Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Mrs. Zhang waddled up to Jia Min and Zili: "You told me to find it easy. What are you doing standing here in the cold? My wife told me to look for you to go back." "What is it? I'm just in the house." I'm so bored here, come out to relax." Jia Min heard that it was Jia Mu who was looking for her, so she dragged Zili to the upper room.

"I'm just asking you in vain. My wife has something nice for you. I've got all the clothes for this winter. If there's anything inappropriate, just take it out and ask them to change it. My sister's clothes are still suitable." Zhang's eyes It landed on the hands held by Zili and Jia Min, she smashed it and said, "You guys are like sisters all day long, and I stand in front of you like an outsider."

Jia Min was a little unhappy when she heard Zhang's words, and she immediately retorted: "We are all a family, sisters-in-law and sister-in-law should get along harmoniously. People, is it possible that I have to quarrel with you all day long, telling people to say that you are not good?" Jia Min deliberately leaned on Zili's shoulder and smiled provocatively at Zhang: "Second sister-in-law will accompany me to relieve boredom. Talking, taking me to do needlework, she is more thoughtful than my girl, I am a person. I have always been very indifferent to relatives. So many brothers and sisters who are sincerely friendly to me, I am naturally Treat him sincerely. The rest—" Jia Min glanced at Zhang and stopped talking.

Mrs. Zhang didn't expect Jia Min to stand by Zili's side and choke herself, but Jia Min is her sister-in-law and Jia's mother's heart, so she could only laugh a few times: "Third Miss's words are really true." Bitter, I am such a rough person, I am afraid that I will annoy the girl if I open my mouth, please ask the girl Haihan if there is anything wrong with me." As she said, Mrs. Zhang pretended to look at the chrysanthemums in the garden, and deliberately fell behind to be at odds with her. Li Jiamin walked together.

Zili looked at Jia Min's smug expression, and knew that Zhang and Jia Min had always been just for face. Jia Min thought highly of himself, and didn't think much of Zhang, who had no literary talent, no beauty, and a dull personality. Well, Mrs. Zhang is also showing respect to her sister-in-law and uncle.The friendship between two gentlemen is as light as water, neither salty nor light.However, Zhang Shi and Jia Min's quarrel was too rigid, and Zili was also uncomfortable. When she came to Jia's house, she always followed the principle of keeping a low profile, and pretended not to see Zili's provocations from Zhang Shi.To the servants, she put on the airs of the second mistress and punished the servants who dared to push their noses on the face a few times, and no one disrespected her in front of Zili anymore.Jia Min flirted with Zhang Shi in front of her. Isn't this giving Zhang Shi a chance to find fault with her?

Quietly winking at Jia Min, Zili wanted to persuade her to stop talking.Unexpectedly, Jia Min didn't take it seriously. She was the youngest child in the family. Since she was a child, she was held in the hands of Jia's mother as the best, and the whole family dared not provoke her.Jia Min said that I have a backer and who am I afraid of? She raised her head and turned to stare at Mrs. Zhang: "I don't dare to take what my sister-in-law says. I'll go and tell my mother that grandma has a lot of things to do, and those of us who are insignificant don't dare to disturb her." Grandma's military and state affairs are over." Saying that, Jia Min pulled Zili to leave.

Zhang's face turned red immediately, she realized that she had been reckless, and she was even more afraid that Jia Min would sue in front of Jia's mother.He was busy trying to stop Jia Min with an apologetic smile, and kept begging for mercy: "Good girl, I was confused. I thought I was joking with the girl, but I'm stupid and can't speak. I can't take what the girl says." Seeing Zhang's anxious face, Zili suddenly felt sympathy for her.They are all daughter-in-laws for others, and they dare not speak loudly in front of their mother-in-law, and they dare not even provoke their sister-in-law.It’s strange that people say that a sister-in-law is a mother-in-law. In fact, a sister-in-law is more difficult to deal with than a mother-in-law. Zili smiled and smoothed things over: "My sister-in-law is too busy to be confused. It’s just a joke. The girl doesn’t look at other things." , just because sister-in-law came out in the cold wind to find you, she should have forgiven her." Zhang did not expect Zili to speak for her, and gave her a surprised look, but did not say anything.Zili didn't care about Zhang's narrow-mindedness, so she just pulled Jia Min to persuade her.

Jia Min squeezed out a lukewarm smile, said something vaguely, and didn't care about Zhang's pulling Zili away.After waiting for a while, Jia Min saw no one behind her and complained, "I don't know what's wrong with this grandma. She was reasonable when she first came here. Who would have thought that within a year, she would become an upside-down person?" , I didn’t want to be angry with her at first. She is a sister-in-law, and it’s too late for me to respect her. It’s just that she is too irritating in what she says and does, like a black-eyed chicken. A mother loves her children equally. Others think she is good. We are all unworthy of pain, but she is filial. You are too, so are you willing to be run over by her?" Jia Min stared at Zili with hatred, feeling helpless when meeting pig teammates.

"I'm not a fool. I can't tell who is sincere to me and who is fake to me? It's just that I respect her as my sister-in-law. Besides, I'm a new wife. No new daughter-in-law would quarrel with her sister-in-law when she came in. I originally I'm a lazy person, I don't like to be in the limelight, I want to be strong. Your second brother studies hard every day, and it's too late for me to serve him. As long as the old lady and the wife are comfortable, there is nothing wrong with me. I still advise you, don't say in front of your mother Those troublesome things." Zili said that she didn't want to be involved, she just wanted to hide away and live a happy life.

Jia Min was speechless for a while listening to Zili's words, and finally she said with emotion: "It turns out that you are sincerely filial, and I have obeyed you. Repaying someone with virtue is rare. It's no wonder that my second brother has been a filial son since he got married. There is a smile on Tian's face." Speaking of which, they have arrived at Jia Mu's upper room, and a girl has notified them to go in. Pearl personally opened the curtain to invite Jia Min and Zili in: "My wife is still talking about it, but it happens that the girl is here."

As soon as she entered the room, Li was fascinated by all kinds of colorful materials. Jia Mu sat in the strange and shiny satin, silk, felt, and feather satin, like a king sitting on the throne and looking down on all living beings.Seeing her beloved little daughter come in, she couldn't help showing a kind smile on her face, and beckoned to Jia Min: "Come and see, just take the one you like."

Jia Min threw herself into Jia Mu's arms and acted like a baby, while Zili greeted Jia Mu politely.Mother Jia waved her hand casually, all her attention was on Jia Min: "This is a satin made of kingfisher and golden pheasant feathers twisted into threads, shining in the sun during the day and even resplendent in candlelight at night. May I make you a snow coat?" This is the advantage of being a royal weaving official.Naturally, the royal family uses the best brocade and various fabrics in the world. The weaving officer specializes in weaving brocade fabrics for the royal family, and the Jia family can be said to be the one with the most top-notch fine silk fabrics besides the royal family.Zili reckoned that this satin must have been leftover from the material given to the royal family, and there was nowhere to buy this item with money.Mother Jia really loves Jia Min when she loves her.

Everyone likes good things. Jia Min happily held the magical satin and looked at it. Jia Min pointed to the things beside him and said: "There are also Xiaying gauze and Liuguang brocade. You can use them to make curtains or paste them on windows." That's fine. Zheng'er reads every day, and the bright paper pasted on the windows is not bright enough, you take this and he replaces the windows." Zili knew that Jia's mother was telling her, and hurriedly agreed.Although Xiaying gauze is good, it's a pity that it can't bear the sun, and Xiaying gauze is very thin, seeing the weather getting colder, it can't block the wind if it is pasted on the window.Zili set her sights on those pieces of streamer brocade. She had never seen this thing before, and it looked inconspicuous, but it must be a good thing if Jia Mu gave it to Jia Zheng.

"You haven't seen this one. Liuguang Brocade is specially made by Jinling Weaving, and only a few craftsmen in Jinling can make it. Although your grandfather also stayed in Hangzhou Weaving for several years, you may not have seen it. I will tell you today. Xiaying gauze is used to paste windows in summer to make it cool and airy, but Liuguang brocade is the best for window paste in winter. It is dense and thick. It is not easy to see it here, but it can be seen when it is pasted on the window. This is more transparent than Xiaying gauze. It is light, but it can catch the rain without getting wet, and it is best to stick it on the window in winter, and it is also good to make a curtain." Jia Mu was quite contented and asked the girl to unfold a batch of streamer brocades for Zili to see.

It's amazing, Zili was surprised to find that the Liuguang brocade unfolded towards the sun and immediately emitted five colors of light. As the light flowed, the five colors changed, seemingly real and unreal, like a fairyland.She was startled suddenly, she had seen Liu Guangjin once in the empress' bedroom, the empress made a curtain out of it, and she seemed to cherish it very much.I think this thing is also precious in the palace.I didn't expect to use it to paste the windows in Jia's house!This realization startled Zili, she opened her mouth to say something, but after thinking about it, she swallowed the words back. "It's an eye-opener for me. There are such things in the world. When I go back, I will immediately replace them in the second master's study." Zili's astonishment satisfied Jiamu's vanity.

………………

"Second Grandma should be back by now, why haven't you come back today? Where is your grandma?" Jia Zheng put down his book to look at the case and clocked every second.

"Grandma went to talk to the third girl. I'm afraid the third girl is happy to talk to grandma today and she will forget the time. Why don't you ask the little girl to go and have a look." Yu Hou came in with a plate of fruit.

"Just ask me what I'm doing, hurry up!" Jia Zheng urged Yuhou to find Zili and come back.After the rain, he put down the fruit plate and called Xiao Ai: "Go and see Second Grandma, and if you invite her back, tell her that Second Master has something to look for."

"Why is it still an apple? I remember that it was the same fruit for several days? You are too careless to serve. Your grandma likes to eat grapefruit and kumquats. Go and replace them." Jia Zheng found out that it was served after the rain. The fresh fruit was still apples, he immediately remembered Zili's taste, and urged the girl to replace it with Zili's favorite oranges and grapefruits.

"The second master doesn't know, and now the big kitchen tea house doesn't know what's going on, it seems to eat their food. I said it a few times, but they said that there is a shortage of oranges and grapefruits this year. I don't believe it. In Jinling I haven't eaten any oranges yet." Yu Hou complained to Jia Zheng.

"Speak up, you'll just chew your tongue in front of the second master when I'm not around. You just take the money and tell Zhou Rui to go buy it directly. Why are you arguing with the big kitchen!" Zili appeared at the right time and interrupted Hou Hou's complaints.