Old things in the south

Chapter 61 The Golden Carp's Pleated Skirt (1)
The golden carp has a pleated skirt, made of crimson satin, with "Magpies on Plum Blossoms" embroidered on the front.The golden carp just likes a plum blossom, and it's not that it is embroidered with plum blossoms.Do the math, there are 99 flowers.Two magpies landed on the plum branch in pairs. Their postures and colors are the perfect match. Their long tails are raised high, their heads are dark brown, their backs are blue and purple, and their stomachs are a piece white.The plum blossoms are blooming, as if someone sprinkled the flowers on it.The two next to it are embroidered butterflies wearing flowers, surrounded by embroidered lace with Ruyi patterns.

The skirt was just taken out of the old camphor wood box, and it was spread flat on the big sofa in a red light.Shanshan didn't know how to appreciate it. She put her hands on her chest, sighed excitedly and said:

"Ah! Terrible, terrific, I have never seen such a beautiful pleated skirt!"

She bent down and reached out to touch those plum blossoms, those flat pleats, and those delicate laces.She touched it gently, as if the delicate petals would be scattered if she tried hard.Then she tilted her head again, and asked her mother delicately:

"Mummy! Is this pleated skirt your wedding dress?"

Mom smiled and shook her head.At this time, Dad just came in. Mom took a look at Dad and said to Shanshan:

"Mommy is already wearing a new dress when she gets married!"

"Then whose is it?" Shanshan asked while stroking her skirt.

"Ask your father!" Mom said.

Dad didn't pay attention to what their mother and daughter were saying. He came in to read the evening paper. At this time, he turned his head and noticed the things on the sofa.He adjusted his glasses and looked carefully, but he didn't see anything.

"Dad, whose pleated skirt is this? Didn't Mommy wear it when she married you?" Shanshan still asked.

Dad just shook his head lightly and didn't answer, as if he couldn't figure out what clothes Mommy was wearing when she got married.But after a pause, he seemed to remember something again, turned his head, glanced at the skirt, and asked his mother:
"Where did this come from?"

"Where did it come from?" Mommy laughed in a riddle, but said to Shanshan:
"It belongs to your grandmother!"

"Grandma's? It's what grandma wore for her wedding!" Shanshan was even more surprised and even more interested.

Hearing that it belonged to grandma, Dad stretched his neck again, put down the newspaper, and said to Mommy:
"What do you take it out for?"

"Ask your daughter." The mother said "Ask Dad" to her daughter, but said "Ask Daughter" to her father, always playing riddles.

Shanshan shrugged and winked, with a foreign expression on her face, she said with a smile:
"At our school's graduation party, there was a costume show. They wanted me to wear the bridal costumes of the early Republic of China!"

"Did brides wear this at the beginning of the Republic of China?" Dad didn't understand and asked his mother.

"Who knows! Anyway, I haven't worn it!" Mommy was a little angry at Dad's confusion. He seemed to have forgotten everything.

"Dad, have you forgotten?" Shanshan said honestly, "You only got married in the tenth year of the Republic of China! After you got married, you went to Japan to study alone, and you didn't come back until ten years later. My brothers and I are ten years younger (she pouted). If you gave birth to your eldest brother ten years earlier, wouldn’t your eldest brother be 40 years old this year? Even I am 28 years old!”

After listening to the little daughter's words, the father laughed haha ​​and didn't express his opinion.Mom also laughed and didn't express any opinion.Then mother wanted to fold the pleated skirt, Shanshan was in a hurry.explain:

"Don't accept it, I'm going to take it to school tomorrow, wear it and practice walking!"

Mom said: "I think you should find another way! I don't want you to wear it indiscriminately. This is an old antique that has been stored for more than 40 years!"

Shanshan still refused, she twisted her waist and said coquettishly:
"I'm going to show it to my classmates. I'm going to tell them it's the pleated dress my grandmother wore to her wedding!"

"Who told you that this was your grandmother's wedding dress? Your grandmother didn't wear it at all!" Mom said casually, Shanshan stared at Mommy in surprise, but Dad was a little impatient scolded her mother, saying:

"What are you doing talking to children about such meaningless things?"

But my mother will never forget my grandmother. She often said that because of my grandmother, my father finally came back from the country for ten years. Otherwise, there might not be Shanshan's three older brothers, let alone Shanshan.

Of course, Dad will never forget his grandmother, because of his grandmother, he decided to go to Japan to study.

Here, very few—it can be said that almost no one knows the grandmother back then, and of course they don’t know the story of the golden carp having a pleated skirt.

Came to Xu's house at the age of six
Mrs. Xu often likes to point to the golden carp and say to people:

"What will she do when she came to Xu's house at the age of six? I have to braid her hair every day and take care of her!"

Mrs. Xu braided the golden carp very tightly, and she was also very tight with the golden carp.No one knew where the golden carp's natal family was, but they knew that Mrs. Xu bought the golden carp along with Mr. Xu's tenure in Chongming County.But Jin Carp is not from Chongming County, it is said that someone took her from Zhenjiang.The six-year-old girl was sold to Xu's family in exile.She is smart and cute.Although she is a girl, Mrs. Xu kept her in her room and treated her as her daughter.The Xu family has a lot of girls, who is so popular with golden carps?Her original name was Liyu, but because she was favored, that meddlesome person added the word "gold" to her.

Mrs. Xu gave birth to many daughters, the eldest lady, the second lady, the third lady, the fourth lady, and the fifth——still young lady.When it came to Fifth Miss, she simply stopped giving birth.Everyone in Xu's family is very worried. Mr. Xu has become such a big official. It would be a pity if she didn't have a son.So the old lady has to consider taking a concubine for her son.Mrs. Xu can do anything, except to have a son. She looks at her litter of daughters, each of whom is as beautiful as the other. If one of them is a son, who looks like a doughnut, how different it would be!
That day Mrs. Xu brought her five daughters and the golden carp to be a female celebrity in the flower hall.She invited Mrs. Gong to teach her daughters how to embroider.Sister-in-law Gong is from Hunan. She came to Beijing to embroider for the palace, and she also taught women in the boudoir to embroider outside.Mrs. Xu knows a little embroidery. She said that although Suzhou embroidery is full of feathers, flowers, landscapes and figures, Hunan embroidery also has its specialties. Because Hunan embroidery refers to foreign embroidery methods, it looks fresh and lively, so she invited Mrs. Gong to teach embroidery.

When Mrs. Gong came, she would not be lonely in her boudoir. She often brought anecdotes about the palace, which were not known to outsiders.So when she came, in addition to teaching, she also had an extra friend to chat with.

That day Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Gong talked about the master wanting to take a concubine again.Sister-in-law Gong suddenly glanced at the golden carp, pouted and said nothing.The golden carp was drawing patterns on the white satin with its head down.She was 16 years old at this time, and she was not very big, like a small bean.Mrs. Xu understood what Sister-in-law Gong meant, and she wondered why Sister-in-law Gong's brains turned so fast, and there was a 16-year-old girl in front of her, why didn't she think of it before!
The golden carp is her own person, obedient to everything, unable to escape from her palm.The only way is to take the golden carp to the master as his concubine.She thought well, and her heart became much more relaxed. At these times, because of the old lady who wanted to marry her husband to a concubine, she was almost suffocated to death!

Came to Xu's house at the age of six, took over the house at the age of 16 and became Mr. Xu's concubine. The golden carp is not as tall as the small bookshelf in the master's study!It doesn't matter, she is only 16 years old, she is still growing!However, the house received at the beginning of the year, she will be a mother at the end of the year.Jin Carp really gave birth to an eldest son who looked like a dough ball. The whole family was overjoyed, but they all came to congratulate Mrs. Xu, and Mrs. Xu was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth.

Mrs. Xu doesn't want the golden carp to be troubled, the nurse has already been hired.When she was born, she was taken to her own room to be raised.Mrs. Xu has nothing to worry about.Master Xu, let him return to the golden carp!It was enough for her to have Zhenfeng—the name given to her by her grandfather.

With a lady like Mrs. Xu, no wonder people would say:
"Golden carp, you are lucky to have met this great lady."

The golden carp also felt that he was indeed blessed.But when people said that to her, she just smiled.People thought that smile meant her agreement and satisfaction, but no, she didn't mean it that way.She thinks she is blessed not because she met Mrs. Xu, but because she has a strong belly and will give birth to a son.So she smiled, neither denying nor admitting.

No matter how well Mrs. Xu treats her, she is still a golden carp.Except for Zhenfeng who called her "Mom", everyone in the Xu family also called her Golden Carp.The old lady called her the golden carp, the eldest wife called her the golden carp, and the ladies also called her the golden carp. She was the golden carp of a family of three lifetimes!Golden carp, golden carp, she kept thinking, how to make this golden carp jump over the dragon gate!

When we arrived in Zhenfeng, the family hadn't changed much, but it was the Republic of China now, and the elder of the Xu family had already retired to be a widow at home.

At the end of this year, Zhenfeng will get married.Zhenfeng thought it too early, but his parents' orders are hard to disobey, who made him the only child and the youngest in this family!The other party is the Fourth Miss of Jiangning Duanmu's family, and she is only 16 years old.

The two families have been preparing since spring.The son was born by a golden carp, and now he is going to marry a wife, what is it like to be a golden carp?What do you plan to do?
One day, she came to Mrs. Gong's house alone.

Embroider a magpie on the plum

Sister-in-law Gong is not the same sister-in-law who walked around the palace back then, but the shadow of the royal family also brought her a lot of luck.She lives at home in Hardemen. Although she is old and her eyesight is bad, she cannot embroider by herself, but she has recruited some female apprentices, and while teaching, she also accepts some customized embroidery work. The business is very good, and it is known far and near. .Foreigners in Dongjiaomin Alley also often come to her house to buy embroidery goods.

Sister-in-law Gong was surprised but happy when she saw the golden carp coming.She finally saw with her own eyes that Jin Carp turned from a little girl into a big girl, and from a big girl took over the house and became an aunt, not to mention—more or less, Jin Carp was able to take over the house, and she was always the leader.The golden carp was destined to bring a son, so he deserves to be blessed!She also heard that Jin Carp was going to marry a daughter-in-law at the end of the year, so she congratulated Jin Carp first when they met.The golden carp thanked her, and the two lamented how quickly the days passed.Then, the golden carp got to the point, she said:
"Sister-in-law Gong, I'm here today to find sister-in-law Gong to embroider something."

(End of this chapter)