Formality
There’s a pretty odd segment of yesterday’s translation post that is probably worth talking about.
That would be this part:
方才南安郡王、東平郡王、西寧郡王、北靜郡王四家王爺，並鎮國公牛府等六家、忠靖侯史府等八家，都差人持名帖送壽禮來。俱回了我父親，收在賬房裡。禮單都上了檔子了。領謝名帖都交給各家的來人了。來人也各照例賞過，都讓吃了飯去了。
Plus, we just received cards and gifts from several people, including the Prince of Nan’an, the Prince of Dongping, the prince of Xining, and the Prince of Beijing, as well as from six different Dukes, including the Duke of Zhenguo, and 8 Marquis, including the Marquis of Zhongjing. We’ve informed my father, we’ve taken the gifts, and we’ve stored them in the accounting office.
The gift registers have all been recorded in the ledgers. The messengers have been rewarded according to custom, and have been invited to eat before they leave.
This is pretty boring, right? All we’re seeing here is Jia Rong tell his mother about the gifts they’ve received from various people of political importance to their branch of the family.
But that’s the whole point here.
