Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

Guazhou Ancient Ferry in Yangzhou is full of beautiful boats like stars, and the thousand-year-old ferry is not as remote and quiet as it used to be.Many painted boats are brightly lit, or tailing or clustering around the largest three-story boat among them. The crystal palace lanterns and candles on the boat are brilliant, accompanied by music and laughter, really competing with the bright moon in the sky. Brightness also makes people lament the loneliness of Guanghan, which is no more than fireworks in the world.

Lin Ruhai took advantage of the fact that everyone on the boat was having fun, and escaped quietly.

"Dong Weng." As soon as the boat approached the Lin family's painting boat, Chen Ziwei, Lin Ruhai's confidant, greeted him and reached out to help him board the boat: "How is it?"

Lin Ruhai staggered, looked back at the boat crookedly, and said in a low voice: "I can pretend to be drunk, and Lao Ziwei helped me enter the fine business."

Chen Ziwei and several long followers surrounded the staggering Lin Ruhai, and managed to help him into the cabin. Chen Ziwei ordered: "Dong Weng is drunk, prepare some hangover soup, and use it when Dong Weng wakes up."

The Lin family's painted boat drifted leisurely with the water, and the lights on it were gradually extinguished, leaving only a few wind lanterns made of Korean paper on the bow and deck.Seeing this, the nearby boat used to transport people's belongings knew that the owner of the family had rested and had no work rewards to ask for, so they turned around with oars and went after other family's boats.

The surrounding water gradually became empty, and the Lin family's boat fell to the end without knowing it, swinging near a reed.

"Dong Weng, what happened?" Chen Ziwei asked in a low voice in the unlit cabin.

"The Ghost Festival has just passed, and the remnants of the lotus lantern are still there. The Zhen family has such an exciting banquet, and the guests are talking about searching for seclusion and victory. Let's see how the tranquility of this most important town in Jianghuai has been disturbed." Chen Ziwei is a bad boy, and he still has a bookish attitude, and he looks down on the Zhen family's act of grandstanding and ruining famous places.

Lin Ruhai sighed, if it wasn't a major event, how could the Zhen family gather here in Guiyue Xing, the boat contained more than half of the officials from the south of the Yangtze River, and all the well-known salt merchants came here.

"The movement of the Zhen family is for..." Lin Ruhai pointed to the top, and made a "six" gesture, "Zhen Yingjia's move is to collect money and win people's hearts."

"The Zhen family is acting more and more aggressively, and has become a tiger riding a tiger. If that person can't get his wish, I'm afraid the whole family will have to join in." Lin Ruhai said: "A junior in the Zhen family asked for a loan at the banquet this time, saying yes The family was in a difficult situation, and Zhen's family members seemed to have never heard of it. Zhen Yingjia also talked to others about the huge deficit when he took over the car in the early years..."

Chen Ziwei was taken aback: "Last year, the Jiangnan Salt Administration had a surplus of 50 taels of income. The Zhen family reached out and took away most of it. Ten thousand taels, there is any deficit that cannot be plugged!"

"The situation is difficult to settle, something is going to happen in Beijing!"

With the deck lights and moonlight lake light, Lin Ruhai and Chen Ziwei looked at each other with heavy eyes.

After a long while, Chen Ziwei said in a deep voice: "I know Dong Weng's ambition, and he is unwilling to join forces with others. That Dong Weng's inspection of the salt censor is already the only obstacle for the Zhen family to meddle in the salt administration and wantonly amass wealth, and it will definitely become a thorn in his side. , Dong Weng must be careful of his crazy dog ​​jumping over the wall!"

"The central capital is unstable, and the south of the Yangtze River is more changing. No matter which noble person ascends to the throne, it will take several years for the emperor to stabilize the situation——Dong Weng might as well ask his wife to take the young lady home to visit relatives? I heard that Mrs. Jia has died With Chunqiu, on the one hand, Mrs. Quan is filial, and on the other hand, Dong Weng can have no worries."

Chen Ziwei said this because the Zhen family in the south of the Yangtze River was developed in the hands of women. The concubine Zhen in the palace once had the kindness to nurture the present, and the old lady of the Zhen family in Jinling was also the nurse of today. The two of you have only received the grace of the mighty emperor, so they often carry some traces of inner house tricks in their work, and they are not taboo about meat and vegetables.It is not uncommon to take advantage of other people's small weaknesses.

Lin Ruhai was silent for a long time.Chen Ziwei knew that Mrs. Lin and Ms. Lin were not in good health, and that something might happen if they traveled thousands of miles away, so he temporarily concealed his words, and was going to wait for the future to persuade them.

"what?"

"My lord! There is a man in the reeds, holding on to a plank...can you save him?"

"We'll wait until we're rescued, be careful and don't make any noise," Lin Ruhai ordered.

After a while, Chang Sui came back and reported: "It's a young man in his 20s who was wounded by a knife... Luckily! It's all because the bottom of the river lantern didn't sink."

"Sword wound? Can you tell who it is? Can it still be saved?"

"I'm afraid he's a bodyguard. There's a mark of 'Xinglong Dart' on his sleeve. It's just that the wound was not done by water bandits. He has deep wounds on his chest, abdomen, back, and the like, which should be caused by short blades like daggers and small swords. The rest of the flesh wounds are consistent with the weapons used by the pirates. Our doctor on board is treating him, and he said that luckily he missed the vital part by an inch, and he may be able to save his life."

Lin Ruhai squinted his eyes slightly when he heard the words, no matter whether the green forest gang or the rich and powerful raised them, short soldiers like daggers are mostly used by assassins, is this a coincidence?

"A young bodyguard?" Chen Ziwei was puzzled: "I haven't heard any rumors of missing a bodyguard recently, and what important bodyguard can a young man pick up that deserves someone to assassinate him? It's strange, let's save him first. "

Lin Ruhai also nodded: "Hide him in the cabin below to rescue him, and send someone to clean up the traces. No matter whether he can be saved or not, we can't ask people to come here."

Chen Ziwei was a little interested in what Cai's followers said, so he got up and said, "I'll let them go and have a look, Dong Weng should rest first."

Going around to the cabin below, the lights immediately lit up, Chen Ziwei asked: "Just now you said that he survived because of the bottom of the lotus lamp?"

The entourage nodded, and led Chen Ziwei to look at him, with a three-point admiration in his words: "This kid is clever, how do you say that, oh, don't mess up in times of danger!"

Chen Ziwei took out a folding fan from his sleeve to cover his nose, and looked closely at the wooden plank that saved lives—only to realize that it was not a long plank, but a short plank connected by strips of cloth.

"This is robbing people's entire line of offering lamps." According to local customs, the base of lotus lamps is usually made of fir wood, and oiled paper is used as lotus petals on the top. As for the lamp, the top-quality cedar board is also quite large in size.

He approached the bed and went to see the boy who had been rescued, and kicked a soap boot.

Chang Sui reached out to pick up the stinky boots and put them on the table. Chen Ziwei pinched his nose and stared at him.

Chang Sui smiled innocently: "That kid hid it in his arms, and he didn't lose it after being injured like this." Perhaps it was an important thing.

Death is imminent, hide a man's stinky shoes?Chen Ziwei covered most of his face with the fan, only two eyes were exposed, and he looked at it breathlessly: "Huh?"

"You, pick it up and let me have a look." Chen Ziwei pointed at his long follower.

"Sir, what did you see?" The attendant picked up the shoe sole and brought it to Chen Ziwei, causing the staff member to take two steps back.

He seems to have seen this kind of shoes with leather soles and embroidered mountain teeth on the heels. The Zhen family is the only one in the Jiangnan area who are so particular about it?

"Try your best to save him! Come and tell me immediately when you wake up! Also keep an eye on this place, don't let anyone find out."

----

In Beijing, the palace.

I don't know if it's because he just welcomed back his old friend, even though the inconvenient days have passed, Du Yun'an still feels flustered and uncomfortable, with indescribable irritability.

However, recently Wang Ren didn't know what kind of hysteria happened again, and he sent a girl in the house to trick him, and he almost didn't say anything.All the big girls in the main room could see it. Uncle Ren saw that Tian'er had spared no time to calm his wife down. As long as he came in, he would definitely find an opportunity to talk to Yun An. Seeing Yun An's eyeballs were turning green.

Everyone guessed that Uncle Ren had taken a fancy to Yun An.

The girls in the room, Baiji Baolu and the others saw Du Yunan's avoiding attitude and knew that she was unwilling, so they secretly helped her avoid it.Ruixiang was happy to see the result, and became intimate again, and the little girls of her faction also teased and flattered Du Yunan, which made Du Yunan disgusted.

The most different one here is Ruiyun, this girl is also abnormal like Wang Ren, how long did it take for her to send a purse to Du Zhong as a teaser?At this moment, he not only flattered Wang Ren softly and softly, but also turned his face to Yun An when his nose was not his nose and his face was not his face, and he put all his troubles on his forehead.In fact, has Du Yun'an ever provoked her at all?

"Don't pay attention to her! She has always had a disease. She always smiles at the men and speaks badly to the girls who are favored by the men. Sister Bai Tan also suffered from this before. Sister Bai Tan was already the first-class girl at that time. She A second class has been having fun for a while. But for the sake of her old aunt, we don't argue." Bai Ji quietly comforted Du Yun'an.

"It's just why you recruited that Mr. Ren?" Bai Ji was worried: "If you don't report to your wife, you can go home and hide for a while in August. We can't afford to provoke that man who belongs to the hornet."

"My home is here, away from my wife, wouldn't he be even more arrogant." Du Yun'an was angry, and the more angry she became, the more she became sober. She couldn't go home to cause trouble for her brother. Besides, there was no letter coming in from the door recently. Worried about whether my brother made a dart again.

"I don't know where I offended him. If he doesn't restrain himself, I will hide in Miss Feng's room. She is busy there."

Bai Ji thought about it, but felt that it was a good idea: "In less than a month, Miss Feng will leave the cabinet. When Miss Feng gets married, it's time for Mr. Ren to go back to the south, please bear with me for a while."

"I've already told Ruiyun, don't let her mess around, let my wife know, she won't have any good fruit to eat. You should also avoid this crazy girl for the past two months, but don't let her bully you, if she does it again I'll tell my wife." Bai Ji is now the head maid of the main house, and she will be released from her family at the end of the year to get married, and although she is trying to be harmonious, she is not afraid of offending others.

On the first day of August, Du Yun'an's eyes were swollen, and he couldn't sleep well all night, and his eyelids kept twitching.

When Mrs. Li saw it, she jumped up, angry and funny, and ordered someone to roll her eyes with ice cubes and eggs in turn.

"Well, I don't need you here today, you go back and take a rest. Go to the garden in the afternoon to relax, or find you for a while, don't stay in this yard all the time, and get sick carefully. "

Du Yun'an thanked her, and she also wanted to find Yin Xian in her heart, and asked her father to come and see her at home.

Besides, Du Yun'an never believed that Wang Ren was interested in it because of his appearance. To put it bluntly, the most outstanding children from hundreds of thousands of families are collected in this main courtyard, and even the little girl who is a rough envoy is not lacking in charm. Du Yun'an is really not the most eye-catching one in it - she has just started to develop, her figure is similar to the door panel, and the baby fat is still on her face. No matter how you look at it, she is not as charming as Baiji and Ruixiang.

The little girl concluded that Wang Ren had bad intentions and had other plans.Yinxian's aunt was mixed in the last night team, and the women there were the most well-informed. Du Yun'an had long intended to ask her aunt about it.It's just that these people are upside down day and night, and they only have time to walk around before dusk every day, so there is never a good time.

Du Yun'an went out from the back corner door and went straight to the sewing room. Unfortunately, Yinxian was too busy to get out of the way. Hearing her ask about her aunt, Yinxian laughed: "The old man was not on duty yesterday, and she is on errand tonight. She is bored at home, so she came in early in the morning, and now she is sitting in the inverted seat on the right side of the hanging flower door."

"She is on duty at the second door, who has the time to greet her? No, I just came to my place for a while, and I am also busy...It so happens that you are here, so you can accompany her for me to save money. She can't stop wandering around elsewhere, causing trouble again."

After saying that, he asked the little girl to come in and send Du Yunan over: "Send her to your old aunt."

The little girl smiled and came to hold Yun'an's hand: "My good sister, my name is Moxian, and I am the niece of sister Yinxian..." When relatives and children come in to work on errands, they have to be called master and manager, otherwise Here, the children of the family are mostly connected with relatives. If it comes to seniority, it would be a mess.

Du Yun'an was dragged away by her, and his mind was confused: what kind of sister's cousin and niece.

As soon as he saw the aunt Yinxian, Du Yun'an forgot everything.

It's because the aunt's eagle eyes are extremely sharp, and her mouth is also sharp: "I've heard too much about you, I didn't expect to be so handsome, and she looks a bit like our wife's personality."

Yun An's heart skipped a beat, and after chatting for a while, he asked, "How long has Mom been on the job?"

"It's been almost 20 years. Speaking of which, I have seen your own mother, but I was still guarding the door at this place at that time, and she rarely left the main courtyard, so I didn't get the chance to meet."

"Mom used to work in the second door?"

"That's right, I have been working for seven or eight years. The grandmothers in charge said that I am powerful and can restrain the villain, so they transferred me to be on night duty... This night is a good job. The monthly salary is more than the reward, and the teeth are idle. I also have a lot of time, it’s just as bad, I can’t see other people! Except for those old sisters, I don’t know the newcomers very well.”

Yun An patiently smiled and said: "This is what mother can do. Although she is not familiar with her, she knows who comes in and who goes out, and even things we don't know can't be hidden from you."

Then he untied a small gourd from his waist: "This is Shaoxing wine. I brought dozens of jars along with the master's boat. The wife in our yard will give you a jar, and everyone will share it. I don't know how to drink wine yet. Well, give it to mom to eat."

Aunt Yinxian looked at the little gourd, it was small and exquisite, and it could only be measured in twos or threes at most, and it was still far away from the time for work, so she was not afraid of getting drunk and making trouble.

In this mansion, no matter men or women, there are very few people who don't love this mouth.What Yun An brought was high-quality rice wine again, this mother just took a couple of sips into the gourd's mouth, and she was so happy that she wanted to introduce Yun An as her confidant.

"...Your mother was let out at that time, oh, it was really grand, there were three or four big red-painted boxes. The master and wife felt that they had treated her badly, and rewarded her with many good things. She is a rich lady!"

"Turn it over? It was checked by Grandma Li herself, and it was also Grandma Li who pressed the car and sent her to your father's house... It is said that Grandma almost recognized your mother as her daughter. Xin Jiner, this is probably the truth! Later your mother was in trouble, the locusts surnamed Du were nothing, and it was Aunt Li who came forward to stand up for you—otherwise, I am a little girl, you are in trouble survive."

"God damn that bastard, I heard that he entered your house and robbed you and your brother out. Your mother hasn't confinement yet, so it's lucky to be a mother. Otherwise, if you fall into their hands, you can support this little thing? Don't It’s so good to say it!”

"It's just that she doesn't look like your mother."

The author has something to say: Fat Zhang, so what, Brother Du, who is not chaotic in the face of danger, is looking for Miss An.

Let’s celebrate, give [-] small red envelopes for comments in this chapter~

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【江南盐政衙门50万两的羡余】：康熙53年七月《苏州织造李煦奏请再派盐差以补亏空折》：“巡盐所得余银，每年约55万、6万两不等。”康熙53年七月《苏州织造李煦奏请再派盐差以补亏空折》，李煦在奏折中向康熙交代他和曹寅做巡盐御史能有多少进账：“仅剩者止10万两。”——史料看自《君子爱财：古代名人经济生活》

——To explain a little bit, this surplus is a legitimate income of the yamen, which is divided up and down in the yamen. pocket).In this article, the Zhen family moved the cakes of the Yanzheng Yamen, and took more than half of the oil and water from these people's pockets. ——Judging from the income of officials in the salt administration, sister Lin's family is really rich.

[Lotus lantern]: Putting lotus lanterns means putting river lanterns, which is the custom of the mid-July Yuan Festival. Encyclopedia says that "helan lanterns generally use wooden boards as the bottom, and the lamp body is made of waterproof paper. On the base, put lamps or candles, and there are also eggplant lanterns. , pumpkin lanterns, and some people even write the name of the deceased on the lanterns.”

[Jianghuai No. [-] Town]: Guazhou is known as "Jianghuai No. [-] Town" and "Millennium Ancient Ferry". It is at the intersection of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River. (Encyclopedia)

[Shanya]: That is, the cliff, the cliff is embroidered on the shoes, which means the auspicious meaning of no limit (the homophony of Ya and cliff) and longevity (mountain stone is also called Shoushi).