[Red House Chai Dai] Salted Pork Knuckle, Crab Rice Wine

Seeing that Xiangling's appearance and demeanor were not the same as before, Baochai asked curiously, "Who is Mr. Yao?"

Xiangling bowed her head and blushed without answering, Baochai became more and more suspicious, and when she was about to ask more questions, Grandma Liu came back with a cart full of goods.Hearing that Mr. Yao was mentioned by everyone, he quickly said with a smile: "That is a gentleman who came to stay at home a few days ago. I heard that his hometown is also from Jiangnan. He is the most gentle and stable person when he comes to Beijing to visit his relatives."

Baochai was still pondering, but Yinger's expression had already changed, and she shouted from the side: "Grandma is so confused! The girl valued you and trusted you, so she let Xiangling stay at your house. Now how can you let strange men come in and out at will? If people saw it, wouldn't it ruin Xiangling's reputation, so what should I do?"

Grandma Liu was so frightened that she didn't dare to answer for a while, but Xiangling rushed to shake her hand and said: "It's irrelevant, that gentleman is a very good person, he is very proficient in writing and ink, and he is very humble and polite to others. Besides..." The voice of the voice gradually became weaker. Going down, "I begged my grandma repeatedly that day before I told him to stay."

Grandma Liu also said beside her: "Miss Ying'er doesn't know something. My house now has a new yard. Miss Xiangling lives in the backyard with me. That Mr. Yao is in the front room. There is no collision."

It turned out that since Xiangling stayed at Wang's house, Grandma Liu treated her very respectfully. Because Baochai gave her a lot of money, she and her daughter and son-in-law Wang Gou'er jointly built a new yard, which was a bluestone tile house with three entrances and three exits. , and there is a huge grain drying field in front of it, which is considered open and bright in the countryside.The first room that was originally used to store grain and cotton was packed up and told him to stay because of repeated pleadings from Mr. Yao from a foreign country and Xiangling's support.Gou'er and his wife live in the second main house.Xiangling lived in the third entrance, and Grandma Liu lived next door with her granddaughter Qing'er and grandson Ban'er, so it was appropriate to have Xiangling take care of her when something happened.

Seeing this, Baochai thought it was all right, but she still felt uneasy, and solemnly begged Grandma Liu to recognize Xiangling as her goddaughter, hoping that Grandma Liu would take better care of her from now on.Grandma Liu is a sensible person, and there is nothing she doesn't understand, so she readily agreed and said: "Don't worry, girl, if Miss Xiangling loses a hair in the future, you can just ask me to settle the score."

Baochai smiled and said, "Where did grandma come from? Now grandma's house has a new big house, and the place to live is also spacious. Thinking about it in the countryside, it's more than enough. What's more, when I watched from the side, grandma actually He is a thoughtful person, knowing that he bought pawned padded clothes from pawnshops and sold them. Although the profits here are not very large, they are also rare. There is only one thing, all the money earned from doing business is hard money. If you want to do housework again, firstly, your grandma's health will not be able to bear it, and secondly, her status is different now. I don't know if grandma has thought about buying a few maids from outside. Son, let me do it at home?"

Grandma Liu was originally an honest farmer who could endure hardships, but her son-in-law Gou'er lived a life of wealth and wealth when he was young, and he couldn't bear the hardships. When she became rich again, she began clamoring to buy a maid, so that she could relive the old dream of a rich young master.Grandma Liu is trying to make a fortune by selling old cotton-padded clothes, but she is also worried that her family is not prosperous. I am afraid that Xiangling will be inconvenient.

Now that Baochai gave her an idea to buy someone, Grandma Liu was a little moved.She hurriedly said: "Ban'er's father has been thinking about this matter all day long. He just bought and sold in a hurry. He might not know the root cause, but he was deceived by others and lost his money for nothing. He is still investigating carefully. Now So my girl and I have to get up early and work late to make a few more pieces."

Baochai nodded and said, "Grandma thought it right. Buying someone may seem like a trivial matter, but if you miss it, it's still a trivial matter to lose money for nothing. I'm afraid it will make the house restless and even cause lawsuits. Indeed. You have to watch slowly, inquire about the origin, and observe your mind. I also help grandma pay attention here. As for the matter of refurbishing cotton clothes, if there is a shortage of manpower, grandma will come to my shop to borrow a few people, that's why."

Grandma Liu said repeatedly that she dared not dare, Baochai glanced at Xiangling, and then said: "Xiangling has learned a lot of needlework these days, so it's time to help, grandma, don't let her be lazy." .”

Grandma Liu shook her head again and again, and said with a smile: "This is even worse. How dare you work hard for Miss Xiangling. I was thinking about buying a maid, and I will be at her mercy first."

Baochai said: "She has always been timid. It would be good if a servant girl sleeps with her at night. Grandma just buys it, and Xiangling has her own house. Just ask her for money. As for letting her learn how to make cotton padded clothes , I’m not joking, this is a woman’s job, and you have to practice it well. Even if you become a housekeeper in the future, you don’t have to do it yourself, but you must know the key points inside, so as not to be deceived by the servants.”

Xiangling knew that this was Baochai's good intentions for her future, so she hurriedly agreed with a smile, and they sat together again, chatting about domestic gossip.Xiangling was quite convinced of that Mr. Yao during the conversation, and only said: "Mr. Yao is also very knowledgeable in medical theory. A few days ago, I told him about the strange disease that the girl had to take Lengxiang pills. There is a radical cure, but it just takes some effort. If you have time someday, why don’t you see him, the girl will get rid of the root cause of the disease after all?

When Baochai was young, his family tried to seek famous doctors for this unknown disease, but all of them were ineffective.When all the famous doctors first came, they were confident and swear by it, saying how to take a few prescriptions of medicine, but the result was nothing but joy and joy.Therefore, Baochai had given up on treating illnesses all these years ago, now that she heard Xiangling's warm words, she knew that she had good intentions, although she didn't quite believe her, she couldn't refuse directly, so she just responded vaguely.

They talked for a while, and parted ways.Although Xiangling was reluctant to give up, but Baochai Palace had a heavy course selection, and she couldn't delay it. Grandma Liu also wanted to go back to make cotton clothes, so she had to let it go.Baochai here was also surrounded by nannies, wives and maidservants to go home. When she was about to get into the sedan chair, she caught a glimpse of a five or six-year-old girl looking eagerly at the candied haws stand across the street from the shop.

Baochai immediately recognized the little girl as Liu Yiyi, who accidentally broke into the backyard of her shop last time. She knew that the little girl was intelligent by nature, but she was somewhat lonely. She didn't like her mother having a younger brother.It can be seen that no matter how clever he looks, he is just a fool.When she wanted to ignore it, the little girl's eyes looking at the candied haws were really endearing. Baochai couldn't bear it, so she sighed softly. In a blink of an eye, she saw Yinger's mother, Mrs. Huang, by her side, and hurriedly ordered: "Go Buy her a candied haws and ask her what flavor she likes. Let her be obedient and don't make her parents angry again."

Ying'er's mother answered and went away, and when Baochai arrived home, Ying'er's mother came back and said softly, "She was beaten and ran away secretly. She is quite bold for such a young child." , not afraid of being abducted!"

Baochai asked strangely: "Could it be that her parents didn't come out to look for her? When I saw her standing there, she seemed to have been frozen outside for a while."

Yingerniang shook her head and said: "I heard what she said. Her mother Liuhu is a blessed one. She was pregnant again a few months ago. The whole family regarded it as a great event, but she was confused and still said something in front of others. Don't want my brother's crazy talk. Her parents were so angry, her father picked up a firewood stick and hit her head and face. I saw a high stick mark on her hand. I think she couldn't bear the beating. She ran away. Her family was angry, why would they go looking for her? Alas, at first glance, she is also a good child. Look at the eyebrows, the nose and the mouth. If they are bigger in the future, they will be more beautiful than Xiangling. Who knows that she She committed suicide by herself. Although she is the one who is confused and ignorant, she is so pitiful that she is alone and ignored, suffering from the cold outside."

When Baochai heard this, she couldn't help sighing, and said again: "I should ask her to sit in the shop just now, to avoid the wind. If she is standing on the street like this, if she is abducted, what will happen to her parents?" Not sad?"

Yingerniang smiled and said: "Her mother is pregnant again, she might be a kid, how can she take care of her? If she is kidnapped, she will only worry that there is no one to help take care of her younger brother. Those who love their daughter, most likely Whether she is raising her daughter alone, or if she doesn't really love her, if she really loves her family, she won't beat her like that."

Baochai was silent.Seeing Yinger winking, Yingerniang realized that she should have slipped her tongue, and hurriedly added: "Miss, don't worry. In my opinion, this child is smart. I just wanted to buy candied haws for her." Eat, she even questioned me for a long time, it seems that she definitely won't be easily abducted."

Seeing what she said, Baochai had no choice but to let it go.After Yingerniang went out, Baochai was still a little unhappy. Yinger and Qianxue guessed the reason, but they didn't dare to ask, they just waited on them carefully.

At Shenshi, when Aunt Xue came back from Ningguo Mansion, Baochai was afraid that her mother would be tired, so she had to come forward to serve her.Aunt Xue then talked about what she had seen and heard in the Ningguo Mansion, and when she talked about Sister Feng, her tone was very envious. When she talked about how beautiful Sister Feng was, Baochai could only say indifferently: "Everyone has his own destiny. Besides, she worked so hard, it may not be Please, if there is a slight difference, people's hearts will be lost, why bother? When the moon is full, it will lose money, and when the water is full, it will overflow. It is better to plan in the long run."

Aunt Xue didn't believe it, she only said that Baochai must be jealous, and said: "If you marry as well as your sister Feng, then you can make your brother and I proud."

Baochai couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Mother, why do you want others to be so ambitious? Jia's family is good, but now it is gradually becoming empty, but my uncle's family is in full swing. Sister Feng married to Jia's family. At most, she is a good family, which is definitely not high." Married. As for our family, my father drew up the constitution long ago when he was alive, did mother forget?"

Aunt Xue sighed and said, "You are still high-spirited and only think about the palace election. What's so good in the palace?"

Baochai hurriedly changed the conversation, and asked: "Let's take a look at this slowly. It's not easy to mention it now. In a few days, it will be a big day. The second aunt will definitely live in Tiekan Temple. When my mother arrives Do you want to stay with me, or come back first?"