Chapter 9: Family Banquet at the Wen Residence

Perhaps this family banquet was indeed a bit busier, as Hua Ting never came to find her, and the servants didn’t bring medicine bowls to Qingwu Courtyard to corner her. Wen Ru happily ate lunch in Fu Jizhou’s courtyard, flipped through some of Fu Jizhou’s travel journals and miscellaneous books, and then sat in the courtyard watching the servants play shuttlecock for quite a while. She played until the hour of You, when a servant came to notify Fu Jizhou to attend the banquet at Ronghua Hall.

Upon hearing this, Wen Ru immediately stood up from the stone bench, covered her mouth and gracefully yawned, her eyes slightly red as she said, “Let’s go over. When we get to Ronghua Hall, you relax a bit. If you encounter any trouble, just hide behind me.”

Fu Jizhou picked up the shuttlecock that the servants had kicked to his feet, then stood up with her. He glanced at the color of her eyebrows and eyes, and nodded slightly.

“Young Master…” Gu Fan, seeing his young master had already stood up and was walking out with Wen Ru, hurriedly called out to him. His gaze swept briefly over Fu Jizhou, reminding him that he had forgotten to change into his banquet clothes.

As it was the first time attending a banquet at the Wen family, his young master had carefully picked out clothes with him last night.

Fu Jizhou paused his steps, not responding to him for the moment. Instead, he reached out to tug at Wen Ru’s sleeve, pulling her to turn and look at him, asking, “Jinyi, does this outfit I’m wearing today look good?”

Wen Ru looked at him carefully for several moments before her eyes curved into a smile as she praised, “It looks very good.” She reached out teasingly to flick the jade lock hanging at his waist, causing the dangling glass beads to chime. “Especially this jade lock I picked out, it’s the finishing touch.”

Wen Ru was so smug that the corners of her eyes were almost flying up to the sky. Fu Jizhou raised his sleeve to slightly cover his smiling mouth, turning to the side to say to Gu Fan, “The hour of You has passed, it’s not good to be late. We’ll talk about it when we get back.”

Gu Fan was left speechless. He bowed and complied, respectfully following behind the two.

By now it was already a quarter past You, with dusk falling. Indeed, they shouldn’t delay any longer.

*

Behind Ronghua Hall was the Wen family ancestral hall, where the Wen family ancestors were enshrined. Every mid-month, the Wen family would hold a family banquet here to show that they had not forgotten their ancestors and to maintain their original intentions.

The scale of the family banquet was not very large. The Wen family’s ancestral home was in Jiangnan, and only the main branch remained in Weiking. Apart from the family head Wen Nianyue, there were her two full-blood younger sisters, Wen Nianxing and Wen Nianchen.

The East and West Mansions of the Wen family had officially separated, but as the direct line of the imperial merchants could not take the imperial examinations and had no other path, Wen Nianxing and Wen Nianchen still managed some of the Wen family’s shops, living off the profits. Only when Wen Ru became the family head in the future could Wen Nianxing, Wen Nianchen, and their daughters take the imperial examinations to enter officialdom and pursue their own careers.

When Wen Ru and Fu Jizhou entered Ronghua Hall one after the other, most people had already arrived.

Wen Nianyue was sitting at the head, her table set about a dozen steps higher than the others. The rest were arranged in their usual order below her.

Wen Nianxing and Wen Nianchen were seated on the right side. Next to Wen Nianxing sat her primary husband Li Shi, with a dignified countenance. When he heard the sound and looked towards Wen Ru and the others, he revealed a gentle smile. Beside Wen Nianchen sat her secondary husband Qiao Cejun. Qiao Cejun’s temperament was clearly much more arrogant, only glancing faintly at the entrance. Below Qiao Cejun was the primary husband Cui Shi, who kept his eyes lowered and remained silent, steadily moving a string of red wooden prayer beads in his right hand regardless of the sounds around him.

Wen Ru remembered that Buddhist disciples moved prayer beads to count, calculating how many times they had recited scriptures. Reciting scriptures in front of the Wen family ancestral hall, he seemed to be the most devout one.

On the left side, Wen Ru’s seat was at the head. Fearing that Fu Jizhou might feel unfamiliar, his seat was arranged next to Wen Ru’s, followed by the young ladies of the second and third branches. The second young lady born to Wen Nianxing and Li Shi, Wen Xilan; the third young lady born to Wen Nianchen and Qiao Cejun, Wen Xixue; and the fourth young lady born to Wen Nianchen and Cui Shi, Wen Xihua.

Wen Ru was originally second in line among the direct descendants of this generation, but to reduce conflicts between legitimate daughters and eldest daughters, the Great Mi Dynasty stipulated that legitimate daughters of the direct line would take both the legitimate and eldest positions. Therefore, although Wen Xilan was two years older, she was still the second young lady and called Wen Ru “cousin sister”. Because of this, she particularly disliked Wen Ru on ordinary days and often created obstacles for Wen Ru in the family school and training grounds. Wen Xixue had grown up with Wen Xilan in the West Mansion since childhood, and the two naturally formed a close-knit group.

The fourth young lady Wen Xihua, who had come to complain to Wen Ru last time, had been confined for half a month for killing Wen Xilan’s beloved dog. She was released today and immediately grinned when she saw Wen Ru, raising her hand to wave in greeting.

This was a pitiful child. Wen Nianchen extremely disliked Cui Shi because he had caused the death of a small attendant whom Wen Nianchen was very fond of in the early years. During the period of fulfilling her duty to produce children with her primary husband, Wen Nianchen dallied both inside and outside the mansion, waking up every day not knowing whose belly she had slept on. In the end, she became pregnant but didn’t know whose bloodline it was.

Wen Nianchen was very indiscriminate and insisted on placing the born daughter on Cui Shi’s head. Thus, Wen Xihua became the legitimate daughter of the third branch, unloved by her mother and neglected by her father. Later, Cui Shi became weary of worldly affairs in the mansion, handed over the household management, and spent all day reciting scriptures in a small Buddha hall. Seeing this, others became more brazen, openly and covertly mocking Wen Xihua’s background.

Wen Xihua’s friendship with Wen Ru was not due to sisterly affection or compatibility, but only because being with a legitimate daughter of the direct line made her feel that her status was more secure. She thought that if the direct line recognized her status, what use was there in others gossiping?

“Cousin sister, where did this young gentleman come from? He’s so handsome.” When Wen Ru and Fu Jizhou walked to her side, Wen Xihua leaned over, smiling and making small talk. If she were an adult woman, saying such things would be considered frivolous, but as she was only about ten years old, with a round face like a steamed bun that made her look even younger than Fu Jizhou, her words seemed particularly sincere.

Fu Jizhou’s ears turned slightly red, and he took a small step to the right, hiding behind Wen Ru.

Wen Ru extended her index finger to push the leaning Wen Xihua back, saying, “Sit properly. You dare to speak nonsense in front of the ancestral hall? Be careful not to be locked in the dark room again.”

Wen Xihua’s lips pouted, and she sat back reluctantly, muttering softly, “Cousin sister sees a handsome young man and doesn’t want to play with her little sister anymore.” In the next moment, seeing Wen Ru leading someone towards the head seat, she hurriedly reached out to pull Wen Ru, smiling, “Cousin sister, are you going to school tomorrow? I heard that cousin sister has been unwell these past two weeks and hasn’t gone to school. Are you going tomorrow? I’ll be alone tomorrow…”

Wen Ru tilted her head, thinking for a moment, and replied, “Yes.”

Wen Xihua’s eyes immediately brightened, and she sat up straight.

Below Wen Xihua was another table where the small attendants of the second and third branches sat with a few young men. Wen Ru didn’t see them often and couldn’t even remember some of their names.

“Let’s begin.” Seeing that everyone had arrived, Wen Nianyue stood up. Following the servants holding up high the sacrificial offerings, she walked step by step towards the ancestral hall behind. Wen Nianxing, Wen Nianchen, and the others followed closely behind, then came the younger ones like themselves.

After the food offering, everyone returned to their seats. Wen Nianyue informed everyone that Fu Jizhou, the child of their relatives from Qianzhou, would be temporarily residing in the East Mansion of the Wen family. If they encountered him, they should treat him with courtesy. Everyone complied, familiarized themselves with his face, and then went down to feast and drink.

As soon as she sat down, Wen Ru’s little face wrinkled up. She had only gone to the ancestral hall and come back, how did a bowl of steaming medicinal soup suddenly appear on the table? Wen Ru looked up pitifully at Hua Ting standing behind her, but Hua Ting didn’t look at her.

Seeing this, Fu Jizhou secretly pulled Wen Ru’s hand under the table and whispered in her ear, “I brought the remaining preserved fruits.”

Wen Ru raised her hand to scratch her ear that had been invaded by hot steam, puffed up her cheeks, still not very happy. She leaned over and whispered to Fu Jizhou, “Then you pick one up, and as soon as I drink it down, you put it in my mouth. One second late, and I’ll die of bitterness.”

“Understood.” Fu Jizhou lowered his head to take out his waist sachet, cleaned his hands with a hot towel, then carefully picked out one piece, holding it in front of him, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Wen Ru as she picked up the dark medicinal soup.

Sitting at the head, Wen Nianyue clearly saw the actions of the two little ones. The corners of her mouth curved slightly, and she raised her chin, draining a full glass of wine in one go.

“My Lady!” Zhu Sheng, who usually tried not to speak if he could avoid it, rarely took the initiative to dissuade her, “From noon until now, you’ve already drunk two jars.”

“Fill it up.” Wen Nianyue ignored him and only instructed the kneeling wine-pouring servant to continue filling her glass. She raised the wine glass, her vision already somewhat blurry. With a blink, she saw Fu Jizhou nervously stuffing the golden-yellow preserved fruit into Wen Ru’s mouth. Seeing Wen Ru eat it, his brows and eyes finally relaxed a little.

“It’s good that the little one doesn’t look like that scoundrel Fu Ling.” Wen Nianyue drained the wine in her cup again, sighed, and raised her eyes to sweep over the crowd below, their faces gentle and lively in the orange lamplight, chattering away. She rarely saw the secondary husbands, small attendants, and young men of the second and third branches, and their faces were quite unfamiliar.

Half a lifetime had not yet passed, but the familiar old acquaintances under her seat had already dwindled.

Zhu Sheng knew she was upset, so he no longer tried to dissuade her from drinking. Instead, he handed over a hangover remedy pill that he had prepared in advance. Seeing Wen Nianyue take it, he retreated behind her without a word.

In his mind, he recalled that at noon, the Wen family’s secret guards sent to investigate the reason for Fu Jizhou’s solitary journey to the capital had sent back news.

Back then, his lady and Fu Ling had each married two righteous young men sought after by hundreds of families in Qianzhou. The four of them feasted and enjoyed themselves, with wives and husbands being intimate, envied by so many. Who would have thought that after just a year, the family head would be sitting alone in this lively family banquet? Rarely receiving news from an old friend, it turned out to be news that she had indulged her second husband in digging up the tomb of an old acquaintance, forcing their own child to run away from home.