C54

Jin Lan and Ye Jinxian followed Qing Yu through the chrysanthemum garden. Those that bloomed were like balls of color, while the ones that were half-opened were like exquisite lanterns. They flowed with light and overflowed with color, making one feel dizzy just by looking at them.

Indeed, he did not disappoint his reputation. Jin Lan secretly praised him. He walked along the small path in the flowers to the right, and in a short while, he arrived at the Half Moon Pavilion. Double decked carved flower house, almost can see the chrysanthemum garden in the panoramic view. There were two sturdy Mama guarding the door, and two maids standing by the side. They looked to be about Qing Yu's age, and when they saw Qing Yu, they smiled and came over: "Why is Sister Qing Yu here, does Madam have any orders?"

Qing Yu also smiled lightly, and said softly: "Madam asked me to bring Ye Family Second Miss and the three young misses, did the banquet begin inside?"

The two maidservants quickly bowed towards Jin Lan and Ye Jinxian, and said with a smile, "Miss Ye has finally come, our Lady has already asked you about it many times." With that, she turned to Qing Yu and replied: "The banquet has not started yet, but the young lady said that Miss Ye has not arrived, so this banquet cannot be held. "Well, the girls are leading the girls to play Leaf."

Qing Yu could not help but frown, but upon hearing that Jin Lan and his sister were still at his side, he did not say much, but smiled and bowed, letting the servant lead them in, then hurriedly returned to Madame Qin's side.

The girls were all gathered on the second floor. The maid, Silverfrost, was smiling as she led the two sisters up. A crystal bead curtain was hung at the entrance, and before the curtain had been lifted, Jin Lan could hear voices coming from within. However, he couldn't hear the conversation clearly. He couldn't tell what topic they were talking about. The only thing he knew was that the atmosphere inside was quite harmonious.

Silver Frost stopped right in front of the door. He lifted the curtain with a smile on his face, indicating that the two of them should enter by themselves. Jin Lan smiled at her and then told Wan Ju and Hua Zi to wait outside. He then pulled Ye Jinxian inside, and before they even stepped into the Side Chamber, they heard a voice filled with ill intent: "Who is outside, what are you doing sneaking around?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the voices in the room suddenly quieted, and everyone's gazes immediately gathered on Jin Lan and Ye Jinxian.

Meng Ruhan was bored to death watching someone else play a card with leaves. Seeing Jin Lan's figure appear in front of the door, his eyes immediately lit up, his expression jumping up, ignoring Ye Jinwei who was sitting at the side, he suddenly went up and greeted her. "Sister Jinlan!"

A smile bloomed on Jin Lan's face. "It's my fault for making elder sister wait."

Before Meng Ruhan could reply, the voice from before rang out again, "I was wondering who it was. So you are the Miss Ye who fell into the water while swimming."

Jin Lan raised his eyes and saw a twelve to thirteen year old girl wearing a pomegranate red embroidered Eight Treasures Cloud Patterned Dress lazily reclining on the beauty bed. She was fiddling with the unopened Nine Links in her hands, her eyes lowered and her gaze focused on the Nine Links, a trace of a mocking smile on her face.

Although this girl looked familiar, she had never seen her before. Furthermore, he had never offended her, so why was it that they had never been so tit for tat since the very beginning? It was really strange.

"Sister Jinlan." Meng Ruhan also had a face full of displeasure. She lightly pulled on the sleeves of Jin Lan and whispered: "She is Zhao Qianrong." Then, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, as if to say, this guy is really annoying, isn't she?

So this was Zhao Qianrong who was seen as a ferocious beast by Meng Ruhan. Jin Lan looked at her again, and no wonder she felt that she looked a little familiar. As expected, the mother and daughter duo's tone of voice were not much different from each other's.

Seeing that the atmosphere had turned cold in an instant, another lady who was sitting beside Zhao Qianrong stood up and walked over, holding Jin Lan's hand, and laughed softly, "This must be the Sister Jinlan that Ru Han desires, Qian Rong has a straightforward personality, please don't bother with her."

Seeing her light smile, Jin Lan couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The girls of Ye Family and Meng Ruhan were all extremely beautiful, and even the ladies of various families present, were all beautiful women, each with their own charms. But the person in front of her was the one who had the most charming smile out of all the people she had ever seen. The goose-yellow rose silk filigree, the soft yarn reflects her pure and clean smile, just like the warm sun in winter, warming the heart and soul.

Other than that, her thoughts were meticulous, Zhao Qianrong had obviously borrowed her strength to say those words to Meng Ruhan. Meng Ruhan's popularity seemed to be greater than Zhao Qianrong's, if not she would not have brazenly delayed the start of the banquet for an hour, and there were no complaints from the room. Thus, Zhao Qianrong's words had undoubtedly made all the girls in the room unconsciously lean towards Meng Ruhan and Jin Lan. This was extremely disadvantageous to Zhao Qianrong, so she quickly came out to smooth things over.

From the looks of it, it was not the first time she did this. She did not know which family's girl it was, but she had such a good relationship with Zhao Qianrong.

When Meng Ruhan saw who it was, her expression immediately relaxed and with a hint of complaint she said to her: "Big sister Yifei, why are you always speaking up for her?"

Bai Yifei revealed a helpless smile, and said in a thin voice: "You know her temperament, it's just that she's happy on the surface, her heart is not bad." Although she said that to Meng Ruhan, her eyes looked at Jin Lan, as though she wanted to find some clues from her face.

Thus, Jin Lan didn't say much. He smiled lightly and said, "That's true. I'm really envious of someone as emotional as Miss Zhao."

Jin Lan's dignified appearance caused a flash of astonishment to appear in Bai Yifei's eyes, but the smile on his face did not change at all, "Ru Han, why aren't you quick to introduce these two ladies to us?"

Meng Ruhan nodded her head, and immediately threw the complaints from before to the back of her mind. She pulled Jin Lan and Ye Jinxian and walked a few steps into the hall, and said: "These two are the girls from the History Clan of Yangzhou, the one on the left is Second Miss Jin Lan, and the one on the right is Third Miss Jinxian. Other than Zi Tong, everyone else is younger than us. "

When the others saw her like this, they all stood up and greeted her. Of course, was the exception, but she seemed to care a lot about Bai Yifei, and seeing that she had taken the lead, she sat by herself and played with the Nine Links, not saying a word. In this way, the older and younger sisters in the room burst into laughter.

The youngest Zhou Zitong was only five years old, he glanced at Jin Lan and Ye Jinxian, then turned to look at Ye Jinwei who was seated at the side. With a "Eh", he asked: "Big sister Jin Lan and this big sister seems to belong to the same family."

Although Zhou Zitong's voice was young and tender, it still made everyone turn to look at Ye Jinwei. Only then did she stand up, and barely nodded at Jin Lan and Jinxian, "Second sister, third sister."

"Big Sis." Bo Gu Ye could be played with by a few people, and in front of the small square table that was carved with chicken wings, wood and hibiscus, there was a small round table. Ye Jinwei sat at the outermost seat, it was obvious that the people in the room did not like her.

"That's great. Luhan, hurry up and start the banquet. I'm almost starving." Lu Jing pushed the card in her hand. Her round and smooth face wrinkled up like a bun, and said weakly.

Her appearance caused the young ladies to cover their mouths and laugh. Meng Ruhan did not delay any further, and directly called for the silver frost outside the door to have a meal.

When the maidservants heard the order, they immediately brought in steaming hot dishes and placed them on the circular table covered with a red embroidered cloth and covered with a hundred different colors. Marmite, Marmite, Sesame Sauce, Dairy Fish, Lotus Roasted Tofu, Crystal Elbow, Octagon Soup, Green Shrimp roll wrapped in tender lotus leaves, Cake of chrysanthemum from the chrysanthemum garden, and Candied Begonia from the Sapidity Sachet.

The maidservants outside the door were finally able to come in and serve their masters. For a moment, the room was quiet, and only the light footsteps of the maidservants could be heard.

Jin Lan's body was not well to begin with, and now that he had not eaten much, he slightly moved his silver chopsticks and placed it down, causing Wan Ju to immediately serve her a bowl of Eight Treasures Soup. Jin Lan replied with a faint smile, but only moved his spoon and didn't drink a single mouthful. Although he appeared to be indifferent, his eyes had already swept over everyone in the room.

Zhao Qianrong and Bai Yifei sat a little closer together. The others also sat in groups of two or three, which made them feel a little closer and a bit distant. However, sitting together with Meng Ruhan, naturally became the center of the crowd.

After finding out that Bai Yifei's father was the governor of the two rivers, the White Mountain, Jin Lan finally understood why she had always been helping Zhao Qianrong. The Bai Clan was not a prestigious clan. Bai Zishan was born a martial general and had done great deeds in the past. That was why she was able to stand at the peak of the world. As for Bai Yifei's mother, she was the younger sister of Imperial Concubine Ruan, the direct descendant of the Changping Marquis Ruan Family.

No wonder Zhao Qianrong would listen to what Bai Yifei said, if it was her, she would do the same.

Without saying a word, the maidservants took off the plates and bowls, used the copper basin to give them water to wash their hands, and then used warm water to rinse their mouths. Finally, they served hot tea, and the room gradually resumed its chatter and laughter.

The banquet in the Half Moon Pavilion had just been adjourned, and the feast in the chrysanthemum garden had also come to an end. It was already late, and the ladies all stood up to bid their farewells.

Bai Yifei pulled Jin Lan's hand, and said that he would invite her over for a stroll next time, and Jin Lan agreed with a polite smile. Meng Ruhan naturally came over to join in the fun, and clamored that Bai Yifei was not allowed to be biased. After a while, the crowd reluctantly dispersed.

I don't know what Madame Qin and Madame SHen said, but Ye Family's carriage was the last to leave the manor, but before they left, Madame Qin specially picked up a few extremely well bloomed chrysanthemums, which were placed in multi-colored plants and sent over, and surprisingly her beloved chrysanthemums were among them.

Madame SHen did not decline, and smiled as she let Hui Xiu carefully receive it. Amidst her laughter, Jin Lan actually noticed that the two of them were a bit strange, as though they were somewhat estranged, and not as intimate as they were within the Lingji Temple.

On the way back, the Madame SHen closed her eyes and did not speak of anything else, so Jin Lan could not ask too much. The carriage smoothly entered the second gate, and just as they got off, Man Ping, who was guarding the second gate, ran over, her expression did not look good.

She forced out a smile, bowed to Jin Lan and the rest, then walked to Madame SHen's side and said a few words in a low voice. Madame SHen's face immediately changed.