Just like that, the group of three remained silent all the way until they reached the second gate of Hou Mansion.
At the second gate, there were already servants waiting in the inner house, and one of them took over the job of guiding Ye Anlan and Qiu Xinger, and took them straight to Mrs. Bai's Rong'an Hall.
There was silence in Rong'an Hall. When Ye Anlan and the others came over, Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Bai were offering incense and chanting scriptures in the small Buddhist hall, asking the Bodhisattva to bless their relatives who fought in the northern border. Bai Qingzhi's two daughters were sitting quietly and copying books. .
The maid Haitang next to Mrs. Bai invited Ye Anlan and Qiu Xing'er to the sitting room for tea and waited quietly until Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Bai walked out of the small Buddhist hall. Then Haitang whispered to Mrs. Bai to report.
Old Madam Bai heard that she was here to give jewelry, so she immediately invited Ye Anlan and Qiu Xing'er in.
In order not to obstruct other people's eyes as much as possible, the Bai family never went out to dinner or play unless necessary in the past two years.
But the birthday banquet of the little emperor and the empress dowager every year, the pilgrimage to the palace after the next year, the birthday banquet of the empress dowager's first brother and sister-in-law, etc., these are the Bai family who cannot refuse and dare not think twice. of.
This time, the Bai family made new clothes and ordered jewelry for the purpose of attending the birthday banquet of the empress dowager's second sister-in-law.
The banquet is scheduled for twelve days later, when most of the nobles and officials in the capital will go to the Empress Dowager's natal home to join her.
It’s not that the remaining nobles and officials don’t want to go, but they are not eligible to get the posts at all, so they can only give gifts to the door by themselves, and then go home and eat themselves without even a meal.
This is only the birthday banquet of the empress dowager's direct relative and second sister-in-law. If the birthday banquet of the empress dowager's two elder brothers and her elder sister-in-law were replaced, the empress dowager's natal family would even have their threshold leveled.
Weipinghou's Mansion is now in an awkward position in the capital. They are not the kind of shabby households who can't get the post from the Empress Dowager's family, but because there is no communication between the capital and the northern border, every time they go out to a banquet, they will be greeted by some people with red tops, whites, and laughing. No one hates others, and some villains deliberately push and step on them.
In order to cause as little trouble as possible, they not only have to think about what gifts to give, but also spend a lot of manpower and material resources on wearing them.
It’s not that they want to curry favor with the Empress Dowager’s natal family, or want to show off their power and wealth. The reason why they have gone to great lengths is to try their best not to show off and offend others without being rude.
The gift must be good, but not too good. It must be seen that people have put their heart into it, but it must not be suspected of being flattering. People will point fingers and mock the Bai family who started with military exploits, but now they have lost their character. Became a flatterer.
There are more points to pay attention to when wearing. Whether it is color or style, you must pay attention to absolutely not clashing with other unofficial people's shirts or jewelry. At the same time, you must not dress too well or too mediocre, so as not to become someone else's thorn in the side or the target of teasing.
To do this, the Bai family must first find out all the outfits that certain people wore on the day they went to the banquet. At the same time, they have to be careful not to be discovered that they are inquiring in private.
All these things, the two generations of hostesses of the Bai family have put all their energy into it, and they have bothered a lot.
Fortunately, the children of the Bai family are also very obedient. Even at an age that yearns for freedom and friends, none of the three children of the Bai family insist on going out to play and make friends.
Let's talk about Ye Anlan again.
After entering the room, Ye Anlan saluted Qiu Xinger with lowered eyebrows, "I've seen old lady, madam, ladies."
The old lady Bai frowned slightly, but she didn't express the doubts in her stomach. She raised her hand slightly, "There is no need to be polite. Haitang, go and get the brocade stool for these two girls, Shaoyao, go and get the jewelry for the child Let's take a look."
Ye Anlan and Qiu Xinger thanked each other, leaned over and carefully sat down on the brocade stool, waiting for the two girls from the Bai family to inspect the jewelry.
The two white girls thanked their grandmother and mother, and then came to look at the jewelry hand in hand.
Qiu Xing'er was afraid that the two ladies of the Hou Mansion would be picky, and she would not be able to do the job, so her expression was tense all the time, her eyes were fixed on the jewelry box.
Ye Anlan was much more relaxed than her. She turned her head slightly and quietly looked at the four female relatives of the Bai family.
Quickly glanced at each of the four of them twice, Ye Anlan used the same method again, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, and began to carefully observe the maid in the room.
There were two nuns, two young daughter-in-laws, and six beautiful young maids standing in the room. Judging from their respective positions, they obviously had their own masters.
Ye Anlan doesn't know how to read minds, she can't tell whether someone is loyal or traitor from someone's face, and she doesn't have Li Jing's ability to observe the details of others and judge whether there is something wrong with someone from their every move.
The only thing she can rely on is her sixth sense that she thinks is very reliable, but Pei Huaiyu always complains that it is purely subjective.
Ye Anlan was thinking about how to make all these maids and maids meet her eyes, when Miss Bai stared at Ye Anlan's pocket purse and let out a small sigh.
When she was gesturing jewelry on her younger sister's head, she accidentally caught a glimpse of Ye Anlan's pouch on her waist out of the corner of her eye. At this glance, the familiar patterns, colors and fabrics attracted Miss Bai's attention.
"What's the matter, sister? I don't look good in this?" The second girl Bai asked, blinking her big moist black eyes.
"No, no." Miss Bai put the hairpin in her hand back into the box, and then walked quickly to Ye Anlan's side, "Girl, your purse is really well embroidered, let me take a closer look at it patterns and stitches?"
This child is still young, even though he has tried his best to calm himself down and not look too eager, his tone and eyes still reveal a little anxiety.
Ye Anlan had already suddenly remembered the purse she asked Wen Liuniang to embroider when Miss Bai groaned softly.
This purse of hers is almost exactly the same as the purse that Bai Qingzhi gave her as a token. It is not easy to display such things as a safe talisman, so the purse is different. The second day after Ye Anlan got that purse, she asked Wen Liu Niang embroidered an identical one for her.
She is a girl, wearing a purse embroidered with stones and grass is already strange enough, but the fabric used for the purse is still dark blue.
It’s also thanks to the fact that she is playing the role of a poor slum girl. She picked up this muslin purse and put it on after seeing the fine stitching and strong fabric. No one would doubt her.
At most, it was other clerks in the jewelry store. I secretly complained that this girl really didn't know how to distinguish between beauty and ugliness. She really was a country girl who came from a small place and had never seen the world.