Chapter 5

Ignoring Tang Ruo’s bewildered expression, Tangxiu pondered the idea and thought it was truly brilliant.

The so-called matchmaking events required those who were unmarried, widowed, or living alone after being widowed, divorced, or estranged from their spouse—

She was divorced and single, so why couldn’t she go to a matchmaking event?

Besides, she wasn’t that old. She was turning twenty next month, so there was no problem with her attending the banquet.

As for whether there would be any awkward situations with her and Tang Ruo attending together, such as two sisters vying for the same man, that was unlikely. One was a young girl who hadn’t yet experienced love, while the other was a divorced woman who was tired of love. Their ages and experiences were different, so their thoughts and perspectives would naturally be different. They wouldn’t be competing for the same men.

Tang Ruo would probably find the men she liked too immature, while she would find the men Tang Ruo liked too mature and imposing.

The more Tangxiu thought about it, the more sense it made.

She explained her thoughts to Tang Ruo. After listening, Tang Ruo understood. Her sister meant to go to the matchmaking event too. She didn’t worry about the situation her sister mentioned at all, and she nodded vigorously, saying, “Sister, whatever you arrange is fine. I’ll listen to you.”

She had almost complete trust in Tangxiu.

Seeing that she was still the same as when she was a child, blindly following her sister’s lead, and being closer to her than to Yun Fu Ren and Yu San Ye, Tangxiu couldn’t help but tap the little girl’s forehead with her fan.

The force of the fan wasn’t strong, and Tang Ruo smiled, not dodging at all.

Tangxiu tapped again and smiled too.

Then, she continued from where she left off, asking Tang Ruo to choose from the few invitations she had picked out.

“These are all good. Choose whichever one you like.”

After saying that, Tangxiu propped her chin on her hand and played with her paper fan. The gilded fan opened and closed, fluttering up and down between her slender fingers like golden butterflies flitting through flowers, almost leaving a blur.

This undoubtedly caught Tang Ruo’s attention.

As the fan spun faster and faster, almost falling from Tangxiu’s hand several times, Tang Ruo’s heart leaped into her throat, ready to catch it. But the fan never fell, even when it was thrown into the air and caught again. It was very steady. Tang Ruo inexplicably felt a sense of awe. Even her fan was so good.

She couldn’t play with a fan like that.

“What are you staring at?”

Suddenly, the fan closed, the golden nanmu fan bones gradually enlarging before her eyes. This time, Tang Ruo’s first reaction was finally to dodge.

However, the fan bone didn’t actually hit her head. It just swayed slightly before retracting. The fan reopened, and Tangxiu, with a deft movement, spun it in her palm. “Hurry up and choose. After you choose, we need to try on clothes and makeup. We’re busy.”

Tang Ruo said, “Aren’t you going to try on clothes, Sister?”

Tangxiu thought, I don’t need to try on clothes. I can wear my robe anywhere. But she said, “Don’t worry about me. It’s mainly you. It’s your first appearance. You have to dress up well.”

Tang Ruo hummed in agreement and lowered her head to choose an invitation.

When she picked one up and showed it to Tangxiu, Tangxiu saw that it was an invitation to a Spring Appreciation Banquet, scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The time was a bit tight.

But it was fine. She could handle it.

A long-lost sense of responsibility as an elder sister made Tangxiu immediately instruct Liucai to put away the invitation. She then took Tang Ruo out of Jingxin Courtyard and towards the third branch of the family.

She was going to see how Tang Ruo’s clothes and jewelry were. Did she have anything suitable to wear to the Spring Appreciation Banquet?

Although Tang Ruo was an adopted daughter, she was officially listed on the Tang Mansion’s family tree, and to outsiders, she was treated like a real daughter. Yun Fu Ren often took Tang Ruo out to banquets, and she had quite a few clothes and accessories for her. However, since Tang Ruo only needed to recognize people and greet them at the banquets, the styles, colors, and designs of her clothes and jewelry were all simple and plain, not very outstanding. Tangxiu picked and picked, but only found a few suitable ones. The rest weren’t good enough.

“I’ll have to tell Third Aunt later to get you some new jewelry. These don’t suit you.”

As Tangxiu spoke, she noticed that the entangled flowers she had chosen were really too old-fashioned. They wouldn’t look good on a young girl.

But it was too late to buy ready-made items now. Tangxiu simply slapped the table and pulled Tang Ruo to her Zhijian Residence. She didn’t believe that among her belongings, which filled several carriages, there wasn’t anything suitable.

After all, she just preferred to wear wooden hairpins, not that she wore them and a robe all year round. She had quite a variety of clothes and accessories, many of which were still new and unused. They would be perfect for Tang Ruo.

Tang Ruo initially wanted to refuse, saying it wasn’t necessary to go to so much trouble.

But Tangxiu wouldn’t listen.

An elder sister would never allow anyone else to be the star of the Spring Appreciation Banquet except her own sister.

With Tangxiu’s order, the entire Zhijian Residence immediately sprang into action. The maids, trained to perfection, left one by one and returned one by one, holding various clothes, jewelry, and other items, all different, waiting for Tangxiu to reach for whatever she wanted.

Being surrounded by so many people, Tang Ruo felt a little shy. She tried to sit up straight and let her sister do her thing.

They kept at it until dusk.

The lamp was lit, and Tangxiu straightened up, scrutinizing her sister from head to toe with a critical eye. Finally, she nodded. “Not bad.”

Tang Ruo breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

Before she could take a good look at herself in the mirror, her appearance transformed, Tangxiu told the maids to remove her makeup and change her clothes. This beautiful outfit would be reserved for tomorrow’s Spring Appreciation Banquet to amaze others. They had to go report back.

Sure enough, Feng Jingrong asked Tangxiu how she had prepared for Little Ruo.

Tangxiu replied that she could rest assured. Tomorrow, she would make those people speechless.

Feng Jingrong didn’t ask any further questions. She knew her daughter. Tangxiu’s taste was always excellent. She could imagine how many ladies would ask her if Little Ruo was already engaged after tomorrow.

Yun Fu Ren was also looking forward to it, but she also felt a pang of sadness. Her daughter was growing up.

Later, Tangxiu asked Feng Jingrong for clothes.

“Clothes?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep tonight. I won’t have the energy to play with Little Ruo.”

Feng Jingrong thought so too, so she asked Qingdai to get one of her shirts.

Qingdai was thoughtful and deliberately chose one that Feng Jingrong had worn and washed many times, making the fabric very soft. That way, even if she hugged it, it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

Tangxiu took the shirt and sniffed it. There was a faint scent of soap and the familiar fragrance of incense.

Now she should be able to sleep.

Qingdai handed another box to Liucai, saying it contained the incense that the Madam often used. If Miss still couldn’t sleep, she should try lighting it.

Liucai took note.

Thanks to the box of incense, after seeing Miss still frowning slightly even while hugging the Madam’s clothes and not sleeping as soundly as she had in Jingxin Courtyard, always on the verge of waking up, Liucai quickly lit the incense and placed it near the bed. This time, she didn’t have to wait long before seeing Miss’s brow gradually relax and she didn’t wake up.

Liucai breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she could sleep.

She would have to ask Aunt Qingdai for more incense later. Liucai thought, they would probably be using this incense very frequently in Zhijian Residence for a while.

Tangxiu slept fairly well that night. The next morning, she woke up, had a simple breakfast, and went to find Tang Ruo.

Tang Ruo had already recreated the makeup she had decided on yesterday and was waiting at the door with Yun Fu Ren.

Seeing Tangxiu come over, Yun Fu Ren quickly gave Tang Ruo a few final instructions and said to Tangxiu, “Little Ruo is in your care.”

Tangxiu nodded and took Tang Ruo’s hand, getting into the carriage.

Having never attended a matchmaking banquet before, Tang Ruo sat up straight and proper from the moment they got in the carriage, her handkerchief clutched tightly in her hand. When they arrived and saw the bustling crowds, almost all the unmarried young men and women in the capital, Tang Ruo became even more nervous. She followed closely behind Tangxiu, her head lowered, not daring to glance around.

In contrast, even though countless eyes were fixed on her as soon as she got out of the carriage, and young men and women, both openly and subtly, kept looking at her, whispering that Tangxiu had actually come, Tangxiu still seemed relaxed, her expression unchanged.

She held her fan, greeting and acknowledging the host of the banquet with ease.

Only when Liucai presented the invitation and they were about to enter did Tangxiu casually look away and glance around.

Many people today had come with different expectations, waiting for Tangxiu’s arrival. After all, everyone attending was a young unmarried girl. Suddenly, a married woman…

No, not a married woman. Tangxiu was clearly wearing the hairstyle of an unmarried woman.

Everyone was surprised. So, the divorce was real!

Then they thought, so she really wanted to look for a match.

Although the Empress Dowager in the palace believed in Buddhism and was even given the title of Nine Lotus Bodhisattva by the current emperor, the current emperor was influenced by his grandfather, Emperor Jiajing, who favored Taoism and held the Confucian philosophy of Cheng-Zhu in contempt, even criticizing it.

To uphold the principles of Heaven and suppress human desires, if people didn’t exist, who would care about Heaven?

However, the current emperor was the emperor after all. His every word and action was watched by the world. He couldn’t directly issue an edict saying that he hated certain opinions. Therefore, people could only gradually discern the emperor’s attitude from the edicts he issued and then promote it. This led to the gradual prevalence of remarriage in the south in recent years, and women were no longer as strictly required to remain chaste.

This trend of remarriage spread to the capital, and it wasn’t unusual for Tangxiu to look for a match after her divorce.

Everyone was now staring at Tangxiu, merely out of curiosity. After seeing what they wanted to see, they would disperse. Chen Yue had written a letter of divorce agreeing to Tangxiu’s freedom to marry. How could these outsiders point their fingers at Tangxiu and tell her not to remarry? They weren’t her ex-husband.

Just as the news of her divorce had spread quickly, the news that Tangxiu had actually accepted the invitation to the so-called Spring Appreciation Banquet, which was actually a matchmaking event, also spread quickly. Many people were shocked when they heard it. It had only been a few days, and she was already looking for a second spring?

Some people even thought the same thing as Yu San Ye. How bad was Chen Yue? Tangxiu didn’t even give him any face.

The news reached the Princess Consort’s Mansion. Princess Consort Rui’an suddenly jolted, raised her hand, and slapped Chen Yue.

Princess Consort Rui’an was furious.

“Your wife is about to remarry, and you’re not rushing to stop her. What are you doing here with me? You’re driving me crazy! How could I have such a thick-headed son!”