Yutai Bi

Chapter 48 Listening to the Corner

Baicao stood behind Cen Sanniang very naturally, staring at the tiger.She thought disdainfully, is it possible that you still dare to push the third lady into the water?

Cen Sanniang felt at ease when the smell of herbs came from behind her.She thanked her with a smile, and shook her round fan to enjoy the cool air.

"San Niang tasted honeydew melons from the Western Regions. I heard that this kind of melon is not available in Chang'an market. Mother heard that I was a treat, so she gave me half of it." Fang Jiuniang and You Rong Yan.

Cantaloupe?Topaz-like melon flesh, full of sweetness in the mouth.It is indeed rare to rely entirely on caravan mules and horses for transportation.Cen Sanniang picked a slice with a silver stick and ate it, tsk-tsk admiringly.

Liu Niang suddenly accidentally knocked over the teacup and stood up.Fang Jiuniang hurriedly asked the girl to clean up.

A few girls squeezed between Liu Niang and San Niang.The movement is quick, and it will be cleaned up in a moment.Liu Niang sat down again.

Before her butt touched the stool, Liu Niang screamed and jumped up, pointing at San Niang and shouting tremblingly: "San Niang, you have bugs on you!"

Cen Sanniang was also startled and looked down.A cicada shedding its shell was crawling on the corner of the skirt.The back of the brown adult was split open, and a cicada struggled to stretch out half of its body.

Good thing it wasn't a caterpillar.Cen Sanniang breathed a sigh of relief.

Fang Jiuniang and Cen Liuniang looked at each other, why didn't Cen Sanniang run around in fright?

There is no movement?Qiniang also turned around curiously.

A girl caught Fang Jiuniang's wink and shouted, "Don't be afraid, San Niang, the servant will beat her down." She picked up a feather duster and greeted Cen San Niang.

The wrist was suddenly clenched tightly.Baicao stepped forward to stop her, and said with a half smile: "Sister, be careful to hurt my third wife."

Cen Sanniang reached out and took off the cicada from her skirt, held it in her hand and showed it to Fang Jiuniang with a smile: "Oh, look, it's still alive. Jiuniang has a box for me to use. Put it back and put it in the tent." Tomorrow it will shed its shell and crawl out to fly."

Fang Jiuniang stared at her blankly, and screamed loudly: "You actually want to put it in the tent! Throw it away!"

"Jiu Niang is timid, does Liu Niang want to take it back to play?" Cen Sanniang held the cicada and sent it to Liu Niang.

The cicada moved slowly, but was still shaking and taking off its shell.Liu Niang was so frightened that she wanted to back away, for a moment she forgot that she was sitting on a round drum stool, and she leaned back. Fortunately, the girl blocked it in time, so she didn't fall to the ground.The teacup was brought upside down again, and the tea splashed onto the newly made water-red gauze skirt.Liu Niang's distressed eyes were red.

"It's very fun. If you don't want it, I'll take it back." Cen Sanniang took out a handkerchief, carefully wrapped the cicada, and handed it to Baicao.Continue to eat melons as if nothing had happened.The ones brought from the Western Regions are too precious to be eaten for nothing.

Fang Jiuniang took a deep breath, pulled Liu Niang and reluctantly said, "San Niang is so courageous. I'll take Liu Niang to change clothes first."

Once the two left, Cen Sanniang felt more at ease.Turning around to see Qiniang with widened eyes, she smiled and said, "Qiniang is interested in cicadas shedding their shells?"

Qiniang bravely stretched out her little white hand, and nodded seriously: "I want to see it."

Cen Sanniang was startled, and ordered Baicao to hand the cicada to Qiniang's personal girl.

The two sat in the gazebo, talking for a while.Qiniang silently ate the fruit and looked at the lotus.

Cen Sanniang broke the silence: "Honeydew melons from the Western Regions are a rare commodity, and there are still six slices on the plate, so you just have to try each of them."

In addition to her and Qiniang bringing a maid, the Fang family left four maids to serve in the gazebo.Cen Sanniang wanted to let Baicao have a bite, so she borrowed flowers to present Buddha and rewarded the melons on the plate.

The girls were pleasantly surprised.If it wasn't for luck to get the reward from the master, maybe they would never know the taste of honeydew melon in the Western Regions for the rest of their lives, so they thanked the rewards one after another, brought the plates to the side, and ate happily one by one.

Baicao smiled happily, tilting her head to look at Cen Sanniang, her almond eyes shone with happiness.

Cen Sanniang quietly winked at her, the master and the servant had a good understanding, they both knew that they had taken advantage of the Fang family, so they laughed very happily.

When the banquet started at noon, Liu Niang changed into a new dress and came with Fang Jiuniang hand in hand.We ate in silence at lunch.After dinner, Fang Jiuniang intends to let Liuniang and Qiniang go to her embroidery building for an afternoon nap, but she is embarrassed to leave Cen Sanniang behind.Liu Niang and Qi Niang also understood, so they said that the sun was poisonous, so they went home earlier.The three resigned and left the house.

The small sedan chair with bamboo curtains was put on again at the gate of the mansion, and Yinzi rushed out with two servants sweating profusely.He brought two bamboo baskets, one big and one small, and said that they were honeydew melons from the Western Regions that his wife had given to the old lady.But he stuffed the small one into Baicao's hands, and said in a low voice, "This is just for... San Niangzi."

Baicao smiled and Mimi took it.

Qiniang was the last to get on the sedan chair. Seeing this, she lowered the bamboo curtain heavily.

A few days later, Mrs. Fang visited Mrs. Cen in person.

After sending off Mrs. Fang, Mrs. Cen left Mrs. Fang behind.

After class, Cen Zhilin went back to the inner house to greet the fourth lady, and listened to the fourth lady's indignant voice: "Mother is biased. Can't I say a few words about Sanniang's marriage? They are all her aunts. Just leave my sister-in-law alone."

Are you discussing the marriage between the third lady and the Fang family?Cen Zhilin suddenly became nervous, tired of the Fourth Madam's arms and refused to leave: "San Niang is going to be engaged to the Seventh Young Master of the Fang family?"

The fourth lady patted his ass: "This matter has nothing to do with you, just go and play."

Cen Zhilin blinked his eyes, with a displeased expression on his face: "How can it be irrelevant? I will be the master of the fourth house in the future. If she marries well, I will be relieved."

"Ouch, my son!" the Fourth Madam shouted, tears came out, "Why did Mother adopt you to the Fourth Household? Now you know that you miss San Niang, but in the future, will you still remember that I am your own mother? "

Cen Zhilin jumped off her knees, frowned and said to her: "Why are you crying! I'm just a mother, and I will forget to be filial to you? And I'm jealous with Sanniang! I'm worthless!"

The fourth madam became more and more sad as she talked: "Mother is worthless! In this house, your grandmother is partial to the uncle's family, and your father has no future. Doesn't mother expect your brothers and three to count on whom?"

"Okay, okay." Cen Zhilin stretched out his chubby hand to wipe away the fourth lady's tears, "Auntie is the housekeeper, grandma spends more time discussing matters with her. Mother, it's good for you to live a more worry-free life. Women will be tired after a while. Get old soon, understand? Regardless of whether you have adopted or not, I will be filial to you.

The fourth lady turned her anger into joy, and kissed him hard: "I know how to make my mother happy."

Cen Zhilin leaned against her and began to say: "The Fang family will give a lot of money as a bride price?"

The fourth madam sighed: "The Fang family is rich, but the family is poor! That madam Fang dresses more gorgeously than your aunt, and she keeps saying that the third lady is an orphan and has no possessions, just the dowry from Cen's father-in-law. What do you say?" A legitimate son will be laughed at if he marries an orphan girl. It seems that the Fang family married Sanniang is a blessing she cultivated in her previous life."

Cen Zhilin clenched his fists and said unconvinced: "Ah! What else does the Fang family have besides being rich? Merchants dare to dislike my girl from the Cen family."

The fourth lady became angry when she thought of Mrs. Fang's wealth and power: "Yes, if San Niang is not an orphan, it will be the Fang family's turn to deal with it!"

Cen Zhilin then asked her, "Mother, what does grandmother mean?"

The Fourth Madam snorted and said, "How would I know, isn't your grandmother leaving me and discussing with your aunt in private?"

Cen Zhilin stood up: "Mom, I'm off to play."

He ran out in a hurry.

Cen Zhilin turned around with Ah Fu and went to the backyard.

"You stay here, and if anyone comes, tell me to play hide-and-seek with me in the garden. Do you understand?" After Cen Zhilin told Ah Fu, he slipped into the dog's hole.

The dog hole is too small, but Cen Zhilin has no problem crawling through it.

He crawled into the inner courtyard where old lady Cen lived, stuck to the wall, walked to the back of the house, and squatted down.

The voices of Mrs. Cen and Da Furen could be faintly heard in the room.

"Mother, according to me, although the Fang family only offered 5000 taels of betrothal gifts, they agreed to open a grain store and a silk shop in the name of the Fang family's business, and share [-]% of the shares with us. This is a great thing."

Cen has a lot of land, but no shops.After separating from the Cen family, the old man of the third bedroom regarded himself as a scholarly family and refused to do business.Cen's shop is only leased to others for rent.Zhuangzi's output is bought by big shopkeepers like the Wang family of the Fang family.

The old lady passed away, and the old lady handed over the housekeeping to the eldest lady.The eldest lady has always wanted to open a shop.No matter how much grain is produced in the Cen family's land, and how many silkworms are raised in the mulberry garden on the mountain, how much purchasing power does Longzhou City have?The Fang family purchased silkworm cocoons and had their own silk workshop.Grain had already been sold to cities along the river, not just based in Longzhou City.It is not easy to get a share of the merchants in the city.

Now, you don’t need to open a shop yourself, you don’t need to look for managers and workers, and you don’t have to worry about it. You can get [-]% dividends every year.

The Fan family gave tens of thousands of taels of silver as a gift, even if the Cen family kept most of the cash, it would be easy to be talked about.The owner of this shop is secretive, and the bride price of 5000 taels of silver was given to Cen Sanniang.The Cen family gained face and benefits.So the eldest lady thinks it is a good deal to agree to this marriage.

The old lady Cen sighed for a long time: "I know."

Do you know why you don't want to agree?You can't marry Cen Sanniang too badly, she is a girl from the Cen family after all.The eldest lady was muttering in her heart, but she didn't dare to ask.

"Since the separation of the third and fourth bedrooms, there has been almost no communication." Mrs. Cen looked a little excited.

The eldest lady continued: "Yes, I didn't even know that the Li family was from the Li family in Longxi. I saw her every year when I worshiped my ancestors. Mother, is there any hidden secret in this? The fourth-bedroom old lady and the deceased father-in-law dear brother."

(End of this chapter)