Chapter 561. Full of Guests (2/2)
As for the Zhou Family, the old master and old madam personally came over to watch the ceremony. The madam and children of the first branch, and of course, Madam Zhou, the mother of the third young master who had a good relationship with Xiaocao, also brought congratulatory gifts to celebrate the little girl’s birthday. Madam Zhou was not aware that Xiaocao was already promised to someone else, so she wondered if they could cement old ties through marriage? After all, her son and Xiaocao had known each other since they were small, and had always been on good terms.
Then, there was the master and mistress of Prince Sa’s Estate, as well as the heir and his wife, and Zhu Yan'er, who was quite close to Xiaocao. The moment she arrived, she started to argue that she wanted to be Xiaocao’s master of ceremonies, but He Wanning quickly rebuked her.
Naturally, as Xiaocao’s future in-laws, it was impossible for Prince Jing’s Household to not attend their future daughter-in-law’s coming-of-age ceremony. Princess Consort Jing had almost stolen Lady Fang’s seat and taken herself as the host to greet the guests. As Zhu Junyang and his lady mother made their way to the third floor, his two mothers-in-law approached and stopped him. Lady Fang looked at him with a half-smile and said, ”The people watching the ceremony upstairs are all female guests, so it wouldn't be appropriate for Royal Prince Yang to go up there, would it?” Although Zhu Junyang did not want to miss his little fiancee’s hairpin ceremony, he was forced to stay downstairs to wait for her to come down after the ceremony due to etiquette.
The most unexpected thing was, Imperial Prince Duan, who had rarely left his residence, had actually brought Princess Consort Duan with him to observe the ceremony. Imperial Prince Duan looked a little thin, but his body was still quite strong—he didn’t look terminally ill as said in the rumors. Could it be that Miss Yu's medical skills were really better than the old physicians’ at the Imperial Hospital, and she had actually cured Imperial Prince Duan’s decades of chronic illness?
Humans were just mere mortals, so how could they not fall sick? Not everyone had a chance to befriend a skilled medical practitioner. As such, Imperial Prince Duan’s arrival had attracted quite a few uninvited guests to Xiaocao’s hairpin ceremony. It wouldn’t be right to chase this group of people who eagerly rushed up to present their gifts out, right? While Lady Fang enthusiastically greeted the guests, she sent a servant to ask Third Young Master Zhou to see if he had prepared sufficient dishes. Fortunately, Third Young Master Zhou was reliable and had prepared extra dishes, so they didn’t embarrass themselves by not having enough tables for their guests.
Of course, only the female guests were able to watch the ceremony unfold on the third floor while the rest of the guests were served refreshments downstairs. Originally, the hairpin ceremony was held in the ‘ancestral shrine’, so many secretly laughed at the Yu Family for not following customs when they saw that the invitation said that the hairpin ceremony was going to be held in Zhenxiu Restaurant. However, as soon as they entered the grand hall on the third floor, their hopes of witnessing a farce immediately dissipated.
The grand hall on the third floor was quiet and open, decorated lavishly yet with a scholarly elegance, revealing an air of solemnity everywhere. It was surprisingly better and more imposing than most ancestral shrines, and the decorations and all kinds of details in the hall especially received everyone’s praises.
When they climbed the steps, they were met with a calm, smiling Lady Fang, and Madam Liu, who was beautiful, fair-skinned and donned a gorgeous dress—not a single bit of her bearing told others that she was, in fact, only just the wife of a farmer. The both of them stood at the eastern side of the steps to welcome guests, while the woman who stood on the western side of the steps was actually the wife of Heir Anning.
As for the protagonists of the day, sisters Yu Xiaocao and Yu Xiaolian changed into their ceremonial clothes and shoes, and calmly waited in the dressing room at the east side of the hall after taking a fragrant flower petal bath. That's right, as Xiaocao and Xiaolian were twin sisters, their hairpin ceremonies would naturally be held together.
Xiaolian secretly peeked out from inside the dressing room, looked at the luxuriant and graceful guests outside, and stuck her tongue out and said mischievously, ”Younger Sister, I’ve really ridden on your coattails today—there are so many wives and daughters of court officials that came to celebrate! I wouldn't have dared to dream of it before!”
”What's not to dream about? So what if they’re the wives of court officials? Don’t they also have two eyes and a mouth? Can they possibly have one more nostril than we do?” Yu Xiaocao's little head also appeared above hers, poking around and looking out.
Eldest Maternal Aunt Han saw them and hurriedly pushed the two similar-looking little heads back into the room, ”Behave yourselves! Today is your big day, so don’t become a laughing stock in front of so many guests! You should still remember all the etiquette that the senior palace servant taught you the other day, right? Hurry up and recall them in your head before you make a mistake!”
Yu Xiaocao playfully hugged her eldest maternal aunt's arm and swung it, acting cute, ”Eldest Maternal Aunt, I'm thirsty, can you bring me a piece of watermelon to quench my thirst?”
”No! What if you get nervous and want to pee? Bear with me, as soon as the ceremony is over, I'll bring you a glass of watermelon juice. Xiaolian, you too! Be good, alright?” Eldest Maternal Aunt pacified the two restless little girls, and hurriedly went out to serve the guests again. Although those noble guests did not need her to take care of them, there were still quite a few guests from their hometown, and her younger sister and sister-in-law might not be able to handle it all—she still had to go and keep an eye out.
As the classical musical instruments began to play, the arrival of the guest of honor caused an uproar. The Grand Princess Royal who had originally planned to fight for the seat of the guest of honor immediately gave way with a smile as soon as she saw the guest of honor. In her heart, she muttered, ‘This little girl of the Yu Family is so reputable—she actually managed to invite the empress as her guest of honor. Is there any other guest more honorable than her?’