Infrastructure masters in the red building

After nightfall, Shuangwen was sent to Jia Fang's courtyard by the Rongfu servant girl holding a lantern.

The maid was very talkative, she sighed all the way, telling Shuangwen that she had missed a "good place" in the mansion.

"Second Master seems to like you very much, and he also spoke to his wife for you, but his wife refused. Otherwise, Second Master's place is really a good place, the work is easy, and the rise is fast. If Second Master likes it, maybe you will spend two years You can earn an aunt."

Shuangwen remembered that "second master", she didn't like that look very much, she looked at her again and again, and stared at her sleeves, as if she wanted to open her sleeves to see how long her wrists were. What does it look like.

Fortunately, that person didn't really open her sleeves. If he did, he would see an extremely sharp hairpin hidden in her palm.

That hairpin was the only thought left by her mother.She entered the Jiaofang Division at the age of four, and in the first two years, her mother was able to protect her for a year or two.Since her mother also left her when she was ten years old, she has been careful and scheming everywhere. According to her mother, even if she tries her best, she must try to protect herself and control her own destiny.

——She doesn't want to be everyone's maidservant, and she doesn't even want to be someone's servant, although everything is not up to her.

After the "second master" who likes to look around with his eyes looked at her, she was not assigned to that "good place".

"My wife doesn't like you going to the second master's place, so I want to put you in the grandfather's yard. The eldest grandmother is pregnant now, and there is no one around the uncle. The original intention of the wife is to let you go to make up for it. Anyway, it is not convenient for the eldest grandmother to serve the uncle. .If you are lucky enough to have a man and a half woman, then open your face again and put it in the uncle's room..."

This sounds even worse! ——Shuangwen couldn't help but clenched the hairpin in his sleeve again.

"But, grandma is temperamental, and she doesn't like it. Uncle turned to grandma again, and grandma refused, so he refused to accept you."

Shuangwen felt relieved, thinking that the uncle in the Rong Mansion sounds like a kind and righteous man.In a wealthy family, it is really not easy to be monogamous and have no one around.

"Later, the uncle suggested that you should be filial to the master. How can the wife be willing? Look at your appearance, tsk tsk tsk... The wife is also a woman, and she is also afraid..."

Shuangwen lowered her eyes, thinking that this is indeed the case.She was born with this appearance, if the family is not convicted, it is a gift from God; but once convicted, it is a curse.Even she herself thought it was a miracle that she could get out of the Jiaofang Division wholeheartedly.

"Later, the master came out to smooth things over and said that since everyone found it inconvenient, don't ask for it. The third master's place is the least crowded, so you go to the third master's place..."

This sounds a bit hurtful to one's self-esteem, and no one wants it, so this "Third Master" picked up the loophole... This Third Master also sounds a bit like a pitiful little one.

"The third master is really pitiful. Since he returned to the mansion, he has been living in the courtyard where the servants should live. It was only after the master returned to the mansion a while ago that the third master's life was easier... Oh, yes, forget Just to tell you, the third master is a concubine."

Shuangwen was silent. She had been in the Jiaofang Division for many years, and she had heard about other things.But if there were no accidents in her family back then, she should have been married by now. Even if she didn't marry into a high-ranking family, at least she would marry into a well-matched family and be a first wife.Now he is being sent to the yard of a concubine, to be a... roommate?

She doesn't want to.

She asked in a low voice, "Nurse, how old is this third master?"

The mother-in-law replied: "Fourteen, fifteen years old, right? It should be one or two people in the room."

Shuangwen said "um", but didn't say a word, but the hairpin in her hand was squeezed a little tighter - she was eager to protect herself more than ever, but if she couldn't, then at least she could control her own life and death .

When they arrived at Jia Fang's courtyard, Mrs. Sun and Fu Ya had already received the letter, and they worked together to clean up the east chamber.Mrs. Sun greeted her with a smile, looked at Shuangwen for a while, nodded and said, "She's a neat girl. How old is she?"

"Eighteen..." Shuangwen replied.

Seeing Sun's kindness, Shuangwen breathed a sigh of relief, and asked in a low voice about the rules in this courtyard.Sun said with a smile: "There are no rules, there is only a little work in total, whoever sees it can do it, and it's over when it's done."

Shuangwen asked nervously again: "No... don't you need night watch?"

She was most afraid of this: she didn't understand it when she was young, but she didn't understand what other people called "night duty" until she joined the Jiaofang Division.In the past eight years, she has exhausted all her scheming and means to avoid all kinds of errands related to "night duty".Now it seems that she can't avoid it at last.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Sun said: "No, no, there is no need for the third master to stay overnight here."

"No one on duty at night?" Shuangwen was a little surprised when he heard that there was no night on duty.The mother said that she was spoiled since she was a child, and she never stopped serving people in the bedroom before she was four years old.This third master, there are obviously people in the courtyard, but he doesn't want to be on duty at night?

Fuya jumped up at this moment and said, "Sister, I'll take you to see something."

She directly dragged Shuangwen into the west chamber, climbed onto the kang, took a brass horn off the wall, and taught Shuangwen to put the horn on his ear.Fuya herself ran into the main room in the courtyard, and Sun shouted from behind: "Don't run too fast, be careful not to touch the third master's things."

Shuangwen was wondering when he suddenly heard someone blowing in his ear, followed by Fuya's clear voice: "Sister Shuangwen, I am Fuya, I am Fuya, please call back—"

Shuangwen: ...?

"Hearing this, it means that the third master is looking for us. It's okay, we just stay in our own room!"

Shuangwen held the brass horn and wondered: What is this? Just now, Fuya seemed to be talking in her ear.

But... With this, it seems that there is really no need for someone to guard the house.

Mrs. Sun entered the west chamber cheerfully, and said to Shuangwen: "Sanye's house meets all daily needs, and there is no need to bother outsiders. I will show you one by one someday. It’s to serve him three meals a day, and clean the house daily, nothing more.”

Fuya next to him interjected: "When the third master is away tomorrow, I will show my sister to see those faucets and toilets. My sister must have never seen them."

Sun didn't care about Fu Ya's showing off, and said softly, "It's a good time that you are here. Maybe you can help him with some things. One is that the third master is busy repairing the garden, and the bookkeeping is very troublesome. Leave it to my old lady to do it. , I am old, my eyes are not very bright, and the second is that he is busy drawing flowers every night..."

Shuangwen's eyes widened: How could this third master still paint flowers?

Sun said with a smile: "It's not like embroidery, but like building a house. I've seen it, and it's just like the real thing. You can also go and have a look, it's on the easel, just don't mess it up..."

Since entering this small courtyard, Shuangwen has noticed the difference between this place and other places - she can't say what she feels, but she feels that the rules and furnishings here are different from other places everywhere, but she can't say exactly what is different .

But seeing that Mrs. Sun treats people kindly and Fuya is lively and interesting, Shuangwen is a little relieved.

"The third master will be back in a while. Wait here now. After seeing him, you should be able to go back to your room to rest. The east wing has been cleaned up, so you can live in it first. I have some old clothes here. If you don't mind, Just go and see if there is something suitable to wear, if not, let's figure out a way tomorrow..."

"In short, our third master is the most worry-free master in the house. He never bothers us, and he is satisfied as long as we don't bother him. "

Mrs. Sun finished ordering bit by bit, and took Fu Ya to go first.Shuangwen was alone, waiting in the main room. After waiting for a while, no one came, Shuangwen got up and walked over to Jia Fang's easel——she was really curious, how could any man in the world know how to draw "flowers" ?

Walking up to the easel, Shuangwen flipped through the familiar leaflets on it one by one, and saw that the pictures on it were really houses, and each picture was a wall of the house, the wall foundation, wall surface, hanging mountain, etc. , Rolling shed...everything is drawn very carefully, and various dimensions are marked on it.

When Shuangwen saw such a painting, he felt both familiar and strange.Her biological father was a royal painter in the palace before he was convicted.Whether it was in his own home when he was a child, or later in the Jiaofang Division, Shuangwen has seen many paintings, such as meticulous landscapes, flowers and birds, pavilions and pavilions, but he has never seen this kind of painting. The house shrank, as if printed directly on the paper.

"It doesn't look like mountains and rivers, or pleasure..." Shuangwen said to himself, and flipped over another piece of drawing paper, and saw a new picture. There was only a small building with a greenery planted in front of the building. Bamboo, the words "You Feng Lai Yi" are written on the gate of the building.

She was quite surprised when she saw it, because the drawing method of this picture was different from the previous ones, it was not just a simple wall, but a whole small courtyard.And this courtyard seemed to stand up alive in front of her, and she almost felt that there was a small world in front of her, and she could walk in directly.

"It's called perspective drawing."

A voice suddenly sounded from behind Shuangwen, startling her a lot, she took two steps back, and tightly held the hairpin in her sleeve with her right hand.Shuangwen was startled, and then gradually realized that it was the man in charge of the yard who had returned. She quickly lowered her head and said, "I've seen the third master."

The third master stared at her for a moment, then turned his face away, flattened his mouth and said, "If you want to learn, I can teach you."

The voice was very clear, which made the face of the young man in front of him more elegant.

Just as the woman described earlier, the fourteen or fifteen-year-old young man, Xu Shi was not short when he was growing up, but the whole person was not strong enough, thin and thin, but this was the appearance, showing the youthful appearance. Unique elegance and chic.

Hearing what the third master said, Shuangwen seemed to have the idea of ​​adding beauty to the red sleeves, and immediately lowered his head and didn't say anything, didn't answer, didn't refuse, and didn't accept.

"But it also depends on your painting foundation. Have you ever studied Jiehua?"

Shuangwen was stunned, did he really want to teach?

Her father was once a world-renowned painter, and she has somewhat passed on some of her father's talent. When she came to the Jiaofang Division, relying on the not-so-great painting skills passed down to her by her mother, she somewhat blocked it for herself. Trouble, at this time she nodded, and said like a gnat: "I have learned."

"Very good." The other party didn't see much surprise, and just responded briefly, "I won't be here during the day tomorrow, so you can draw a pavilion here by yourself, remember, it must be a pavilion, and I'll see your skills how."

"If you need any tools, just ask grandma. I'll talk about how to teach you after I have seen your basics tomorrow."

"By the way, will you keep accounts and settle accounts?"

Shuangwen felt more confident, nodded and said, "Yes."

"Grandma's presbyopia, it's been very difficult for me to remember the accounts these two days, you go and help her, you do the writing, read it to Grandma every day, let her listen and review it."

"The person who came to report the account is a fluffy guy. He is a bit naughty. Don't be afraid. If you have any questions about the account, you can ask him directly. When it's time to get angry, you can directly attack him. But if his account is not wrong, but you make a mistake. , the mistakes need to be remembered on your head."

Hearing this, Shuangwen felt a little more at ease. The other party seemed to trust him a lot?

"It's late at night, Sun Ma must have told you the rules, so arrange it earlier." The third master said casually, took off all the drawing paper from the easel, re-laid a familiar leaflet, and compared the positions with a ruler , and then went to pick up the pen, as if planning to paint.

Shuangwen didn't move, and the other party didn't intend to ask her to help at all.

Shuangwen thought to himself: Maybe what Sun Ma said was right, this new master, as long as others don't bother him, he will be satisfied.

So, Shuangwen raised her eyes quietly, looked at the young man, and suddenly realized that the other's bright black eyes were also staring at her, and she was immediately startled.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your people—"

For some reason, the boy's voice was a little stern.After hearing this, Shuangwen felt relieved.

In the middle of the night, there were only them, a master and a servant, in the main room, but the doors of the main room were all wide open, and the warm light was quietly pouring from the room to the outside.

"So don't hold the hairpin in your sleeve anymore, it's useless."

Shuangwen's sudden coldness was overwhelmed by him, he panicked, let go of his hand, and the hairpin fell to the ground with a "ding".

Earlier, Jia Zheng came to Jia Fang's ear and told Jia Fang specifically that the girl had been pinching a hairpin in her sleeve.Jia Zheng said that the daughter of the guilty minister was not in the Jiaofang Division, so she must have suffered a lot, and asked Jia Fang to treat others well.

Jia Fang is also pitiful when he thinks about the other party. In the early years, he was raised as a baby with rich clothes and fine food. He fell from heaven to hell in a blink of an eye. How miserable.This is "the heart is higher than the sky, and the body is humble", the past and the present, the present and the memory, will always stage the most tragic conflict.

He observed the situation, and when the other party was most emotionally unstable, he took a sip, and Shuangwen's hairpin fell from his sleeve immediately, and she also took two steps back in fright, and suddenly knelt down, not daring to look at Jia with her head down. put.

"What's your name?" Jia Fang asked seemingly casually.

"The servant girl's name is Shuangwen." Shuangwen replied honestly.

Shuangwen? ——Jia Fang listened to the left at the beginning, and thought, who doesn't want to be the protagonist of a cool article?

It was only later that he realized that it should be "Shuangwen". Lin Daiyu once sighed, "Shuangwen, Shuangwen, she is a beautiful woman with a bad life-" It can be seen that this girl should be feeling sorry for her life experience and complaining about her bad fate.

But she still held a hairpin in the palm of her hand all the time. It can be seen that there is a sense of sadness mixed with resentment and resentment, as if fate has driven her into the dust, but even if she only keeps her breath, she can't die. Try to roll your eyes at fate.

If the other party is completely temperless, Jia Fang will be fine, and let him be a handyman.

But this girl was one who didn't want to accept her fate, and didn't want to just bow her head like this, so he decided to help her.

What's more, he has a good bilingual foundation, can write and draw, and has a high acceptance of new things. Just now, he stared at Jia Fang's perspective drawing, and he hardly moved his eyes.Jia Fang thinks there is potential, and he can cultivate it well.

"You may have noticed it as soon as you came in. My place is a little different from other places in the mansion, and it is also a little different from other houses in the world."

Shuangwen looked up in puzzlement, not understanding why Jia Fang would say this at this time.But she had to admit that the other party was right, this was indeed an unusual small yard, and as long as she lived in it for a day, she would be infected by the owner of the yard.

"This is because my small courtyard is not just a place to eat, drink, and sleep, but also a place to realize what I want in my heart."

Shuangwen immediately thought of Jia Fang's paintings, each of which looked like a fairyland. Could it be that what Jia Fang wanted to achieve?

"I want you to be my assistant."

"I don't know what you think. You and I have come to this day step by step because of involuntary reasons. But I have always believed that man can conquer nature, and that where there is a will, there is a way. But whatever I want, even if it is just a drawing on paper I will definitely make it stand up in front of the eyes of the world.”

After Jia Fang finished speaking, he turned back and buried his head in the easel, ready to start busy with his own work, but the words he just said kept buzzing in Shuangwen's ears.

Only people have always said that her life is bitter, but no one has said to her personally: "Man can conquer nature", and he said it so firmly and with confidence.

Can she really do it?Be a painter like your father?

But it was too sudden, Shuangwen couldn't turn around suddenly: Is this young man in front of him really believable?

"If you are willing to do your best to help me, I can promise you a future." Jia Fang said, "I mean, do your best to help me, use all your energy to learn, to paint, to explore... When I finish If you do what I have to do, I will allow you to be free, and allow you to choose your own life according to your own ideas."

"Of course, I don't intend to trap you for the rest of my life. I can clearly tell you the deadline. From the current point of view, I will reach my goal within five years." Jia Fang proudly made his own prediction.

Shuangwen lowered his head and carefully considered Jia Fang's conditions.She suddenly felt a little funny, the boy in front of her, he didn't have to promise anything to herself at all.He is just a female slave, and he can only accept it. He didn't need to explain any reasons in advance, and he could force himself to do that.

But why is he still willing to say such things in front of himself?

"Because I think the same as you, I think fate can be changed through hard work." Jia Fang didn't look back, and suddenly threw out a sentence.

Shuangwen's tears suddenly welled up in her eyes: God, this is really... what she thought.

The reason why she always holds her hairpin in her palm and always holds the only power she still has to decide her own life and death is because there is still a little remnant in her heart, or hope——

I can live my life on my own.