Chapter 180: Chapter 179 Receiving Guests Chapter 180: Chapter 179 Receiving Guests ng Zhaojun didn’t dwell on the decision for long and had the housekeeper bring the carriage to Ye’s Mansion with them. This visit was just a brief check on her own estate, but her main purpose was to accompany Tang Shunyan.
The arrival of the ng family brought even more liveliness. With their presence, Mrs. Li, as the hostess, wouldn’t neglect arranging a al for her guests like the last ti.
So, she had her younger brother arrange for people to catch chickens, ducks, and geese, preparing a series of dishes. Today, Ye Jia would entertain the guests.
The entertainnt wasn’t at the estate; Mrs. Li’s brother, the estate housekeeper, had people slaughter chickens, ducks, and geese, and then pick lons and fruits to send all these dishes to the Ye family, where the Ye family’s chefs would prepare a grand banquet to entertain the guests at noon.
The Ye family’s chefs, along with a group of maids and old won, were bustling about, already aware that a grand banquet was to be prepared for the Tang Family’s arrival at noon.
The fruits and at delivered from the estate were being busily prepared for lunch.
Mrs. Lai, bored at ho, sat in the hallway. Her corpulent body, pampered over the years, was more susceptible to the heat. Fanning herself with a fan, she resembled a landlord more than the actual landlord.
Ye Shuzhen, waiting to be married, was embroidering her dowry. Her embroidery skills weren’t particularly impressive, but she had to embroider her wedding clothes herself.
Indeed, she could entrust the making of her wedding outfit to others, yet undergarnts, as well as her future husband’s underclothes, had to be crafted by her, the bride-to-be.
Items like shoes, too, had to be made by herself. She was busy with work, and her fondness for her future husband turned her usual laziness into diligence.
Now she understood why her elder sister was so fond of her brother-in-law and made clothes and shoes for him with such affection when she got married.
Only Second Sister was reluctant. Shuzhen surmised it was because their family had started to accumulate wealth, and despite being poised to live like a daughter of affluence, she faced marriage to a rchant. Such sentint, however, was temporary, as she had no choice but to strive and earn money with her husband once married.
Over at Ye Manor, the arrival of the ng siblings ant they joined Tang Shunyan’s group.
Seeing Tang Shunyan and Lady Tang rely sitting in the estate house, eating fruit, drinking tea, and enjoying pastries while waiting for those who went up the mountain to pick longan fruit to return.
The table held pineapples soaked in brine, freshly picked longan, and passion fruit.
Mrs. Li entertained the two siblings with fruit, tea, and pastries. These pastries were made by their family’s chef.
Lady Tang greeted the ng siblings with great warmth and even inquired why their mother hadn’t co.
“My mother said it was too hot and sent us siblings to see our estate’s progress,” ng Zhaojun cleverly did not reveal the true reason for accompanying the Tang family, framing their presence as interest in their own estate.
“Ha-ha, Mrs. ng is afraid of getting tanned, I suppose. I didn’t really want to co either. It was only because this naughty troublemaker insisted on coming, so I had to oblige,” Lady Tang joked.
ng Zhaojun understood Lady Tang’s thoughts but did not expose them. Instead, she instructed her maid Liang Chen to take out so silver and arranged for the guard to pick fruit.
“It’s good for Tang Shunyan to experience this as well. Ah, here is the money for picking fruit. I do want to have the workers pick so fruit,” she said.
Mrs. Li hesitated at the sight of the five silver taels, unsure whether to accept them. Although they sold fruit at a high price, it was customary to offer so or let guests enjoy it as part of their hospitality.
“Please take it! The extra money is a tip for you all.”
ng Ruixiang seed to grasp the estate owner’s hesitation. She was earnest and shy about overcharging them. For his sister, this amount of money was trifling. He, as her brother, knew well that his sister had learned the art of making money.
ng Ruixiang had spoken, so Mrs. Li could only perform a courtesy and accept the money. They had to entertain guests again today, and although poultry wasn’t worth much, they still needed soone to tend to it. It was necessary to collect so labor fees.
When her brother ng Zhaojun spoke, she didn’t say anything more and just picked up the fruit on the table to taste.
Ye Shiqi observed that the boy ng Ruixiang had the temperant of a warm man, similar to that of Tang Shunyan’s good nature.
No one looked down on them, even though their family had power and money.
Perhaps only the girl who was currently eating fruit in front of her harbored so hostility in her gaze. Ye Shiqi and her sisters were sitting on the other side, occasionally eating fruit; when the guests asked questions, they would reply briefly, and more often, they were silent.
Lady Tang felt less bored when ng family’s siblings arrived, and between her son and ng Jia’s siblings, she looked for topics to chat about.
“Lady ng, have your family’s estate decided what to plant yet? Besides rice paddies, that big mountain hasn’t seen any activity.”
When Lady Tang asked, and when so many curious eyes were on her, ng Zhaojun didn’t want to discuss her family’s affairs with others.
Whether her family would go to Shangjing or stay in the county, this matter of assessnt was not for them to decide. All matters had to wait for those above to arrange.
“I don’t know either, my mother said we would talk about it after the New Year…”
“Oh, that’s right. Now if you were to handle those mountains, in half a year’s ti they would be covered with grass again. It’s indeed sothing to talk about next year…”
Lady Tang learned a little bit of news, having heard that their father was in his third year and was hopeful of moving up to Shangjing. This was also a reason for her to be more courteous towards ng family’s siblings.
Moreover, she wanted to discourage her son from getting close to the Ye family’s sisters. Her son was a Dragon among n and was destined to match with a Phoenix when he grew up. How could he possibly have relations with so farr girls?
This was an absolutely intolerable matter for her, and while her son was young, she had to plan for him.
Granny Tang wasn’t concerned about their own estate. With such a large family and business, a small estate, even if profitable, would not be of any significance to them.
It wasn’t her personal property after all, just an industry invested in by the family. She had glanced at it through the carriage window on the way here, when the housekeeper introduced the direction of their own estate.
The farmland was the sa as other farm fields, growing cereal grains, and the big mountain was still undeveloped. This made him wonder, with all the trouble they had gone through to invest here, what was their goal?
Lady Tang, who was fond of gossip, heard that the farmland here didn’t sell well and was more expensive than other farmlands only because it was next to Ye’s Mansion. The ngs’ investnt in just planting rice seed a bit like using a sledgehamr to crack a nut.
“Does your family’s estate only plant rice? Will you grow vegetables next year?”
“My mother said, let’s talk about everything next year…”
As Lady Tang continued to inquire, ng Zhaojun attributed all decisions to her mother.
This was also the way her mother protected her. And she understood that a girl of only five or six, no matter how intelligent, shouldn’t appear too smart in front of adults.
Seeing Lady Tang, with whom she had so previous grievance, perhaps thinking she was too assertive, decided to hold back a bit in front of her future mother-in-law.
“Lady Tang, if you have any questions, please ask my mother. My sister doesn’t know. On the way here, passing by the village, it seed like your family’s fields were also planted with rice, and the big mountain hasn’t been developed, has it?”
ng Ruixiang didn’t know why, but he sensitively felt that Lady Tang had a purpose in asking his sister those questions.
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