CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER 319: COMING OF AGE (3)

Xiqiu did not speak, and slowly sipped her tea with a lowered face.

"Xiqiu." Xiao Yanzheng’s eyes turned red: "Do you believe what they say?" After she finished speaking, she saw Xiqiu shake her head firmly. Xiao Yanzheng nodded and said, "I don’t believe it either. Mother said Fourth Brother was born in Miaojiang the year the late Emperor ascended the throne. He was born in a military tent, and three days after his birth, he was bitten by a venomous snake in the woods. Everyone thought Fourth Brother was doomed. At the time, he was covered in bruises and had stopped breathing, but by chance, Father encountered a Miao Doctor. The old man said nothing, just gave Fourth Brother a dark pill, saying that if he didn’t wake up by sunset, it would be beyond help..."

Xiqiu listened attentively, knowing that Fourth Master Xiao must be fine, yet her heart still tightened. It was indeed a miracle that such a small child could survive a venomous snake bite!

"Mother held Fourth Brother and sat at the entrance of the military tent watching the sun. At that time, Third Brother was just small, having just learned to walk, and he crawled onto Mother’s lap, trying to hold Fourth Brother like Mother, even kissing Fourth Brother’s face a few times, giggling... Mother said, at that moment, Fourth Brother started to breathe, his eyelashes began to tremble, and his little head kept nudging into her embrace..." She paused, smiling: "The entire military camp erupted in joy... On that same day, Father captured the leader of Miaojiang alive. Everyone believed Fourth Brother was a lucky star..."

Xiao Yanzheng held Xiqiu’s hand and said, "That Miao Doctor said Fourth Brother has a tough life and will live long!"

Despite listening, Xiqiu frowned but did not overthink it. She took a handkerchief to wipe Xiao Yanzheng’s tears and nodded, saying, "Yes, there will be no problem."

On the eighth day of July, Xiao Yanzheng came as expected, bringing gifts from the Grand Dowager and Second Madam. The Grand Dowager gifted a crimson overcoat with a velvet-bordered upright collar and a silver gauze skirt with a smoke pattern, the Second Madam offered a finely carved jade pendant featuring butterflies playing with orchids, and the Fifth Madam gave a hairpin with a ruby-embedded Feifeng, along with a matching bracelet, while Xiao Yanzheng presented a pair of cute little golden pigs.

Early in the morning, the Second Lady explained the important things to note for the coming-of-age ceremony. After receiving gifts from everyone, she sat in the room and changed into the clothes sent by the Grand Dowager, supported by Tong Xiyan, and went to the eastern ancestral hall of the Tong Mansion. Though called an ancestral hall, since the Tong Family’s main shrine was in Baoding, there were only a few ancestral tablets here...

Due to Lady being ill, she would not appear, so the First Master served as the host, the Second Lady sat high as the chief guest, while Madam Xia stood at the entrance of the ancestral hall with a handkerchief, watching from afar as Xiqiu approached in her grand crimson attire, hiding her tears with a handkerchief. Seeing Madam Xia, Xiqiu’s eyes reddened too.

She and her son had endured six years of patience in the mansion and finally saw a glimmer of hope. Now, the Sixth Miss had come of age, but... the more Madam Xia thought about it, the more bitter her heart felt. The marriage of the Sixth Miss had been a rollercoaster since the proposal from the Wujin Bo Mansion, each moment leaving her anxious, finally progressing without danger, securing a match with Grand Commander Xiao, yet now he...

Upon seeing Madam Xia cry, Madam Jiang laughed and told her attendant to support Madam Xia, personally welcoming Xiqiu inside. Xiqiu entered, kowtowed before the ancestral tablets, and just as Madam Jiang was about to announce the start, a rush of footsteps sounded from outside, someone calling, "Wait!"

Xiqiu was startled and turned to see a group of more than ten people approaching from a distant path, led by an elderly lady about fifty years of age, wearing a crimson overcoat with auspicious patterns, a sea-green skirt with embroidery, and a crimson headband, exuding an imposing and dignified aura, clearly a person accustomed to high status!

Everyone looked puzzled, but the Second Lady smiled and welcomed them. A maid in an elegant green Hangzhou silk robe accompanying the elderly lady said, "Our Old Madam is the Grand Dowager of the Wuchang Bo Mansion!"

The Second Lady was visibly shocked, knelt down with her skirt lifted, and so did Madam Jiang, Tong Xiyan, and the others with her. Xiqiu looked puzzled; though the Wuchang Bo Mansion’s status was indeed higher than the Tong Mansion, the Second Lady’s reaction seemed over the top.

Pressing down on Xiqiu, Madam Jiang whispered in her ear, "She is the Princess Changting, personally conferred by Emperor Chengzu back then."

Xiqiu was stunned; so that was it. She had seen this in historical records: During Chengzong’s ten-year reign, the then Third Prince Dezong launched a rebellion overnight, detaining Chengzong in Changle Palace. By the time the news reached the palace gate, Dezong had already controlled all of Chengzong’s Princes and swiftly ascended the throne, while Chengzong’s Princes were either killed or banished, and even several Princes and Princesses were deeply implicated.

In this storm, the only one who managed to stay out of harm’s way was Princess Changting, the most beloved by Emperor Wen, and the younger sister of Emperor Dezong, who is the current Emperor’s aunt.

However, her Changting title had long been forgotten by the world, and even in the Shen Mansion, she was referred to simply as the Grand Dowager!

She was a legitimate princess, her status unchallenged, far superior to the several princesses born of Dezong.

No wonder the Second Lady showed such a shocked expression!

But why did Princess Changting come to the Tong Mansion? Just as she pondered this, she heard the First Master step forward and salute, saying, "I did not know the Grand Dowager would grace our humble home, and failed to set up a proper welcome. However... at this moment, my daughter is in the midst of her coming-of-age ceremony; may I ask why the Grand Dowager honors us with her presence?"

With a warm smile, Old Madam Shen glanced at the First Master, her bright eyes landing on Xiqiu, kneeling behind the Second Lady. She smiled and said, "I have been entrusted to come today to be the chief guest for the Sixth Miss!"

This was beyond astonishing, the Grand Dowager of the Wuchang Bo Mansion, serving as the chief guest for a mere fifth-rank official’s concubine-born daughter?!

Though the coming-of-age ceremony is merely ceremonial, where girls from humble households casually buy a hairpin, and their mothers help them pin up their hair and consider it done, some do it grandly. This grandeur does not lie in the sumptuousness of the jewelry worn or the number of attendees, but in the status of the chief guest... The higher the chief guest’s rank, the more it subtly elevates the girl’s status.

Though First Master was full of surprise, having navigated officialdom for many years, he quickly regained composure, smiling and saying, "It is truly an honor for the Tong Family that the Grand Dowager would be the chief guest for my daughter’s ceremony, a blessing for my daughter, something we could only dream of!" He did not ask whose request she was honoring, and gestured, "Please, Grand Dowager, come inside."

A look of appreciation flashed in Old Madam Shen’s eyes as she accepted the First Master’s invitation to enter the Tong Family’s ancestral hall. Madam Jiang quickly composed herself, instructing Tong Xiyan to assist Xiqiu inside, and the Second Lady followed to attend to Old Madam Shen.

Xiqiu bowed her head in courtesy. After Old Madam Shen recited words of praise, the Second Lady personally helped Xiqiu pin up her hair. With Tong Xiyan and Tong Xijia presenting the tray, amid Madam Jiang’s flourishing words of blessing, she wore the hairpin gifted by Fourth Master Xiao, thus completing the coming-of-age ceremony.