Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

Master Qi, upon hearing this, quickly said: "Brother Yun is right. Housekeeper Lin, hurry and hitch the mule carts to pick up the guests."

If the guests were not fetched soon, the banquet might as well not take place.

"Yes." Housekeeper Lin immediately instructed his men to hitch two mule carts and set off towards the Jiang Residence.

Upon arriving at the Jiang Residence, he asked the gatekeeper: "Have the Gu Family People gone to the Qi Mansion for the banquet?"

The gatekeeper had already received Gu Jinli's message and told them directly: "Are you from the Qi Mansion? The Gu Family People have said that the food at the Qi Family's is too hard for them to chew and they won't be attending the banquet."

Housekeeper Lin was baffled: "What does this mean? Our Qi Mansion has always been courteous. How could the Gu Family be so impolite?"

The gatekeeper felt quite positively towards the Gu Family People, and upon hearing this was displeased: "The Gu Family People are all knowledgeable about etiquette. It's your Qi Family that's ignorant of it. Never have I seen an invitation sent that allows such little time for preparation. There isn't even enough time to make the trip, let alone prepare. Do you really think the Gu Family are your servants, expected to come at a moment's notice?"

Housekeeper Lin was even more puzzled: "What do you mean by this? Our Qi Mansion sent out the invitations a day in advance. Though it was short notice, it was within the rules and there was no intention of disrespect."

The gatekeeper said: "If you want to know the reason, you might as well go back to your mansion and ask."

With that, he slammed the gates shut, leaving Housekeeper Lin standing outside, completely mystified.

"Housekeeper Lin, what should we do now? The Second Young Master is waiting at home," asked the servant who accompanied him.

Housekeeper Lin said: "There must be some misunderstanding here. Let's return to the mansion first and report this to the Second Young Master."

The two mule carts turned around and dejectedly headed back to the mansion.

After listening to the report, Master Qi was utterly baffled: "How could this be?"

He knew there must be some misunderstanding and immediately called for the senior housekeeper to ask: "How many invitations did the mansion send out yesterday? Who sent them and where were they sent?"

The senior housekeeper, seasoned in his duties, quickly found out and reported back: "In response to the Second Young Master, the mansion sent out a total of five invitations yesterday. Two were sent back to their maternal family by the madam, two were sent by the young masters to their classmates, and one was sent by you to the Gu Family. All these were recorded in the gatekeeper's ledger."

Upon hearing this, Master Qi was startled and immediately followed up: "What about the invitations not recorded in the ledger?"

The senior housekeeper said: "There was one not recorded. It was sent to the Jiang Residence by a maid from Old Madam's courtyard."

It must have been this invitation that caused the confusion.

Master Qi was quite upset, nearly pounding the table: "What on earth was she thinking? She's ruined all my plans!"

The senior housekeeper, influential in the mansion with many connections, revealed to Master Qi: "The night before last, the Second Young Master said something displeasing to the Old Madam, which was overheard by a maid in Old Madam's courtyard. The Old Madam must have been angry and thus deliberately sent out an invitation to the Gu Family, aiming to teach them a lesson."

Master Qi frowned: "What did I say the night before last that would anger Mother? What was it?" He couldn't remember.

Two guests who were staying with Master Qi as scholars reminded him: "The night before last, you mentioned that the Gu Family was involved in the spice trade business, and that their young ones have also established ties with the Zheng Family and Shangguan Family. With such prospects, their future is undoubtedly promising. If their future is bright, we could consider marrying our young masters or misses into the Gu Family."

There is no doubt, those words must have displeased the Old Madam.

The Old Madam herself comes from a great lineage and holds a strong awareness of family status; she also adores her grandson, so upon hearing Master Qi plans to marry into a farmer's family, she certainly couldn't resist intervening.

Qi Yun and Qi He had long known that they would eventually be used by the family for an arranged marriage, but they never expected their own father would want to match them with a farmer girl? Could they possibly resist?

The two brothers, looking at Master Qi's face about to explode with anger, silently bowed their heads: better not to resist, the consequences would be dire.

Master Qi was so enraged that he didn't care for the image of a dignified scholar and literati; he jumped up and pointed towards the direction of Old Madam Qi's yard, and said: "Those were just drunken ramblings after a few extra drinks, and you take them seriously?!"

Even if he were mad, he wouldn't consider marrying the legitimate sons of the household to the Gu Family, yet his mother, taking the words of a gossiping old lady to heart, made this mess, and caused him to offend the Gu Family again.

The spice and seasoning business is so lucrative, and the Gu Family only sold to his household because they lacked connections in the Prefecture. Now they've managed to establish ties with the Zheng Family and the Shangguan family, and could leave the Qi Family behind at any moment. And yet his mother still causes him trouble. Has she become so accustomed to good living that she doesn't realize how hard it is to earn silver?

The Northwest of Great Chu has been stricken with drought for the past two years followed by unrest among the disaster-stricken populace; the family's assets have been greatly affected, surviving on reserves for the past two years, relying on the spice and seasoning business just to make a few months' worth of silver.

Master Qi, extremely agitated, stormed directly towards Old Madam Qi's courtyard.

Seeing this, the old housekeeper hurriedly called for Qi Yun and Qi He: "Gentlemen, quickly follow and try to pacify the situation."

Let's not have it become too ugly.

Qi Yun and Qi He promptly got up and chased after him, with the old housekeeper following. The three of them had just reached the entrance of the Old Madam's courtyard when they heard a quarrel brewing inside.

Master Qi: "Mother, are you really my birth mother? Do you think so little of your son? How could I possibly do something like matching the legitimate sons of the family with a farmer girl? I had my eye on Gu Jin'an, I see a future in him and wish to betroth Sister Zhu to him."

"But I had not planned on proposing this to the Gu Family this time around; we still need to observe his relations with the Zheng Family and the Shangguan family. To see if he can secure an official position. If both conditions are met, then I would marry Sister Zhu to him."

"Today's hospitality towards the Gu Family was to maintain relations so that we can continue expanding the spice and seasoning business."

"Capital, Capital is a veritable gold vault, with elder brother there, if we could procure more goods through the Gu Family, how could we fail to earn the silver of Capital families? Now look, a well-planned affair has been completely upset by you!"

Master Qi shouted at the top of his lungs until he was nearly out of breath, gasping heavily.

From outside the courtyard, Qi Yun and Qi He felt relieved after listening; it turned out it wasn't them who were to be used for marrying off, but their concubine sister.

Old Madam Qi, after hearing Master Qi's words, finally understood that she had misunderstood, but watching Master Qi scold her, she started covering her face and sobbing: "Wuu wuu wuu, what sin have I committed, to still be scolded by my son at such an old age. Old Master, you've departed too soon, why didn't you wait for your wife? If I had gone with you, I wouldn't have to suffer the wrath of an unfilial son!"

She also cried for her eldest son: "Eldest, your mother now regrets it, knowing what I know now, I should have gone with you to the Capital. Then I wouldn't have stayed in our old home, to be an eyesore to your brother and become the wicked mother in his eyes."

Master Qi was struck dumb by the reverse accusation and nearly spat blood: "You still cry for the eldest? If the eldest were..." truly filial, wouldn't he have taken you to the Capital?

The eldest was frankly afraid of you, knowing you're someone who can't be reasoned with and loves to put on airs, fearing that if you went to the Capital you would offend a whole host of official family matriarchs, resulting in him losing his official position, that's why he didn't dare to take you with him.