swear not to be concubine

Chapter 27

Aunt Wei's ears had heard the disturbance of Feng's mother and daughter for a long time.

Aunt Wei was originally Wu's maid, she is not only beautiful, but also intelligent, Wu likes her very much.When Feng Shi got married, it had been three years since there was still no movement in her stomach, so Wu Shi made the decision and gave the proud maid by her side to Xu Erye. .

Mrs. Wu gave the maid beside him to Second Master Xu, although it was because of the heirs, but also because Mrs. Feng did not obey her discipline, so she placed a maid of her own beside Second Master Xu, so as to restrain her Feng's meaning.

This Aunt Wei is currently living in a small courtyard next to Feng's compound.After all, she gave birth to a son and a daughter, so although her courtyard is small, compared to the courtyards of the other aunts, it is quite good.

There is only a thin wall between the big courtyard and this small courtyard, so if there is any big movement on Feng's side, Aunt Wei can hear it right away.

And now Aunt Wei is leaning her upper body, pressing her right ear to the wall, listening intently to Feng's side.

After the quiet in the courtyard returned, Aunt Wei straightened up, sneered, then turned and went back to the house.

Her daughter Xu Miaolan was sitting on the wooden kang by the window at this time, holding a small stretcher in her hand, her head bowed, and she was embroidering intently.

Aunt Wei took a closer look and saw an apricot flower embroidered on the delicate white silk cloth.The taupe branches have already been embroidered, and the pink and white apricot flowers have only just been embroidered.

"What are you going to do with this apricot flower that you embroidered?" Aunt Wei asked Xu Miaolan, and at the same time walked aside and sat down.

Xu Miaolan was devoting all her attention to embroidering the apricot blossom, and Aunt Wei's footsteps were light, like a cat's, she walked without a sound at all, so she suddenly heard Aunt Wei's voice, which scared Xu Miaolan As soon as his whole body trembled, the embroidery needle in his hand poked his finger, and tiny blood beads came out immediately.

She put her finger into her mouth, sucked it for a while, stopped the bleeding, and then replied in a low voice: "I embroidered this apricot flower because I wanted to make a pair of silk socks for my grandmother."

Xu Miaolan was born delicate.She has a small face, a sharp chin, and a pair of eyes like a deer. She never dares to look people in the eye, and she is timid when she looks at them.

Aunt Wei looked down on her weak temperament, and always felt that it didn't crawl out of her stomach.

"According to me, you don't need to send these silk socks." Aunt Wei took the teacup on the table of Fraxinus Fraxinus Fraxinus, took a sip of the tea in it, and said lightly.

Xu Miaolan was puzzled, so she asked, "What does Auntie mean?"

"What do you mean?" Aunt Wei sneered, put down the teacup in her hand, and looked up at Xu Miaolan.

Her eyes are very good, slender and long, she smiles very charming and charming, but her eyes are very shrewd and sharp.

"Why did I give birth to a daughter like you who doesn't understand anything?" Aunt Wei felt rather resentful, "Speaking of which, you are 14 years old, why have you not figured out after more than ten years?" What kind of person was your grandmother?"

Xu Miaolan became more and more confused.What kind of person is grandma and what does it have to do with whether she gives silk socks or not?
When Aunt Wei saw her bewildered face, she became even more angry.

"Your grandmother is a very face-saving person who likes to show off. Let me ask you, you gave this pair of silk socks to your grandmother, so what if she loves it? Is it possible that you can take off your shoes without incident?" , show off this pair of silk socks to others, and praise your granddaughter's sewing?"

Xu Miaolan still didn't understand Aunt Wei's meaning, she just said in a low voice: "I made silk stockings for my grandmother, but I didn't want her to praise my sewing to others, I just wanted to..."

Aunt Wei took over the conversation with just one word: "What are you thinking about? Do you want to do your best as a granddaughter? Our Xu family is so poor that we can't even buy a pair of silk socks, or is it your grandmother who only has a pair of silk socks?" You are a granddaughter, but you are the only one who loves you? My sister, you can take care of yourself. You are just a concubine, but now you see a sister who is a concubine pressing you, and the two of you The distance is also close in age, but there is only a difference of two months. When it comes to discussing marriage, the wife will still take care of you? She has appointed her own sister to take care of her first. Speaking of which, you can be relied on It's just the old lady, you don't want to think of ways to please the old lady, but you are here to make some silk socks."

When Xu Miaolan heard the words, she defended in a low voice: "Actually, I made these silk socks to please my grandmother."

As soon as she said this, Aunt Wei became even more angry.

"Pleasing people is not something you can do just by trying to please. Let me ask you, do you know what flower your grandmother likes the most?"

Xu Miaolan thought for a while, then shook her head.

"She loves the graceful and luxurious peonies." Aunt Wei was angry, but after all Xu Miaolan crawled out of her own stomach, so she could only teach her, "Giving things to others is also a great knowledge. What do you do with silk socks? Sending silk socks doesn't show your kindness. Even if someone comes, the old lady can't take off her shoes and show her silk socks to others, saying that this is my granddaughter's filial piety. But if you send something on the bright side, and someone comes, seeing that the embroidery is good, it is necessary to ask, and the old lady will say that it is my second granddaughter who honors me, and the visitor will come. You will praise the old lady for being blessed and your granddaughter for being filial, and you will also praise you for your good sewing. Then the old lady will gain face and you will have a good reputation among other officials and officials. There are great benefits."

On the one hand, he gave her an example: "A few days ago, I went to serve the old lady, and I met the girl from Jane's family, who was bringing a maid to give the old lady a wipe. She said that she gave her mother a few days ago. After making a forehead wipe, I thought about making one for the old lady. I also said that I was unlucky, and I had never seen my grandmother when I was born. When I saw the old lady for the first time, I didn’t know why. She thought it was very kind. At that time, I saw the wiping forehead, which was golden and shiny, with two peony flowers embroidered on it, and red agate inlaid on the front. It looked very magnificent, Seeing what the old lady liked, she immediately asked Nanny Zhu to open the box and find the gold-encrusted peony hairpin she wore when she was young, and gave it to the girl from the Jane family. I looked at the old lady's expression at that time, I wish I had a granddaughter like Miss Jian's."

Speaking of this, she looked at Xu Miaolan again, and said with hatred: "Look, the girl from Jane's family is more than a year younger than you, but when she pleases others, she can please her." I don’t believe that the two peonies embroidered on her forehead are just a coincidence. It’s clear that she had inquired about the old lady’s preferences in advance, so she made such a forehead to please the old lady. Ma'am. But she speaks cleverly. Although she is trying to please people, there is no hint of flattery on the surface. Why can't you learn from her? As long as you can please your grandmother , there are many."

Originally, Xu Miaolan's face was flushed red and her head drooped even more when she heard Aunt Wei talking about marriage.But this time, Aunt Wei said that she was a little anxious, so she raised her head and distinguished in a low voice: "I don't want to fight or rob, why should I please people? I, I just want to live in peace. Just live my own life, I don’t want to please people like that.”

"Don't fight or grab? Why are you trying to please people?" Aunt Wei sneered, and then said, "Let me tell you why you have to fight and grab, and try to please people."

She lifted the lid of the teacup at hand, pointed to the green tea leaves that had settled inside, and said, "Like this Liu'an melon slice, it is also divided into three grades. The best ones are picked before Guyu, and they are called Tipian. The next one What you are waiting for is melon slices, and the first-class ones are called plum slices. Like your grandmother and your eldest brother, what you drink is ti slices, while the wives in other rooms and your brothers and sisters drink melon slices. In the hands of people like me, it is Plum slices. But when we got to the servant girl, we couldn’t drink plum slices, so we had to drink Kuding tea. Let me ask you, what kind of tea do you want to drink?”

Xu Miaolan lowered her head and remained silent.

Aunt Wei put the lid on the cup, and then said: "Don't fight, don't grab, how can you not please people? You are a concubine, and the marriage has suffered a lot. You won the old lady's favor and told you a good marriage. When you get married, I will give you more dowry to accompany you, and then your life will be easier in the future. Otherwise, you will just wait for a lifetime of anger. Could it be that you still want to be a concubine for others like your aunt? A concubine is just It’s just a tool to carry on the family line, and you still have to look at your wife’s face every day to live, how much better than a maid? My silly sister, in the future, you should be more considerate in how you do things.”

Before he could say a word, the curtain at the door was lifted, and someone stepped in.

"Auntie is saying who has no heart?"

Aunt Wei looked up, and then asked, "Why are you here?"

Xu Miaolan hurriedly got up and stood up, calling third brother.

It turned out that the person who came was Erfang's only brother, Xu Zhongze, who was also born to Aunt Wei.

Xu Zhongze sat down in the chair, put his right leg on his left, and said with a smile: "Look at what Auntie said, why can't I come to Auntie's place?"

He had a long face with a long, pointed chin.There are also some high and low eyebrows, big and small eyes.The original is not a bad appearance, but when looking at people with his eyes is very unscrupulous, so looking at him always feels a little sloppy.

Aunt Wei snorted: "There are people who don't like you coming to my place more."

While talking about him: "A few days ago, I asked the boy who followed you, and said that you have become more and more uneducated these days, but you will only go swimming in the lake and drinking with your group of unrealistic friends all day long. Fishing with sparrows, wandering around in three streets and six alleys, what does it look like? Look at the guy in the third room, he is only half a year older than you, but he is very motivated, and he is honest all day long Go to school to study. This year is the year of the township examination. In the second half of the year, you two will enter the examination room together. At that time, there will be a candidate in someone's family. You will lose your name. It depends on whether you are ashamed or not."

"How can he compare with me?" Xu Zhongze reached out to take the tea brought by the little maid, took a sip, and said, "He is a child without a father. How can he succeed if he doesn't study hard? My father is an official of the Imperial Academy. Son, with daddy here, even if I don’t make progress, can I still be hungry?”

Aunt Wei only felt her heart ache with anger.

She looked at Xu Miaolan, who was sitting there with her head bowed and not saying a word, and then at Xu Zhongze, who was sitting there with her legs crossed, thinking, what the hell did she do?The younger sister was timid and cowardly, talking like a mosquito humming, while the younger brother was bold, but he didn't recognize his position at all, he didn't make progress all day long, he only wanted to play.

"You bastard," she couldn't help cursing in a low voice, "Your father is an official of the Imperial Academy, but after all, you didn't crawl out of your wife's belly. How can you succeed if you don't make progress? If someday your wife's belly If you live up to your expectations and give birth to a brother from the first line, then you will have no choice but to beg for food."

Xu Zhongze said nonchalantly: "My wife is old as day lily, can she still give birth? Auntie, I'm the only brother in our second room. In the future, everything in the second room will be mine? At that time, my wife will I have no choice but to live in my hands. You just wait and enjoy the blessing."

Aunt Wei didn't say anything.

Naturally, the best thing is that the wife will never be able to give birth to a son, so as long as the master dies, the second room will be up to them.No matter how noble the wife is now, at that time, she can only live in the hands of the bastard.

Seeing Aunt Wei's silence, Xu Zhongze knew that his words had worked.So he smiled and talked about other topics: "I just heard you talking about that girl from Jane's family?"

Aunt Wei squinted at him: "Why are you mentioning this? Looking at me, I don't know what you are thinking. When we had dinner together a month ago, I saw your eyes wandering only on other girls. Let me tell you, Jian's family is rich, and her mother may hold a lot of wealth in her hands, so she would like you? It's your heart that dies as soon as possible. "

"So what if you have money?" Xu Zhongze's tone was full of contempt, "It's just a daughter of a merchant. I'm the son of an official family, and it's her luck to see her. Just follow me." , she is only fit to be my concubine, not even a wife."

"Don't teach me to be ashamed of you." Aunt Wei lowered her face and said in a cold voice, "How old are you, what are you talking about about wives and concubines? According to me, I have time to think about it , it’s better to work harder on your studies. It’s not too late to talk about these after you pass the Jinshi examination and become an official.”

But I was thinking in my heart, Mrs. Jian held a lot of money, if she could betroth the girl from Jian's family to Brother Ze, then there would definitely be a generous dowry.But she changed her mind and thought again, Brother Ze was right. After all, Jian's family was just a family of merchants, and they had no foundation in the officialdom, so they couldn't help him.If brother Ze wins the exam this year and gets a Jinshi next year, is he afraid that he won't be able to marry a lady with a background in the official family?No one married a merchant's daughter.So I had no choice but to be a concubine for Brother Ze.

(End of this chapter)