Chapter 162: Men Are from Mars (1)
Translator: Iris
Sorry that I forgot to post these two parts.
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The bashful look on Minglan’s face only lasted until she returned to the room. The moment she walked into the door with her head lowered, her hand was held by a huge hand. Then she raised her head and saw Gu Tingye looking at her with concern and apologies in his eyes. The man said, “Sorry that I have forgotten about you.”
Minglan was not that angry actually. The fierce family battle on the first day after their wedding really wore her out. So she only sighed softly, “It’s so hard to be your wife.”
Gu Tingye was speechless for a long while. After that, he held Minglan’s hand to lead her to the inside. Minglan suddenly smelled delicious scent of food. As she looked up, she found that there were already dishes being set out on the double Xi (Xi meant happiness in Chinese words) elytra pattern rosewood table. The golden sugar maize baked pancake, the milk red bean coconut flaky pastry, a few plates of seasonal snacks and Minglan’s favorite three delicacies orecchiette soup which suffused the tempting smell all around cheered her up. Then she sat by the table with joy and said with a beaming smile, “Are those prepared for me?”
Gu Tingye had been a bit upset before. But when he saw Minglan being overjoyed like a kid, he felt himself free from anxiety as well and said, “They just served this. Your servant is keen and quick in her work.” As he was saying that, he put a pair of chopsticks in Minglan’s hands and said, “Let’s eat quickly. There are still lots of things for us to do in the afternoon.”
Minglan hesitated and said, “We are going to have lunch with others after a short while...”
“You sure you’ll have an appetite when facing those people?” Gu Tingye asked that with his eyebrows raised up.
Hearing his words, Minglan jabbed the dishes with her chopsticks right away. Seeing her eating in amusement, Gu Tingye also smiled and ate more.
“What’s the rush. No one is grabbing the food from you.” With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Gu Tingye watched Minglan whose face was already bulging with food but still had to maintain the elegant manner. Her snow-white face was still covered with the gloss of the morning sun and her pink and tender lips were like the fresh lotus in June. When looking at a face like this, he felt an inexplicable warmness in his heart.
“Just now... were you scared?” Gu Tingye asked in hesitation. He knew his relatives so well that he didn’t expect they would go easy on Minglan. So he assumed that his wife might have been scolded violently by his relatives.
Minglan shook her head with her bulging face while trying hard to swallow her food, saying, “Of course not. I even have defended you in front of them!” Good things should always be told. Doing a good deed without leaving a name was not popular in this ages.
Gu Tingye got intrigued right away. Then he raised his eyebrows and asked, “You fought them back?”
When speaking of her exploits, Minglan couldn’t stop beaming at once. Having put down her spoon and chopsticks, she retold what she had said in the hall briefly. Not only did she imitate Officer Lu’s tone skillfully, she also managed to describe the facial expressions of everyone in the hall vividly.
Gu Tingye listened to her carefully with his eyes brightened up and the corner of his mouth curved like the crescent moon.
After Minglan had finished telling the story, she still seemed to have the desire to express herself, “... Lucky for them that it was me who argued with them. If my eldest brother is here, oh my... he would definitely state the loyalty, filial piety, charity and righteousness. By then, Fourth and Fifth uncle would have to kneel down before the memorial tablets in the ancestral temple!” Minglan wasn’t kidding right now. Although Changbai didn’t talk to much in ordinary times, he was still able to go straight to the point as long as he opened his mouth. His mother, Wang shi had deep experience about that.
Finally, Gu Tingye put on a smile on his face which had been sullen for a long time. He stretched out his hand to rub Minglan’s cute little nose with great tenderness in his eyes while saying in a voice sounded like the aged wine,”I thought I have left you in a wolves cave. I really have broken out in a cold sweat just now.”
Minglan bit the chopstick with a flower-like smile on her reddish face while saying in a low voice, “I’m not afraid of the wolves. The only thing I am afraid is that no one will back me up.”
Gu Tingye whose heart almost melted said immediately, “I’ll back you up! Whatever you want to do, I’ll be your support.”
Every time Minglan got pleasant, she would act very adorable. She then began to coax Gu Tingye like she used to amuse Old Madam Sheng by lying on his shoulders and chuckling like a sweet melon. In the meantime, she also served the porridge and dishes to Gu Tingye zealously like a little squirrel. Even an experienced man like Gu Tingye was melted by her. He only felt a pity that it was inconvenient to do lots of things under the broad daylight.
Having coughed stiffly, he put a steamed pork with rice flour ball into Minglan’s bowl while changing the subject, “ You... really don’t want to ask about my Fourth and Fifth Uncle?” Normally, if the bride saw a scene like that for the first time, she would surely ask her husband why those things happened in his family.
Hearing his question, Minglan who had a slow reaction finally realized that and asked, “ Oh, that’s right. Why did they say that? Hasn’t Old Madam already agreed to let us move out? Why did they treat you so bad?”
That was a good question. Minglan declared Gu Tingye’s uncles guilty at first, which made Gu Tingye stopped frowning right away. With his gloomy mood being swept away, he said smilingly, “I used to be a naughty boy when I was young. Old Madam couldn’t talk too much as my stepmother. Every time it were my uncles or aunts who told me off in front of my father. It happened so many times in lot of things.”
Minglan ruminated on his words slowly and then uttered a scornful sound inwardly. Meanwhile, she blinked her big eyes with a faint smile on her face and drawled, “Gu’s family is no nice. With the friendly uncle and aunts and genial sisters and brothers-in-laws, this family is really full of joy. I feel so grateful to be able to marry into a family like this.”
Gu Tingye was amused by that. He liked Minglan’s present tone a lot. He felt that she was like a naughty kid who played dumb and pretended to be tame deliberately but eventually failed. After they had chatted and laughed for a while, someone from the outside came in to tell them that the lunch was ready. Gu Tingye held Minglan’s little hand and walk to the outside while telling her gently about the matters which needed her attention.
As a matter of fact, Minglan felt that Gu Tingye’s concern was very unnecessary. After what had happened just now, those people there would try to create a harmonious and joyful atmosphere for sure. Then as expected, when they arrived at the table, no one talked about the conflicts just now anymore. No wonder Minglan used to be called Fortuneteller Yao in her previous life.
At the man’s table, Gu Tingye stopped wearing his cold face and acted like a respectful junior in time. His two uncles also knew how to behave. Since they knew that being tough was not useful, they chose to make the best of the circumstances and drink with Gu Tingye as their apologies. In the meantime, Minglan continued to use her courtesy words to reply to most of the questions. But as for some tough questions she couldn’t muddle through, she still had to answer them honestly.
Seeing Minglan’s refined style of conversation, Fifth Old Madam couldn’t help saying, “Have you studied in the lady’s school before? Which teacher has taught you?” Hearing her question, Gu Tingcan who had eaten her meal quietly suddenly raised her head and looked forward to Minglan’s response.
Minglan put down her chopsticks and smoothed the gold decoration on her sleeves while saying with a smile, “I haven’t been to the lady’s school. But my grandma has invited a Momo who retired from the royal palace to teach me and my sisters for a few days when I was around six or seven.”
As Gu Tingcan heard it was just a Momo who had taught Minglan, she curled the corner of her lips and lowered her head again. Fifth Old Madam shook her head and said, “That’s not right. The Momo only teaches behaviors and manners. Has your family invited any tutors for you?”
Minglan knew she couldn’t hide anymore, so she had to confess, “ When my father was promoted as the Zhizhou of Deng Prefecture that year, he invited Sir Zhuang from the capital to teach my brothers. At that time, my sisters and I were still young, so we also studied with our brothers for a few days.”
Gu Tingcan, being interested this time, moved her lips with a light flashing in her eyes. However, she still didn’t spit out a word. Meanwhile, Old Madam Qin smiled tenderly with the jade silver hair pin on her sideburn shaking slightly, “You were talking about that Sir Zhuang who has set up a private school in Prime Minister Shen’s mansion?”
Having paused her breath for a second, Minglan said with a calm look on her face, “That’s right.”
Old Madam Qin clapped her hands and laughed, “That really is a good teacher. You and your sisters are so lucky to be able to learn from him! No wonder why your speech is always so organized. It turns out that you have learned from the top. Your younger sisters-in-laws should all learn from you in the future to avoid talking nonsense. Please don’t blame Tingcan for what she said today, I have spoiled her too much since her childhood.”
Tingcan who finally couldn’t restrain herself grumbled to Old Madam Qin softly with the green gold stone earrings on her ears swinging slightly, “Mother, it’s all because of you! Why didn’t you invite a good teacher for me when I was young? Now you remember to scold me and my sisters!”
The look on Old Madam Qin’s face changed right away. But she didn’t want to rebuke Tingcan in front of everyone. In the meantime, Sister Xuan-in-law who were beside her grinned and said, “Tingcan, Sir Zhuang is not a teacher for the ladies. He only teaches the Juren and Jinshi! If you have to blame, why don’t you blame your uneducated brother! Aye... you can’t count on them. Luckily, Xiange’er and the nephews of the fifth family are all promising boys. I bet we can only rely one them in the future!”
Her words pleased Fifth Old Madam and Zhu shi a lot while making everyone satisfied at the same time. Minglan took a few glances at Sister Xuan-in-law secretly and found that Sister Xuan-in-law was actually a very considerate person who did things neatly regardless of her straight and rude words. Minglan could also tell that Sister Xuan-in-law was taking good care of her sister-in-law Tingying, who was the only daughter of Fourth Old Madam. By contrast, the eldest daughter-in-law of the fifth family seemed quite mediocre, even a bit timid. But the daughter of the fifth family, Tingling, was rather a graceful girl and talked cheerfully.
Speaking of this, Tingcan, Tingying, Tingling all looked very pretty. Tingcan was like a ganoderma lucidum on the cliff who looked comely and lofty. Tingying was more dignified and tender. As for Tingling, she really was an intelligent, sweet and adorable girl.
It took them a long time to finish the meal. As the maids and servants were about to finish cleaning up the dishes and Minglan was about to leave, Old Madam Qin invited her to the inner room. Then with Minglan’s heart sinking, she thought, “Here comes this again. What are you playing at this time?”
Gu Tingye also put on a gloomy face. After he had pondered with his head lowered for a while, he looked up to Minglan’s eyes and said, “I’ll come with you afterwards. Don’t talk too much, let me handle everything.”
Minglan nodded.
In the wing-room on the west, Old Madam Qin was sitting in the middle with Madam Shao and Zhu shi by her sides. While the three of them were chatting with each other, they heard the maids at the door called that there was a visitor, then they stood up to greet Minglan smilingly. However, when Gu Tingye showed up in the room, they all got a bit surprised.
Old Madam Qin kept a composed look. Then Zhu shi stood up in a hurry and ordered the maids to serve the tea. After that, she sat back by Madam Shao’s side. Gu Tingye made an obeisance by cupping one of his hands in the other while Minglan also showed her respect to her mother-in-law and sisters-in-laws by tidying up her dress. Afterwards, Gu Tingye sat on the chair on the upper right. That made Minglan confused again. She didn’t know if she should sit with her sisters-in-laws or her husband.
Right at this moment, Gu Tingye coughed heavily and threw a glance at Minglan. Then without any hesitation, Minglan walked toward his direction and sat down beside him. Seeing the couple’s behavior, Madam Shao and Zhu shi look at each other with meaningful expressions in their eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Old Madam Qin put down her tea cup and said amiably, “Only your wife needs to know about this.” Before Gu Tingye could answer her question, she sighed softly and said, “Well, that’s right. It’s good for you to come. It’s only one day she has married into our family and there were already too many things for her to deal with. I’m also afraid that she can’t take it. I guess you know why I invited you two here.”
Gu Tingye sat there straightly and said in a calm voice, “It’s about Rongjie’er.”
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