Old things in the south

Chapter 62 The Golden Carp's Pleated Skirt (2)
So she untied the bundle and spread out a piece of crimson satin, saying that she was going to make a pleated skirt and embroider it.

"What are you embroidering?" Mrs. Gong asked.

"Let's embroider a magpie climbing plum blossoms!" Jin Carp said, and then pointed out the arrangement of patterns. She wanted a "magpie climbing plum blossoms" embroidered with plum blossoms. She said that she loved plum blossoms, and she loved plum blossoms since she was a child. , love as hell.She asked Mrs. Gong what she thought of her design?
While listening to Jin Carp, Mrs. Gong was thinking, who is this pleated skirt for?Is it for the new wife?wrong.The new daughter-in-law doesn't want to wear the pattern of "Magpie on Plum Blossom", and she doesn't need the Xu family to do it. Duanmu's house is in the south, and I don't know how much embroidery work will be brought from the south!She couldn't help asking:

"Who is wearing this dress?"

"Me." The golden carp answered naturally, simply and firmly.It's just a word "I", which is not light.

"Oh——" Mrs. Gong was stunned for a moment, unable to answer, she was thinking, is the golden carp going to wear a red pleated skirt?Does she deserve it?The rules of Xu's family are so big, how can the aunt who is the girl who takes over the house wear a red pleated skirt?Even if she gave birth to a son, but in the Xu family, she knew very clearly that a son belongs to a son, and a golden carp belongs to a golden carp!She was puzzled.But she still smiled and followed the pattern designed by the golden carp - embroidered a full frame of magpies on plum blossoms.She promised to rush to work and finish it in half a month.

Magpie Dengmei's embroidered red pleated skirt is ready, and it was sent by Mrs. Gong herself.Who is as sensible as Mrs. Gong?She knew what to do, so she went straight to the golden carp's room.

After opening the bundle, Jin Carp looked at it, expressed her satisfaction, then folded it casually and put it on again. Her stable and indifferent look really surprised Mrs. Gong.Mrs. Gong secretly calculated, how big is the golden carp? The 16-year-old took over the house, and my son is 34 this year!It has been almost 30 years since I came to Xu's house, and she is going to wear a red pleated skirt!She didn't know what to say, should the golden carp be worn or not?
Jin Carp thought she should wear it.If no one came out to advocate for her to wear it, then she should do it herself.After seeing off Mrs. Gong and returning to her room, she knew that the words "golden carp has a pleated skirt" must have been passed on by Mrs. Gong from the front door to the wife's back room, and even the people who piled coal across the yard. In the hut, under the lilac tree in the west courtyard, these words were whispered everywhere.But, she doesn't care, the golden carp doesn't care.She was just wanting everyone to know that she had a embroidered pleated skirt in scarlet satin.

For a long time, she had been thinking about such a skirt, like the ones worn by the old grandma, young mistress, and aunts on all the festive occasions at home.She wants to join the golden carp and the red pleated skirt one day—that is, the day her own son Zhenfeng gets married.Who says she can't wear it?This is the Republic of China, and she knows what the meaning of the Republic of China is—"I can also wear a red pleated skirt", this is the Republic of China.

When the pleated skirt was stored in the camphor wood box, she didn't show it to anyone, and no one asked her, so let's just let everyone know it.She hasn't tried it, so there's no need to be so impatient.She was very calm, and she knew how to deal with that day—the day when she really put on the big red embroidered pleated skirt.

But at the end of winter, Mrs. Xu issued an order that on the day of the wedding of the young master Zhenfeng, all women in the family should wear cheongsams, because this is the Republic of China, and cheongsams have been worn outside, and the two newcomers are both from foreign schools. , Everyone wears cheongsam, which makes it look like a new look.Mrs. Xu also said that she had called the shopkeeper of Yifengxiang to come, and a carload of silk and satin made of cheongsam would be sent, one for each person, let's choose.When Mrs. Xu said these words to everyone, she once glanced at the golden carp.The golden carp sat in the crowd, her eyes could look at the place where there were no people, her body was completely still, she was really calm.She also knew how many eyes were shooting at her at this moment, as if the change to the cheongsam was aimed at her alone.The air was not right, she seemed to have been beaten with a dull stick.She really didn't expect this trick, and her heart felt like being bitten by insects.She was bound by the chain, and it was impossible for her to break free.

When the big day came, there really wasn't any bright red pleated skirts.If you don't wear the red pleated skirt, there is no difference in status, but if you wear it?Isn't there a difference?She just wants this little difference!An embroidered scarlet pleated skirt weighs much more than a cheongsam. Everyone can wear a cheongsam, but not a scarlet pleated skirt!She has dreamed for many years that one day she will wear a pleated skirt embroidered with plum blossoms in red satin, and walk in the upper room, in the flower hall, and under the wedding shed. The rustling sound is from ironing. It came out of the flat and firm skirt pleats.That voice once made her envious, longing, and sad.

one to ten years

When Zhenfeng rushed home and stood in front of his biological mother's sickbed, Jin Carp was already dying.She seemed to have opened her eyes, and seemed to be humming in agreement with her son's call, but she didn't know anything anymore.

This was Zhenfeng's first return home after leaving the country to study in Japan for ten years—it was called back by an urgent call.Otherwise, how long would he stay before coming back?

When Zhenfeng first got married, he felt that the atmosphere in his home was particularly unfavorable to his biological mother, and he also fell into pain.He had a mother who raised him, a sister who spoiled him, a father who cared about him, and his relatives, friends and servants who loved him, but he also had a biological mother of that status.He knew the pain of his biological mother, because the joke of "the golden carp has a pleated skirt" that spread throughout the family had already explained everything.In this era and family where old and new ideas alternate and conflict, he can't do anything.Let's go far away, leave this dreary family, and go to Japan to study!Perhaps without him as the target person, the strong sense of identity of the biological mother can be alleviated, and her pain may disappear along with it.He went to the country with the pain of being a son of man, and only he knew how he felt at that time, who should he tell!
He studied well in Japanese, so he stayed there year after year.He absorbed more and newer knowledge, and he wanted to delve into higher knowledge, so he was so selfish that he didn't care about the big family in the country.Although I feel sorry for my new wife from time to time, I always comfort myself by saying that I got married too early anyway, and the future will be very long.

Now that he is back, it is for her as if he went to the country for his biological mother, but his mother is dead!Death, once and for all.But he knew that his mother died of hatred, and hated that he was deprived of the chance to wear a bright red pleated skirt once in his life, what a cruel thing to her.Did she spend these ten years unhappy?Does she hate her son too?She hated her son's journey away and never returned, which made her status in the family even more difficult to assert and would never stop at the stage of the golden carp.Giving birth to a son should make the mother full of pride, but she didn't get it. People suppressed the pride she deserved time and time again.

Zhenfeng did not expect his mother to pass away so early. He has always had a belief that one day this mother named "Mo" and that mother named "Niang" will be on the same status and enjoy the same happiness.This is his filial piety, and he regretted not expressing it to his mother during her lifetime, and let her die with hatred.

Although the whole family was saddened by the death of the golden carp, they still had to abide by the rules of the business.On the day of the funeral, because of the door issue, it cannot be resolved.It was said that the coffin could not be carried through because the door was too narrow.Zhenfeng felt very strange. He asked which door was too narrow?The family told him that it was a "side door", because Jin Carp was a concubine, and the coffin could not be carried out through the door, so they were planning to temporarily remove a door frame next to it so that it could pass through.

When Zhenfeng heard this, there was a fire in his chest, as if it was about to burn.His face flushed, restraining his excitement, he deliberately asked:

"I was born by my aunt, so I can't go through the gate?"

The old aunt reproached with a wry smile:
"Silly boy, how do you say such a thing! Of course you can go through the gate..."

Before the old aunt finished speaking, Zhenfeng impulsively ran to his mother's mourning hall, lay down on the coffin, beat the pain and shouted:
"I can walk through the gate, so let my mother walk back to the gate with me! Just this one time! Just this one time!"

All family members and relatives were terrified by the sight.Zhenfeng has been crying bitterly on his mother's coffin, and others don't know how to persuade him, because it was too unexpected.In the end, Zhenfeng supported his mother's coffin and carried it out of the gate in a dignified manner.

He felt that during his mother's lifetime, he had never been able to show a little filial piety in behavior to make her happy. He was so young at that time, so ignorant of everything, and he lacked an understanding of his mother's identity concept.Now that he has done this, does he wonder if his mother can understand his intentions in the dark?But no matter what, his heavy heart finally eased a lot.

it's nothing now
Seeing that my mother was reluctant to give Shanshan the pleated skirt to school, my father interceded on Shanshan's behalf. He said to his mother:
"You can lend it to her. If the child likes it, let her be happy. In fact, it seems that these are nothing! At that time, was a pleated skirt so important to a woman's identity?" ? Now that I think about it, it’s really unbelievable. As long as female students are happy, they can wear it and show off on the stage. Alas! Times..."

It seemed as though he hadn't finished speaking, but he stopped abruptly with a sigh.And Shanshan hugged the pleated skirt happily after hearing the first sentence, and completely ignored what her father said.

Mom also remembered something, she said to Dad:
"Zhenfeng, you know, I really wanted to put this pleated skirt in the coffin and let it be buried with my mother. I know how much my mother likes it. But..."

Mom didn't say any more. She and Dad stopped talking for a while, sinking into thoughts.

Shanshan just took the skirt and compared it to her body, and when the skirt was torn apart, Shanshan called her mother anxiously:
"Mum, come quickly, let's see how to wear this skirt!"

Mom picked up the skirt to have a look, smiled, she opened the waist of the skirt, pointed it to Dad and Shanshan, and said:

"I said no one has worn it. Is that right? Look, the straps haven't even been sewn on yet!"

(End of this chapter)