Dowry maid's daily life [Red Mansion]

In just a few months, the marriage of Shuangyu and the marriage of gold and jade have all come to naught. These two good girls, Baoyu, who are rare in the world, have no relationship.It was impossible to get married, and Mother Jia had to start thinking about other families, because the etiquette of marriage in aristocratic families was cumbersome, and it took several years of work. Unless it was a family that wanted their children and grandchildren to establish a career before getting married, most of them made plans early.

There are many men who get married after crowning, but those who have already completed the first "five rituals" are just waiting for their relatives to welcome them.There are those who really wait until they are 20 years old to revisit their marriage, but such princes and grandsons are really rare, and this marriage is not easy to do. For example, Xie Jing, who has been delayed for so many years because of his filial piety, at this time It's just not long before the aristocratic family who started to see the son-in-law has many daughters.Even if there is someone who likes him, he still needs to wait for a few more years; and those noble ladies whose age, family status, and character match are already married.

Jia's mother was afraid that Baoyu would also fall into such a situation. Besides, Jia's family was not as prosperous as Xie's family, and Jia's mother would not allow Baoyu to delay severely, so she became a little urgent.Furthermore, although Mother Jia felt that she was in good health, as the old saying goes, "Life is rare in the past seventy years", she is also an old man of seventy years old. Enjoy your old age with peace of mind.So this New Year's Eve, unlike previous years, Jia's mother would not come to congratulate relatives, friends and guests. Not only did she show up at the New Year's wine invited by Rongfu, but she also accepted the New Year's wine invitation from other families for the first time. In fact, it's about the girls in Xungui's family.

The old matriarch has not been in charge of things personally for many years, but this time she realized that she is really old and unable to do what she wants.Baoyu's marriage is not easy, don't look at him as the No. [-] young master in the Rongguo Mansion, and the whole family holds it in his hands, but taking it outside and actually showing it to the bride's family is actually a big deal. The most embarrassing kind of being out of touch.

In terms of family status, regardless of the glamor of the Duke's Mansion, in the end he is just the son of a fifth-rank official.The big house Jia Amnesty is the one who will inherit the title, and Jia Baoyu is only the son of the second wife. What's more, when Jia's mother passes away, the signboard of the Duke's mansion will be removed. By then, Jia Baoyu will be the nephew of the first-class general at most. Son.In terms of foundation, in terms of etiquette, Jia Baoyu is actually not as noble as Jia Lan, the eldest grandson.In terms of personal talent, there is not much to say. Since Jia Baoyu entered the Imperial College, he has really added a lot of help to the wave of dandy students in the Imperial College. .

Such a person with ordinary family background, foundation, and talents is really not a good son-in-law candidate in the eyes of mother-in-law in the world. The only outstanding ones are appearance and family property.There is no need to talk about appearance, but Mother Jia deliberately revealed this property, saying that after a hundred years, [-]% of all her family members will be left to Baoyu alone.

Jia's mother's move is really exhausting. She only encourages women who maintain the airs on the outside to get married, but Jia's mother looks down on them.In the homes of girls with all four corners in her heart, but they are all blindfolded and refuse to hold a piece of precious jade.Mother Jia is of high seniority and status, she has never received so many overt and covert rejections, but within ten days, she has endured them all.Even the young lady of an imperial merchant that Jia Mu cared about, her father and brother are very capable, so she tends to marry the officials of the Neifu and Honglu Temple, and she doesn't think much of the only member of the Ministry of Industry, Wai Lang Sheng Lang. Just Jia Zheng who has been wasted for many years.

Shi Taijun couldn't do it, so he had to give up in Beijing for the time being, and turned his attention to the noble families of outside officials, especially the wealthy families originally from Jinling.So I couldn't help sighing: "If the Zhen family is okay, the third lady of his family is a match for Baoyu."

Mother Jia sighed here, but she didn't know that her eccentric behavior had already offended many people, and even planted countless seeds of disaster.She was also used to saying one thing at Jia's house, and it became a habit to be biased. She really didn't expect that the partiality of her own family only in the mansion, and the partiality of voluntarily showing it outside and admitting it all over the capital are actually two different things.The most important thing in the family is justice, even the Supreme Emperor dare not reveal which son he prefers, let alone Jiamu, the old lord who has the final say in the Rongguo Mansion.

The death of the old prince Yizhong taught the Taishanghuang the truth of a bowl of water, but Jia Zhu's early death failed to make Shi Taijun understand.

So it's no wonder that Jia She talked about his dissatisfaction, and often took advantage of the wine to ignore the outbreak of the situation, which became ten times more absurd than before.Even Sister Feng, who has always been considerate and filial to Jia's mother, complained to Ping'er in private: "Could it be that Baoyu is the only son and grandson?" It’s all right to count on Baoyu to climb Mount Wutai alone, I’m afraid I’ve given the ladder to others, but this one is useless, after all, it’s up to those descendants who don’t feel hurt!”

"Besides, I have to make arrangements for Baoyu at this moment. Could it be that I can't remember the second girl who is a few years older than Baoyu at all? Once Baoyu's marriage is settled, the elder sister above will delay him, and she will probably mess around Choose a family to marry the second girl, and with such a heart for Baoyu, she is so cruel that she refuses to give her granddaughter a little bit!" Sister Feng hugged her sleeping eldest sister and said bitterly, "I know from this, The words that the old lady said about loving her granddaughter even more are not counted, even the girl raised under her knees is like this, let alone my eldest sister!"

Ping'er didn't know how to persuade her, so she just said: "After this New Year's Eve, I realized that the aristocratic family discusses marriage affairs so cumbersomely, and the ladies that the old lady looks at are all younger than the second girl! The eldest girl in this family doesn't do anything. Counting, but it's the second girl's turn, so why not worry, if we delay any longer, how old will it be to finish the six ceremonies for the promise of marriage?"

Sister Feng sneered when she heard the words: "In general, there are only two simple marriages in aristocratic families. One is to get married in person, and the other is to be in a family without etiquette and rules. Baoyu's marriage is pressing, and you have to do it before him. The second girl who is married can't be an old lady, so she can only take the simple path of etiquette, or marry into a relative's house, or marry someone who has no rules. The relative's house, because of me, the Wang family has died. Not included, the historian has no suitable man, only Xue Da fool is reluctantly included. If you marry low, then you are probably relying on your ancestors' old foundation, looking for a military man with a half-job in the army... What a pity Second girl's character!"

For a while, Ping'er was also anxious, and hurriedly said: "How can this be done! After all, the second girl is also the sister of the second master, and the aunt of our elder sister. If this is married to someone indiscriminately, what will happen to the younger sister? Besides, the second girl She also gave grandma a lot of ideas, and we can't do business without the help of 'Jin Fengrui' and the three girls." Ping'er is the person who knows Xifeng best, and she doesn't care about her sister-in-law. I only speak from my own body, and it hits Sister Feng's heart.

Xifeng was also worried.Not only the relationship, but the conflict of interests can't be ignored. Sister Feng knows her own affairs. The three private shops that she valued the most depended a lot on others. The new ideas and goods of the three sisters over there were all If she hadn't been left behind, she would be such a ruthless villain, and she would not dare to watch the golden Buddha fall into the fire pit.What's more, Wang Xifeng has always been a protector of the true lineage of the Wang family, and she can distinguish between inside and outside. Yingchun, Yun'an, and Daiyu are drawn into the category of 'insiders' by her.So Sister Feng lowered her head and thought for a while, then said: "The old lady doesn't care, then we will take over by ourselves. According to your second master's friendship, although you can't climb to any high-ranking family, you can find a good person after all! It's better than a bastard like Xue Da fool." People are strong..."

It's just that Jia's mother didn't forget about welcoming the spring. On the second day after Sister Feng's master and servant spoke, Jia's mother called Jia Amnesty and Mrs. Xing over: "Don't be ridiculous all day long, and put one or two serious things in your eyes." I don't expect you to be an official, and I don't advise you to take care of your health. After all, I just ignored you when I said it. Now I only have one thing to tell you. The girl has grown up, and this marriage should be a good one. I'm getting older, and my energy is not getting better day by day, so I don't care about it. Why do you guys feel so relieved? A girl's life is such a big deal. Time doesn't wait for anyone. You still need me Old Bones reminds me!"

But it is better not to forget than to forget.

——Jia Amnesty was very dissatisfied.He has a little wife on the left and a little wife on the right. He has bought countless antiques. His private treasury has already run out of money. Since last year, there is not much money left in the private house left to him by his grandmother. , so Jia Amnesty could not help arguing with Jia Mu and her own ideas, and then said how to eat more and occupy more. He heard that the old lady said outside that [-]% of her money was given to Baoyu.Hearing Jiamu's words now, she said with a smile that was neither light nor serious: "The second girl is so lucky, I can't afford the old lady's love for her."

Mrs. Xing is the most obedient by nature, she is used to following Jia Amnesty, so she just said in her head: "Last year before the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was a Young Master Sun who proposed marriage, so I just accepted the post. Before I can order the official matchmaker to come in and talk, the old lady won't let me in." I asked. We thought maybe the old lady had a charter, so we didn't dare to ask about the second girl again..."

Before he finished speaking, he was forced to stop talking by the staring eyes of Jia Mu and Jia She's mother and son.

Jiamu has listened to all kinds of nice and polite refusals these days, but she doesn't take offense at the blunt words of such a stupid woman as Mrs. Xing. She doesn't want to talk nonsense with Mrs. Xing. ?”

After all, Jia She was afraid of his mother's power, endured the injustice, and said with lowered hands: "My son will make plans for the second girl when he finds out."

Shi Taijun thought that his second granddaughter would be better off, so he told him in vain: "Be sure to plan carefully, the second girl is very good, don't wrong her."

Jia She forced a smile and said: "There are quite a few nephews in our family's acquaintance's family who are married to each other, so they must choose a good wife to live up to the old lady's kindness."

When Jia Mu heard this, she just let it go, and waved them back.

But this Jia Amnesty is a very confused person who doesn't know what is good or bad. He is angry in his heart, but Jia's mother is here to make a matter of welcoming the spring, one for the spring and one precious jade. difference.Jia Amnesty got into the wrong place, and after spending a few nights with his newly bought wife, he didn't know whether he thought it up or listened to someone else's instigation, and at a banquet he revealed the tone of choosing a son-in-law: "There is a man who owns the property." Almost, as long as he can come up with a dowry gift of [-] silver, he will consider choosing him as his future wife.

Just as Jia Lian had been instructed by Sister Feng, he was still choosing his brother-in-law among the princes and grandsons who had friendship with him, when he suddenly heard the news, he was dizzy and jumped angrily: "Master, you are selling your daughter like a poor family! I have become more and more the laughing stock of the capital!" After speaking, he was so ashamed that he couldn't even leave the house, so there was no need to invite some old friends of the king and grandson, and he hurried home.

When Sister Feng heard what he said, she panicked too. While persuading Jia Lian to inquire if there were any powerful people who really rushed over, she hurriedly reported to Jia's mother.For the girls, Sister Feng dared not tell Yingchun about the incident, fearing that she would lose face and could not withstand such a blow, so after thinking about it over and over, she had to order Ping'er to quietly tell Yunan, who had already made a marriage, to know.

----

The three Jinlan sisters could not spend this New Year's Eve together. Daiyu and Yingchun were both at home, and Yun'an was more constrained in the city because of her marriage, so she moved to Zhuangzi.Coincidentally, because Mr. Chen was impatient to do bureaucratic articles, he also hid in the Zhuangzi bought by Brother Du Zhong for Chen Ziwei. The three Zhuangzi were already in the same place, so Mr. Chen still took Yun An to live there.With the presence of female elders, the restraint on Yun An's head was loosened again, and it was rare to have a relaxed and comfortable year.

As soon as the Lantern Festival was over, Lin Ruhai sent Daiyu to stay for a while. Mr. Chen Laoxian understood the righteousness and knew the dogma of "a widow who is dead and the eldest daughter is not taken, and there is no precept for teaching", so he was very happy to accept it. Promise face to face: "I like these two children very much, they are no different from my own granddaughters, I will teach them well, don't worry."

Exactly one year later, the turmoil of the emperor's Zen position has subsided. Years ago, brothers Du Zhong and Song Chen were promoted to official ranks based on meritorious deeds. He was transferred to Kaipingwei.Fortunately, these two people were not prominent in consecutive promotion to the second level, so they had a good time in the village: because King Kang's conspiracy was involved in a lot of things - he was given the posthumous title of "Kang", and it is rare to find this one today. "Kang", the posthumous posthumous method is "high without people, knowing existence but not dying is called Kang". "Thinking" and other posthumous posthumous titles with sympathy and sympathy, and the word "Kang" that was rarely used before, can be regarded as appeasing the Supreme Emperor, but also secretly expressing the meaning of not being ashamed of being in the same company-today, it is terrible for brothers. On the one hand, he can't be so open-minded towards the rebellious courtiers. Although he didn't kill indiscriminately, he did depose a large number of officials, and most of the men who replaced him were young and strong.It is well known inside and outside the country that the present-day prince was a man of practical work when he was a prince, so the Supreme Emperor has nothing to do with the crying pleas of those old officials who are now "rewarded and raised" in the name of understanding.During the year when the old sage was concentrating on his health, the imperial court took on a new look. The trembling old officials disappeared, but the momentum of the vigorous and energetic young officials started from the capital and gradually expanded downwards.Brother Du Zhong was sandwiched between the promoted generals, although they were beautiful, they were not eye-catching.

It's just that Song Chen will lead 3000 people from the former Tongzhou Camp to be transferred to Kaipingwei in February, and the journey will be hundreds of miles away. Even Eucommia is not as strict as before.

Song Chenyun'an, the little son and daughter, can talk and take a walk together without having to bear the eyes of their elder brother.

This day was February [-]nd, Song Chen was about to leave, he specially asked his elder brother's permission on that day, and invited Yun'an to his village.

It turned out that there was a family in Song Chen who raised a very beautiful Linqing lion cat. In Dongyue, the mother cat gave birth to a litter of kittens.

Because the tiger cub has been raised wild in the village, senior brother Du Zhong often takes it to hunt, so although the big black dog loves to rely on Yun'an, it is no longer able to accompany the little girl like it used to: Before going out, I only spent a cup of tea time before going out, and then I ran to have fun all day without seeing a shadow, and I couldn't even tempt the flesh and bones.Hu Zi is also quite spiritual, so he is not jealous anymore, and brings a fat milky yellow puppy from the dogs in the village to accompany Yun An, but the puppies in the village are also free-range, Yun An It’s rare that the little guy’s “prison escape” was successful within half a day. The tiger brought other cubs several times, and it was the same. Later, Yun’an didn’t allow it to do that. Chasing and biting the tiger together, even if it was as fierce as a big black dog, it couldn't resist. Song Chen saw it by chance, and remembered it in his heart, and only then did he have this one.

There are countless families raising cats in the capital, and even Da Nei has a royal cat room, so it is not difficult to find a good cat, the difficulty is to make An An like it.Song Chen was thoughtful, so he didn't choose the "lordly" "hanging seal dragging gun", and also passed over the very cute and majestic "golden silk tiger". After talking with Yun An in detail, he decided on the lion cat of this family .

Since you want to hire a cat, you should be courteous and solemn.

Therefore, the two of them refused to let the maid who followed them do it, and the salt they gave to the master's house was a jar installed by Yun An himself, and Song Chen was holding it with one hand at this time.Until near the mountain stream, Yun An broke off a willow branch from the willow tree: "Senior Brother Song, can you make it with this branch?"

Song Chen looked at the willow branch, and pondered for a moment: "How about breaking a thicker one?" The thicker one can string more small fish.

Yun An understood what Brother Song meant, nodded, walked around the willow tree, and found a branch, then pointed to that branch and said, "Senior Brother Song, break this one."

This serious look made Song Chen's eyes tinged with a smile. He suppressed the astringency brought by hearing that Mr. An An hadn't changed "Senior Brother Song", put down the gift jar in his hand, and took a step forward , bent down and moved a few stones on top of each other, stretched out his hand to help An'an, and said softly: "Come here."

Yun'an stood on the stone, Song Chen's hands were on both sides, very safe and secure.She was taken aback for a moment, then followed suit, raised her arm and snapped off the willow branch.

The girls behind the two of them turned their eyes away one after another, not looking at this side.What Song Chen's two long followers thought was that their uncle would be weird, it was really unexpected.But Meiyue and Heyue saw that although Uncle Song helped him a bit, he restrained himself and didn't do anything else. The two servant girls looked away but couldn't bear to see their girl's understatement when she broke the willow. The willow branches with thick fingers at the bottom are even more difficult to break. Ordinary willow craftsmen have to use tools, but their girl Yubai's fingers are twisted, and they are easily and delicately removed.After all, it is in front of the future son-in-law, Mei Yue Heyue can't wait to get into the girl's ears and remind her to keep it close. The two girls often see their own mother pinching their own father when they are home, and when they think about it, they almost want to Pain for uncle.

Yun An didn't know that the two girls who were close to her were thinking about it, so she folded the note, turned her face and lowered her head to smile at Song Chen: "It's folded!"

At this moment, Yun An was half a head taller than Song Chen, and Song Chen looked at the little girl's smiling face, which was more dazzling and warm than the fine golden spots sprinkled by Chunyang passing through the willow leaves, so he couldn't help being stunned for a while.

Fortunately, the sound that An An was about to come down woke him up, Song Chen hurriedly stretched out his arm for her to support, and put his other hand behind for protection.Du Yun'an didn't act pretentiously, he helped Song Chen's arm, and jumped down neatly.

Mei Yue bowed her head, He Yue covered her eyes, the two of them had met quite a few young ladies, and they knew that elegant and slender beauties were admired nowadays, for example, at the flower party where the girls in their boudoirs invited each other, all of them were graceful and tactful, more entangled than others. Girls with feet are still weak, even when facing their girlfriends, not to mention in front of their future husband-in-law.However, their girls find it tiring, pretentious and uncomfortable after wearing makeup once, and they don't want to do it a second time...

"Could there be fish in here?" That side Yun An pointed to the stream with a willow branch.

Song Chen smiled and said, "Yes, although this creek is narrow, it is deep, and there are many small fish."

The long-tailed girl hurriedly came up to pass the fishing rod and the fish basket, but Song Chen didn't even need to wave his hands, he took out a fishing net from the back basket, squatted down and tied stones on the net.

"An'an, come to be stubborn?"

When Yun An heard about it, he also reached out to pick up stones, and imitated Song Chen's way of tying knots and playing with them.

"This knot is tied like this... Tie a stone at the bottom, so that the net will sink. The net rope on the top is tied to the tree. One side of the net stands in the water, and the fish that flow with the water will be caught in the net. After a while Zi pulled up the net rope under his head..."

The spring breeze is blowing slightly, the stream is sparkling, and the boys and girls are under the tree, one teaching the other, you talk to each other, ordinary people are quiet, that's all.At this time, if you don't tell your heart, you will win your heart.

Song Chen really worked hard to do his homework, his hands wielding knives and guns, now he is doing the work of a fisherman, and he is stable and good, and Yun An can't help but feel a little bit moved by his reliable appearance. .

It took less than half an hour, and the palm-sized small fish were strung together on the willow branches.

Song Chen put the salt jar into the basket and carried it by himself, then picked up the string of fish, and went with Yun'an to the farmer's house not far away.This good habit of picking up all the heavy objects is nothing, what is even more commendable is that this little gentleman who is not good at speech still cares about Yun An empty-handed to go to the small place where he is afraid of being uncomfortable, and gives Yun An in the basket to the kitten The Fang Xiaowo who made it took it out for her to hold—the two girls who saw it looked at each other and smiled, and the two long followers silently learned another trick.

When he arrived at the cat's owner's house, he first hired salt for the owner, and then put a bunch of fish in front of the female cat.This lion cat is really well-raised, its fur is white and bright, the big cat has golden eyes, and after sniffing for a long time, it picks up a kitten that is running around in the room, and puts it on the kang in Yun'an In the small cotton bag before going to the cat bed.

The kitten with its thick tail was dumbfounded: "Mi?"

"This?" Yun An was both surprised and delighted.

The hostess of the house smiled and said: "Sishihao is the third time to hold a cub. The family can't keep it. When someone comes to hire a kitten, we always pass her... She has learned to do this. If you coax her I'm glad it happens once in a while."

The seven or eight-year-old kid from the family came up to smooth the big cat, and said earnestly: "Sishi has only fed the kittens for more than two months. This litter is already three months old. It's just a bad month. A cat born in winter is unhealthy, coax her to raise it for a few more days..."

The kid hugged the kitten again, and gently put it into the nest brought by Yun An: "Sister, take good care of the kitten."

Yun An nodded hurriedly, stretched out his hand to gently stroke the round snow ball, and whispered to him about feeding.

Song Chen looked at it with a smile, and only occasionally chatted with the hostess.This family is all locals, and now they are tenants in Songchen Manor. The husband and wife are both agile and capable, and their only son has also entered the school. They are simple and sincere, and they are indeed a good family that hires cats.

Xu Shi has already experienced being kicked out of the nest by a female cat. Maybe he is gentle and kind-hearted. I fell asleep in my arms.While the kitten was asleep, everyone gently put its nest into the basket, Song Chen picked it up steadily, and whispered to Yun An, "Let's go?"

A group of people said goodbye to the master's house and the mother cat, "Four Seasons", and discussed the name of the kitten while returning.

Song Chenyi only came up with some ideas, and Ren Yunan settled on the name.

From time to time, Yunan wanted to see if the kitten in the basket was awake. Song Chen just bent his knees to let her see. The two of them stood upright and put down on one knee, and the other leaned on tiptoes to look at the kitten from the gap in the cloth. It's an ordinary movement, but it's the same as when I was catching fish, I feel like I can't get in, and I don't know why I blush.

When they returned to the other courtyard, Yun An clapped his hands and laughed, "Call Xueqiu, Senior Brother Chen, is that okay?"

Meiyue and Meiyue both had a look of "as expected": out of ten white cats, at least five had this name, and they really couldn't count on their girl's talent for naming.

But that "Senior Brother Chen" seemed to have been stunned for a long time, and Fang Xiao warmed his eyebrows: "Okay."

Du Zhong was rushing to tell his younger sister that Miss Feng had sent someone to talk, and had waited for a long time for her to meet, but unexpectedly, when he saw Junior Brother Song in his pocket, his teeth were sore.