Evening Shaohua in the Red House

Although this birthday gift was not expensive, it was made with great care. Li Wan liked it very much, and after appreciating it for a while, Fang asked Bi Yue to put it away, and said: "Please keep it, I will wear this on my birthday tomorrow. "

Biyue agreed, and carefully put it away.

Seeing that she liked her, Yingchun and Xing Xiuyan were also very happy, and said, "It's good that sister-in-law doesn't dislike her."

Li Wan said with a smile: "I can't even love such exquisite clothes, shoes and socks. How can I despise them? The two sisters are bothering you."

Just as he was talking, he suddenly saw Suyun coming in with a gift list, followed by several women, carrying three or four boxes.

Li Wan couldn't help being puzzled when he saw it, and wondered: "Is this a birthday gift from someone else?"

Suyun smiled and said, "That's not true, but grandma can't guess who it is."

Li Wan became more and more puzzled when he heard this, and said: "Don't be a fool, tell me who it is?"

Suyun smiled and said, "This is sent by Sister Fuling."

Only then did Li Wan suddenly realize, and said with a smile: "Who did I say, it turned out to be the girl Fu Ling."

Xing Xiuyan didn't know Fuling, but Yingchun did, and wondered, "Sister Fuling has returned to Beijing, hasn't she?"

Su Yun hurriedly laughed and said: "That's not true. Uncle Zhou was re-elected at the beginning of the year, and she is still in Guangdong. These are all brought by someone."

It turned out that Fu Ling's husband finally won the same Jinshi three years ago. Because of his relationship with Jia's family, he went through some connections and found a vacancy. He served as magistrate in Guangdong Province.

The grandmother of Fuling's mother-in-law died of illness a few years ago, and there were no in-laws in the family, so she simply took her children and went to work with her husband, and she was gone for three years.

However, even as far away as Guangdong Hai, Fu Ling will send people to give gifts every year during the three festivals and two birthdays. This year, due to heavy snowfall, the road was blocked, so it was a bit late.

Yingchun nodded and sighed when she heard the words, "Sister Fuling has always been caring, sending people to deliver things every year."

The wives had already placed the boxes and cages, Suyun presented the gift list to Li Wan, pointed to the boxes and cages on the ground and said with a smile: "In addition to the birthday gifts for grandma, there are also this year's annual gifts, and there are also gifts for all the girls and our sisters." Everything is here."

Li Wan unfolded the gift list. In addition to a set of clothes, shoes and socks made by Fu Ling himself, there are silks, satins, leather, tea, medicinal materials, antique ornaments, etc. that have been established for three festivals and two longevity. The pens, inks, papers and inkstones, as well as the gifts to Daiyu and others are mostly local soil rituals, jewelry, Shu embroidery and so on.

Li Wan looked at it and sighed.

He took a deep breath and said, "This is too expensive."

Nothing else, the two branches of wild ginseng are as thick as a thumb, and they may not be available in exchange for 50 taels. The best things are not bad. Although Fu Ling's family is rich, they are not rich. Such a gift is really not light.

Suyun Biyue laughed when she heard the words: "It's all in her heart, not to mention Grandma's return of gifts is not light every time, so she naturally has to pay more attention."

While talking, he took the girls to clean up and register.

It's just that there are too many things, piled up all over the floor, and there is almost no place to step down.

Seeing this, Yingchun and Xing Xiuyan got up to leave.

The house was too messy, and Li Wan didn't want to stay any longer, so he hurriedly ordered Suyun to count out the presents that Fu Ling gave to everyone, and also packed up two copies from his own, one for Xiuyan and one for Bao Qin sent.

It was finally tidy up, it was almost noon, after lunch, Suyun drew up a list of gifts in return, showed it to Li Wan, and said: "According to grandma's wishes, it has been thickened by two points, how does grandma think?"

After watching it, Li Wan suddenly thought of something, and said, "I vaguely remember that brother Yan from the Fuling family seems to be enlightened too?"

Su Yun laughed and said, "Her family's Yan brother is only three or four years younger than our Lan brother, and he is seven or eight years old this year, and he has already gone to school."

Li Wan thought for a while, and said: "Go back and find the few red gold silk inlaid necklaces you made for Lan'er a few years ago, and then pack up a few famous calligraphy posts, some high-quality pens, inks, papers and inkstones, and send them together later. go."

Suyun agreed, and said with a smile: "These things are all put in some box in the east anteroom, I can't remember them right now, I'll find them slowly tomorrow."

Li Wan said: "Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, just don't forget."

In the afternoon, Mrs. You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law suddenly came over and chatted for a while, and suddenly heard that Mrs. Xing had caught a cold, so they went to visit again, and they didn't return until evening, and there was nothing to say all night.

The next day, Li Wan got up early in the morning, finished grooming, and put on a royal blue satin fox fur jacket embroidered with folded branches of plum blossoms made by Yingchun, a white crepe ermine skirt embroidered with folded branches of plum blossoms, and a white satin miscellaneous made by Xing Xiuyan. Gold embroidered satin shoes.

Biyue skillfully combed her a simple and elegant lily bun, and chose a light and unique set of gold-plated hair, and then put on gold-plated silver rings inlaid with precious white jade longevity word earrings, and Wu Tong laughed at the door: "Grandma, brother I'm here to wish you a happy birthday."

Li Wan looked in the mirror and saw that everything had been packed, Fang smiled.

Said: "Call him in."

As soon as the words fell, Jia Lan lifted the curtain and came in. The little girl had already placed the futon on the ground. Jia Lan straightened her clothes, solemnly kowtowed three times, and said: "I wish my mother a happy birthday. Flowing water, longevity is not as old as Nanshan!"

Li Wan was overjoyed, helped him up quickly, and said with a smile, "Good boy, get up!"

Jia Lan got up with a smile, and said: "Today is a good day for mother, and my son has specially prepared a birthday gift." After finishing speaking, she asked the little girl who followed her to present the box she was holding, and opened it for Li Wan to have a look at herself, and said with a smile : "I got a piece of jade by chance earlier. I carved it with my own hands. Let's see if I like it."

It turned out that inside the box was a birthday statue carved from white jade. The jade is warm and delicate, as tender as suet. Although the carving is not very delicate, the birthday boy's demeanor is very well-crafted, with lifelike eyebrows and eyes.

The strange thing is that there is a piece of ink on the top of the jade, and there are two brown spots on the feet. Jia Lan thought of it ingeniously, and made him a fairy bun, cloud shoes, and what's more amazing is the fairy peach held in the hand of the birthday star. There is a green blemish, and there is a light red blemish in the middle of the tip, so it is made into a peach leaf, a peach stem and a heart peach, which is really exquisite.

Everyone was amazed: "It's such an exquisite idea, how could you think of it!"

Li Wan couldn't put it down even more, and after appreciating it for a while, he remembered, and hurriedly said: "Just now you said that you carved it yourself, but have you ever been injured?"

While speaking, he took Jia Lan's hand and looked carefully, and saw that several fingers were covered with thin red marks, and suddenly felt distressed, and said: "You child, it's enough if you want it, no matter who you call it. It’s fine to go and do it yourself, and you have never learned this before, let’s see what the injury looks like.”

Jia Lan said with a smile: "Mom, don't worry, but it looks a bit conspicuous. Actually, it's better soon, and it doesn't hurt at all. This is a birthday gift for Mom. I don't want to pretend to be someone else. It's just that I have practiced with my husband for a few months. Yes, the kung fu is still a bit rough, don't dislike it, Mom."

Hearing this, Li Wan understood why he had left early and returned late these past few months. Feeling distressed and ironing, he stroked Jia Lan's little head and sighed, "You silly boy, it's too late for mom to like you. How could you dislike it?"

Jia Lan was overjoyed, and blushed slightly: "It's good that Mom likes it, but this time the craftsmanship is still a bit rusty, next time I will carve a better one."

Everyone laughed and said, "It's still brother's filial piety, I have never seen such a filial child."

Li Wan was overjoyed, and after enjoying it for half a day, Fang carefully put it away and called Su

Yun Fang went to his room.

While talking, birthday noodles had been delivered from the small kitchen, and the mother and son ate the noodles together. Li Wan then went to the upper room to greet Mother Jia and Mrs. Wang, and then to Mrs. Xing, Youshi and others to give them away. Back to Daoxiang Village.

The Jia family has never had the custom of celebrating the birthdays of the wives and grandmas. It is usually just eating a bowl of birthday noodles, giving gifts to everyone, and congratulating them.

Li Wan just went back to the house and sat down to rest, when he saw Baochai, Baoqin Tanchun and others coming hand in hand, even Daiyu Xiangyun, Li Wen and Li Qi also came. It turned out that all the sisters remembered that today was Li Wan's birthday, so they came early in the morning When we met to celebrate the birthday, we all laughed and said, "Let's ask for birthday noodles."

Surprised and delighted, Li Wan rushed out to greet him, and said with a smile, "Don't dare to start, Suyun, get ready for the tea." When he entered the room, he couldn't help giving way.Everyone sat down, and Suyun and others brought tea.

Afterwards, everyone presented birthday presents. Daiyu presented an exquisite purse she made herself. Baochai Xiangyun and other sisters also had two-color needlework. It is very exquisite with all kinds of exotic flowers embedded in gold and silver threads.

Baoyu also sent an antique ornament, and the rest of the people all had congratulatory gifts, so there is no need to repeat them.

After eating birthday noodles, they chatted and laughed for a while. It happened that Yan Hui also sent someone to bring a birthday present, and there were people waiting to kowtow. Don't add trouble here, if it's still early today, let's go to Sister Feng's room to see the children, and let's talk about it." While talking, he winked at Xiangyun quietly.

Xiangyun understood and said with a quick smile: "It's been a while since I saw Zhi Geer, let's take a look."

Li Wan didn't become suspicious, only when they really went to see Sister Feng's mother and son, he smiled and said: "It's busy at the moment, the younger sisters may as well go shopping, I have ordered to go down to clean up the food and drinks, and I will come back to eat later Wine." He ordered people to send it out.

Suyun hurriedly said: "I'll go see the girls off." After everyone left the courtyard, Suyun looked around for a while, then Fang whispered, "Don't worry, girls, grandma hasn't noticed yet."

Only then did everyone feel relieved, and urged them again and again: "Sister Feng at the Ouxiangxie has already sent someone to take care of it. After half an hour, we will act according to what we discussed earlier. Don't ask the elder sister-in-law to see the clues."

Suyun agreed, and said with a smile: "Girls, don't worry."

Then they arrived at Sister Feng's courtyard. Ping'er greeted her early, Feng'er opened the curtain, and everyone went in. Sister Feng was watching the wet nurse feeding Zhige'er.

He also asked someone to pour tea.

Everyone saw that the wet nurse was still holding Zhi Ge and hadn't slept. Zhi Ge had grown a lot since the full moon, his white and tender little face was chubby, and he had big eyes like black grapes. He was wearing a red brocade cotton-padded jacket today. He wears a sky blue Ning silk gown with a long life lock and a name talisman on his chest, green cotton trousers inside, white silk cotton socks on his little feet, and a small and unique tiger hat on his head. The headgear looks more and more pink and jade-like.

All the sisters love him so much, they take turns teasing him to play, Zhi Geer is not afraid of strangers when he sees everyone, and stares directly at Daiyu and the others with his big black eyes.

Everyone liked it more and more. After playing with it for a long time, Sister Feng hugged her in her arms and patted it gently, and then she gradually fell asleep.

Xiang Yun glanced at the clock and said, "It's getting late, Sister Feng, how are you cleaning up?"

Sister Feng ordered the wet nurse to take Zhige and go to bed. Fang smiled and said, "The Ouxiangxi Pavilion is almost ready, let's go there now."

Daiyu and the others all laughed and said, "If you drag it on, you will be exposed. Let's go."

It turned out that a few days ago Daiyu remembered that the eighth day was Li Wan's birthday, so she discussed it with everyone, and quietly got together to tidy up the table to celebrate Li Wan's birthday.

Yesterday, when Sister Feng went to the room to pay her respects to Mrs. Jia Muwang, she said this on purpose, because she said with a smile: "My sister-in-law has worked hard all these years, and I haven't had a serious birthday. I had a birthday before, so it's hard to be free this year. We have a complete set of people, we are discussing that we can gather a share to celebrate her birthday, and specially invite the old lady, we all have a good day."

After hearing this, Jia Mu laughed and said, "It's a good thing. Your sister-in-law and sister-in-law have a good relationship, and their sisters are also interested. In this case, I will add a piece of money to it, and I will call her tomorrow." It’s good to rest, and you don’t have to come to set rules, you can have fun, I’m out of the sky, and I don’t fit in with you, so I won’t go, and I won’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

When Mother Jia spoke, Mrs. Wang felt that she was making a fuss out of a molehill, but she couldn't refute it, so she agreed with a smile.

When all the people gathered enough shares, they asked Liu's family to take them over and tidy up some tables waiting for wine and food.

Just to surprise Li Wan, everyone kept hiding it from her. Only Suyun knew the inside story and cooperated secretly.

At that moment, everyone came to the Ouxiangxie, which had already been decorated, the ground was covered with red carpets, and the floor lamps inlaid with stalks and gourds were lit.On the red sandalwood carved lacquer tables on both sides, there are a pair of enamel pavilion-style incense tubes, a pair of cloisonné enamel crane porcelain vases, and a large brazier with gilt enamel mother-of-pearl basin frame, which is warm like spring.

Daiyu and others swept

At a glance, seeing that it was very appropriate, he nodded and smiled: "I don't know what's going on with my sister-in-law."

Before he finished speaking, he saw Li Wan holding a painted enamel begonia flower consecrated double-deer hand stove, surrounded by maids and women.

Everyone laughed and said: "Cao Cao Cao Cao will be here, but he is really timely."

Li Wan said with a smile: "Also, I said it was weird today, but Suyun refused to say it clearly, so she was waiting here."

Even so, my heart touched everyone's hearts very much.

Sister Feng laughed and said, "This is all Sister Lin's idea. All the dishes are discussed and planned by the sisters. I'm just running errands."

Baochai also laughed and said: "The wine at this table is still the plum blossom brewed by Sister Lin herself earlier, my sister-in-law will have a good time to taste it today."

While talking, everyone entered the table one after another. Li Wan looked around and saw Baoyu alone. He couldn't help being puzzled, so he asked Sister Feng, "Why isn't Baoyu here?"

Sister Feng said with a smile: "I heard Xiren said that he had gone to the Beijing Palace a long time ago. Anyway, this is our small banquet. He stays in our team all day long, so he is a bit noisy. If he is not here today, he will be more comfortable and quiet." Daiyu also only discussed with Sister Feng in private, and wrote to the sisters to ask for advice, but did not specifically inform Baoyu.

Hearing this, Li Wan couldn't help but smiled and glanced at Sister Feng, knowing that she was worried, afraid that Baoyu would get drunk and make a fuss and make Daiyu abrupt, so she deliberately kept it secret.

At this time, the weather was getting colder, so Sister Feng ordered the mothers-in-law to use big copper braziers to fill the fire in the four corners of the Ouxiangxie.

Around the brazier, chairs were placed in a circle, and the big furniture sat facing the fire.There is a small table on the right side of each person's seat. There are square ones, round ones, plum blossom-shaped ones, crabapple-shaped ones, and square-shaped ones, all of which are different.There is a carved lacquer sunflower wine and vegetable box on each table, which contains all kinds of exquisite dishes, according to everyone's daily tastes and preferences.

In addition, each person has a small white porcelain glazed wine cup, a pair of black and silver plum flower self-serving wine pots, and a pair of small silver-inlaid chopsticks.

At present, when all the people were seated, Li Wan, Sister Feng, Daiyu, Baochai and Xiangyun sat in a row at the top.At the bottom, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Xing Xiuyan, Li Wen, and Li Qi also sat in a circle.

Sister Feng took the lead in toasting and said with a smile: "It's hard for my sister-in-law to be tired all these years, and we all toast three glasses."

So, the maids poured wine, and all the sisters raised their glasses one after another. Li Wan thanked her and said, "Thank you sisters for thinking about it."

He drank three cups with a smile, and felt the wine was mellow and mellow, with a long aftertaste. He couldn't help laughing: "This wine made from plum blossoms really tastes good. It really has a faint fragrance of plum blossoms."

Daiyu said with a smile: "This plum blossom brew is not made of red plums, but winter plums with ice hearts. The fragrance is more fragrant than ordinary plum blossoms. The water used is also snow water from plum blossoms. After brewing, seal it with plum blossoms and yellow mud. In the altar, it was buried under the plum tree, and it was opened three years later. The brewed wine is like amber and has a mellow aroma. It was buried under the old plum tree in the ancestral house in Gusu before, and only six or seven jars were obtained in total. I brought them with me when I went to Beijing."