novelraw Chapter 739 - 728: Stand-In Younger Sister
Chapter 739 - 728: Stand-In Younger Sister
"Mother!" Ye Xia stood in place, stomping her foot unhappily, not knowing what she was so angry about.
Ye Wangshi comforted her: "It’s alright, aren’t they just two pieces of jewelry? Anyway, you young ladies don’t usually wear a full set daily, so if they are lost, they are lost."
"But the two pieces that are lost are a necklace and a bracelet." Ye Xia was somewhat frustrated—she thought it was clearly the little bird that her younger sister deliberately trained to mock her, otherwise how could an ordinary bird be so clever?
"Enough." The family head Ye Borong growled, "What does this matter have to do with your sister? Do you want your mother and me to demand an explanation for you? Don’t you know your sister’s situation? Does she have the energy to mock you? Is the whole Luoxia Courtyard lying? Besides, if you hadn’t insisted on taking your sister’s little bird, how would you have ended up like this today?"
The angrier Ye Borong became, the angrier Ye Xia felt. Her eyes turned red as she said: "I knew it, father and mother only love my younger sister and not me, I hate you both." After speaking, she ran out.
Ye Borong’s face turned iron blue, and Ye Wangshi’s expression was also unsightly. She sighed and said, "Don’t be angry anymore, it’s normal for Xiaxia to feel aggrieved, what young girl doesn’t cherish her jewelry? I don’t know whether this matter is related to Qiu’er, but we have raised her for nearly fifteen years, and that’s enough. In the future, I will keep Xiaxia away from her."
"Take Xiaxia to the gold shop tomorrow to pick out some jewelry; her coming-of-age ceremony is in a few days, and next year she will be entering the palace—so buying more wouldn’t hurt," Ye Borong eventually softened.
"What about Qiu’er?" Ye Wangshi hesitated before asking.
"Her health is not good; don’t take her out. She isn’t like Xiaxia who needs to attend those gatherings of official’s daughters, so there’s no need to buy especially for her. Anyway, what was prepared for her before has barely been used."
Hearing this, Ye Wangshi smiled: "Alright, then we’ll follow husband’s wishes."
In the Luoxia Courtyard, the missing Little Jin flew back, but the two pieces of jewelry it had snatched were nowhere to be seen.
The maids looked at Ye Qiu excitedly: "Miss, it’s Little Jin!"
"Shush!" Ye Qiu raised a finger to her lips and then gently stroked obedient Little Jin’s head.
Little Jin chirped at her twice, as if asking for a reward.
Five days later, it was the coming-of-age ceremony for both Ye Qiu and Ye Xia. That day, Wang Yanran arrived early and refused to leave Ye Qiu’s couch.
"Why are you wearing such vivid clothes again? They don’t suit you," she frowned, "Was it Aunt who arranged it? But this time the size is right."
"Peony and the others altered it a few days ago." Ye Qiu sat on the chair, letting the maids comb her hair with an air of nonchalance, as if nothing mattered.
She glanced sideways at the frustrated Wang Yanran and chuckled lightly: "It’s alright, today is a coming-of-age ceremony; it’s proper to dress up more ceremoniously."
"I really give up on your temperament," Wang Yanran said helplessly, but she had no solution.
"Never mind me, what about you? You’re about to get married, how do you feel?" teased Ye Qiu.
Wang Yanran’s face immediately reddened, her eyes darted away, speaking vaguely: "What thoughts could I have? The marriage was decided by my father."
"Cousin still wants to deceive me? If you weren’t pleased with Brother-in-law Qin yourself, would uncle agree to such a marriage?"
"Oh, you always have so much to say." Wang Yanran was embarrassingly shy and turned to pinch the soft flesh of Ye Qiu’s waist, but since Ye Qiu was wearing a lot of clothes today, she didn’t pinch much.
The two sisters chatted and laughed, and soon it was time for them to go to the front hall, as the people sent by Ye Wangshi invited them over.
In this era, a girl’s coming-of-age ceremony is a big event. Although poor families don’t pay much attention to it, in affluent families, the ceremony is often held before matching their daughters for marriage, signifying the importance placed on the daughter’s family.
The most important part of the coming-of-age ceremony is the hairpinning ceremony, which is usually performed by someone blessed with five fortunes. As the Ye Family are Imperial Merchants, the people they are friendly with in the capital include not just merchants but also smaller official families. Thus, the person selected for today’s five fortunes is Ms. Chen, an aunt by marriage who doesn’t really get along with Ye Wangshi.
Although Ye Wangshi doesn’t like this sister-in-law, she has to admit that she is the highest-ranking official’s wife that Ye Wangshi knows.
In fact, Ms. Chen didn’t want to do this either, but who made both the grandmother-in-law and the husband agree to it?
The hairpins were prepared by the Ye Family themselves. Since Ye Xia is the elder sister, she went first, and on the plate were two gemstone hairpins, one red and one deep blue. She knew at a glance that her aunt-in-law hadn’t considered her niece’s feelings when preparing these items.
Ms. Chen didn’t approve of her aunt-in-law in any way, not just because the aunt was very power-hungry, but also because of her indifference.
Even though the Imperial Physician had long concluded that her niece’s life would be short, as a mother, how could you deliberately ignore her just because your niece would leave you early? How can one give materially but neglect emotionally, ignoring feelings entirely?
Fine, you say you don’t give affection, if the material support was appropriate, that would be one thing. Nowadays, many heads of large families and their children aren’t as close as their public persona suggests, but have they truly provided for them materially?
She always says with her lips that she loves this daughter the most, but it’s just a way to comfort herself. Like the last time they went to celebrate the Old Lady’s birthday, what was her niece even wearing? It’s one thing for the jewelry not to complement her, but even the clothes were a size too large. Is this what they call love?
On the contrary, the elder niece who they felt indebted to always appeared brightly dressed whenever she went out, with every outfit and every piece of jewelry fitting perfectly. Do they really think people are blind?
And this is not to mention the situations she hasn’t seen; her daughter had told her how cold her younger niece’s life was, and it’s to her niece’s credit that she didn’t hold grudges.
Ms. Chen sighed deeply, her dissatisfaction with Ye Xia was also intense. Did they think she was unaware of the elder niece’s intentions? Truly, taking advantage and pretending to be mendicant.
But what could she do, being just an aunt by marriage? All she could do was to have her own daughter, who was not yet married, visit this niece more often.
Speaking of which, if not for the niece’s poor health, marrying her to her son wouldn’t have been out of the question. Such a good-tempered girl was not common—if she were her daughter, she would cherish her to the core.
Ms. Chen took the red gemstone hairpin to pin Ye Xia’s hair and then made some insincere remarks.
When it was Ye Qiu’s turn, her face softened significantly, and she said earnestly, "To serve parents dutifully is to be filial; to follow on with kindness. Gentle and compliant, respectful, frugal, and modest. Neither arrogant nor extravagant, do not slander nor deceive. These are the ancient teachings; adhere to them well."
In the end, she solemnly inserted the deep blue hairpin into Ye Qiu’s hair, and with that, the ceremony was completed.
Indeed, according to ancient rites, the coming-of-age ceremony was not so simple and involved many other rules, but since the Emperor came from humble beginnings, he was once greatly vexed by the pedantry of great scholars. Thus, all matters of ceremony were greatly simplified.
Of course, those families with deep heritage naturally followed their own traditions, but for a merchant family like the Ye Family, there was no need for such ado.