The butler, Old Wei, checked off names on the guest list. Only those with connections or status were allowed into the main house.
The others were sent to a side hall for a cup of tea before being dismissed.
The kitchen had prepared two extra tables of refreshments, which, despite the name, were practically a banquet.
This sort of thing happened every year, but this year was different.
Because the patriarch of the Ling family had recently let it be known that it was time to start discussing his granddaughter's marriage.
But what about Shanshan, the center of attention?
She spent all day cooped up in her room helping her father recuperate, never showing her face.
Every morning, she brought Ling Anxun his medicine right on time. They ate lunch together, and in the afternoon, she would curl up by the window to read.
"Honestly, they're practically arranging your marriage out there, and you're just lying here reading a book?"
