Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

What a 'marriage'!

Yuan Chun shed a lot of tears behind her back, but she still had to show gratitude and openness in front of others. In order not to bring trouble to herself and her family, she couldn't even let others see that she was crying.Especially in front of the people who came to congratulate the palace, Yuan Chunqin looked at their unconscious expressions of envy and jealousy, and he really wanted to die.

It stands to reason that King Shui Rong of Beijing Jing has a gentle temperament and a beautiful appearance. He is indeed a good husband that the palace people dream of.But that is for ordinary court ladies, these are selected from folk 'good families', most of them come from poor backgrounds, it is a hundred times better to be a concubine for the king of Beijing than to be trapped in a deep palace service or leave the palace to marry someone at the age of one.

Jia Yuanchun was very different, she was a female official with noble background and high grade.There are many situations in the court where noble women like her act as female officials. For example, the female ministers in charge of documents and auxiliary affairs in the queen mother's palace, Zan Shan who accompanied the princess and the princess to study, etc. are mostly the daughters of officials' relatives—— Once these women entered the court, if their parents and relatives did not ask for grace, then the royal family would actually have to consider some responsibilities for their life, and "giving marriage" was one of the ways out.

However, formal marriages are basically limited to the royal family and the clan, and the most important thing is that marriages are given to regular wives.When ministers and relatives get married, they add solemnity to show the glory, and occasionally ask for a marriage, but this kind of honor and courtesy is very difficult to ask, and the family that is not worthy of honor and favor consciously avoids showing respect.In addition, at most, the emperor or the empress had the idea of ​​being a matchmaker for a close courtier, and then gave the marriage.Marriage is a great ceremony for marrying two surnames and inheriting the lineage. Courtiers are not servants of the royal family, and even the emperor has no reason to give marriages casually.

This marriage of Jia Yuanchun sounds like a "gift", but it is actually a "gift", just like a patriarch giving a beauty to a guest.In doing so, the Empress Dowager treated her as a servant like an ordinary palace servant and just gave her away.If it hadn't been for the fact that the queen had fallen in love with the daughter of Wu Tianyou, the servant of the household department, and told her to be the fourth prince's concubine, Jia Yuanchun's face would have fallen to the ground and been trampled on.But the queen asked for grace in person, and gave that Miss Wu a royal title, so that others could call her "Second Concubine".

In fact, Miss Wu should be the "wife" under the second concubine after passing through the door, while Jia Yuanchun can only be called "Jia Du Ren".Duren means palace lady.

Ms. Wu can still have some simple etiquette to get married from home.When it comes to Yuanchun, you can only go to the "auspicious day", and you can be carried directly from the corner gate into the Beijing Palace by a small sedan chair.

"Auntie!" Yuan Chun's pent-up grievance surged up after seeing Mrs. Li, threw herself into Mrs. Li's arms and cried loudly.

Yuan Chun grabbed Mrs. Li's sleeve and cried, "What's the reason for this?" A few years ago, her uncle and aunt handed her a message, telling her to be patient for a while, and after the seal was opened, they would take her home in style.

Mrs. Li's face was pale, and she hugged her eldest niece and couldn't stop rubbing her. She felt distressed and angry, and she couldn't help but shed tears: "My good boy, your uncle and I have already made arrangements, and even Jinfeng's grades are given to you." I got it. What's more, your uncle personally picked a man to be his niece and son-in-law..." The queen empress had already acquiesced, who knew that Lin Er'er made a fortune later, but the most hated one is that stupid woman of Du Wang's family!Not only did he harm his own daughter, but he also hurt Wang Ziteng's face--is Wang Ziteng honored to have his eldest niece made a nameless concubine for someone else?

No matter how angry Mrs. Li is, it's inconvenient to say more about this kind of thing that a mother is more ruthless than an enemy.It's just that Yuan Chun couldn't bear it and asked all the way like a dead end, did he tell her.

Now that she said it, Mrs. Li didn't hide it for Wang, and told her niece all the things: "...your mother only wants to send you to the royal family and try her best to win favors, but she has many ways. The [-] silver that the Rong Mansion put in Zhen's house was all given to him as a love interest, and Princess Beijing was wooed... and the old concubine Nan'an was invited under your grandmother's name, and these people also said that they invited Zhen Concubine. But my child, you are in the Queen Mother's palace. No matter what, you are the people under her hands first... Our mother and I said a bad truth in private. In the Queen Mother's heart, who can compare with all the people in the world? Concubine Zhen is even more hateful?" Your uncle recommended you to the Empress Dowager's palace that day, isn't it the result of his checks and balances.

Mrs. Li wiped her tears with a handkerchief: "Your mother pulled in all the help she could find, but she just didn't think carefully, but we are so miserable if you have the ability to hide it! Now your grandmother is ill, but fortunately your uncle There is still a little bit of noodle left before I can hand in the sign and enter the palace to see you... Good Yuaner, it's too late to say anything, my aunt just advises you to relax and don't torture yourself."

In just a few days, Yuan Chun lost half a circle of weight. At this time, his face was covered with tears, and he bit his lip desperately to hold back his grief.

After a long while, Yuan Chun choked and said, "I've worked so hard for the past few years and haven't achieved their expectations. I know my wife's heart, but why doesn't she want to think about the failure of the past few years? Now that I've passed a good time, how can I pay back?" Can withstand the good fortune she wants! For the kindness of her parents' upbringing, there is nothing to say even if I endure it for a few more years-but Auntie, now I..." In the future, she and his wife will hold the tea tray behind the curtain. What's the difference between Auntie and others?

Seeing that such a girl who was usually as dignified and dignified as a peony flower was about to wither now, Madam Li was afraid that she would not be able to find her, so she could only try to persuade the King of Beijing with some kind and talented words.She really thought about this niece: "It's not like this for the prince of the county... When you have children in the future, maybe the prince will be willing to grant you an imperial order."

As soon as he said this, Yuan Chun was grateful and sad: "Auntie, you know that the prince of the county is not weak, and I am two years older than the prince?" Not to mention the princess of the county who married at the beginning of last year.

At that time, people said that long husbands and young wives did not seem to be considered suitable for men and women based on their ages.The second girl Zhen and the king of Beijing are like this. Speaking of it, the second girl Zhen will only be 16 years old this year.

...The ladies talked for a while, and the palace servant who was close to Yuan Chun knocked lightly on the door twice, signaling that it was almost time.

Mrs. Li and Yuan Chun had no choice but to clean their faces and make up, and use powder to cover up all the traces of crying.Before leaving the palace, Mrs. Li had to go to the main hall of the Compassionate Ning Palace to bid farewell to the Queen Mother.

Yuan Chun was reluctant to let go, and at the moment of parting, he suddenly took Mrs. Li's hand: "Auntie, who is that person?"

Mrs. Li didn't understand at first, but she understood after seeing Yuan Chun's eyes, and sighed: "This is the end of the matter, it's just hurting to know. Good boy, let's not ask."

"Who is it?" At this time, the stubborn side of Mrs. Wang hidden in Yuan Chun's temperament was fully revealed: "I must not give up. My aunt told me that I will also end my previous 20 years. In the future, I will only appoint Boil it."

These words make life sad, Madam Li's eyes were hot, she blinked hurriedly, not daring to delay any longer: "It's Xie Jing, the eldest grandson of Marquis of Dingcheng." After finishing speaking, Madam Li left in a hurry.

"Xie Jing?" Yuan Chun pressed the name under the base of his tongue and looked up, but couldn't stop the tears rolling down on the ground and breaking into several petals——Mother, uncle is looking at Xie Jing , what shortcomings do you have?Does it have to be the son of the phoenix and the grandson of the dragon to give up!Are you satisfied with the result now...

In the main hall of the Palace of Compassion and Ning, the Empress Dowager did not see Madam Li, but her maid in charge said that the Empress Dowager was tired, and ordered Madam Li to stop outside the hall and leave the palace at her own convenience.After Mrs. Li left, the mother-in-law went into the palace to return to the palace. The Empress Dowager Geng closed her eyes and said with a sneer, "What am I afraid of now? I'm just waiting for their good show."

The nun didn't persuade her, although the queen mother's move was inappropriate, but it was a trivial matter that had nothing to do with the overall situation. As long as she didn't repeat it again and again, the Holy Majesty would not care about it.

Now that the power in the palace is divided into three, the empress is naturally the biggest, but to hinder filial piety, the empress dowager and concubine Zhen must be allowed to be more.As for the empress dowager and concubine, Concubine Zhen is the one who holds the real power, while Empress Dowager Geng has only one status. However, Concubine Zhen, the new and old grudges are heavy and heavy, but now she takes advantage of Yuanchun's incident to let out a sigh of relief: Isn't this Concubine Zhen of Qingning Palace trying to use this kindness to win Prince Teng? , she had to send her to the niece's husband's house in Qingning Palace. She was waiting to see if the Zhenjia family could be as close as ever, without any grievances or grievances?

----

"You did it?" Song Chen looked at the big brother in front of him who was not in good shape and who was drinking at his house.

Xie Jing cried out for innocence: "I didn't act like that!" It's one thing not to want to marry a girl from his family, but it can't hurt her for life.

"I... at most contributed to the flames a little bit." Xie Jing rubbed his nose, embarrassed: "Just a little bit. Originally, I found out that Mrs. Jia Er didn't want to marry her daughter to me, and she was trying hard for the clan , your eldest brother, I just pushed the boat along the way and secretly helped... Unexpectedly, the seat of Xingping County Prince and Concubine is in front of you, and these people can smash the entire chessboard because of 'the matter is not confidential'!"

Xie Jing kept shaking his head: "I can't help it!"

But in the end, I owed that woman a little, Yin pulled his brother's clothes: "I said, do me a favor."

Song Chen looked up at him, guessing in his heart that something must be wrong.

He just heard his elder brother say: "I have prepared 3000 taels, please put the silver bill in the gift for her cousin to add makeup to your sister from the Du family..."

"No." Song Chen stretched out his hand and pulled back the hem of his clothes, and stood up: "No discussion."

"Why can't it work? When her cousin enters the Beijing Prince's Mansion, doesn't the Rongguo Mansion give her a gift and ask her to keep it inside?"

Song Chen refused to cause trouble for Yun An, and he still refused.

"Just tell her cousin that Mrs. Wang lent the hand of her adoptive daughter to her niece, and it won't cause trouble for your sweetheart." Seeing that his brother is not soft on him, Xie Jing squinted his eyes and threatened: "I made one for you. The opportunity to talk to others, if not, I will knock on the door next door and ask to go in person!"

Song Chen's face was frighteningly dark, knowing that his elder brother really dared to do this, he had no choice but to reluctantly agree: "If there is no chance and it is not appropriate, these 3000 taels will be used as flowers for me." Leave it to Du Yunan when you go out.

Xie Yujing, a guerrilla general, laughed angrily. His brother is thicker than the soldiers under his command.

"I thought of the way to cure that Jia Rui for you, and I found the person for you. When you cross the river, you will tear down the bridge..." Xie Jing pointed at Song Chen and scolded with a smile: "Believe it or not, after the girl knows Avoid you!"

Randomly throwing away the purse containing the silver bills, and stuffing the silver bills into his sleeve pocket, Song Chen stood up, as if he was seeing off a guest, and he was about to go out: "Brother, walk slowly, I won't send you off."

Xie Jing picked up the purse with his toes, blowing the dust, and still tucked it indiscriminately: "You are quite stingy." It is just an ordinary purse without a mark, so there is nothing jealous about it.

……

Next door, Du Yun'an was helping Du Zhong pack up the last bit of salute. Tomorrow, Du Zhong and Song Chen were going to enter the Tongzhou Camp, and they were not allowed to leave the camp for the first three months, so Du Yun'an entrusted Sister Feng to send them home quietly today.After staying for a while, she has to go back to Rong Mansion.

"Brother, I've heard about that 'Uncle Rui', is it you..." Yun An thought for a while before asking.

It turned out that Jia Rui had a huge scandal recently, and the girls in her boudoir heard about it.

According to the custom at this time, the New Year's Day is not over until the day when the dragon raises its head on the second day of February.On the second day of the second lunar month, the common people of aristocratic families have many festivals and customs, and there is also a habit of "sacrificing literary fortune" and "smoking insects" for books in the school.

Because Jia Baoyu, a descendant of the direct branch, entered the school, this year the Jia family's family school is particularly solemn—regardless of the previous generation, Jia Baoyu's generation, Jia Zhen is ignorant, and Jia Lian and Jia Zhu above him invite professional teachers to teach them. Yes, although he had hired a teacher before, he was indeed the first direct branch to enter the school.As a result, Jia Zhen allocated [-]% more money to the family school, and the tea and rice served in the school were upgraded. This made Dai Ru also aroused some energy to arrange the family school well.

Dai Confucianism not only held a ceremony to pray for literary luck and smoke bookworms, but also specially invited Jia Zheng and other literati to watch the ceremony.

Unexpectedly, he finished the work in a high spirited manner, and the students in the school were also very upbeat. Jia Zheng and others all answered well in some papers and essays. A woman from a non-virtuous family rushed forward and hugged Jia Zheng's leg, who was surrounded by the crowd at the front, and shouted at the top of her voice, "I beg the elder to make the decision."

"It is said that Jia Rui deceived the woman to save the money for her redemption. Jia Rui said that he would collect the rest of the money to redeem her in a few days. The woman waited hard, but unexpectedly Jia Rui never came to her again. .” Yun An looked at her brother's expression.

Du Zhong didn't know about it yet, and he was surprised at the moment, so why did Jia Rui's grandfather discipline him so strictly, and he turned out to be a prostitute—this is the first person Du Zhong thought of, don't be dirty His sister's reputation.

"What happened next?" Du Zhong asked.

Yun An saw that it really didn't look like his brother's handwriting, so that's all.In fact, she was very happy that Jia Rui was unlucky, and she couldn't believe that Jia Rui would dare to go to Sister Feng's side with such a shameful face after such a scandal, and Rongning Second House would not allow him to enter the threshold.Besides, I have less hidden dangers and troubles.

"Perhaps it's the end. That woman was very aggressive. She tore Jia Rui's scarf in the street, and it was the same as hers... Jia Rui couldn't deny it. He almost pissed off his grandfather, and shocked the second son of the Rong Mansion." master……"

In fact, Yun An didn't dare to say many things in front of his brother: it's not just a sweat towel?The prostitute whose nickname is Peach Red wraps her chest in an identical large peach red crepe scarf.Although it was winter, it was shocking for her to pull out the handkerchief with body temperature on the spot, and it was precisely because of this that this incident was widely circulated, and many old ladies in Rongfu cursed and complained in private.

"Brother, don't worry, no one else knew about that incident, but now that something like this has happened, his family dare not bring it up." Yun An curled his lips: "That old man beat the one who should have been beaten to death He himself was tired and sick, so Master Jia Er asked him to take care of him. The Confucian old lady begged to see Sister Feng, but Sister Feng refused to be favourites. Instead, she complained to the old lady, and the old lady sent After that, tell them to send them back to their hometown in Jinling as soon as possible."

Not only Jia Dairu was sick, but Jia Zheng was also sick. Because the prostitute made a special move, and Jia Rui's grandchildren had no money, she just rolled around and refused to let the old men who were present at that time go away.Especially Jia Zheng, who seemed to be the richest and most dignified, had a bad luck. He was called "the master is the master" with his clothes pulled. Only then did the prostitute get away.

Du Zhong still didn't want to feel relieved: "Then when will the grandpa and grandson's family leave?" Before leaving, they had to be guarded by someone, and An An must not get involved.Gaining wisdom by eating a ditch, Eucommia is terrified after discovering it, and dare not trust it anymore.

"It's just a few days." It wasn't his brother's handwriting, Yun An believed half or half of the fact that Jia Rui cheated his lover's money, and he couldn't help but feel a layer of disgust in his heart.

In fact, because Taohong said that she was cheated by Jia Rui with the money she had saved to redeem herself, most of the rumors were sympathetic to this prostitute, even Jia Zheng and the others couldn't find an account with her. Later, there was basically nothing to do with this woman, but Jia Rui was made up as "Ximen Qing" and "Chen Shimei" like "Ximen Qing" and "Chen Shimei", which made Jia's family school famous.

"Okay, I don't have anything to do here. The house I bought in Tongzhou has also been tidied up, and it's near Daying." Du Zhong didn't allow Yun'an to worry anymore: "Brother remembers everything you said. When I'm free, I Go around the nearby villages and towns with you, Brother Song, and buy a good Zhuangzi when you come across it."

This is the big deal in her family!Yun'an immediately became concerned: "I'm afraid it's hard to find a piece of land. Brother will buy it when he sees a good field. It's okay to save it and replace it with others in the future. If there is a small hill with no big wild animals, brother will also buy it." Buy one for me, we sisters are going to do business."

"Business? Don't have enough money?" Du Zhong immediately said, "I'll ask someone to send you the monthly money from the wine shop."

Zhou Gong Centenary Wine and Changchun Wine are selling very well, Jiuxianju wished to come to remind them every day, how could Eucommia and Song Chen have the time to drink together every day, so they made a contract with Jiuxianju to use these two medicinal wine prescriptions Having invested in shares—it can be regarded as having gained the honor of Mr. Xie, the brothers exchanged these two prescriptions for the shares of Jiuxianju, a century-old brand.Jiuxianju was afraid of the backer of Song Chen's stepfather and stepbrother. Although the contract was complicated, it was roughly fair, and both parties cooperated sincerely.

Du Yunan still has other wine recipes in his hand, and this is also an opportunity to unload those cumbersome things - besides, although these two wine recipes have become shareholders, they did not give out the small secret recipes for concocting medicinal materials and combining medicines. The quality of the blended medicinal wine is still slightly higher than that made in wine shops, especially the one made by Du Yun'an himself, which is even more top-notch.Therefore, Jiuxianju has to add a clause in the contract. Every three festivals, the Du family will put together a batch of top grades and sell them in wine shops...

"Brother! It's not a lack of money, you can leave our girls' affairs alone!" Yun An acted like a baby: "It's not that we do it ourselves, we're just looking for something to do."

It's rare for his sister to be coquettish, what can Du Zhong say, the purchase of the mountain has already been planned in his mind, he thought, and he should try to buy it as close as possible to Beijing.

Du Yun'an was already richer than her elder brother Jia Song for the few volumes of calligraphy and paintings that were divided, so the little girl was also very proud: "Brother picks out the ones for us to buy, and we will pay for the mountain tops ourselves!"

"Okay." Du Zhong suppressed a smile.

"Senior brother." Song Chen was outside, and lightly knocked on the outer door of the main room.

"Come in quickly." Du Zhong came out from his own room on the east side, and said with a smile, "Your elder brother is worried about you when he enters the camp tomorrow."

Song Chen sighed in his heart, it's really nothing, he's here to ask for trouble.

"My elder brother wants to ask sister An for help..."

After hearing the whole story, Du Yun'an felt a little more fond of this Xie Jing who didn't remember his appearance, which is a rare character.

----

"Have you sent a car to pick up Sister An?" Sister Feng asked Ping'er after sitting down to take a breather.

Ping'er laughed and said: "Grandma asked this for the second time, and she has already picked it up. I sent four women, four little maids to press the cart, and four other handlebars with the cart, which are comparable to The person who went out with you—grandma, don’t worry? I know that grandma loves my sister, but I don’t know that Miss An is grandma’s own daughter!"

"I'm just asking a question in vain, and I'm calling out your sour words!" Sister Feng scolded with a smile.

"Then why is grandma so worried about Miss An? I don't usually see you treating Master Bao like this."

"You're playing tricks again! Get up with 'you' and 'I'!" Sister Feng laughed and said, "You are usually considerate and thoughtful, why are you confused about this?"

Ping'er thought about it, and asked with a smile: "Could it be because our wife wants to give Ms. An to the young master of the clan? That's right, Ms. An will be the brother-in-law of grandma's natal family in the future."

Sister Feng naturally understood that the "our wife" she was referring to was her aunt, so she smiled and said, "It's not just this. Think about the decoration in the small building behind the flower hall that day, all white rabbit skins, isn't it?" Is it very similar to Sister An’s living room in Pingming Building? I asked Sister Song, that’s where Auntie is now in charge—when did Auntie use rabbit skin, it would be strange if it wasn’t for Sister An’s filial piety!”

"She is filial. She not only uses it, but also likes it like that. She has laid it in the places where she lives every day. Good girl, think about it, Auntie really loves Sister An!" Sister Feng played with her nails and smiled: "Sister Yang and I The age gap is a bit older, and there is a faint relationship between the sisters... I will rely on my natal family in the future, maybe I will rely on Sister An!"

Ping'er covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed straight away: "Grandma is thinking about it, but I can't do it anymore. If I have a hundred hearts, grandma will have 1!"

Both master and servant couldn't get along and laughed at each other.

Before he stopped laughing, Shun'er outside reported, "Madam told grandma to go up."

Sister Feng stopped smiling immediately.