The return of Fengxi of the Red Chamber

After a meal, I sat and watched the fish and the mandarin ducks playing together for a while, and the sun had already slanted westward.

Several people thought about the time, and then rushed from the market to the ferry, probably it would be the time of sunset.Therefore, I didn't stay any longer, and generously rewarded this recipe, got on the carriage one by one, and went straight to the ferry.

I didn't want to meet Jia Lian and others on the way.

"It can be regarded as willing to come back. When we came back after shopping, we didn't see your figure, so we knew that you were crazy. Thinking that it was getting dark, I came out to greet you and see what was wrong. Something caught the leg."

"Where is there anything good, I just sat in a restaurant for a while, tasted some snacks, and enjoyed the scenery for a while."

Jia Lian didn't ask in detail, but just rode his horse and followed around the carriage, and the group went back to the ferry smoothly.There was a handyman at a nearby post station who came and took back the borrowed carriage and other things without mentioning it.

The rest of the itinerary was nothing unusual. It was nothing more than a few girls writing a few poems, drawing a few paintings, going down and visiting a few towns, and then arrived at the destination Jinling.

When the boat was about to dock, Lin Daiyu sighed: "This boat is really fast now. I remember that when I went to Beijing with my parents, I spent half a month on the boat."

Xiangling also echoed at the side: "I followed the kidnapper back then, and I couldn't even sit on the official boat, and I had to give way to other boats every now and then. I walked for nearly a month."

"That's natural. In the past, the official ships relied on either the wind or the oars of the boatmen, so they couldn't move forward all the time. Now it is said that some kind of engine is installed, powered by oil, and if they stay around the clock, twelve Hours can travel hundreds of miles."

Xichun looked very proud, and told Lin Daiyu and Xiangling about science.

She naturally felt honored, after all, this engine is the product of Jia Lian's butterfly.

Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian listened to it and thought it was funny, but there was nothing wrong with the little girl's words.

A group of people got off the boat, and there were people left behind from the Jinling old house waiting at the ferry, and the leaders were Yuanyang's father, Jincai and his wife.

When Jincai saw that she was approaching the shore, she trotted all the way to the bow, and said hello to everyone: "Greetings to the second master, the second mistress, and the girls, the house has been well organized, and we are just waiting for the arrival of the masters. "

"You have done everything right, and I have nothing to worry about. The second mistress and the girls are going to live in the mansion. As for me, I have to go to the government office with the adults first. If I go back, I will send someone to send a message to you. .”

Jia Lian stretched out his hand and threw a purse over, and said seriously: "Second grandma and the others rarely come to Jinling, you must be considerate and considerate, let me know who neglected the girl and grandma, be careful of your skin!"

Jin Cai wiped the sweat from her forehead, and smiled carefully: "Second Master, don't worry, don't worry, everything is in order, my family has brought a soft sedan chair and maids, and is waiting for the grandmas to get on the bridge."

Jia Lian saw him respectfully, that's all.

While talking, Jincai's family brought several small sedan chairs, and went straight to the boat, invited Wang Xifeng and others to get on the sedan chairs one by one, and carried them to Jia's old house.Surrounded by mothers-in-law and maidservants on the road, they didn't let others notice.

After entering the second gate, the sedan chair landed on the ground, and the rough envoy was replaced to carry it.

Wang Xifeng sat down impatiently, and only said through the curtain: "Tell everyone around you to disperse, we have been on the boat these days, and now we just want to walk a few steps to relax."

After hearing this, Jin Cai's family responded respectfully, waved away the idlers, and helped Wang Xifeng lift the sedan chair curtain with his own hands: "Grandma, be careful where you step."

Wang Xifeng supported Chunliu's hand, and slowly got off the sedan chair, then signaled to the other maidservants: "Go, I invite you girls to come out, let's go in slowly."

After hearing this, Daiyu and the others got out of the sedan chair and looked up into the house.

This house is a typical Jiangnan house, with layers of moon gates, only one or two corners can be vaguely glimpsed.From behind the front eaves of the house, a few branches of banana leaves and crape myrtle flowers can be vaguely seen, protruding from inadvertent places, adding a bit of bright color.

"What an exquisite place! It looks very different from our house in the north."

Xichun and the others praised, Lin Daiyu felt a little familiar when seeing this house, it was just like the house she lived in Yangzhou back then.

"Northern gardens mostly focus on the upright atmosphere. Although there are rockery and flowing water in the courtyard, they are only used for embellishment and not too prominent. Jiangnan gardens are quite different. They pay attention to the artistic conception of a freehand landscape. There must be a gurgling water in the garden, and it must be skillfully borrowed to be considered wonderful."

Seeing everyone's curiosity, Lin Daiyu couldn't help explaining a thing or two, and talked about it eloquently.

Everyone followed behind Wang Xifeng, and walked slowly towards the backyard. They really saw the mountains and rivers, changing scenery with each step, and the water and rocks intertwined, really exquisite and lovely.

"This house was built with the property bestowed by the emperor when the ancestors and grandpas returned to their hometown to worship their ancestors a hundred years ago, and it took five or six years to build it." Jin Cai's family followed behind, pointing to a high place A stone tablet said, "This tablet was written by Mrs. Xian and Mrs. Xian when the garden was built. It has been standing on this pavilion for more than a hundred years."

After hearing this, Wang Xifeng and the others hurried up the steps, boarded the rockery pavilion built with earth and rocks, and took a closer look.It really was written by Jia Yuan, the first Duke of Rongguo, and his wife. It records the history of the Jia family’s fortune in detail, and Jia Yuan’s warnings to future generations: be kind to others, be friends with neighbors, be thrifty to cultivate one’s morality, and be quiet. To raise virtue.

Everyone looked at it once, and couldn't help but sigh the heart of the ancestors, and bowed twice more, and the atmosphere was a little solemn for a while.

Seeing that everyone was not in high spirits, Qing'er started a conversation and said: "The highest place in this garden is probably this pavilion. Wouldn't it be wonderful to watch the moon here when the moon is full in mid-autumn in August?"

Hearing the words, Jin Cai's family hurriedly flattered: "The girl guessed it right, this pavilion is called Waiting for the Moon Pavilion!"

After all, I pointed with my hand, and I really saw a small Taihu Lake stone standing at the foot of the pavilion. The three exquisite seal script characters on it were exactly the Pavilion of Waiting for the Moon.

The horizontal plaque on the pavilion says "the moon comes and the wind comes", and on the beams and pillars on both sides are written Han Yu's good lines: "autumn is coming in the later years, and the long moon brings the wind".If you want to come to the night of the full moon, enjoy the moon, listen to the wind, and taste the couplets on the scenery, you can really feel a kind of poetic flavor.

Everyone couldn't help but praised a few more words, and then slowly walked down from the rockery.

After sitting on the boat for the past few days, we saw some sights along the way, and then went on a leisurely stroll, and happened to arrive at the main courtyard of the house: Shende Hall.

This place is naturally lived by Wang Xifeng, and there are several good courtyards beside it, where there are fragrant golden osmanthus, or the first burning maple leaves, and autumn chrysanthemums blooming.With vines and vines, birds singing and warblers singing, ancient pines and weeping willows, it has a natural charm.

Xichun and Qing'er were the same age, they chose a yard with many chrysanthemums planted in it, named Dongli, and lived in it cheerfully.

Daiyu and Xiangling lived in the Qiuxia Nursery, surrounded by golden osmanthus and kumquats, and two tall red maple trees in the afternoon, the leaves were already turning red, and autumn was everywhere concentrated.

The prestige of the Jincai family towards Wang Xifeng was like thunder.Ever since I heard that she was coming, I have already cleaned the house tidy, and all the bedding and utensils are brand new, lest I do something wrong and catch this person's eyes.

Therefore, the few people just let the maids who were close to them adjust the furnishings in the house after thinking about it, and then they lay down and rested.In the past few days on the boat, although it is not considered tiring, it is just wobbling, and it is not as stable and stable as lying on the bed.

A few people fell asleep, and it was not until the middle of the day that they were awakened softly by the maids, and they got up to eat.

Jincai's family had the intention to inquire about their tastes and preferences from Chunliu and the others.Half of the meals delivered were prepared in Beijing, and the other half were prepared in Jinling.

Wang Xifeng finished the meal carelessly, and sent Daiyu and the others to play by herself, but left a message from Jincai's family: "It's strange, I said, how can the mandarin ducks in the old lady's house be so exquisite, and everything is done properly, old man My wife left her for a while, and I couldn't even eat. I saw you today, and I realized that it was all because of your family's good teaching."

After hearing this, Jin Cai's family was very surprised. It sounded like a compliment, but when I thought about it carefully, it didn't seem like it was beating myself.

She suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, and said with a smile: "How can we teach well? Yuanyang left us when she was five years old and was chosen to serve in the mansion. Now she has the slightest advantage, and she follows her. From the old ladies, wives and grandmothers in the house, we have learned it by ear and ear, and we dare not take credit for it.”

"You are too modest. There are eighty girls who went in together in the mansion, not to mention one hundred, so why only one mandarin duck came out." Wang Xifeng looked up and looked around, and said with a smile, "Don't say anything else. , the house you cleaned up is very good, it suits the wishes of the girls, even I can't fault it."

"You've done a good job. What should I reward you for? Let's talk about it. Is there anything you want?"

These words became more and more unrealistic. The backs of Jin Cai’s family were frightened into cold sweat, and they knelt on the ground and said: “We deserve our share, and we don’t dare to ask for any rewards. Masters live well, just We're lucky."

Wang Xifeng glanced at her lazily, only drinking tea from the cup, and didn't ask anyone to get up.

After a while, a cup of tea was finished, and then he said angrily: "Look at me, I just lost my mind when I was thinking about something, and I forgot to ask you to get up."

After finishing speaking, he said angrily at Chunliu who was beside him: "You too, girl, why didn't you remind me that your Aunt Jin is still kneeling on the ground? Hurry up and help your Aunt Jin up, and then pay her old man None."

Chunliu also hurriedly apologized, and helped Jincai's family to stand up herself: "It's all my fault, but Aunt Jin has suffered a crime. If you want to be beaten or punished, I have nothing to say."

Jin Cai's family touched the sweat on his forehead, and said with a sneer: "It's not in the way, it's not in the way."

Seeing this, Wang Xifeng turned his anger into joy, and said softly: "Before I came here, the old lady and the wife both told me that your family was looking after the old house in Jinling. Therefore, the old lady told me that I should check the account book of the old house carefully, and if I have wronged Sister-in-law Jin's family, she also asked me to make up for it. "

When Jin Cai's family heard the words, their faces turned pale with fright.

What is this saying, where is there a servant who has been treated badly by the master, and the master has to make up for it?

She knew that her family was far away from the capital, and no one came to the old house for several years, so she often took advantage of it in her pocket and picked things up.Now that Wang Xifeng is acting like this, he just heard some rumors and came to check his own account!