Miss, as always, knew how to crack jokes and make her feel better.

The eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion is indeed insightful. She probably worried that her younger sister (the second daughter of the Marquis's mansion) might not be well-liked. If she came to the Prince's mansion, she would have to pay her respects to the Princess Consort first. If she said something wrong in front of the Princess Consort, it would be difficult to make amends in time. Therefore, she deliberately did not bring her along.

Perhaps because the wedding date was approaching, Tang Yu'er wore a peach-red silk long jacket and a dark-patterned embroidered moon skirt. She had a pair of pearl and jade hairpins inserted diagonally in her hair. Her demeanor was elegant and graceful. After being taught by Granny Gao, she showed even more of a noble lady's style.

Aunt Mei and Hua Yan stepped forward to pay their respects. Upon seeing the Fifth Miss, Aunt Mei was overjoyed and immediately instructed Rui Zhu to inform her mistress.

The four maids following behind Tang Yu'er and the Fifth Miss bowed in greeting, one of whom was Huan Yun in disguise.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Tang Yu'er, Aunt Mei told Hua Yan to treat them well and then led Tang Yu'er and the Fifth Miss to the Ruyi Palace to pay their respects to the Princess.

Hua Yan and Huan Yun exchanged a smile, but a hint of worry inevitably appeared in Huan Yun's eyes.

"The Duke of Qing's Mansion?"

Hua Yan led Huan Yun to the room where she and Dong Gua lived. As soon as Huan Yun sat down, she asked curiously.

"That's right, when the Duke of Qing's mansion encountered its troubles, my sister happened to be in the capital..."

Undisturbed, Hua Yan and Huan Yun, who had not seen each other for a long time, wanted to learn about the old situation of the Duke's Mansion, and also took the opportunity to ask carefully about her and Ding Xiang's situation at the Di Si Pavilion on the day of the war.

Finally, we must mention Zhou Bai, but the people sent out by the Tang family have yet to send back any news.

"To be precise, my mother and I had only been in the capital with my father for a year. My father rented a small house in Yonghefang in the southwest corner of the capital. My mother and I rarely went out, and I never heard my father mention the Duke's Mansion much."

I've heard that the Duke of Qing has only held the title for three or four years. He has one son and two daughters who are his legitimate children, but I don't know how many other sons and daughters he has. When the incident happened, his eldest legitimate son was only a little over ten years old, and his legitimate daughter was about seven or eight years old..."

......

In the central hall of Yunyi Palace, the Fifth Miss affectionately clung to her elder sister's arm and played around, just as they had when they were still in Lin'an.

"Second sister, little sister Qi cried so hard, but unfortunately Mother said that the rules of the Prince's mansion are very strict and she doesn't allow me to bring her here."

Consort Zhen sighed, "Mother is right, my sister is still young."

The fifth young lady nodded, "Sixth sister has made two new kinds of incense these past few days, and Aunt Lu praised them. This time, sixth sister asked me to bring some to my sister. Doctor Zhen has also examined them and said there are no taboos."

The two sisters talked for a long time. Fortunately, Tang Yu'er knew that Consort Zhen's invitation to come was just a pretext, so she didn't mind.

However, as she walked from the gate of the mansion to the back hall, the mansion was deep and bustling with people. Especially when she went to the Ruyi Hall to pay her respects to the princess, the princess, despite her gentle appearance, inexplicably made Tang Yu'er feel a sense of oppression and fear.

For a moment, Tang Yu'er felt somewhat uneasy about the marriage to Prince Rui's mansion. Especially after seeing Hua Yan leading Huan Yun into the palace, she couldn't help but think to herself that she didn't have a capable maid like Hua Yan by her side, and that she would have to rely on herself after entering Prince Rui's mansion.

After the court session, Prince Jin learned that the family of Consort Zhen of Yunyi Palace had arrived. He specifically instructed Jingming to go to the kitchen and send a sumptuous feast to Yunyi Palace. Tang Yu'er and the Fifth Miss had lunch at Yunyi Palace before returning home.

Hua Yan didn't get much information from Huan Yun, so she followed Dong Gua to the kitchen twice, but unfortunately, she didn't see Granny Yu on either occasion.

In the following days, Prince Jin became busy again, rarely spending the night in the rear palace, and mostly resting in the Cunxin Palace.

Prince Heng's arrow wound had not yet healed, and his efforts over the past few days had been fruitless. Even Consort Min could not sway the emperor's mind. On March 20th, Prince Heng set off to take up his fiefdom, which was in Ankang County.

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