Red Mansions Become Baochai

The big steward has already gone there in person, so the arrangements must be properly made, the master can rest assured. "

Xue Ke nodded and said: "Shu Qing, you and your child will live at home with peace of mind in the future. There are many empty yards at home. If you love that yard, just say so that I can ask someone to clean it out quickly."

Aunt He hurriedly said: "Shu Qing listened to the arrangement of his cousin and sister-in-law. If it's troublesome, I'll go back to Xichi Xiulou where I lived before leaving the pavilion."

Mrs. Xue said: "No one has lived there for more than ten years, it is too remote, and there is only one small building, it is enough for you and your nephew to live there."

Xue Ke thought for a while and said, "I think it's better to clean up the Ruihe courtyard and let their mother and son live there."

Aunt He hurriedly stood up and said, "Ruihe Courtyard was originally a residence for old ladies, so I'm afraid it's not suitable for us to live there."

Mrs. Xue said with a smile: "What's inappropriate, now we live in the Mingtang Hall of the main courtyard, and your second cousin's family lives in Tingyuxuan. Most of the other courtyards are empty, you live in Ruihe courtyard, and It's quiet, it's close to here, come and chat with me every day, and it's good to be a company."

After a while of persuasion, Aunt He agreed.After a while, he said again: "Shuqing, thank you cousin and sister-in-law for taking me in, but please forgive me for the daily expenses."

Xue Ke said with a smile: "I know that my cousin's husband has been an official for seven or eight years. Even if you leave money for your mother and son, it should be saved for the children to study and start a family in the future. If there is still money left, I will take advantage of the low market price a year ago. Help you buy some fields and pavements, and keep your mother and children by your side."

Mrs. Xue also persuaded: "You just brought four servants here, how much can six people do in a year? You have been here since you were a child, and you are similar to your two cousins ​​and brothers and sisters. It is better not to be a layman. "

The adults talked lively, but Baochai felt depressed when he heard it.This cousin, married to a cousin who is an official to the fifth grade magistrate.However, after her husband died in the city, even though he was awarded the royal title, the orphans and widowed mothers were still inevitably bullied and oppressed by the clansmen.

Seeing that Mrs. Xue took Baochai and Xue Pan to the capital in the Dream of the Red Chamber, I'm afraid it was also to seek the protection of her natal brothers and sisters.

The widows in ancient times were really a vulnerable group who were bullied by everyone, and even their relatives were not necessarily reliable.

Relatives have their own considerations

Brothers, sisters, aunts and sisters-in-law have not seen each other for many years, so today is naturally mixed with sadness and joy.At noon, when Xue Pan came back from school, he saw a brother who was younger than him among the visitors. He thought he would have another playmate in the future, and was even more happy.

After a while, Mrs. Xue took Aunt He and Cousin Yunzhen to wash up and change clothes.Because of today's visitor, Xue Ke specially ordered a few more dishes to be added, and the kitchen passed the meal a little late.On weekdays, Mr. Xue eats lunch outside, while Xue Pan eats in the school.Only Mrs. Xue and Baochai, without any rules, ate on the kang, facing a table of dishes, and it was tasteless to use.

Today, I deliberately changed to the dining room on the west side, using a set of rosewood marble carved landscape tables and chairs.Because the Gu family's mother and son are not considered outsiders, and there are no elders alive.Therefore, Xue Ke and Mrs. Xue sat in the main seat in the north, and the mother and son of the Gu family sat on the left.Xue Pan and Baochai sat on the right.

A few servant girls first held the silver-bodied enamel basin filled with lukewarm water, let the guests first, cleaned their hands with chrysanthemum mung bean noodles, and dried them with towels.Baochai is very supportive of the good habit of washing hands before meals, although the process is more cumbersome than later generations.Look at that Cousin of the Gu family, he is more serious than Xue Pan. Obviously, his aunt has already instructed him, and he may have practiced it secretly a few times.

All kinds of dishes are laid out on the big round table one after another. Eight cold dishes are served first, all placed in a five-inch plate with blue and white hibiscus: sweet-scented osmanthus lotus root, salted duck, assorted vegetables, goose palm duck letter, shredded tripe, and sesame sauce Beans, crystal bacon, ice fish jelly.After everyone washes their hands and sits down, the hot dishes are presented one by one, also eight, an eight-inch plate of pastel flowers and birds, Soviet-style smoked fish, shrimp roe and oyster mushroom, three fresh shark's fin, broiled tofu with mussels, long fish with soft pockets, and squirrels. Mandarin fish, bergamot sea cucumber, diced chicken fried in sauce, plus four large bowls with mackerel pattern: dried shredded chicken sauce, lion head with crab powder, three sets of duck, and braised silver carp head.There are also two soup dishes: Chagucao Chicken Soup and Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.After eating half of it, I ordered four more dim sum: crab roe soup buns, butterfly rolls, emerald siu mai, and three delicacies fried spring rolls.

Everyone eats green rice, fragrant rice and non-japonica rice. Normally, if Xue Ke didn’t come home for dinner, Xue Pan would have to eat while explaining what he had learned in the school. Today, he had to bury his head in eating to talk about the rules. In a blink of an eye, he swept three bowls meal.Baochai only taught Mammy to pick up some duck letters, ate a small piece of lion's head with crab powder, half a bowl of rice with duck blood vermicelli soup, and half a dumpling with crab roe soup, and she was full.

Peeking at the new cousin eating, seeing that he is gentle and only puts a few dishes next to him, Mrs. Xue, Xue Ke hurriedly asked the maid to put all kinds of dishes on a nearby plate for him.Mrs. Xue saw that there was still a little half of the rice in his bowl, so she asked for more rice.After adding again and again, Baochai saw that he was eating more and more slowly, guessing that he was already full, but she was too embarrassed to refuse her parents' kindness.He hurriedly laughed and said, "Mother, you see that the Gu family's elder brother's bowl is almost piled up into a hill, do you think everyone can eat like elder brother?"

Xue Ke almost spit out what he said, and Aunt He couldn't help laughing. Xue Pan didn't care, and continued to attack the three sets of ducks. Cousin Gu's head was lowered, and his shoulders shrugged.Mrs. Xue clapped her hands and laughed: "That's right. I raised Pan'er who eats three or four bowls of rice for a meal. I thought everyone's brothers could eat like this. Don't let my nephew eat like this on the first day. Hold on."

After eating for a while, Master Xue and his wife took Aunt He to arrange a place to live, asked the maid to bring some fruit snacks, and cooked hawthorn soup for Xiaoshi for Cousin Gu.Let the three brothers and sisters sit on the kang inside and talk.

Gu Yunzhen followed his mother to seek refuge with his uncle, feeling a little uneasy.He has just turned seven years old this year, five months younger than Xue Pan, and should have been an innocent child.When he was born, his father had already won the Jinshi and became an official, and he was raised by gold and jade since he was a child.When he was four years old, his father was promoted to be the magistrate of Haizhou, but when he encountered pirates, no one would have thought that General Zhenhai, who usually flaunts his might, escaped with his own soldiers.The military officer ran away, and the civil servant also had the responsibility of guarding the land.Dad asked his loyal servants, Gu Sen's family, to disguise himself and escort his mother and himself out of the city.Before leaving, he said to his mother and son: "Now the general guarding the city has fled. As a parent and official of this place, he can't repay the emperor's favor, and he can't take care of the people's lives. Seeing that the city can't be saved, the only way to save it is to thank the court with one death." Your mother and child will die." The mother was unwilling to be separated from the father, but the father told him to keep some of his flesh and blood, and told him to protect his mother when he grew up.The family of three left in tears, and that was the last time he saw his father.

Later, it was heard that the general who escaped was dismissed and beheaded, and his family was exiled to Ninggu Tower.The imperial court sent someone to bring his father's coffin.He rewarded his father for his loyalty, and made his mother a fourth-rank respected person.He closed the door with his mother and kept filial piety for his father for three years.Unexpectedly, the imperial court's reward and decree could not dispel the greed of the clansmen.In the end, his mother and son were forced to seek refuge with the only reliable relative in the world.

Although he only met his uncle Xue's family once at his father's funeral, he knew from a young age that his uncle would send gifts to his family every year.In the past three years, my family has been sparsely populated, and the only people I visit are my cousin's house, and occasionally a few distant relatives from the He family come.But only the Xue family offered to pick up their mother and son.

My mother also often mentioned that she grew up in Xue's family, and her two cousins ​​were brothers and sisters, and it is true now.Even my cousin, she seems to be very loving now.

In addition to two cousins, the elder brother looks like a tiger, although his temper is a bit domineering, but he is a person with a deep gut, not a cunning person who hides his head and shows his tail.What makes him even more happy is that there is also a cute little cousin who looks like a Wuxi clay doll, has a spirit, and is funny in words and deeds.With this pair of brothers and sisters as companions, I will not be lonely after thinking about it.

On this side, Aunt He followed her cousin and sister-in-law to Ruihe Courtyard. Although no one lives in this courtyard, it is cleaned every day, and it is very clean and tidy.There are a total of twelve small and exquisite rooms, enough for his mother, son and servants to live in.

Seeing that she only brought Gu Sen's family with her, the old ones and the young ones, Xue Ke asked Xue Quan'an's wife to choose two second-class maids, one from Lonicera, one from Le Xia, and four more. There is a little maid who cleans the house and four rough maids.

Mrs. Xue saw that the luggage they brought were all clothes and Huai'an soil rituals, so she took Zhao Fu's family to open the warehouse, and gave them a white silk tent embroidered with ink orchids, and a pine-colored embroidered insect, bird, flower and grass tent, which she personally chose. A few brocade quilts and pillows, and all kinds of commonly used things.Other furnishings were slowly added and changed the next day.

Aunt He saw that some of them were plain and suitable for her widow status, and some bright ones were suitable for boys. She felt grateful for her cousin and sister-in-law, and felt uneasy when she thought of her coming. Sister-in-law disregarded her sister-in-law's feelings back then, and now that a big stone has landed in her heart, she just feels a little tired.

Mrs. Xue asked her servants to prepare a bath, and she took a bath for his mother and son to relieve their exhaustion.

After her mother and son had rested, Mrs. Xue went back to the main room to discuss with her husband how to arrange things in the future.

Xue Ke held a Ru kiln teacup in his hand, and while skimming off the foam from the tea leaves, he said, "How do I arrange it? It's like a sister-in-law and a nephew. My mother's natal family only has one little uncle, and the little uncle has only one uncle." Shuqing gave birth to a daughter, and her mother and son were bullied by the tribe for three years, and my second brother and I didn't even think about going to see it, if the mother was alive, I don't know how to be sad."

Hearing this, Mrs. Xue seemed as if her husband wanted to go on a mission again, so she quickly explained: "When I got married, my sister Shuqing was only ten years old.