Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

In less than half an hour, the girls were urged back by their respective families, and they were still gathered in the small courtyard, all happily looking for someone to talk to.

Du Yun'an carried a bag that was rounder than the others, and found a shelter from the wind to stand in the sun. When others chatted with her, she listened with a smile, and occasionally responded with a few words.

A dozen or so girls, big and small, gathered in one place, naturally chattering endlessly.I just waited from the middle of the day until the sun was setting in the west, but I didn't get a few daughter-in-laws in charge.

No one else is better than Du Yun'an, Du Zhong's brother ordered a meal at the nearest restaurant early in the morning, and when Du Yun'an came out, he didn't care about his discomfort, so he drove the carriage to the restaurant a few streets away for dinner.Du Yun'an's stomach was hot, but he didn't feel uncomfortable.

The palace was built on the outer edge of the west city of the capital. The further you go, there are more and more residences of the royal family and nobles. This area is also mostly official residences, and the nearest tea shop and restaurant are far away.The Du's family had pre-ordered meals, and their family was a horse-drawn carriage with a fast pace, which filled Yun'an's stomach; but the other families only cared about being happy, and they couldn't think of eating, except for a few young ones. I couldn't help being hungry and ate the dry biscuits brought by the two family members.

After waiting for two or three hours in vain, the girls were already hungry and their mouths were dry.What's more, because of nervousness, I didn't even eat a few mouthfuls of the morning meal. Now I'm sitting on the platform, and I can't bring up the excitement before.

"Why don't these housekeepers come here? Didn't they forget about us?"

"There is no one in this courtyard, and the door is locked. If we are left here overnight, we will be frozen!"

"What's going on? Why don't we go out and ask..."

That's the way it is said, but these are all family-born children, but the family has always taught some rules, and there are no such people who really want to be the first bird.

It wasn't until it was dark that the lanterns and candles in other places were lit up before we waited for any movement.

The daughters-in-law in charge wore thick cloaks and their sleeves were wrapped in warm blankets, and a group of young maids and old women came in with lanterns.

Seeing a dozen or so girls huddled together like frozen quails, the leading daughter-in-law looked normal and said with a smile: "We are late, in fact, we just had a very important errand." "Fortunately, we all remember You guys, hurry up and hurry up, fortunately, I didn't delay everyone."

The girls in this group all had disheveled faces, pale from the cold, and replied sparsely: "Aunts have worked hard."

The daughters-in-law laughed and said: "It's almost night, don't waste time, hurry up and finish the charter, you should go to various places."

There was a little girl who unlocked the upside-down room and lit the lamp shop for delivery. After the stewards sat down, Fang said, "Open the packages you brought and have a look, then get the bath beans wrapped in oiled paper, and then get the bath beans." Clothes and shoes."

"This is for you to wash your hair and body the first time you enter the mansion. Make sure to wash it clean. Don't make fun of those petty people. In the future, there will be a routine for each individual every month. There are also clothes, shoes and socks If it doesn't fit, change it yourself. If you don't know it, no matter if you ask for help or take monthly money to buy needlework, you can make it fit neatly for me, and if it's loose, ask the manager to see it and throw it out. Don't blame me for not reminding you! "

Du Yunan thought to himself: Hitting a stick for a jujube, and drying it for a few hours in the spring is naturally a disgrace, but now you have to wear a full set of clothes on the first day of entering the mansion, isn't it just a sweet jujube?

Sure enough, I saw some blue satin bundles neatly stacked in the inverted room, and there was also a basket of oil paper packets on the table.The girls jumped up again, holding their own burdens and trying to squeeze in front.

There were a dozen or so people in total, and the inspection was very fast. Except for the clothes that the two of them brought in their bags, they didn't look like they were thrown away, the rest of them were similar.In addition to clothes, some brought extra incense powder, some a few pieces of snacks, and a few bags with small purses.The daughter-in-law in charge didn't open the person's purse, but only looked at the owner of the bag for a while, knowing that this kind of situation must be easy for the family, so she naturally wanted to recognize her face.

Du Yunan's burden is heavier because her jacket is made of new cotton and is thicker.The daughter-in-law in charge saw that all the bags she was wearing were of good material, and she also had a heavy purse, so her face became more gentle, and she said with a smile: "Is it the Yun'an girl who was assigned to the needle and thread? Come with me, I just passed the sewing room on my way back."

Du Yun'an was not alone, there were a few others who also got good looks.Du Yun'an paid attention: there are those who are the same as himself, some who are familiar with the manager, and one who has been thrown away but looks exceptionally handsome.

After a cup of tea, the leading daughter-in-law in charge left by herself, ordering the rest of the staff to send the new girl to the place of duty.Four or five maids, including Du Yun'an, were sent to the bosses in person by the daughter-in-law in charge. This means that they value them, and when they go to the local people, they will be more polite to them.The rest is only led by the little girl, Xu Shi can't even meet the manager of the office, so it is inevitable that he will be neglected for a few days.

It's just that the starting point is different, but in the future, I can't be sure, it just depends on the individual's temperament and good luck.

Du Yunan paid a smooth visit to Jin Xiu's house, the manager of the sewing room.Jinxiu's family is a tall and thin woman with a fair face. She took a good look at Yun'an for a while, then nodded and said: "She is a neat and good girl. Even if she is poor in work, she can still be a clothes giver to the master. Poor." Looking at her fingers again, she saw that there were no calluses on her fingertips, and her hands were soft and delicate, and she was more satisfied: "The hands are also good, and they will not hurt the embroidery thread and the cloth."

"The sewing room has several rooms of its own. You are not allowed to run out without instructions, and you are not allowed to rest elsewhere at night, not even your own sister's room." Jin Xiu's family said a few words, and called people: "Silver thread , give Yunan a bed, and give her some sewing and rags, and bring them to me tomorrow."

An older maid hurried forward, took a bag from Du Yunan's hand, and said with a smile, "Come with me."

But it was much better than the Tongpu that Du Yunan imagined, and it turned out to live in a room with Yinxian.The silver thread said with a smile: "It turns out that the colored thread living in this house is old and was released years ago. Later, I added people, and I saw a few, but I didn't want to live with them. It so happened that you came and happened to be with me." one place."

Yun An knew that the girl named "Silver Thread" was a big girl who could be a master in the sewing room, so she hurriedly thanked her.

Yinxian waved his hand: "The sewing room released several experienced hands a few years ago, and many people were admitted. Sooner or later, people will sleep in this bed. I just wanted to catch my eye." A basket was delivered, and there was also a small bundle of rags.

Yun An accepted the thank you, Yinxian smiled and said, "I'll take you to the bathroom in front of me later, you have to change your coat to fit tonight, otherwise Aunt Jin will scold you tomorrow."

This room is not big, with two beds on the north wall, two large vertical cabinets on the east and west walls, double washbasin shelves and small dressing counters.The two beds on the north wall are separated by four green silk screens, and there is a round table and several embroidered stools in the middle of the room.Yin Xian slept on the bed on the east side, and Du Yunan gave the bed on the west side. When Du Yunan looked at it, the bed curtains were clean. She followed Yin Xian's instructions and stepped on a stool to open the top floor of the vertical cabinet. Sure enough, there were bedding neatly placed inside.

"It's all new from the laundry room. I dried it when the sun was good a few days ago, so it's sure to be clean."

The silver thread held the handle.

After making the bed and tidying things up, Du Yun'an's baggage only took up a small corner of the cabinet.She is used to having things at hand at home, and she has no shortage of sex. She just feels that she has few things at the moment, but she has no choice but to endure it.

After taking a bath, Du Yun'an realized that it was a stroke of luck to be assigned to this sewing room: since the sewing room is full of women, there is no need for even a servant, so a spacious place is allocated for use, and there are The bath room, embroidery room, and servants' quarters are not like the kitchen, tea room, and laundry room where people are scattered to sit and live in different places. It is difficult to wash hair and body, and even boil water.

Although this sewing room is not the entire courtyard, but in the southwest corner of the inner courtyard, two sides are the walls of the inner house, not to mention the second gate, not far from the main courtyard and the garden.

The next morning, there was a burst of sunshine in front of the door and window, and the silver thread pointed to the little clothes they had hung in the house last night: "The biggest advantage of this room is that it can bask in the sun. Sister Cai Xian and I managed to hang it together. This rope, in the future, we can hang the clothes washed in the laundry room, or our own embroidery in leisure time, so that it can be warmed and will not be faded by the sun."

On a business trip that day, Jin Xiu’s family caught a glimpse of Yun’an’s well-fitting light blue jacket and brown skirt, and nodded. The stitching was not bad, so he gave a small wooden square card: “Write your name in the middle.” , hang it on your waist, report it to me in time if you lose it, or you will be punished.”

Du Yun'an saw that the front of the sign was pasted with thick silk, and the back was engraved with the three characters "Sewing Room", and there was a "Wang" written in seal script on the upper left corner. The character Wang was small and the strokes were erratic.Yun'an borrowed the pen from the embroidery workshop for drawing flowers, and corrected the three characters "Du Yun'an" on the white silk, and fanned it to dry quickly.

"Are you literate?" Jin Xiu's family came up and asked.

"Back to Mrs. Jin, I know a little bit." Du Yun'an stood up and said.

"Do you know how to use the abacus to count?" Aunt Jin asked hurriedly.

Du Yun'an nodded, and Jin Xiu's family clapped their hands: "Hey, there is someone who can do it! Come on, you don't need to do the work of thread management, come with me!"

As he spoke, he pulled her to a side light room, sat behind a desk, and pointed to a messy table of papers and books: "You first copy the names of those who have received spring clothes from these notes into this notebook, and write Well, let me see." Before the words finished, someone sent a message saying that the wife called for someone, and Aunt Jin hurried to go.

In the main room, Mrs. Li squeezed the incense beads on her wrist, pressed her forehead, and asked with a sigh, "Is the eldest mother still coughing?"

A big girl in silver and red visor hurriedly stepped forward to massage her temples, and replied: "I still cough, and it gets worse at night, I'm afraid it will take a while."

The spring is just right outside, but Mrs. Li feels that everything is not going well:

The first one was a letter from her mother's family saying that her brother, who had been weak and sick for many years, had been ill since last winter. The root cause of the disease was not cured, and he coughed up blood, and the disease became more and more serious. She asked if there was a famous doctor in Beijing.

The second thing was that her dearest and most trusted nanny caught a cold and hadn't recovered for a month, which made her suddenly feel like she lost her arm, and she couldn't even find anyone to discuss some things.

If the first two things made her worry and miss, the last one was a headache and bored: Mrs. Li treated her niece Feng Ge as if she was her own. They sent two old women to whisper in Brother Feng's ears and tell stories, which caused countless troubles for no reason.

Mrs. Li was very tired of her sister-in-law, and she didn't even call her "sister-in-law" in her heart, and her feelings for her niece, Sister Feng, were mostly cold for a while.

The author has something to say: Thank you little angels for leaving paw prints, (▽)～

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