swear not to be concubine

Chapter 16

After Mrs. Jian and her party arrived in Tongzhou, they didn't go to Xu's house immediately. Instead, they found an inn to stay for two or three days.

It turned out that Mrs. Jane had suffered a lot along the way, and she looked much thinner, even with a bad complexion.What she meant was to repair in this inn for two or three days before going to the Xu family, otherwise the people who taught the Xu family would look at their listless appearance and laugh at them, thinking they were here to fight the autumn wind. .

And the night before she was going to leave for Xu's house, Mrs. Jane was asking Mother Shen: "Have you packed all the gifts for Xu's family? Check again. It's a long and bumpy journey. Don't miss or break anything. It makes people laugh at us."

Mother Shen asked Pearl and Jade to bring in a big box, opened it, and showed Mrs. Jane the packed items one by one.

"The wives of the three heads of the Xu family all have two pieces of Lu silk and a wild century-old ginseng, and the grand lady has a cloud-patterned Ganoderma lucidum jade and a wild century-old ginseng. The three sons are all of the top-grade red silk inkstone, Two boxes of pine smoke and ink, two high-quality Sichuan fans, Master Xu Er has an extra yellow stone carved Pixiu paperweight. The three girls all have a string of red coral bracelets, and two high-quality silk fans. As for the aunt and grandma The meeting gifts for her pair of brothers and sisters are packed in another big box."

Mrs. Jian nodded: "These gifts are worth it. We can't let the Xu family look down on us."

After a pause, he continued: "I remember that Mr. Xu Er is only a sixth-rank official of the Imperial Academy, but that Mr. Xu is a third-rank left servant of the Ministry of Rites?"

"My wife has a good memory," Shen's mother flattered, "It's not bad to remember some things."

"This nephew's official position is so much higher than that of an uncle. I think this Mr. Xu is also a powerful character. Forget it, add a white jade paperweight to his gift, maybe our brother Qing will win him in the future." To support it."

But he was thinking in his heart that the third rank Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites had a lot of real power in his hands.After entering Xu's mansion, Jian Yan can get closer to him, and Jian Yan's appearance is first-class, so maybe he will fall in love with him.

Once she made up her mind, she instructed Shen's mother again: "Go to Sister Yan's place and ask her what dress she plans to wear tomorrow, what kind of hair bun, what jewelry to wear? Although the master's one-year filial piety I haven't, but I can't dress too plainly. It's better for you to palm her eyes for her, so I can rest assured."

Shen's mother agreed to go, but came back after half a stick of incense.

"The servant has asked, and the girl said that tomorrow she will wear a white silk jacket, a jade-colored floor-length skirt, and a cloak with a light yellow trim, a white background, orange flowers, and light blue and gray branches and leaves. A small emerald green phoenix hairpin is used as a fulcrum, and a hairpin with white magnolia buds, and a silk flower is more or less the same."

After hearing this, Mrs. Jian nodded lightly, and said, "It's okay to wear the skirt with the cloak, but the white silk jacket is too plain. But if you wear it inside, the neckline will be exposed a little. It's okay."

On the one hand, he motioned to Shen's mother to come and look at the dress on her bed, and asked her: "How do you think I will wear this jacket and skirt tomorrow?"

Shen's mother took a look, and saw that it was a silver long coat with a stand collar embroidered with large chrysanthemums, and a dark blue-purple horse-face skirt.

The chrysanthemum is embroidered with golden silk thread, which is extremely eye-catching.Even the smooth horse face in front of the horse face skirt is also embroidered with folded chrysanthemums with dark red and green colored threads.

"The wife's jacket and skirt look really noble, and it is most suitable for the wife."

Shen's mother couldn't stop praising, but she was thinking in her heart, if the wife's jacket and skirt were true, it was actually nothing, it just looked more beautiful than sister Yan's.Presumably, she has always been worried that her concubine sister married into a famous old family, while she only married a businessman, so she thought that when they meet tomorrow, she will overwhelm her concubine sister in terms of clothing.It's just that my wife's age is over 40 after all...

But seeing Mrs. Jane's happy look at this dress, Mother Shen still didn't say anything.

Mrs. Jane is a headstrong person.She was so happy that if she said something to spoil her interest at this meeting, even if she had followed her for decades, she would probably show her face on the spot.

There was nothing to say all night, and Mrs. Jane woke up early the next morning.After washing up, let the servant girls go and call Jian Qing and Jian Yan over.

There were already sedan chairs waiting outside the inn.A group of people got on the sedan chair and set off towards Xu's house.

It took less than a stick of incense to arrive at Xu's house.It's just that the gate of Xu's house was not opened, and the sedan chair was carried in from the east corner gate.

The expression on Mrs. Jane's face at that time was not very good-looking.

The Xu family clearly meant that they didn't like her, and let her enter through the corner door.

She held this breath in her heart, and she didn't let go until she saw her concubine sister.

Her concubine Ji Shi was waiting for her at the Hanging Flower Gate, seeing them from a distance, she immediately walked over to greet them.

Rao, in the past, Mrs. Jane was quite critical of Ji, but after all, the sisters hadn't seen each other for more than 20 years, and their parents and only brother also left one after another during this period. They can be said to be the only ones in the world for each other. loved ones.So as soon as they met, Mrs. Ji held Mrs. Jian's hand tightly, and Mrs. Jian also held her hand tightly back, tears glistened in both of their eyes.

At this time, there was a mother in her fifties who was persuading her: "Ma'am, your sister and I have been reunited for so many years, you should be happy, why are you crying?"

Hearing this, Mrs. Ji wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the handkerchief in her hand, and forced a smile on her face: "Exactly. I haven't seen my sister for many years, so I should be happy. Look at me, why I can't stop crying. "

On the one hand, he said: "My sister has worked hard this journey."

Mrs. Jian also wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and then said a few words to Mrs. Ji, such as saying goodbye and thinking about it later, and then turned to look at the nanny who had spoken earlier.

"This is, Nanny Tao?" She hesitated a little.

In her impression, Nanny Tao was Ji's nanny.Because Ji's biological mother left early, Nanny Tao took care of her every day.

Nanny Tao bowed to Mrs. Jian, and then said in a neither humble nor overbearing way: "Madam is good to remember that the maid is right."

At this moment, Mrs. Ji looked at Jian Qing and Jian Yan, then turned her head and asked Mrs. Jian with a smile: "Is this Brother Qing and Sister Yan? They are a pair of golden boys and girls, who look exactly like the people in the painting." Like."

Jian Qing and Jian Yan hurriedly stepped forward to salute Mrs. Ji, and called her aunt.

Ji was very happy in her heart, pulled one with each hand, and said incessantly: "Good boy, good boy."

Then she asked Nanny Tao to lead the way and take them to the place where she lived.

The Ji family lives in a yard called Hexiangyuan in the garden.Walk all the way, or zigzagging promenade, or bluestone path, or white stone path.Walking around a pine wall, the front suddenly opened up, and there was a big sparkling pond.There are three-fold stone bridges on the water, with vermilion swastika railings on both sides.In the middle of the bridge, there is a gazebo with hexagonal eaves and iron horses hanging under the eaves. Where the wind passes by, there is a constant clanging sound.

Mrs. Ji pointed to the left side of the lake, and smiled at Mrs. Jane, "That's where I live."

Mrs. Jian followed her hand and looked over, and saw the whitewashed walls and black tiles among the green willows, it was a very quiet place.

In fact, it is still early spring, and it is the time when the spring is cold. There is no greenness on the willow branches, and they are hanging bare. On the contrary, it still looks a bit bleak, but it is not difficult to imagine when the willow branches are green in spring. What will it be like here.

Mrs. Jane suddenly felt a little uncomfortable in her heart.

In fact, the Jian family mansion is not bad, it occupies a very large area, and there are more than 200 rooms in the house alone.It's just that the northern land is rough, the climate is not good, and the greenery in the yard is limited, but just now she traveled all the way, although the area of ​​Xu's house is not as big as that of Jian's house, there are flowers and trees, even if it's just a bed on the ground. A small pebble, although not ostentatious, is exquisite everywhere, full of cultural heritage inside, definitely not comparable to Jian Zhai.

Mrs. Jane lived a delicate life when she was a girl, otherwise she wouldn't be able to do such an elegant thing like taking two pottery pots to go home with spring water from Yuquan Mountain to make tea and drink. It's just that she has stayed in the Northland for many years His xinxing was naturally worn away by the wind and sand there.

But my concubine sister has been living such a delicate life, even more refined than when she was a girl.

So the smile on Mrs. Jane's face was a bit forced, and the words were also a little bit forced: "Excellent. It's a very quiet place."

Nanny Tao, who was half a step behind her, immediately saw the forced smile on her face with sharp eyes.

Ji Shi didn't notice it, and still led Mrs. Jian and Jian Qing and Jianyan forward, and entered the Lotus Fragrance Court.

As soon as I walked in, I found that this is a courtyard with two entrances and two exits. The two sides span the courtyard from east to west. It is extremely small, but also quiet.

Mrs. Ji took Mrs. Jane's hand and sat down on the Arhat bed in the open room of the main room, and then ordered the servant girl to serve tea and take a box.

The teacup is pure white without any decorations on it.But the glaze color is soft and smooth, delicate and clean, and it can be seen that it should be a sweet white glaze fired in an official kiln.The saving box is a blue and white multicolored butterfly cloud pattern saving box, which is divided into seven compartments, and there are various candied fruits and two or three kinds of pastries.

Jian Yan held the teacup in her hand, lifted the lid and took a sip of the tea inside, and took a peek at Ji Shi.

A pea-green long jacket, tooth-colored pleated skirt, and a honey-pink coat covered it. Although the color is light, it looks very warm and elegant.

Then he looked at Mrs. Jane sitting beside her, her brand new jacket and skirt were clearly eye-catching, but even though she had dressed up so deliberately, she was still outshone by Mrs. Ji in the end.

(End of this chapter)