Jiang Chuling scampered back to her seat, picked up her chopsticks with a bright smile, and said openly, “Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!”
The little girl’s interruption instantly lightened the atmosphere at the main table.
At least when it came to Yu Xiang, the veiled amusement of watching a joke had disappeared.
Quanshi was steeped in Confucian culture and held such things as the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues—and all manner of feudal dregs—in the highest regard.
Thus, the only two women seated at the main table were Yu Xiang, who had earned her place because she had paid for the renovation of the family homes and the clan ancestral hall, and Jiang Chuling’s aunt, He Guilan.
The latter worked for the government, which automatically placed her a generation above the others. She could sit on equal terms with the elders.
Qiuyun studied her from across the crowd.
She had a round, fair, unfamiliar face and wore her hair in a low ponytail. Having spent years working in an office, she had maintained smooth, delicate skin, but her eyebrows were perpetually raised and she liked to squint at people, as if she looked down on every commoner around her.
After thinking it over, Qiuyun lowered her head and sent Sister Zhou a text.
“Hey, you’re from the Jiang family too. How come I’ve never seen you before?”
A middle-aged woman sitting beside Qiuyun asked curiously, “You’re not the girlfriend of the Jiang family’s eldest or second son, are you?”
“No. I’m the young miss’s assistant. I take care of her daily needs and handle some miscellaneous errands,” Qiuyun replied.
“Assistant?”
The woman immediately lost interest. “Don’t assistants usually eat in the room next door? How come you’re sitting in the main room?”
Qiuyun answered gracefully, “The young miss has been avoiding certain foods lately, so I came over to look after her while she eats.”
The woman curled her lips. She clearly wanted to ask what kind of girl was so precious, but with so many people around, she swallowed the words.
Instead, she turned to Jiang Lin’an. “Hey, nephew, do you have a girlfriend? I have a niece who’s very pretty—and she’s even a college student! Why don’t I introduce you two?”
Jiang Lin’an politely declined. “Sorry, Third Aunt. I already have a girlfriend.”
Third Aunt looked disappointed, then turned her attention to the next eligible bachelor.
Jiang Linzhi quickly raised a hand and said with a grin, “Don’t even think about it, Third Aunt. I’m still in my final year of high school. I have to take the college entrance exam in June.”
A high school senior was not supposed to date.
Third Aunt turned back. “That girlfriend of yours is probably a rich young lady with a terrible temper and impossible to please, right? She certainly can’t compare with a girl from an ordinary family like ours. We know how to be considerate, gentle, and caring. Why don’t you give my niece a chance? You’re young—just make another friend.”
Jiang Chuling’s teeth began to ache from listening.
Wasn’t this woman encouraging her brother to cheat and take a mistress?
An idea suddenly occurred to her. Remembering Sister Xiaoqiu’s theory that the best way to silence someone was to strike at their weakest point, she said, “Third Aunt, you should stop trying to persuade him. My brother argued with our parents for ages over his girlfriend. In the end, he even ran away from home, but he still insisted on staying with her!”
Third Aunt’s eyes widened. “Why? Why didn’t your parents approve?”
Ignoring her eldest brother’s murderous stare, Jiang Chuling continued to twist the knife. “Because they aren’t well matched, of course! His girlfriend’s family probably isn’t even as well-off as yours.”
“What?!”
Third Aunt was stunned.
She had been eyeing this eligible bachelor for two or three years. If her daughter hadn’t been within five degrees of kinship, she would have tried to bring him home as her son-in-law. Who would have thought some girl from an even poorer family would get to him first?
“How could that be all right?” Third Aunt immediately turned her attention to persuading Jiang Lin’an from the opposite direction. “You really ought to listen to your parents. A gap that big in family background means your horizons won’t match, and neither will your values. You’re bound to have conflicts later!”
Jiang Lin’an looked at his aunt, then at his little sister, and sighed. He accepted the reputation of being hopelessly lovesick and added one final blow.
“Third Aunt, my parents aren’t against us anymore. Your advice won’t do any good.”
At least with that reputation, he would no longer be bombarded with marriage proposals every year whenever he came back here.
Once Third Aunt heard that even his parents had been unable to change his mind and had ultimately given in, her mouth twisted with sour resentment.
How had such a wonderful opportunity not fallen to her family?
Halfway through the meal came the most dreaded part of any family banquet: the toasting.
Children did not have to drink alcohol, but they were expected to raise a glass of soda and offer a toast to every elder.
Jiang Chuling picked up her drink, intending to follow her two brothers and muddle through it with them.
Starting with Old Uncle Seventh, the oldest and most senior member of the Yu family, Jiang Chuling had to address him as Great-Granduncle.
“Wishing Great-Granduncle happiness as vast as the Eastern Sea and a life as long as the Southern Mountains.”
“Wishing Grandpa good health and the fulfillment of all his wishes.”
“Wishing Second Grandpa happiness every day and a smile on his face.”
…
After making the rounds, they reached her aunt.
Following her brothers’ lead, Jiang Chuling said, “Wishing Auntie success in your career and smooth sailing at work.”
“Wait.”
He Guilan stopped her.
Jiang Chuling lowered her drink halfway to her lips and set the cup down, looking innocent. “What is it, Auntie?”
He Guilan glanced at Qiuyun beside her. “If I remember correctly, you’re eleven this year, aren’t you?”
Jiang Chuling looked left and right. “Mm-hmm.”
“At eleven, you’re old enough to understand things. Just look at yourself. Relying on your family’s modest fortune, you’ve become lazy and spoiled, eating your fill without lifting a finger. You even have to bring a servant with you just to eat at your grandparents’ house. You aren’t some young miss from a wealthy household in ancient times, confined indoors and never stepping beyond the inner courtyard. Don’t tell me you even need your servant to wash your hands and wipe your face?”
Not again. Not this again.
Jiang Chuling felt a headache coming on.
If she called her aunt clever, then what was the explanation for the way she constantly wrung food and favors out of her husband’s family without ever knowing gratitude? She never even knew how to keep the household’s personal money tree happy and coax a few more gold coins out of her.
But if she called her stupid, the woman clearly knew how to pick on the weakest target. Every time, she found some fault with Jiang Chuling, and she always wrapped it in so much high-minded reasoning that no one could easily argue back.
Old Uncle Seventh nodded beside them. “Your aunt is right. Even if she is a girl, we can’t raise her to be extravagant and indolent.”
He Guilan straightened slightly, her back growing stiffer. “Well, our office holds meetings about this every day. We’re always told to maintain good conduct and work hard without complaint. The young people at our workplace are all hardworking and capable. I’m simply used to seeing sensible children. When I happen to see a girl this pampered, I can’t help saying a few words.”
Qiuyun glanced sideways.
Tsk, tsk.
This really was a first for her. She had never seen anyone take advantage of another person’s generosity, then turn around and trample on that person’s daughter.
Qiuyun looked up at Madam Yu, silently asking for instructions.
Yu Xiang rubbed her forehead and waved a hand, signaling Qiuyun to handle it as she pleased.
It wasn’t as if she had never told her parents not to criticize the child in public. But her parents always said that her sister-in-law, Jiang Chuling’s aunt, had worked in a government office and drawn a public salary. She was family, and that was why she was willing to offer a few words of guidance. If Jiang Chuling were someone else’s child, she wouldn’t even bother teaching her.
That one sentence always left Yu Xiang with nothing to say.
And unfortunately, He Guilan was her sister-in-law—and the sort who wielded considerable authority in the family.
Lately, Yu Xiang had been busy with work. When she said she couldn’t bring the child home herself, her parents insisted that they had not seen their granddaughter in so long and missed her terribly.
So she had no choice but to come back.
Once Qiuyun understood what Madam Yu meant, she put on her standard polite smile.
“Deputy Director He certainly has an impressive official bearing,” she said. “You keep calling people servants and ordering them around. Does this day and age still allow people to sign contracts of servitude? Tsk. So people who never escaped the old society and its Four Olds can still work in government offices after all.”
