Shanghai Embroidery Lady

Chapter 134
The day before Hua Jinkun's birthday, Ye Zijin followed Meng Haoxiang to Wuxi to celebrate his birthday.Since Hua Jinkun retired, he no longer managed the affairs of the gang, and brought a few cronies who followed him all the year round to live a low-key and leisurely life in his hometown of Wuxi.

Before going to Hua Jinkun's residence, Ye Zijin was still a little uneasy.She didn't know if Hua Jinkun would be as furious as last time when she saw her again, and she wasn't afraid of Hua Jinkun, but just afraid of getting Meng Haoxiang involved.When the two got into the car, Meng Haoxiang seemed to see her worry, shook her hand, and said: "You have prepared so many things that Lord Hua likes this time, I believe the old man will not make things difficult for you, besides, things are not easy. It's been so long, the grievances of the previous generation have nothing to do with you."

Ye Zijin sighed softly, and said: "Actually, I was afraid that you would be in trouble. Master Hua once forced you to swear a poisonous oath. If you mention the matter of marrying me again, wouldn't it be a violation of him and your own oath? .”

Meng Haoxiang put his hands on the back of the car seat naturally, and pretended to be relaxed and said: "Master Hua treats me as his own, and there is no father who can always watch his son not marry with a hard heart."

"I hope so." Ye Zijin avoided his gaze and looked out of the car window.

Arriving at Hua Jinkun's tea garden, Ye Zijin couldn't help but be impressed. This garden is designed with ingenuity, every plant and tree are in full swing, and every step is a scene, and the scene changes every step of the way.Carved leaky windows, vines on the white powder walls vary in green and yellow.Now that autumn has just entered, most of the heat of summer has faded away, and the coolness of autumn is carried by the wind.The leaves of the ginkgo trees in the garden are rustling, and the fan-shaped leaves are densely packed, shining like gold in the sun.

Meng Haoxiang and Ye Zijin went down to meet Hua Jinkun under the guidance of Lao Xu. After passing through a half-moon arch, they saw a row of Chinese-style houses with flying eaves and brackets in the distance. Hua Jinkun stood on the promenade, holding a bamboo stick to feed him Colorful birds in cages.The bird chirped up and down, fluttered its wings non-stop, and flew around the cage flexibly.The two walked around a small pond in front of the house. There were only a few scattered lotus flowers in the pond. Under the dark green lotus leaves was clear and shallow water. The water in this garden was flowing water, and the lotus leaves stood on it as if being washed. A new emerald.Several pots of half-opened chrysanthemums were placed on the promenade, and two tall plane trees cast a thick shade.

"Master Hua, Hao Xiang and Miss Ye are here to see you." Old Xu walked to Hua Jinkun's side and said respectfully.

Hua Jinkun turned his head to take a look, and slowly said to Old Xu: "Let them sit in the room, and tell the kitchen to cook more dishes tonight."

When Lao Xu passed by Meng Haoxiang, he told them to enter the house and wait, while Hua Jinkun was still feeding the birds with great interest.

Before Zi Zijin stepped into the door, Hua Jinkun suddenly said: "A Xiang, you go fishing with me for a while, I haven't fished with you for a long time."

Meng Haoxiang looked at Ye Zijin, with a hint of reluctance in his eyes.Ye Zijin looked at him and smiled, and said in a low voice, "Go with Master Hua, I'll wait here for your return."

Meng Haoxiang nodded and said, "If you need anything, just talk to Lao Xu, he is very kind."

"En." Ye Zijin responded.

"Why didn't you come? Why did you become a mother-in-law?" Hua Jinkun said unhappily, then took the towel from Lao Xu, wiped his hands, and walked out the door.

"Go." Ye Zijin tugged Meng Haoxiang's arm lightly.

Meng Haoxiang smiled helplessly, and followed Hua Jinkun out the door.

Ye Zijin had nothing to do in Mingyuan by herself, so she asked Lao Xu to take her to the back kitchen to see if she needed help.Old Xu knew the importance of Ye Zijin in Meng Haoxiang's heart. Seeing her insisting on going to the kitchen, he was a little surprised at first. Thinking that she was still as easy-going as before, never put on airs, and was as approachable as ever.

Passing through the corridor, Ye Zijin came to the back kitchen of Mingyuan, and heard an old woman complaining from a distance: "Oh, Sun Ji's magnolia pancakes were not fried enough today, the master likes to eat crispy outside and waxy inside, so called In the kitchen, go through the oil again..."

Old Xu smiled and explained: "That's Master Hua's old housekeeper in Wuxi. The people here call her Aunt Tong. I heard that she used to work as a maid in Xiuzhuang. She is a native of Wuxi, because she has been in charge of this big house all year round. , will inevitably be picky."

Ye Zijin saw that the old woman's hair was not messed up, her clothes were neat and clean, and the sapphire blue tourmaline earrings matched her azure blue dress very well. From the movements and tone of the woman's speech, she could tell that she was a fastidious woman people.

Old Xu took Ye Zijin to Aunt Tong's side, and introduced: "This is Miss Ye Zijin, Haoxiang's fiancée."

Aunt Tong sized Ye Zijin up and said, "Haoxiang already has a fiancée? Why haven't I heard of it?"

Old Xu showed embarrassment, and explained: "It's all about Shanghai, and it's normal for my hometown to not know about it."

"Oh, then why did you bring her here? Didn't Haoxiang come with you?" Aunt Tong asked.

Ye Zijin smiled and said, "Hao Xiang and Mr. Hua went fishing, I'll see if there's anything in the kitchen that needs help."

Aunt Tong gave Ye Zijin a strange look, and said, "Since you want to help, then come with me. I want to see if Haoxiang really found a good wife."

Old Xu wanted to say something, but Ye Zijin had already entered the kitchen with Aunt Tong.

"Wash these vegetables, and then clean and cut the eels." Aunt Tong brought a bowl of slippery and bloody eels to Ye Zijin.

Ye Zijin was startled, she felt a little numb looking at the creamy eel with sticky blood, but she still took the bowl bravely.

"The eel segments used to make Liangxi crispy eels should not be cut too large, or they won't be fried crisply, and they should not be cut too short, as they will easily burn." Aunt Tong brought another bucket of water and gave instructions at the same time.

Aunt Tong saw Ye Zijin leaning over the bucket and washing the eels seriously, doing these chores without messing up, and washing them very cleanly, she was secretly satisfied, but her face was still cold and calm. I watched quietly.

After the leaves are washed, start to cut the eels one by one on the chopping board.Ye Zijin finished cutting a small piece, turned around and asked Aunt Tong, "Do you think it's suitable for cutting this length?"

Aunt Tong glanced at it, and said: "It's okay, be careful, don't cut your hands, you young ladies from Shanghai are very delicate."

Ye Zijin smiled, and said: "I'm not some kind of Miss Jiao, I started looking for work to earn money by myself when I was a teenager, and I can barely get by with cooking and chiseling."

Aunt Tong was stunned. She thought that Meng Haoxiang would find a lady from a wealthy family with status and status, but she never expected that Ye Zijin's experience would be so rough. "Then what do you do now?" Aunt Tong asked.

"I'm running a clothing company now, and I'm just doing a small business, mainly making cheongsams." Ye Zijin sliced ​​the eel calmly, and gradually became proficient in the movements, cutting quickly and evenly.

Aunt Tong had no choice but to look at the woman with a delicate face and a gentle smile in front of her, "Since you can make cheongsams, you should be good at embroidery and chisel."

Ye Zijin said: "My needle chisel is just like this eel cut. It's barely enough. My aunt is very good at embroidery. She taught me all my embroidery skills. I heard that she is also from Wuxi. Do you know her?" ?”

Aunt Tong took a ladle to scoop water into the pot, and asked casually, "Then what is her name? I have never left Wuxi in my life, and I still recognize most of the people."

"Her name is Zhou Wan." Ye Zijin said.

There was a "pop", and the water scoop fell to the ground. Aunt Tong stood there in shock, with a complicated expression on her face.

"You called her Auntie just now, so you are..." Aunt Tong seemed to have remembered something painful, turned her face away and said, "My lady originally wanted someone, and she married that martial artist for Xiu Zhuang. I heard that What kind of royal family and aristocrats are people, the young lady just compromised for the sake of dozens of lives in our embroidery village..."

Ye Zijin was also stunned, and after a while said: "Could it be that you are my aunt's maid when she was in Xiuzhuang?"

"Let's go, since you are the daughter of that martial artist, Master Hua and I don't want to see you, so don't think that Master Hua will agree to your marriage with Hao Xiang. My young lady and Master Hua are a good couple. It's a crime to be separated by your father..." Aunt Tong pulled Ye Zijin up and rushed out, Ye Zijin was momentarily at a loss for words.

"I know that I, Ama, did something wrong back then, but what does it have to do with me? I have been living in Shanghai with my aunt since I was very young. My aunt treated me very well, and I also treat her like my mother. Why do you people of the previous generation My grievances are going to be blamed on me?" Ye Zijin was very puzzled, even Auntie's former maid hated her so much, but she did nothing wrong.

Aunt Tong said unhappily: "My lady could have inherited the craftsmanship of Yunqi Embroidery Village in Wuxi, it was because of your heartless father, what is the difference between him doing this and robbing civilian girls, anyway, I just don't want to see you !” After saying that, he slammed the door shut.

Ye Zijin just felt aggrieved in her heart. She thought she would have a lot to say when she met someone close to her aunt, but she didn't expect Aunt Tong to be so concerned about this matter.Ye Zijin felt that staying here was boring, so she had to go back to the garden just now.

Ye Zijin sat on the rocking chair under the sycamore tree, recalling what Aunt Tong said.Since she has been Hua Jinkun's housekeeper for many years, she must know Hua Ye's thoughts very clearly, so it seems that Hua Jinkun will not agree to her marriage with Meng Haoxiang... Ye Zijin is a little disappointed, but more is Helpless, loyalty and filial piety have been in dilemma since ancient times, not to mention that she has more to bear the mistakes made by her own Ama.

The rocking chair swayed back and forth, and I could vaguely smell the lonely cry of the bird in the cage, and Ye Zijin's heart inexplicably felt a sense of coldness, which permeated his whole body little by little.

It was already dark when Meng Haoxiang came back. As soon as he entered the garden, he saw Ye Zijin sitting on the rocking chair looking at the night sky lost in thought.

Seeing him coming back, Ye Zijin immediately raised the corners of her lips, showing a gentle smile, and said, "How's the fishing going this afternoon?"

Meng Haoxiang felt his heart skip a beat, and felt relieved when he saw her smile.When he was fishing in the afternoon, he was always restless. The fish that took the bait broke free from the hook several times, ate the bait and ran away.

"What are you doing after I'm gone?" Meng Haoxiang asked with a smile.

Ye Zijin concealed the sadness in his eyes, raised his face and smiled at him: "I just wandered around in this garden, it's quite big here, and I found a few pots of green chrysanthemums, it seems that it's good to retreat in the rapids , you can have this day when flowers are silent and people are as light as chrysanthemums."

The electric lights in the garden were turned on, and the begonias in the garden were illuminated to be very red and charming.Meng Haoxiang pulled her up from the chair, hugged her, and said: "In the future, we can also live our lives like this. As long as you like, I can give you a garden like Mingyuan, and you can even design it yourself."

Ye Zijin looked at Meng Haoxiang's handsome face and clear outline, and felt a little dazed. If these words were said before coming to Mingyuan, she would feel happy, but now that she knows the result, this trip to Wuxi will definitely make her feel happy. Meng Haoxiang's hope was in vain...

"I'm so happy to see you so silly. Would Boss Ye be so superficial that he bought you off in just one garden?" Meng Haoxiang half-jokingly said.

Ye Zijin came back to his senses, gently pushed him away, and said with a smile, "Let's go, the dishes are already on the table, don't make Lord Hua wait for you."

"Well, let's go together." Before Ye Zijin could agree, Meng Haoxiang had already pulled her towards the house.

(End of this chapter)