When the guard left, the Old Madam looked at the women who were standing respectfully among Hong Dali's party and sized them up. Then, she said slowly, "Sweetheart, these are your women?" She fiddled with the stones in her hand, her tone amused.
"Ah, this… that…" Hong Dali did not know what her intention was for asking that. But, he knew he had to quickly protect them in case they suffered from his great-grandmother's rage. "That, yes. Something like that…"
The situation was similar to a grandmother-in-law scrutinizing her granddaughters-in-law, a couple of generations removed. Tang Muxin and the others were rather nervous.
Unexpectedly, the Old Madam found Hong Dali pleasing to the eye, and so doted on him without any logic. "En, the High Nobles did not scare all of you off before we arrived. All of you actually chose to stick with my sweetheart. This is hard to come by. Good, good!"
