[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

This conjecture was further confirmed on the second day, because it was the Huachao Festival, and Daiyu was in full bloom, and she would go north to Kyoto tomorrow, and I don't know when she will come back.

So the three families held a banquet in the Linfu garden. Since the elders were all there, and there were so many nuns and maidservants, only men and women sat around the table.

Lin Ruhai only held a private banquet and was leaving tomorrow. Her daughter Fangchen had no mistress at home, and she did not invite other colleagues in Yangzhou. It was just that other officials knew that Lin Ruhai was promoted to a bachelor. Someone sent a gift, and they were all greeted by the housekeeper. , and the mother sent the prepared gifts to the various prefectures.

The hosts sneak away and just have a banquet to enjoy the flowers. During the Flower Festival, they put out roses, apricots, peonies and so on to enjoy.

But at this time, Shi Bai in the hall had sharp eyes, saw Zhao Quan and Su Quan, their demeanor and demeanor were different from ordinary men, and they didn't shy away from female relatives, so he guessed they were servants.

Their master was Xing Xiuyan. It turned out that after the banquet, Xing Xiuyan said that he had not specially prepared any other gifts for Lin Daiyu, so he sent a scroll to Zhao Quan and Su Qing. They unfolded it carefully, and it was two meters long. , is a picture of the scenery of Yushi Linfu, the inspector of Yanyan.

This is the Lin Mansion seen from the top floor of Huiyan Building, the tallest building in the mansion, and some faint eaves outside the mansion.Xing Xiuyan spent half a year painting this fine brushwork painting, meticulously crafting it, from structure to bones, to coloring, to finishing touches, every hour or two.

Lin Daiyu knew that she was painting this painting, but she never thought that she was using it as a gift for herself.

"My sister passed her birthday today, and she will be old next year. I'm afraid it will be difficult to come back in the future. I will keep this painting as a memory for my sister."

Daiyu sat down to admire the painting, thinking of leaving the place where she grew up, she couldn't help wiping away tears.Lin Ruhai, Shi Bai and others came to watch it together, and saw that the garden on the side was all included in the painting.The fine brushwork is meticulous, even the roof tiles are clear, the carved beams and painted buildings, and the exquisite Soviet-style architectural gardens are the most labor-intensive. It can be seen how long it takes to paint such a painting.

Lin Ruhai had also heard that Xing Xiuyan was a talented woman who was once the number one embroiderer in Gusu. Regardless of the artistic conception of this painting, the delicate and smooth brushstrokes and precise proportions show her skills.

The little maid and the nanny put together three tables, Su Qing and Zhao Quan put the paintings on the table, and Zi Yue and Qing Xuan waited on them, Xing Xiuyan picked up the pen and wrote a vertical script in the blank space on the right:

[Gift to my sister Xiaoxiang Concubine Fourteen Fangchen Lingyan Valley Master Qianyuan Five Years February [-]th in Yangzhou]

Jin Yao asked for the red ink pad, Xing Xiuyan took her own seal of "Lingyan Valley Master" from her purse, dipped the red ink pad on the ink pad, and stamped it on her lower head.The seal was written in seal script of "Lingyan Valley Master". She asked Master Chen to help engrave it. He is a master in this field, so she spent a hundred taels of silver for it.

Xing Xiuyan said: "My sister will think about it here in the future, take out the painting and have a look."

Daiyu just hugged her and called her sister, saying, "I'm afraid I won't be able to live with my sister after I leave here..."

With tears streaming down her face, Xing Xiuyan said: "It's all in the capital city, so it's easy to move around. You can come to my house for a short stay at any time."

Shi Hui said: "Partial! Don't ask me to play!"

Xing Xiuyan smiled and said: "Who won't tell you to play? If you want to come, you can play until you get married. After you get married, you can still come to my house to play with your children!"

Because Xing Xiuyan was going to Beijing to hold her thighs, she was not a princess, but just like a princess, so she was inevitably high-spirited, and she was about to joke for a while, forgetting about the man present today.

Shi Hui was ashamed and rushed over to twist Xing Xiuyan, but Xing Xiuyan hurriedly ran away with her skirt in hand, and the two started chasing each other in the hall.

Shizhang usually sees Xing Xiuyan who is elegant and gentle, but she is so confident in presenting her painting to Daiyu, and even inscribed it on the spot, which is different from ordinary boudoir daughters.

Shi Zhang couldn't help thinking to herself: No wonder Huier likes to play with her, this woman is as rebellious as Huier.

Master Lin Ruhai, Shi Bai, and Master Chen Yan are all elegant people, so they naturally understand these things. This is how men play with calligraphy and painting.Xing Zhong is rare, but this is his own daughter, he was born too low, and he doesn't know how the noble lady's implicit upbringing should be.

But Lin, Shi, and Chen saw "dominant spirit" from her. Although women are restrained nowadays, they obey because they have no confidence.And Xing Xiuyan is very talented in female celebrity, nine and a half in painting skills, nine and a half in calligraphy, seven in poetry, but excellent in appearance.Lin, Shi, and Chen all knew that she was relying on the present, so her arrogance was reasonable.Lin and Chen were horrified when they saw that she was proficient in calligraphy and her handwriting resembled someone else's.She was disobedient and made mistakes when she was A Piao, but he didn't use violence to catch her, and he didn't let her lotus root body dip into the pool to enjoy.But he asked her to write hundreds of big characters on her body, which was so inflexible, it was absolutely torture, and the lotus root was about to dry up.At that time, practicing according to his handwriting for 100 years was like a dog's crawl, but now thinking of his handwriting, I can improve so much.The original master originally learned the lower script of hairpin flowers from Miaoyu, but she was too busy with embroidery later, and now picking up is just the daily activity of a real talented woman like Daiyu, and she can only pick up this piece because of her influence.

Everyone ate and enjoyed the flowers to celebrate, when Shi Hui saw Xing Xiuyan's words, she asked someone to bring a piece of paper, scrutinized the words and sentences, and wrote an ancient article "Yangzhou Ji", recording that she was a guest in Yangzhou, on the occasion of Daiyu's birthday, Everyone and everything.

She re-wrote it on the scroll again, but she didn't have a seal and an alias, so she was distressed, and Shi Hui ran to ask Shi Bai: "Daddy, please give me an alias, sister Xing and sister Lin both have aliases. "

Shi Bai couldn't help crying and laughing, and said: "How old are you, your brothers don't have another name yet, but you should have one."

Shi Hui relied on her nickname, Shi Bai loved her daughter, and said: "You were born in Yunnan, but you are not from Yunnan. You should be called Yunzhongke."

Shi Hui thought it was right, and then signed "Yun Zhong Ke", but she couldn't engrave it for the time being.

It is difficult for Xing Zhong to have the talent to read the article, but Lin and Chen felt that Shi Hui was young, and a woman could write such a memorandum article, using running script learned at home. show.

With mixed feelings in Daiyu's heart, she wrote three poems on the spot, which were full of aura and spirit. Xing Xiuyan could see that she was very romantic and whimsical in the original work, and he had a lot of respect for her. She really is an idol.This also attracted Shi Bai and his wife, Master Chen, and Lin Ruhai himself to admire, not losing to a man.Lin Ruhai dotes on girls, and he doesn't easily follow the rules. He was raised as a man in the past, but now he writes poems in public like a man, so what's the matter?

Among the three women, Xing Xiuyan is the first in painting, Lin Daiyu is the first in poetry, and Shi Hui is the first in writing. They each have their own admiration and confidence, and they can appreciate each other's strengths. How can they not complement each other?

……

Shi Bai had been preaching and comforting in the southwest for more than ten years, and he knew the enemies and soldiers, and he was not just a talker.Shi Bai is less than fifty years old, his body is still strong, his official career is smooth and he is full of vigor.And Mrs. Zhang finally got a five-rank pleasant imperial order.It should be noted that not everyone's wives of local minor officials have a formal imperial order, and Zhang's only had this imperial title when he was over forty, and he was overjoyed.

Being able to make friends with Lin Ruhai and the Xing family this time, he must be able to win the eyes of a saint when he goes to Beijing.

The three families went to Beijing. The Shi family's fleet was originally on the river, while the Lin family's fleet had been loaded for five days and was just finished loading the day before yesterday. There were more than 40 ships in total, and the Xing family also had five ships.The long fleet stretched for miles, but the three girls were sitting in a passenger boat, enjoying the scenery and drinking tea.Xing Xiuyan wouldn't pass out at all, Lin Daiyu is in good health now, and she has been back and forth once again, and Shi Hui has passed by on the way back to the Central Plains from Yunnan, so of course she won't be delicate.

Today, Shi Zhang and Xing Li were talking on the same boat, while the three girls were cooking tea and playing chess on Xing Xiuyan's boat. The person who came to pick her up in Beijing was secretly arranged by Zhao Gui. There are things.

One of Shi Hui's black dragons was restrained by Lin Daiyu, and she wailed. She was originally an escaped person, and she would pretend to be a lady in front of others, but she stopped pretending in front of Xing and Lin. Lin Daiyu gave up one or two sons, but Lin Daiyu refused.

Seeing the two beautiful girls, Xing Xiuyan was filled with joy, brought tea to Shi Hui and said, "Xiaohui, have a sip of tea, the more anxious you are, the more you can't beat her."

Shi Hui said: "I heard you say that you can't win against her, but I still don't believe it. Sister Daiyu is so thoughtful, I am no match, only my father and brother can beat you."

But Daiyu said: "Where is your father and brother needed? Sister Yingchun is the best at chess, so I am not her opponent."

Shi Hui asked: "Who is Sister Yingchun?"

Daiyu said: "She is the elder sister of the rich family of Rongfu, and she is also your cousin."

Shi Hui didn't dislike Yingchun as a concubine, she grew up in the southwest border, where there is no distinction between the concubine and the concubine like the big families in the Central Plains.