To be honest, Zhuo Ping'an's appearance doesn't look stupid at all.

  He has the fair skin that is common among noble young masters who have been pampered for years, and his regular features do not resemble those of Qingjiang County's master much, probably inherited from his father. The long hair scattered on his shoulders was obviously carefully maintained, black and straight to his waist. Wearing a blue brocade robe with four-season flower patterns, he tied it loosely at the waist, and as the wind blew through the hall, the hem of the robe swayed slightly, revealing a bit of his thin and gaunt frame, which made him look somewhat sickly.

  "What a pity!" Song Yi smiled and looked at her, secretly sighing for the eldest sister-in-law. "With such a dignified appearance, if she hadn't been born prematurely and injured her brain, even with mediocre talent, relying on the sacred influence of her mother's family, it wouldn't be difficult to occupy a position in the imperial court! But heaven has unpredictable winds and clouds, making people helpless!"

  She was lost in thought here, but Zhuo Ping'an had been attracted by a pot of orchids on the high shelf not far from the entrance since he came in.

  His intelligence was like that of an infant, so it was naturally impossible for him to behave like a normal person. He didn't care about the three elders in the hall at all, and he walked straight through the maidservants to the high table, curiously reaching out to pull on the orchid leaves.

  "Peaceful child, this is the fourth uncle and fourth aunt your mother told you about, why don't you quickly kowtow and pay respects?" Seeing this, Qingjiang's face flashed with a hint of helplessness, and she coaxed warmly, "What's so good to look at about that orchid? If you like it, I'll have someone send ten pots to your courtyard later, play with them as you please!"

  She devoted all her energy to her son after her husband's death. Although Zhuo Ping'an was born with defects, he has remembered his mother's voice and appearance for nearly twenty years.

  He heard this and put his fingers in his mouth, thinking for a moment before turning to the main hall and shouting vaguely: "Mother!"

  "Come!" Qingjiang Junzhu beckoned to him with a gentle voice, "Come here, and kowtow to your uncle and aunt!"

  Zhuo Ping's head was tilted to one side - an action that would have been extremely adorable when he was young, but now that he was almost of age, it only looked strange. A moment later, the color on Qingjiang Junzhu's face had changed, and she saw him discard the orchid grass, striding towards her with large steps.

  "Good boy, this is your uncle and aunt." As Zhuo Ping'an walked past Song Yi Xiao, the Qingjiang County Master secretly wiped away sweat, until her son cleverly leaned against her side, before she let out a sigh of relief. Patiently introducing again, "Quickly give your greetings to your elders, your aunt has specially prepared gifts for you... after bowing, you can receive them, don't you want to thank your aunt?"

  Zhuo Ping An clumsily knelt down, twisted and turned to kowtow, and before Qingjiang Junzhu could say anything else, he quickly got up, crawled onto the soft couch where Qingjiang Junzhu was sitting, rolled around, and even kicked the corner of the couch a few times with excitement.

  Song Yi smiled as she thought of a way to praise him: “……”

  "Supposedly, it was specially prepared, but I don't know if Ping'an likes it or not?" Jian Yu Bai continued to drink tea, showing no intention of helping. She could only skip this step and directly move on to the gift-giving part. "If you don't like it, tell your aunt what you like, and she'll make it up for you later!"

  She prepared a set of four-season sachets as a gift for meeting.

  This sachet doesn't look anything out of the ordinary, it's just embroidered with scenes of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

  The ingenuity lies in the filling inside, which is made of medicinal materials that are beneficial to the body and have been worn for many years. However, after being skillfully blended, there is no medicinal taste, only a faint fragrance that is either mellow or refreshing, suitable for different seasons, making it convenient to change and use throughout the four seasons.

  It's not that I wanted to give this, but there was no other choice: For someone of Zhuo Ping'an's age and status, the Four Treasures of the Study, rare antiques, fine horses, and excellent bows... would all be suitable gifts. But he can't use any of those things, and as for medicine or toys, I'm afraid that Clear River County Princess would find them distressing to look at.

  Song Yixiao also thought for a few days before coming up with this method, which neither stimulated the eldest sister nor expressed her intentions.

  As expected, Qingjiang Jun's eyes lit up slightly after seeing it, and she said with gratitude: "Younger siblings have really gone to great lengths!"

  Ping An was lying beside her, blowing bubbles. The Qingjiang County Master was afraid of causing trouble, so she didn't call out to her son to get up and receive it, but instead stretched out her hand to accept it on his behalf. Only then did she show it to him: "Ping An, come quickly and take a look at the gift your aunt gave you for meeting each other. Is it nice or not?"

  Zhuo Ping'an blinked his eyes and looked at him for a while, but he didn't give face, turned his head away, and continued to concentrate on blowing bubbles.

  "……" Qingjiang Jun's face turned red with embarrassment, and after carefully putting away the sachet, she made excuses for herself, saying, "This child isn't good at expressing himself, he definitely likes it——little sister you don't know, if he doesn't like something, when you bring it in front of him, he'll get anxious!"

  Song Yi Xiao had put a lot of effort and thought into making this fragrant sachet, but mainly it was for Qing Jiang's young mistress to see. Now she wouldn't bother arguing with her nephew, hearing this she smiled and said: "It was originally made for Ping An to wear and play with..."

  She had just said that, when suddenly and unexpectedly, Zhuo Ping'an reached out to the head of the bed and grabbed a jade scepter, tossing it casually, and it flew straight towards Song Yixiao!

  At this time, the lord of Qingjiang was facing away from him and didn't know about his son's strange movement. Song Yi Xiao happened to see it, but she was less than a zhang away from the soft couch, how could Yu Ruo Yi fly over so quickly? With her weak reaction ability, she couldn't even dodge in time, and could only stare blankly!

  Just as she was about to be smashed and her head split open, her arm was suddenly yanked with great force. Song Yisheng's entire body left the seat and stumbled in a spin before heavily falling into Jian Xubo's arms!

  She subconsciously grasped her husband's shoulder, and as she exclaimed, the jade hairpin flew out from her temple and fell heavily onto the brick floor not far away, shattering into pieces!

  This sudden change left almost everyone present in a state of shock!

  The face of Qingjiang Junzhu turned snowy white!

  The elegant and noble young lady's lips opened and closed several times before she asked in a low voice, "Younger sister... do you have something to say?"

  “…I’m fine!” Song Yi laughed, her soul just settled, only to discover that she was now entirely leaning on Jian Yu Bai’s body, her hands tightly grasping his shoulders, half of her face buried in his chest——although it was an instinctive reaction due to shock, but even if it were in the inner chambers of the Yan State Duke's manor it would still be all right, yet this was happening while she was a guest at the Qing Jiang Jun Manor, not to mention surrounded by dozens of lower servants!

  Her originally pale face suddenly turned bright red, and she hastily pushed away Jian Yu and stood up to return to her seat, forcing herself to calm down and say, "Big sister quickly take a look at Ping An, don't scare him!"

  This is just a casual remark, Zhuo Ping'an casually threw the Ruyi, it was just an impulsive move, he didn't mean to hurt anyone and didn't care about hurting anyone. After throwing the Ruyi, he seemed nonchalant, now the atmosphere above and below the hall is solemn, but he still lies there leisurely blowing bubbles, his eyes are dull and clear - what's the big deal?

  The mistress of Qingjiang County took a deep breath: "Take Ping'an down!"

  The junior almost hurt the senior, and should be punished according to reason.

  In this situation, even if you scold or hit him, he won't understand and will become more agitated, so it's better to let him calm down first to avoid further harm.

  The servant girl hastily coaxed Zuo Ping'an away - fortunately he was still obedient at this moment.

  As she watched her son's figure disappear through the door, Qingjiang Junzhu finally turned to Song Yixiao with red eyes and apologized on his behalf: "I'm really sorry, brother and sister, I never thought..."

  "What's going on here?" Song Yi smiled, although she was still shaken, but when she accepted Zhuo Ping'an's visit, she had already prepared for this kind of situation. Now that the crisis has passed, it can be considered fortunate. She didn't want to make things awkward with her elder sister because of this, so she quickly interrupted, "Ping'an didn't do it on purpose, besides, I'm fine, you're speaking as if you're treating me like an outsider!"

  Qingjiang County Master sneered, "Now I'm too ashamed to say those hypocritical words. For today's meeting, I've been teaching him for many days! Moreover, the doctor has also opened a lot of medicine, and indeed he has been very obedient recently, so I dared to let him come out to pay his respects. Originally thought everything would go smoothly, who would have thought that such an accident would happen at the last minute?"

  She fell to tears, "It's my fault! I knew this kid had problems, and after he finished kowtowing, I should have told him to leave. Otherwise, how could he have disturbed my younger siblings? Fortunately, my fourth brother reacted quickly! Otherwise, how would I have the face to see my younger siblings in the future?"

  "Shan Wei is really something! She's been chasing everyone out of the kitchen for days, and now she's taken over cooking herself. I'm counting on you to feed us well today, sister-in-law - the new cook she hired before her marriage isn't bad, but doesn't suit my taste."

  Song Yi Xiao knew he was intentionally changing the subject to avoid letting Qing Jiang Gun Zhu continue to lose face, and upon hearing this, she gave him a sideways glance, scolding: "How dare you say that? The meals prepared by the kitchen maid, how many times have you eaten them? These days your food and drink, almost all of it has been personally prepared by me, isn't that right?"

  "Yes, you made it yourself." Jian Yu Bai gave a "you know" glance to Qing Jiang County Master and sighed, "Of course, there's no choice in that — but sister, can't we have a few more dishes for lunch?"

  Song Yi smiled and waved her fist at him.

  The couple made such a fuss, and Qingjiang County's master also couldn't apologize anymore. Knowing their good intentions, she felt both moved and guilty, laughing: "Fourth brother, you truly are blessed without realizing it! Fourth sister-in-law has such a delicate appearance, even if she were to pour tea, I would feel heartbroken just looking at her! Yet she is willing to endure the hardships of smoke and fire for your gluttony! With such a virtuous wife, you still want to pick faults? Is there any justice in this world?"

  "Originally San Shu was helping her, now Eldest Sister you're also biased towards her!" Jian Yu Bai said helplessly, "In the future I'll be bullied to what extent?"

  "You're a man, shouldn't you be yielding to your wife?" The mistress of Qingjiang Manor joked and then looked at the time, realizing it was already dinner time. She ordered someone to set up dinner in the flower hall. "Nine hens and ten roosters, originally this season is the best time to eat crabs, but I'm thinking that crab meat is cold in nature, what if you overindulge and end up with a stomachache? Let's just have some simple home-cooked dishes instead!"

  They say it's just a home-cooked meal, but after the banquet starts, dish after dish is served like flowing water. Dishes like braised meat in soy sauce, steamed fish with scallions and ginger, roasted pork belly, stewed lamb ribs, and pan-fried mutton pies are still somewhat common. But dishes like white-roasted mandarin fish, red plum fragrant rice, phoenix-tail fish fins, sweet dew pastry, crimson fragrance mushroom, camel's hoof pastry, lotus-leaf wrapped chicken, red dragon dried meat, and red silk cake are not something ordinary people can afford to enjoy.

  "Try the camel's hoof, it's the chef's specialty." As the dishes were served, the musicians and dancers had also taken their positions in the hall. The strings were plucked lightly, and the dancers, dressed in colorful clothes and wearing silver bells, moved in unison, twirling and leaping with flying sleeves and swaying arms, dancing beautifully to the music, adding to the festive atmosphere of the banquet.

  Qingjiang Jun's gentle persuasion, "The imperial physician once told me that this dish not only nourishes the body but also preserves one's beauty! Although you're still young and don't need it yet, eating more of it can't hurt!"

  Song Yi smiled and thanked him, just about to take a sip of the soup - a eunuch in blue clothes suddenly walked in with a serious expression, hastily greeted him, and then reported: "The Marquis of Boling has sent someone to invite Master Gong, saying that there is an important matter to discuss!"

  Jian Xubo immediately pushed the case and stood up: "Sister, I'll be right back!"

  He then turned to his wife who had put down her chopsticks and said, "You apologize to my elder sister on my behalf!"