Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 607 The Mistress of Ziming Building

The crowd was overwhelmed by it.Not to mention 60 taels, even if 30 taels are raised now, it will have to fight the famine with the Guangdong treasury.As for Guangxi's vassal treasury, the garrison in Guangxi itself has to rely on the Guangdong Association's salary, which can't be counted on at all.

Lu Yizhong saw that the atmosphere was a bit depressed, so he quickly changed the topic: "The exact number of troops and ships and guns to be used can only be determined after discussion between Master Tai, Master Futai, and He Zhen. Let's put this matter aside and discuss other things first. "

At present, the aides are discussing where to deploy troops, how to advance troops, how to cross the sea, how to contact the local garrison, and so on.But Lu Yizhong's mind was not on this. After perfunctory, he shirked that he still had urgent matters, entrusted the meeting to Li Xijue, and resigned first.

As soon as he left the Governor's Mansion, he only felt relaxed, and his mood was very happy and excited.Because the opportunity I have been looking forward to for a long time has finally arrived.

He has secretly planned this matter for a long time, just waiting for such an opportunity to come.Although he expected the opportunity to come soon, he just didn't expect it to come so soon.

At this time, he looked calm and unhurried on the surface, but he was still a little anxious in his heart.When he got into his four-person sedan chair, he impatiently stomped on the sedan chair:

"Ziming Tower."

Just as the bearer was about to pick up the sedan chair, Lu Yizhong felt that something was wrong, and stomped his foot again: "Go back to the mansion!"

He felt that it was inappropriate to go to Ziming Building at this time, and the news of the attack on Lingao hadn't been spread yet, and it would naturally spread after the meeting was over.When Miss Pei and Dongzhu Guo are in panic all day long, he will naturally come to invite him.

Thinking of this, he felt overwhelmed by his own thoughts.Let Dongzhu Guo wander for a while, and he will naturally understand when the city is full of wind and rain.

In addition, although Guo Yi has only been in Guangzhou for two or three years, he has quite a lot of friends, and basically all the gentry and officials in and out of Guangdong have passed through.If there were any ruthless characters behind him who didn't show up, this knock on the mountain would be enough to make the opponent show off.It also prevents me from being too eager to get ahead and bumping into a wall in vain.

The midday sun shines on the carved window lattice, and the glass inlaid on it reflects the light on the white powder wall.The room is furnished with red sandalwood tables, chairs and furniture, gorgeous lacquered flowers and grass screens; the most extravagant furniture in Guangzhou—a life-length crystal mirror mounted on a delicately carved red sandalwood frame, covered with a brocade mirror. There are two sets of thread-bound books that are neatly tidied up; a western enamel smoker decorated with animal figures is curling up the smoke of sandalwood, and the faint, vague fragrance is floating in the room.

A pair of hanging scrolls by an unknown landscape painter hang on the wall, which seems to show the unique taste of the owner.Below the painting is a guqin with a simple and elegant style. Looking at the simple and simple patterns, you can tell that it is an authentic Guqin from Tang and Song Dynasties.Another thing worth a thousand dollars.

This tidy and comfortable boudoir is decorated with brocade embroidery and gold and jade vessels, making it look luxurious and rich.At this time, the owner of the room, Pei Lixiu, the hostess of Ziming Building, was leaning on the moon-hole-style canopy-style canopy bed hung with fringed tulle, sleeping soundly on the white satin and red flower soft pillow.

The sunlight near noon shone on the wall, and the originally dark and comfortable light in the room gradually brightened.Finally, she opened her eyes, seemingly not used to the bright light in the room.She closed her eyes again for a while, and slowly stretched out one snow-white arm from under the scarlet cloud satin quilt, and then stretched out the other, leisurely stretching her body.

Although the complexion of the arms is white, they look slightly rounded, and two bracelets of skeined silver are tightly wrapped around the wrists.Small emeralds hang from the bracelet on a thin chain.

"This annoying sunshine." Pei Lixiu muttered, slowly got up from the bed, and yawned unladylike.

According to the rules of the big families in the Ming Dynasty: when a hostess like her gets up together, there is no need to call, as long as there is a slight noise, the personal maid outside will immediately show up, and while she is talking about the master's gratification, she will help her change her clothes and wash her hands .But Pei Lixiu's boudoir implemented a strict system of non-introduction.No servants are allowed to enter her boudoir without summons.

She sat on the bed blankly and regained her senses for a long time, and then she seemed to wake up suddenly. She didn't bother to get off the bed, dragged a pair of embroidered slippers, and walked slowly to the bathroom.

The washroom is completely modern in style.Except that there is no shiny stainless steel—but here it is much more luxurious than stainless steel, and all the plumbing hardware is made of bronze.

She took off her clothes hastily, took out a plastic hair mask that had been used many times from the drawer, and carefully tied up her black hair.I looked in the mirror again and again to see where the hair was not exposed, and then stood in the bathtub.

Used to show the status of the water tank on the roof, the pointer of the copper clock, which is a bit like a car clock on a ship, shows at 70%, and the water in the water tank is enough for her to take a shower comfortably.Otherwise, she would have to pull the handle of the bronze bell.The servants below will quickly pull out the cattle, drive the cattle to run and drive the animal power pedal machine to water.This watering process takes at least 15 minutes.Although there are modern bathroom equipment, the matching is still too backward.

After the shower, she sat in the powder room off the bathroom.Looking at herself in the mirror, her eyes were swollen - yesterday she just had a little socializing between the boxes, and she was already very drunk.It's all because Ziminglou's rum cocktail has been too successful.Rum, mixed with kvass, various fruit juices, and distilled flowers, fruits, and grass leaves, make this fashionable drink ever-changing, and it fascinates the dignitaries and dignitaries of Guangzhou city at once.Everyone who goes to Ziming Tower is proud to have a drink.

Fortunately, my head no longer hurts.The effect of hangover soup is still good.Pei Lixiu noticed a little wrinkle in the corner of her eyes—— she frowned secretly, reminding herself to make a cucumber or fruit mask at night, or like Su Ai——Gao Shunqin’s concubine—introduced her, using Egg whites are used to make pearl powder and apply to the face.

Pei Lixiu thought about this question for another 10 minutes, until the mahogany grandfather clock in the room struck eleven times again and again.She woke up suddenly, today is the day for the "salon", or according to this time and space, it is called "elegant collection".

This gathering is specially organized for the female relatives who come to Ziminglou for entertainment.Pei Lixiu got acquainted with many concubines of local dignitaries and eunuchs.Most of these concubines are famous prostitutes in Guangli, and many of them are famous prostitutes whose masters measure pearls and return them in the south of the Yangtze River.Regardless of appearance, body, or talent, they are hundreds of times stronger than ordinary women.Most of these women are alert, cunning and quick-witted.I have seen various scenes.After staying in the mansion for a long time, even though he was clothed in rich clothes and fine food, and served slaves and maidservants, his heart was very empty.Ziminglou, a place full of new things, became a magnet for them.

Pei Lixiu took advantage of the opportunity of following Guo Yi to "make connections" and "find connections", and met many such women.Although Pei Lixiu didn't know anything about poetry and poetry, relying on her status as the hostess of Ziminglou and her straightforward and unrestrained temperament, she still won the favor of many people.After coming and going, they got involved with many concubines in the house, and became handkerchiefs.

The relationship leading to the inner house is very useful for the Guangzhou station. First of all, it is to absorb deposits. The concubine of a wealthy family has some personal savings at hand, hoping to make money from a wealthy name.Pei Lixiu used her relationship to bring in a lot of deposits for Delong Guangzhou Branch.When something difficult to deal with at the Guangzhou Station, Pei Lixiu held the handkerchiefs to find opportunities to blow the pillow wind, and it was almost unfavorable.

Because of her fruitful work, Guo Yi basically responded to her various applications.There are endless new gadgets in Ziminglou—many of them are specially made in Lingao and Zizhenzhai.Pei Lixiu made this "elegant gathering" gradually become more and more famous, to the point that recently some wives and young ladies of other families are also trying to find ways to squeeze in in order to gain some relationship with their husbands and fathers. This invite list.

But Pei Lixiu knew that it was not enough to attract them with endless modern gadgets and the like.They are all well-informed, and they will naturally get tired of such clever tricks after a long time.Roughly speaking, they are similar to the literary young women of the twentieth century.There must be something that can make them feel higher than ordinary people "ordinary" to attract them.

Poetry, poetry, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are of course the weapons they can use to be proud of most women in this time and space, but this aspect is Pei Lixiu's biggest weakness.

Pei Lixiu knew that if she didn't have the mysterious identity of an "Australian woman" and was the hostess of this Ziming Building full of novelties, this group of talented women would probably not even look at her.

Pei Lixiu knew that her knowledge was limited, and she might not be able to achieve any results if she studied these things in a sudden.They have to make a fuss about things they don't understand.

The most confident thing for me is dressing, makeup and maintenance.But in terms of dressing, she is almost at a disadvantage, because she can only go to the countryside and wear the women's clothes of the Ming Dynasty.Modern women's clothing, whether it is a skirt or jeans, can be regarded as "boudoir appeal", but if it is really worn out, it is "immoral".

As for the secret recipes of makeup and maintenance, the ancients were no less than modern people in this respect-almost every woman from a wealthy family has her own various secret methods of makeup and maintenance.They are only more limited by the materials: some cosmetics have toxic ingredients, while others have little effect.The biggest bottleneck of ancient cosmetics and skin care products is that they are inconvenient to use and easy to deteriorate.The popularity of lipstick sticks, eyebrow pencils, perfumes and other products made by Zichengji with modern methods and techniques is largely due to the advantage of ease of use.

After much deliberation, Pei Lixiu decided to start from this aspect and set up a beauty salon or something.Do a lot of natural beauty care.The Transit Group has a wealth of material available on this subject.In particular, some people still have a full set of video tutorials for beauty salons stored in their computers.In addition to a full set of beauty care courses, there are ear candles, uterine care, body massage, medicated bath, aromatherapy bath, chest massage, etc., and even beauty enemas.

After reading it, she felt more confident, and immediately began to purchase equipment, train personnel, and order various new gadgets from the Ministry of Light Industry.The arrival of Zheng Shangjie made her even more powerful.Zheng Shangjie is eloquent and better than her in terms of resourcefulness, but after all, she has a husband, and according to Daming's standards, she is too old, so it is difficult to make a name for herself, so she has to be a backstage supporter and advise her.You can also greet and socialize when necessary.

But things are not all in place yet.It is really difficult to communicate with the people from the Ministry of Light Industry.Because they are all men, and they are all men studying science and engineering.It was difficult for her to explain to them exactly what she needed.Because she neither knows the composition of these things nor the structure of these things.Can only be described with some emotional words.As a result, either the other party didn't know what she wanted, or the samples made didn't meet the requirements at all.

A few days ago, Zheng Shangjie made a special trip back to Lingao and made a list of what she wanted.Zheng Shangjie said that as soon as she returned to Lingao, she went to the big library to check the information, and found out the pictures and structures of everything.If necessary, go directly to the workshop to describe.

"I don't know how things are going?" Pei Lixiu muttered.Lazily changed into clothes.Today she chose a pink chiffon women's dress with purple lining, and underneath were eight white Hunan skirts with purple flower trim. She was very elegantly dressed.Only her hair, she did not follow Daming's habit of dressing up, but used the low-slung and antique-style hairstyle that is often seen in costume TV dramas.

Finished dressing and dressing.She just pulled the bell rope.Her personal maid, Chunliu, came in tiptoeing from the door. This girl was bought by Guo Yi from the market a few months ago, and because of her beautiful appearance, she almost fell into the hands of the old bustard.Also because of his outstanding looks and "smartness and kindness", he was assigned to the intelligence study class. Recently, he came back from a high-profile job to serve as Pei Lixiu's personal maid and secretary.

According to the regulations of the Political Security Bureau, all the maids, servants, stewards and other close personnel of Guangzhou Station have been transferred from the quarantine camp in Lingao, and the former personnel have also been transferred back to Lingao in batches for political review.Make sure that you are honest and reliable before you can continue to serve in Guangzhou.People who are considered to have potential temporarily join various short training courses to learn various professional skills.For example, Sun Chang studied administration and personnel management in Lingao.The aborigines at Guangzhou Station have not yet been absorbed into Lingao's aboriginal personnel system, but the Civil Affairs Committee is already preparing their personal files.

The concubines of Guo Yi and the others do not enjoy this kind of treatment, they have only been strictly inspected, and it is enough to prove that they are not dangerous.There will be no place for them in the future indigenous personnel system.

Chunliu brought breakfast to the hostess.There was only a bowl of porridge and four side dishes on the lacquered plate.Although it was noon, she still prepared breakfast.The hostess seems to have a sense of fear about eating, and she will be careful about everything she eats.

Chun Liu greeted with a smile, "Ma'am, you are awake, did you sleep well?"
Pei Lixiu didn't answer.She glanced at the rosewood desk in front of the window from a distance.At some point there was a note from Xue Tao on it.

There are no poems on Xue Tao's note - no one here sings with her, everyone knows that Miss Pei doesn't understand these things - Xue Tao's note is her schedule for the day.

"Have Xia He come in?" Pei Lixiu was still a little bit "getting out of bed", and asked not in a good mood.

"How dare you do that." Chunliu said cautiously, "You brought it in last night before your rest. Maybe it was dark at that time, so I didn't see it."

The agenda was written and sent in every night by Xia He, who was in charge of writing by her side.Xia He also came from a high profile recently. She used to be the only daughter of a scholar. A robbery by bandits killed her parents, and the clan forced her to sell herself to bury her relatives.This fell into the hands of Guangzhou Station.After being sent to Lingao for quarantine, she entered the administrative secretary training class because she was quite proficient in writing and ink. This time, she was transferred back to Guangzhou to work as Pei Lixiu's secretary.Pei Lixiu's handwriting was not only unrefined, it was even a bit ugly to show it to others.Xia He specially wrote letters and invitations for her, and also translated elegant letters for her when necessary.The administrative secretary training class now also teaches some accounting knowledge, so Xia He also serves as Pei Lixiu's cashier.When going out to visit guests, Xia He had to accompany her, lest Pei Lixiu make any faux pas.

"Send her in."

Because of her heavy tasks and responsibilities, some people in Guangzhou station jokingly called her "the maid who holds the pen", and some called her "the maid who handles the case in Ziminglou".

Xia He is not pretty, even a bit thick-handed - her father is just a poor scholar living in the countryside.She walked into the room cautiously, collected her clothes in a neat manner, and greeted the hostess.

"You don't have to be polite, what's the matter today?"

Xia He began to explain today's schedule.

Most of Pei Lixiu's schedule is spent on entertainment.It's not just the guests of Ziminglou that she has to socialize with.It also includes all kinds of big figures who are connected with the entire Guangzhou station.For these people's weddings, funeral ceremonies, favors, and birthday celebrations... all of these people have to prepare gifts according to their closeness, or visit them in person or send people there.This was originally the most important thing for the wife of a rich family.

Guo Yi doesn't have an official wife, and since Pei Lixiu bears the name of his concubine, she should always be involved in these matters.

In the past, the scope of making friends in Guangzhou Station was limited, and things in this area rarely needed to be taken into account, but now it has become a heavy burden for Pei Lixiu.Every now and then, there must be a matter of etiquette waiting for him to deal with.

……

"The third son of the county magistrate of Nanhai County is enrolled in his original place, so he must prepare a gift to congratulate him."

"I beg one of the aunts of the master to die, and I want to send a memorial ceremony."

"Master Zhou, who is on the tour, will have a funeral on the eighth day of the lunar new year."

"Master Liu's family has been rewarded, and he wants to send someone to express his condolences."

……

(End of this chapter)