Chapter 231 - 116: The Uninvited Second Uncle (Part 2)
The main hall wasn’t spacious enough, so only the leading government officials and the Li Zheng were seated, while the rest of the people scattered, resting in the courtyard and under the corridor, attended to by others offering them tea, candy, and sunflower seeds.
Sang Pingliang and Mrs. Li had been intentionally blocked and jostled to the back by the crowd earlier, unable to find an opportunity to show off. Now unobstructed, they had already slipped into the room, smiling and inviting the officials to sit down with an endless stream of empty pleasantries, and loudly commanding, "Hurry up with the tea, get the tea leaves ready!" In doing so, they sought to assert their presence.
"This person is—?" The lead official was somewhat puzzled and thought to himself that this man had been eagerly greeting everyone from the start, yet seemed to be intentionally ignored by the crowd. Surely he wasn’t from the Sang Jieyuan family? But his current demeanor seemed like that of an elder from the Sang Jieyuan’s family.
Sang Pingliang heard the question but was in no hurry to answer, his smile intimate as he looked towards Sang Yufei. He was forcing Sang Yufei to call him "Second Uncle" in front of everyone.
But Sang Pingliang could keep his composure, whereas Mrs. Li didn’t have so many subtleties in her belly. Seeing that no one was speaking, she immediately blurted out impatiently: "Our Master is Yu Fei’s own uncle! Yu Fei is our own nephew!"
Yu Fei? The lead official took a moment to catch up with such an intimate term, and along with several elders including the Li Zheng, scolded, "What a disgrace! Do you think you can just casually call Xie Yuanlang by his name? Ignorant woman, there’s no seat for you here, get lost now!"
Only then did the officials come back to their senses: So that’s how it is!
But seeing how the woman was scolded, they couldn’t help but inwardly grimace, thinking to themselves: There’s a story here!
They were all shrewd officials, naturally not showing anything on their faces, and now politely nodded to Sang Pingliang, continuing to sip their tea with a smile.