Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 2 The Cao Family
In Jiangnan, when it comes to Cao's family, everyone may not think it is Jiangning Weaving Mansion, after all, there are many people with the surname Cao in the world.But when it comes to Jiangning Weaving Mansion, everyone knows that it is the Cao family, one of the most prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River.

It has been 39 years since the Ministry of Internal Affairs set up the Weaving Office in Jiangnan in the second year of Kangxi, and Cao Xi, the first weaving officer, came to Jiangning to work.Ten years ago, Cao Xi died of illness. Thanks to Jin Shang's grace, his eldest son Cao Yinzi inherited his father's business and succeeded Jiangning weaving.

The Zhizao Mansion in Jiangning is similar to an ordinary yamen, with the public yamen in the front and the private yamen in the back.The difference is that the main hall on the middle road of the backyard is empty, as are the gardens and courtyards on the east road, and only the five entrances on the west road live with Cao Yin's family members.

It doesn't look crowded because of the multiple courtyards.

The courtyard at the farthest end of the West Road is the residence of Cao Sun, the mother of Cao Yin.

Entering the courtyard, there is a screen wall with thousands of "shou" characters written on it. Behind the screen wall is a spacious courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard is a rockery piled up with lake stones, surrounded by shallow pools.

Golden scales swim in the pool, and two big white cranes stand proudly on the water, occasionally lowering their heads to eat the fish in the pool.

There are five main rooms with high ridges and blue tiles and gray stones, and the three big characters "Xuan Rui Tang" written by the imperial pen are hung on the door.There are long corridors on both sides of the main house, one side is connected to the courtyard door, and the other side leads to the small garden in the backyard.

It was midsummer, all the courtyard masters were taking a nap, and the maids and mother-in-law naturally silenced their voices. There were only a few little maids who had become familiar with each other in the courtyard. After finishing their work, they leaned against the west corridor and dozed off.

No one noticed that a boy in a long silver coat came out of the room lightly and stood under the east corridor, staring at the white crane in the water in a daze.

If any maids and wives see it, they must come forward to curry favor, because this boy is the sweetheart of the old lady in the mansion, Cao Yong, the only son of the old lady.

In fact, this Cao Yong is not that Cao Yong.Three days ago, a soul named "Li Yong" who was hundreds of years later awakened in this body.Although their names sound similar in pronunciation, they are far apart by thousands of miles.One is a seven-year-old son of a family who was born in a wealthy family in the Qing Dynasty, and the other is a 26-year-old office clerk who works in a modern law firm.

Cao Yong woke up for three days and was also confused for three days. Is he Li Yong or Cao Yong?

The kindness of the elders in the family and the flattery of the servants and mother-in-law are all spinning in my mind like a slide show.When seeing Sun (Cao Yong's grandmother), Li (Cao Yong's mother), Cao Yan (Cao Yong's same mother and sister), and even seeing Cao Yin, they are somewhat close, as if he is Cao Yong, Cao Yong Yong was the same as him, it was just a big dream, and now he is awake.

For three days, I was anxious first, then sad, and then desperate. It seemed that I had encountered a legendary time-travel, and I had time-traveled to a familiar family, the Cao family where Cao Xueqin belonged.Although I am not a fan of the Red House, I know a little about the Cao family because of the Red House fever in the past few years.

It is said that the ancestor of the Cao family was a general of the Ming army, who surrendered after a defeat in the Northeast, and became the Manchurian Zhengbai Banner coat.Later, he entered the customs from Longlong and worked as an errand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Later, Sun, Cao Xi's wife and Cao Yin's mother, was selected as Kangxi's wet nurse. Cao Yin grew up with Kangxi since childhood.

Cao Yin's father, Cao Xi, was appointed to weaving in Jiangning. Later, Cao Yin, Cao Yin's son Cao Yong, and Cao Yin's adoptive son Cao Fu successively took up this position. It was not until the death of Kangxi and the enthronement of Yongzheng that the Cao family began to decline.The reason seems to be that the Cao family and its in-laws, the Li family, both participated in the battle for the royal heirloom. They stood on the wrong team, first supporting the crown prince, and then supporting the eighth elder brother, but they failed to recognize that the fourth elder brother was Qianlong.

As a result, after Yongzheng came to power, the homes of the Cao family and the Li family were ransacked successively. The Cao family was fine, and Yongzheng was still a bit respectable.The Li family didn't have that much face, their wives, daughters and servants sold them on the spot in Suzhou, and no one dared to buy them after ten days of selling. The miserable scene is beyond words.

Thinking of this, Cao Yong only felt chills all over his body. Now he has become Cao Yin's own son. Yin's adoptive son inherited the family business.Thinking of this, I couldn't laugh or cry. I accidentally became Cao Xueqin's elder, and it was very likely that he was his father. Even if it wasn't his father, he was also his uncle... er... and his uncle.

Although three days is not long, Cao Yong knows a lot about the Cao family through his physical memory.Knowing that the old lady is 68 years old, although she worked as a servant in the palace when she was young, she was not the wet nurse in the legend of later generations, but the nanny of Kangxi.

The royal nanny is not the kind of old mother who waits on the children as everyone thinks, but a senior nurse also known as "Jing Qi Nai", who is the life manager next to the prince and princess, and can be regarded as the actual adoptive mother.

From entering the palace in the spring of the 11th year of Shunzhi to the emperor's wedding in the fourth year of Kangxi, Sun has been serving as Kangxi's "exquisite mother", and the relationship with Emperor Kangxi is no less than that of his own mother and child.Therefore, after Kangxi came to power, Sun was granted the title of "Mrs. Fengsheng", a first-rank imperial order, and her husband Cao Xi was granted the title of first-class male.In addition, during Emperor Kangxi's third southern tour two years ago, he settled in Jiangning Weaving Mansion, so Jiangning Weaving Mansion is also called "Daxing Palace" by Jiangning people.

In order not to overstep, Cao Yin avoided living in the west courtyard, and emptied the main house and the east courtyard to show his respect.It was during that southern tour that Kangxi mentioned the three characters "Xuanruitang" for the residence of the nanny Sun, and called Sun "this is my old man" in front of the accompanying officials.Or it is precisely because she has been working in the palace for too long, she has been separated from her husband, and Sun has no biological son of her own.Cao Yin is actually the eldest son of the concubine of the Cao family. His biological mother died young, and he was raised under the name of the Sun family as a legitimate son.

Cao Yin was intelligent since he was a child. He could speak at the age of ten, literate at the age of three, and able to write at the age of five.Although he was four years younger than Kangxi, he did enter the palace as an accompanying student. After the age of 16, he became the imperial guard, and has been a close minister of the emperor ever since.It was not until his father Cao Xi was old that he was sent to Jiangning to take over.First weaving for Suzhou, Cao Xi took over Jiangning weaving after his death, and Suzhou weaving was taken over by Li Xu, another confidant of Kangxi and Cao Yin's brother-in-law.Li Xu's mother, Wen Shi, also worked as Kangxi's nanny at first, but the time on duty was not as long as Sun's.

The first wife Cao Yin married was the Gu family, the daughter of a big family in the south of the Yangtze River. The husband and wife were very loving, but it was difficult for them to have children, and they never had a son and a half.After Gu died of illness, Emperor Kangxi proposed marriage, and Cao Yin married Li Xu's cousin Li as his successor.

When Cao Yin married Li Shi, he was already over 230 years old.In the first year of their marriage, the eldest daughter Cao Yan was born, and the eldest son Cao Yong was born a few years later.Because Cao Yong was weak since he was a child, he was afraid that he would not be able to support him, so he never got a big name, and his baby name was "Liansheng".When Emperor Kangxi visited the south the year before last, he lived in Zhizao Mansion. He personally gave the name "颙" and granted him the title of "First-class Captain of Light Vehicles", which is only as good as his father Cao Yin's second-class son. Four ranks lower, he also receives a salary of [-] five taels of silver from the imperial court every year.Because it was the name given by the emperor Jinkou Yuyan, the baby name "Liansheng" was put away and used. uncle".

Cao Yong is the eldest son and grandson of the mansion, so he naturally became the heart of the old matriarch of the Sun family. He was raised by his side when he was born, until his seventh birthday half a month ago, Cao Yin moved to live with his parents. side, and sent to study ethnology.Unexpectedly, after only ten days, he fell ill.Cao Yin and his wife originally wanted to hide it from the old matriarch, but they didn't want to.It turned out that the old lady, seeing the hot weather, was afraid that her grandson would get angry, so she sent someone to the school to deliver herbal tea. Only then did she get the letter, knowing that Cao Yong was sick, so she hurried to the front yard, and after scolding her son and daughter-in-law, she called her maid The mother-in-law packed the grandson and the daily necessities back to her yard.

Thinking of this, Cao Yong squinted his eyes. Didn't you mean that you always wear butterfly wings when traveling?Now that you know that your body is not good and you will live soon, why don't you take precautions in advance?It is only the 40th year of Kangxi, and the tragic "nine sons seizing the heirs" has not yet been staged. As long as the Cao family avoids this catastrophe and makes up for the shortfall of those welcomes, Yongzheng still has no reason to raid the house.

Thinking through these, Cao Yong felt relieved after many days, and missed his family members in that life even more.I am the old man of my parents, and also the support of my darling, so I will indulge myself to dawdling around.My brother's niece is only four years younger than me, and my brother and sister-in-law treat me like their own children.Before I had time to repay these close relatives, I inexplicably wore it to more than 300 years ago. How can I not make people feel regretful.Before I knew it, the circles of my eyes were already red.

"Why are your eyes red? Are you still in good health?" With a soft voice, a pair of small hands stroked Cao Yong's forehead.

Hearing the familiar voice, Cao Yong raised his head, and it was a little girl of thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a milky white silk gown, with a purple waistcoat on the outside, which further accentuated her red lips and white teeth.Cao Yong praised secretly in his heart, if outsiders saw such a decent appearance, they would take it as a young lady, but actually she was the second-class maid in the old lady's house, named Zijing.

Amethyst saw that Cao Yong was not as lively as before, and there were a few more worries in her eyes.Although Cao Yong's body is small now, he is in his 20s inside. He couldn't bear to worry such a small child, so he had to follow the appearance in memory, hold the corner of his mouth, and call "Sister Amethyst", and say it out. Already almost sour.

Amethyst sees Cao Yong revealing his former appearance, so she feels relieved, leans down, trying to tease him, but footsteps are heard behind her.Both Zijing and Cao Yong turned their heads to look, the thin bamboo curtain at the main entrance of the hall was lifted, and a ten-year-old maidservant in light yellow clothes and with two buns came out, saw the two of them, and said with a smile: "The old lady is awake, and she is looking for the uncle!" The second-class maid in the old lady's room came out, named Cha Jing.

After hearing this, Zijing leaned down to help Cao Yong straighten the front and back skirts, and then took a step back and said: "Master, go in quickly, so that the old lady won't be in a hurry!"

Being treated like a child like this, Cao Yong was very uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do.The old lady regarded him as her sweetheart, and everyone in the yard stared at him eagerly. A little different behavior from the past would frighten a group of people, so that he had to learn to act according to memory. "Child".

With a sigh in his heart, Cao Yong walked towards the upper room with short legs.Over there, Chrysanthemum was already holding the ears of the little girls in the corridor to teach her a lesson, her voice was low, but she exerted strength in her hands. The little girls were all in their teens, their ears were red, and they couldn't cry if they wanted to cry. It is very pitiful to dare to cry and kneel on the ground.Although Cha Jing was about the same age as them, she was trained by the old lady herself since she was a child. Last year, she got the monthly certificate of second-class maid. Of course, these little girls who cleaned outside did not dare to resist.

Cao Yong frowned slightly, and couldn't help but look over there a few more times, Cha Jing then stopped and rushed over to lift the curtain.Seeing Cao Yong looking at her, he smiled brightly, revealing two small dimples, and said: "It's better, just run to the yard and stand there, and teach the old lady to think about it!"

Just being cared by a little girl, and being taught a lesson by another little girl, Cao Yong couldn't help but have a headache.

No wonder "Dream of Red Mansions" mentions that Baoyu hangs out with the maids all day long, and if he doesn't hang out, he can't do it. Since he entered the old lady's yard, he has never seen another man except Cao Yin and himself.Walking around in front of my eyes were maids, big and small. In the old lady's yard alone, there were four first-class ones, eight second-class ones, and there were more than 20 maidservants.Those who often come are those around the wife, those around the aunts, those around the young lady, and they all follow the owners of the houses to visit every day.Cao Yong is just helpless. Fortunately, he is a person in his 20s. If you are an ordinary child, it is no wonder that you are not a sissy when you grow up in such a fragrance of makeup and powder.

(End of this chapter)