The third day of November was a sunny day. It was rare to see such good sun in winter, and it happened to be the 70th birthday banquet of Old Madam Shen.
The General’s Mansion had been cleaned up inside and out, and a lot of money was spent to buy new things. The birthday banquet was naturally held in the east courtyard. The east courtyard was quiet and elegant, and the flowers were trimmed in an orderly manner. The maidservants were wearing refreshing and neat dresses, and their words and actions were not tacky. All of them were delicate and obedient.
Old Madam Shen sat in the main hall of the Rongjing Hall. Many madams and ladies had already come to greet her. After all, the Shen family was a first-class military family in Ming Qi. The high-ranking officials and nobles had to come forward to greet her.
Although Chen Ruoqiu was temporarily in charge of the family, in the past, Old Madam Shen’s birthday was all handled by Ren Wanyun. As for dealing with these noble ladies, Ren Wanyun could do better than Chen Ruoqiu. Chen Ruoqiu was from a scholarly family, but Ren Wanyun was different.
Shen Yuanbai leaned against Old Madam Shen and ate the honey candy. From time to time, the ladies would praise him for being so smart at such a young age. Old Madam Shen smiled when she heard that.
On the other hand, when Chen Ruoqiu saw that everyone was praising Shen Yuanbai and Shen Yuan, who was taking on a post far away, she felt very uncomfortable. The thing that she hated people bring up the most was sons. Everyone knew that Chen Ruoqiu had been married to Shen Wan for many years and had no sons except for a daughter, Shen Yue. However, Shen Wan was not interested in other women. Old Madam Shen once wanted to give Shen Wan a few concubines, but they were rejected by Shen Wan. Because of this, Old Madam Shen took her anger out on Chen Ruoqiu. Compared to Chen Ruoqiu, Ren Wanyun was obviously more liked by Old Madam Shen.
“By the way, why didn’t I see First Miss and Fifth Miss today?” Mrs. Yi smiled.
Ren Wanyun was in charge of receiving these madams, so Shen Yue naturally went to get close to those young ladies from noble families, bringing them to the garden to drink tea and chat. But today, Shen Miao and Shen Qing were nowhere to be seen.
When Ren Wanyun and Old Madam Shen heard this, their expressions darkened at the same time.
Shen Qing was not fully recovered yet. She kept saying that she would tear Shen Miao into pieces. Of course, these words could not be heard by outsiders. Over the past few days, Ren Wanyun had been comforting Shen Qing, in case she had thoughts of killing herself. As for how she comforted her, Chen Ruoqiu could imagine it. Ren Wanyun probably promised her daughter that she would punish Shen Miao and make her life miserable.
……
As for Shen Miao, Ren Wanyun did not know how she received the news that Old Madam Shen had secretly accepted the marriage invitation from the Wei family for her. From that day onwards, she fought back like crazy, threatening to run away and ruin this marriage. When Old Madam Shen heard this, she was shocked. Ren Wanyun and Old Madam Shen thought that if anything happened to Shen Miao, their entire plan would fall flat.
Therefore, ever since Shen Miao threatened to go against the marriage, Old Madam Shen and Ren Wanyun locked Shen Miao up in the ancestral hall. The ancestral hall was in the courtyard in the southwest of the Shen family. The guards outside had increased by at least half. Old Madam Shen also found the contracts of the servants in the west courtyard, including Shen Miao’s four personal maids.
