in spring

Chapter 157 Qiu Yu's Thoughts

Qiuyu blushed and bowed her head in silence.Chunying urged her several times, but she didn't respond. She was anxious and discouraged: "My sister is usually the most straightforward, how come she has become a mouthless gourd when she encounters such an important matter?! Sis, it's not the case now. When you were ashamed, someone had already proposed marriage to your father, if some powerful housekeeper insisted on ordering you, would our father really be able to resist? If your marriage is not satisfactory, where are you going to cry?!"

This made Qiuyu's face turn pale, and there was a slight worry in her eyes: "This... our parents are not people who follow others, no matter how decent they are, if... I am not good, I will not agree. Now my father is in the wife's office. He is working under his hand and he is the boss, who can force him?"

Chunying said: "Anyone can force him! Did you forget? You still have an old lady on your head! Your marriage, after all, requires the old lady to nod, and it will be Mid-Autumn Festival in a few days. Come and kowtow, in case someone comes to talk about it at that time, the old lady is happy and agrees casually, can you still say no?!"

Qiuyu clenched her lower lip, lowered her head and twisted the handkerchief, before saying for a long time: "Chun'er...Actually...a few days ago someone came to beg for Liuli..."

"Huh?!" Chunying was very surprised, but it made sense after thinking about it. Liuli is the No.1 around the old lady, and she is eighteen or nineteen years old. It will be too late if she doesn't get married. She is also very trustworthy by the old lady. If she can marry her, it will be equivalent to having a big backer. How could others not think of it?So Chunying asked: "Which steward's son is it? Or the young steward?"

Qiuyu shook her head, seemed to find it difficult to speak, hesitated for a while before saying, "It's Young Master Fu from the Fourth Master's family."

Chunying felt that the name sounded familiar, and thinking about it carefully, wasn't it the direct brother of Hu Fei's good friend, Young Master Xu?He is also the young master of the family, and it is said that he won the exam.How could such a person marry Liuli? !She hurriedly asked: "Are you a concubine? What did the old lady say?!" Also, what did Qiuyu mean when she suddenly mentioned this matter?She shouldn't have any intentions in this regard, right? !

Qiuyu said in a low voice: "Young Master Fu has been married for three years and has never had any children. I heard that Young Mistress Fu is a powerful person, and she can't even tolerate anyone in the house. It has spread in the clan, and the fourth wife is picky. No family would send their daughter to his house to be a concubine. For some reason, the fourth wife put her mind on Liuli, saying that she would immediately promote her as an aunt as soon as she passed the door. Don't dare to bully her. Liuli cried as soon as she heard it in the inner room, and the old lady immediately pulled her face down, but in front of many wives and grandmas of the same family, it's not easy to have a fit, so she just found a reason to push it off. Later, the fourth lady When she came to beg again, she made it clear that she couldn't do without Liuli, and in the end she couldn't beat the Fourth Madam, so she had to agree...to marry Crystal."

crystal?Chunying has heard of this name, but she has never dealt with it. She only remembers that she is the most insignificant of the eight first-class girls in the old lady's house. ... relatively strong.

Qiuyu's expression was a bit gloomy: "Crystal cried for two days, but the old lady refused to change her words. The sisters had to slowly persuade her, after all, she is marrying the young master of the same family, and she has a bright future. After several years, she has a brother. Maybe it's better than marrying someone else. It's just that... these are all good words. We know that Young Mistress Fu is a formidable person. In the past, Young Master Fu also had people who were outstanding, but now they all have gone. The identity of Crystal is different. Young Mistress Fu I don't dare to show her face in the open, but I don't know what tricks I will use in secret! Being a concubine... After all, life is bitter..."

Chunying rested her head on her sister's shoulder, comforting her lightly: "Don't be sad, it's certainly not good to be a concubine, we absolutely can't be concubines for others!"

Qiuyu smiled bitterly: "Do you think that this kind of thing is up to us to decide? Liuli was lucky and escaped because the old lady couldn't leave her, but those of us are inferior, and we don't know when we will be accused. Don’t you know? Because the fourth wife got the crystal, two or three grandmothers of the same family were also moved, and wanted to get one for their son. The people in this yard, all the cards on the card, except for Amber and Manao is the youngest, less than sixteen, and the others...all have reached the age of marriage..." She blushed a little: "There is a distant grandma who said a few stupid words to me in private, but she is not as good as that. You don't have to worry about face. It's just... the butler of Shou Shunyi Zhuangzi... when his wife came to pay her respects, she came to see me..."

Chunying's heart moved, Shunyi Zhuangzi was one of the properties of the Hou Mansion that had just changed managers recently, this wooden manager must be a new one, maybe he was the one who proposed marriage to his father.She rolled her eyes twice before asking: "Then what's the idea in my sister's mind? Since she doesn't want to be a concubine...then there are only two ways to marry someone in the mansion...or to hire someone outside. Although the Mu family is the chief steward, But we don't know the details of his family, so we are always worried, and if it is someone in charge, I remember Aunt Lu mentioned it a few years ago that she has a nephew who also manages a small farm..."

Qiuyu spat at Chunying again: "That's a long time coming! She's several years older than me, and she married a wife last year..." She blushed and lowered her voice: "The people in the house are about the same age as me. Yes, we all know in our hearts, most of us have already married wives, and the rest... Few of them can turn out to be human..."

Chunying thinks about it too. In ancient times, people married early, and they might become fathers and mothers at the age of sixteen or seventeen. It seems that my mother married her father at the age of sixteen.And all the promising male servants in the Hou's mansion are at least 16 years old. Manager Xiao Chen is already a rare young elite, let alone others?Just pick anyone, such as the doorkeeper or the errand boy, Qiuyu probably doesn't like it.After all, she has been with the old lady for many years, she is decent and good-looking, and she has seen the world, so her vision is naturally not low.It's a pity that big maids like them can only accommodate the servants in the mansion after all, or they will marry masters and young masters as concubines. In the work, she died as a bitter and mean woman.

Chunying shivered, secretly determined not to let herself fall into such a terrible situation!

She hurriedly said: "So, there is no suitable person in the mansion, and my sister doesn't want to be a concubine, so I will go and tell my father, please don't agree to him, try to find a good partner outside, and then ask the old lady for grace, Let my sister go out. My sister will be able to live a peaceful and beautiful life freely in the future, and if she earns money, she can buy land and become a landlord. If she has a little nephew, she can even send him to school..."

Qiuyu couldn't hold back her embarrassment anymore, and threw a pillow over with her face flushed: "You are really crazy! How dare you say such a thing?! Why don't you get out of here quickly?!"

Chunying snickered and left the room. Although Qiuyu was shy, she could see that she was not indifferent.As long as she doesn't object.Chunying thought about it and made up her mind.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. In previous years, people in the old lady's courtyard would have already started preparing for the banquet in a few days' time. But this year, because the aunt passed away only two months ago, apart from her cousin Huo Yi, the old lady, Lord Hou, and The wives, young masters and ladies must be in mourning, so everything will be kept simple.Only the juniors of each house and the stewards of various industries in the Hou Mansion came to pay their respects, and then the whole family sat together and had a simple meal.Huo Yi had already requested from the old lady that she would not participate.

Chunying carefully paid attention to the steward who came to pay her respects to the old lady, finally saw the figures of her father and mother, but couldn't come to say hello.She was a little anxious, knowing that her father became the shopkeeper of the silk shop, and it was impossible for her to be at home all day and night. She didn't have the confidence to persuade her mother, so she could only pray that she could tell her father clearly in person.

She watched her parents leave with the other stewards from afar, thought for a while, and made up her mind, she said to Aunt Qing and Linglong: "It's going to be a festival anyway, although there is no need to prepare anything, but sweet-scented osmanthus cake and other festive desserts, I have to make two cages for the occasion, and they are vegetarian, so the lady can eat them, and add the fruit brought in by the housekeeper, and give it as a return gift, isn’t it clean and fresh? I’ll go to the garden to pick some fresh sweet-scented osmanthus, shall I?”

Aunt Qing hesitated for a while: "That's good, but we live in the old lady's yard now, so it's not easy to borrow the small kitchen, right? Miss said, try to be as quiet as possible, don't disturb the old lady."

Linglong disagreed: "How can you call this an interruption? I think Chunying's idea is good, because the housekeeper doesn't even dare to give too many gifts for the people in this house. One in the sky and one in the ground, isn’t that aggrieved?! Those people who used to rush to say hello to each other are gone now, but there are more and more gossips in private. If gifts come from everywhere, we rarely return them. Now, the screwdriver doesn't know what to say! What's the point of making some sweet-scented osmanthus cake? We can also ask the old lady to try it."

Chunying hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, and the sweet-scented osmanthus cake is not troublesome. The people in this courtyard are very polite to the young lady and don't talk about gossip. If you are really worried, my house is not far from the back door of the garden. I will steam it at home. It’s the same when you bring it back.”

Aunt Qing thought about it and agreed.Chunying hurriedly followed Linglong to report to Miss Biao, and the latter had nothing to do, just said "don't make trouble for everyone to know", and gave another bunch of money.Chunying picked it up and ran to find Qiuyu. Qiuyu had nothing to do, so she agreed and only helped Chunying pick osmanthus in the garden.

Chunying went to the garden with a basket, looking for the sweet-scented osmanthus trees that bloomed a lot. After a while, she got half of the basket. She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, so she went to Qiuyu and said, "Sister, take care of it." Now, if anyone comes, tell me that I have gone to pick flowers elsewhere. I will go home and be back soon."

Qiuyu was taken aback, and quickly stopped her: "Let's do it in the small kitchen! Do it outside..." "Sister, don't worry about it." Chunying squeezed her eyes, "I did it on purpose, don't forget After what we said a few days ago, at least let dad know what you think." Qiuyu blushed suddenly, looked around, spat at her, then turned her head and whispered while picking flowers Said: "If you want to go out from the southeast corner door, Aunt Zhu there is familiar with me. If you just say that you are my sister, she will let you out. Go from there, and the end of the corridor is the back street. I can get home."

Chunying said with a smile: "I have another way to go, sister can cover me with peace of mind!" After finishing speaking, she glanced around and pretended to look for other sweet-scented osmanthus trees. Then he hid in the bushes and headed for the back door.

(End of this chapter)