Sir, I just want to be a salted fish

Chapter 19 Birthday
On the table of the Eight Immortals are placed an incense burner, a thousand candles, a longevity wax, a life-prolonging longevity star, a king's code, as well as yellow coins, paper ingots, and thousands of pieces hanging down on both sides of the confession case.

There are longevity peaches, longevity noodles, longevity fruits, longevity wine, longevity fish, etc. on the table.

On the morning of March 25th, Mrs. Tai put on new clothes and sat at the birthday table. After lighting candles, burning incense and setting off firecrackers, the children and grandchildren dressed up, kowtowed to the birthday star, and gave birthday gifts.

First, the sons and daughters-in-law went to the hall to pay their respects:

Mr. and Mrs. Rong Guogong said: "I wish my mother may be as blessed as the East Sea and live as long as the Southern Mountains."

The second master and his wife said: "I wish my mother a prosperous sun and moon, and a long and prosperous spring for the cranes and pine trees."

Third Master and his wife: "I wish my mother will always smile and have a happy family forever."

Then the daughter and son-in-law went to the church to pay their respects:
Tang Jinglin and his wife: "I wish my mother all the best and a long life."

Next, the grandchildren and granddaughters came to pay their respects:

Tang Wensong, Tang Bingxuan, Tang Wenbai, Tang Bingyan, and Tang Wenzhu: "I wish my grandmother a life as long as the sky and a blessing as deep as the sea."

Tang Wenyun, Tang Wenqing: "I wish my grandmother that the sun and the moon will shine together, and she will never grow old in the spring and autumn."

Tang Bingyu, Tang Wenhong: "I wish my grandmother good luck, wealth and health."

Then two grandsons went to the church to pay their respects:
Yuan Sheng, Yuan Hao: "I wish my grandmother everything goes well and good luck."

Mrs. Tai looked at her children and grandchildren standing in front of the hall with joy. She only wished that the family tradition could be passed down from generation to generation, and the whole family could gather together and share family happiness.

Finally, some relatives and friends came to pay their respects and present birthday gifts. The birthday greeting ceremony ended at almost noon, and the male and female guests took their seats separately.

Halfway through the birthday banquet, Tang Li, the butler, came to report that Eunuch Liu, who was beside the emperor, came to the Duke's mansion to deliver the message.

"The Holy Spirit decreed: Mrs. Shao of the Duke's Mansion is Princess Kangping, the daughter of the eldest princess Rongfu. She is intelligent, agile, dignified and Shurui. She teaches her children well and has great blessings. As a special reward, she is given a pair of cranes and longevity jades to celebrate her birthday. Madam’s fiftieth birthday.”

Everyone in the Duke's palace knelt down to receive the edict and offered the gifts given by the emperor to the ancestral hall. Relatives and friends congratulated Mrs. Tai once again, and everyone continued to have a birthday banquet.

"The Rongguo Duke's mansion has lasted for three generations and has been blessed with constant grace. Among the three Dukes' mansions, this one is the one." He raised his right hand and gave a thumbs up to the person sitting next to him.

The person next to him didn't speak, but nodded, deeply convinced.

The male guests were chatting in low voices, each with their own thoughts. Duke Cheng Guo and Duke Qi, regardless of whether they heard what others were talking about, seemed to be taking it indifferently.

On the female guests side, listening to everyone praising Rongguo's palace but criticizing the other two palaces, Cai, the wife of Duke Cheng, looked a little unhappy, but Yun, the wife of Duke Qi, was able to handle it without anything inappropriate.

After lunch, the female guests were arranged to watch a play in Dianchun Hall. Young ladies who were impatient to watch the play went to the garden to enjoy the flowers, or to visit the lake in Zhuyuan.

Today, Qiao Waner also came with Duke Cheng's wife Cai to pay her birthday to the concubine. Qiao Waner found Tang Bingxuan in the garden and wanted to have a private word with her.

Tang Bingxuan didn't want to have anything to do with Qiao Waner at all. She didn't know why she always came forward, like brown sugar.

However, today is my grandmother's birthday after all, and it is always not good to be too indifferent to the guests, so I agreed.

The two went to Zhaoxia Courtyard. Tang Bingxuan asked Zhidong to serve snacks and tea to Qiao Waner. There were only two people in the reception room, so Qiao Waner spoke happily.

"I just heard from my elder brother yesterday that last time sister Xuan'er came to attend the flower viewing party, she happened to meet him in my yard and came to see me. I think sister Xuan'er misunderstood me and I came here to explain clearly."

Qiao Waner didn't know about this before. She just wanted to find a suitable time to talk to her third cousin that day, so she used Tang Bingxuan to go to her yard to talk.

Yesterday, the eldest brother asked himself, "I heard that the eldest lady of the Duke's Mansion is my sister's friend, but she was never invited to the house as a guest." Only then did Qiao Waner know that something like this happened that day. No wonder Tang Bingxuan refused to be her complimentary person for hair extensions. She probably thought that she deliberately caused a chance encounter between her brother and her.

At this time, Qiao Waner did not know that Tang Bingxuan had also overheard the confrontation between her and her third cousin.

Even without the incident of Mr. Qiao breaking into her yard, Tang Bingxuan would still think that Qiao Waner was being scheming.

"Sister Qiao was joking. I went to your courtyard to have a talk with you that day, but I didn't see the eldest young master of your house during that time, so there was no misunderstanding."

Tang Bingxuan didn't want to know the truth of this matter. It was over, it was over, and she just had a face-saving relationship with Qiao Waner.

Seeing Tang Bingxuan's attitude of keeping a distance from her, Qiao Waner also knew that the incident was too coincidental to dispel her doubts, so she said goodbye and left Zhaoxia Court without further discussion.

After lunch, the male guests were received in the outer courtyard by Duke Rong, the second master, the third master, Tang Wensong, and Tang Wenyun.

During this period, Lord Jiang took Jiang Shunian to greet Duke Rong.

Although Rong Guogong didn't understand why Jiang Houye didn't bring his eldest son Jiang Shuheng, but instead brought his third son Jiang Shunian, who was neither civilized nor military, he didn't show any signs of it on his face.

He also patted Jiang Shunian's shoulder affectionately and praised this young man for his good looks, his jade tree facing the wind, and his talent.

Jiang Shunian was also surprised when he saw Lord Jiang introducing himself to Duke Rong Guo.

My father's forehead isn't broken, right? Shouldn't he bring his eldest brother to pay homage to Duke Rong at this time, so that he can become familiar with Duke Rong?

Why did you bring yourself here? Don’t you dislike yourself for embarrassing him?

"Jiang Shunian, you kid didn't say hello to me when you came to our house?" The third master feigned anger and called Jiangsu Shunian to him.

"Is your father suffering from convulsions? I actually brought you to my elder brother?"

The corners of Jiang Shunian's mouth twitched. My own father could just criticize him. How should the Third Master ask me to answer this?

"Maybe." Jiang Shunian gave up trying to excuse me. After all, he also felt that his own father seemed a little abnormal.

The third master drank a small drink, stretched out lazily on the big back chair, and asked Jiang Shunian in a low voice: "Have you got the account book?"

In front of his father and Duke Rong, Jiang Shunian did not dare to lie down like the third master, so he could only sit upright and said in a low voice, "Yes."

...

Although there were some twists and turns, the birthday party finally ended successfully.

The masters of Duke Rong's mansion were all very tired from receiving guests and sending them off.

In the evening, everyone ate longevity noodles together at Mrs. Tai's Songhe Courtyard, and then went back to their own courtyard to wash up and rest. On the second day, Mrs. Liu, Rong Guogong's wife, had time to check with Shen's mother the birthday gifts sent by the guests yesterday.

When I saw the birthday gift list sent by Yongning Houfu, I was a little surprised.

Mrs. Liu went to Songheyuan to show the list to Mrs. Tai for review. Mrs. Tai didn’t know the reason and could only wait until Duke Rong Guo returned home.

In the evening, Duke Rongguo came back from his office to pay his respects to his wife, who then showed Duke Rongguo the birthday gift list from the Yongning Marquis Mansion.

"Mother, maybe it was because Marquis Jiang rejected my recommendation for him last time. He felt uneasy or grateful, so he increased the birthday gift by a few percent." Eunuch Rong thought for a while and guessed.

(End of this chapter)