Value peace

Chapter 40
Gu Xiyan helped Madam Gu into the room, poured another cup of hot tea to scare Madam Gu, and then saw Liu Er poking her head behind the curtain, Gu Xiyan called her in, Liu Er's face was pale: "Madam and The second girl is finally back."

Gu Xiyan comforted Liu'er with a soft smile: "Where are the rest of the garden guards?"

Liu'er looked terrified: "Not long after my wife and the second girl left this morning, Deacon Ding, who was beside the master, led a group of servants and locked us all in the back room guarding the garden... just now I heard There was movement outside, and I tried to push the door, only to find out that the door was unlocked, and everyone recommended me to come out to see the movement..."

Madam Gu gave the teacup a hard bite on the small table, Liu'er hurriedly stopped talking, Madam Gu took a deep breath, and said calmly: "Call everyone out, go and do what you need to do!"

Liu'er hurriedly responded.

Mrs. Gu's face was still pale, Gu Xiyan hurriedly said: "My daughter is really sorry for hurting my mother. You are also tired today, my daughter will wait for you to rest for a while!"

Madam Gu nodded.

Gu Xiyan hurriedly called Ye'er to bring hot water in, and twisted the handkerchief to wash Madam Gu's face herself. Liu Er came in and made the bed. After Madam Gu fell asleep, she went to Madam Gu's room again. I went to the small kitchen and made a simple lily and tremella steak soup stewed on the small charcoal stove, and told Ye'er to drink it when Mrs. Gu woke up.

Tremella invigorates the spleen and appetizers, and Baihe calms the mind. I hope to compensate Mrs. Gu and make her feel better today.

When Gu Xiyan returned to Wuyuan, Duanniang and the others were still fidgeting waiting for her. Seeing that Gu Xiyan came back safely, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Gu Xiyan pulled Duanniang into the house, and told Duanniang everything about entering the palace today and meeting Mr. Gu in the guard garden, and said: "Father actually sent Nanny Song to the palace for a happy mausoleum." Nanny was killed, and now he thinks that I know the whereabouts of Guan Gui, and I don’t think I have as much face as Madam, so I will ask Madam later to let her let Mo Ju and Xing Hong go out of the house." Said After she finished, she turned around and took out the porcelain doll from the box and put it on the table: "Go back to Shuzhou too!"

Duanniang looked at the porcelain doll, with a look of sadness and joy on her face, she choked up and said, "Miss, you still remember this porcelain doll!"

Gu Xiyan was startled, felt guilty for a while, and replied vaguely.

Duanniang was holding a porcelain doll, but two tears flowed from the corners of her eyes: "Girl, I won't leave, I'm still waiting to be a maid for the girl!" When she said this, her expression was very determined .

Gu Xiyan was embarrassed there.

Wouldn't it be to stage a show of loyal reporting to the owner?

"It's all filled with gold!" Duanniang smiled with tears in her eyes, "This is the only relic Madam left you!"

Gu Xiyan's face was covered with black lines.I thought, how do I know.

Duan Niang patted Gu Xiyan's head very happily, got up and took out a flat nanmu box from Gu Xiyan's mirror cabinet.

Gu Xiyan blushed.

The contents inside were emptied by Gu Xiyan when she ran away, leaving only empty boxes one by one.

Duanniang opened the box, looked at Gu Xiyan with a half-smile, then turned the box back and opened the bottom panel, and there were four bright yellow hairpins lying quietly inside, each of which was as thick as a thumb. , four or five inches long, and the head of the hairpin is shaped like a drop.

"I didn't expect the girl to be so courageous. She ran out secretly and took away all the valuables at home." Duanniang showed a mysterious smile, "However, the girl sometimes gets pecked by geese when hunting wild geese." She As she said, she picked up one of the hairpins, held the body of the hairpin in one hand, and the head of the hairpin in the other hand, and pulled it hard, the hairpin head and hairpin body broke into two pieces, and she gently pulled it out with the long nail on her little finger. What was inside the hairpin, following her movements, a roll of yellow paper revealed its clues.

Gu Xiyan looked curiously.

Duanniang carefully opened the piece of paper and handed it to Gu Xiyan: "Look."

Yellow rice paper covered with four or five large red seals.

It turned out to be a land deed, a land deed of [-] dumps, with Gu Xiyan's name written on it.

Gu Xiyan raised her head in surprise.

A reminiscing and bitter smile appeared on Duanniang's face: "This is what my wife left you before she died... it's a dowry."

Looking at the yellowed rice paper, Gu Xiyan felt a strange emotion in her heart, like a torrent suddenly flowing through a dry river bed, although it was quickly sucked dry by the river bed, but the wonderful taste penetrated deep into the bones of the person. Make unforgettable.

Duanniang sighed and said: "Madam knows that the master is unreliable... There are 5000 good fields in total, a house with five entrances, and two shops. The field and the house are both in Fuchun County, and the shop is on Dongshi Street in the capital. I have served my wife together, Tuo Niang and his wife, and I have four to five thousand taels of silver in a year, so the girl can save some money, and she will not worry about paying her bills."

Gu Xiyan didn't know what to say, she had never encountered such a situation, and for a moment, tears filled her eyes, but she felt that she was too "cowardly" in her heart.She blinked her eyes vigorously, tried not to let the tears fall, took out a gold hairpin and fiddled with it in her hand, and said with a smile: "Hey, there are many names in the big family. It's not worth the money of these four golden hairpins. If I had known this, I would never come back after taking these four golden hairpins!"

After hearing this, Duanniang asked anxiously: "Where are the gold and silver jewelry that the girl took away? They are not cheap, they are worth five or six thousand gold in total!"

Gu Xiyan smiled confidently, and took out a piece of yellow rice paper from the purse beside her and handed it to Duanniang.

Duanniang took it in a daze and saw that it was a pawn ticket.

Gu Xiyan proudly said: "I took a few red gold bracelets for emergency use, and pawned the rest. A total of 50 taels were pawned for three years, and I paid four taels of interest every year."

Duanniang laughed hehehe, and hugged Gu Xiyan: "Oh, my good girl, I have never seen anyone smarter than you."

Gu Xiyan suddenly felt as if she had turned into a child all of a sudden, Duanniang's praise actually gave her a sweet taste in her heart.

Duanniang looked at Gu Xiyan's face that was radiant with joy, hesitated for a while, and stammered out the words that were stuck in her throat: "Girl, you, do you still remember the matter of the master!"

Gu Xiyan's smile was suspiciously on the corner of her mouth.

Sure enough, Guiguan's words were not groundless.

Seeing Gu Xiyan like this, Duanniang couldn't say what she wanted to say.

Gu Xiyan regained her composure, and asked Duanniang a question that often lingered in her mind: "My mother, did you know when my mother was alive?"

Duanniang smiled wryly: "I don't know if Madam knows. I never knew before. Once he asked you to go to the study and said that he wanted to tell you to write. You were crying so much... I paid attention and led the eldest girl to go. ... The eldest girl sent you back to Shuzhou... You were still young at that time, I just thought you didn't remember... But during those few years in Shuzhou, you just didn't like to write... Whenever I talk about you, you Just lose your temper, smash things, swear at people... I know it in my heart, I can only rely on you...some things, we still need to be more careful..."

Gu Xiyan just felt sick, her heart felt cold, she couldn't help but curled up into a ball and hugged her chest.

Duanniang sighed, hugged Gu Xiyan's arm tightly, and said: "Girl, you should get married early!"

Ah, Gu Xiyan was surprised.

Duanniang's face was solemn: "I didn't want you to come back to Shengjing, but what the eldest girl said made sense. After all, Shuzhou is a rural place, so it's really hard to find a husband's family. Who knows that when you arrive in Shengjing, you are actually asked to enter the palace. That place is not something ordinary people can stay in. It is probably deeper than the Weiyuanhou Mansion where Jin Xin married. Who would have thought that the girl would go with me, and ran away without making a sound. Although it is a bit inappropriate and unethical, there is nothing we can do... We have these [-]-year-old fertile land in our hands, and we don't need to look at the master's eyes to ask for a dowry, and we don't want the man's family to be rich, as long as he The family style is clean, the conduct is good, and it is enough to treat the girl sincerely... If you marry someone early, it is good to leave this family."

What about Gu Chaorong?
For a moment, Gu Xiyan only felt confused, and she didn't know where to start with thousands of words.

Duanniang saw that she was hesitant, and knew that she couldn't let go of everything about the Gu family, otherwise she wouldn't have come back when she ran away.She begged her bitterly: "Girl, you must listen to me about this matter...there are so many injustices in the world, how can we manage them. The key is to live a good life by yourself and not to cause trouble for the family. If you can help the family when you are young, you will be worthy of the master and the eldest girl. Miss, you must not be confused about this matter. There are many good things in the world, how can you take everything into account. A relegation like the eldest girl A person like a fairy, who retired from the marriage of the Mi family and invited him into the palace, so what can he do? A concubine without heirs is like a kite without strings, always in vain..."

Withdrawing from the Mi family's marriage...it turns out that Gu Chaorong wasn't forced into the palace either!
The thought flashed by, but Gu Xiyan screamed and jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on, making Duanniang tremble with fright.

Not bad!A concubine without heirs is like a kite without a string... Unless there is a son, it is all empty talk... A woman who made the empress dowager jealous... The cold gaze in Chengqian Palace reminded her I feel cold all over...

No, no, no!
Gu Xiyan staggered from Duanniang's embrace and struggled to stand up, only to feel that the world was spinning, and the light and shadow in front of her eyes turned into a black cloud and hit her head and face.

"Girl, girl," Duan Niang supported the pale-faced Gu Xiyan, "What's wrong with you... Mo Ju, Mo Ju, go and invite the doctor..."

Gu Xiyan grabbed Duanniang's hand and said weakly: "No, no, I'm just dizzy and want to lie down..."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Duanniang hurriedly responded, "Then go and lie down on the bed."

(End of this chapter)