Chapter 58: Old Friend

Because this palace banquet was held close to the approaching New Year, Empress Duanmu, who was in charge of organizing the event, proposed combining the New Year celebration banquet with this palace gathering. This arrangement would allow officials to spend the holiday alongside their family members, a proposal that Emperor Kangjian readily approved.

Consequently, this palace banquet was orchestrated with extraordinary grandeur. From morning until night, a dazzling array of performances and activities unfolded, ensuring that even spending an entire day within the palace walls would not feel tedious.

After bidding farewell to her father and accompanying her mother, Tang Zhaozhao walked toward another palace pathway alongside the Dowager and the others. Meanwhile, Tang Wu and Tang Wen proceeded ahead to join the other officials and respectfully await an audience with Emperor Kangjian. Even during a palace banquet, the customary discussion of state affairs remained indispensable.

Holding her mother's hand, Tang Zhaozhao walked quietly all the way. A considerable number of accompanying family members strolled along the surrounding paths, greeting the Dowager with practiced courtesy. It had to be said that the Dowager, usually tyrannical and overbearing within her own household, adopted the serene and compassionate demeanor of a merciful bodhisattva when facing outsiders, smiling warmly at everyone she met.

The Dowager chatted affably with the matrons who came to offer pleasantries, taking the opportunity to introduce Zhao Mengyue to anyone she encountered. Naturally, Zhao Mengyue received no shortage of praise. As elation washed over her, her previously insecure spine straightened. Her slightly lifted chin made her carry herself even more like a young lady of a prestigious noble household.

A newly arrived matron, upon seeing Zhao Mengyue's posture, smiled and remarked, "This must be the second young lady of General Tang's household. Just look at this graceful bearing; she clearly has the bloodline of a military legacy."

These words caused Zhao Mengyue's triumphant expression to freeze slightly. The Dowager hurriedly intervened to explain, "You misunderstand, Madam. This is Mengyue, the granddaughter of my older brother from my maiden family."

Upon hearing this, the matron offered an awkward, polite smile. "Does her father hold an official position in the capital? Why have I never heard of her before?"

The Dowager made no attempt to conceal the truth, knowing such matters were easily investigated. "Mengyue's father passed away long ago. Learning that my health was poor, she traveled all the way from our hometown specifically to keep this old woman company. Please forgive any improper impressions."

The matron offered a faint, perfunctory smile and stopped looking at Zhao Mengyue altogether. After exchanging a few superficial pleasantries with the Dowager, she turned and left. Having learned Zhao Mengyue's true identity, she did not utter another single word to her.

Naturally, the surrounding matrons and young ladies followed suit. Moments earlier, the Dowager had merely referred to her as a granddaughter; now that it was known she was merely a distant relative, no one bothered to strike up a conversation with her.

The stark contrast between the warm reception and the sudden cold shoulder caused Zhao Mengyue's face to pale instantly. She fiercely twisted the handkerchief in her grip. They were all nothing but snobbish, hypocritical wretches who groveled before the powerful and looked down upon the lowly.

Walking a few steps behind, Tang Zhaozhao took in everything without uttering a single word.

Song Rongzhi had not set foot in the capital for seven years since marrying the General, yet someone managed to recognize her at a single glance.

"A-zhi?" a female voice called out from behind.

Song Rongzhi turned around in puzzlement, her eyes falling upon a familiar face that had aged significantly more than her memory suggested.

"Guan-guan?"

Tang Zhaozhao also looked at the matron, who appeared a few years older than her mother. With double eyelids, large eyes, and a baby face, such features should naturally have made someone look remarkably youthful. Yet, this woman's face was etched with exhaustion, and an aura of sickly frailty lurked between her brows. Her entire appearance was maintained solely by heavy cosmetics.

The matron gently brushed aside the maidservant who was supporting her arm, walking quickly up to Song Rongzhi. Without a word, she tightly grasped Song Rongzhi's hands. Her eye sockets reddened instantly, tinged with a faint trace of lingering joy. "You've finally returned."

Seeing her close friend from her maiden days, Lin Guanguan, Song Rongzhi felt her own eyes grow misty. Her departure had lasted seven years, during which all contact with the capital—save for her immediate family—had been severed. How could they not be emotional upon reuniting after all this time?

"Why do you look so haggard?" Song Rongzhi asked, bewildered. They were of the exact same age, yet her dear friend looked considerably older than herself.

Lin Guanguan did not answer the question directly. Instead, she teased playfully, "Seven years apart, and you seem to be growing younger with each passing day."

Recalling how sickly and frail Song Rongzhi had appeared just before leaving the capital seven years ago, Lin Guanguan felt a wave of bittersweet emotion. Yet, looking at her now, it seemed Song Rongzhi had fully recovered; not only was her complexion rosy, but she radiated vitality.

Song Rongzhi pulled Lin Guanguan closer and introduced her, "Guanguan, this is my youngest daughter, Zhaozhao."

Tang Zhaozhao offered a polite greeting, "Hello, Madam."

Lin Guanguan chuckled. "What 'Madam'? Call me Aunt Lin." Having heard about the tragic loss of Song Rongzhi's eldest daughter, she naturally refused to touch upon such a painful subject at this moment.

Lin Guanguan took Tang Zhaozhao's hand and smoothly slipped a jade bracelet from her own wrist, attempting to slide it onto the girl's arm. "Aunt Lin didn't have time to prepare a proper greeting gift, but I will make it up to you next time."

Tang Zhaozhao quickly withdrew her hand. "Aunt Lin, you needn't be so courteous. I don't care for wearing such ornaments."

Only then did Lin Guanguan notice Tang Zhaozhao's attire; indeed, she wore not a single piece of jewelry on her entire person.

Song Rongzhi hastily explained, "Zhaozhao hasn't grown up by my side since childhood, and she genuinely dislikes these trinkets. If you truly wish to dote on her, you might as well gift her something else."

Lin Guanguan did not press the matter further. "A young lady who dislikes jewelry? Well, that gives me something to ponder upon when I return home."

Tang Zhaozhao grinned broadly. "Aunt Lin, I like silver."

Hearing this, Song Rongzhi gently tapped her daughter's arm. "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Tang Zhaozhao puffed out her cheeks. How was she spouting nonsense?

Lin Guanguan burst into an even brighter laugh. "Do you prefer silver, or do you prefer gold?"

Tang Zhaozhao blinked. "Gold."

Seeing this, Song Rongzhi was left torn between laughter and tears. Fortunately, her dear friend was one of the few women in the capital who cared little for rigid conventions.

Lin Guanguan's late father had served as a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. Having no sons, he had only this single daughter. When Lin Guanguan was married off, nearly the entirety of the family fortune had been given as her dowry. No wedding of any young lady of a noble household in the entire capital had ever surpassed the grandeur of Lin Guanguan's.

Moreover, the man she married was merely a provincial scholar holding no official rank at the time. Yet, because his daughter was determined to marry him, the Grand Secretary yielded to her wishes. After their wedding, the Grand Secretary secured a leisurely sinecure in the capital for his son-in-law, and the couple lived in relative harmony.

As for what transpired afterward, Song Rongzhi knew very little. She only knew that a few years prior, both the Grand Secretary and his wife had passed away successively. From then on, Lin Guanguan had no close family left. However, considering her substantial dowry, her life surely could not have been overly difficult.

Yet, Song Rongzhi had never expected that the once wild and whimsical girl would age so rapidly beneath the relentless march of time. Gazing at the smiling Lin Guanguan, she longed to ask whether she was living well and how her husband treated her. But Lin Guanguan skillfully steered the conversation away from the topic, merely mentioning that her husband was now an academician in the Hanlin Academy, before turning her attention to Tang Zhaozhao and inquiring about her life in the mountains.

Glancing at her mother's worried eyes, Tang Zhaozhao kept her thoughts to herself and began recounting amusing anecdotes of mountain life to the matron who gazed upon her with such undisguised fondness.

Delighted by the tales, a flicker of wistful longing showed in Lin Guanguan's eyes. "Is that old Daoist priest really that dreadful? To think he made a delicate little doll like you bathe with melon rinds?"

Tang Zhaozhao nodded earnestly. "Aunt Lin, you have no idea. It wasn't until I turned nine that I discovered other people didn't find bathing nearly that painful."

Curious, Lin Guanguan asked, "Then how did you find out?"

"When I was nine, the old man saved a woman whose leg had been bitten by a wild beast. When she was bathing, I tried to help her scrub her back with a melon rind, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head."

Watching Tang Zhaozhao mimic the woman's exaggerated expression of shock, Lin Guanguan could not help but burst into laughter once again.