Chapter 78.5: Part 5: Entering the Palace

I seem to be owing you guys a lot of chapters and kept on apologizing lately^^! I will make it up as soon as I can free up the schedule, promise! Anyway, I'm supposed to have a week long holiday last week, and did plan on translating plenty to make up the missing ones. The first two days of that said holiday was spent updating the last few days of accounting, then spending time with family during the day and updating the inventory at night for 3 days. Then lo and behold, we have to meet with work related person out of town (still within the country), so the next day we set off (my first flight after 2.5 years!), went back the next day, so... which day is it now? Day no 7? Yep, then the night of the same day (2 days ago), tickets were booked to Vietnam T^T for work. I have a conflicting emotion by this time, not sure if I'm happy to be travelling, too tired and many work aren't done, or just simply stunned beyond words. And, due to the lack of direct flights, I've only just arrived at my destination today, after 2 stopovers, within 2 days. Imagine that, taking 5 plane flights in 4 days. Ha..ha... I guess today's translation is a kind of a break PS: My first time in Vietnam, anyone knows what to get as souvenirs and how much? Or anything I should try aside from pho, spring roll, banh mi and broken rice?

At this moment, many official wives and children had arrived in the main hall of Yu Ming Palace Hall. These madams were the noble wives and daughters from third ranked government officials in Yanjing and their identities were precious. Because the night feast had not yet started, most of them looked for familiar acquaintances to chat with. In this type of palace feast, the daughters strived hard to dress themselves well. Some of these females had reached marriageable age while some had not, but both wished to leave a good impression in this palace feast as there would be many ranked government heirs and young talents entering the palace today. Northern Yan's general practice was more open than the previous dynasty. As long as the young male and female didn't overstep the boundary and were mutually in love, in most cases, they could go to the door and propose forming a marriage.

And in a place such as the palace feast, most of the people coming had the same social status and were perfect matches, which was a great convenience.

There's a mother daughter pair sitting in the East. The female was around 16-17 years old, wearing a crepe dress sprinkled with green flowers. A butterfly patterned jade dangling ornament was adorning her head. She could be considered as a beautiful girl. The madam by her side was also dressed gorgeously. However, in view, her manner wasn't as natural as the surrounding madams and carried a bit of pettiness.

This mother daughter pair was no one else but Shen Yurong's mother and sister, Shen Ruyun.

Now that Shen Yurong was a person in the secretariat, naturally Shen Ruyun and mother Shen could participate in the palace feast. Although Shen Yurong was a widow, everyone in Yanjing knew that Shen Yurong's wife, Xue Fang Fei, had an affair. The death of this kind of wife was truly the heavens opening their eyes. Shen Yurong himself was young and promising, having boundless prospects. He was even born handsome and gentle. Many families also observed Shen Yurong and considered marrying their daughters into the Shen family.

They knew that the population in the Shen family was simple with only Shen Ruyun and mother Shen. In the future, Shen Ruyun would get married and whichever daughter married into the Shen family would become the one in charge of the household. There's no need to get along with the husband's younger sister, they only needed to get along harmoniously with the mother in law. For the many pampered and spoiled daughters, this condition was already very good.

Precisely due to this condition, in the face of the current Shen Yurong, many noble ladies wanted to have friendly relations with mother Shen. They had, unexpectedly, also didn't disdain mother Shen's small household origin. They, very enthusiastically, flattered mother Shen and praised Shen Ruyun to high heavens, making Shen Ruyun feel smug and conceited.

Nie Xiao Shuang, Zhu Xin'er, both were in the same group as Jiang Li in the archery riding examination held by Ming Yi Hall, were also crowding around Shen Ruyun to chat.

Upon seeing this, Liu Xu who was standing by the side, snorted lightly. In a voice which only Madam Liu could hear, she whispered: "Really the first time I see people rushing to become a second wife."

Madam Liu poked Liu Xu's forehead and spoke in a low voice: "You talk too much!"

"It's the truth." Liu Xu mumbled to herself. She truly couldn't see eye to eye with her classmates' conduct. Nevertheless, they could be considered Yanjing city's best noble daughters. While that top scorer Shen had just lost his wife. No need to mention Xue Fang Fei's moral character, in any case, what top scorer Shen showed was his deep attachment to his departed wife. Those young ladies didn't think clearly, since he was deeply attached to his wife, how would he quickly remarry? If he remarried soon after, then top scorer Shen showing such a deep affection implied that he was someone whose outside appearance and inner reality were different.

Afterwards, she heard someone beside her say: "Heard that Ningyuan Marquis's heir and Chief Assistant Jiang's family's third miss's marriage is set at the end of winter next year."

When this sentence came out, Shen Ruyun's, who was on the other side, complexion changed. She asked: "Is it true?"

"It's true." Nie Xiao Shuang said: "I also heard my mother mention it a few days ago. You Yao and heir Zhou's marriage was already set since earlier, now they only need to decide on the date. It makes sense to do so."

Shen Ruyun couldn't help feeling resentment inside and ridiculed: "I remember that heir Zhou's marriage was first set with Jiang second miss."

The people in the surrounding looked at each other.

Shen Ruyun's words were unpleasant to hear but no one dared to comment. If they were to comment, they would be offending the Jiang family. Jiang Yuan Bai was the court's Chief Assistant. Who dared to say half a word of complaint about his daughter? But it's equally not good for anyone to offend this assistant secretary's sister. So they just kept silent.

However, with the silence, they tacitly recalled Shen Ruyun's words. It was indeed true, Zhou Yan Bang was originally betrothed to Jiang Li. So to speak, in any case, this matter of the younger sister replacing the elder sister's marriage was nothing great. Everyone turned to look at Ningyuan Marchioness's expression.

Ningyuan Marchioness seemed to be turning a deaf ear to all these. She was in the middle of chatting and laughing with the senior councellor's madam, Ji Chen-shi, who was Ji Shuran's biological elder sister. They didn't seem to hear the surrounding people's discussion.

But whether they heard it or not, only they, themselves knew.

Liu Xin had the mind to protest on behalf of Jiang Li, yet she didn't know how to say it properly. She could only look towards the doorway repeatedly, thinking why Jiang Li had not yet arrived.

Right at this moment, the palace maid in charge of notifying the new arrivals, announced that the female members of the Jiang family had arrived.

Everyone looked at the door and saw old madam Jiang leading at the front, followed by Ji Shuran, Lu-shi immediately behind then followed by Yang-shi and the Jiang family girls walking leisurely behind.