Being fooled by fierce beasts to travel through the beginning is fleeing famine

Chapter 421 The dowry under the water (please subscribe and vote monthly)

Later, after he was rescued by them, the bloody disaster on his face was naturally broken, and he could faintly see the profound features of Fukuzawa before, but there was still some signs of decline.

Now it has completely changed and become prosperous.

After telling the Xiang family this discovery, they all breathed a huge sigh of relief, and then felt extremely happy, feeling that they had finally gotten through it.

The two stood up and wanted to kneel down and kowtow, but Qingyan and Jin Yang quickly stopped them.

Then he changed the subject and asked about the places where the dowry was buried. When they learned that it was on the waterway from the northeast, Chou Chou and Qing Yan directly explored it with their spiritual senses.

Instead of thanking everyone here, it would be better to do something interesting. Unfortunately, the ship can no longer be seen, otherwise we can check whether there are any traces of tampering on it.

The boat only capsized and did not sink. Only Liu's dowry furniture fell into the water.

Although it has been five years, the Liu family's family background is similar to that of the Xiang family. The furniture should be made of good wood. At most, it is a little damaged by soaking, but it should still be intact.

Unexpectedly, when they looked over, they found that the furniture was not damaged by the water, and it did not float. It seemed that the wood was of high density. Ordinary wood would not sink to the bottom of the water. At least it must be like sandalwood. Just like that.

The furniture was very complete, with six large pieces and seven small pieces. They were all heavy. Not only was there not enough time to replace them, but it also cost a lot of money.

Qingyan also learned about the ancient dowry specifications, which can be roughly divided into six large items and seven small items.

The six major items include a dressing box, a bed, a wardrobe, a camphor wood box, a press box bottom and a treasure barrel for descendants.

The seven small items include a spittoon, a red ruler, a vase, a copper plate, a wallet, a belt, a bedding, and dishes and chopsticks.

Babu Bed is also called Qiangong Bed. It took craftsmen more than a thousand man-hours to make it. It has steps underneath, floor planking, and a complex structure. The hanging eaves are engraved with stories about ancient characters, and the fence around the front door is engraved with auspicious patterns.

This bed is mostly made of mahogany, rosewood, etc. It is generally more than two meters long, wide and high. It is warm in winter and cool in summer, and is ethereal and elegant.

The treasure bucket for descendants includes a footbath, toilet and bucket, and is a major wedding custom in the south.

Among them, the footbath symbolizes "abundance", the toilet means "healthy children and grandchildren", and the bucket means "vast wealth".

These three items are inseparable from the prosperity of the family and having many children and good fortune, and they are quite practical dowries.

On the wedding day, the bride's natal brothers usually lead the descendants' bucket in front of the sedan chair, and put the descendants' bucket into the new house with joy on their faces before the bride enters. The descendants' bucket contains longan, lotus seeds, etc. Dried fruit with auspicious meaning.

Then there is the dressing table. Women love beauty and like to draw yellow eyebrows in the mirror. This is really normal.

Women in ancient times were good at being in boudoir, and there were very few entertainment projects. Putting on makeup could not only kill time, but also make the body and mind happy, so the dressing table must be an indispensable dowry.

Mirror stands originally appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties. At that time, mirror stands were simply placed on the ground. Bronze mirrors were thin, handleless, and round. Only noble officials could afford mirror stands and bronze mirrors.

Later, mirrors were widely used during the Song Dynasty, and mirrors and dressing boxes that could be placed on the desktop gradually appeared.

There are usually small drawers under the mirror to store rouge, gouache and dressing tools. Of course, there are also small drawers for frequently worn jewelry.

After the Qing Dynasty, the mirrors on the frames were replaced by glass mirrors instead of bronze mirrors. The high mirror stand is similar to the height of a table, while the low mirror stand has a compact shape, is easy to carry, and can be placed on the table for use.

A screen can also be installed behind the mirror, usually three or five, or no screen can be installed. After opening the cover, the mirror frame can be used directly.

Menhuqi is also a dowry often prepared by parents for their daughters. It is usually found in the north and is also called "marriage bottom".

The wardrobe has the function of storage and storage. Objects can be placed on the cabinet and items can be stored in the drawers. The space under the drawer is called the "stuffy bin". The stuffy bin needs to open the drawer before it can be used by people. It is generally used to store valuables.

The general wardrobe has two or three drawers, and people are accustomed to placing the wardrobe against the wall.

Closed-door cabinets were relatively short, so they could be placed against the wall to open the windows behind them. Closed-door cabinets were very popular at this time, and the drawers were locked with copper locks. The cabinets were divided into two types: flat tops and tilted tops.

Liu's sunken dowry included several camphor wood boxes. Camphor trees are abundant here, so her parents prepared more.

The camphor box is also known as the daughter box. In ancient times, wealthy families would plant a camphor tree in their courtyard when they gave birth to a daughter.

When their daughter gets engaged, her parents will cut down the camphor tree, make two or more camphor wood boxes for their daughter, and carve them with exquisite patterns. When the wedding day is approaching, the parents will ask the carpenter to polish the white camphor wood boxes. paint.

At this time, some matchmakers will use this to identify whether there is an unmarried woman in the family. As soon as they see a tall camphor tree in a house, they know that there must be an unmarried woman in the family, and they can come to the house to be a matchmaker.

Camphor wood boxes are very useful. They can be used to store calligraphy and paintings, precious books, banknotes and other commemorative items. The aroma they emit can repel insects and make people happy physically and mentally.

However, it also has some disadvantages. If the camphor box is often placed in the bedroom, it will increase people's blood pressure and make people overly excited, thus affecting sleep.

The camphor wood boxes were the most severely damaged among the furniture. They had been soaked and unusable. They were placed inside the bed and were not very large. This was probably why they did not float.

To be honest, Qingyan liked the furniture very much, so she simply let Chou Chou hide it in its space. The bedding and other items were of no use as they were soaked to pieces.

As for why they didn't return it to the Liu family, it was already revealed that they had the ability to make fantasy, but that was still different.

It doesn't matter if you just show what you have in your sleeves. It doesn't matter if others know about it. Others may call it rare but not unique.

But these things sank to the bottom of the water. If they could get them back, it would really be a magical trick.

Moreover, they are both an old couple, so there is no big use in getting those things back, so they might as well treat them as payment for their help. Later, Qingyan will also give each other amulets carved from spiritual stones, which can be used to regulate the body. Two clears.

After that, they went to the east courtyard again and took a look at the bed with formations. Xiang Yingzhong originally thought of just burning it, but when Qingyan and the others went over and took a look at the wood, they just burned it. It's time to leave. It's made of blood sandalwood. It's a good thing, so don't waste it.

Taking this opportunity, Qingyan gave them two jade pendants. They were a pair of jade pendants with the same heart, which was perfect for the couple. Xiang Yingzhong and his wife didn't want the bed, but Qingyan took it away without having to exchange it with anything. Qingyan came up with the theory of cause and effect again, and emphasized that wearing this pair of jade pendants regularly can regulate the body and prolong life. Accepted.

Afterwards, they each returned to their own yards. After catching up on a nap, it was already past five o'clock in the afternoon when I woke up. After finishing dinner before dark, I had another good sleep. Qingyan and the others went out for a walk the next day.

Xiang Yingzhong originally wanted to accompany them, but they refused and let him go on his own. After all, after being out for such a long time, there must be a lot of things backlogged in the shop that he needs to deal with.

And this is also true. Although Mrs. Liu can help him look after the house, everything in the shop is supported by the shopkeepers.

She is not in particularly good health, and she cannot take care of everything.

This is because the servants at home are worry-free, and the shopkeepers in the shop are not as tricky as others, so they can wait calmly for Xiang Yingzhong to come back, but there is indeed a lot of things to deal with.

He also needs to check the accounts of those shops. The people there must also have regulations and cannot mess around at will, so they still need to be intimidated.

Also, he wanted to let everyone know that he was back and if anything happened, they could come to him at home, so they went out together early the next morning.

However, they only walked to a jewelry shop on the main street of the county town. Qingyan and the others followed them in and took a look before they separated from Xiang Yingzhong.

This jewelry shop belongs to Xiangjia. The jewelry sold in it are all mid-range and have a relatively large audience. It may have just opened and there are no customers inside yet. There are only one shopkeeper and three clerks.

When he saw them coming in, he came up to greet them warmly. When he saw Xiang Yingzhong, he realized that they were coming with his employer, so he stepped aside.

With them wandering around inside, Xiang Yingzhong didn't hesitate to leave them alone and go in to do business, so they wandered around for a while and then left, preparing to go to other shops.

There are many shops on the main street of the county town that are owned by Xiangjia, but their names are different, and they are not just a simple and crude store of Xiangjia.

But each has his own name. If Xiang Yingzhong hadn't told them the names of several stores in advance, they wouldn't be able to contact them.

For example, his restaurant is called Zhenxilou, which means delicious food.

The inn is called Rugui Inn, which means feeling at home.

The teahouse is called Xianting Yaxu, which is a rather elegant name. Many self-study students often go there to sit.

The jewelry store they went to before was called Xiangrongfang, which means Yun Xiangyi, Hua Xiangrong.

These names are all quite elegant, and they sound like they were chosen by educated people.

Xiang Yingzhong was actually educated. Originally, his father wanted him to study and take the imperial examination. After all, no matter what kind of family, they all wanted to have a son with a distinguished family.

Especially this ordinary merchant family wanted to change their family. In addition, the status of merchants in the Song Dynasty was much higher. Of course, the Xiang family also wanted to give it a try.

It's just that Xiang Yingzhong is good at reading and literacy, but he doesn't seem to have the talent to take the imperial examination. Although he has read a lot of books, the ones he can read are relatively miscellaneous, and none of them are on topic, so he doesn't even have the reputation of a child student. .

Even so, he still has some ink in his belly, but he is just not good at the imperial examination.

When Qingyan and the others passed by several shops, they all thought to themselves that Xiang's shop was quite complex.

Talking about other merchant houses, most of them started their business by specializing in one area, and then made the business bigger and stronger, such as some chain restaurants and inns, or some kind of silk and embroidery shop. At most, they opened a few more branches. , or open a branch elsewhere.

After all, there are specialties in the industry, and if you do business and open the same store, the supply of goods can be solved and managed in a unified way.

Xiangjia, on the other hand, has everything, including inns, restaurants, and teahouses. In fact, it is almost the same system. It is normal to open all three at the same time.

Unexpectedly, the Xiang family also has a jewelry shop, a pastry shop, a rouge and gouache shop, a tea shop, and even a grocery store!
Half of the shops on the entire main street belong to Xiangjia. It is said that there is a quite large village outside the county town, built at the foot of the mountain.

The mountain behind is also his family's, with tea trees and fruit trees planted there. There are lotus ponds and farmland at the foot of the mountain. The grain, vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, crab, lotus root and the like produced there are directly supplied to their own restaurants and teahouses. Okay, this is really a complete production chain.

Of course, other people in the county also open these shops. After all, the county is so big that Xiang's family cannot have a complete monopoly. It's just that his family's scale is relatively large, at least it is the first in Yanghe County.

They walked around some shops and bought some small items, carrying whatever didn't take up space in their hands.

I also went to his teahouse and sat for a while, and found that the tea produced by his family is quite good. It is slightly bitter in the mouth and sweet quickly, with a long aftertaste.

Some of the tea snacks were also well made, not sweet at all, very fresh, crispy and soft. While eating the snacks and drinking tea, they also listened to a lot of gossip in the county, even about the Xiang family.

After all, the Xiang family is very famous in Yanghe County, and Xiang Yingzhong and his wife are even more celebrities of this generation.

Many people knew that Xiang Yingzhong went to Shending Mountain to attend the Dharma conference this time, and it was not a secret. Xiang Yingzhong was very calm when he left, and there was no secret.

This time Xiang Yingzhong brought some people back with him, and the news soon spread throughout the county.

Qingyan somewhat admired the speed at which these ancient people spread news, which was no slower than when later generations had the Internet.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no photos or anything like that, she would have suspected that they would have been recognized as soon as they appeared on the main street of the county town.

Fortunately, they only knew the number of people, but did not know their specific appearance. They did not recognize them, so they could listen to the gossip here.

When talking about the Xiang family, we must talk about the fact that their family has no children. It is a pity that Xiang has done so many good things to his family, but he just can't get any heirs.

And some people made some sarcastic remarks, saying that Xiang Jia might be a hypocrite and that those good deeds were only done for others to see, and they didn’t know what they were like behind the scenes.

Some people say that they did not accumulate virtue in their previous lives and have come to repay their debts in this life. Anyway, there are all kinds of things to say. As for gossip, in fact, there are more people who maliciously speculate, and there are still fewer people who say good things about people behind their backs.