Before dusk, Yang Qing had already arrived at the house owner's house. After all, as a tenant, he lived next to the house owner, so it was not good for him to be late.
It's embarrassing to say that Yang Qing only found out that the owner of this family was a woman. Her surname is Xiahou. Her father is indeed an official, and according to neighbors, the official position is not small. However, her parents have passed away, leaving her as an only daughter.
Aunt Gu took a bottle of fine wine from Yang Qing and led Yang Qing into the house. After passing the front yard and entering the second hall, she saw that the master's family had already set up a table in the courtyard.
Yang Qing originally wanted to thank Aunt Gu for leading the way and let her go back to the gate of the mansion to continue greeting the guests. However, he didn't want her to stop and continued to lead the way, leading him through the seats in the courtyard and into the hall. As soon as he saw that there were seven tables set up in the hall, he knew that the room was where the distinguished guests were seated. He didn't know why Aunt Gu had brought him here.
"I am just a tenant of Xiahou's family, why don't you treat me as a distinguished guest?" Yang Qing thought to himself.
"Mr. Yang, please stay here for a while. My wife will come out to greet all the distinguished guests later." Aunt Gu invited Yang Qing to sit at the last seat on the right.
Yang Qing cupped his hands and said: "Mother Gu, Qing is just a tenant who has just rented a house in your house. How dare you make your house treat you like a distinguished guest? It would be more appropriate for me to sit outside in the courtyard."
"Don't refuse, Mr. Yang. My wife has said that since Mr. Lang is a tenant of my house, he is equivalent to half of the family. This is the first time we have met each other in the house. He should be sitting here." Aunt Gu smiled. road.
"I accept your master's kindness with all my heart. However, I still think that your master is too flattering. I'd better go outside."
After hearing this, Aunt Gu immediately put away her smile and said slightly angrily: "Mr. Lang looks down on my master and doesn't want to associate with my master."
How could this old woman understand so well? The seats in the main hall are where your master's closest relatives and friends are sitting. I am not related to you, so it will be very embarrassing to eat for a while. And what I fear most in my life is embarrassment. Madam, do you know that?
However, Yang Qing thought about it and realized that they had good intentions. If he continued to decline, he might cause misunderstanding and disgust, so how about just sitting here and forgetting about it?
"A man, a real man, can be as verbose as a woman. It's really annoying." Just when Yang Qing was struggling, a loud shout suddenly came out. He was so surprised that he turned around and saw that it was the middle-aged man sitting at the top. .
As soon as Yang Qing entered the door, he saw this man who looked like a scribe. However, this man had been sitting on his seat with his eyes closed just now. Even when he and Aunt Gu came in, he didn't even look here. It must have been the conversation between the two that disturbed him. , so he shouted to Yang Qing.
But, why are you so loud? It's shocking. What does it mean to be verbose like a woman? Someone has their own plans, okay?
Although Yang Qing complained in his heart, he still smiled and bowed his hands to the middle-aged scholar: "The elder is right, I am too polite."
He turned around and replied to Aunt Gu: "Aunt Gu, you are here by invitation. How dare you mean to look down on your mansion? I'll just sit here."
"Hey, Mr. Yang, this is the right thing." Aunt Gu's face suddenly turned from anger to joy: "Mang Jun is here to enjoy tea slowly, I have to go to the front to do some work."
"Please, ma'am."
It seems that women are fickle no matter their age, and no one else can change their expressions like this.
Yang Qing touched the sweat on his forehead and looked at the middle-aged scribe on the upper left. He saw him looking at him with a half-smile, and he couldn't help but feel strange.
What's this man's expression like?
He immediately held up his hands and said, "I just disturbed my husband's purity, please forgive me."
The scribe nodded and said, "Your surname is Yang Mingqing?"
"Exactly."
"Are you a tenant of Xiahou's family?"
"Yes. I just rented a residence here a few days ago."
"Oh... now that's interesting."
Well, this is interesting. What’s so interesting about this? baffling!
Yang Qing didn't want to be questioned all the time, so he asked: "I wonder what your surname is, sir?"
The middle-aged scribe said: "My surname is Qin."
"It turns out to be Mr. Qin. I wonder what his relationship is with the Xiahou family?" Yang Qing asked boldly.
"Qin Gong is an old friend of my father's."
Before the scribe surnamed Qin responded, a crisp female voice came from the door on the left. When Yang Qingxun left, the owner of the voice entered the hall through the door. He quickly stood up and took a look, but he saw a woman wearing a light pink dress standing next to the main case, followed by a maid. This woman had an extremely beautiful appearance and was extremely beautiful.
Her eyes quickly glanced at Yang Qing, and she moved to the scribe named Qin: "Uncle, are you tired of waiting?"
"What did Yue Niang say? I'm just closing my eyes and concentrating here, so why bother? Yue Niang herself is quite busy today." Mr. Qin replied with a smile.
"Yue'er is afraid that her preparations have been hasty and her hospitality has been poor, which will disgrace the Xiahou family."
Mr. Qin looked around and said comfortingly: "Yue Niang, don't think too much. I see that you girls are quite well prepared."
The woman did not answer, but just smiled, walked towards Yang Qing again, and bowed Yingying: "I have met Mr. Yang. He has been staying for several days, and I have not invited the distinguished guests to visit the house. It’s extremely disrespectful.”
Yang Qing didn't know that this woman was the owner of Xiahou's family, and he already knew from the conversation between the two of them that this woman was called Xiahou Yue: "Ms. I can’t thank you enough for being invited again today.”
"Why, is this the first time you two have met today?" Mr. Qin asked curiously.
"Exactly."
"Exactly."
They both answered together.
Mr. Qin touched his beard and glanced at Yang Qing inadvertently.
Interesting, interesting. I thought that this boy Yang fell in love with Yueniang when he lived in Xiahou Mansion. I never thought that this was the first time they met. So this was the first time I saw that this boy from a poor family was so outstanding that Yueniang was attracted to him. Can you sit at the VIP table when you invite me for the first time? Could it be that as Aunt Gu said, she treated him as half of the family?
Yang Qing and Xia Houyue didn't know that the scholar surnamed Qin had already had all kinds of thoughts in his mind, but it was strange to see him staying there without saying a word.
Just as the two were about to ask each other, Mr. Qin suddenly laughed, walked back to his seat, and waved his hand to Xia Houyue: "Yue Niang doesn't have to stay here with you. Come to the front to greet the other guests. I think most of them are here." People are coming."
"No, Yue'er will go right away."
Xia Houyue bowed to Yang Qing again and led the maid out to entertain the guests.
Yang Qing saw Mr. Qin returning to his seat and closing his eyes to rest. He also followed his example and put his hands in his sleeves to wander.
The sky was already dark, and a bright moon appeared in the sky at some point. The soft moonlight shone through the faint clouds, and complemented the candlelight of Xiahou's house, making it look particularly soft.
At this time, almost all the guests have arrived, the table seats in the courtyard are already full, and the remaining six tables and couches in the main hall are full. In addition to Mr. Qin and Yang Qing, Mrs. Xiahou or Aunt Gu introduced guests one after another. Through the introduction of the host, Yang Qing also knew the identities of the next four people. The two middle-aged men sitting under Mr. Qin, one surnamed Gu and the other Wang, were also old friends of Madam Xiahou's father. The middle-aged woman sitting on Yang Qing's side is Mrs. Xiahou's aunt, and she is talking to Xiahouyue. The old man sitting next to Yang Qing was Zhao Fangzheng from our house. He was also very talkative as he got older. As soon as he sat down, he started chatting with Yang Qing familiarly.
At this time, Aunt Gu saw that most of the people had arrived, and the meat, vegetables and drinks had been served. She walked lightly to Xia Houyue and said, "Madam, it's almost time to start."
Xia Houyue nodded and said, "Well, let's have a dinner."
Holding a glass of wine, she followed Aunt Gu to the entrance of the main hall, which was a good place to take in both the inside and outside of the house, and began the speech that should be given before the banquet.
Yang Qing was actually a little hungry and sleepy for a long time. Just to keep his grace in front of others, he kept kneeling down at the desk and echoing Zhao Fangzheng. It was really uncomfortable. He just wanted the birthday banquet to start earlier. He might as well go back earlier. At this time, after hearing the end of the opening remarks before the host's banquet, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
As the host finished toasting before the banquet, everyone began to drink and mingle, and the atmosphere was lively for a while.
