Ran Yan was a generation older than them and logically should sit in the main seat, so she didn’t refuse. Just as she knelt down, a young woman around sixteen or seventeen said, "Aunt, why is there only one maid by your side?"
Ran Yan looked at her indifferently and replied, "These days I’ve been attending to the lady dowager, who doesn’t like to be surrounded by people, so I sent the maids away." After a pause, Ran Yan continued, "Performing filial duties should be done personally, to ensure it’s properly done. Why, niece-in-law, why do you ask?"
Clearly, this woman was looking for trouble. Ran Yan responded with a direct counter.
Ran Yan didn’t like using the maids sent by the Xiao Family, so she privately bought a few clean young girls and entrusted them to Nanny Xing for training. In the future, when Wan Lu and Ge Lan married, Ran Yan would have reliable personal maids she could trust, but for now, she was temporarily short-staffed.
However, she couldn’t be careless with how she spoke about this matter to mbers of the Xiao Family. Phrases like "liking quiet" and "disliking too many attendants" were considered disdainful; these noblewon wouldn’t see it as refined, but rather as miserly and petty.
"I was just asking casually," the young woman said sowhat awkwardly as she glanced at another woman in her twenties beside her.
She must have been instigated by soone, trying to put Ran Yan in her place, but Ran Yan didn’t take it to heart, knowing very well that these people didn’t really see her as a senior. They were probably just curious about her.
Ran Yan’s cold countenance seed to chill the atmosphere in the pavilion by a few degrees. Everyone held their breath, stealing glances at her from ti to ti, creating a sowhat awkward atmosphere.
"You enjoy yourselves, I’ll go over to brother-in-law’s side." Ran Yan raised her hand, letting Wan Lu help her up, and nodded to them as she took her leave.
Everyone watched Ran Yan, dressed in plain clothes, walking among the blooming flowers and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling that she truly did have the air of a senior. Nanny Wan mumbled, "She really does seem to have a bit of a senior’s presence."
Everyone secretly agreed.
This was inevitable, as Ran Yan had once served as a professor at a university in her previous life and was accustod to explaining things in front of a crowd of criminal police. Moreover, she was a generation older than them, and even though the ancients matured early, they couldn’t outpace Ran Yan.
...
"Wife, you’ve scared them again," Wan Lu stuck out her tongue and whispered to Ran Yan.
Ran Yan felt no guilt about scaring them, as they didn’t harbor any good intentions toward her anyway.
The ladies of the elder generation gathered in the hall to drink tea. A maid at the door announced, "Elder Lady, Lady Jiulang has arrived."
"Co in," the voice of the Du Gusi family’s matriarch slowly floated from inside the room.
Two maids pulled back the curtains, and Ran Yan entered the room. All eyes instinctively turned to look at her.
Ran Yan greeted each of them in turn, and then the matriarch Du Gusi allowed her to sit down. Aside from the absent princess and county mistress, there were five won of Ran Yan’s generation in the room, the youngest of whom were in their late twenties. As a result, with Ran Yan there, it was difficult for her not to draw attention, and inevitably the conversation once again turned toward her.
"Lady Jiulang’s wife has really made all of Chang’an’s gambling houses bleed!" The dignified and appropriately behaved lady in her early sixties on Du Gusi’s side wore a faint smile as she spoke, making it unclear whether her words were a barb or a friendly jest.
But from Du Gusi’s expression, it was definitely not unintentional. Thus, no one in the room dared to second her comnts.
This lady was the wife of the current Clan Leader, Xiao Jing. She and Du Gusi did not often see eye to eye. Coming from the second most powerful branch of the Cui family from Boling, with the strong backing of her family behind her, she dared to defy openly, even though she was two ranks lower than Du Gusi in terms of imperial decree rank.
"It’s my fault as a niece-in-law. If I had inford everyone earlier that the child could live this long, perhaps our Xiao Family might have won back all of Chang’an’s gambling houses," Ran Yan said with her head slightly bowed, her voice calm.
Her retort was cleverly veiled, and upon hearing it, Du Gusi couldn’t help but be amused, although her face showed only indifference, her gaze at Ran Yan softened sowhat.
Before Mrs. Cui could reply, a maid at the door announced the arrival of Lady Dongyang.
The light at the door brightened and dimd as Lady Dongyang entered, still in her plain attire, her presence refreshing and distant like a remote mountain valley. After briefly greeting the several peers in the room, she knelt to sit down.
Ran Yan couldn’t help but suspect that this recent murder incident was related to her and took a few extra glances at her.
Lady Dongyang seed to notice her gaze and tilted her head slightly, giving Ran Yan a gentle smile.
Fortunately for Ran Yan, Lady Dongyang’s arrival disrupted the topic centered around her, and everyone began to discuss the old lady’s descendants.
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