Jia Lu through the Red Chamber

Today, after lunch, in the afternoon, someone reported that Madam Qian had come. Jia Lu hurriedly asked someone to come in, and saw a thin and shrewd 40-year-old woman come up to pay her respects.

Jia Lu took a closer look. This Qianmao met when she was five or six years old. She looked familiar. She was different from the nurses in the garden. She was dressed in gold and silver, and she was shrewd. She didn't look like a servant, but instead She looks like a middle-class wife.

After Qian Momo invited Ann, she smiled and said,

"I've thought about coming to the girl for a long time. At the beginning, I agreed to wait for the girl to come up when she was ten years old. The old slave was looking forward to it, counting on his fingers, but there was no order from the mansion, and the old slave dared not come in." , when my wife ordered me this morning, the old servant immediately packed up my things and hurried over here, and please don’t laugh at my quick temper!"

Hearing that she was so good at talking, even Jia Lu couldn't help but think in her heart, thinking to herself, no wonder she can make a lot of money!

"You don't need to be too polite, Mammy, sit down quickly, I'm about to ask you for advice, how can you be a joke!"

Mammy Qian sat down, and Jia Lu asked, "Has Mammy settled down yet?"

Nanny Qian replied, "It's settled, it's brought by Ms. Jiao Qian, and it's next door to Nanny Li."

Jia Lu asked again, "Has the family settled down?" Unlike Nanny Li, who was a widow, Nanny Qian took care of the family. She used to live at home, but now she lives in the garden, separated from her family. , I'm afraid there will be more discomfort.

Qian Momo replied, "The boys in the family have grown up, and now they are all single-family. The old man often goes out to buy goods. Usually, I am the only one in the family. Why don't we come to the garden and have a blind date with everyone!"

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then Jia Lu asked, "Do you know about the embroidery shop in the east of our house and the grocery store on Zhuangyuan Street?"

Qian Momo had managed several shops in her hand, and she knew them all in her heart. When Jia Lu said it, she knew which two shops it was, so she said,

"Miss is very lucky, these two shops are rare, and they have an income of 6000 taels a year, among the shops run by the family, they are considered top-notch.

In particular, this embroidery shop, whose full name is Fugui Embroidery Shop, specializes in the business of rich and noble families. Most of the embroiderers in it are recruited from the south of the Yangtze River, and most of the silk used for spinning is from the south. Every stitch and thread is carefully made, as if the dress on the girl was made in Fugui Embroidery. "

Jia Lu glanced at the green bamboo and green brook jacket on her body, but she couldn't see any difference, so she asked, "Didn't it mean that our family doesn't know how to use clothes made outside?"

This question is about the affairs of the mansion, Qian Momo can't come back, Li Momo said.

"It should be said that the girl should also learn these middle-class things, but I don't know where the clothes I wear come from.

Most of the girls' and men's clothes are indeed made by the family themselves, especially the close-fitting clothes, which are not allowed to be taken over by outsiders, and most of them are made by their own maids in the house.

The girls' clothes for the four seasons belong to the daily routine, and they are all made by the embroidery room in the mansion, but there is only one embroidery room in total, and there is no shortage of embroiderers' craftsmanship in it, but it is not just for the girls. More careful about the masters and wives, etc., and less careful about the girl's clothes.

Miss, your clothes for the four seasons, in addition to those from Rongfu and Ningfu, were sent from both sides.The clothes made by the Rong Mansion are always the same as that of you, the second girl and the third girl. "

Jia Lu understood, no wonder the three girls of Jia's family wore the same clothes in the red building, it turned out to be like this.

"However, I have never seen the second sister and the third sister dressed the same?"

Nanny Li said again, "The third girl wears more clothes according to the rules of the house. As for the second girl, I'm afraid the eldest wife will help. After all, the eldest wife is the second girl's mother."

That's true, this Chen family is no more stingy than Xing family, and he has no children, so he can take care of his second sister more.

Nanny Li continued,

"Girls don't wear much clothes in Rongfu. The clothes made in Ningfu are the main ones. However, the clothes made in the mansion are not as exquisite as those made outside. So when the girl was young, the old clothes in our mansion My wife ordered me to let outsiders make clothes every season, but I didn’t know that they were all sent from my own embroidery shop. Even after the old lady left, this rule has remained.”

Qian Momo said, "That's right, this rule has been going on for many years, because it is our own shop, so there is no need to come in and tailor clothes for girls like outside, just ask the house for the size. , I think it’s like this, the girl doesn’t know.”

After hearing this, Jia Lu said, "I understand now, is this embroidery village only owned by myself, or will it accept some work done by other people?"

Madam Qian replied,

"Receipt is harvested, but the collected things will not be sold in Fugui Embroidery Factory. After all, the ones made outside are not as good as those made by ourselves. There are other embroidery factories in our house, and the collected ones can be sold elsewhere. go.

It's just that the embroidery shop is well-decorated, and the threshold is high. Ordinary people, either with poor craftsmanship or poor sewing materials, dare not enter when they see the gate, so few people will send their work to Embroidered Zhuangshang. "

"Then what about the grocery store?" Jia Lu asked again.

Qian Momo replied, "That grocery store is inferior to Fugui Embroidery Village. Its name is Sishifang. It is located on Zhuangyuan Street. It got its name because there were three champions. Now Most of the people living in it are scholars, and most of them do business for scholars, such as pens, inks, paper and inkstones, rouge, gouache, etc.”

"Cough! Cough!" Jia Lu was drinking tea when she choked on her words.

"Why is rouge and gouache a scholar's business?" Jia Lu asked after half a day's recovery.

"This, this." Qian Momo hesitated.

Nanny Li saw it, and she was afraid that there was something difficult to say, but the girl was grown up, and she didn't have a mother yet, so she had to get in touch with some things.

He said, "Nurse Qian, you can just say it straight."

That's how Qian Momo came one by one,

"At the beginning, there were three champions on Zhuangyuan Street, and they were recognized as a blessed land. After that, the houses of the people on the street were bought by the nobles in the court, and they were used as places for their nephews to study. It's just that the son of the rich and powerful left the house. , How can I study hard and spend money like dirt.

Well, ahem, these prostitutes or girls who are greedy for vanity come here after hearing the news. After they met each other, Zhuangyuan Street became even more smoky. When people in Beijing talk about the scholars on Zhuangyuan Street, they are mostly ironic. . "

Jia Lu asked some more questions, and seeing that she looked tired, she asked her to go back to rest, and told her to go out together tomorrow morning to visit these two shops.

But the next morning, I heard the people in the stable going back and forth, saying that the horse might have eaten something wrong, and he might have diarrhea, and he might not be able to go out, so he had to wait two days to see, so that was all he could do.