Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

It was the fifth day of May.

Early in the morning, Du Yunan, Jia Yingchun, and Lin Daiyu groomed themselves properly. The eldest sister, Yunan, wore light-yellow makeup and flower gauze jacket, and the second daughter, Yingchun, wore a long-sleeved dress with pink and lotus patterns. The lower body is all wearing the same eight Xiangshui skirts.They all use five-color palace sash pendants to carve five poisonous jade pendants to press the skirts.

"The grass and dew are ready." Mei Yue said with a smile.

The three sisters scooped up the dew with their bare hands and gently brushed their eyes.This is a custom in the capital. On the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the dew of plants and trees is collected to cleanse the eyes and clean the face, which can clear the eyes and ward off evil spirits and avoid eye diseases.

The clean dew is difficult to collect, and in previous years, it was replaced by rainwater or well water, but this year is different, the ladies are in charge of the courtyard, and the ladies in this courtyard are grateful for the kindness of the girls, and quietly opened the courtyard before dawn The door went to the big garden to collect flower dew, and through the efforts of all the people, they got this bowl together.

"You guys also come to wash." Yun An said with a smile, everyone has cleansed their faces, this dew is rare, dip some eyes on the occasion to pray for blessings.

Meiyue and Xuelu simply took the lotus leaf-shaped water bowl to the Baosha hall on the first floor, and dipped everyone's eyes with dew.

Listening to the chattering laughter in their ears, the three of Yun'an presented each other with long-lived strands woven with five-color silk threads in "green, red, purple, black, and yellow", and they wore them in pairs.

Then everyone planted calamus and hung wormwood in front of the door together, which means "Aihupu sword".They also pasted the big and small gourds cut out of colored paper upside down on the door. Yun'an and Yingchun had already gained some stature, and they would be able to walk on embroidered stools. Only Daiyu, who was half a head shorter than her two elder sisters, Holding the snow crane up on tiptoes on the embroidered stool, it was also a hand away from the beam of the door.

"Be careful, don't fall." Yingchun put on the colorful gourds, looked at Daiyu in fear, and hurriedly ordered Siqi to find a high-level player.Xiuju and the others supported her, and said frightenedly, "Young lady, I'll talk about it after I get down."

Du Yun'an jumped off the embroidered stool lightly and skillfully, and told the people surrounding Daiyu to separate, she went in and hugged the little sister's armpits, and easily lifted Daiyu high: "Put it on."

"Big, big girl!" Xue Lu Xue He could stuff a salted egg yolk into her startled mouth.

"Don't be afraid, I'm strong." Yun An raised his face and smiled at Dai Yu.

The gauze sleeves were smooth, revealing half of her lotus arm with her movements, that arm was snow-white, and as expected, no effort would bulge out the veins.

The hands are not too big, and the place where they are bound doesn't hurt, but Daiyu just feels reliable, the little girl quickly put a few gourds in her hands, and said with a smile, "It's done."

Du Yun'an just put the person down, and when Daiyu touched the ground from her big sister's arms, she put her little hand on one place, and unconsciously said, "It's so soft." When she came back to her senses, it was Yun'an's chest and small face. I couldn't help but bring a touch of peach powder.

He decorated the front of the door with his own hands, and everyone stood there to look at it.

"Oh, you are so solemn!" Yuanyang was coming from the corridor, and he could see the beauty of the lotus powder welcoming the yellow and the light veil rolling the lady in front of the door from a distance.

"It's just in time to eat our rice dumplings." The little sisters didn't ask what the mandarin ducks were doing, and said with a smile: "Taste the taste of our cooking."

As he said that, he came to pull the mandarin ducks together and left her for breakfast.Yuanyang smiled and said, "I'll also benefit from it once!"

She came to invite the girls to go to the upper courtyard to enjoy the afternoon. When Jiamu came, she had breakfast with Baoyu, and it was still early.

Sit down with the mandarin ducks down, and the three older ones, Mei Yue, Xiuju and Xuelu, also sit at the table with the ladies.Two other big tables were set up in the hall, and the other big ones brought everyone in the courtyard to sit down to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.

Duanyang Festival should eat "rice dumpling feast", but Yuanyang saw that the food on the table was fresher and more delicate than the old lady's.

Bi Yingying's small rice dumplings are only the size of a child's fist, and seven or eight of them are connected in a string with green silk ribbons; Poria yam cake, mung bean cake, rose cake, Wudu cake, and lotus cake, red, white, and green. The cake pans are very beautiful; the freshest bitter vegetables, zucchini, chrysanthemum, and eggplants that have come down this year are selected and brought in, and they are either stir-fried in cold sauce, or fried with meat sauce or batter; The salted duck eggs are cut into two pieces, and the sweet soup boiled with water chestnuts and peach juice is placed on both sides. In the middle, there are fresh fruits such as cherries and mulberries in emerald plates and glass seas...

"It's stuffed with ham. Did you make zongzi?" Yuanyang ate one and asked with a smile.

"You can get sweet and salty ones, there are more than a dozen kinds, each one on a bunch is different, it depends on what you are holding." Yun An laughed.

Each of these small and exquisite zongzi can only be eaten by three or four mouthfuls, so don't be afraid if you meet someone who doesn't quite fit your mouth.All the people at the banquet got excited and tried their luck. One said: "It's candied jujube rice dumplings, and this is my favorite." The other said: "There are also rose fillings. I haven't eaten such ones before. Good." Sister, please forgive me." Suddenly he said with a smile: "Egg yolk pork dumplings! I'm eating it!"

After a round, none of these people had a disliked taste in their mouths.

Especially the three girls, who have tasted all the flavors: "Good girl, this is red bean paste, would you like to have another bite?"

Yun An hurriedly waved her hand, you feed her a spoonful, and you will be full by the time the table starts.

Daiyu also said: "You just eat it, it's more interesting for us to make it ourselves."

After a while, everyone got up and drank a glass of Ten Immortals wine together.Afterwards, everyone had a good time, which can be called a happy time for both guests and hosts.

After the banquet, the three of Jinlan adjusted their clothes and make-up again, and then went to Zhiyuanzhai and Luweitang together with the mandarin ducks, and went to the upper courtyard with Baochai, Tanchun and other sisters.

These girls are all in their best years, and the water is so tender that they can squeeze water out. Today, they dress up again for the Duanyang Festival.When they came together, Jia Baoyu was dumbfounded at a glance, muttering, thumping and clapping their hands like crazy.

The sisters knew his temperament well, and they were afraid of disturbing the old lady's enjoyment of having a feast, so they refused to talk to him, so as to avoid provoking his nonsense.

Mother Jia laughed from ear to ear when she saw the girls' outfits: "Okay! When I was young, I also made such tiger hairpins and rice dumpling hairpins. It's more interesting than those five-poison sachets and purses! Once upon a time You guys are young, but I haven't seen you for many years."

Yingchun, the eldest among the three granddaughters of Ying, Tan and Xi, smiled and said, "We also made it for our ancestors. I wonder if our ancestors would appreciate it?"

As he spoke, he took the small tray from Xiuju, on which there was a golden hairpin in the shape of a rice dumpling leaf, and the freshest thing was that the hairpin was tied with a bunch of small pendants made of silk, such as rice dumplings, mussels, and gourds.

Mother Jia seemed to like something, and hurriedly asked, "Did your sisters do it?"

Yingchun smiled and said: "The rice dumplings are made by the fourth sister, the gourds are made by the third sister, the cherries, mulberries, and fairy peaches are made by sisters An, Bao and Lin, and the little tiger is made by me. We did not do well, our ancestors Don't be disgusted."

While talking, he showed it to Jia Mu.

Jia Mu looked at it for a while, and immediately pulled off a red gold crested hairpin from her head, and wanted to take it with her.Yingchun hurriedly held up the phoenix hairpin by herself, and went to Baoyu, who came to look at the hairpin in front of Jiamu, to nuzuier. Baoyu knew the trick, and hurriedly inserted it into Jiamu's hair bun.

After putting it on, he took two steps back to see if it was straight, then clapped his hands and laughed: "There is an ancient poem saying 'Yu Yan's hairpin head is light like a tiger'. I didn't feel good before, but now I know his poetry is beautiful! Poems are beautiful, old ancestor , Sisters and sisters, people are even more beautiful!"

Jia Mu said with a smile, "I'm an old loather. Thanks to my granddaughters, I'll be beautiful again!"

While talking, she glanced at Yingchun several times. When did this second granddaughter who used to be ignored by her become so promising?Mother Jia was relieved, she felt that this was the first good thing that made her happy this year.

Mother Jia is old-minded, and she also knows about the three little sisters, Yingchun, Daiyu, and Yun'an, who jointly set up a shop. "The words were ignored, and I even added a bit of disgust to the eldest daughter-in-law Lai who said this, but it was just because her mother-in-law Lai was too old to say anything to her.Nanny Lai described it once, but the more Jia Mu listened to her, the more she became more concerned. She only hated what the old man said. An anemone pendant...

Do you have the nerve to show off the silver earrings?The children of her family can play red gold hairpins!Not to mention that these good children have made blessings by themselves and hung them up.Shi Taijun stroked the golden hairpin on his head, and he was ready to ask Mammy Lai to talk to him when he was free...

Jia Baoyu squeezed in between the sisters, and also wanted the blessings made by the sisters to be tied to the collar.The sisters refused to give it to him, so he nestled into Jiamu's arms coquettishly and foolishly, looking at the string on the old lady's head.Jia Mu patted him and said, "You can do anything else, but this is what your sisters honor me, so I can't give it to you."

On the couch, Jia Baoyu acted coquettishly like a twisted candy, and Jia's mother burst into laughter.In the end it was Baochai who couldn't see how many, so he took one or two from his own hairpin and tied them on his collar.The green rice dumpling, purple mulberry, etc. are sandwiched with the pleated and shining psychic gem, which is full of wildness, and Baoyu bows his head to fiddle with it from time to time.

Underground Sister Feng also made fun of it, and deliberately pulled Chang Yin'er and sighed: "With the ones on the head, the ones on the wrists, the waist, and the feet are worthless! What can we say? Go, go! One For the meeting, I will only offer two cups of wine to my sister-in-law, so that we, who don’t cause pain, will get drunk—perhaps the ancestors in the dream also used the five-poison sachet and the colored shoes to drive away the five-poison Come and praise us once!"

As he said that, he took a look at Li Wan and asked her to come and make fun of him too.

I saw that all the sisters in the flower hall were all dressed in bright clothes and smiling at the right age. Li Wan alone was wearing a half-old duck egg green long beige, and seemed to be out of his mind. At this time, Fang smiled and said: " If the smell of alcohol poisons the sisters, the ancestors are afraid that they will kill two drunks, wouldn't it be more like "sprinkling salt on the rice with eight treasures", adding more will not hurt!"

The two of them sang together, causing the laughter in the hall to spread far away.

Because Jia's mother said that she would set up a small stage in her yard in the afternoon, and invited Aunt Xue and You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of Dongfu, the girls had a good time.So the sisters in Yun'an may not be free at noon, because they made an appointment to go to the "Dragon Boat Festival" at this time.

The so-called "Dragon Boat Festival" means that on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the girls in the boudoir pick roses, durians, jasmine, calamus and other seasonal flowers, or put them in vases or flower baskets, and place them in front of the corridors of the house, taking the meaning of their fragrance. .

Mother Jia is so happy today, it's natural for the girls to display their skills to play with flowers and plants.There was Yinger in Baochai's house who could weave flower baskets, so she said, "Why don't we work together to make a big flower basket for the old lady?"

All the sisters agree with each other.

Just when there was a grand scene in the garden of Rongguo Mansion, "cardamom and jasper are so beautiful, weaving flowers, weaving grass and crossing the lotus wind". Watch a hundred or so good men riding horses and shooting willows.

Du Zhong and Song Chen had already shot a round, and now they are resting in the shade.

"Why don't you see your elder brother?" Du Zhong looked at the people on the horse from a distance.

Xie Jing is young and promising, handsome and dignified, just like the favorite courtier today.Although Du Zhong was not in the same camp as him, he had heard about the reputation of this Xie Yujing, and it was thanks to him that he and Song Chen were able to join the bandit suppression team last time.At that time, the three major battalions were about to transfer their troops, and Xie Jing, who had taken the post of deputy general at that time, lit the general banner where their brothers were.

It was also because of Xie Jing that Du Zhong and Song Chen were able to be pioneers and made great contributions.Especially Song Chen, he has flaws on his face. Although this dynasty does not require officials to have scars on their faces like the previous dynasty, but the future is limited. Go up and face the holy time.Because Song Chen was really good at martial arts, and it was only the first time he was appointed, the Shangguan in Tongzhou Daying did not depose him.Unexpectedly, Song Chen was a very brave and ruthless person. Not only was he not so frightened that his legs went limp, but he also became the leader of the bandits as a vanguard.

Xie Jing made sure that Song Chen's first contribution would not be left behind, so the ten members of this team were summoned by the holy majesty who came up by accident... Song Chen and Du Zhong were promoted to a hundred households, and they also saw how much Xie Jing was favored by the imperial court.

"He's in mourning again." Song Chen also looked at the venue.

"Watching the funeral again?" Du Zhong was surprised, he heard that Xie Jing had just come out of filial piety not long ago, so why did he attend the funeral again.Besides, Xie Jing's marriage was delayed because of continuous filial piety. Has the Xie family been bereaved year after year?

Speaking of this matter, Song Chen shouldn't show any expression. Most of Xie's family live a long life, and funerals are all joyful rewards. He has never seen those grandparents and grandparents. Even if they are fake sons of Xie's family, Song Chen Chen also couldn't show a sad look, at most he quietly sympathized with his elder brother.

"The great-grandfather of the Xie family not only has many sons, but also many brothers. This time, it seems that the great-uncle and great-grandfather are gone, and the great-uncle of the later son also went."

Du Zhong did some calculations in his heart, his great-uncle and great-grandfather took four servings, and his great-uncle and grandfather took three servings, and none of them gave five servings. Fortunately, these are far away, and the time of serving filial piety is not long.

After he finished thinking about it, he heard Junior Brother Song say leisurely: "The Xie family still has a lot of long-lived uncles, grandfathers, cousins..." There are at least a dozen more, and the oldest one has already passed away this year. year.

Du Zhong touched his nose and mourned for Brother Xie for a while.

"Song Chen!"

"Eucommia!"

"Get ready to play!"

The two brothers hurriedly dressed and got on the horses, their backs straightened, and the two horses walked side by side, followed by five of their subordinates, and the twelve horses were divided into three rows, so even the saint upstairs was attracted.

Jinjin squinted his eyes and looked at it, pointed to Song Chen and asked, "This is the one who made the credit, what's his name?"

Song Chen turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the birthmark on his face left some impression on the emperor.

Immediately, Minister Wu smiled and said, "It's called Song Chen. He's Xie He's stepson."

Today raised his eyebrows: "Is that kid Xie Jing's younger brother? Sure enough, he has some demeanor of his elder brother!"

At this time, all the ministers who are standing here are envious and regretful, they only hate that Xie Jing is not his own child.Xie Jing is not in front of the imperial court, but the Holy Majesty can still remember that when others mention his name, the Holy Majesty only refers to him. These two people are not the same father or mother, what kind of brothers are they!The saint's heart is too biased...

Even though everyone knows that civil and military affairs have always been leveled, everyone can see that the saint loves military officials more in his heart.This is especially uncomfortable in the eyes of the third prince. I am afraid that the old man will not choose him as "Prince Wen" because of this, but prefers the other two princes who also practice martial arts.Glancing darkly at the generals present, the third prince saw that he was an honorable dragon son, but he didn't even have a seat close to the emperor in the first row.

"Okay!" Looking through the binoculars today, he suddenly slapped the railing and applauded.

The ministers also responded one after another.

"Who's the other leader?"

Wang Ziteng smiled and said: "It's Song Baihu's fellow apprentice, named Du Zhong." Good boy, it's only been a while, and he showed his face in front of the saint. The extraordinaryness of the nephew born with jade is more real.

"Order them to hang a few zongzi on the tree, and see which one shoots the most, and I will reward you!" Now ordered the eunuch next to him, and immediately a little yellow door rushed downstairs.

As soon as the blue flag was raised in the field, Du Zhong and others immediately reined in and waited.

……

Afterwards, in this field, Song Chen took the first place with seven shots, Du Zhong scored six shots, and the rest all scored.The emperor ordered the rewards of cloth, tea, and folding fans, etc., which are also the thickest in Song Chen, followed by Eucommia, and the rest will not be repeated.

Let’s talk about the post-shooting banquet, not only the ministers of civil and military affairs, but even the 20 people with the best performance in the field were also rewarded to enter the jade platform for the banquet.

But because of this, a small accident happened.It turned out that the sage ordered the craftsmen of the inner palace to carve out a set of glass jugs and wine bottles to celebrate the Duanyang Festival. The number of people added by the officials of the inner palace and the chief eunuch at that time did not include the twenty newly added people.Even if the Inner Palace made ten spare sets, they dare not send them up at this time.

Twenty people, only half of them have wine jugs and wine bottles, so it's better not to use them at all.

It's just that today it shows the meaning of having fun with everyone, even the wine vessels he uses are the same, even if these twenty people are brought gold bottles and jade pots now, I'm afraid it will make the sage feel uncomfortable.

"What should I do?" One of the little yellow gates was friendly with Xie Jing, and at this moment he raised his mouth to Song Chen tremblingly.

"If not, why don't you just use the wine jar?" Maybe it would be bold and informal, so that everyone escaped punishment.

When Du Zhong and the others looked at the wine jar, there was someone with a head as big as it was full of fine imperial wine, and it was quite powerful.It’s a trivial matter to use wine jars, but if anyone is drunk, it’s a big deal to lose one’s manners in front of the emperor—since drinking from wine jars, there’s no reason to take small sips. .

"I don't drink well." Someone said in a low voice, this is not the time to hide, one mistake, everyone will be in trouble.

Du Zhong's mind was spinning, and suddenly he saw the green lotus leaves in the lotus pond of Yutai, and his eyes lit up: "Let's drink in blue tubes."

Song Chen reacted the fastest, and immediately bent down and folded off a stalk of emerald green lotus leaves. Eucommia poured the clear wine, and a young man who was equally beautiful and handsome reached out and pulled out the jade hairpin on his head, and pierced the center of the lotus leaf. Song Chen bent He handle, suck out a sip of fine wine from the end.

Everyone else followed suit.

Twenty young and handsome men drink from lotus leaves, the long handles of which are bent into the shape of elephant trunks. Once they drink up the good wine, they will replace them with a new lotus leaf, which is elegant and interesting.

Your Majesty saw the lotus leaves glowing with water around the young gentlemen here. At first glance, there was an illusion of drinking on the lotus field, and I saw that they were chic and elegant, and they were in harmony. You pour the wine for me, and I pierce the lotus heart for you, and occasionally touch the lotus leaves. Someone who knows how to play even picked a few pink lotus petals for everyone to put in the blue tube.

"It's still interesting for young people!" The Holy One laughed loudly, "Come on, let's try it too!"

Immediately, there was a beautiful Gong'e picking lotus leaves by hand, and presented them to all the adults.And the sixth prince had already jumped down himself, picked the biggest and greenest one and folded it to the present himself.

Now the corners of his mouth twitched secretly. It seemed that the sixth child had never played such elegant things. Such a big lotus leaf was not only difficult to hold, but also easily leaked the wine.The third, fourth, and fifth princes also personally folded the lotus leaves for future replacement.The third prince was determined to compare with the sixth prince who had taken the lead, and after a while he picked a bigger one; the fourth prince took a quick look, and chose a fresh and small one; I picked up seven or eight lotus leaves and piled them all up on the old man's case, as if he wanted to use quantity to win.

Then these dragon sons each took a branch from Gong'e's hand, and then Gong'e poured wine, and Gong'e pierced the heart of the pedicle.

The Holy Majesty was a little less interested - what he wanted to see was that his sons would help each other like the sons below him, even if they only acted like brothers and sisters.Who knew these bastards were so annoying!

But... the fourth child is so cold-faced and cold-faced that he is so elegant.After taking two sips of the lotus leaf picked by the sixth child, I changed it into the smaller one from the fourth child, and said with a loud laugh: "I added a lotus fragrance, it really is even better!"

"I wish you good weather and a clean river!"

"it is good!"

... From the beginning to the end, the third prince glanced at the lotus leaves on the dragon table from the corner of his eye, seeing that the Holy One had taken too many sticks, but the one he took off and presented was still there.The third prince held a breath in his chest, feeling more and more uneasy.Although he kept pace with everyone, congratulating, toasting, talking, and changing lotus leaves, his mind had already flown away, so he didn't notice that all the ladies in the palace gave them small lotus leaves. The lords picked the smaller ones as much as possible, and no one used the big and old lotus leaves to make green cups.

After having fun with his subjects, the sage returned to Daming Palace.

Song Chen and Du Zhong, the twenty young men, received two more rewards, and even the officials from the inner government and the Huangmen came to speak kindly to them once, and the rewards of all the people were actually the best among the same. gave.

With a slight smell of alcohol, the brothers and sisters still had two days off, so they were not in a hurry to go to Tongzhou, so they went back to the small house in the capital together.

At this time, the hole in the wall that Song Chen pierced has been repaired by capable Lu Bo, who has invited craftsmen to build a moon hole.Song Chen looked at it for a long time and was very satisfied. His two elders followed him to the next door to rest, but Song Chen himself opened the door of the east chamber familiarly.

Seeing his behavior, Du Zhong rolled his eyes angrily, his teeth felt sore, his fists were itchy, and he wanted to beat someone up again.

It's just that Uncle Du thought and thought, and finally held back.

Lu Bo is an old man, watching the excitement from the sidelines for a while, Fang quietly asked his uncle: "Did the uncle agree with Master Song?"

Du Zhong glanced at the old man, and after a while he let out an unwilling "hum".

"Oh! Great news!" Ruburt was overjoyed: "Where can I find a good person like Brother Chen who knows the basics, is affectionate and capable!"

Is this called "Brother Chen"?Du Zhong gave Uncle Lu another sideways glance.

Half of these words came to Du Zhong's heart, his Japanese was really angry, but the more he thought about it when Fatty beat his junior, the more he felt that "it's not bad".The life experiences of their brothers and sisters are as strange as a mess. Du Zhong must find a real and reliable person before entrusting his sister to him, but——

"This matter depends on An An's own wishes." Du Zhong asked Ruburt softly.

Ruburt's face was full of joy, and he said again and again: "Naturally, naturally. I originally thought that the eldest girl of our family would live in someone else's house. The eldest girl is so good, don't let others play with the marriage - now my brother thinks There are a few, and my wife and I are relieved."

Yun'an and Lu Po fell in love with each other, and they were like grandparents after a short time together, Du Zhong knew it.At this time, listening to Ruburt's words, my heart felt warm, and I felt a little relieved.

Fang thought for a while, "Perhaps this kid is really good", and saw his good junior made a big bag, and said to Ruburt very naturally, "Please send someone to send it to Sister An."

Du Zhong stretched out his hand to look through it, and it really was the reward he got today.

The good brother's face turned dark immediately, and he squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "No need, the younger brother can keep it for himself. I'll give it to An An."

Song Chen glanced at his senior brother, pointed to the cloth on the top, Mingqian Longjing and a jade bone fan, and said calmly, "These senior brothers haven't got it yet."