After Rulan had got married, she always felt uncomfortable seeing Minglan dressing luxuriously, but today… She touched her belly with her head lowered and glimpsed at Rong who was standing beside them. Then she thought that having a stepdaughter right after getting married must be a pain in the neck for Minglan.

Thinking of that, Rulan didn’t feel the wealthy life Minglan had so attractive anymore. As long as Rulan felt better, she would become gentle and kind right away. Then she grabbed a handful of snacks to Rong and Xian and told the servants to bring the girls out to play.

“How’s the feeling of becoming a mother without actually giving birth to a baby?” Rulan said in a low voice with an evil look in her eyes.

‘What a mean girl!’ Minglan clenched her handkerchief and retorted with a sharp answer calmly, “Fifth sister, I hope you can be the mother of your blood children only.”

Rulan got speechless right away. She was not able to make that promise. Although she was a straightforward person, she was not so naïve. Until now, the best life she could wish was being intimate to her husband for twenty years. After their children had grown up, she would be busy finding a wife for her son or a husband for her daughter and might even have grandchildren. Then, she could find a few honest maids to serve her husband.

Joyfully, Minglan watched Rulan’s face turning green and red, finding it so much fun. She had never lost a single verbal battle to Rulan ever since they had been little girls, not to mention now. After the bicker, Minglan also had to ask about Rulan’s condition. After all, the latter was a pregnant woman now, Minglan couldn’t go too far. After Minglan sat upright, she smiled gently, “How’s your condition lately, Fifth Sister? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Rulan straightened the gold hairpin beside her temple and gave Minglan a stare, then said, “The doctor and a few Momos all said that I am in a great condition and everything is fine except that I have grown greedy for food and sleep. I eat five meals a day and get drowsy when I open my eyes. When I close my eyes, I would continue to sleep as if I have been drugged. However, I feel better now. Also…”

Minglan listened to her with a smile. Suddenly, her heart missed a beat for no reason.

When she left the Wen’s mansion, it was already three quarters past the Shen Hour (Around 3:45). Minglan then went back to her own mansion on the sedan with her servants. After she got off the sedan, the servants brought the two kids to their own residences. The moment Minglan walked into the room, she saw Danju walking around in the room anxiously. As she saw Minglan, she walked over right away and said disorderly, “Madam, you are finally back. Old Madam has sent someone to invite you several times, but you were out at that time. Old Madam Yang is here.”

“Who?” Minglan was very exhausted and tried to lay down on the bed.

“Old Madam Yang!”

…

What a busy day! That should be a great title for a pupil’s article.

All the doors of the side hall of the Peaceful Hall had been opened. Two noble and graceful madams were sitting in the middle, one was Old Madam Qin and the other was Old Master Gu’s blood sister who had married into the Yang family.

“Aunt, it’s an honor to meet you.”

Minglan gave an obeisance to Old Madam Yang and said that in a soft voice. Since she had already been late, she had then washed her face clearly and changed to a new outfit.

Old Madam Yang had a round face, which should make her look very kind, but now she only gave out a fake smile, “My second nephew’s wife truly is a busy person. I was about to leave and then you came. It’s so hard to meet you once.”

Minglan glanced at Shao shi and Zhu shi and then replied reverently, “Aunt, I went to General Zheng’s mansion today to give my thanks because First Madam Zheng has introduced a teacher to our girls. I’ve told Old Madam Qin, my first and third sister-in-law this a few days ago. I really didn’t know that you would come today, otherwise I would never leave my home.”

Old Madam Yang chuckled and turned to Old Madam Qin, “You daughter-in-law is an eloquent girl. I only said a sentence and she got a whole speech waiting for me. I don’t even dare to say anything now.”

Minglan smiled without saying anything. If she argued, they would call her quibbling, if she didn’t say anything, it would seem like she had admitted it. She was always in the wrong side no matter what she did. Old Madam Yang hadn’t attended her wedding, so Minglan assumed that this madam wasn’t so close to Gu Tingye anyway. Therefore, Minglan decided to say only the things she should say and answer the thing she should answer. As long as she followed the etiquette, she didn’t want to care about other things.

The ambience in the room turned down immediately.

Old Madam Yang stared at Minglan with picky eyes. Minglan looked at her own toes while counting numbers secretly, planning to sit on the seat when she counted to one hundred. Old Madam Qin held the teacup in her hands calmly, having no intension to ease the tension. Zhu shi also said nothing, as expected. Shao shi felt reluctant to see Minglan like this. After she looked at Old Madam Qin and then at Minglan, she stood up slowly,

“Sister-in-law, you must be so tired now. Come have a sit.” She dragged Minglan to the seat and said with a smile, “Today we have a good news today. Our Seventh Sister-in-law is going to get engaged.”

Minglan sat on the comfortable seat and replied with a ‘surprised’ look, “Oh, really? Congratulations, Old Madam. Which family is so lucky to have our Seventh Sister-in-law?”

Shao shi answered smilingly, “It’s the Han family, also the Grand Princess Qing Chang’s husband’s family. Seventh Sister-in-law is going to marry the third son of the princess.”

“The Han family. Isn’t the princess’s husband the second legal son of Marquis Zhen Nan?”

The reason why Minglan had remembered that so clearly was that there was a dandy in Marquis Zhennan’s family who was in the same level of being wild as Gu Tingye. However, ever since Gu Tingye had retired from that kind of life, that master in the Han family was kind of alone. When Gu Tingye and Minglan were chatting, he always used that dude as an example to show how precious it was for him to thoroughly reform himself.

Old Madam Qin put down the teacup with a joyful look and said slowly, “Sister-in-law, I have to thank you for working as a go-between. Although my daughter is such a poor girl that her father passed away before she gets marry, she is lucky to have an aunt who thinks of her all the time.”

Old Madam Yang turned around and laughed, with her golden-brown coat looking dazzling, “My seventh niece is of course a lucky girl. This third master of the Han is already a Bing Sheng (scholars who live on government grants) at a young age. His engagement was delayed because he has been following Old Master Han in other provinces. Now that they’ve come back to the capital, people were queuing up to set him up with the girls in their own families. I only mentioned Seventh Lady to them once. However, our girl has a reputation for her talent, and Old Master Yang and Third Master Yang both adore her a lot. Then they have asked me to serve as a bridge to this marriage.”

“What a great marriage it will be!” Minglan tried to be cooperative and acted very cheerful.

“It’s all because you have thought of my girl, sister-in-law. I don’t even know how to thank you.” Old Madam Qin held Old Madam Yang’s hand intimately. The latter chuckled complacently with her crow’s feet seeming so obvious, “Third Master Yang of the Han family loves literature since he was a little boy, our seventh lady is also well-educated. Now that Old Master Han happened to come back to the capital, I see their marriage a bless from God!”

For the moment, everyone in the hall started to give congratulations. Old Madam Qin’s smile had never seemed so genuine.

Minglan knew why she was so happy. This was indeed a great engagement for Gu Tingcan.

After the death of Empress Jing An, the royal palace was thrown into a turmoil. A lot of the royal membered had been put into prison. Emperor Wu’s daughters had also been affected. They had either married to some random guys or died in depression. Only a few had a happy ending, and that included Grand Princess Qing Ning and Grand Princess Qing Chang.

Grand Princess Qing Chang’s blood mother had deceased before Empress Jing An had, therefore, she had dodged the catastrophe later and grown up peacefully. After that, the brother of the former emperor had betrothed her to a man who was well-matched to her.

Grand Princess Qing Chang was very popular in the imperial court as well as the royal family and had been favored by the former emperor. The most important thing was that although her husband was not able to inherit the title of Marquis Zhennan, he was a very diligent man and handled things resolutely, which made him valued by the former emperor. After all these years, the Han’s family was already more prospering than Marquis Zhennan’s family which had gradually declined.

Third Master Han was from a prestigious family and had powerful parents. Moreover, he was also a highly motivated guy, so Gu Tingcan didn’t have to fear Gu Tingye, her stepbrother, anymore once she got married. No wonder why the two old madams were light up with pleasure now.

As Zhu shi and Shao shi kept giving compliments, the two old madams got more and more excited talking. Suddenly Old Madam Yang saw Minglan being absent-minded and clearly not in high spirits, then she got displeased right away and said directly, “Second nephew’s wife?’

Minglan who was called all of a sudden raised her head right away. Then she saw Old Madam Yang snorting, “Marriage and giving birth to child are two important things for everyone. A girl like you should feel lucky to be able to marry into the Gu family. However, it has been a year you got married, why haven’t you got pregnant yet?”

Minglan cursed inwardly, ‘Damn you, the woman who sat next to you only got pregnant after she married into the Gu family for seven or eight years, I never heard you talking like that to her!’