happy event

Chapter 180 Hiring (2)

Dong Ping managed to break free from the entanglement of all his classmates, and begged for mercy, dumbfounded, "Brothers, I made a mistake, so let Xizi go to the restaurant to order the best table and deliver it. After I finish my work here, I will hurry up." Go and make amends with the brothers, okay?"

All the students laughed when they heard the words, and some greedy ones wanted to blackmail some more good things, but they were dragged and pointed to the Yang family's house not far away, so they immediately shrank their necks and ran away like a swarm of bees. up.It's okay for them to joke with Dong Ping for a while, but if it really delays the husband's marriage to his daughter, it's just out of patience.

Dong Ping watched a group of students running to smoke, and laughed helplessly, and finally led the team to move forward.

A servant of the Yang family had already set off firecrackers, and eight loads of betrothal gifts were soon set off in the yard of the Yang family, which was filled with the strong smell of gunpowder smoke.Dong Ping and his son were welcomed into the living room to talk, while Mrs. Yang brought a group of wives who came to watch the fun, chatting and laughing around the bride price.

Wen Niang respectfully handed over the gift list, and at the end, she waited on the side to explain the sources of various betrothal gifts.

Dong Rong really loved her younger brother like a child, and she had prepared a very generous dowry, but now she couldn't come back to make an appointment for her younger brother, and she felt guilty all over her heart.Therefore, Qian urged Wan to tell Wen Niang and Zhang Guanshi to give the Yang family a lot of face, and not to let them choose etiquette and embarrass the younger brother.

Manager Zhang and Wen Niang naturally didn't dare to be negligent, and there were a total of eight betrothal gifts. Although the number could only be considered ordinary, they were all carefully selected, affordable and eye-catching.

The first one was a load of wedding cakes. Rich people usually use walnut cakes from dim sum shops, while poor people use noodle cakes. But the ones brought by Dong’s family are ingenious. A box is divided into six compartments, containing thousand-layer cakes, cakes, and cakes. Shortbread, fruity biscuits, mung bean cake, plum blossom cake and red bean paste buns, all of which are dotted with red dots, look delicate and joyful.

The second load of dried seafood is scallops, dried abalone, bird's nest, white fungus, mushrooms, dried shrimps, sea cucumbers, and shark fins that Dong Rong specially bought in Kyoto.

A lady who was notoriously picky asked the maid to find a long chopstick, thinking that if she stuck it, she would find that the lower part of the box was empty.After all, there are often people who are fooled like this, just for the sake of looking good.But her chopsticks couldn't get in after only a few inches, because the dry goods in the box were too packed.

The lady put down the chopsticks in embarrassment, and praised under the eyes of all the ladies, "This Dong family is really an honest family, and I'm afraid it could be evenly divided into three or four boxes in other homes."

After hearing this, Wen Niang said, "This is specially selected by our concubine at the best dry goods store in Kyoto, and almost every item has been inspected by the empress herself. Don't worry, my wife, our empress loves the second young master very much, how can I neglect it?" relatives by marriage."

The madam blushed even more when she heard that, she wished she could find a crack in the ground and get in ashamedly.Mrs. Yang was relieved, but she couldn't embarrass the guests, so she quickly smiled and pointed to the big carp on the third box and said, "Yo, this carp is really big."

Wen Niang said again, "This is a newly caught red carp last night, weighing eight catties and eight twenty-eight dollars."

Everyone smiled and nodded, "This fish is really auspicious!"

The fourth load is a box full of raw fruits. The Four Seasons Garden has just had a bumper harvest, and the most important thing is fruits. I have chosen a hundred big and round apples, and they are piled up like a small tower.

The fifth load is all kinds of wine. Originally, the fruit wine was brewed last year, and the orchard has kept ten jars of each kind for gifts or family consumption.Now it happened to be of great use, four kinds of fruit wine, two jars of each kind, and made up an auspicious number.

The sixth carry is Sijing fruit, dried longan, dried lychee, walnut, peanut and four-color dried fruit gathered together, which is a good omen.

The seventh one is the tea leaves. When Dong Rong bought them, it happened to be a good time when all the new teas were coming out. Daqi selected two cans of three kinds of famous teas and sent them, and made up a good number of Liushun.

The last burden is also the highlight of the entire dowry. Whether the man is rich and whether he values ​​the woman depends on whether the items in this box are expensive.

Wen Niang opened the box with her own hands, and slowly took out the small carved wooden boxes inside, ten in total, and the rest of the boxes were filled with brightly colored and fine silk.

A group of ladies stretched out their hands to touch them, and after a few compliments, they all stared at those small wooden boxes and laughed non-stop.Mrs. Yang originally didn't want to reveal the dowry gift thoroughly, but seeing this she simply let go.

Seeing Mrs. Yang nodding, Wen Niang opened the small boxes one by one, one set of red gold tops, one set of silver tops, one set of pearl tops, one set of ruby ​​tops, one set of emerald tops...

The noon sun shone on all kinds of jewelry, and the reflected jewels and jewels made all the ladies red-eyed. Of course, some elements of jealousy could not be ruled out.The two wives who were a step behind almost tore off the handkerchiefs in their hands. They thought the Dong family was a poor ghost, but they didn't expect it to be so rich. Just selling these jewelry is enough for a small family to marry five Six daughters-in-law.

But they didn't expect that what made them even more jealous was still behind. In the last two boxes that Wen Niang opened, there were twelve small silver clasps of five taels in one, and the other box also contained twelve, but It's a golden scorpion.

Although the gentlemen of the academy have high prestige, their families are not considered rich, and some of them may not even have 1000 taels even if they count all their wealth.And when the Yang family married a daughter, they only received 660 taels of dowry, which was really a honor in the meeting.

Mrs. Yang didn't care about the etiquette anymore. She endured the excitement and stepped forward to close the lid of the tight box, and then ordered all the maids and women to quickly carry the dowry down, especially the last box was sent directly to her bedroom, and she smiled at the end. Invite all the ladies to return to the flower hall for a feast.

Mr. Yang accompanied Dong Ping, his son and other colleagues while drinking and laughing. Occasionally, he saw Dong Ping looking at the gate of the courtyard, so he asked, "Is there something wrong with Juncheng?"

Dong Ping blushed and got up to answer, "Mr. Hui, just before entering the courtyard, the disciple was surrounded by classmates and complained that he didn't tell what happened today, so..."

Mr. Yang remembered how lively the disciples were when they got together, so he laughed and said, "Forget it, the left and right dowry gifts have been given out, and the marriage letter has been written, so you can go and treat those boys to eat and drink, so that they don't even have me together." complained."

All the gentlemen also laughed. Although they don't get much money for teaching in the college, it is a rare comfort and joy to see young scholars who are either diligent and motivated, or mischievous.

Dong Ping saluted again with his husband and his father, and then he left and rushed to the school.Sure enough, Xizi came back after buying a banquet, and a group of scholars sat around the table. When they saw Dong Ping showing up, they immediately arrested him and began to drink.Dong Ping begged for forgiveness repeatedly, and then talked about rushing to Beijing to visit his sister, so he hurriedly engaged and hired, not deliberately concealing it.

Everyone reluctantly accepted this reason, but when they remembered that Dong Ping had just kidnapped his junior sister and then went to Beijing for a stroll, everyone became jealous again.This one shouts about the beautiful scenery of Kyoto, but it is rare to take a trip.The one sighed that he had read thousands of books but hadn't traveled thousands of miles, and his tone was full of sourness.

Dong Ping heard it funny, and after thinking about it, he said, "I have already told my husband that I will not come back until after the big exam next spring when I go to Beijing. If you want to see what the big exam looks like, why don't you go ask sir .If the husband agrees, I can take you to live in my sister's mansion."

A group of scholars were overjoyed when they heard the words, their eyes widened, and they discussed how to persuade the strict Mr. Yang to let go.All of a sudden, the dormitory was as lively as a boiling oil pan with cold water poured on it, and the roof of the dormitory was almost lifted.

Dong Ping was fed a lot by his classmates, and he felt as if a hundred ducks were arguing in his ears, and finally fell down on the bed and fell asleep in a daze.When he woke up, it was already dark outside.Xizi smiled and went forward to wait for the master to wash his face and mouth, and finally reported that Master Dong was also very drunk and was sent home by Guanshi Zhang.

Only then did Dong Ping feel relieved, and fell asleep after hastily eating a bowl of porridge. Maybe he was too worried about his sister's suffering in the capital, and his dream was full of his sister who was starving when he was young, but desperately protecting him. scene.

So, when he got up early the next morning, he was in a hurry to say goodbye to his husband, planning to rush back to the orchard as soon as possible to start his journey.Dong Ping was naturally overjoyed when Mr. Yang saw him and said with a smile that he wanted to set off together.After all, it was his first time taking the big exam, and he was very uncertain. It would be great if he had a gentleman to guide him.

Of course, the most important thing is that maybe he can marry his junior sister in as soon as possible.Thinking of his beautiful and gentle future wife, his face could not help but slowly turn red...

In Yimianpo Village, because Guanshi Zhang called away a dozen young people, naturally every household knew the news of Dong Ping's engagement.After Mrs. Cao asked Steward Zhang to inquire about the affairs of the capital carefully, she was muttering in her heart all day.

There is no other reason, because Dong Rong is probably going to celebrate the New Year in Kyoto because of the funeral of the old prince and princess. She calculated that the time of birth will be in the first month, so it means that her eldest grandson will be born in Kyoto.

If it was under her nose, she would have nothing to worry about, after all, she knew her daughter-in-law's temper clearly, and she meant what she said.But now that people are in Kyoto, it's hard to say.In case the royal family hears the good news and keeps the child behind with a slap in the face, wouldn't their family look forward to it.

Thinking like this, she couldn't eat and sleep well, and then she dragged the old man to discuss it.After hearing what the old woman said, old man Cao praised her for being smart for the first time. Although he didn't say much, he was also worried about this these days.

The old couple racked their brains for a long time, and finally came up with an idea that was not an idea.That is to send the second sister to the capital with Dong Ping, and remind the daughter-in-law not to forget that their family is still looking forward to their grandson.

Second Sister Cao has been bored since her sister-in-law went to Beijing, and has to count her fingers every day when her sister-in-law will come back.Suddenly hearing from her parents that she would go to Beijing to visit her sister-in-law, and even spend the New Year in Beijing, she was so happy that she almost jumped and ran back to the house to pack her luggage.

(End of this chapter)