Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

By the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the inside and outside of Rongguo Mansion had taken on a completely new look. There was a brand-new official gauze lantern hanging outside the gate, on which were written the three big black characters of Rongguo Mansion.The corner gate, the instrument gate and all kinds of courtyard gates have been painted and new oiled, and on both sides of the corridor, there are pairs of palace lanterns of various colors raised on them, just waiting for the lights to shine brightly on New Year's Eve tomorrow.

"Girl, I've got the new money." The two wives bought by Du Yun'an's family are very capable, and now Yun'an relies heavily on them for outside affairs, so Du Zhong bought their family members who were in Yaren's hands as well. Temporarily arranging to do things at home, the two were even more grateful.

It was Mrs. Hua who was responsible for this. She had only one son. The mother and son and Aunt Tang were all refugees from other places. Mrs. Hua's son was a good boy, but he was injured by a wild animal because he was looking for food for his old lady on the way. Ren Yazi saw that he couldn't sell it, so he ordered him to do extremely heavy work all day long. Being bought by Du Zhong was regarded as saving his life.Aunt Tang’s next daughter and grandson were in the same situation. When she fled, her daughter made a fool of herself for protecting herself, while her grandson was born dull and slow. Ten years ago, the mother and son were driven back to Aunt Tang’s house—— Among a group of refugees who had nowhere to go and sold themselves, these two women also became the goods that people smashed their teeth into.

Mrs. Hua and Aunt Tang are capable and neat people. They work extremely hard. They originally wanted to get a few months of rewards to support their families. Within a month, I was exhausted and starved to death.The two of them, Mrs. Hua and Mrs. Hua, did not expect to meet the Bodhisattva who survived. They only did it for half a month. Wan's loyalty has been dedicated, and I will do my best to do things.

"How much did you exchange? But a lot of money?" Yun An asked.

"I exchanged 18 taels, and they are all high-quality big money, brand new." Mrs. Hua replied, "We exchanged it late, and the price has increased a lot. Originally, fifteen or six taels of silver could be exchanged, but now It has risen to [-] taels."

"It's because we forgot about it, we'll be there early next year." Yingchun said with a smile.

Yun'an asked to bring all the twenty hanging coins into the living room, and a wooden box weighing hundreds of catties was brought in, and Mei Yue hurriedly brought in the silk thread basket as well.

"There are also ten small coins, which are new coins picked and laundered by the money shop themselves. They are not expensive. It is still six renminbi silver for one small coin. The two items add up to a total of 24 taels of silver."

Granny Hua made it clear, and she made clear calculations. The minted money and thin money exchanged are brand new and good money.After she reported the matter, she went down to work again.

Xuelu added silver frost charcoal to the big smoker on the floor, put the smoker back, and sighed, "This flower mother is really capable and sincere."

Xue He also said: "That's not true, she was a little timid when she first came here, but it's only been a while, and she has become so promising." At that time, some people laughed at the two mothers who were rude and had never seen the world. , but now they stand up, they are no worse than those decent daughter-in-laws in charge, and they are more honest and willing to work.

Yun An laughed and said, "One is that she has a good character, so we saw the right person; the other is that I already know the market, and they know this in their hearts, so they won't want to be greedy to fool me."

After thinking for a while, Yun An said again: "If I don't understand at all and just rely on trusting their character to let them do things, I will do it again and again. If I keep letting it go, no matter how busy a gentleman is, he will change. Everyone has it." Selfish desires. For example, in the last years of the previous dynasty, I heard that an egg in the dining room of the palace grew from five taels of silver to 20 taels. Thousands of taels, and millions of silver are used for the dining room every year. Whoever listens to such a rare thing now can call it absurd, but the last emperor thought it was normal for more than 20 years. All around..."

Daiyu thought for a while, then Fang nodded and said: "The reason is simple and understands everything, I never thought about it."

Yingchun also said: "Internal affairs and external affairs, you will not be afraid if you understand..."

Before I could say a word, Sister Feng's laughter came from outside: "Oh, those of you who have ink speak differently, and I want to thank my sisters too!"

The three sisters hurriedly stood up: "Sister Feng."

Xifeng smiled: "Sit down quickly."

Sitting down around the smoking cage again, Mei Yue brought a cup of hot ginger and jujube tea to Sister Feng.Xiuju carried a large copper pot to the second floor, behind her Xueyan Xueying carried a food box with two stacks of shallow white porcelain bowls, calling the daughters-in-law who came with Sister Feng to drink tea in the back room to keep warm.

"I just did a few things with my wife, and it was the New Year's Eve. My wife was in a bad mood and asked me to take care of many things. You have also seen our grandmothers who are in charge here. They are so tricky, ma'am There is still time to play tricks, not to mention my young daughter-in-law, I really can't make a mistake, but they dare to fool you if you make a mistake! I just said that if you want to find a way to deal with it, there is no kingly way Yes, I have thought about it a lot in my heart, but it is only vague and unclear."

Sister Feng clapped her hands and said: "Borrowing your literary words, this is a word that awakens people in their dreams! In the past, I asked them to do things, and when I gave them orders, they said 'old rules'. 'Second Mistress did not do it properly'. But if I do something that has not been passed, when it is time for them to find out many old regulations for me to choose to implement, these ancestors will keep silent, and you have to ask them to answer. What kind of old accounts are you pretending to be digging up, I'm busy every day, and I don't have enough time for them to waste time!"

"This exchange of favors naturally follows the old rules, but it doesn't matter whether it's favors or we eat and use at home, there is a principle of 'following the market' for things. I didn't expect this at first—I will call people everywhere tomorrow. Inquire here, and within ten days and a half a month, a new list will be made, and the accounts of the accountant will be cleared one by one according to the list. I will also see if they are still stubborn with me!" Sister Feng sneered, if they would She listened to her body and listened to it, and she didn't care about it when it was 01:30. If she still charged up and put money like this, she would really have to dig out the old scores accumulated over the years.

Thanks to Yun An for his knowledge, he hurriedly reminded: "Be careful, it's not a joke to offend everyone." Xu Xutuzhi is right.

Xifeng held her hand and said with a smile: "Good sister, I understand the principle of 'killing a chicken for the monkeys to see'. As long as they don't go too far, I'm happy to live a peaceful life."

After talking for a while, Sister Feng leaned comfortably into the soft rabbit fur, looked around, and sighed: "My sisters live a comfortable life, I am so envious."

What Xifeng said was not polite words: the small hall in the middle of the second floor erected the east, west and north walls with gauze cabinets, and built a "door" with a large floor-to-ceiling moon hole in the south. With two plum vases, the whole hall is arranged into three pieces.There is a large round table and embroidered stools in the middle.On the west side, there is a big square couch with no tents against the wall, imitating the layout of the kang in other people's houses. On the kang table are scattered Go, Jiulianhuan and other toys. Snack box.On the northeast side, there is a large copper stove with four legs sitting on the ground. Three plush couches surround the smoke cage. There is a Baibaoge of the same height, and a large rosewood table is placed in the large area to the south of the low couch, with wooden chairs behind the table, calligraphy and painting vats in front of the table...

On the desk, there is a quaint Boshan furnace with light smoke curling up, matching with the red plum branches at the entrance of the Moon Cave, it is a faint cold fragrance.Xifeng put the hand stove on the low table on the couch, took a sip of the sweet ginger and jujube tea, stepped on the warm foot stove, and almost sank into the thick long rabbit fur. Second Mistress Lian half-closed her eyes, drowsy——

"Grandma, it's my wife's name." Ping'er raised the brocade curtain and came in.

Sister Feng was startled, and laughed and scolded: "You fried shrimp can't wait for the red ones, you're so deadly, you scared me!" As she spoke, she was about to leave.

The three Yingchun laughed: "You tell us what you are doing here, and it's not too late to go!"

Sister Feng tapped her forehead, "I'm so busy and confused, teach me that I forgot the business!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the two boxes that he had asked his servants to put on the round table just now: "The old lady issued an order last night, saying that since the sisters have established a yard, they are the masters of the yard. This is to prepare the sisters for tomorrow. Rewards—who knew that after listening to a few words from you, I realized that the old lady was worrying too much, and my sisters thought of it by themselves."

Yun An and the others laughed and said: "Sister Feng is troubled. Thank you, old lady, for thinking about it. We didn't think about it at first. It's not just today that we asked someone to do it."

Sending off Sister Feng, Yunan left Ping'er to have a cup of tea before going.Xiuju opened the two boxes, and saw that one contained a box of purses, the other contained new money and two handfuls of various silver ladles that were smaller than what the ladies usually get.

The three little sisters looked at each other, and Yingchun took out a Ruyi-style gold locket from her purse, and asked Chi: "Old lady, is the lady using a seven-coin locket for rewarding people?"

Daiyu covered her mouth and smiled: "I don't know. If it wasn't for today's release, I wouldn't even know about big and small money."

Yun An also didn't know that the three of them took care of their own affairs in the yard for the first time, and they were all very attentive, so they asked them to call them by 戥子.Sure enough, the golden scorpion that welcomes the spring is worth seven coins, and the ones that are prepared to be rewarded by them are worth five coins.

"The old lady sent so many pears, but it's really not very useful." Ping'er said with a smile: "Except for the nannies in each house who can get this top-notch reward, the rest are only given new money. Besides, they are very close." Thick girls, it's just a pair of rewards from the sky."

"There is only the second girl's wet nurse who hasn't been released yet, but I heard that the mother has blushed - there's no need to give it away, there's no reason not to pay New Year's greetings and come to receive the girl's favor. The mansion is good enough for these wet nurses." Be lenient, I rewarded them with money and things as soon as the twelfth lunar month came, and told them to prepare for the festival, so the old lady said that in the future, those who do not serve her brothers and sisters during festivals will not be rewarded." It turned out that the story of Wang Nai's hair loss came In the ear of Jiamu, the old lady became angry. Baoyu happened to have never had this disease, and it would be unlucky if she contracted it during the New Year's Day.

Yunan didn't separate the three, so he ordered Siqi Xiangling to count the two and lock them into the kang cabinet opposite.

Ping'er smiled and watched them discuss and act, and felt that these three sisters were like direct relatives, much better than Zhiyuanzhai and Luweitang.Both sides also got two boxes of things, which were sent by her and Yuanyang Hubo.

Miss Bao and Miss San in Zhiyuanzhai were very humble, but Miss Shi's eyes were red, and she said that she remembered the old things in the past—that is, she was not so thoughtful in the past years, and Ping'er just sneered in her heart. They all lived with the old lady, and those who served them were rewarded by the old lady, but the three girls surnamed Jia also treated them the same way, so Miss Shi could have no grievances.

Ping'er didn't notice the behavior of the eldest grandma in Luwei hall: they sent it, and grandma Zhu directly asked to put it away for tomorrow's use, without asking the fourth girl a word.The fourth girl is also the master of the yard, but she has no control over her own yard, and she doesn't know whether it is good or bad.

Ms. Yun'an's place is the best, Ping'er thought, and then she laughed again: "Ms. Lin knows about big money and small money, so Ms. An must have taught her!"

"Except for her, I'm afraid others won't understand." Du Yun'an didn't mind his background, so Ping'er didn't shy away from it.

Daiyu pursed her lips in joy, and Yingchun also nodded.After Siqi finished counting the silver coins, he continued, "Not just the girls, even I didn't know that there are such sayings about those copper coins that look almost the same."

Siqi counted with his fingers: "The big money is made by the imperial court. This kind of money is rare, and we have hardly seen it. A sling can be exchanged for seven or eight dollars in silver. The ones that are usually used are minted in various provinces. The fineness varies, but they are all inferior to making money, so they are called small money and thin money, and now a penny of small money is exchanged for six renminbi of silver—I am also surprised that these small money and big money are about the same size and weight.”

Ping'er laughed and said: "I also heard from her before that it turned out that we used small money on weekdays, and the money was rarely made and difficult to exchange. It was only during the Chinese New Year that the adults gave the children the new year's money so they went to the money shop specially. It was exchanged at a high price—but in a family like ours, the girls’ New Year’s money is all gold and silver, so there’s no need to exchange it for a lot of money to give rewards to the subordinates.”

"I'm telling you to be more knowledgeable and down-to-earth!" Yun An said angrily.

"Down to earth?" Daiyu asked.

Only then did Yun An realize that he was bald, and said: "You all have a fairy air, how can you make such fireworks in the world, I am kind, and I will mix in some business affairs for you It's just right if it's tacky." Then La Ping'er weaved money dragons with multicolored silk thread.

Ping'er chuckled: "Fortunately, the old lady is afraid that Second Master Bao will get pissed, so he is not allowed to come over, otherwise Second Master Bao will have to say 'bad talk' again."

Girls use silk thread to string up big money, or weave it into the shape of carp, or make it into a wishful shape, and even make a money bat if it is complicated.While listening to Ping'er tell an interesting story about Baoyu this morning: "Ms. Shi and him are playing Nine Links. Miss Shi said, 'Study hard after the festival, and come back next year when you will be born'. Who knows that Baoyu The second master became demented, snatched the Nine Links from Miss Shi's hand, and threw them on the ground, not caring about Lao Gao who was splashed by the broken jade slag, picked up his feet and left. Miss Shi No matter how hard she looked, she had to pack her bags and go home, but Hu Po and others persuaded her with good words, and she was sent back to the Zhiyuan Zhai. The old lady asked about entering the palace on New Year's Eve and the first day of worship today, but she didn't know yet. Well, I will worry about it when I find out at night..."

Ping'er made up a carp, saw Yun'an's hands flying, and made a big butterfly out, he hurriedly said with a smile: "Keep this for me, I'll kowtow to the girl tomorrow, and reward me then."

Everyone in the room laughed, Xuehe, Meiyue, and Juju also started looking at the patterns made by the girls, one said: "Give me the carp one." The other said: "Good girl, this sweet-scented osmanthus flower I like it."

The angry Daiyu said to all three: "You guys make it up soon, or I won't give you a string."

Yingchun said to Xiangyun again: "Sister Yun is still crying? Why don't we go and have a look later?"

Ping'er just laughed: "Sister Yuanyang and I sent boxes to their yard just now, and Miss Shi is ready." It just happened again by borrowing the old lady to prepare reward money for the girls.

Ping'er blinked quietly at Yun'an, and Yun'an knew that Ping'er was telling her not to wade into the muddy water over there.

After sitting for more than half an hour, Ping'er had no choice but to leave. Yun An personally sent her out and asked, "How are you doing?"

Ping'er had a sore nose, and she calculated in her heart that Mrs. Li had recognized Yun An as her daughter for only a month, but she felt that it had been a long time.

Seeing her appearance, Du Yun'an hurriedly stopped her and asked, "What's the matter?"

Ping'er quickly wiped his eyes, and said with a smile: "Didn't I remember that the two of us used to stick together, but now that grandma is busy, I follow her, and it's even rarer."

Yun Ansong breathed a sigh of relief: "This is the first New Year's Eve since Second Grandma came in, and she has taken over a lot of housework. If you can't be careful, everything will be difficult at the beginning - after the Chinese New Year, even if I let you stay for a few days, Second Grandma will not let you down." Right."

Following Ping'er, she was called Sister Feng's second grandma, and she hadn't changed a bit from before.Ping'er sniffed and smiled: "That's a deal. By the way, don't forget the butterfly-shaped money string I asked for just now."

"Our yard is still the same." Seeing that Yun An was about to come up and pinch his cheek, Ping'er hurriedly changed the subject: "As long as the second master is out to do things, it will be quieter."

Seeing that there was no one around, she whispered again: "You knew about the matter in that courtyard. Little trick, Second Master...I'm afraid that Second Grandma will find out one day, and she will die of grief?"

Yun An then understood, it must be that Jia Lian and Xi'er have fallen in love, or it must be Nong Nong who is the housekeeper.

"I'm also worried. It's not good to hide it from grandma, and it's not good to tell her."

"Don't you." Du Yun'an shook her head. Between Sister Feng and Heping Er, she unconsciously turned towards the latter: "If you can hide it from the first day of the new year, you can't hide it from the fifteenth day. Whoever bumps into it will be unlucky! Second Mistress is furious. , but I can't remember that you have a heart for her. You are so busy every day that you feel it. Do you still expect others not to know that the second grandma has now taken over these family affairs, and her waist is getting harder and harder. I'm afraid she will die soon Somebody made an ear report to please God—you better think about how to pretend you don’t know, so as not to blame you.”

When it was about Ping'er's heart, the two of them felt sorry for Sister Feng again, and after sighing, Yun'an said, "Second Master Lian is not quiet and unruly, if Second Mistress can't stop his flamboyant thoughts, this time In the end, except for the second grandma who saw it clearly and looked away, otherwise this kind of anger still exists."

But Ping'er said: "Xi'er is in a daze! She belongs to grandma, but she is angry with grandma with outsiders. As long as we are honest, the second master won't make grandma sad..."

Du Yun'an is not optimistic: Without Xi'er, there are others.Just thinking about Jia Lian's dirty and stinky meat, Du Yun'an couldn't help but shake his head.

"The busiest time is over, I'll borrow you from Second Mistress." See if you can avoid the turmoil in Dangui Garden.

The two talked for a long time before going back each other reluctantly.

Back in the small hall, Yingchun stuffed a cup of hot tea: "You didn't hold the stove, it's been a while, warm it up!"

Du Yun'an's eyes sparkled, and Ping'er's words triggered a sense of crisis. There are many men in this world who are unreliable, and it is only right to rely on themselves: "Mei Yue, take my plan!"

"What kind of hysteria?" Daiyu asked.

Yingchun shook her head: "What's wrong?"

Yun An said: "We can't just sit and eat!"

Daiyu nodded: "It's freezing, and it really is hysterical."

Yunan waved his hand, asked the big girls to take over their work of weaving Qianlong, pulled the two of them to sit behind the desk, and planned to show them: "Only this New Year's exchange, each of us will use To go to August Liang, it is only calculated according to the monthly money, which is our monthly money for four months. There are also money for rewards and occasional purchases outside... I used to manage the accounts of the second sister’s house, and I know that this year each I’ve spent all the money I’ve planted, and there’s almost no money I can save—except for a dozen or so gold and silver prunes that I have to keep in my purse.” But these prunes will be touched by Yingchun’s wet nurse for better later on, this time The silver that Yingchun took out to make up the rewards was a golden coin.

"It's the same for me, thanks to my elder brother who sent me the bag of silver." Du Yun'an has two monthly silver, except for the two taels given by the Rong Mansion, which is the same as other girls, Mrs. Li sent someone to send twelve monthly money every month It's just that this one is put together with the silver ingots that Mrs. Li gave her at the bottom of the box earlier, and it will be returned to others in the future.

It's strange to say that Du Yun'an never touched the money sent by the Wang family, but he used the two or two months' money issued by the Rong Mansion calmly. Even a handful is worth it.

What Du Yun'an was thinking at this moment was: Seeing that the Rongguo Mansion is gradually making ends meet, if they don't make some income for Yingchun at this time, do they have to wait until Jia Amnesty sells his daughter for 5000 taels?

"Although you don't have to worry about these money and economy, but when you go home in the future, do you want Uncle Lin to finish his official duties and then take care of family affairs?" Yun'an looked at Daiyu with a sense of guilt in her heart, as if she was putting It's like the fairy on the cloud pulling into the mortal world.

Daiyu was just pursing her lips and laughing at her, but she was stunned when she heard this.Yun An strikes while the iron is hot: "You just talked about internal and external affairs, and it is only serious if you understand it first. Don't worry about it now, don't we just care about the house for the rest of our lives? Besides, we don't need to worry about a penny or a penny with others, just Let yourself gain some knowledge and experience, so as not to be deceived by others."

Yingchun is well aware of Yun'an's painstaking efforts, among the three little sisters, only her purse is the emptiest, not to mention anything else, if it weren't for the ability of Yun'an's family woman this time, she would not be able to exchange copper coins even if she had so much gold and silver. Tomorrow, when the masters of the courtyards give rewards to their servants, just wait and make a fool of themselves.Yingchun understood very well that it was because of Sister Lin that the old lady thought of sending rewards and purses to the courtyards. If Sister Lin lived with the old lady back then, such a good thing would not have happened today.

"If you don't sit and eat, how can you increase revenue and reduce expenditure?" Daiyu picked up a brush and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to save money, so we can only increase revenue."

Yingchun and Daiyu knew that the medicinal wine from Du's family was very good, and relying on this to support their family, they absolutely refused to get involved in this matter.

So Daiyu thought about it, and came up with an idea: "I still have some spare money, why don't we buy a few shops. I heard before that a shop can get dozens of taels of rent every year."

The corners of Du Yun'an's mouth twitched, this rich man—"When I first saw our little sister, I thought she was a fairy sucking wind and drinking dew, so I also know about rent."

It’s just that there is no need to mention such open source strategies. Although Du Yun’an has the idea of ​​earning some money to settle down in the future, the most important thing is not to make money, but to find a useful chore to do, a project that the three sisters plan together For the sake of eye-opening and mind-opening:

"We want to settle this matter. It's not too late to discuss what to do." Yun An said: "Since we are going to do this, we can't just know about these things in the boudoir. It's better to start from the next year." Just start reading the residence newspaper?"

"Dibao?" Yingchun and Daiyu said in unison, why did they fly to the Dibao again?

Du Yun'an took it for granted, no matter what time it was, making money was inseparable from the implementation of policies. For example, their brothers and sisters combined medicine and wine, and it was also because this dynasty couldn't help but brew alcohol privately. Otherwise, they would break the law if they left it in the previous dynasty.

"'There are thousands of bells in the book, and there is a golden house in the book'!" Du Yun'an pointed to the inner study room of Rongguo Mansion that she had secretly coveted for a long time: "There is no needle and thread in the first month, let's go through the book, the book is serious Lots of good stuff."