Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan-Part Two

C229. Momo Chang and Her Affairs (2)

Momo Chang turned around and pointed to the woman behind her, "This is my daughter-in-law. Her family name is Hu." The middle-aged woman stepped forward to give her obeisance to Minglan with her head lowered and bent knees. Minglan smiled and returned an informal obeisance, "Sister-in-law Chang, it's nice meeting you."

"It's an honor to meet you, Madam." Chang-Hu shi raised her head slightly. This woman was quite pretty but her skin was a bit swarthy. What's more, the corner of her mouth drooped the whole time, which made her face look bitter. The moment she started to speak, she praised Minglan with a grin right away, "Madam, I have wanted to see you for a long time. I never believed when they all said that you were like a fairy. Now I see you today, oh my, I wonder why the queen of heaven has let you leave the fairyland!"

As Minglan saw Chang Hu shi's dress, she couldn't help curl the corner of her mouth. The dark red color didn't fit this woman's skin at all. What a courage to dress like that! After hearing the woman's compliments, Minglan burst into laughter and said, "Sister-in-law Chang, you do have a sense of humor! Please have a sit."

Chang Hu shi didn't sit down right away but glanced at her mother-in-law. Meanwhile, Momo Chang pointed to the two kids, saying, "This is my granddaughter, Chang Yan. This is my grandson, Chang Nian. Yan, Nian, come give obeisance to Madam."

The two children stepped forward at once and bowed to Minglan together. This time Minglan could finally feel at ease to receive the obeisance. When they raised their heads, Minglan couldn't help but get dazed.

The boy and the girl looked quite alike with the same slightly dark skin and pretty faces, but their temperaments were completely different. Chang Yan was just like the ladies from the ordinary families and even seemed a bit rustic, perhaps because she had lived in the countryside over the last few years. Chang Nian, on the contrary, was well-behaved and graceful. He spoke clearly and conducted himself nobly. Although he was from an ordinary family, he wasn't inhibited at all when arriving in a rich family.

Everyone sat down to talk. Even the boy and girl were offered two foot-stools to sit.

It seemed that it was the first time Chang Hu shi and her children came here. After the three of them had sat down, they couldn't help glancing at all the decorations in the hall. Chang Hu shi, the most enthusiastic one among them, felt the decorations in the hall quite refined and delicate but remaining a modest luxury style.

There was only a one foot high suet-jade vase which looked totally flawless being placed in the shelf. The two rows of rosewood chairs carved with flower patterns were placed in the two sides of the hall. The color of the wood was dark, but the surface of the chair was glossy. Chang Hu shi kept stroking the chair she was sitting on and praised, "Madam, your place truly is wonderful. I have a feeling that I am in the fairyland right now. Alas, look at the pot plant... the pot isn't made with jade, is it? And the sleep mat, from which kind of bamboo was it woven..."

The way Chang Hu shi spoke showed her vulgar character. Momo Chang, with her eyebrows slightly knitted, took a glance at her daughter-in-law but still bit her words back. After that, Momo Chang looked at Minglan, finding the latter showing no impatience on the face at all. However, Momo Chang could also feel that Minglan wasn't trying to play up to her either. The whole time, Minglan only made jokes with a slight smile on her face as if she truly was amused by Chang Hu shi's words.

"I don't remember very clearly." Minglan tried to remember, "The bamboos might from State Shu. They cut the tall bamboos into slices and then picked the pieces with the finest texture. After they made those slices into bamboo sticks, they would use round white stone to grind those sticks over and over again. I guess it would take them thousands of times to grind the sticks into bamboo filaments. At last, they wove the bamboo filaments into the bed mat." After all those procedure, the mat would be soft and white like the satin.