Daming Yinghua

Chapter 43
The fact that Zheng Haizhu met the girl from Fireworks and Willow Lane was probably because of her mistress who wanted to make a breakthrough in the subject of embroidery.

After Han Ximeng saw the pictures of Japanese Ukiyo-e, he came up with the idea of ​​embroidering the romantic beauties in the south of the Yangtze River just like Tang Yin painted Shujutsu.

But Han Ximeng tried to draw more than ten line drafts on the embroidery sample book, but he was always dissatisfied, so he sent Zheng Haizhu to go out more to observe real people.

Near Yuehe River in Songjiang Prefecture, there are many Goulan teahouses, brothels and wine shops, known as Little Qinhuai.

Even in the daytime, standing in pickle workshops and needlework shops picking for a while, Zheng Haizhu can also see many Yingying and Yanyan passing by the waterside bridge.

Once, when Zheng Haizhu got out of the Xiangdao workshop selling yellow snails, she saw a petite girl in a red jacket and skirt, accompanied by a woman, standing in front of the stall for writing family letters. , holding on to a green-skinned kid.

Zheng Haizhu stepped forward and heard that it was Qing Pi who wanted to spend five cents of money for books.

The stall owner was a thin and down-and-out middle-aged man, with a blushing face, and said calmly and let it go.

But the girl and the mother-in-law were not willing to let go, and the girl was even more aggressive, and she immediately reached into the boy's skirt to take out the bag, causing the onlookers to laugh and boo.

Just at this time, the companion of the green-skinned boy rushed over and surrounded the two young women who were righteous.

Seeing that the girl in red and the mother-in-law were about to be beaten, the surrounding scholars waited as if they were just watching a good show.

Are all these men dead?Zheng Haizhu's anger rushed up.

She got out of the crowd and yelled loudly: "I am the Zheng family of the Han family, and I received a reward from the government office for helping the court suppress bandits. If you make a mistake today, I will go to the government office to push the officials, Master Huang. Sue you!"

Among the onlookers, some people who are familiar with the hot news in the city recognized Zheng Haizhu, and gave a few quick words of momentum. After the villains believed that Zheng Haizhu did have some kind of friendship with the officials, their arrogance was really low After a few minutes, the leader gave a rough grunt, threw down a few gold-backed copper coins, greeted the left and right, cursed and left.

The girl in red and others thanked Zheng Haizhu earnestly.

After talking for a while, Zheng Haizhu found out that the woman in red was named Ru Jiu'er, and she was an upright lady from the Qingfeng Building nearby. The benefactor of the red lady whom my mother-in-law served in the past.Enke was originally a low-ranking official, but because of dereliction of duty, he was dismissed and returned to the commoner. His land property was also confiscated.

Granny Fan's former master died of tuberculosis a few years ago, but Granny Fan remembered the kindness of this middle-aged scribe, and sometimes secretly gave him two pancakes from the brothel, and told Ru Jiuer the reason.Today, the master and the servant saw that he was being bullied, so they stepped forward.

Zheng Haizhu crossed over to this world, mustered the courage to venture out, and brought her nephew from southern Fujian to Jiangnan. Along the way, she met many low-level people who were begging for a living. Even without the influence of Han Ximeng, she, a modern woman, would have Don't define prostitutes as lowly people shallowly and naively.

What's more, Ru Jiuer's chivalry is better than so many big men who sit on the sidelines.

That day, Zheng Haizhu was the host, and invited Ru Jiuer and Granny Fan to the restaurant, and they had a good talk.

Ru Jiuer's master and servant didn't expect that the rumored Han family's somewhat unusual self-combed girl from a foreign country didn't even care much about the gap between good and bad.

Zheng Haizhu has gained even more. In this dynasty that oppressed and imprisoned women, she knew that this matter must be practiced. She came into contact with a firework like Ru Jiuer who is in the mud, but her heart is bracing for the clarity of Taoism. woman.

After going back and forth like this, the two became friends.

At this moment, Ru Jiuer's pretty face was full of anxiety.

"Sister Zheng, to make a long story short, I accompanied a guest on a mountain hike today. I wanted to get rid of the guest halfway, and I made an appointment with Mr. Ruan, my good friend, to escape privately. I don't think Mr. Ruan has arrived yet, but the brothel seems to have caught wind. Just now, Mr. Gui came to the back mountain with the nursing courtyard, and it got closer and closer. Fortunately, I saw my sister eating here with those grandmothers, so I came in and begged my sister to hide..."

Zheng Haizhu's expression froze: "Mr. Ruan, is this the one you said a few days ago that you want to redeem yourself?"

"Exactly. Originally, if I survived for another half a year, the silver I saved would be enough to redeem myself, but he was eager to take me to Beijing, so we were going to flee..."

Ru Jiuer was still muttering, but Xu Huizhen, who was hiding behind Zheng Haizhu, suddenly said, "This son wants to take you away, but he wants to spend your money, which is not decent enough. It is even more wrong to force you to flee without enough money. "

Zheng Haizhu turned her head and looked at Xu Huizhen with some surprise.

Xu Huizhen was still as calm as a young adult: "Miss Zheng, I understand roughly what you mean. In the Charity Hall opened by my family, there are people like this girl who come to pray and tell their stories. Sadness and difficulty..."

Ru Jiu'er interrupted her and said, "Miss is the owner of the Mercy Church, then you should understand that there is one of the teachings of your foreign religion, that is, don't falsely testify, that is, don't make false judgments on things you don't know. What we do in this business is completely different from those who voluntarily work long-term employment for aristocratic families and receive monthly wages. When we enter the fire pit, we are not able to do it, and when we want to jump out of the fire pit, we are blackmailed and made things difficult. You are a golden lady. As a matter of fact, I only use the eyes of a businessman who keeps the contract to judge whether Mr. Ruan and I are decent or not, and whether we are doing right or not, so we can stand and talk without hurting our backs."

Xu Huizhen listened with her lips pursed, tilted her head to think about it for a while, and then nodded seriously: "Well, what you said makes sense."

In this short round, Zheng Haizhu had decided to help Ru Jiuer, but Wei Wei felt that Xu Guangqi's granddaughter was also there, but it was a bit difficult.

Unexpectedly, Xu Huizhen seemed convinced by Ru Jiuer's rebuttal, and she simply pointed to a large wooden box under the bamboo couch in the study and said, "Then you can hide there, you are small, we will cover you with a scroll. Even if those male servants can Entering the Heming Tower, I am a female member of the Xu family, and I am painting here with Sister Zheng, they are not government servants, so I dare not make too many mistakes, at most, I can only watch outside the door."

After Zheng Haizhu and Ru Jiuer heard this, they both felt that this was the most reasonable solution in their desperation.

They hurriedly dragged out the wooden box, and Ru Jiu'er bowed and curled up in it. Zheng Haizhu deliberately found a few blue silk scrolls and covered them, which were the same color as Ru Jiu'er's cloth clothes, and then he and Xu Huizhen forced the wooden box into the box. The box was pushed in, and a few round stools were scattered around to block the light.

Zheng Haizhu and Xu Huizhen still returned to the table, while coloring and drawing lines, they listened to the movement outside.

Sure enough, not long after, a noisy man's voice came.

Holding a pen, Zheng Haizhu walked to the door, just in time to see Cui Liu, the personal maid of the Gu family's grandma, who also walked from the banquet flower hall to the courtyard, and asked the shopkeeper of Heming Tower with a bit of arrogance.

The Qingfeng Building where Ru Jiuer sold herself is a well-known brothel in Fucheng.The shopkeeper of Heminglou heard that it was Qingfenglou who searched mountains and villages to find people, but he didn't dare to refuse bluntly, so he had to bow down and complain to Cuiliu.

Cui Liu didn't get angry with the shopkeeper, she just stared at the few people behind the shopkeeper and said: "There are the grandmothers and ladies of the Gu family and the Dong family, and Mrs. Huang's wife, do you think it's okay to bother you here?"

Gui Gong, the leader of Qingfeng Tower, can be seen as a sinister, cunning and ruthless character.

But he heard that it was really the noble female relatives in the city who were holding the banquet. After all, he was afraid of their husband's family, so he hurriedly said in a low voice: "Don't worry, sister, we only go into those empty rooms to have a look. is avoided."

Cui Liu waved her hands impatiently, stopped responding to the other party, and stood at the entrance of the flower hall with her arms folded, watching Gui Gong arrange his men to search for several vacant private rooms in Heming Tower.

At this moment, another young man rushed in from outside the courtyard, about twenty years old, with a long face, fair complexion, handsome eyebrows, and a straight suit with fine rhombus patterns.

He is clearly a noble young man with good looks, but he is holding a ball of water-red clothes in his hands, with bright embroidery and the folds of the horse-faced skirt faintly showing, it looks like a woman's skirt, which makes him look quite weird.

(End of this chapter)