Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots-Chapter 1427 - 246, Favorite (43)

This was the first time Lin Yuan and her friends had attended a banquet at the imperial palace. Although the banquet was to be held in the evening, they entered the palace early to wait. Fortunately, they were accompanied by Princess Anle; otherwise, the group would surely have been at a loss for where to go.

The banquet was set in a side hall of the small garden, with everyone gathered in a large hall divided into sections for male and female guests. It wasn’t time for the banquet to start yet, and the Emperor and Empress were both busy attending to their own matters and had not arrived.

Princess Anle first took them to sit with Consort Shu for a while. Lin Yuan was already quite familiar with Consort Shu. Furthermore, on the day Lin Yuan was conferred the title of County Master, Consort Shu had sent her a congratulatory gift, and Lin Yuan hadn’t had the chance to enter the palace to express her gratitude, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Upon seeing the several young ladies, Consort Shu presented each with a gift for their first meeting.

"Is this the Xiao Shuangshuang that elder brother is so fond of? Come here, let me have a look at you."

Consort Shu had obviously heard about how Xia Yuan doted on Xiao Linshuang like a daughter. She beckoned Xiao Linshuang over to her side with a wave of her hand.

"Mm, indeed she’s a soft and tender young lady. Just look at this little face, so pink and delicate. Truly adorable."

It seemed Xiao Linshuang’s cheeks possessed some sort of magic; anyone who saw her couldn’t resist the urge to pinch them—Princess Anle, Tian Hui, Xia Yuan, and now Consort Shu were all the same.

However, Xiao Linshuang liked Consort Shu very much, happily puffing up her cheeks for her to pinch. If someone she didn’t like tried to pinch her face, she would have thrown a handful of itchy powder at them by now.

Consort Shu only had one son and no daughters. Strangely enough, it was incredibly difficult for those in the Xia family to have a daughter. The elder brother and his wife had two sons and had always hoped for a daughter, yet now Xia Zheng was already twenty and there was still no news of Princess Anle being with child. Consort Shu also had not been able to give birth to a daughter.

Therefore, they were all very fond of Xiao Linshuang when they saw her.

After chatting with Consort Shu for a while, other ladies from official households who had come to pay their respects arrived one by one. Tian Hui then took Lin Yuan and the others out for a stroll in the garden. It was summer now, and although the flowers in the garden were in full bloom, it became too hot after walking around outside for too long, so they soon found a pavilion to sit down.

Xiao Linshuang couldn’t sit still and insisted on running around playing. They hadn’t brought any palace maids with them, but luckily Aunt Qi, who was meticulous, had arranged for a clever little palace maid for them. With this little palace maid accompanying Xiao Linshuang as she played, the others could sit and chat without worry.

Once they sat down, everyone’s attention turned to Tian Xuan, for she was even more charming than they had seen her a month ago. Her cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were especially bright.

Lin Yuan, Lin Wei, and the others knew that this was the glow of love.

However, Tian Hui was unaware of this. Tian Xuan and Tian Hui were full sisters from the same mother and had been very close since childhood. Now that her sister was asking about it, Tian Xuan thought for a moment and then explained everything to her in detail.

After listening, Tian Hui was stunned.

She had heard Madam Tian talking about finding a suitable family for Tian Xuan to marry into, and Tian Hui had also asked Princess Anle to help look into several families, but nothing had come of it because Tian Xuan herself did not agree. This had infuriated Madam Tian to the point of wanting to marry her off to a beggar from the streets of the Capital city!

Tian Xuan also knew that her mother was speaking out of frustration, so she simply agreed with her, further infuriating Madam Tian to the point of not seeing her for three days.

Speaking of which, although Tian Xuan had not ended up getting married to one of those young masters, her half-sisters had certainly profited from the situation. Seeing the concubine’s daughters all finding respectable matches, Madam Tian grew even more anxious.

But now what?

Tian Hui inwardly cursed that this was no good, realizing that even those half-sisters had married legitimate sons of decent officials in the Capital city, yet Tian Xuan, as the legitimate daughter, had fallen in love with a merchant’s son. Wasn’t this a slap in Madam Tian’s face?

Since no one present was an outsider, Tian Hui shared her thoughts with all of them and, after finishing, she specifically said to Lin Yuan, "Yuanyuan, I did not mean to look down on merchants with what I just said. You’ve been in the Capital city long enough to be aware of the situation here—the wives and ladies here are all social climbers, not to mention those concubine’s daughters. If Xuanxuan really ends up with Cheng Haoxuan, I’m afraid she’ll be ostracized by those people!"

Lin Yuan, being an elder sister herself, could understand Tian Hui’s concerns. However, she felt that this path was Tian Xuan’s own choice. If Tian Xuan were forced to cut off her affection and spend her life with someone she did not like, wouldn’t that make her miserable for life?

Tian Hui was a lucky woman, having married a man she liked who also liked her, and she had a good mother-in-law. Yet such well-matched and mutually affectionate couples were extremely rare. It was either a mismatched marriage or a marriage without love, where the couple merely settled and muddled through life.

Between the two, which one should be forsaken and which should be chosen—it’s not for us, who aren’t directly involved, to say.

After repeating this to Tian Hui, Lin Yuan knew Tian Hui wanted the best for her sister, but Tian Xuan was an adult after all, and the two weren’t at the point of getting married yet. Perhaps they should just spend some time together; after a while, they might find they are not compatible and break it off themselves.

Hearing this perspective, Tian Hui nodded in agreement, but she strongly admonished Tian Xuan not to commit the error of meeting in secret; if her reputation were damaged, it would be beyond salvation!

These were not alarmist words from Tian Hui. Considering the unruly behavior of the other concubine’s daughters in the Tian family, the relationship between Tian Xuan and Cheng Haoxuan was indeed very risky.

Lin Yuan also admonished her several times, and the young girl nodded repeatedly, almost as if she were ready to swear on it.

As they were speaking, Xiao He suddenly gestured to everyone. Following her gaze, they saw Yao Hanai and Yao Zhilan approaching.

Tian Xuan quickly closed her mouth. The matters of the other concubine’s daughters in her family must not be known, much less should outsiders find out about her relationship with Cheng Haoxuan.

"Magistrate Pingxi."

Upon seeing Lin Yuan, the first thing Yao Hanai did was bend her knees in a curtsey to her, although Yao Zhilan was quite reluctant and followed her sister with a begrudging curtsey.

No one found this inappropriate, but Lin Yuan knew better—Yao Hanai was not as amiable as she appeared. Despite the fact that she was curtseying readily, she was probably cursing Lin Yuan inwardly!

But whether she cursed or not didn’t really matter, as Lin Yuan couldn’t hear it anyway. Considering the many onlookers, it was unlikely that Yao Hanai would dare to ruin the lofty and dignified image she had cultivated over the years.