Evening Shaohua in the Red House

Li Wan's heart was moved when he heard the words, and then he remembered that the story had already progressed to the time when Grandma Liu entered the Rongguo Mansion.

When she was reading books, she admired Grandma Liu very much. Although she is from a peasant family, she has rare great wisdom. She is sophisticated but unsophisticated. the elderly.

Therefore, I couldn't help but feel a little curious. I went into the room with Daiyu, looked up, and saw an old lady with gray hair and a weathered face sitting on the edge of the kang in the east. , although a little whitish, but the starch is very clean.

A five or six-year-old boy hid behind the old lady, looking at them with curiosity and fear.

Li Wan knew that this was Grandma Liu and Ban'er.

At this time, Sister Feng gave up her seat when she saw her, and said with a smile, "It's really lively today. You seem to have made an appointment. You came just after Rong Rong left." Then she asked if she had eaten, and Dai Yu replied that he ate it.

Li Wan said with a smile to Sister Feng: "I thought I hadn't come to see you for a long time, and I have some free time today, so I came to talk to you with Sister Lin, but I didn't know you had a visitor here."

Sister Feng smiled and said, "This is Grandma Liu, who is also a distant relative of our family. She is here to visit my wife today."

Grandma Liu was sitting sideways on the edge of the Kang, but when she saw Li Wan and Daiyu she hurriedly stood up.

She didn't know the identities of the two, so she couldn't help but secretly looked at them. She saw that Li Wan was only in his early twenties, wearing a lake blue brocade jacket and white silk skirt, his skin was as fair as snow, and his face was beautiful. Bookish, gentle and elegant, people feel indescribably comfortable at the first sight; I also saw Daiyu wearing a red satin-trimmed double-breasted long jacket, a green onion pleated skirt with flowers, and brocade embroidered shoes. It's even more beautiful than the picture, just like a fairy in the sky.

She had never seen such a person before, and she looked down at the coarse cloth clothes and black cloth shoes covered with mud spots on her body, she became more and more cramped, and she didn't even know where to put her hands and feet.

Ping'er hurriedly told her: "This is our eldest grandma and Miss Lin Biao."

When Grandma Liu heard this, she kowtowed and knelt tremblingly: "Greetings to Grandma and Miss."

Li Wan was startled, and hurriedly said: "Grandma can't do it, get up quickly!"

Daiyu also turned sideways to avoid it, and said, "Sister Ping'er quickly helped this grandma up."

Seeing this, Sister Feng smiled and said, "They are all relatives of my own, so there is no need to be so polite."

Grandma Liu stood up and asked Ban'er to come out and make a bow.

So he hid behind her, refusing to come out even if he died, but while everyone was not paying attention, he secretly looked at the bright red dress on Daiyu's body.

Seeing this, Daiyu found it interesting, grabbed a handful of fruit and beckoned him, Ban'er's eyes lit up, but she was afraid of strangers, after hesitating for a long time, she still shrank behind Grandma Liu and refused to come out, Daiyu pursed her lips and smiled, and put the fruit The dish was handed to the little maid at the side, and asked to bring it to Ban'er.

Ping'er poured tea in this room, and Sister Feng ordered again: "The jujube paste yam cake and goose oil rolls with pine flesh made this morning are good, ask someone to serve them to sister-in-law and sister Lin."

Ping'er agreed, and asked the little girl to go out to spread the word.

At this time, Zhou Rui's family also came back. Seeing Li Wan and Daiyu were there, they were taken aback for a moment, and hurriedly greeted Ann. Fang replied to Sister Feng, "The dinner has been prepared in the east room."

Sister Feng smiled at Grandma Liu and said, "Grandma, please go and eat first."

Then he said to Zhou Rui's family: "Sister Zhou, please give way, I can't accompany you."

Zhou Rui's family agreed, and brought Grandma Liu and Ban'er over for dinner.

Daiyu asked Sister Feng, "Where did this Grandma Liu come from?"

Sister Feng laughed and said, "I can't figure it out either. I only know that we have something to do with the Wang family, but I don't know what the route is."

After saying that, the man called Zhou Rui's family to ask: "I just went back to my wife, what did my wife say?"

Zhou Rui's family said: "The wife said that they were not a family, because their ancestors were officials together with the Tailord, and accidentally connected with the clan. Although they haven't moved around a lot in recent years, they never let them go when they came. They went back empty-handed; it was her kind intention to come to see us now, so don't be short-handed. If you want to say anything, let Second Mistress decide."

After hearing this, Sister Feng said, "Strange way, since we are a family, why don't I even know Ying'er?"

I thought it was a serious relative, but who knew it was just a poor family connected to the ancestors.

Li Wan said: "That being said, they are still relatives of my wife's family. If it weren't for being too poor to live on, the old man wouldn't beg to come."

It was only here that she got a general understanding of some customs and rules at that time. People at that time paid attention to the prosperity of the population, and the more people in the family, the better.

There is also a reason for this. The power of the clan in this society is extremely important. Small families from poor families are sparsely populated, and they are alone. If there is no support, they will inevitably be bullied.

However, there are many families in a big family, and the power of the clan is great, so naturally there will be more care, but a certain family member of a big family has gone to Beijing to be an official, and the whole family will not go to Beijing, so the clan in Beijing will be lonely.Jingzhong

The miscellaneous places in the five directions need more care, so the fellow villagers have a close relationship,

In addition to fellow villagers, it would be even better if there were more people of the same clan. Therefore, the custom of agreeing with the clan and connecting clan came into being.

One side of Lianzong, in order to gain power and hope to be rich, so-called leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade; although the other side is a powerful and wealthy family, but in order to strengthen the family, they have a family with more people and powerful people, so they are also willing to accept it.

If the Lianzong is more solemn, a ceremony is usually held. It is necessary to go to the ancestral hall to burn incense and worship the ancestors.

Sister Feng glanced at her and said with a smile: "Knowing that our eldest grandma is a bodhisattva, don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who waits unreasonably. If I run all the way, I won't let her go back empty-handed. "

While talking, Grandma Liu had finished her meal and pulled the board over to thank her.

Sister Feng had already thought about it in her heart, and before Grandma Liu could speak again, she said that relatives should take care of each other, but the family was in trouble, so she asked someone to take 20 taels of silver and give it to her, and said with a smile: "This is Yesterday my wife gave me 20 taels of silver to make clothes for my maids, please don’t dislike it, just cut two winter clothes for the children in the new year.”

Li Wan also laughed and said: "Since I am a relative of my wife, I have to give some money." I called the little girl to come over and give instructions. After a while, Suyun really took 20 taels of silver, and took a pouch to pack two. Little silver curly, a ruler as a gift for Ban'er.

When Daiyu heard the words, she thought of the whitish coarse cloth clothes that Grandma Liu and Ban'er had just washed, and she felt pity, so she also asked the little girl to go back and fetch 20 taels of silver and two boxes of snacks.

Grandma Liu was originally because the new year was approaching, her family was poor, and she didn't even have the money to buy food and clothing for the winter, so she had the cheek to come to the door to make a fortune. She only thought that a few taels of silver would be enough, but she never expected I got 60 taels. I was stunned for a long time before I came back to my senses. I was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed, "Thank you two grandmas and girls. The Bodhisattva blesses grandmas and girls to live a long life."

Li Wan hurriedly asked someone to help him up, "I can't afford this, please get up quickly, grandma."

Daiyu grew up in a deep boudoir, and although she heard Li Wan talk about the hardships of the people, she had never seen it with her own eyes. Today, seeing Grandma Liu with gray hair, she was at the age of enjoying the family life, but now she had to bring her grandson to the house to fight the autumn wind. Just because of the few taels of silver, I was so grateful that I knelt down and kowtowed, feeling a little pity in my heart.

Sister Feng said: "God also

It's getting late, I don't want to keep you guys. It's okay another day, just come and visit, that's what relatives mean, say hello to each other when you get home. "

Grandma Liu agreed, still thanking her a thousand times.

Li Wan glanced at the mud spots on the shoes of his grandfather and grandson, and said to Zhou Rui's family: "It's getting late, and it's cold, sister Zhou, go to the back door and hire a car for Grandma Liu. It’s also cheaper on the road.”

Zhou Rui's family agreed, and Grandma Liu became more and more grateful. After being grateful, she took the money and followed Zhou Rui's family out.

After Grandma Liu left, Li Wan chatted and laughed with Sister Feng, and Fang Fang left.

Daiyu remained silent along the way, Li Wan asked, "What's wrong with my sister, are you still thinking about Grandma Liu?"

Daiyu sighed and said, "I see that although Grandma Liu's words and deeds today are somewhat vulgar, she is not such a superficial rascal, if she is not really poor and cannot afford food, she would not bow her knees for a few taels of silver.

Although I heard my sister-in-law talk about the hardships of the people before, I didn’t know that the people’s life was so difficult. In comparison, I was in the blessing and didn’t know the blessing. "

Li Wan also sighed: "There's nothing I can do. If she doesn't do this, the whole family will go hungry through this cold winter."

Daiyu smiled bitterly: "If I saw Grandma Liu like this before, I would definitely look down on her, but I don't know that they don't even have enough to eat, so how can I force them to pay attention to their integrity and dignity?"

Li Wan was startled when he heard the words, looked at Daiyu's delicate face, felt relieved in his heart, smiled slightly and said, "Sister has grown up."

It's no longer the little girl who only knows how to hurt the spring and the autumn.

Looking forward to the end of November, the last autumn's rent from Zhuangzi and the benefits of several shops have been delivered one after another.

Having nothing to do that day, Li Wan ordered Danju Xiazhu to move out all the account books, and sat cross-legged on the kang to check them carefully.

In the past five years, she has used all the profit from the farm store to buy properties, and now there are hundreds of hectares of land under her name, all of which are fertile and good fields.

It’s just that the first two years were not very good, with uncertain droughts and floods, and it was not until the year before last that I started to pay back my capital. The next two years were smooth, and I made money every year, and I made a lot of money one after another.

The two villages in the south have always practiced the planting mode of mulberry fishponds, farming fish and planting mulberry trees to raise silkworms. Although the area is not the largest, the profit is the most, and there are more than 600 taels in two seasons a year. Silver; the 3000 mu of land outside the pass is slightly less, and there are also [-] taels of silver.

This year, the weather is good and the weather is good. Two small villages of about [-] mu near the outskirts of Beijing

The crops are also good, and together with the small farms at the foot of the West Mountain that specialize in growing vegetables and raising livestock, the out-of-season vegetables on the hot spring village add up to almost 700 taels.

After deducting various expenses and dividends to the shopkeepers, the several shops earned a total of 800 taels, plus the 400 taels of rent for the two yards that were rented out, and the total annual profit was 500 taels. [-] taels of silver,

Li Wan hid the account book and breathed a sigh of relief. Although the income this year was not as good as that of the Rongguo Mansion, it was considered pretty good. Although the Rongguo Mansion had a lot of income, it also had a lot of places to spend money. After a year, basically Not much money left.

But she doesn't have any expenses. Except for private exchanges, all her food and expenses are used by officials. She spends up to four or five hundred taels of silver on New Year's Day gifts in a year, and can save all the rest.

In order not to attract attention, Li Wan ordered people to exchange all the silver they earned into gold, which was small and unobtrusive. Now she has piled up six boxes of gold in her small warehouse, each box is 1000 taels, a total of 6000 taels of gold , Converted into silver, it is almost 6 taels.

Li Wan finished the calculation and smiled slightly. According to this situation, as long as there are no natural or man-made disasters, her self-esteem can double in three or four years.

The author has something to say: Apart from Sister Lin and Sister Bao in the Red Mansion, the favorite is Grandma Liu, who is really a very wise old man.