Ordinary clear day

Chapter 96 Copying the Scriptures
Shuning smoothed out the last wrinkle, ironed the newly made clothes, and let out a sigh of relief.

It has been more than ten days since I returned to the Earl's Mansion in the capital, and as soon as June entered, the weather became hotter.Although she had stayed in the hot Guangdong for several years, she still felt a little impatient, so she asked her mother for half a bolt of yam gauze to make a thin robe for herself.Normally, a little girl like her wouldn't dare to wear such dark clothes, but now that she is in mourning, it's normal to dress like this.

The little maid, Su Xin, came over: "Miss, have you finished ironing? Try putting it on?" Shu Ning nodded, and walked behind the screen with the clothes.

This Suxin is actually Zhou Silin's daughter, she has been serving Shuning on the boat on the way back to Beijing, Tong Shi thinks that she is quite smart, so she simply let her be her daughter's close friend.Her original name was Zhou Sulan, because she was a little heavy with Zhou Yinlan, and she liked frangipani, so Shuning changed her name to frangipani.

After changing her clothes, she walked to the full-length mirror to take a look.Well, it basically fits, the left and right shoulders and sleeves are symmetrical, and the black silk trim is also very well-proportioned. Although it doesn't have a waist (because I don't have that technology), it is comfortable, loose and cool to wear.

Suxin helped her tidy up the hem of her clothes, and helped her recomb her hair. She put two small buns behind her ears, and the rest of her hair was braided into a big braid hanging behind her head. It was very cool!
Shuning nodded in satisfaction, then sat on the soft chair under the window to read a book.Su Xin held a cup of tea and said: "I just passed by the wife's room, and I heard from Mrs. Wang that Mr. Su and the others have entered the mansion, and the things from Huo's comprador have also arrived. Now the luggage is being unloaded, and it will be delivered in a while." Come in."

It turned out that the big luggage had already arrived, and it was about the same time.Shu Ning nodded, and said: "Later, you go and watch them move. My boxes of books and miscellaneous things must be taken back without any leaks, and don't let anyone get in the way."

Su Xin nodded knowingly, and was about to step back when she heard someone outside shouting: "Is Miss San in the room?" It turned out to be Wan Ning's maid, Yan Yun.

Speaking of which, on the day she just returned to the mansion, Shu Ning only met Wan Ning briefly, and felt that she was more courteous and considerate, and her manners were more refined, but she didn't have much impression of anything else, but her appearance was still as beautiful as before.But after getting in touch with more, I found that her scheming seemed to be much deeper, and she began to know how to socialize with all kinds of people in the house, how to convey words, and how to speak and act hostile to others. People say the word "rule".

Seeing her changes, Shu Ning felt a little more at ease, presumably this elder sister Wan Ning would not make any mishaps out of nowhere and bring her family down again, right?However, in view of her past glorious deeds, to be on the safe side, Shu Ning decided not to get too close to her, so she just maintained the relationship with ordinary cousins, neither getting close to her nor deliberately alienating her.Since Wanning spends most of her time with the old lady, so far, everything has been fine.

Yan Yun came to invite Shuning to copy scriptures in the water pavilion in the back garden.Because of the old lady's words, the four sisters Fangning, Wanning, Shuning and Yuanning copied a few Buddhist scriptures every day, and then burned them before the old man's spirit, praying for his salvation.Shu Ning regarded it as practicing calligraphy, and handed in eight or ten articles every day. Although it was not as much as Fang Ning's copying, it was hard to find mistakes.

Originally, the four sisters copied it in their own rooms, but when it was hot, they all ran to the water pavilion and bumped into each other frequently, so they simply made an appointment to copy there together.

When Shuning arrived at the water pavilion, Fangning and Yuanning were already there.

Fang Ning is 16 years old this year, just in the Mood for Love, but she was a bit plump back then, but now she is very thin.She was wearing a gray cloth gown without a single pattern on it, except for a silver hairpin on her head and Buddhist beads on her wrist, there were no ornaments on her whole body.His complexion is a little sallow, his eyes are downcast, and he rarely looks directly at people.

Yuanning is different.She was still wearing an egg-blue robe, but it was embroidered with dark patterns, her hair was tied into a unique braid with a blue headband, and the small white gauze flowers and silver jewelry made her even more beautiful and refined.Now Yuanning, although her knot is still unresolved, when facing other sisters, she doesn't have the hostility of the past.

Yuanning looked up and saw Shuning coming in, she twitched her lips and said, "Even the third sister is here, but the one who made an appointment has not arrived yet." Shuning smiled, walked over to look, and found that Fangning had copied It's been two articles, and he sighed: "Big sister, your hands and feet are so fast, you alone can beat the three of us."

Fang Ning smiled slightly: "I'm used to copying, so naturally I can write fast. In fact, you two are not slow." Yuan Ning said: "When my eldest sister lived outside, she ate fast and recited Buddha's name every day. She's almost an aunt, how can we compare with her?"

Shu Ning turned to look at Fang Ning, and saw that she continued to copy indifferently, so she changed the subject and said, "Which article should I copy today?" Yuan Ning was regretting that she made a mistake just now, and hurriedly said, "Today, my eldest sister and I are both How about copying the "Ksitigarbha Sutra", the third sister should also copy this?" Shuning nodded and sat down to copy.

The three girls just sat in the cool water pavilion and copied Buddhist scriptures.It didn't take long for Shuning to feel her mind was at peace, and she didn't feel hot at all.She was steadily writing hairpin lowercase script, and in a short while, she had already written a few lines.

Yuanning looked at it with some envy, and said: "Third sister really deserves to have practiced calligraphy since she was a child. Look at these few lines, it looks like it is printed in a book." Shuning tilted her head and smiled, and continued to copy.

But the peaceful scene was quickly broken when Wanning came.

She was wearing a white lotus-pattern slim silk long dress, with a jasper ring on her chest, and only a white gauze flower on her head. Her black hair was combed into a loose long braid, which made her complexion more prominent. clear.She walked into the water pavilion gracefully, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, I'm late, how much have you copied already?"

Shu Ning was about to say hello to her, but she heard Yuan Ning sneer and said: "Second Sister sent someone to invite us, but she only came here for a long time, she must be very busy? It's hard for you, so busy, you still have to come Doing these small things, I think Mafa's spirit in heaven will also feel very gratified."

Wanning smiled sweetly: "It was just that grandma refused to take the medicine, I was late to coax her to take it, but there is nothing to be embarrassed about, this is the filial piety we should do as granddaughters." After finishing speaking, she looked to the side The written scriptures were placed, "So I have written so much? Then I have to work harder, so as not to lose to you." Then I sat down and started copying.

Yuanning curled her lips and stopped talking.It's just that she started to get a little annoyed. She copied two lines and wrote a wrong word. She wanted to correct it, but it became more and more blurred and ugly. She simply crumpled the paper and threw it aside. .She changed a piece of paper and started copying again. She finally copied more than half a page, and made a mistake again. As soon as the fire was on, she lost the pen.

Shu Ning was sitting next to her, when she dropped the pen, no one else did anything, but the splashed ink landed on the paper in front of Shu Ning.Yuanning felt a little guilty, and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, didn't you stain my sister's clothes?"

Shuning waved her hand, put the piece of paper aside, and wrote on another.Fortunately, I only wrote four or five words just now, otherwise it would have been wasted.

Yuanning was a little surprised, and asked: "Why didn't the third sister throw away that paper? It's useless anyway." Shuning said: "How can it be useless? I'll take it back and use a bamboo knife to cut off the ink-stained part. You can continue to use it. This is the best rice paper, and there is still such a big piece left, don’t waste it.”

Yuanning was surprised and said: "I didn't expect the third sister to be so frugal. I heard from Ama Erniang that the third uncle and three aunts in Guangdong can get a lot of money every year. Just the annual gift sent back to the mansion every year is worth two dollars." 3000 taels, my family has at least tens of thousands of taels. Since you are so rich, why should you be stingy with this little paper?"

No way?To be missed by that shrewd couple?This "rumor" must be resolutely clarified, so as not to be calculated by others!
Shu Ning smiled and said: "It's nothing. Where did the second uncle and the second aunt hear the rumors? Most of the things that my mother-in-law sends back every year are antiques. In fact, they are all gifts from others, and we don't need them." I paid for it. The jewels given away this year were more expensive, but they were bought cheap because a Western merchant in the jewelry business in India sold the stock at a low price. I thought I could use it at home, so I sent it back. Our silver Although there are, they are not as much as tens of thousands of taels, and the usual expenses are always frugal."

Wanning interjected at this time: "This is how life is passing, Fourth Sister, you should learn from Third Sister, don't waste money all the time."

Yuan Ning sneered: "It's really surprising to hear this from Second Sister." After speaking, she ignored Wanning and asked Shuning, "Sister Third, don't you lie to me? I just passed the second gate. The people in your house are unloading the luggage on the truck, there are dozens of boxes. What are those?"

Shuning said: "That's the big luggage our family used in Guangdong. It's miscellaneous. There are also big winter clothes and quilts. Some boxes contain vases, decorations, books, calligraphy and paintings. They were given by others. I also bought them myself. These things are said to be valuable, but in fact they are of no use other than giving them away and looking good at home. Could it be possible to sell them for money? Others think what happened to our house?"

Yuan Ning lacked interest: "So that's the case, I thought there would be something rare."

"There are rare ones. I have a set of snuff bottles made of glass with Western paintings on them. I asked my mother to get them from a merchant. If my fourth sister is interested, after I pack the things, I will let you know." Please come and see."

"Forget it, the snuff bottle is such a rare thing." Yuanning curled her lips.In the past few years in Beijing, many people have learned from Western methods and used various materials to make snuff bottles.Her family has always been well-off, and she has seen many snuff bottles made of white jade, agate and jadeite. What are glass ones?
Of course it was strange, the painting on it was the story of the constellations in Greek mythology, although it was somewhat different from what she knew.Back then, she was also fascinated by constellation books.So as soon as I saw this set, I immediately bought it from Huo Comprador.In fact, Huo Comprador just thought the painting was interesting, and he didn't think the glassware was valuable, so the bid was very low.

But Yuanning naturally doesn't know these things, but Wanning is a little interested: "Then what are the paintings on it? Could it be a story from the Bible?"

"It's just ordinary objects, but the painting method is really special, completely different from ours."

"Oh."

The scene cooled down, Shu Ning continued to bury her head in copying.Less than an hour later, the old lady sent a little girl to remind her, and Wanning went back.Shuning counted the scriptures that had been copied, and there were a dozen or so, so she asked someone to put them away, quit and went back to her room.

All her boxes have been delivered, opened and checked, and there is nothing missing.Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief, and went to the backyard to see Qiao Yun who had just arrived.

Qiao Yun was talking with other maids with her big belly, when she saw Shu Ning coming, she wanted to get up, Shu Ning hurriedly supported her, pulled her to sit down, and asked some details about the road, seeing that her mother and child were safe, she also Don't worry.

Ermo walked over with a smile, and said, "Qiaoyun, the wife has sent a message, and she has already prepared a new house for you young couple. You can go back to that new house later, and wait until the month is over after giving birth. Came back to work. Just now, Changgui has already received the silver and the medicinal materials for you to repair your body. My wife said that you are inconvenient, so there is no need to kowtow."

Qiaoyun happily agreed, and was determined to thank Mrs. Tong, even if she didn't kowtow as a salute.Ermo had no choice but to take her there.

Shuning was about to go to see her elder brother Duanning to see if his things were complete, but unexpectedly saw him standing at the gate of the courtyard talking to Shunning, while Shunning was still looking at the inner courtyard from time to time.

Thinking of Qiaoyun, Shuning felt a little worried.After a while, Shun Ning went back with some disappointment, Duan Ning looked back and saw his sister, and smiled slightly.

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In the blink of an eye, it was July, the old man's hundred days had passed, his eldest uncle Jin Bao and fourth uncle Rong Bao were busy explaining their family affairs, and were about to return to the Ministry of War and the palace to go on business.Xingbao asked someone to set up a car, and planned to go out to inspect various industries.But Zhang Bao was leisurely drinking tea and reading books in the study, chatting with his wife, and teasing his youngest son. His little life was very beautiful.

When the hour just arrived, there was a commotion at the front door, and a servant rushed in, announcing loudly "the imperial decree has arrived" while running inside.After a while, the whole government was alarmed.

Nala had already ordered the housekeeper in the mansion to welcome the eunuch who passed the decree into the hall, serve him with good tea, and asked someone to set up an incense table.Everyone in several rooms was dressed in formal attire, not only the Shuning sisters were neatly dressed, even the youngest Xianning and Qingning's eldest daughter Xuerui, who was not yet one year old, were all dressed up and carried out, the whole family knelt down In the front yard, waiting for someone to read the imperial decree.

(End of this chapter)