Miss Truth
Chapter 360 - 227: How Should This Gift Be Given?

Chapter 360: Chapter 227: How Should This Gift Be Given?

It was nearing noon, and these ladies, being well-versed in etiquette, knew that the banquet was about to begin and someone would come to invite them, so they did not bother Ran Yan with endless questions and instead found seats to rest.

Ran Yan was already parched and tongue-tied. After drinking two cups of water, she felt somewhat relieved.

Fortunately, the socializing was not as difficult as she had imagined. Ran Yan simply shared her theoretical knowledge just like explaining autopsy results at the Criminal Investigation Team, without having to talk about household affairs. She now firmly believed that the direction she had steered the conversation was extremely wise!

With a quarter of an hour left before noon, a maid reported that the old Lady had arrived.

Everyone promptly stood up to greet her.

Ran Yan observed from among the crowd. As the door dimmed, the first to enter was an elderly person with silver-white hair, supported gently by two maids. The old Lady had fair skin, her full head of silver hair was combed into a dignified low chignon, adorned with a deep emerald Ruyi Jade Hairpin, wearing a dark brown robe embroidered with golden thread longevity patterns. Although her facial skin was considerably saggy and she had a few light brown age spots on her brow arch, overall, she appeared very clean and elegant.

"Lady, in this bitter cold, why have you come here yourself?" To Ran Yan’s surprise, the person who went up to her was Lady Shangguan!

Just now, she sat here alone without many coming up to talk to her, seeming not to hold a high status.

Following that, a few other ladies approached to greet her, smiling pleasantly as they exchanged pleasantries, either intentionally or unintentionally talking to a woman in a blue-purple cross-collared dress nearby.

Ran Yan carefully observed this woman. Her appearance was above average, her face also lightly powdered but not appearing heavy, her demeanor was elegant and calm, her actions dignified, and she offered a gentle smile to everyone, yet did not seem particularly approachable.

"That’s the Princess of Prince Wei, the daughter of Minister Yan from the Ministry of Works," Luo whispered an introduction just loud enough for two people to hear.

Prince Wei Li Tai’s wife... Ran Yan couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

Li Tai, who had a refined taste in literature and was overflowing with talent, paired with such a genteel and elegant Princess, indeed matched well.

The ladies of higher status went one by one to pay their respects to the old Lady. People like Luo, however, weren’t suitable to approach for a greeting; otherwise, with at least a hundred people in the room, it would be nightfall by the time all greetings were done.

As for recognizing kin, Ran Yan felt that she certainly couldn’t initiate this with the old Lady first as no wife would ever fancy her husband’s mistress. Imagine, which main wife would like a concubine? Let alone the daughter of a concubine’s daughter, who was even less related to her. Therefore, it was best to start with Zheng Rentai as, regardless of his feelings towards his half-sister, they were of the same father, and the Zheng family had received a significant dowry when married off, which surely counted for something...otherwise, they wouldn’t have given Ran Pingyu so much leverage for all these years.

The most important point was that Ran Yan learned the old Lady admired elegant literary works and highly valued courtesy.

After pondering, while several ladies were presenting their birthday gifts, Ran Yan hesitated to act, despite Luo repeatedly tugging at her sleeve; Ran Yan remained unmoved.

When the old Lady announced it was almost time to start the banquet and went with everyone to the banquet hall, Luo pulled Ran Yan aside, visibly annoyed, and asked, "Why didn’t you go?"

Instead of replying, Ran Yan countered, "Aunt, if a daughter of your uncle’s concubine’s daughter, after not being in touch for a long time, suddenly came to seek kinship, what would you think? What would you do?"

Luo was momentarily at a loss for words. Although she behaved impeccably in public, not giving anyone a chance to gossip, she wasn’t necessarily happy inside. Revealing her lineage in such a public setting gave off an impression of forcing others to acknowledge kinship, which would hardly make anyone happy.

"I did overlook that point," Luo admitted. When discussing the plan with Ran Pingyu, they only talked about presenting the gift, with Ran Pingyu fully trusting her to advise Ran Yan on the matter.

Ran Yan began by only wanting to provide Ran Yan with the opportunity to give birthday wishes, yet she never put herself in the others’ shoes. Looking back now, she even felt it was quite inappropriate. Ultimately, due to the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate lineage over two generations, their relationship was somewhat distant. To put it harshly, if the other side did not want to acknowledge them as relatives, others would probably say that such relatives were imposing themselves or that they possessed poor morals, rather than blaming the Zheng family.

"Aunt, if you agree, why not present the birthday gift along with the other gifts by handing them over to the steward for registration, recording the identity and name of the person offering the gift," Ran Yan had just entered when she saw the steward receiving the gift list from each household, with a servant beside him recording it in the register.

Ran Yan’s suggestion brightened Luo’s expression. They knew that the old lady liked Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy, and the people of Zheng household knew even better—this piece of calligraphy would definitely be presented to the old lady.

But as people gradually left, Luo could not personally accompany Ran Yan. She allowed Ran Meiyu and Ran Yun, the two children, to occupy the seats, although even Ran Yun might not fully understand the rules within.

"Let Ran Yun go with you, but you must hurry and not return only when the banquet has started," Luo instructed.

It was not far from the west yard to the front yard—it would only take a round trip about the time to drink a cup of tea if they hurried.

Knowing the way well, Ran Yun hurriedly went to the front yard with Ran Yan.

At that time, the officials had just left the Court, and it was their midday rest period. Many officials took the opportunity to deliver their gifts in person, and some expressly took leave to come over to offer birthday greetings. When Ran Yan and Ran Yun returned to the front yard, they found the entrance teeming with Court officials in various official uniforms, who had apparently just left the Court and had come in a hurry without even changing their clothes.

Suddenly seeing so many important Court officials, even the usually confident Ran Yun felt a bit of stage fright and turned to ask Ran Yan, "What should we do?"

"Wait here for me," Ran Yan said. What scenario had she not seen? They were just a few high officials, after all; she was curious but certainly not nervous.

Ran Yun nodded.

Ran Yan then pulled a wrapped gift from her sleeve and went straight to the steward, placing the item in front of him, "This is a birthday gift for the old lady from me, please forward it on my behalf."

The steward was a middle-aged man in his forties, burly and robust, appearing to be someone who practiced martial arts. He had been collecting the gift lists all morning, yet he had never seen a Lady coming over and placing her gift directly in front of him.

After a moment, he asked, "Madam, have you written a gift list?"

Ran Yan replied, "No, I have not. But my gift is only this one item. If a gift list is needed, please lend me some paper and pen."

With so many important Court officials present, the steward saw that Ran Yan was completely unafraid and felt a bit of admiration. Seeing her dignified presence, he ordered a servant to provide her with paper and pen.

Ran Yan put the item into her pocket before bowing and writing the gift list.

The Court officials around noticed what was happening, and Xiao Song, who had just entered, was smiling at her serious expression.

Seeing how Ran Yan treasured the item in her hand, the steward moved closer to see what she was writing. When he saw it, he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, "The early snow under the clear sky!"

"Where is the early snow under the clear sky?" A voice—urgent and slightly frail—came just then, and a figure in a grey robe staggered forward. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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