Chapter 663
Misidentification
Chapter 663 Misidentification
Qin Yuan sat at the table, simply smiling.
Sixth Master Gu was inexplicably excited. He stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said with a smile, "May I ask your honorable surname, brother?"
Qin Yuan had no choice but to stand up and cup his hands in greeting: "My surname is Qin, my given name is Yuan, and I am known as Young Master Nantang."
“Nantang…hiss…oh, it’s Third Sister-in-law…” Sixth Master Gu finally realized what was happening and his face immediately turned red with embarrassment.
Gu Baozhu was already laughing so hard she was slumped in her chair: "My sixth brother thinks he's met another kindred spirit. Doesn't he look familiar? He even resembles your close friend, Scholar Qin. Haha."
Qin Yuan quickly offered her a seat: "Sixth Brother, please sit down. It's all this girl's fault for not explaining clearly. There's no time to celebrate the festival today, so let's just eat something casual and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival again tomorrow."
After saying that, he sat down himself.
As Master Gu smelled the aroma of the food on the table, his stomach began to rumble incessantly.
Gu Baozhu had just stopped laughing when she heard this, and then burst into laughter again.
"Baozhu!" Master Gu was annoyed.
Gu Baozhu begged for mercy, "Alright, Sixth Brother, I won't laugh anymore. If anyone's to blame, it's Third Sister-in-law for dressing up so convincingly, even her voice was disguised as a man's."
"How could anyone resemble you? You're like a wild boy all day long. If you went out now and walked around in front of those people, they wouldn't even recognize you."
Upon hearing Qin Yuan say that she dressed up as a boy convincingly, Gu Baozhu happily began to talk nonsense: "I think if Sixth Brother dressed up as a woman, he would be quite a beauty. It's just that Sixth Brother doesn't like to sing opera. Otherwise, if Aunt Zheng helps him dress up as a female role and sing a song tomorrow, Mother definitely won't recognize that this is her eldest son."
Qin Yuan immediately interrupted, saying, "You now know how to entertain your parents with colorful clothes, you've made great progress. I wonder what you'll be like when you come back from Baihe Academy."
After hearing this, even if Sixth Master Gu was extremely angry, he couldn't vent it.
"Third Sister-in-law, Baozhu, the food is getting cold. Let's eat quickly. I just overheard something, and there are a lot of people outside. Baozhu, you have to protect Third Sister-in-law later."
"understood……"
Gu Baozhu was really hungry, so she immediately started eating.
The garden party outside was indeed lively. Not only did scholars flock there, but even those who didn't read much came over to see the literary gentlemen's festivities.
Shen Changle stood at the exit, holding a wooden box filled with slips of paper, all of which were topics devised by talented scholars who had met the requirements.
"Why haven't Young Master Nantang and Mr. Songshan arrived yet?"
"Wait a little longer, this road is too crowded. Even if we come, it will take half an hour to squeeze in."
The scholars whispered among themselves.
Shen Changle was also a little anxious, but her face was all smiles, and you couldn't tell at all.
Hearing that people say the lanterns are exquisite and novel, they added, "These all come from the south; southerners love these little trinkets."
This topic sparked some discussion, and Shen Changle added, "There are several shops in the West Market that have recently been selling trendy goods from the south, and their business is so good that it's enviable. Whatever they put in sells like hotcakes, and I'm envious of them. It's just a pity that Ranxiangju only sells incense pills, and even its poetry collections are just consigned here."
Since they had nothing better to do, and besides, most of the female customers liked southern goods, someone asked, "What do you sell? Where are you located?"
Shen Changle then helped the other shopkeepers attract a new batch of customers.
Other visitors who couldn't guess the three riddles at the garden party also wanted to see the true face of the Prince of Nantang and begged him for it.
"Please be more lenient, this little bit of money is for you to have some tea."
"That won't do. This is a rule set by our Lady Hou. If others find out, it will be troublesome." Shen Changle quickly refused.
"We won't go near Young Master Nantang, we'll just take a look from afar."
There were even more pitiful comments: "We've tried to guess all the riddles along the way, racking our brains but still can't figure them out. Is it because of this that we won't be able to see Young Master Nantang again?"
We don't want anything, but my elderly mother, sisters, and brothers all love Nantang Gongzi's poems. If they knew I wouldn't come to their door, I'm afraid they wouldn't have a good year.
"Just do a good deed, it's helpful to others and helpful to yourself, right?"
Shen Changle was getting really annoyed.
Even someone as intelligent as him was momentarily speechless.
At this moment, Lin Ziqi squeezed through and said with a smile, "Manager Shen, judging from their clothes, these people are all students of the Imperial Academy. How about you do me a favor?"
Manager Shen regretted it a little. If Manager Leng were here, Lin Ziqi probably wouldn't have said such a thing.
But he was Miss Qin's maidservant, so he couldn't disrespect the second son-in-law.
He said somewhat awkwardly, "Second son-in-law, this is a rule set by the Lady of the Marquis. How about you help me guess a few riddles, and that will be enough?"
With so many students at the Imperial College, if everyone were given a break, the rules of the garden party would become meaningless.
Lin Ziqi frowned, and Madam Yu beside him spoke up: "They are all relatives. Even if the Lady of the Marquis knew, she wouldn't object. Don't make trouble for people here by using a trivial matter as an excuse."
That's really an unpleasant thing to say.
Shen Changle said unhappily, "I am working for my master, how can I listen to others instead of my master? The second son-in-law is a relative of my master, but he is not my master."
Face is something you give yourself; if you don't know how to value your reputation, then he can't afford to give it to you.
Shen Changle's expression turned somewhat strange.
I don't know how the second young lady chose such a son-in-law. He's not even worthy of carrying the Marquis's shoes.
He relied on the second young lady's dowry to save face, yet he still brought a concubine to cause trouble for the eldest young lady.
That's utterly absurd.
No wonder Hongye often said that the second young lady was mentally ill.
Lin Ziqi felt utterly humiliated and couldn't lift his head. Then, Madam Yu added fuel to the fire, saying, "They really have no respect for people. He's just a servant. People who don't know the situation might think that the Marquis's mansion is looking down on us poor relatives."
Shen Changle laughed.
He was just worried about how to argue with Lin Ziqi, and this little girl was offering herself up for him to slap, so of course he might as well slap her.
He immediately spat.
“I am indeed a servant, and you are just a concubine. Do you think you are the master? You even claim kinship with the Marquis’s mansion. The ones who are related to the Marquis’s mansion are your master and mistress.”
As a servant, instead of attending to the pregnant mistress, you wander around with your master, constantly calling her "relatives" and making her look like the mistress. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the mistress.
What are you up to? Do you think nobody knows?
The mistress was kind enough to keep you, yet you still have the nerve to sow discord between the two families in front of your mistress. You're clearly an ungrateful wretch.
These words, coming straight to the heart of the matter, infuriated Madam Yu. She screamed and rushed forward to tear at Shen Chang Le.
Shen Changle quickly jumped back to avoid the box in her arms, shouting, "Men and women are different. They shouldn't sit together after the age of seven. Second son-in-law, keep a close eye on your concubine. This servant can't afford to offend her. My whole family depends on me for support. I dare not have any dealings with her and ruin my job."