Female-male sex: Salted fish forced to rise to prominence

Chapter 325 Birthday Banquet

The maid Jianqiu clenched her fists and frowned tightly. How could they say that to the young lady?

Bai Yiling looked a little embarrassed, but not much.

Because what they said was true. She did care too much about Bai Mufan in the past, but now she has no feelings for Bai Mufan anymore, so she doesn't care about these words anymore.

Bai Yiling looked at Chen Manli and said, "Miss Chen, I came here today specially to give you a gift, but Miss Xue blocked me at the door and said some sour words. Now you are taking her side and finding fault with me. Is this how you treat guests?"

"Sister Yiling,..." Chen Manli wanted to say something, but a clear female voice interrupted everyone's discussion.

"Sister Bai said it well. How can a girl please a man with her beauty? She dresses up for herself. Miss Xue always stirs up trouble when she speaks. This is not the behavior of a girl in the boudoir."

She saw the whole process. It was Miss Xue who was always talking and stirring up trouble. Miss Bai Wu just fought back a few words, and she even acted so aggrieved.

Bai Yiling looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Meng Shiwei, dressed in a light blue waist-cinching gown, walking towards her. Accompanying her were Mrs. Meng and her eldest son.

Bai Yiling naturally knew them. They were the family of Meng Linfeng, a doctor in the Ministry of Works. The eldest son was called Meng Shuchen, and the one who had just spoken was Meng Shiwei, the second daughter of Lord Meng.

Bai Yiling was also grateful for her help. She bowed to them and said, "Greetings to Mrs. Meng, Mr. Meng, and Miss Meng. I would like to especially thank Miss Meng for speaking up for her."

Meng Shiwei looked at Bai Yiling. The youngest daughter of the general seemed different from before. As the daughter of a general, she used to be ridiculed and rude by everyone at banquets, or she would swallow her anger and not get close to these ladies.

Mrs. Meng said: "Hello, Miss Bai, let's go in first. It doesn't look good standing at the door."

Bai Yiling said: "Okay," and the few of them walked in together.

At this time, everyone stopped talking, knowing that they had scolded the wrong person. Chen Manli was also a little embarrassed. When she turned her back, she glared at Xue Tao and hurriedly followed her into the room.

Xue Tao felt aggrieved when she saw her look. She just wanted to help Miss Chen San humiliate Bai Yiling.

Her personal maid Honglian said nervously: "Miss, let's go in first."

"Okay, hold me."

"Yes, miss."

But after entering the mansion, she twisted the arm of the maid Honglian tightly under the cover of her wide sleeves.

Honglian's facial features were wrinkled into a ball by her twisting, and she could only bite her lips and endure it, not daring to make a sound.

Bai Yiling, who was walking in front, saw that the Chen Mansion was covered with red silk and red lanterns. The lanterns were all inscribed with the word "longevity". The mansion was decorated in a very festive manner, and it was obvious that a lot of thought was put into it.

When we arrived at the courtyard where the banquet was held, we saw two ten-foot-high peach candlesticks standing at the four corners of the courtyard, which looked very luxurious.

In the center of the courtyard, the birthday goddess, Mrs. Chen, was wearing a scarlet satin robe with the word "Fu" on it, a headband with five blessings inlaid with kingfisher feathers on her head, and holding an agarwood staff, she sat on the main seat with rosewood cloud pattern.

Old Madam Chen's eyes were filled with smiles. She held a long string of jade beads in her hand, which made a slight sound as she twisted them. She looked at everyone with a smile on her face, and she really liked this lively scene.

The guests, both men and women, sat at separate tables. The men at the eight-immortal table were all officials in the government. They chatted and flattered each other, while the maids of the Chen Mansion shuttled among them, serving tea and water, and were very busy.

Soon, a maid came forward and arranged a seat for each of them. Madam Meng and the noble ladies from various mansions sat at the same table.

After Mrs. Meng sat down, she chatted enthusiastically with the women at the same table, and her eyes kept glancing at the girls who came to the birthday party. She saw the second daughter of the Sheng family of the Censorate at a glance. She was good-looking and always smiling, and she liked her very much.

So she chatted with Madam Sheng even more enthusiastically, "Madam Sheng, your second daughter Jinxin has grown into a more beautiful girl."

Mrs. Sheng also smiled and said: "Your eldest son is also very handsome, there is no need to envy me."

The two of them flattered each other, and Mrs. Meng invited: "Mrs. Sheng, you can bring Jinxin to your house to play when you have time. I like your girl very much."

Madam Sheng naturally understood what she meant. She thought that the young master of the Meng family of the Ministry of Works was indeed a good man with a handsome appearance. He and her son had been close friends for many years, so she said: "Okay, don't refuse to welcome us when the time comes."

Mrs. Meng smiled and said, "How could that be? Just come."

Madam Meng concealed the confusion in her heart. She wanted to marry her son off to a lady from a noble family as soon as possible so that he wouldn't just think about marrying his cousin Zhong Qiaoer.

It’s not that Qiao’er is a bad child, but her father’s official position is too low and he won’t be able to help his son’s career in the future. She only has this one son, so naturally she has to consider him more.

Meng Shuchen was also placed at a table with men of the same age. As soon as he arrived, Sheng Jinnian, the son of the Censorate, greeted him, "Shuchen, you're here."

Meng Shuchen: “Yeah.”

Sheng Jinnian asked curiously: "Hey, what's the matter? You've come to your senses recently and finally reconciled with your father and are willing to come home."

Meng Shuchen rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.

Sheng Jinnian acted as if he didn't see anything and continued talking to himself, "Hey, when did your mother become so close to my mother? She keeps glancing at my sister Jinxin."

Mrs. Meng has never been so enthusiastic towards his mother before. This is obviously not right.

Meng Shuchen turned around and looked over. Sure enough, her mother was glancing at Sheng Jinxin, the second daughter of the Sheng family, from time to time. He pressed his forehead and felt a headache. It turned out that his cousin had finally confessed her feelings to him, and his aunt also agreed.

He originally thought that this matter was a done deal, but his mother said that he should wait until he passed the imperial examination before proposing, which would also save face for his cousin. He agreed. It turned out that this was his mother's idea. No wonder she insisted on bringing him along today.

Sheng Jinnian didn't care that Meng Shuchen ignored him and continued talking.

On the female side, Bai Yiling and Meng Shiwei sat at the same table with some other ladies of similar age. Some of them were people she had never seen before, but they obviously knew her, and some of them took the initiative to greet her.

"Hello, Miss Bai. I am Song Huan, the younger sister of Song Yan from the Five Cities Military Command."

Bai Yiling also nodded and replied, "Hello, Miss Song."

When the other ladies saw that the daughter of General Bai was not ignoring them as before, they all greeted her. After all, she was the general's daughter, and who wouldn't want to have some relationship with her?

Meng Shiwei looked at Bai Yiling in surprise, "Sister Bai, you have really changed a lot."

Bai Yiling smiled heartily, "Haha, really, I think so too, but fortunately it's changing for the better."

Meng Shiwei also smiled. She had always liked straightforward people, so she began to have a good impression of Bai Yiling. "Sister, you're right. You look pretty good now."

Meng Shiwei looked around and murmured, "I didn't see Sister Jiang Li and Murong Xi today."

Sheng Jinxin from the Censorate, who was sitting at the same table with him, whispered: "Shi Wei, don't you know that their family has reported the Chen family in front of the emperor? How could they allow their female relatives to attend the birthday banquet at the Chen Mansion?"

Meng Shiwei said: "That's true."

At this moment, two voices were heard, one after the other, announcing, "Princess Ronghua is here."

"Prince Zhou has arrived."