Lady Jiang had been waiting in the main hall of Fu'an Hall. Seeing her son and daughter-in-law enter hand in hand, smiling at each other, she also broke into a grin:
"Oh my, oh my, is this grinning fool my silly son?"
Lady Jiang was taller than most women, with a robust build and a booming voice. Her laughter was hearty and unrestrained. Apart from a single gold hairpin in her hair, she wore almost no jewelry and used no makeup. At first glance, she didn’t resemble a pampered elderly lady from a noble Marquis's Mansion in the capital but rather a bold, roving heroine.
Seated to the side, the Lady of Duke Qin chimed in with a smile:
"Don’t tease him. Anyone who marries such a fairy-like bride would be this overjoyed."
The Lady of Duke Qin spoke in a soft, gentle voice and was a kind-looking elderly woman.
Jiang Sheng wasn’t offended by the two elderly ladies’ teasing. Instead, he smiled and said:
"Your son has brought his wife to offer tea to Mother and Shiniang."
A maid brought tea for Lin Yueming, while another placed a soft cushion. Lin Yueming took the tea, knelt properly on the cushion, and steadily presented it with both hands, addressing her respectfully:
"Mother, please have some tea."
Lady Jiang accepted the tea, drank it, and set it aside.
Lin Yueming had experience with this. Next would come the lecture to establish rules for the new bride.
Last time at the Lu Family, there were many elders, and many people gave lectures. The Lu Family had strict rules; the tea ceremony alone lasted nearly two hours. Lin Yueming’s knees had almost swollen from kneeling, and when she stood up, she swayed slightly. Madam Lu noticed and punished her the next day by making her copy the Admonitions for Women.
Later, following Madam Lu daily in Buddhist prayers, she trained herself to maintain a dignified posture no matter how long she knelt and to rise gracefully.
Lady Jiang seemed like a talkative person, so Lin Yueming braced herself for a long, solid kneeling session. But as soon as her knees touched the cushion, Lady Jiang set the tea aside, reached out, and helped her up.
Lady Jiang’s strength was astonishing. Before Lin Yueming could react, two gold bracelets were already slipped onto her wrists.
Nanny Cui promptly brought over a box and opened it for Lin Yueming to see. Inside was a set of ruby-studded gold headdress.
It glittered brilliantly, exuding wealth and allure.
Despite giving such an extravagant gift, Lady Jiang’s smile carried a hint of embarrassment:
"Don’t look down on it. I know your noble families value jade and such things, but I truly don’t understand jade. We come from a small place and simply prefer gold."
When an elder gives a gift, one must not refuse.
Lin Yueming accepted it and replied with a smile:
"Thank you, Mother. I’m just like you—I love gold the most. Nothing is as substantial as gold."
Hearing this, Lady Jiang was delighted and pulled her over to meet the Lady of Duke Qin:
"This is your Shiniang and younger sister. They’re family."
Lin Yueming then served tea to the Lady of Duke Qin and received her gift.
Bai Zhi quietly brought forward the gift for Miss Qin.
Although she hadn’t known beforehand that members of the Qin Family would attend today’s tea ceremony, Lin Yueming had prepared an extra gift out of habit, just in case. Now it came in handy.
Miss Qin hadn’t been very friendly in the garden earlier, but in front of the elders, she didn’t show any displeasure toward Lin Yueming. She properly said thank you.
The Lady of Duke Qin laughed:
"Why is this child so shy today? Receiving a gift and not even saying a word of blessing. You should address her as Sister-in-law now and wish your brother and sister-in-law a hundred years of harmony and early arrival of a precious son."
Miss Qin opened her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes, yet the words "sister-in-law" simply wouldn't come out.
The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.
Lin Yueming had no conflict of interest with Miss Qin and had no intention of making things difficult for her.
Since Lady Jiang and Jiang Sheng were both on good terms with the Qin Family, she naturally had to align with her superiors and maintain friendly relations with every member of the Qin Family.
Just as Lin Yueming was about to say something polite to ease the tension, Third Lady of the Jiang Family suddenly came over with a smile, tugging playfully at Lin Yueming's sleeve:
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, what about mine? What about mine? You must have something for me too, sister-in-law, you can't be biased!"
With Third Lady of the Jiang Family's interruption, the matter of Miss Qin changing her address was glossed over.
Lin Yueming took a gift from Bai Zhi and handed it to Third Lady of the Jiang Family:
"How could I forget my sister?"
Third Lady of the Jiang Family accepted the gift, happily holding onto Lin Yueming's sleeve as a stream of auspicious words poured out, calling her "sister-in-law" over and over without pause.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lin Yueming saw Miss Qin holding her head high, that single tear never falling.
After presenting gifts to the second son of the Jiang Family, the tea-serving ceremony concluded.
From start to finish, it had taken less than a quarter of an hour.
Madam Qin stood up to take her leave. The Jiang Family members saw them off at the door. Miss Qin boarded the carriage without looking back, pulling down the curtain. Not once did she lift it to glance outside until the carriage disappeared down the road.
After the tea ceremony, it was time for ancestral worship at the family shrine.
Jiang Sheng's Marquis's Mansion had been personally bestowed by the Emperor, and the ancestral hall was already prepared; they only needed to bring in the ancestral tablets of the Jiang Family.
Generally speaking, the more emphasis placed on lineage, the more tablets there would be in the ancestral hall.
For a true aristocratic family like the Lu Family, the ancestral tablets were layered one upon another, like towering hills that recorded the glory of their ancestors, inspiring awe.
But for the Jiang Family, the tablets in the ancestral hall were sparse, not even a fraction of the Lu Family's. Lin Yueming had expected this and followed Jiang Sheng in properly offering incense to their ancestors.
After paying respects to the ancestors, Jiang Sheng said to Lin Yueming:
"There is something I must tell you, though it may be unfair to you. My Jiang Family ancestors were not of noble birth; for generations, they made their living by hunting."
Lin Yueming didn't understand why he suddenly brought this up, so she went along with it:
"Heroes are not judged by their origins. My husband, you achieved the rank of Marquis and Minister through your own efforts, without relying on ancestral favor. You are a rare and extraordinary hero of our time. How could this be unfair to me? Besides, husband, my Lin Family ancestors were farmers too. We are quite well-matched, aren't we?"
Jiang Sheng was amused by her words:
"I see your courage is truly great. Even in front of our ancestors, you dare to deceive me. Who is your grandfather, Master Lin? Even I, a military man who doesn't study much, know he is a great scholar of our time. How did he become a farmer in your telling? Saying the Lin Family and Jiang Family are well-matched—aren't you afraid of angering Master Lin back to life?"
Lin Yueming shook her head, speaking earnestly:
"The Lin Family is a family of farming and scholarship; how is that not farming? After my grandfather resigned from his official post and returned to his hometown in seclusion, he personally cultivated two acres of land. If Grandfather were still alive, when the rice ripened, we would have to return to the countryside to help him harvest it."
Jiang Sheng looked at her hands, smooth as congealed fat, and her face, as radiant as spring blossoms, and found it hard to imagine such an official's daughter laboring in the fields like a village woman.
But this was exactly the kind of thing Great Scholar Lin would do.
After all, even the Emperor often lamented:
"What a pity. Vice Minister Lin is an opportunist and a good-for-nothing, lacking even half of Lord Lin's character and integrity."
Later, he sighed again:
"What a stroke of luck. Vice Minister Lin is an opportunist and a good-for-nothing, lacking even half of Lord Lin's character and integrity."
Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, rank 5b.
Vice Minister of Rites, rank 3a.
Lin Yueming's father, Minister Lin, earned the tong jinshi degree. Twenty years ago, relying on the favor his father, Great Scholar Lin, had with the Late Emperor, he was appointed to a sinecure as a Vice Minister. After that, he made no further progress. Yet, in the second year of the New Emperor's reign, during the New Year's grand banquet, he was promoted five ranks in one leap to the position of Vice Minister of Rites. He was tasked with annotating the works of Great Scholar Lin, making him one of the most favored officials in the eyes of the current Emperor.