[Red House] The Twins of Purple Pearls

Yangzhou is very lively during the Lantern Festival. A variety of lanterns illuminate the streets and alleys brighter than the daytime, and street vendors are shouting and selling.

Lin Ruhai took Yanyu Daiyu to the lantern festival and saw young men and women guessing lantern riddles under the lanterns all over the city. The two sisters were also very interested and wanted to take their father to watch.

"Master, do you want to buy a lantern for my sister?" The peddler beckoned enthusiastically, and then said with a smile, "The two sisters are so handsome!"

Daiyu pulled Lin Ruhai up and said coquettishly, "Father, Yu'er wants a lantern!"

Yanyu also echoed her sister's words: "Yan'er also wants lanterns."

Lin Ruhai always loved her two daughters, so she took them there.

Daiyu chose a Xianju Botan lantern with hibiscus painted on it. The light embroidered lantern was held in her hand, and the candlelight reflected the hibiscus vividly; while Yanyu chose the Dulan lantern, which was graceful and graceful, bright red and white, Like the crimson celestial grass on the seashore of Guanchou, it is swaying and graceful.

The two sisters happily followed their father with lanterns, and met a middle-aged man in a gray robe walking towards him with his young daughter in his arms; Father's neck giggles.

"Brother Shi Yin." Lin Ruhai obviously knew him, and greeted him with cupped hands.

"Brother Ruhai." Zhen Shiyin came over with his daughter in his arms, and the girl in his arms leaned timidly on his father's shoulder, "This is the little girl Yinglian."

Lin Ruhai nodded with a light smile, took the two daughters by the hand and said, "These are my two daughters, Yanyu and Daiyu." The sisters obediently called Uncle Zhen.

Zhen Shiyin said that he brought the girl to the Lantern Festival, exchanged pleasantries with Lin Ruhai for a while, then continued to visit the Lantern Festival with her daughter in his arms.

Yanyu turned her head and looked at the girl lying on Zhen Shiyin's shoulder in a strange way, and it happened that the girl also looked at her and smiled happily.

"Father, Yu'er also likes Sister Yinglian." Daiyu told Lin Ruhai softly.

"After the year, let my wife post a message to Mrs. Zhen's family, and invite Miss Zhen to come over to play, okay?" Lin Ruhai asked with a soft smile while stroking her daughter.

Daiyu nodded cheerfully: "Yu'er and sister will definitely have fun with sister Yinglian."

Yanyu naturally nodded in agreement with her sister's words, as long as her sister likes it, of course she likes it too.

Street vendors sold puppets. Lin Ruhai thought that Jia Min would give birth in the next year, so she wanted to pick some puppets for the child. Yanyu and Daiyu also went there with lanterns.The puppets bought at the Lantern Festival stand are not as delicate as those made by the embroidered lady, but they are more unique and have a variety of styles. They are placed together for the spectators to choose from.

Suddenly, she heard a sound of panic coming from the crowd. Yanyu turned her head to follow the sound curiously, and saw two teams of officers and soldiers rushing over. People at the lantern festival were so frightened that they all ran to the side of the road.

Yanyu was still at a loss and didn't know what was going on, so she was taken to the opposite side of the Lantern Festival by the crowd.After all, she was still a young child. When she suddenly encountered such a mess, she could no longer see her father and sister when she turned around. Confused; she secretly felt the suppressed spiritual power slowly flowing, but there were too many people here so she couldn't do other actions for the time being.

Taking advantage of the gap to get out of the crowd, Yanyu wanted to hide in the alley until there were fewer people outside, but she tripped over something in the dark and fell straight.

Yanyu just felt very ashamed, thinking that she was a fairy in Lihentian, but she fell into disgrace in this dark alley, fortunately no one saw her.

"Hush! Don't talk!" Suddenly someone covered her face from behind, and Yanyu was about to use her spiritual power to attack him, but she heard his voice very familiar.

The other party seemed to have no intention of hurting her, but quietly hid in the dark alley, and only slowly let go of Yanyu until the outside gradually became quiet: "You go away! Your family should be looking for you."

Are you Tianxuan Xingjun?

Yanyu really wanted to ask.

After taking two steps, Yanyu turned her head, and unexpectedly found that the other party was just a young man, like a young sapling that had not yet grown up.He was wearing a black cloak and a wide hat, with a resolute look on his slightly immature face, holding his sword in his right hand, standing in the dark with no expression on his face.Yanyu was stunned for a moment, then turned and trot towards the end of the long street.

Because Yanyu disappeared not long ago, the news has not been sent back to the mansion, so she ran all the way back to Lin's mansion without incident.

She told the woman in the outer court to keep the truth from his wife first, and then go to the master to come back; because Yanyu was intelligent since she was a child, the woman in the house did not dare to turn a deaf ear to her words, so she did what she said.

When Lin Ruhai came back, Yanyu hugged her father tightly like a frightened child and sobbed, saying that she was scattered by the crowd at the lantern festival, so she was really scared and ran home first.Lin Ruhai comforted her by stroking her back, apparently her sister's sudden disappearance at the lantern festival frightened Daiyu, she and Yanyu cried and hugged each other.Lin Ruhai asked the nanny to take their sisters back to wash and change clothes first, and ordered the maid not to tell his wife what happened tonight; Jia Min's fetal image was already unstable, and he was busy at the end of the year, so it would be a disaster if his fetal gas was disturbed by this incident. .

Daiyu still held Yanyu's hand tightly, and Yanyu smiled at her sister relaxedly: "I'm fine!"

"Sister." Daiyu pursed her lips and called out aggrievedly.

"Good Yuer." Yanyu rubbed Daiyu's face with her magic claws, deliberately made a face at her sister, and Daiyu laughed, "Sister is so ugly!"

The next day, I went to the main courtyard and heard two fire-burning women talking on the porch. I heard that there was a big incident outside.However, these women usually work in the mansion, and they probably heard these words; but Yanyu thought that there was a sudden disturbance at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival, and she felt that what they said was not impossible.

Jia Min also heard about the chaos outside. He heard that Shili Street was set on fire by thieves, and the youngest daughter of the Zhen family was also missing in the chaos. Mrs. Zhen couldn't cry in the fire.Jia Min is also a mother now, and she can't hear these things the most, and she also feels the impermanence of the world; if a child of Miss Zhen's age is lost, she will never be found, and she will be taken advantage of by others. Once taken away, there is no trace anymore.

Daiyu carefully copied the copybook on the kang, not knowing that the girl from Zhen's family that her mother and Mammy Liu mentioned was the sister Yinglian she liked.

"My wife doesn't know, it's strange." Liu Mama said vividly, "The girl from the Zhen family came back by herself. Mrs. Zhen thought it was hopeless to see her daughter again, but she didn't expect the girl to come back in good health. Mrs. Zhen even said that the Bodhisattva appeared, and now she is very happy."

Jia Min heard this strange incident, and said that Master Zhen and Mrs. Zhen are well-known benevolent people, they are praised for being kind and generous, and it is true that what is good is rewarded.

Daiyu asked Yanyu in a low voice: "Sister, are thieves scary?"

Yanyu was listless while holding the book, and heard her younger sister ask, "You must look fierce!" Just like the legend of the existence of demons in Lihentian; after thinking about it, she picked up a pen and simply sketched the shape of a demon on a thin paper , and then handed it to Daiyu, "It's probably like this."

"It's so ugly!" Daiyu's face was full of disgust.

On a whim, Yanyu drew a few crimson bead plants on the thin paper to show to her younger sister, showing a very narcissistic smile: "Does it look good?"

Daiyu leaned over to look at it seriously, nodded and said crisply: "It looks good."

In fact, Yanyu likes to paint more, and painting according to the pictures in ancient books is more exciting than copying copybooks, and writing is like a natural process; she occasionally thinks of the memories in the sea of ​​sorrow in the sky of Lihen, and draws on thin paper, hidden in the frame in a porcelain jar.

Lin Ruhai's servant came back to report that the yamen had a lot of official duties, so he asked his wife and sister to use the food first.

Jia Min ordered the kitchen to prepare red rice porridge and chili oil shield sauce, and bring them over when the master came back.

Because Jia Min has lost his appetite recently, the kitchen only brought over bird's nest porridge, sweet-scented osmanthus clear dew, and sisters Yanyu Daiyu's favorite goose oil rolls and sugar-steamed crispy cheese.Daiyu also ate sweetly, the soft and glutinous milk rolls melted in the mouth, and the lingering fragrance lingered.

Wang Momo looked at it and said with a light smile: "Second sister is more difficult to use."

"Children love to eat these." Jia Min caressed Daiyu affectionately, then looked at Yanyu and said, "Yaner and Yuer are the same age; but Yaner is taller than Yuer, and Yuer is too tall." Weakened."

Daiyu buried her head in eating the crispy cheese, and suddenly she raised her head when she heard her mother talking about it: "Mother?"

Daiyu was weak and had worried Jia Min since she was a child, but now she breathed a sigh of relief seeing their sisters getting older.

It happened that the maid served Baiyi soup with raw tofu, and Jia Min asked Jiang Bi to serve the soup for the two sisters. She only used some bird's nest porridge and put it down.

"You sisters are also preparing, your husband will come to the house in a few days." Jia Min recalled what Lin Ruhai had told her before, "Yan'er, you have to learn to read and write with your husband, you know? "Jia Min is very clear about the tempers of the two daughters. Daiyu is quiet and well-behaved, while Yanyu, the older sister, is lively and active.

Yanyu nodded obediently: "Mother don't worry, daughter knows."

Daiyu also said seriously: "Yu'er will help mother look after sister."

Yanyu twisted a piece of milk roll and stuffed it to Daiyu: "Eat well, don't talk."

After dinner, Jia Min called the wet nurse to replace Mrs. Tang and sent her back to her room to rest.Jiang Bi helped her to sit behind the desk, grind and serve, Jia Min unfolded the paper and dipped the ink; when Zhou Rui's family returned to Beijing, he brought her home letter to the old matriarch, and it has been many years since he came to Yangzhou with the master. , Thinking of this, Jia Min wrote.

Lin Ruhai didn't return home until Xushi, changed his official uniform and went back to the main room. Just after Jia Min finished writing the letter and heard the report that the master was back, he got up and went out to greet him: "The master is back!"

According to Jia Min's order, the kitchen lady brought in the red rice porridge and chili oil shield sauce, and Jia Min also sat down to eat with Lin Ruhai.

"How are the children?" Lin Ruhai asked.

"Yan'er and Yu'er are very obedient." Jia Min stroked her swollen belly and smiled gently, "Your baby is fine too."

Only then did Lin Ruhai say: "The situation outside is not very good, and the government office is also busy. Wen Po and the wet nurse have been prepared earlier, so you don't need to think too much about it."

Jia Min nodded meekly, and asked: "I heard that there are bandits in the city, making trouble at the Shangyuan Lantern Festival?"

"It's nothing, don't listen to outsiders' nonsense." Lin Ruhai denied with a wry smile.

Jia Min got up and went to the book case to fetch the family letter she wrote to the old matriarch for Lin Ruhai to read, and said: "A few years ago, the second sister-in-law gave birth to a brother named Baoyu, who was the same age as Yaner Yuer. ;My mother intends to let Brother Bao and our sister make a marriage, so as to make the marriage more intimate. But I think that the children are still young, and it is too early to discuss the matter of marriage, and it will not be too late to discuss the matter when they grow up .”

"That's what I mean too." Lin Ruhai agreed after reading the family letter once, "Yan'er and Yu'er are still young, and besides, it's about my sister's life, so I have to look at each other carefully; my brother-in-law's brother Although they are cousins, and they mean mother-in-law, but after all, they have never met before. Why don't you wait until you return to Beijing in the future to make a decision."

"What the master said is true." Jia Min smiled lightly.