Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

In this era, anyone who is granted a title, regardless of its rank, is something that those around them should celebrate and proclaim.

Wang Xifeng knew that this matter could not be kept secret, so she never thought of hiding it. After returning to Rongguo Mansion, she told everyone about this happy event in front of Grandmother Jia and others.

Grandmother Jia and the others were naturally surprised, but then overjoyed.

Although Daiyu was only granted the lowest rank of dukedom, and it was not hereditary, meaning it wouldn't bring any other benefits to her family or others, its rarity and uniqueness made it even more talked about than titles obtained by men.

After all, titles were the mainstream for men, with a wide variety and numerous categories, but for women, there were only a few types. And these were almost entirely monopolized by noblewomen of the imperial family.

Very few of them were able to end up in the hands of ordinary people.

The fact that the Lin family was able to acquire one is truly a stroke of good fortune.

No, the Lin family's ancestors were already incredibly auspicious. They've been blessed with good fortune twice since their ancestors were granted the title of marquis, and twice since Daiyu's father, Lin Ruhai, became a third-ranked scholar in the imperial examinations. This is the third time!

It's a pity that the Lin family line ended, wasting this glory and sacred scroll.

Aunt Xue smiled and said to Grandmother Jia and the others, "I've lived half my life, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. Back in Jinling, I heard that the old lady of the Zhen family was a very noble person. She seemed to have a title, and I heard she was even a county princess."

Therefore, her family's prestige and grandeur were unmatched by others.

Even the women of the Jia family were mostly unfamiliar with the concept of female titles. In their minds, the only option for a woman to obtain an extraordinary title was to be granted a noble title, and the elders would not bring up the matter of a female duke, as it seemed too distant.

At this moment, Aunt Xue told them that the old lady of the Zhen family, an old relative of the Jia family, actually had a title, and that she was a county princess! This sounded much higher than Daiyu's title of township princess, so everyone asked her questions.

At this moment, Grandmother Jia seemed to be having a good time and said to Aunt Xue with a smile, "Don't say that you have rarely seen such cases. Even in my more than seventy years of life, I have only seen a few cases. Each one of them either comes from an extremely prominent family or is a person with great blessings."

As for the old lady of the Zhen family, she was a famous person in the country when she was young. She was the "Princess of Xiu'an County" personally conferred by the founding emperor. At that time, her reputation in the capital was even more famous than that of ordinary princesses and noble ladies.

But after she got married, few people mentioned her honorific title anymore.

However, her noble status was earned by her father with his life; others could only envy it.

Grandmother Jia recounted some of these past events in a casual tone. There was not a trace of envy in her words towards the old lady of the Zhen family.

That's true. Before she got married, Grandmother Jia was the daughter of a founding marquis, and after she got married, she became the most prestigious and respected Duchess.

In truth, her status as a duchess might not be lower than that of the other party, a county princess.

Besides, when the old lady of the Zhen family was unmarried, she was more glamorous than her, but the man she married was not as good as her.

Ultimately, women are more important than men, sons, and grandsons. Nothing else matters.

Now, she herself is the Dowager Lady of a First-Rank Duke, her eldest granddaughter is a Noble Consort, and her eldest grandson is a Marquis. …

What a glorious and honorable sight this is!

In contrast, the Zhen family's glory has declined year by year since the death of the founding emperor. Now, the Zhen family's situation depends entirely on her.

When she is buried, the Zhen family will be completely no match for the Jia family.

When she got to the point of being happy, Grandmother Jia surprisingly began to explain the intricacies of women's titles to everyone in the hall.

She didn't say anything before because there was no need to. Now that her granddaughter has also obtained one, she naturally wants everyone to understand how hard-won the title of duke is.

For someone of such high status as Grandmother Jia to receive a lecture in public, everyone—from maids and servants to mistresses and young ladies, and even the Xue family mother and daughter—listened attentively. After all, such an opportunity was quite rare.

Amidst laughter and sighs, it was impossible to say how many were happy and how many were envious, until Wang Xifeng brought up the matter of Jia Lian going to the south of the Yangtze River to carry out an imperial mission, which shifted the focus of everyone's attention.

Although it was a pity that Jia Lian had only been home for a short time before having to go on another long trip, fortunately, this was already normal for Jia Lian, and the family didn't experience too many surprises.

Grandmother Jia, however, asked in surprise, "When Yu'er's father died, I was worried about letting Yu'er escort the coffin back to her hometown alone, and I was thinking about who should accompany her. Now that Lian'er is also going to Jiangnan, wouldn't it be better to let Yu'er go south with him?"

Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "What the old lady says is true. Our Second Master Lian has thought of everything about Lin's affairs in a very thorough and thoughtful way. There is no need for the old lady to worry about it."

Grandmother Jia remained silent. Of course, she could hear the teasing in Wang Xifeng's words and guess that perhaps Jia Lian had asked for this job himself.

However, others, such as Baochai, were somewhat surprised by Wang Xifeng's tone of voice.

Although Daiyu was Jia Lian's cousin, she was still an unmarried girl, so Wang Xifeng's statement was somewhat inappropriate.

Before they could figure it out, Jia Baoyu suddenly said loudly, "Since Grandmother is worried about Lin Daiyu, why don't I go with her and help carry Uncle Lin's coffin back to her hometown?"

Jia Baoyu didn't care what title Daiyu was granted; he only heard that Daiyu was going to escort Lin Ruhai's coffin back to his hometown, and he was very reluctant to part with her. When he saw an opportunity, he spoke up to plead for her.

His words made everyone else laugh.

Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang immediately put on stern faces and tried to dissuade him. Even before Daiyu was betrothed to Jia Lian, Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang would never have allowed Jia Baoyu to suffer in the south with Daiyu, let alone now.

Lady Wang was more than happy that Daiyu could stay away from Jia Baoyu. Grandmother Jia was also thinking about how to make the relationship between the two children, which she had been deliberately cultivating, more even.

Grandmother Jia did not want Jia Baoyu to cause Jia Lian to develop a dislike for him because of his entanglement with Daiyu.

Grandmother Jia was still hoping that Jia Lian would take good care of Jia Baoyu in the future.

Jia Baoyu only wanted to try and persuade them, but in reality, he didn't have any plans, such as how to arrange the journey or how to deal with the Lin family members once in Suzhou. Therefore, after being coaxed and intimidated by Grandmother Jia and others, he could only give up reluctantly.

After calming Jia Baoyu down, Grandmother Jia didn't want to talk about Jia Lian and Daiyu anymore. But then she glanced at Baochai beside her, her skin smooth and her features beautiful, and her eyes lit up slightly. She smiled and said, "I heard that Baochai will give birth the day after tomorrow?"...

"Replying to the old lady, the day after tomorrow is indeed her birthday."

Grandmother Jia smiled and said, "These past few days, I've felt the house has been a bit too quiet, and I was just thinking of finding something to liven things up. By the way, Bao'er had her birthday; how old is she now?"

"Reporting to the old lady, it's the fifteenth."

Upon hearing Aunt Xue's reply, Grandmother Jia looked at Baochai and nodded, "Hmm, not bad. Fifteen is her coming-of-age ceremony, which is a big day for her. We can't be too casual about it. I just like how Baochai is dignified and sensible; she's better than the three maids in our household."

"If you don't mind, Auntie, let me help with Bao'er's birthday celebration. We can all get together and have a good time, how about that? Don't worry, I won't let you pay a cent. I rarely dote on Bao'er like this, so I'll cover all the expenses, hehehe."

These days, because of Lin Ruhai, we haven't even had a proper celebration of the Lantern Festival. Now that Lin Ruhai's seven-day mourning period is almost over, it's time for the family to have some fun and change things up.

Faced with Grandmother Jia's enthusiasm, Aunt Xue naturally declined politely. However, seeing that Grandmother Jia insisted, she could not go against her wishes and could only agree with Baochai.

Then Grandmother Jia asked what plays Baochai liked to watch and what she liked to eat, so that she could have someone prepare them.

Baochai couldn't refuse, and considering that Grandmother Jia was getting on in years and always enjoyed watching lively plays and eating softer dishes, she followed her suggestion and suggested a few dishes. Grandmother Jia was indeed even happier upon hearing this, and immediately instructed Wang Xifeng to prepare them according to Baochai's suggestion. This earned Wang Xifeng a good "complaint," saying that Grandmother Jia only verbally agreed, but in the end, she was the one who did the dirty and tiring work, which brought laughter to the whole room. Needless to say, that was enough.