Banquet

Wu Yue nodded in understanding and said, "Understood. You may leave. I'll take care of Miss."

"Yes." Cai Yun replied and turned to leave.

Wu Yue entered the house and opened the food box. She took out the cold green bean soup and placed it on the table.

Fortunately, she protected it and the soup did not spill over.

Lu Xiang smelled the fragrance of the soup and sat over.

"Miss, I've kept this green bean soup in ice for a long time. It's cool. Please try it."

Lu Xiang took the white and blue porcelain bowl from Wu Yue's hand and took a sip. Instantly, she felt refreshed from head to toe. She sighed comfortably. "It's a pity that ice is rare. If I can drink a bowl of cold green bean soup every day during summer, that would be simply awesome."

Wu Yue smiled and said, "Miss, don't be greedy. It's not summer yet. Today, I'm just letting you satisfy your craving. It's not good to eat too much cold food."

With that, she took out a piece of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Lu Xiang. "Here, Miss."

Lu Xiang put down the bowl in her hand and took the note from Wu Yue.

"I met Xia Qing when I was taking the green bean soup from the kitchen. She secretly stuffed this note into my hand when no one was paying attention," Wu Yue said.

Lu Xiang took it and looked at the contents of the note. She frowned slightly and then crumpled the note into a ball. "Burn it," she instructed Wu Yue.

"Yes, Miss."

Wu Yue picked up a matchstick and lit a fire, burning the note in her hand to ashes.

At this moment, Lu Xiang's cold and ethereal voice sounded behind her. She was clearly close to her ear, but it also seemed to be coming from a far away place.

"Xia Qing said that two days ago, she accompanied Lu Yue to Concubine Fang's house and saw Concubine Fang counting a box of silver and a box of jewelry happily. I heard that someone asked Concubine Fang to do something."

When Wu Yue heard this, she turned to look at Lu Xiang. "That's not strange. Master is a magistrate and has an extremely high status in Yangning City. Someone wants to ask the Master to do something, but they can't get to him directly, so they come to look for Concubine Fang."

After all, most of the time, a woman could get the job done with just a pillow talk.

Lu Xiang chuckled and slowly drank the green bean soup. The coldness in her mouth made her narrow her eyes comfortably, but her brows were filled with a faint fierceness. "You're right, but since you're asking the woman in the house to do something, shouldn't you find out who Father dotes on the most first? Wouldn't it be easier to get things done by looking for Concubine Liu? This person overlooked Concubine Liu and went to Concubine Fang. Strange."

As she spoke, she lowered her head and scooped a spoonful of green beans into her mouth. "Keep an eye on Concubine Fang. We would eventually know what she wants to do. Wuyue, ask Xia Qing to be more careful recently. If she can't report in time, just do whatever she wants."

Wu Yue nodded. 'Yes, Miss.'

With that, she took out an invitation card and handed it to Lu Xiang. "Miss, this is an invitation from the Qin family."

Qin Residence?

Lu Xiang opened the card and realized that it was a post from the Qin Governor Residence. Mrs. Qin had personally invited her to a banquet the day after tomorrow.

No matter when or where, it was impossible to avoid such banquets meant for the wives and young ladies of official families. Not only were there banquets for birthday celebrations, recognition of new concubines, there were also banquets thrown when they had nothing to do. Firstly, they wanted to show off and compete, so as to rope in connections and build good relationships with others.

The madams and young ladies used various banquets to get to know different people. The madams tried their best to please people who were beneficial to their husbands. If they got along well, they would be of great help at critical moments.

Because the Lu family did not have a mistress, Mrs. Qin sent the invitation cards to the young ladies of the Lu family and Qiao Jing, the eldest young mistress of the Lu family.

When Lu Xiang walked out of the Lu Manor, Madam Liu, Concubine Fang, and Concubine Lin were waiting at the door with their daughters. When they finally saw Lu Xiang come out, Madam Liu and Concubine Fang had an impatient look on their faces.

Concubine Lin smiled at her and said, "Third Miss, I'll have to trouble you to take care of Qiao'er today."

Lu Xiang said, "Concubine Lin, you're too kind. This is my first time attending a banquet as well. I don't think anything will go wrong if I follow Nanny Wen."

Old Madam was worried about the children, so she asked Nanny Wen to accompany them.

Concubine Lin smiled awkwardly.

"Since you're here, you should leave quickly. Otherwise, it will be rude if you're late and that would make Madam Qin unhappy," Madam Liu said with a smile. She was implying that Lu Xiang was late.

She wore exquisite makeup and held Lu Xiang's hand intimately. On the surface, she looked gentle and charming, but in her heart, she was disdainful.

Lu Xiang looked at Madam Liu expressionlessly and pushed her hand away. She said indifferently, "Concubine Liu, you're over thinking. It's still early. Even if I arrive an hour later, I won't make the Qin family wait."

Why was Madam Liu in such a hurry? It was as if she could go to the Qin Residence herself for the banquet.

Madam Liu did not feel embarrassed by Lu Xiang's coldness at all. She turned around and gave Lu Mingzhu a look.

It didn't matter if she couldn't go to the Qin Residence. What was important was her daughter. If her daughter could gain a foothold among the celebrities and build a good relationship with them, then the mother and daughter would have more confidence in the Lu Manor.

Lu Mingzhu walked to Lu Xiang's side and held her arm with a smile. She said affectionately, "Third Sister, I'll ride in the carriage with you."

Lu Xiang looked at Lu Mingzhu as if she had seen a ghost. The corners of her mouth twitched. She wanted to pull her hand away, but she soon realized that Lu Mingzhu was holding her hand tightly like an octopus, making her unable to pull away at that moment.

Then, she pulled Lu Xiang into the carriage.

Wu Yue, who was watching from behind, rolled her eyes. If it weren't for the fact that her Young Miss couldn't make big movements at the entrance, how could she be pulled away by the Fourth Miss?

The carriage moved slowly. Lu Mingzhu acted as if she had never fallen out with Lu Xiang. She pulled her along and kept talking. Lu Xiang leaned against the wall of the carriage and did not reply. She quietly watched Lu Mingzhu's pretense. Her dark eyes were as deep as a cold lake. It was a strange feeling.

The two of them had already fallen out and could not maintain civility. Yet, Lu Mingzhu could still act as if nothing had happened. Should she say that she was thick-skinned or shameless?

Lu Xiang looked at Lu Mingzhu's fawning expression and could not help but rub the goosebumps on her arms.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the Qin Residence. Lu Xiang quickly got out of the carriage as she did not want to listen to Lu Mingzhu's nonsense anymore.

At this moment, there were already many gorgeous carriages parked at the entrance of the Qin Residence.

The red-painted door was decorated with red pillars and jade tiles.

When the servants of the Qin Residence saw that there were guests, they hurriedly walked over respectfully and cupped their fists. "Greetings to the young ladies. Are you the family members of Magistrate Lu?"

Lu Xiang nodded with a smile. Just as she was about to say yes, Lu Mingzhu suddenly said, "It's us."

"Ladies, please come in. My Mistress has been waiting for a long time." The servant did not know if Lu Mingzhu was the daughter of the first wife or not, but since she was Magistrate Lu's daughter, she was more precious than a servant like him. He gestured for them to come in.