Clam Pearl

It was warm in Lu's room, the little girl smoked fragrant pancakes, and served tea snacks. The women in this room tied together to talk about the dowry.

Gu Zhao shamelessly ignores gender, and listens with gusto here. He is a born gossip seed, and he is particularly interested in such bits and pieces of information.

The little aunt is a woman who has seen three dynasties. She has more ancient times, so she started from the previous dynasties.

"Speaking of dowry, at the time of the previous dynasty, they were not rich. When I got married, I heard that someone sent eight or eight of them, and there were more than 20 sets. Oh, that's amazing.

It's good now, there are more than 30 sets, they are middle-class people, not to mention the piles of things, but also a big bed, ouch, tell me, why are you wronged by our good girl, giving so much, it seems Let's curry favor with them. "

"That's right, I heard from them that when the list will be announced in a few days, a bunch of old men on the list will wait with all their might, and that's just stealing money. Those poor scholars, once they make the list, they'll go to hell. If you meet a wealthy family with a good dowry, there are also three generations of husbands who have raised their husbands."

Gu Zhao thought of Xue He, um, he thought his father-in-law was at a loss, thinking about it, the old man made a move ahead of time, and the deal was worth it.

"Damn, it's worthless people who spend their daughter-in-law's dowry."

"that is!"

Gu Zhao flinched a little. It seems that the women comrades have suffered a lot and have deep hatred!

Mrs. Su licked melon seeds and gestured: "The old master said that in the remote small county of Anbei, there was a county where parents had no sons at home. His wife and concubine gave birth to him five girls at once, and the sixth It's still a girl, and the magistrate of the county is also a seventh rank, but he was afraid that he would not be able to afford the dowry, so he quietly called that little slave, and threw the poor little girl into a basin and drowned her."

"Tsk tsk, this is poor."

"Didn't Your Majesty decree that this wind should not rise?"

"Your Majesty can't take care of family affairs, so why don't you compare yourself?"

"There are many things like this. It happened earlier. Speaking of which, girls from rich families are not as good as girls from poor families. Don't care about each other. Anyway, we are all poor together." Lu sighed.

Gu Zhao had no choice but to change the subject quickly: "Little aunt, you are wrong."

"Where is it crooked?" Lu Shi didn't understand.

Gu Zhao put down Minghui, took a sip of water: "Let's talk about Jinyu's dowry, where have you abducted, I don't care about it, I am an elder anyway, so I have to give it to you, you give it to me Disk, maybe there is something, I will go back and have a look, if I have it, I will add it to her."

The whole family laughed loudly, and the little aunt pointed at Gu Zhao and laughed loudly: "Tell me, he is not as old as his nephew, and he has prepared a dowry. Hey, from now on, he will be called Jinyu." Be filial to you, other people really don't have such a good little uncle."

Su smiled and wiped her tears and said: "Little uncle, you haven't crowned yet, your house hasn't opened yet, and you won't give me a lot of money. No one will tell you. Stop talking, really! Killing me."

Gu Zhao sighed: "Look at what you said, Jinyu doesn't have a father. I am also a father. She should call me uncle, and that uncle is also a father."

The room suddenly became quiet. In the side room, Jinyu hid originally, but she was also curious to hear what Gu and Gu Zhao said, which made the women in the room really tender.

There was a faint sob over there, and the room began to collectively wipe away tears again. After wiping, Lu waved and Gu Zhao went over.

Mrs. Lu grabbed his hand and patted it: "Our family's little uncle, he is the only one who can't find a second place in all the big beams, and only our old Gu family has it."

Gu Zhao was helpless, and sat on the edge of the bed and sighed: "Don't do this, it makes me feel boring. How much you give depends on the situation. Others have no ability. Whoever has the ability doesn't want to be at home. Sister-in-law, you Tell me, let me figure it out, I have saved a lot in the past few years, really, when Minghui gets married in the future, my seventh grandpa won't be in vain, so I will still give them money."

Su smiled, hugged Minhui and said, "Oh, my little one is so lucky, the one who gets married always competes for someone to add the dowry."

Lu curled her lips: "Minghui has nothing to do with you, but Minhui has me."

Gu Zhao smiled, grabbed the melon seeds on Su's plate, and kowtowed to him: "Hurry up, hurry up, talk about it."

The little aunt nodded: "There is no need to talk about the rules in this capital. Since ancient times, the rules in Beijing are different from those in other places. It is a comparison, and it can't be true. Let's talk about the rules in other counties, that, the ones in other counties. The rule is that the betrothal gift of the man's family is doubled, that is, the man's betrothal gift is one or two, and we accompany two or two. I was thinking, my nephew and grandson's family has nothing left, and all the etiquette is good. My son also said, if Once it’s done, I’ll immediately send someone back to his house, and at least build a courtyard with three entrances, which belongs to our old Qian’s house.”

Mrs. Lu hurriedly said: "No way, my little aunt's nonsense. You didn't have to be a matchmaker. You didn't even get a lot of money from the matchmaker. Instead, I posted it in a three-entry yard."

"Three entrances in the county only cost a lot of money. It sounds scary, but I dare not measure it with the money of Shangjing. In that village, a set of six-room manor house was built in a bright and dignified manner. It is more than 40 years old. This money is not enough for your family. Gu Xiaosi went to gamble on crickets, I have heard that your family, Gu Xiaosi, has lost more than 100 times in a game of crickets."

Gu Zhao put down the melon seeds, and said to the door: "Hongdan, go and tell Tao Ruo, just tell me what I said, Gu Xiaosi will copy the house rules two hundred times more!"

The little aunt covered her mouth: "Yo! My tongue fell out, there is a big elder here!"

Gu Zhao also laughed: "Don't tell me, aunt, I know his virtues. Now that he is not young, just worry about his character, and he should marry a wife when he comes out. If he is like this, he can't support a family, but he can't be ruined. Now that his parents are both here, if one day, his elder brother and sister-in-law are old, will they eat promos for the rest of their lives? It’s fine to eat alone, but he also has a family, a good man who can’t afford to support a family, but dare to be a man?”

The little aunt clapped her hands: "That's the truth! It's still our little seven."

Gu Zhao sighed, what is Xiao Qi, he is not too young after his two lifetimes combined.

"Don't talk about me, talk about the house!" Gu Zhao was unwilling to listen.

"That's right, let's talk about this country, three times into 25 rooms, the top reaches the sky, three hundred guan. Your brother and I believe it. We discussed it. A few years ago, Xinzhi told Qian that his father was fine, so Ah, let's not go to his family's farm, but just buy a set for the children in Renfu County.

That Renfu County is a wealthy place, we don’t hide this fact, and we don’t owe it to Jinyu, 24 Guan, three houses and [-] rooms plus a small garden, a ready-made courtyard, a new house, originally an old family The employees are covered with old-age care, no, his son wants to be released, and he will come to Beijing to take care of it.Xinzhi also said in the morning that if this side agrees, we will do it quickly, after all, both sides are not small.

In addition, two more beds will be prepared, one is a carved hardwood coffered bed, and the other is for an arhat. Our old Qian family has taken care of this, and we can’t lose it. The girl from my natal family, isn’t her aunt, do you think this one is right? "

Lu Shi smiled: "We don't pick these things, little aunt, girls from the Gu family would be wronged by marriage, but we can't help it, so, we only care about you, don't pick and choose, that's enough!"

The little aunt was overjoyed: "This is Yun?"

Lu Shi nodded: "I agree here, but the master also wants to talk about it."

The little aunt got up with a smile: "Well, I'll go home and listen to the letter. No matter what time it is tonight, you have to report. The two prepared big beds at home are for my precious grandson. They are the best. It took more than a year of hard work to make the wood, even if it is lucky to Ren Fu, it will take a lot of work."

After sending the little aunt out, Gu Zhao still stayed at Lu Shi's place, so he was a little worried, so he asked Lu Shi again: "Sister-in-law, the man's temper and personality are big problems, why don't we send someone to check it out again?" Make calculations."

Mrs. Lu didn't care, and said with a smile: "Don't worry about it, uncle. Our little aunt, we have experience in this life that we can't match. Now that Qian Xinzhi is young and promising, it's a good time. Little aunt, this is for my son." Paving the way.

Although we are old relatives, every family has its own way. Since the little aunt dares to speak out, she is not afraid of taking responsibility. She is no better than anyone else. Our daughter has gone and lived a good life. I will remember their family for the rest of my life. Well, that's an enemy, so in terms of character, you can rest assured. It's just that Jinyu's marriage must be done quickly. Didn't you see what my little aunt said, it's a county thousands of miles away? That's because I'm afraid of Gao Shi The son affected Jinyu.Our little aunt is an old man, she can make us suffer, at least this is my mother's home. "

Gu Zhao nodded, went back to the house, called Mr. Yu Geng to the house, asked about the rules of marrying daughters in Beijing, Yu Geng agreed, and went out to find a familiar family to ask for a complete list of gifts.

The reason why Gu Zhao cares so much about Jinyu's marriage is only because he is afraid that he will have no offspring in this life. In addition, Jinyu's child's aura of breaking the boat is in line with his modern thinking .

If it is really possible to give this child a guarantee in terms of money, he would like all the children under his care to be happy. At least, when he gets old, he can see his children and grandchildren.Therefore, he had the idea of ​​marrying a daughter.

In the evening, Mr. Yu Geng came back with a thirteen-volume gift list.

Sitting at home, Gu Zhao began to light up the lamp and read at night.

This dowry is really complicated. First of all, the most important thing is real estate, that is, land and shops. When my father gave me these things in the past, there were not many of them. I am afraid that I also know that I can't keep them. Compared with the Gu family's property, I really got it Sesame grains, otherwise, my brother will make up for it all day long.

For the land, you have to go to Ren Fu to buy it in advance, and you have to look at the store now, um... this, Gu Zhao is going to prepare according to the three thousand guan, the land is for a lifetime, and Jinyu's courage in this life has to come here , Today the world is sparsely populated, land is worthless, on the contrary, population is very valuable.

Shops, not too many, maybe three, and it doesn't cost a few, all of them are in Xiajun.

Open the second volume again, uh... Gu Zhao fainted, furniture, quilts, shoes and hats, clothes, jewelry, single leather, sandwich leather, thick leather, fur clothes, quilts, bedding, decorations.

These are amazing horses, there are only eighteen basins like washbasins and urinals...

This thing is not done by men!

Gu Zhao was tired, lost the gift list, turned around and went back to the house, called his nanny, asked a few words, and after giving some instructions, turned around and fell asleep under the quilt...

Early the next morning, Gu Zhao went to his sister-in-law's yard early. His sister-in-law Lu Shi was picking out people in the yard, and these people were regarded as Jinyu's companions.

As soon as Gu Zhao entered the door, he said: "Sister-in-law, I don't care who you choose. What kind of room is that, don't even think about the concubine's, you can't even mention it. We Jinyu are so good, if that kid dares to marry a concubine, I will kill him immediately." he!"

Jinyu, who was already very nervous, covered her mouth in shame and joy, and felt sore that she wanted to cry again.

Mrs. Lu also laughed: "That's a good point. He didn't even think about Jinyu's forty years ago. If Jinyu has no children at forty, let's talk about it!"

Hey, it seems that the currents are not connected together.

Gu Zhao looked at his beautiful niece, hey, she is really a pig eating cabbage, but she is more than 20, and now she can only marry thousands of miles away, which is pitiful, but her sister-in-law's idea is also correct.

Holding the list in his arms, Gu Zhao called Lu, Su, and Jinyu into the room.

"Uncle, don't worry about this matter, you are a man." Su Shi was joking again, wasn't he, Gu Zhao was only eighteen, still a vain age, and worried about his old niece's dowry, talking about it would kill a lot of fun.However, when I told the master last night, the master was also very touched, little uncle, that was really close.

"I'm five years old, and I'm also an uncle. Besides, I'm also a half-father." Gu Zhao was angry.

Mrs. Lu nodded: "Yes, yes, what you are talking about is that your brother brought out two thousand coins last night and told me to prepare them. I also wrote a letter to your second brother and the others. I guess there are more to add. I want to say, In the past few years, the money has become worthless, and in the past, one thousand coins could buy things that are now three thousand coins... What will your uncle give me, let me take a look?"

Lu Shi took the gift list and looked at it carefully. The maids and maids in the room all pursed their lips in joy, and Jin Yu's face turned red with embarrassment.

Gu Zhao sat there with a smile on his face. He didn't feel ashamed, but he just thought about the current price, this is called inflation in ancient times, right?The ancient economy is very interesting. In order to solve the financial problems caused by the war, the first emperor minted a lot of money. Later, he was opposed by the ministers many times before he stopped this behavior.The final result is that the things that cost [-] guan earlier can only be bought for [-] guan.

Speaking of this, there is a problem. The money brought by Gu Zhaoyu from overseas gold and silver mines does not need to be laundered, but can be used directly. What is this called?This is also called disrupting the market.

"Xiao Qi?" Seeing that Gu Zhao was in a daze, Lu called him.

Gu Zhao groaned, turned around and smiled at Lu Shi: "Sister-in-law, didn't I buy a Zhuangzi near Shangjing?"

Lu Shi nodded: "Why, you want to accompany Jinyu as a dowry?"

Jin Yu, who was standing aside, hurriedly said: "Uncle, don't dare, if this is the case, Jin Yu would rather not marry."

Gu Zhao smiled: "I didn't tell you, don't even think about it, I'm as comfortable as a fairy over there, and I haven't finished it after more than a year of repairing. Where should I go to play loose when I'm free? Let me go What? I mean, I am repairing Zhuangzi to make furniture. I have been doing it since last year, and I have never been back to Zhuangzi. Except for the ones on display, there are still a lot left. I just brought them here. It’s a suit, and I think my sister-in-law can’t make it as specified.”

Lu's eyes lit up immediately, but no, it's easy to say, just the clothes, jewelry, furniture, and the biggest three heads, it will take more than ten years of preparation.Now she doesn't want to put on airs of being the elder sister-in-law anymore, at worst she will give Xiao Qi a discount and ask him to make a new one.

"Hurry up and let me see, it doesn't matter if the suit is not suitable, and now I don't care about it, as long as it doesn't look like a birthday girl." Lu waved his hand.

Gu Zhao handed over the list in his hand, and Lu Shi looked it over, and took a breath just looking at the wood: "Yo, Xiao Qi, are these all chicken wing wood?"

Chicken wing wood is hard to find, mostly in the south, and now the south is in a closed state, and it has not started its mission, but there is no chicken wing wood in the south, and now chicken wing wood is a rare hardwood.

The best wood that is popular in Beijing is called golden nanmu, yellow nanzi, and black nanzi. Gu Zhao has no experience with this.

Like huanghuali, Gu Zhao also has them, but he has used them all and finished placing them. Half of the house in the village is made of huanghuali. Most of this ancient furniture is home-made after measurement. for life.

"Well, some are, and some are not. Sister-in-law, let's look at it. If it's bad or inappropriate, you can mark it."

Lu Shi nodded, sat there and watched.In Gu Zhao's list, there are twelve chairs of various types, one carved bed, twelve stools, seven desks, and various cabinets, including: two straight edge cabinets, four bookcase shelves, and more. Six treasures and four non-fancy face cabinets.Two pieces of four cabinets.Lying cabinets, two cabinets, three cabinets, and four cabinets, one for each.Two six-panel screens, one bamboo six-panel screen, one ten-view large folding screen, and four floor screens.Four pillow screens.Four clothes hangers, six pairs of lamp stands, four pairs of brazier stands, four pairs of high basin stands, and two pairs of towel stands.There is also a rattan couch and a bamboo couch.Other cork, elm, walnut scattered small furniture 42 pieces.

After reading it, Lu's heart was half relieved: "Xiaoqi, the big problem has been solved. This can produce more than a dozen sets, no, at least twenty sets. They are the first-class products. They (referring to Su's) When I came here, it was nothing more than this, that is, the furniture was not in the first class, it was a bit messy, and the bed should not be prepared. The Qian family’s side is prepared by the man, so we don’t extend our hand here. We all have them, and there are more, and we don’t get what we shouldn’t have, or our attitude is too low. But according to the rules, one cabinet needs to be built with two cabinets, and we still have to rush to make more cabinets. You spend money How much, I think your nanny will make a list later and ask your brother to give it to you."

Gu Zhao smiled: "My sister-in-law looks down on me too much. I have some family business anyway. These are just handy. I also have some satin, silk, velvet, and cotton cloth for men. Let's not go on stage. There are [-] or [-] horses in various colors, but if there are too many, it is useless, and whoever wears them after the fashion is over."

In the past few days, Mrs. Lu has also been upset. Many things have not been prepared neatly. She has a heart-to-heart with Mrs. Gao. She has always been obedient and filial in every possible way, but she is still a little pissed. Now seeing that the two brothers are so stupidly focused on thinking about their niece, Lu Shi put some thought into it, forget it, what to do with so much fuss, the master is happy , the whole family is happy.

Mrs. Lu patted the list and shook his head: "We have all of these, so you don't need to pay. Xiao Qi, if you calculate this way, you have to play 62 stations. In a small place like Ren Fu, the best is nothing more than that. Fortunately, that one No mother-in-law, no sister-in-law, no messy things to prepare, and I don’t have to worry about meeting purses. This mother-in-law, father-in-law, and sister-in-law don’t need to prepare, but for his uncle, let’s prepare a ten-body, five-body thin one, Three thick ones, and two furs.

Nowadays, the better officials and eunuchs in Beijing only have two bodies, but each elder, uncle, and sister-in-law each have two bodies. There is only one brother in that family, so we will prepare a full set of shoes, socks and underwear. This is complete. "

Gu Zhao smiled: "My sister-in-law said that I don't understand these things, but there is no ready-made jewelry. This Mr. Yu Geng said that the daughter-in-law's own jewelry should have her own mark, which is not easy to prepare."

Lu laughed loudly: "This is my business, you don't have to worry about it. There are more than a dozen labor slaves in our family. They stopped their work and worked for a month. It is still no problem to prepare ten sets of complete sets. Yes, I will open a warehouse tomorrow, and I can make seven or eight sets of old ornaments, eucalyptus trees, vases and so on."

Gu Zhao nodded: "I have [-] top-quality furs and medium-sized furs, and I also have two top-quality bear skins. This one can be counted as one."

"This counts as at least four sets! Xiaoqi is really honest! If there is someone who cares about face, he can make eight sets." Lu pointed at him and smiled.

The more these two talked, the more they looked like two women. You talked and I talked, really excited.

"I look at the dowry gift list. Others have all kinds of bits and pieces on it, such as medicinal materials, spices, pens, inks, papers, scrolls, copybooks. I like these things. Unfortunately, in my hometown, I lost a bunch of them in the south. My name is here. They searched, and there were hundreds of them, men's accessories, etc., are too small to be placed, just a little bit." Gu Zhao sighed.

"These are not small, they are really good things. Only the aristocratic family has good things for years, like scrolls, like copybooks, these are really decent." Lu sighed, Xiao Qi, what did the child think? Throw it to bits and pieces.

The uncle and sister-in-law were talking lively, Su lifted the curtain and entered the room, and said as she walked, "Let me tell you, we only make about [-] pieces of high-quality ready-made clothes for meeting customers, and we will accompany a few embroiderers and slaves to go there." , make it as you wear it, buy the best material in Beijing and prepare it, and it’s the past of the horse!"

Gu Zhao nodded: "This method is good, you still have an idea."

Su shi was proud, covered her mouth and smiled, she could see that this little uncle felt that he should be respected in the future, and he didn't think it was in vain. Little uncle, it's like you respecting me a foot, and I let you respect me a foot Master.

Seeing that it was getting late, Gu Zhao stood up and clapped his hands. Xizai came in carrying a heavy box.

Lu Shi was surprised: "Yo, there are more." After speaking, he stood up, walked over to open the box, and took a deep breath.

Gu Zhao was proud: "This is what I want to give."

There are two rows of gold bars and silver bars neatly arranged in the box. Gu Zhao does not play with the shape of ancient ingots, and besides, there are no ingot models overseas.Therefore, most of his metals are quadrangular, square, or just a long strip, but the purity is very, very high mineral gold, not the white river gold and miscellaneous gold of different colors that are popular everywhere, this kind of yellow gold Mined gold is the top material for jewelry, and it is generally not available.

"Here is 200 taels of gold and 500 taels of silver. I will make jewelry for my niece. In the future, our Gu family will marry a daughter. As long as they are the children of my brother's sister-in-law, I will give it to you like this..." A certain wealthy man waved his hand, adding He added a sentence: "Whether the concubine is born or not, they don't give me this broken problem."

As night fell, Gu Zhao left the courtyard. When he reached the gate of the courtyard, someone behind him called him.

"uncle!"

When Gu Zhao turned his head, Gu Jinyu knelt there upright and knocked him down.

"Hey, you kid, why... why are you doing this! You are doing well... You have a good life, live it well in the past, don't live this life in vain!" Gu Zhao was a little shy, blushing at a loss, and turned around Quickly leave.