Nong Zhaohua

Chapter 13

Yan Zhaohua got up after changing his clothes, stood at the window and looked at the flames at the southeast corner of Qingqueju, Qingzhu and Ranxiang took turns to go outside to check the situation, and came back after a while to tell Yan Zhaohua that the fire had died down, but the whole Almost all the embroidery houses have been destroyed.

Yan Xiu and Mrs. Xie came hand in hand. When they saw Yan Zhaohua, Mrs. Xie hurried over, took Yan Zhaohua's hand, and asked kindly, "It's fine, you're scared."

Yan Zhaohua shook his head, looked at Mrs. Xie who was pretending to be distressed, and shook his head after a while. The manager Zhang Ping had already led people to put out the fire in the yard. Hearing Zhang Ping report the situation to Yan Xiu in the yard, when the fire happened, it should be when all the lanterns in the mansion were extinguished, but he didn't know the cause of the fire.

Yan Xiu asked Zhang Ping to investigate, walked in, and said to Yan Zhaohua:

"It's good that people are fine. I've asked Zhang Ping to investigate. Is there anything important in the embroidery room?"

Yan Zhaohua glanced at Mrs. Xie, lowered his head and said, "It's a birthday gift for my grandmother. I embroidered a few screens for my grandmother, and now they are all burned."

"Birthday gift?" Yan Xiu said regretfully, "That's a pity, but there's nothing you can do about it. Your grandmother's birthday is coming up, and you won't be able to embroider it in time. Why don't you prepare something else."

Yan Zhaohua's face was full of loneliness, and he didn't answer, so Mrs. Xie stood up and said, "Oh, I don't blame the eldest lady for being distressed. After all, it has been embroidered for several months. Anyway, I will go to Duke Ding the day after tomorrow. Mansion, I'll just prepare some generous gifts for you, I think that as long as it is a gift from Sister Hua, the old lady will definitely like it."

With Xie's motherly tone, Yan Zhaohua could hear Yan Zhaohua's teeth itch secretly, but his face didn't show, and he lowered his eyes and said:

"Yes, thank you, madam."

As soon as Mrs. Xie took Yan Zhaohua's hand, Yan Xiu said, "Okay, you don't have to be polite, it's getting late. If you think this courtyard is not safe, you can move to the main courtyard for a while. , Let my wife make you your favorite golden silk roll tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's go back to the main courtyard with us. Your father and I don't feel at ease if you live here alone." Seeing that Yan Zhaohua didn't speak, Mrs. Xie went on to say: "If you don't want to live in the main courtyard, you can go to the main courtyard. It's okay to live with Ning, it's all up to you."

Yan Zhaohua lowered his pair of scissors, shook his head delicately and weakly, and said, "No, I don't want to change places so late. I'll let Ranxiang and Qingzhu stay by the bed, and it won't be a problem. It's getting late, my wife and father should go back earlier and rest."

When Yan Xiu heard what she said, he didn't force himself, nodded and said, "That's fine. Let the maids pass on something."

After saying this, Yan Xiu took Mrs. Xie away from Qingqueju, and Zhang Ping and other firefighters also left one after another. Only two women were left guarding outside the embroidery room, in case the flames would come out again, and closed the door. Behind the door, Ran Xiang and Qing Zhu followed Yan Zhaohua to the inner room, they made the bed, and brought Yan Zhaohua a Tang Pozi to put in the bedding, Ran Xiang said:

"Today's fire is too strange. It's a pity that those embroidery pieces were burned."

Qingzhu continued: "It's just a few pieces of embroidery. The whole embroidery room is gone. Fortunately, the place where the lady embroiders is not in the same place as the dormitory. Otherwise, it's hard to tell where the fire is burning today. The people behind it are real. It's too vicious."

Yan Zhaohua sat on the bed without saying a word, looking at the patterns on the satin quilt, he suddenly asked Qingzhu:

"Did you finish the little bedding squares I asked you to cut last time?"

The small squares mentioned are naturally from the fabric on the bedding that Zhaohua thought was problematic in the preface. After Hongqu left, Qingzhu helped her replace the bedding on the bed with new ones, but did not throw away the old ones, just hid them in the in the cupboard.

Qingzhu was stunned for a moment before realizing what Yan Zhaohua was talking about. She felt that the young lady's thinking was jumping too fast, so she nodded quickly and said, "It's done, it's already packed in a box."

Only then did Yan Zhaohua nod his head, tear off the coat on his shoulders, wait for her to lie down with dyed incense, and asked again worriedly: "Miss, let's forget about the embroidery room? If Manager Zhang goes to investigate, Surely nothing can be found in the end, so we just do nothing?"

Yan Zhaohua let out a breath, closed his eyes, and said, "The fever is already burning, so what can we do if we find out?"

Ranxiang still wanted to ask, but Qingzhu pulled her aside and said, "Don't ask, the lady has her own opinion." After speaking, she winked at Ranxiang, and Ranxiang understood Qingzhu's hint, although she It took many days to recuperate, but after returning, Qingzhu told her what happened these days, and she and Qingzhu both understood that their young lady had been ill for a while, and the whole person was awake, and she was no longer as weak as before Confused, as long as the young lady is awake, what do they have to worry about? After all, once the young lady made a move, most of the hidden stakes in the center of Qingque were eliminated. Although there was still a small part, Qingzhu analyzed it with her, and it must be the young lady I kept it on purpose.

The two put down Yan Zhaohua's tent from the chick hook and tucked it under the mattress. Then they took the bedding from the box cage. After spreading it, the green bamboo blew out the candle, and the two people lay on the low couch outside the screen. Both fell asleep.

Waking up by a fire, Yan Xiu lost sleepiness for a while, so he went to the study to read official documents.There was only one candle lit in the dormitory, and the light was dim and blurry. Mrs. Xie sat in front of the dressing table without anyone lighting the lamp. She combed her hair in this dim light. After a while, Mrs. Wang came in from the outside with her body on her body. With the chill, Mrs. Xie couldn't care less, stood up and asked Mrs. Wang:
"how?"

Mrs. Wang nodded to Mrs. Xie, and said: "It's done, Caixia has already taken out the things in advance, and the servant girl asked Xiu Niang to change the thread overnight. I believe it will be completed before the old lady's birthday."

Only then did Mrs. Xie let out a sigh of relief, and then said angrily in a soft voice: "Oh, I didn't need to go through all these troubles, it's just that Sister Ning is not stable, she made a promise to the old lady early on, saying that she would embroider the screen for her by herself, If it is not fulfilled, it will definitely damage the image, so this is the only way to do it."

It turned out that after Yan Zhaoning saw the things Yan Zhaohua embroidered earlier, his mind was moved, and he was determined to let Yan Zhaohua give up the things to her. The wives who were guests at the scene said that it was not a big deal at first. According to Zhaohua's obedience to Mrs. Xie from the preface, as long as Mrs. Xie spoke to Yan Zhaohua, let alone a few embroidery pieces, it would be her wealth and life I guess Yan Zhaohua could go all out to give it to her, but who knows, that girl became sober after being ill for a while, and if she refused to listen to her, she still fought against each other everywhere, how could Mrs. Xie swallow it down? This tone?Only then did Caixia bribe Caixia to steal the embroidery beforehand, and then set fire to Qingqueju's embroidery room, making Yan Zhaohua think that the things had already been burned. The Duke's Mansion presented a gift, and sent out the gift before Yan Zhaohua arrived. How could Yan Zhaohua know what Sister Ning gave?
Wang's mind was quite clear, after hearing Xie's words, he hesitated and said: "Madam, let me say something that a servant should not say. In fact, why does Madam want the pieces embroidered by the eldest lady herself? Isn't there a shop outside?" If you buy ready-made ones, you can let the embroiderers in the mansion embroider them if you can't, but now that the young lady's embroidery has been robbed and there is such a big commotion, it's a relief to relieve anger, but the servants are afraid of leaving behind trouble."

Mrs. Xie snorted coldly: "There are many people around the old lady who are good at embroidery. Wouldn't it be even more embarrassing if the embroidery products sold in the market were identified? Besides, if Yan Zhaohua's embroidery products were not destroyed, she would be allowed to embroider." Can it be used to please the old lady? The old lady had hoped for Yan Zhaohua. After all, in the old lady's heart, Yan Zhaohua was the granddaughter born to her precious daughter. It's separated by one floor and not so close, so I still want to see the old lady like Yan Zhaohua?"

Mrs. Xie's words couldn't be more clear. Even though Mrs. Wang is still a little worried, she also knows that his wife is not easy. Mrs. Dingguo is only his wife's aunt and has never been close. The other side is close, so there is nothing about the second lady, so the wife will never see the eldest lady showing her face there, so she thought of using this method to let the eldest lady know that the things were destroyed, and she can report it Last time, the eldest lady lost the hatred of so many of them.

Although Mrs. Wang is narrow-minded, she still has some brains, so she still worried:

"Now Lord Hou has ordered the head of the servant to investigate. If he doesn't find out what happened in the end, I'm afraid the head of the house will not be able to explain it to Lord Hou. Please answer me about this matter. When I came here earlier , the head of the family asked me to ask my wife what she meant. Is it procrastinating, or..."

Mrs. Wang didn't say what was said later, but Mrs. Xie understood. She put on her clothes and walked around the room where the earth dragon was burning. After a moment of hesitation, she said:

"Don't procrastinate, he can't lose his ability in front of Lord Hou, just find a substitute." After making a decision, Mrs. Xie turned around, looked at Mrs. Wang with a fierce look and said.

Mrs. Wang thought for a while: "Madam, what do you mean, blame everything on Caixia?"

"Before pushing, deal with it first, don't give her a chance to stand up and bite." Xie's words meant killing people to silence her. How could Wang not understand, she nodded with her eyes closed:

"Yes, the servant knows how to do it."

Afterwards, Mrs. Wang stayed and discussed with Mrs. Xie about going to Dingguo Duke's mansion to pay his respects to his birthday in the future. It was not until Yanxiu returned to his room that Mrs. Wang quietly retreated out.

After Yanxiu came back, he asked Mrs. Xie, "It's so late, why did I see Mama Wang just left?" He asked Mrs. Xie while undressing.

Mrs. Xie replied calmly: "I called her here. Master Hou went to the study to deal with the official documents. I couldn't sleep alone, so I called Mama Wang to come over to discuss the matter of going to celebrate the birthday in the next day. Last time I was in the Duke's mansion. The third lady just told me to go and help me one day in advance. Sister Ning and Sister Yue seem to have made an appointment. They will go with me tomorrow, and they will rest at the Duke's Mansion at night. It’s better not to delay the affairs of the day.”

Yan Xiu opened his hand and asked Mrs. Xie to remove his outer shirt, nodded and said:
"It's okay, let Sister Hua go too. She, Sister Yue, and Sister Rou have not seen each other for a long time. Usually, you don't see her when you go back to greet her. The relationship between the cousins ​​is estranged. This time Let Sister Ning take her well, she is the eldest daughter after all."

Yan Xiu's words made Mrs. Xie panic, but she quickly calmed down and said softly: "Yes, then tomorrow I will ask the eldest lady. If she is free, she can go with us."

After hearing Mrs. Xie's words, Yan Xiu climbed onto the inner bed and lay down with his back to Mrs. Mrs. Xie looked at Yan Xiu's back with cold eyes, took off his coat, walked to the edge of the candlestick and blew Turned off the lights, and fell asleep by the night light.

(End of this chapter)