The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 462: Miss Coward's Hard Life

Chapter 462: Miss Coward's Hard Life

Sun Shaozu followed Jia Yingchun out of the living room with his eyes, and then reluctantly withdrew them. Seeing this, Jia She stroked his beard and smiled, "My dear nephew Sun, what do you think of my daughter's appearance?"

Sun Shaozu immediately clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "Father-in-law, please accept my humble respect."

Jia She laughed and said, "Don't worry, dear son-in-law. Although my daughter is a concubine's daughter, she has been raised by the old lady since she was young, so the marriage must be reported to the old lady first and her consent must be obtained. After I have communicated well, you can send a matchmaker to formally propose marriage. If you follow all the etiquette, it will be successful."

Sun Shaozu quickly agreed.

In ancient times, the status of concubines was already low, and the status of their children was even lower, so there was a saying that "a good man does not marry a concubine's daughter, and a good woman does not marry a concubine's son". Therefore, Sun Shaozu was originally reluctant to marry Jia She's concubine's daughter, but the Jia family was a founding duke after all, and now they had a concubine, so it was not a loss to marry the Jia family's concubine's daughter.

Besides, Jia She still owed him 6,000 taels of silver, and it seemed that he had no intention of paying it back. If he didn't marry her, wouldn't he be left with nothing? Fortunately, although Jia Yingchun was a concubine's daughter, she was beautiful and timid. She looked like a gentle woman, so it would be nice to marry her home as a wife.

Besides, Jia Yingchun left the hall feeling sad, but she was not stupid, so she understood why her father had called her here specially. She was afraid that the ugly "old man" would be her husband in the future.

Mrs. Xing obviously saw that Jia Yingchun was unhappy, so she kept bragging about how capable Sun Shaozu was, how good his character was, how good he was at making money, how wealthy his family was, etc., and how whoever married him would enjoy a good life.

Seeing Madam Xing's exaggeration, Siqi couldn't help but ask, "Madam, Lord Sun looks quite old, right?"

Mrs. Xing's face froze slightly when she heard this, and she smiled and said, "She is not even thirty yet, she is still young and promising, and men become more mature and stable as they get older, and they know how to love their wives."

Siqi muttered, "But our girl is only seventeen... Ouch!"

Wang Shanbao reached out and grabbed Siqi's ear, scolding her, "You ignorant little whore, who told you to talk nonsense? Are you itching for trouble? I'll let your parents beat you up later."

It is said that Wang Shanbao, the housekeeper, is Siqi's grandmother, who dares not to refute even when being scolded and twisted.

"Haha, please don't blame me, Madam. I will teach this little bitch Siqi a lesson later." Housekeeper Wang Shanbao said with a smile.

Madam Xing snorted coldly, "He is unruly and needs to be taught a lesson."

Wang Shanbao immediately grabbed Siqi's ears again, and the latter cried in pain, "I was wrong, I won't dare to do it again, Madam, please forgive me this time."

Madam Xing then waved her hands and said, "Forget it. Be a good servant to your master in the future. If you do it again, even your grandmother's face will not work."

Wang Shanbao's face changed slightly, and he kicked Siqi and cursed, "You ignorant little whore, now you are causing trouble for me. I don't know what I did in my previous life to have a granddaughter like you. What are you doing standing there? Why don't you take the second girl back to the garden?"

Siqi didn't dare to say a word, but just helped Jia Yingchun back to the garden. The latter was silent all the way, as if she had lost her soul. After returning to Zhuijin Pavilion, she threw herself on the bed and cried bitterly.

Seeing this, the maid Xiu Jue was at a loss as to what to do. She pulled Si Qi outside and asked in a low voice, "Sister Si Qi, what's going on?"

Si Qi then recounted what had happened and sighed, "This is all fate."

Xiu Ju was shocked and anxious, saying, "Why are the eldest master and the eldest mistress so confused? Sun Shaozu is just a minor official of the sixth rank, and he is almost thirty years old, while our girl is only seventeen."

Siqi said, "Not only is there a big age gap, but he is also very ugly. If you really want to marry him, you must ask for a maid as a dowry. Who will be chosen? Anyway, I will never go, even if I die."

Xiu Jue's expression changed when she heard this, and she stammered, "What should we do then?"

Siqi said helplessly: "What else can we do? Since ancient times, people have believed that marriage is decided by parents and matchmakers. The eldest master and the eldest mistress have made the decision, so there is basically no room for maneuver. Moreover, you know our girl's temperament. She will just accept it. Even if she doesn't agree in her heart, what can she do?"

Xiu Jue also sighed upon hearing this, her face full of worry. After all, if a maid was really required to give as a dowry, then she would most likely be chosen. Although Si Qi was a maid, she had a backer. It was her grandmother who protected Wang Shan's family, and if she asked her grandmother to plead for her, she would probably be able to get away with it.

…………

It was evening when Jia Huan returned home from outside, bringing with him a new stove and a bag of pitch-black coal briquettes.

"Jia, what is this?" Mandalin saw Jia Huan fiddling with the new stove as soon as he entered the room, so she walked up to him and asked curiously. Ping'er also came over to see what was going on.

Jia Huan replied, "This is called a honeycomb coal stove. Last time I specially asked Tie Niu to make it. Now it is finally made. It is not bad. I will try it first. With this thing, this winter will be much more comfortable."

"Honeycomb coal?" Mandarin grabbed a piece of coal cake, which was full of holes, and nodded: "Yes, it does look like a honeycomb, but what are these holes for?"

"It can improve combustion efficiency and calorific value. I don't know how to explain this to you. Just wait and see." Jia Huan skillfully set up the stove and quickly ignited two coal cakes with sawdust. Then he placed a tin kettle for boiling water on the stove and clapped his hands, saying, "Okay, a kettle of water can be boiled in about a quarter of an hour."

Ping'er asked in confusion, "It's just a stove, what's so special about it?"

Jia Huan laughed and said, "There is a huge difference."

Jia Huan pointed to the charcoal stove that they usually used and asked, "What are we burning in this stove?" Ping'er said with a smile, "Charcoal, what's wrong with that?"

“Is it charcoal or coal that is more expensive?”

Ping Erh pondered and said, "Of course the charcoal is expensive. We use high-quality smokeless charcoal, which is very expensive. Coal stone is much cheaper."

Jia Huan smiled and said, "Even ordinary charcoal is more expensive than coal. My honeycomb briquettes are made from coal powder and yellow mud. They are not only cheap, but also durable. They are also smokeless and save more than twice as much as burning charcoal."

Ping'er was surprised and said, "Is this true? Every winter, we spend thousands of taels of silver on charcoal for heating. If that's the case, wouldn't we be able to save more than five hundred taels of silver by using this honeycomb coal?"

Jia Huan nodded and said, "That's the theory!"

Ping'er couldn't help but be skeptical. She used to work for Wang Xifeng, so she knew exactly how much firewood and rice the Jia family consumed every year.

Jia Huan said, "If Sister Ping'er doesn't believe it, we'll know after we try it for a while."

As Jia Huan said this, he added another honeycomb coal into the stove and said, "These three pieces of coal can probably burn for two hours. In other words, if we burn continuously for a day, we only need eighteen pieces of honeycomb coal."

Mandalinba blinked her sapphire eyes and asked, "How much does a piece of honeycomb coal cost?"

"No more than three cents," Jia Huan replied.

Ping'er counted on her fingers and said, "Top-quality smokeless charcoal costs ten taels of silver for one hundred catties. One catty is one cent of silver. We need one catty in one night, so that's one hundred coins. This honeycomb briquettes only cost less than sixty coins a day!"

After Ping'er made the calculation, she was so surprised that her mouth opened into an "O" shape. It was really enough to save more than half.

Jia Huan laughed and said, "Three cents is just the cost price. If we sell it on the market, it will probably cost five or six cents a piece."

"That's almost half the savings!" Ping'er had been in charge of the household before, so she had a good sense for finances.

As they were talking, the water in the tin kettle began to emit white steam, and it would boil in about a quarter of an hour.

Ping Er hurriedly used it to make tea, and at the same time poured a pot of rice wine to warm it up to avoid wasting energy. She said happily, "This is good. I don't have to go to the kitchen to get hot water for foot bathing in the future."

Mandalin smiled and said, "You don't have to get hot water to wash your face. If the food gets cold, just put it on top to warm it up."

Jia Huan washed his hands with hot water and asked, "By the way, did my second sister come here today?"

Ping Erh replied, "The Second Miss did come in the afternoon, but when she saw that the Third Master was not there, she sat for a while and then left."

Jia Huan apologized, "I had originally arranged to have my second sister's portrait painted this afternoon, but the Seventh Prince suddenly came to visit, so I broke the appointment. How about this, Sister Ping'er, tell a maid to take the bottle of osmanthus dew to my second sister and ask her to have her portrait painted tomorrow morning. You can go to her place, or come to our place."

Ping Er shook her head and said, "It would be better if I deliver it myself. It is precious and it would be a pity if it was broken."

"That's fine. Thank you for your hard work, Sister Ping'er." Jia Huan said with a smile.

Ping'er immediately took the bottle of osmanthus dew from the cupboard, wrapped it in cloth, and went straight to the Zhuijin Pavilion with the lantern in hand.

It was just getting dark when Ping'er entered the Zhuijin Pavilion. Jia Yingchun was already getting ready for bed. She was obviously a little dazed, with slightly red and swollen eyes, as if she had been crying.

Ping'er couldn't help but feel secretly surprised, but she didn't dare to ask too much. She just apologized on behalf of Jia Huan for breaking the appointment today and gave him the bottle of osmanthus dew.

Jia Yingchun declined for a while, but finally accepted the osmanthus dew and said to Ping'er, "Thank Huan'er for me. I'll go to your place tomorrow morning."

Ping'er exchanged a few more polite words and walked out of the Zhuijin Pavilion, and Siqi saw her out.

"Siqi, the second young lady doesn't seem to be in good spirits. Come over and cry?" Ping'er couldn't help but pull Siqi and whispered.

Siqi whispered, "That's right. Alas, we can only blame our girl for her bad luck."

Ping'er hurriedly asked what happened, and Siqi told Ping'er what happened today.

Ping'er couldn't help but ask in surprise, "So this marriage is settled?"

Siqi sneered, "Although there has been no real matchmaking, the master has obviously made up his mind. Otherwise, why would he let the girl go out to meet a stranger? It's not proper etiquette."

"If that's the case, there's nothing we can do!" Ping'er shook her head and left the Zhuijin Pavilion with her lantern.
(End of this chapter)

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