Chapter 251: Recognition Gathering
The next day, Su Rende had the butler send invitations to every household. The general idea was that he had recovered memory, now reunited with his wife and daughter, and wanted colleagues from each mansion to bring their families for a casual meal. The purpose was to introduce them to everyone, lest they flood the Dragon King’s Temple and fail to recognize their own people.
Among these noble families, many people faced a distressing choice. Before the Su family mother and daughter reunited with General Su, they were just ordinary merchants who would even provide door-to-door skincare service to the noblewomen and misses of each house. Although Zhang Zhaodi and Su Yaoguang rarely provided door-to-door service personally, rarely doesn’t mean never—there were a few times. Now, those they had served were all worried about them settling accounts later.
Therefore, they were discussing with the men in their families whether to attend or not. If they didn’t attend, perhaps they would soon be forgotten, and there would be no settling accounts later. But in doing so, they would miss the opportunity to get on good terms with the general’s wife and the eldest daughter of the general’s mansion. As official family women, they knew well they had the responsibility to help their own husbands expand connections. Generally speaking, interactions between noblewomen should be handled by the noblewomen themselves.
Regardless of how the madams and misses of each mansion chose, the banquet was still held as scheduled.
Prime Minister Wang’s Mansion did not receive an invitation.
One was the head of civil officials, the other the head of military officials—these two just couldn’t stand each other and never got along. Previously, when Su Rende was a loner, Prime Minister Wang would always sarcastically mock him for excessive killing, doomed to be wifeless and childless with no one to see him off, forever a loner.
Now Su Rende had found his wife and daughter and was no longer a loner, so he ought to summon that Wang fellow to show off. However, the butler said that Yaoguang that girl seemed not to like that Wang fellow either.
Since that was the case, there was no need to invite that troublesome thing to come and annoy them.
The Protector General’s Mansion invited the young masters and misses of each mansion to the banquet, yet omitted Prime Minister Wang’s Mansion. This matter quickly spread, and everyone said the Protector Great General was too unyielding, showing no regard for the face of the nation’s prime minister. Since ancient times, how many military generals killed enemies on the outside, didn’t die at the enemy’s hands, but ended up dying at their own people’s hands. Therefore, offend anyone but don’t offend civil officials—soft knives are scarier than hard ones.
Zhang Zhaodi dealt with those official family women, listening to their flowery words, feeling somewhat awkward but forcing herself to endure it.
Su Yaoguang occasionally smoothed things over for Zhang Zhaodi; originally, glossing it over would have settled the matter, and everyone would be happy, but…
“Last time I visited the mansion, it was Sister Pang who received me—why haven’t we seen Sister Pang today?” a woman said softly.
The whole room fell silent.
At this moment, the noblewomen in the room were like acupoints sealed for muteness—not a word, just slowly sipping their teacups, as if the tea had something special.
“This is… Madam Gou, right?”
“It’s Ma, I am surnamed Ma.” The woman corrected.
“Whether surnamed Gou or Ma, it’s all the same anyway.” Zhang Zhaodi said lazily. “I’ve never met that Pang Shi you mentioned; she was gone by the time I returned. I thought about it, and surely my husband knew I don’t like unrelated people in our home, so he sent her away in advance!”
“Sister Pang is not an unrelated person. Your family general was fighting at the border, and she took care of his daily life.”
“Oh, did you see it with your own eyes?” Zhang Zhaodi asked. “Or did that Pang Shi tell you herself? Did she also say my husband and she were mutually in love, but because she missed her late husband and didn’t want to serve another man, she never agreed to his proposal?”
Madam Ma was stunned: “How did you know?”
“No need to guess, just thinking about it makes it clear. A woman staying long-term in someone else’s home, not the mistress of the house, illegitimate and improper—others are bound to ask why. If she doesn’t find a good excuse at that time, how can she save face? But Madam Ma, if you like listening to plays, you can go out to hear them. Here, there is no Sister Pang—only me, Su Zhang Shi.”
The person beside pulled at the one surnamed Ma and whispered: “Aren’t you going to apologize? Your husband finally climbed to his current position—do you want to make him fall straight off the cliff?”
“You know I’m hot-tempered. I just can’t stand this woman doing nothing, idling for over ten years, and now saying she’s back means she’s back. How is she fit to be the general’s wife?”
“She’s not fit, but you are—then you go ahead, offer yourself to General Su.” Someone said sarcastically. “I think you’re jealous that she came and became an imperial lady right away, right?”
Women are petty, especially these official family madams. When they gather, they compare either their husbands or their children, and trading a few sour words is commonplace.
“Someone come…” Su Yaoguang said, “The things I told you to note down—did you note them?”
Several maidservants came over from the side, each with a small booklet in one hand and a pen in the other.
“In response to the eldest daughter, you told us to record the guests’ words, and we noted them all down word for word. We’ll just wait until the banquet ends to give these booklets to the great general for review.”
“Miss Su, having people record all our words and deeds like this—isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” That Madam Ma said with a dark face. “Don’t you find this offensive? Too lacking in rules.”
“Madam Ma misunderstands. My mother and I grew up in a farming family for years; even later when doing business, we relied on our skills to eat. My mother and I are simple people who can’t understand your roundabout talk. To avoid unnecessary trouble and misunderstandings, I had them record it, so when my father has time, he can help us analyze what you madams and misses really mean.”
“My father says he has a few friends in court, but he didn’t say who are his friends and who aren’t. So if I report these words and deeds up, my father can analyze based on this information which ones are his friends’ family members.”
Everyone was shrewd—how could they not hear the threat in Su Yaoguang’s words?
This Miss Su meant to advise them to mind their words and actions carefully; once she caught a handle and complained to her father, if she couldn’t deal with these female relatives, her father would deal with the men in court.
The official family women who had been watching now saw that Su Yaoguang and Zhang Zhaodi were no pushovers. That Miss Su should be a sly little fox, while that first-rank imperial lady Su Zhang Shi was simpler, but her temperament was the type that didn’t suffer losses—quite shrewish.
“The front yard has already started seating. Please take your seats, madams!” Su Yaoguang said.
